UR Chapter 56

Chapter 56

“Young master, do you need anything?”

Knock, knock.

A knocking sound broke the silence. Eun Beom-ho turned his sharp gaze toward the door and spoke curtly.

“No. Just make sure no one comes near.”

The noisy house quickly fell silent again.

Eun Beom-ho closed the door and sat down on the chair beside the guest room bed.

No one is to come in. Even if he wakes up, don’t show too much interest.

fAfter giving a few more such moderate rules, he fixed his gaze on the man lying down.

“……”

The room was deathly still.

His large hand twitched forward, then back.

After hesitating several times, he finally stretched it out.

His fingertips cautiously touched the brown hair.

Eun Beom-ho grasped the soft brown strands between his fingers, then brought them to the tip of his nose.

Perhaps because heavy, thick snow was falling, the air was damp.

The moisture seeped into every crack between the windows and wallpaper, and within that moist flow of air lingered the distinct warm scent unique to a dog.

Eun Beom-ho sat quietly, staring intently at the sleeping face.

Tap, tap.

Kim Sung-woo, who had been watching him, raised his thumb and pointed toward the outside.

* * *

That day too, snow was falling thick and heavy.

‘My puppy. My beloved, precious puppy. You’re so cute.’

Mother reached out with a gentle voice, slipping her fingers into the soft fur of the little dog and stroking it tenderly. Her voice was filled with warmth and love.

‘Yip! Yip!’

The small puppy wagged its fluffy white tail, stuck out its pink tongue, and hopped around joyfully.

‘Why do dogs get so excited when it snows? Is it in their genes? Isn’t it so cute how they bounce around like they have springs on their paws?’

Mother chuckled, hugging the puppy. She gently petted its pink belly, round from a recent meal, and showered it with kisses, smacking softly against its fur. The little puppy, oblivious to it all, wriggled its legs, eager to run across the soft snow-covered ground, its black bead-like eyes shining.

Tiny paw prints dotted the snowy field behind the short legs that bounced along the sparkling snowflakes. Mother laughed for a long while, following the little puppy.

‘Let’s name the second child I-bom. What do you think? Even though he was born in winter, I want his name to mean “spring will surely come.” We’re living through hard times now, but if we work hard, spring will come someday. We have to live with hope. I want to be reminded of that when I look at our baby.’

Mother crouched down and murmured. Her gaze, fixed on him as she spoke, was tinged with sadness and weariness. Hearing her voice, Father placed a hand on her shoulder, then looked with her at the puppy running around the yard on his short legs.

‘That child shouldn’t have been born, honey.’

In memory, Father’s face was cold.

The half-beastman household was closed-off. Mother had three children, and only the second one was a dog. That was I-bom.

Because half-beastmen have strong human blood mixed in, they are never born as dogs. People called I-bom a “mutant.” They said he was a “tremendous threat” that would disrupt the peaceful hierarchy of the half-beastman village, where children were supposed to be born in human form.

I-bom’s earliest memory was of happily bounding across a snowy field. In that memory, Mother loved him dearly, holding him in her arms and speaking to him again and again. She told him that even though he was born different from others, there was nothing strange about him. She told him, ‘You’re hope. Your name, I-bom, means that even in winter, spring will surely come someday.’

That was love. A love that became such a happy memory, it shaped I-bom’s entire life.

Though Mother loved I-bom dearly, his childhood memories were not happy ones. People got angry at him. Half-beastmen—beings who were half human and half beast—looked at I-bom, who had been born outright as an animal unlike those with a vague, uncertain identity, and denied his existence with anger. They tried to push him away, saying he wasn’t part of their group. They hated the child born as a dog.

‘You’re weird!’

‘You mongrel!’

Being weird, being like a mongrel, was no threat to them, yet they pointed at him with contempt. If he hopped around the village, someone would grab him by the scruff, corner him and kick him, or throw stones at him. The little puppy would tremble, not knowing why, awkwardly frozen in place.

‘Whine…’

Threatened, he would fold his ears back with a pitiful whimper.

‘Why were you born a dog? This is a half-beastman village. You’re not a half-beastman. Get out!’

Someone shouted at I-bom and raised a hand to strike him. His black bead-like eyes welled with tears, and he shut them tight. His small body, hunched in fear, was mercilessly flung away.

‘I’m not weird.’

Yip… whine…

Holding back the voice that wouldn’t come out, I-bom cried miserably.

Even if somewhere far up the family tree there was a Maltese line, having dog genes mixed in the blood and being born outright as a dog were very different things.

In a closed-off half-beastman village, being the only one born different was never a good thing.

Being born in animal form was usually seen only among pureblood beastmen, especially large predatory carnivores—tigers, lynxes, lions, cheetahs.

There had never been an academic report of a canid-type half-beastman being born in animal form. If one was a carnivorous beastman, they could register their species and receive a government pension, but if they were a small, insignificant animal, there were no pensions or proper benefits to speak of.

People told I-bom’s mother to abandon him. They said their family was poor enough already, and raising a mutant would be too hard. Moreover, adults claimed that because a child born as a dog could never be a true half-beastman, it was an ill omen.

‘Someone who isn’t a half-beastman can’t live in this village. It’s a shame since he’s already been born, but… there’s nothing we can do. Let’s get rid of him.’

‘No! He’s still my child!’

Only Mother begged them not to abandon I-bom. Having just given birth, she stumbled and clung to the people, pleading.

How could they think of abandoning a baby whose amniotic sac hadn’t even come off yet? How could they do such a thing? Crying her heart out, Mother hugged the pitiful puppy close.

Even then, Father only watched with an indifferent gaze, as though it were someone else’s problem.

‘I can’t think of that child as my own, like I do with I-jun. He’s strange. He’s a dog.’

Father’s reaction was sullen. As if the child were his shame and disgrace, he looked at him coldly and even doubted Mother.

‘Is he really mine?’

‘How can you expect every half-beastman to be born exactly in human form, with only beastman traits? Genes aren’t all the same. Sometimes children are born as animals and later change into humans!’

Mother wept as she protested. The one who carried the child and the one who stood by and watched were worlds apart in heart.

‘Whine…’

Whenever those things happened, I-bom buried his nose in the dirt, whimpering as he swallowed back tears. Even without sharp awareness, he could still feel the sting of those cold, piercing gazes.

‘My baby puppy. No matter what you look like, I love you.’

Mother brushed through his fluffy white fur and held him tightly in her arms. Who else could love him as much as she did? When she whispered that she loved him in her gentle voice, all the sadness and sorrow melted away. In her arms, the warm, pleasant scent wrapped around his nose.

‘Someday, I-bom, you’ll meet someone you love. Just like I did.’

The world was never full of only good things. Life was ruled by moments of sorrow and sadness. Even so, the reason I-bom never lost his smile was because the memory of being loved enough to overcome those sad times was firmly rooted within him.

Thankfully, after his fifth birthday, I-bom finally changed into a human. Only then did he have a reason to not be driven out of the half-beastman village.