UR Chapter 119

Chapter 119

“Mr. I-bom, hello.”

“Ah, sir. How have you been?”

I-bom bowed politely to the man before him. As usual, he was dressed in flashy clothes—a tattered T-shirt and worn-out jeans that didn’t suit the season.

I-bom brushed the back of his wrinkled knit sweater to make it look neater. After all, when meeting the parent of someone you liked, it was natural to want to make a good impression.

“Sir?”

Eun Pyeong-hwa, who had confidently entered through the gate, suddenly let out a short laugh, as if something amused him.

“Did I… do something wrong?”

“No, no. It’s just that I’ve never heard anyone call me that before—quite a shocking title. Anyway… did Beom-ho go home?”

Without being invited in, he looked around the cluttered house with an air of entitlement. Flustered, I-bom fanned his flushed face and hurried after him.

“Yes, we parted earlier… Did you come here to see Mr. Beom-ho?”

Standing with his hands politely folded, I-bom shook his slightly messy hair, then rushed to straighten a rubber basin and broom scattered in the yard.

“Nope. If he were here, he’d just make a fuss telling me to leave. Tigers are possessive—if a parent approaches their mate without warning, they absolutely hate it.”

He frowned and shook his head, his soft, fluffy hair swaying lightly. To someone who didn’t know better, he could have easily been mistaken for a cute dog beastman, not the father of a grown son. He tilted his head back, scanning toward the roof of the house.

“Yeah… I don’t feel his presence here. Hm?”

“Meow!”

A blur of fur suddenly dashed into the shiny tip of his shoe with a thump. It looked like either a rag or a ball of fluff. Pyeong-hwa, who had been inspecting the house with his arms crossed, bent down toward the intruder and carefully picked it up between his fingers. It was a small, black-and-white mottled kitten.

“And what’s this tiny thing?”

He frowned at the kitten, whose round pupils widened as their eyes met. When he lifted it, the startled creature batted its little paw at his face.

“Meow!”

“What, it’s not even a beastman—just a real kitten.”

He clicked his tongue at the small cat’s unafraid expression, then gave its soft head a light rub before setting it back down. Glancing at his shoe, he saw a clear smudge where the kitten’s face had pressed into the polished black leather.

“Hey, you got my shoe dirty.”

“Meow.”

The kitten licked its lips at him.

“Meow? You’re a cheeky one. I’m only letting it slide because you’re a baby.”

With a sigh, Pyeong-hwa pulled a thin handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his shoe clean, clearly aware that scolding a kitten was pointless.

“Not a hunting dog, yet you charge right in without fear. Is this your cat, Mr. I-bom?”

He casually rubbed the kitten’s back, his hand leaving clear impressions in the fluffy fur. The kitten arched and hissed, fur standing on end.

“Bold little thing—walking right into a house reeking of predator pheromones.”

“Ah, I don’t keep it as a pet. I just feed it sometimes.”

I-bom glanced around as if searching for something, then spoke to the cat.

“Where’s your mom and sibling? Why’d you come alone?”

“Meow!”

The kitten, dodging Pyeong-hwa’s touch, pricked its ears at I-bom’s voice. Its sharp, alert look softened instantly as it stretched out in front of him, twitching its pink nose and giving a light meow.

I-bom crouched down and stroked the little body rolling at his feet.

“Just came to play? Looking for a snack from big brother?”

“Ah… so it was just me you were wary of? Mr. I-bom, seems like kittens really like you.”

Pyeong-hwa nodded in mock admiration, as if amused by the sudden visit and the way I-bom was now stroking the kitten without knowing why. The kitten purred under I-bom’s hand but turned its head to stare intently at Pyeong-hwa.

“Meow…”

Pyeong-hwa barely acknowledged the sound before abruptly stifling a laugh, as if a thought had struck him.

“Ah, never mind. I guess you just have the kind of face all felines like. Big cats or small, they’re always coming around for you.”

“Huh? Big cats?”

“Tigers are felines too, you know. Large cats.”

When he shrugged and tried to suppress a laugh, I-bom stared at him in confusion, not understanding the implication.

“What do you mean by that…?”

“Oh, right. I came today to give you something. Let me not forget.”

Ignoring the question, Pyeong-hwa wiped at the corner of his eye as if removing a tear, cleared his throat, and pulled something from his back pocket.

In his hand was a small envelope, which he set gently on the back of I-bom’s hand as he was petting the kitten.

“What’s this?”

I-bom picked up the envelope carefully, blinking in puzzlement at him.

Pyeong-hwa smiled mischievously, his eyes lowered. The curve of his grin was strikingly similar to Beom-ho’s. For someone said to be father and son, his boyish looks made him seem more like a younger brother—if anything, the father looked like the younger sibling.

“Think of it as… an invitation.”

He rubbed his smooth chin and let out a thoughtful hum. On the small envelope in I-bom’s hands—its plain surface without an address or a stamp—he looked down with a serious expression. I-bom lightly brushed his fingers over the flap and asked,

“An invitation? Whose… wedding is it?”

There was no name written on it, but from the feel of the envelope and the thick, soft paper inside, it reminded him of the kind of stationery usually reserved for wedding invitations. He pressed his fingers to the flap, ready to tear it open.

“A wedding? No, nothing like that… think of it more like… a date invitation.”

“A date invitation?”

I-bom tilted his head, and the kitten purring in his lap twitched in surprise.

“Haaw!”

“Huh? What’s wrong with you?”

As if it had overheard something it didn’t like, the kitten sprang to its feet and, without giving I-bom a chance to call it back, darted off over the hill.

“What the…”

He glanced in the direction the kitten had fled, then turned back to Pyeong-hwa.

“You mean you’re asking me out on a date, sir…?”

“No. Not a date with just me—more like a family date. Something like… twenty to one?”

“That’s just a family gathering.”

I-bom widened his eyes in disbelief, countering Pyeong-hwa’s words.

“…Who even calls that a twenty-to-one date? That’s misleading.”

“For reference, the one doing the inviting is my father. Everyone wants to meet you—they’re so curious. He even wrote the invitation himself, but didn’t want to send it by post, so he asked me to deliver it directly to you.”

Thup— I-bom’s hand, which had been sliding a finger under the flap, froze at his words. So it wasn’t a wedding invitation but a genuine invitation after all. And if Pyeong-hwa was Beom-ho’s father, then “my father” could only mean one person—Chairman Eun Kang.

I-bom’s smile faltered. Thinking about it again, this wasn’t something to laugh off.

“Your… father, meaning… the chairman of Samho Group? And you want me to… come to the house… but why?”

Flustered, he waved the envelope slightly. The idea of being invited to the chairman’s home startled him—Eun Kang was a famous figure he’d only ever seen on TV. Going to his house felt like being told to walk straight into a tiger’s den. Was that… safe? I-bom swallowed hard.

“What are you getting so worked up for? What’s going through your head?”

Pyeong-hwa waved a hand as if to brush away his nerves, then slowly locked eyes with him. The thin corners of his lips curled upward.

“Mr. I-bom, if you were just an ordinary person, maybe it’d be different—but no one’s going to threaten you. Right now, you’re completely covered in Beom-ho’s pheromones. The moment you walk into that house, everyone will know.”

He leaned down and murmured low by I-bom’s ear.

“That you’re our Beom-ho’s mate.”