UR Chapter 50

Chapter 50

The blatant rejection was obvious, yet the middle-aged man in a black suit, with short-cropped hair, smiled pleasantly and extended his hand toward him. His face showed not the slightest hint of concern.

“Isn’t this Representative Eun Beom-ho? I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Gangster? Thug? The middle-aged man’s gravelly voice carried as he bowed his head sharply in a respectful greeting. The man accepted it with practiced ease, as if accustomed to such treatment. His downward gaze was chilly, and with just a dismissive flick of his hand, he gave a single response.

“Mm.”

“Yes. It’s been a while. Our young master caused some trouble recently, so we’ve been quite busy.”

“Judging by how you’re still putting on the act of familiarity, I suppose so.”

No harsh words were exchanged, yet the atmosphere felt heavy. Was this what it meant to be able to adjust one’s aura depending on the person? Without threats or profanity, the man had a way of pressing down on someone with sheer presence. Watching the scene made I-bom feel strangely uneasy.

“….”

Perhaps noticing I-bom peeking out from behind him, the middle-aged man spoke with a smile.

“Hello. I’m Kim Su-wan, Head of Public Relations at Donghwa Newspaper.”

Still smiling, the man handed I-bom a small card. It was a neat business card with “Donghwa Newspaper” printed on it.

Should he accept it? Not understanding the situation, I-bom blinked at the proffered card before bowing his head politely.

“Ah, yes. Hello…”

Donghwa Newspaper was a major news corporation I-bom knew of—one even the owner of Happy Bunny restaurant subscribed to.

If the PR head of such a large company was bowing so courteously, just what kind of person was this man beside him?

“It’s better not to take things from suspicious people.”

The man brushed aside the middle-aged man’s hand firmly.

“Oh, come now. You’ll scare him.”

Even faced with outright rejection, the middle-aged man simply kept smiling without the slightest trace of disappointment.

“Ah, perhaps you’re unfamiliar with Donghwa Newspaper?”

“…Soo-hyun. Donghwa Newspaper is run by CEO Kim Jung-ho, of the cheetah beastman line.”

The middle-aged man had said “unfamiliar?” with a smirk, but the man beside I-bom answered first.

“Ah, yes, I’m a cheetah beastman myself. Donghwa Newspaper is staffed mostly by cheetahs and servals.”

“I see…”

I-bom nodded.

A cheetah beastman? That was something he hadn’t been able to ask and only Soo-hyun had speculated about—now surfacing in such an unexpected moment. If he was from a cheetah beastman family, it must be the very one Soo-hyun had shivered about, muttering, “They say he bit someone!”

So… was Eun Beom-ho also a cheetah beastman?

I-bom instinctively glanced between the middle-aged man and the one beside him.

“So then, your young master—after causing that mess—is doing well?”

The man put extra weight on the words “your young master.” It seemed he was trying to keep his gaze from carrying too much intimidation, aware of I-bom’s fearful glances.

“Yes. Thanks to your concern, he’s well.”

“Good. He should be. Acting so recklessly that someone almost died.”

The man’s reply was curt. Leaning back with a hint of disdain, his sharp tone felt almost aggressive.

“Well, what’s one person almost dying? What matters is our young master is perfectly fine.”

At the middle-aged man’s casual dismissal, the man’s gaze turned razor-sharp. His lips curled into a cold half-smile as he exhaled a single, bitter syllable.

“Ha.”

It was a face utterly unlike the warm one from before. Gone was any kindness—only an icy glare remained, eyes burning so fiercely they seemed like they might spark even in total darkness. The predatory gleam made I-bom shiver and close his eyes for a brief moment before opening them again.

Must’ve imagined it.

“In any case, I’d prefer not to see it in the news again.”

“Well, that would be best.”

“…”

As that sharp voice rang out—a tone that didn’t match him at all—I-bom rolled his eyes to the side, only for them to meet the middle-aged man’s. He grinned as if spotting prey, his gaze fixed on I-bom.

“Ah, and this person… were you on a date?”

“If you know, then move along.”

The man answered without denial. Date. The confident way he said it made I-bom’s eyes widen. He hurriedly waved his hands to deny it, but the man, as if expecting it, naturally draped his arm over I-bom’s shoulders. His long, broad arm easily reached the opposite side. His heart nearly leapt out of his chest.

The man’s long fingers lightly tapped, as if searching for something to steady him, then found it—lifting I-bom’s hand up. Though the heart was on the left side of the chest, the warmth of his touch made I-bom’s pulse race as if it were beating in his palm instead.

Before he knew it, their fingers had intertwined. I-bom flinched and looked up at him. To anyone watching, they’d look like a loving couple.

“Don’t interrupt.”

“Ah! I remember now. A blind date!”

The man spoke loudly.

“Was it today? You two seemed so close, I thought you were lovers, not on a blind date.”

The middle-aged man clapped his hands as if something had clicked and laughed heartily.

“Our young lady told me, and it turns out it’s true.”

“Ah, you mean Kim Jung-ah.”

The man, as if he knew the person, spoke with disinterest.

“Come on, what do you mean ‘Kim Jung-ah’? Do you know how long our young lady has been pursuing you, young master? You’re being so cold.”

He chuckled as if he found it amusing.

“Our young lady was terribly offended. If it’s a feline beastman, at the very least she should be meeting someone on the level of a tiger or a snow leopard. How could the young master Eun Beom-ho, the pureblood tiger beastman representative, end up going on a blind date with some half-blood nobody?”

“So?”

“Well, what I mean is—”

I-bom blinked up at him.

A tiger beastman? A tiger…?

His fingertips trembled. The man tightened his grip on I-bom’s intertwined hand, as if anticipating that he might try to pull away. The hold was firm, unyielding.

“Do you know how angry she was? Pureblood beastmen should only meet other purebloods, but your intentions for meeting a half-blood are obvious. You know our young lady’s temper—she’s fiery—”

“Intentions?”

The man let out a short laugh. His once smooth expression hardened, one corner of his lips lifting sharply.

“I’m curious how you think you figured out my intentions.”

“Well… isn’t it obvious? Half-bloods are lowlifes we normally wouldn’t bother with. Tigers are so lofty, so as the representative of the purebloods, you’re graciously helping out the poor things while also polishing our image.”

“Ha.”

“Isn’t that right?”

The whites of his eyes were yellowed as they raked over him from head to toe. The gleam in his black pupils was sharp, like a predator eyeing prey. Instinctively, I-bom’s whole body trembled. It was the same chill as when prey senses danger, raising goosebumps along his skin.

“Well, I’ll admit—he is certainly good-looking. Young, soft… not lacking in the looks department even compared to purebloods. The eyes are moist… and there’s a certain allure. I thought he might be some young master too.”

He ran his tongue slowly over his lips. His gaze gleamed with the same shine as a predator spotting an easy meal.

Born a half-dog beastman, I-bom had lived his entire life in a beastman village. He’d only ever interacted with other half-bloods of similarly diluted bloodlines, so he had never once been faced with such openly hostile eyes like this.

Sniff. Sniff.

“Hah… even the scent… it’s delicious.”

The man wrinkled his nose, deliberately inhaling I-bom’s scent. The twitching of his nose carried with it the musky odor of a large carnivore. The instinctive disgust and creeping fear it brought made I-bom swallow a short gasp. His stomach turned.

He hadn’t really understood what it meant to go on a blind date with a predator species, but now a deep fear began to take hold. Was this why Soo-hyun hyung had refused?

“Do you know how scary feline predators are? They might just eat you.”

Soo-hyun’s grumbling voice echoed in his ears.

“Haa…”

I-bom clapped a hand over his mouth.

Unconsciously, he squeezed his eyes shut and scanned his surroundings. He could tell the middle-aged man in front of him was eyeing him like prey, but he couldn’t bring himself to shout or provoke him. After all, he was only a half-blood dog. And these were predator beastmen.

He trusted that the man beside him wouldn’t harm him—but who knew for sure? The one looking at him was a cheetah beastman, the swiftest of all feline predators. I-bom’s pale face stayed frozen as he reached out. Through the blur, he spotted a glass of juice.

“My throat hurts.”

He felt he had to drink something, so he took the glass. The dark purplish-red color suggested it was strawberry juice. He swallowed back a cough and brought it to his lips.

“I should drink this…”

It was probably something the man had ordered. Since he’d said he’d drive him home, it likely wasn’t alcohol.

The sweet aroma of grapes reached his nose—it was grape juice. The first sip was sweet.

“Are you alright?”

Perhaps noticing I-bom drinking quietly, the man gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Breathe.”

Strangely, as the man leaned in to whisper, the suffocating, fearful sensation that had been squeezing his throat dissipated, and his heartbeat slowly returned to normal.

“Director Kim Su-wan.”

The man quietly called the middle-aged man’s name.

A husky breath escaped between his low, heavy words.

“How much of a cheetah beastman’s rudeness do you think I’ll tolerate?”

“…What?”

The man who had been laughing heartily blinked and froze, his nose twitching halted in place as he glanced around cautiously.

“Don’t think I’m staying quiet because I find the nonsense you spout acceptable.”

“…Ah.”

“It’s because it isn’t worth getting angry over.”

His gaze was cold.

Cough. Director Kim Su-wan flinched, swallowing back a cough. His broad chest heaved erratically, as if he were having trouble breathing, his face flushed red.

“You wouldn’t want me to transform right here in the middle of the hotel and press my jaws to your neck, would you? That would be the greatest humiliation a predator species could experience.”

“Cough… Yes, yes.”

The man released I-bom’s hand, loosely crossing his arms. The look he gave the now bright-red Kim Su-wan carried a strange weight.

“Charity?”

A deep shadow fell under his frigid gaze.

“It’s fine to say whatever you like to me, but I don’t want my partner hearing unpleasant things. This is my courtship, not charity. Go back and deliver that. And stop using the peace agreement as an excuse to dump everything onto the tiger beastmen.”

“Cough… Yes. Understood.”

The burly middle-aged man was now sweating profusely, as if drowning in a fear he couldn’t withstand.

It was his aura.

Among predator beastmen, it was said they could sometimes suppress or force submission purely with aura, without any direct threats or fighting.

…But I was fine even standing next to Eun Beom-ho.

On its own, his cheek had grown hot.