IGWNI Ch 11
by soapa「You must believe what a Dweord says.」
“……!”
Don’t be ridiculous. Why do you get to decide my religion for me!
Yoon Jaewoo desperately shook his head. Yatenbaum clamped a hand over Yoon Jaewoo’s lips and pinched his nose shut with his fingers.
「You must swallow it. There, good boy.」
He couldn’t breathe. Yoon Jaewoo flailed his arms, but Yatenbaum, smiling, refused to let go.
「You shouldn’t misunderstand the bead Rau gave you like that.」
“Let g…!”
Gulp.
The sound of a small bead sliding down his throat echoed. Yoon Jaewoo’s face turned deathly pale. Yatenbaum smiled and patted his cheek with his palm.
「Ramia. You must believe in your Dweord.」
“What the……!”
Before he could even demand who decided he was his Dweord, Yoon Jaewoo’s vision blurred. And his body swayed. The moment he let out a scream, “Ack,” his body plummeted downwards.
「What do you think you are doing.」
He was the one who wanted to ask what was going on.
As soon as he swallowed the bead, his body had suddenly started to sway, and when he opened his eyes, he was in Eustace’s arms. Yoon Jaewoo couldn’t move a single finger, only able to stare blankly up at Eustace.
「…So you swallowed it.」
Eustace summed up the sudden situation in a single sentence.
“Uh, if I swallow it….”
「It is a bead that brings you to me when you swallow it.」
“……”
If only he had known sooner, he would have swallowed it the moment he was caught in the hallway.
When a look of indignation flickered across Yoon Jaewoo’s face, Eustace scowled and chided him in a cold voice.
「You foolish thing. So foolish, and yet so full of suspicion.」
“…I’m sorry.”
Yoon Jaewoo mumbled quietly.
Looking back, Eustace had given him the bead and told him to use it in the very last, final situation, but he had never said that he would die if he ate it. Of course, it had been followed by a gentle threat that things would not go well for him if he swallowed the bead. In the end, getting hit by the arrow and all that fuss had all stemmed from his own misunderstanding.
Yoon Jaewoo bowed his head once more and said, I’m sorry, to apologize again.
Eustace looked down at Yoon Jaewoo without a word. Yoon Jaewoo thought he had not understood what he was saying. He first got out of Eustace’s arms and placed his feet on the ground.
Yoon Jaewoo grabbed Eustace’s sleeve and stood on his tiptoes. It was incredibly damaging to his pride to have to do this just to match their heights, but the other man was a god of this world.
It can’t be helped.
Yoon Jaewoo whispered clearly into his ear.
“I was fucking wrong.”
He let go of the sleeve. Eustace still looked down at Yoon Jaewoo with an unreadable expression.
“…I said I was wrong.”
Their eyes met. It seemed Eustace’s eyes softened just a little.
「When the moon touches the hill.」
Eustace pointed a finger at the hill. Yoon Jaewoo nodded his head eagerly.
「Wait in the forest. I will give you the promised reward.」
From the forest came the cry of a bird whose name he did not know. A soft wind brushed past the bird’s feathers. While Yoon Jaewoo was nodding, Eustace disappeared into the woods.
Yoon Jaewoo, who had been lying down watching for when the moon would touch the hill, cautiously got to his feet.
It looked as if the moon was just barely resting on the hill. Yoon Jaewoo confirmed that the two Dweords were asleep.
They must have put up a barrier around the area anyway, so he couldn’t escape. He should be able to move freely within it. To receive the reward Eustace had mentioned earlier, he walked into the forest.
“Just where am I supposed to go?”
Wondering if he had hidden a gold bar somewhere like a treasure hunt, Yoon Jaewoo looked around his surroundings.
The forest at midnight wasn’t as romantic as he had imagined. The moonlight filtering through the dense leaves barely provided enough light to see. Yoon Jaewoo walked cautiously so as not to fall.
The deeper he went into the forest, the less moonlight there was. Yoon Jaewoo suddenly stopped in his tracks. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in and out.
The cold, clear forest air flowed in and out of his lungs. It was a moment where he felt alive.
Back then, he had thought it was okay to die, that he wished he would just die, that there was no way out other than death.
Yoon Jaewoo lifted his head. The fragmented sky was wavering between the tree branches. It was very different from the sky he used to see from the athletic field, but the sky here was beautiful all the same.
How indifferent the sky is. He recalled the days he had endlessly muttered those words.
The sky was just as indifferent now. But he decided to accept that indifferent sky as it was.
“…I’m so thoughtlessly optimistic, really.”
Muttering to himself, Yoon Jaewoo gave an awkward laugh. Just then, a moving white ball of fur among the bushes caught his eye.
“Oh!”
The bushes rustled and moved, and from within, a large white beast leisurely walked out. Yoon Jaewoo’s eyes widened.
“Jinsu-hyung!”
Yoon Jaewoo ran with his arms spread open, then hesitated and stopped right in front of the beast. The last time he had encountered Jinsu-hyung flashed through his mind.
In an instant, the atmosphere turned subtly strange.
“Uh, well…”
Neither Yoon Jaewoo nor the beast made a move to approach, simply staring at each other. Yoon Jaewoo scratched his head and then plopped down on the spot. Then, slapping the ground with his palm, he said.
“Jinsu-hyung. Sit there. Let’s talk, man to man.”
The white beast showed a look of displeasure and remained standing. Yoon Jaewoo tilted his head, thinking, Huh?, and continued.
“Jinsu-hyung. …Don’t tell me you’re a female.”
The beast’s tail whipped Yoon Jaewoo’s back. “Ouch, ouch,” Yoon Jaewoo yelped as he sprawled on the ground. His body had not yet fully recovered from the curse. Even a slight impact sent a throbbing pain through his bones.
The beast seemed momentarily startled and stared directly at Yoon Jaewoo. Yoon Jaewoo waved a hand, saying, It’s okay.
“Hahaha. I’m, I’m okay. Right, you’re not a female…, …Hah.”
Yoon Jaewoo checked the beast’s nether regions and hastily looked away. The proof of a perfect male was making its presence known down there.
“…Right. You’re a male. Our Jinsu-hyung, a total male. Hahaha.”
Yoon Jaewoo let out an awkward laugh and then pointed to the spot across from him. He figured that if they were both males, the conversation would go more smoothly.
“Just sit there. Let’s talk.”
As if it had no other choice, the beast sat down.
Yoon Jaewoo went, “Umm,” bit his lip, shook his head, covered his face with his hands, and then bowed his head. Seeing him unable to figure out how to start the conversation, the beast tapped the ground with its tail and let out a sigh.
Finally, Yoon Jaewoo started, saying, “Alright.”
“You see. You’ll understand when you get a bit older, but a man…”
With a very solemn face, Yoon Jaewoo continued.
“Well, there are times like that.”
Is this what a parent feels like giving their son the talk?
Yoon Jaewoo’s face grew hot and his chest burned. Still, he had to persuade the beast somehow.
That I’m not a pervert, and that it was an unavoidable accident.
Yoon Jaewoo pointed a finger between the beast’s legs and continued speaking slowly.
“It’s not like, you know, something I can control with my mind, it’s just something that happens when it happens. That’s why that thing happened like that.”
Yoon Jaewoo couldn’t forget the look on Jinsu-hyung’s face as he had stared at him at that moment. He had learned through that very moment that even a beast could have such a complex expression. …It was a painful realization.
“So, the reason I did that, …is because of that.”
After spouting excuses made up entirely of pronouns, Yoon Jaewoo went, “Ugh,” and roughly ruffled his hair. When he lifted his head, his eyes met the beast’s. The beast’s eyes, looking at him, held a perfect mix of slight pity, sympathy, and bewilderment at the situation.
“…Can you understand, as one male to another?”
He threw a direct question. In response, only silence returned. The atmosphere was ambiguous, making it unclear whether it understood or not.
Ah, damn it.
Yoon Jaewoo roughly ruffled his hair a couple of times and then got up. He moved to sit right in front of Jinsu-hyung.
“If you forgive me for that day, we shake on it.”
Before the beast could refuse, Yoon Jaewoo grabbed Jinsu-hyung’s front paws with both hands.
“Let’s forget all the bad memories…. Haaah, so soft.”
He had intended to shake paws manfully and coolly, but the paws he grabbed were so soft that Yoon Jaewoo found himself rubbing his face against them without realizing it.
“What on earth do you eat for your fur to be so…, Huk.”
Yoon Jaewoo hastily pulled his face away at the cold gaze looking down on him. It looked as if he would have been mercilessly struck by a large paw had he been even a second later. Yoon Jaewoo let go of the paws and muttered.
“…Do you hate me? I don’t think you would have followed me all the way here if you did, …but why do you look so stern whenever I touch you. Do you really hate me?”
A sigh returned instead of an answer. The beast’s tail wrapped around Yoon Jaewoo’s body and then pulled away. Knowing that this was the most comfort it could offer, Yoon Jaewoo’s face immediately brightened.
“Right? You don’t hate me either, right?”
Humans weigh and measure everything, but animals treated others based on unconditional affection and trust. What Yoon Jaewoo needed right now was that kind of unconditional affection.
“Please like me a little.”
Yoon Jaewoo confessed his honest feelings. There was no one here to grow attached to. There was even less of a chance to find someone to open up to. Not only could he not communicate with them, but he couldn’t show his true self to people who he didn’t know what they would do with him.
“Please like me a lot. Jinsu-hyung.”
It would be a lie to say he wasn’t lonely.
Even if he resolved to escape from here, the fact was that he was lonely. But Yoon Jaewoo had decided not to give his affection to anyone.
“Be good to me, Jinsu-hyung. I’ll be good to you too.”
Still, he needed one. A target, to share affection with. Someone he could be genuinely good to and rely on with his heart.
Yoon Jaewoo brought his hand near Jinsu-hyung’s fur and pretended to stroke it. Even in the dark forest, the beast’s fur shone white. Each and every strand of fur seemed to hold the soft moonlight.
Yoon Jaewoo’s gaze followed the movement of the tail. The beast leisurely watched as Yoon Jaewoo’s eyes followed its tail.
Yoon Jaewoo swallowed dryly and opened his mouth.
“Would you let me just touch your tail? I won’t touch anywhere else.”
The beast was as proud as it looked. It allowed him to come near, but it detested the act of touching or stroking its fur. He was always thrown to the ground or hit hard by its tail. But that was okay. Yoon Jaewoo believed that the beast, which had followed his scent all the way here, probably didn’t hate him. No, he wanted to believe so.
“Well, …if you don’t want to, I can’t help it.”
When this gloomy remark was added, the tip of the beast’s tail flickered. It looked as if it was giving permission, and the corners of Yoon Jaewoo’s mouth relaxed. He smiled and made a gesture of touching the tip of the tail. After watching him for a moment, the beast moved its tail to wrap around Yoon Jaewoo’s neck.
“Ahaha, that tickles.”
As Yoon Jaewoo burst out laughing, the tail wrapped around his neck tightened. At the pleasantly firm pressure, Yoon Jaewoo let out a continuous stream of laughter.
“Hahahaha. You’re really soft.”
The corners of the beast’s eyes gently curved. Seeing this, Yoon Jaewoo carefully asked once more.
“Can I touch it?”
As if thinking for a moment, the beast closed and opened its eyes. That was all. Strangely, he could tell in that instant that the small movement contained permission.
Yoon Jaewoo smiled brightly and grasped Jinsu-hyung’s tail firmly with his palm. The thick, soft fur filled his palm. Would it feel like this to touch a soft spring breeze?
Yoon Jaewoo smiled and muttered.
“I guess this is the reward. He said he’d give me a reward…, this is nice.”
When Eustace had said he would give him a reward, Yoon Jaewoo had imagined he had hidden some jewels somewhere in the forest or hung up some delicious food. Even when he saw the faint white ball of fur in the bushes, he had thought, No way. He had asked him to bring Jinsu-hyung, but he had not thought Eustace would keep that promise.
As Yoon Jaewoo stroked Jinsu-hyung’s tail fur with his palm, he thought that Eustace was surprisingly good at keeping his word. If only he could get a promise out of that bastard’s mouth to fix his leg, he wouldn’t have anything to worry about….
“Let’s go together when my leg gets better.”
Yoon Jaewoo looked at Jinsu-hyung. But his eyes were dreaming of a distant scene.
“When my leg is all better, we’ll go back to the world I was originally in. If we go there, I’m really famous and successful. I earn a lot of money, too. I’ll build a big house. I’ll build a house for you too, Jinsu-hyung. A normal doghouse won’t do for you, so I’ll have to place a special order.”
Yoon Jaewoo’s eyes sparkled with delight. He imagined himself lying side by side with the large, white-furred beast on a green lawn.
With Jinsu-hyung’s fluffy tail pressed against his face, Yoon Jaewoo continued.
“Everyone will be so surprised when I show up again. The miraculous return of the genius Yoon Jaewoo, who was thought to be dead! Hahaha, the director will faint.”
Yoon Jaewoo gently turned his head to the side and looked at the beast.
“You’re so big, people might try to capture you, so I’ll take good care of you. Even if I advance to the Premier League, I’ll take you with me.”
The beast quietly listens to Yoon Jaewoo’s mumblings. Yoon Jaewoo, feeling as if everything he was saying would one day come true, looked up at the distant sky and smiled.
“It would be really nice if that happened.”
Suddenly remembering his current reality, Yoon Jaewoo sighed and looked at Jinsu-hyung.
“Jinsu-hyung. …Do you think that can happen?”
The beast cast a seemingly indifferent gaze, its thoughts unreadable.
“There are four people in this world who can fix my leg, …haah, this is driving me crazy.”
Thinking of two of them, a sigh escaped him automatically.
“That guy named Yatenbaum or whatever is a complete weirdo. A pervert, a weirdo. Do you know what a pervert is? A pervert.”
He wondered if the beast would even understand the word ‘pervert’, but Yoon Jaewoo chattered on. Jinsu-hyung was a precious and cute bamboo forest for him to vent in.
“He says he’s going to take me and get me pregnant. That perverted bastard. It makes me sick.”
He had once imagined himself with a pregnant belly and had dry heaved while eating. That was why no matter how Yatenbaum tried to tempt him by saying he would fix his leg if he followed him, Yoon Jaewoo paid him no mind.
When Yoon Jaewoo started badmouthing Yatenbaum, the white beast, which had been listening without any particular reaction until then, turned its head. Curiosity flickered in its bluish eyes.
“How on earth do people serve a god like that? If they had any sense, they would believe in a proper god.”
The tip of the tail swayed, tickling Yoon Jaewoo’s nose. Yoon Jaewoo chuckled and hugged Jinsu-hyung’s tail. For some reason, Jinsu-hyung seemed to be in a good mood. The tail swayed with the forest breeze.
“Yatenbaum isn’t the only pervert.”
Remembering Eustace, who had a perfectly normal face but a horrifying hobby behind it, Yoon Jaewoo ground his teeth.
“Of course, since you’re an animal of that country, you probably have some patriotism, …but I’m telling you this for your own good, don’t trust Eustace too much.”
The tail, which had been swaying gently in the breeze, abruptly stopped.
“He’s the pervert of all perverts who kills anyone he likes and traps them in a display case as beads, and what’s more, while I was unconscious from the arrow wound, he did something so shameless to me—, ugh.”
Suddenly choked by the tail, Yoon Jaewoo gasped for breath, coughing, “Kegh, kegh.” The beast whipped its head around and threw Yoon Jaewoo to the ground.
“Hey, all of a sudden, …that hurts.”
Yoon Jaewoo muttered, rubbing the back of his neck with his palm. His neck had only been choked for a moment, but it burned as if it were on fire.
“Hey, hey. Are you angry because I badmouthed your country’s god?”
Seeing Jinsu-hyung turn his back completely and sit down, a startled Yoon Jaewoo asked urgently. But the beast did not turn its head back.
“No, I mean…, you’re an animal so you don’t know, so it’s hard for me to explain in detail, but it’s really like that.”
Yoon Jaewoo continued, breaking out in a cold sweat.
“So what that Eustace guy did to me, ugh…, it’s really hard to say in words, but anyway, he’s a pervert.”
Yoon Jaewoo had hoped that at least Jinsu-hyung would sympathize with him.
“I’m serious. Really, for real. The biggest pervert, the ultimate per…!”
The beast’s tail clamped over Yoon Jaewoo’s mouth. Yoon Jaewoo’s face filled with bewilderment and indignation.
“Ptooey, ptooey.”
His mouth now full of fur, Yoon Jaewoo spat for a good while, going “ptooey, ptooey.” The beast turned its back on Yoon Jaewoo and started walking into the forest.
“D-don’t go!”
Yoon Jaewoo urgently reached out his hand. Barely managing to grab the tip of the tail, Yoon Jaewoo wiped his mouth with his sleeve and continued.
“Okay. I won’t curse him. Don’t go. It’s been a while.”
So desperate it could be called pleading, Yoon Jaewoo’s expression was full of longing. The beast, its tail tip caught, stood still without looking back. Yoon Jaewoo carefully added his other hand to hold the tail.
“Don’t go. If you don’t like it, I won’t talk about Eustace.”
There was no strength in the voice that said those words.
“Today, …you’re my reward.”
It hurt his pride to admit that he had come because of Eustace’s command, but Yoon Jaewoo wanted to hold on to Jinsu-hyung even if it meant doing so.
Just a little longer, he wanted to chat and play without a single thought. This was the only moment in this world where he could be Yoon Jaewoo.
Only then did the beast turn its head. Yoon Jaewoo’s large eyes were trembling as if he were about to cry.
“Don’t go.”
He’s a child. An unmistakable child.
A sigh escaped from the beast’s eyes as it watched him on the verge of tears, whining for it not to go.
‘What a child.’
Eustace, in the form of Rot, thought to himself.
Rot was the incarnation of the Dweord’s progenitor, the one from whom they inherited their blood. Eustace possessed the form of Rot, who inherited the blood of the bird and the wolf. Rot’s form was so sacred that no one dared to lift their head and gaze upon it carelessly.
Eustace knew that Yoon Jaewoo perceived Eustace and Rot as entirely different beings, but he did not bother to correct him. At first, he thought there was no need to explain every single thing, and later, explaining became difficult. Yoon Jaewoo had become overly attached to Eustace in his Rot form.
It was bothersome and awkward.
Hardly a day went by that Yoon Jaewoo did not seek out Eustace in his Rot form to pour out his grievances. When transformed into Rot’s form, he became more sensitive to sound, so the other person’s voice was heard several times more clearly. His ability to understand the words increased. Moreover, since sound is learned, the more he listened, the wider his range of understanding became. When Eustace, in the form of Rot, faced Yoon Jaewoo, he could understand almost everything he said, except for the most subtle nuances.
“Don’t go. Stay with me. Jinsu-hyung.”
Ramia said, his large eyes welling up with tears. He looked just like a child pestering for candy.
Eustace, in the form of Rot, let out a low sigh. Yoon Jaewoo, watching his reaction, hesitantly approached his side.
“Do you have a place to sleep? Where do you sleep? Did you eat? Who takes care of you?”
In front of Rot, a being so revered that just seeing his form was considered the glory of one’s family, Yoon Jaewoo’s attitude was as if he were dealing with a neighborhood stray dog.
“If I had known I would see you, I would have brought something.”
Yoon Jaewoo said as he carefully touched the tip of the tail with his fingers. Then, as if he had remembered something, he went, “Ah,” and clapped his hands together.
“There should be some leftover meat from earlier. I’ll go get it.”
As Yoon Jaewoo was about to return to where he had set up camp, the beast snatched the hem of his clothes in its mouth. Yoon Jaewoo went, “Huh?” and turned around.
“Why?”
The beast, with Yoon Jaewoo’s hem still in its mouth, shook its head.
“You don’t want me to go?”
Its head moved up and down, twice.
Yoon Jaewoo answered obediently, “Okay, I won’t go.” Only then did the beast release the collar of Yoon Jaewoo’s clothes it had been holding.
Eustace, in the form of Rot, thought.
Why is this Ramia not normally this obedient. If he had listened just half as much as he was now, he would not have been shot with an arrow or faced a brush with death.
“So you don’t go either.”
Yoon Jaewoo pleaded once more, clinging to the beast’s tail. He looked like a young one afraid its mother would abandon it.
“Let’s go together. Those two guys, …those two Dweords, I’ll try to persuade them somehow. They probably won’t even care. Maybe.”
Yoon Jaewoo thought that Yatenbaum probably wouldn’t care, and that Eustace would just ignore it.
“Let’s go together. …But I don’t know where we’re going.”
Yoon Jaewoo muttered, recalling the fierce debate Eustace and Yatenbaum had over their destination.
“But you’ll still come with me, right?”
At Yoon Jaewoo’s question, the beast’s expression changed subtly. Seeing the gaze that was neither affirmative nor negative, Yoon Jaewoo thought for a moment and then changed his words.
“Then will you stay nearby? If you don’t want to show yourself in front of other people.”
Come to think of it, Jinsu-hyung did not often show himself in front of people. Perhaps, unlike his appearance, he was a shy one, Yoon Jaewoo thought. I should respect the tendencies of a shy one.
“We can just meet at night, too.”
Yoon Jaewoo wished he could at least see Jinsu-hyung’s face like this sometimes. …It would be even better if he could touch his tail.
As always, no answer returned. Still, Yoon Jaewoo felt much better. It was the same with anything. When you are focused on doing something, you need time to catch your breath in between.
The task he needed to focus on now was getting his leg fixed and escaping this place. He did not know the exact method, but knowing that there was a possibility, he resolved to do his best. In between, when he wanted to rest, he wanted to meet Jinsu-hyung. He wanted to spend time without any particular thought while fiddling with the white, soft fur.
“Shall we go for a walk?”
As Yoon Jaewoo’s words ended, the beast began to walk slowly down the forest path, and Yoon Jaewoo followed behind it as if it were the most natural thing to do.
“Is Jinsu-hyung nocturnal? Are wolves originally nocturnal? But are you even a wolf?”
He looked like a wolf, but he was so large, his fur was entirely white, and he even had wings near his shoulders. A doubt arose as to whether it was right to call him a wolf.
The beast walking ahead turned back with an indifferent face.
“Your face is definitely a wolf’s. …Well, I’ll just think of you as a wolf.”
As if chuckling, the beast curved its eyes and then turned its head away. Yoon Jaewoo quickly came up beside it.
“Walk carefully. It’s dark, so I can’t see what’s ahead…, it’s pretty bright, actually?”
A moment ago, it had been hard to make out even a step ahead, but now it was bright enough to see several paces forward. Yoon Jaewoo tilted his head and looked at the fur of the beast walking beside him.
Could it be that this fur is made of a special material that absorbs light and then emits it, or maybe the fur itself glows?
Yoon Jaewoo fiddled with the tip of the tail, the only part he was allowed to touch, and held it up to illuminate the darkness. It did not particularly glow. Still, just in case, Yoon Jaewoo tried to use the tail to light up various places. He only stopped after getting hit hard with the tail.
Doing such silly things, Yoon Jaewoo walked through the night forest. When his right leg hurt and he stopped to pound it with his fist, the beast also stopped walking. After rubbing his leg a few times, he walked again.
After doing that for a while, his clothes became damp with the night dew, and a chill ran through his body. He was rubbing the goosebumps on his arms with his palm when his eyes met the beast’s.
“Oh? It’s okay.”
Actually, he had been thinking he should head back for a while now. But he had walked on, thinking, It should be okay for a little longer, and now the path he had walked stretched out far behind him.
The beast, as if it also noticed Yoon Jaewoo’s condition, began to look around.
“It’s okay. My leg just hurts a little. Haa, I wish I could go get a massage somewhere.”
Remembering the massage and bathing services he had received at Eustace’s castle, Yoon Jaewoo let out a sorrowful sigh.
The beast stared intently at such a Yoon Jaewoo.
“Huh? No. It’s fine. It’s not like you can give me a massage with your front paws, anyway.”
After saying that, the image of Jinsu-hyung diligently pressing his leg with his front paws came to mind, and Yoon Jaewoo burst out laughing with a “Keuk.”
A look of puzzlement appeared in the beast’s eyes.
“No, it’s nothing. It’s fine. Ah, that would be hilarious.”
The beast brought its face right up to Yoon Jaewoo’s. It was as if it were interrogating him about why he was laughing.
“No, I just imagined you giving me a massage, and I thought it would be really cute. Hahaha.”
He called him Jinsu-hyung because he was bigger than his dog Jinsu, but Yoon Jaewoo felt that the animal before him was like his younger brother.
“Aigoo, you cute thing.”
The moment Yoon Jaewoo reached out his hand to touch the bridge of Jinsu-hyung’s nose, a heavy weight settled on his shoulders. Yoon Jaewoo fell backward as if collapsing.
Yoon Jaewoo’s eyes widened in surprise.
The beast pressed down on Yoon Jaewoo’s shoulders with its front paws and let out a low growl. A startled Yoon Jaewoo could not say a word.
The beast’s large hind paw pressed down on Yoon Jaewoo’s leg. Yoon Jaewoo tried to get up, but he couldn’t move a single finger, as if frozen.
I’m scared.
Yoon Jaewoo felt an unfamiliar emotion toward the beast before him. The scene he had thought would be cute was instantly engulfed in terror. Yoon Jaewoo could only manage to blink his eyes a couple of times.
The beast’s paws pressed down on Yoon Jaewoo’s body, little by little. Each time, Yoon Jaewoo flinched, his shoulders trembling. Seeing this, the beast narrowed its eyes as if satisfied.
For the first time, Yoon Jaewoo realized that Jinsu-hyung could not be a pet to be raised in the backyard. The beast was an untamable wild animal.
The beast was pinning Yoon Jaewoo down with its strength, wearing an expression of what could only be described as cruel satisfaction. The beast slowly brought its mouth toward Yoon Jaewoo’s face.
I’m going to be eaten.
Yoon Jaewoo squeezed his eyes shut. But even after a long while, he felt no movement. Yoon Jaewoo timidly opened the eyes he had kept closed.
The beast was looking down at him. After staring for a long time, it got off of Yoon Jaewoo’s body. Until the tail flicked and touched Yoon Jaewoo’s face, he hadn’t even realized that Jinsu-hyung had gotten off of him.
“……”
Yoon Jaewoo pushed his upper body up with a dazed face. The beast playfully wrapped its tail around Yoon Jaewoo’s neck and moved away.
“Ah, i-it was a jo…joke.”
Yoon Jaewoo said in a trembling voice, forcing a smile. The beast turned its body in the direction they had come from, as if to say they should go back. But Yoon Jaewoo could not get up. His legs had given out, and he could not stand up at all.
The beast, sensing that Yoon Jaewoo was not following, turned its head. Tears streamed down the face of Yoon Jaewoo, who was still sitting on the ground.
The beast’s eyes widened. Yoon Jaewoo hastily touched his eyes with his palm and blushed.
“Uh, sorry, I was s-startled…, s-so embarrassing.”
Yoon Jaewoo quickly wiped his tears with his sleeve. But as soon as he wiped them, tears gushed out uncontrollably. Yoon Jaewoo quickly covered his face with his hands.
“Don’t look! It’s embarrassing! Go away!”
The beast looked at Yoon Jaewoo with a perplexed expression, then turned its back and sat down on the spot. It was its own way of being considerate.
Yoon Jaewoo covered his face with his palms and waited for the tears to stop.
“…Damn it.”
Once the tears stopped, a wave of shame washed over him, making his head throb.
To be completely intimidated by the creature he thought of as a younger brother suddenly pouncing on him, and then to burst into tears from shock. …He wanted to die.
With his face buried in his knees, Yoon Jaewoo endlessly chewed on his self-loathing.
Idiot, moron, did you think it was a dog and not a wolf, no matter how fluffy and soft and nice its tail is, it’s a wild animal, who knew it would suddenly pounce, damn it, so embarrassing, so embarrassing. I take back calling you cute, you son of a bitch….
“Huak!”
Discovering Jinsu-hyung was suddenly right in front of his nose, Yoon Jaewoo recoiled in fright. The beast flinched and moved back a little. Yoon Jaewoo, feeling a strange sense of guilt, hurriedly made excuses.
“N-no. It’s not that I don’t like you, I was just s-startled because you came so suddenly…. I mean….”
The beast took another step back. Thinking this wouldn’t do, Yoon Jaewoo reached out his hands and rashly pulled the beast’s head into an embrace.
Holding the large head that he couldn’t fully encircle even with both arms spread wide, Yoon Jaewoo soothed Jinsu-hyung with a trembling voice.
“I’m, I’m…, I’m n-not scared of you. It’s… it’s okay. Jinsu-hyung. It’s okay.”
After saying that, it really did seem to become okay. Yoon Jaewoo put more strength into his arms.
“It’s okay. I’m sorry. I, I won’t do it again.”
Forcibly held in an embrace, the beast looked at Yoon Jaewoo with a dumbfounded expression. But Yoon Jaewoo, with his eyes squeezed shut and trembling as he put strength into his arms, had no way of noticing the beast’s reaction.
“…So.”
In a voice so small it would be missed if one wasn’t paying close attention, Yoon Jaewoo added his last words.
Don’t hate me.
The beast, which had been about to force itself free, heard those words and slowly closed and opened its eyes. The beast’s low breaths settled on Yoon Jaewoo’s shoulder. The beast remained in his embrace, its head lowered, until Yoon Jaewoo let him go.
In the end, Yoon Jaewoo fell asleep just like that, leaning against Jinsu-hyung.