UR Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Somehow, even without stepping past the front gate, the house was already buzzing with noise. Judging by Soo-hyun’s serious expression, I-bom had guessed that something must have happened.

“What is all this?”

When he opened the door and peeked inside, the entire house looked like a rose garden.

“Wow…”

“Amazing, right?”

After rubbing his eyes and looking again, he realized it wasn’t a rose garden but a mountain of rose bouquets.

Why would there be piles of rose bouquets in the middle of winter, when flowers would freeze to death?

Beautiful cream-colored double roses, pink roses, deep velvet roses, and dazzling yellow roses that could take one’s breath away. From fully bloomed roses to young buds still tightly closed—it was a parade of bouquets bursting with emotion.

“Wow, the roses are so pretty. They smell amazing…”

I-bom looked around in awe. Seeing his favorite flowers filling the space made him happy. The scent of fresh roses wrapped the house entirely, replacing the dry winter air. He bent down, picked a fully layered European rose, and held it to his nose.

“That’s the problem.”

“The bouquets are the problem?”

Before he could even grasp the situation, Soo-hyun, looking grim, took something from his pocket and showed it to him. It was a cream-colored, sparkling card. Before I-bom could squint and read what it said, Soo-hyun shoved it back into his pocket.

“It’s a gift that came with a request for a blind date.”

“That sounds nice.”

“No. I’m in big trouble… No, I’m screwed.”

“What happened?”

“My dad’s making me go on this blind date!”

“…Huh?”

I-bom glanced around. This wasn’t even at the engagement stage yet, but if a gift like this came with a blind date request, the sender had to be extremely wealthy. And romantic, too. So what was the problem?

“You know how my dad was furious, thinking I stole money from the convenience store, right?”

“Yes.”

“So, to ‘teach me a lesson,’ he went ahead and accepted a blind date request.”

A few men, probably the delivery workers, had just finished unloading and tipped their hats to I-bom and Soo-hyun before leaving.

“And what’s the problem? Beastmen sometimes get married early, right?”

I-bom still didn’t understand what the issue was.

“No, I… I never wanted to get married early. My dad kept saying I was useless and should just hurry up and get married, but I always ignored him. I even turned down the first blind date request. But then, suddenly!”

Soo-hyun’s face turned pale as he bit his lip.

“Suddenly?”

“They sent this massive pile of flowers with another blind date proposal… Ugh, this is so troublesome. The reason I turned them down in the first place was because of their bloodline.”

“Their bloodline?”

“Yeah. The letter asking to meet had the seal of the Pureblood Beastman Office.”

“The Pureblood Beastman Office? Then they’re from a pureblood family… isn’t that a good thing?”

I-bom blinked at him.

For a half-beastman to receive a blind date proposal from a pureblood beastman was unheard of. Purebloods were at the top of the beastman hierarchy, and half-beastmen were at the very bottom.

“What kind of pureblood are they?”

I-bom asked again. He thought Soo-hyun’s family would be thrilled at the match.

“A predator type. And feline.”

Soo-hyun’s twisted expression said it all. I-bom had heard more than once that his hot-tempered father, Mr. Kang, kept telling him to get married quickly. He also knew that Soo-hyun’s friends had once gone to a blind date in his place and ruined it on purpose.

“Do you think I’d be happy about a match with a pureblood family? I’m scared of feline beastmen!”

“Ah…”

I-bom nodded. He remembered Soo-hyun shouting before that he hated felines.

“And the timing is awful. A proposal now, of all times—right after that cheetah beastman attacked someone.”

“…They’re a cheetah beastman?”

“They won’t say. They said they can’t reveal their identity. Can you believe that?”

“That’s a bit strange.”

I-bom nodded in agreement. Not revealing their exact species did seem odd.

“Honestly, I already turned them down once. The families don’t match, and they’re a predator… But this time my dad saw the bouquets and agreed! My mom and dad are happy, but I’m terrified. I asked one of the delivery guys, and he said they’re from a really scary family. He’d seen them from a distance…”

“And?”

“He said they were so scary he couldn’t even look at their face! Their presence was so intense, he couldn’t meet their eyes. In this day and age, if a beastman is that intimidating…”

Soo-hyun put a finger to his lips, making a clicking sound as his nails rubbed together.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? A cheetah! Or maybe a tiger? Leopard?”

“…Either way, sounds dangerous.”

“Exactly! So I yelled at my dad, asking if this was the same cheetah beastman who attacked someone recently. And he just laughed, saying there’s no such thing!”

Soo-hyun bit his nails in frustration, his face flushed red.

“Wow, someone could get killed, and he laughs? He’s my dad, but I can’t believe him.”

“……”

“What if his own kid gets eaten by that guy?”

I-bom blinked, watching Soo-hyun rant.

If that was the case, it really could be a problem.

“So what you’re asking me to do is…”

“Yeah. I-bom.”

With a desperate look in his eyes, Soo-hyun grabbed both of I-bom’s hands tightly.

“Go on the blind date in my place.”

“Uh… me?”

Hesitant, I-bom took a step back, but Soo-hyun nodded.

“Yeah. You like cats. You even played with that cat who always hangs around in front of the convenience store yesterday, didn’t you?”

“Feline beastmen and cats… are different, you know.”

I-bom could only stare at him in bewilderment.

* * *

“Weoong.”

A thin, lilting animal voice drifted in from outside the door.

“Oh, Weoong’s here!”

I-bom grinned brightly and ran out of the convenience store. Waiting at the entrance, as if it had been expecting him, was a bright orange-striped cat.

“Weoouuuung.”

If the winds—or any tiger beastmen—were to see it, they’d be stunned by the ridiculous level of acting skill.

‘They’re not around today.’

Beom-ho looked around for the winds. Perhaps because he’d recently scolded Seopung, the ones who usually loitered nearby were nowhere to be seen. It was a relief.

“Phew, you don’t know how long I’ve been waiting.”

“Woongnyaong.”

Beom-ho, forgetting he was actually a tiger, let out a sweet, coaxing tone. Stretching out his fluffy neck, he acted shamelessly for his size. He flared his pink nose and sniffed him.

He had already marked every corner of the man’s home. Not with urine or secretions like actual animals, but with an ability only beastmen possessed.

Beastmen had a kind of pheromone—colorless and scentless to humans—that only beastmen approaching their mating season could emit. Even though humans couldn’t detect it, the scent could drive away other beasts in mating season who might be prowling for a partner.

Among beastmen, tigers were especially possessive and obsessive. Rather than leading a promiscuous life, once they “reserved” a mate, they poured all their blind devotion into that one partner. Maybe it was just a carnivore’s instinct. In any case, when you had someone so lovable and tempting that others might covet him, it was only natural to feel uneasy.

That blind possessiveness led him to drench every area around him with his pheromones. Eun Beom-ho had rubbed his scent onto the blanket I-bom slept with, the pillow, the bathroom, his workplace, his shoes, even the inside of his jumper. Ordinary people couldn’t sense it, but any beastman would—and that warning would be loud and clear.

“Ah, that tickles.”

When the pink, damp nose pressed insistently here and there, he twisted away with a laugh. All he could smell was Beom-ho’s scent mingled with that sweet, distinct fragrance of his—subtly mixed with soap.

“Do I smell? You’re especially persistent today.”

He smiled lovingly and tapped Beom-ho’s nose. It was something he’d learned while studying animal language—this was a “don’t do that” signal. Each animal had its own sign of refusal, and pressing the nose was the rule for canines, if he remembered correctly.

Beom-ho blinked innocently as if he had no idea, then yawned theatrically and licked his front paw with his tongue.