UR Chapter 65

Chapter 65

“It’s nothing serious. I just came here because I wanted to know who you are.”

The boy pointed precisely at the name tag that read “Kang Soo-hyun” — the same convenience store uniform both I-bom and Soo-hyun wore.

“You’re not Kang Soo-hyun, are you?”

His smile faded, and his voice dropped to a quiet murmur.

“What was your reason for lying?”

Outside, the sunlight filtering through the shop’s front windows was swallowed by clouds, and long shadows began to creep in. The chirping of birds, peaceful just moments ago, cut off abruptly.

“…Huh? W-what do you mean by that…?”

I-bom’s brow furrowed.

The only conversation they’d had was about whether the store carried energy drinks. That was all there was for a customer and a clerk to talk about, wasn’t it?

He scanned the boy up and down warily. The boy met his gaze head-on, his eyes—once a clear blue that I-bom had thought must be contact lenses—darkening, like dark ink spreading slowly through water.

The deepening blackness was like a shadow falling across the room. I-bom slowly shook his head, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

“Want to hear something interesting?”

“…”

“Lies don’t work on me. If someone tells a lie with bad intentions, they’ll end up spilling the truth as if they’ve been possessed. Isn’t that amazing?”

All he’d done was change his expression from smiling to neutral, yet the oppressive weight in the air made I-bom feel crushed. He almost opened his mouth, compelled by the boy’s strange pull, but at the last moment he shut his eyes tight and stepped back into the safety of the counter space.

“Oh? My words didn’t work? And you even moved away.”

The boy muttered to himself.

“…I-it is impressive, I guess.”

His voice shook as if he were forcing the words out. The knuckles of his clenched fists turned white, then flushed red again. He flexed his fingers, trying to loosen the stiffness in them.

“Hmm?”

“My mom told me never to give my name to strangers… you know?”

I-bom took another step back, still guarded.

‘I-bom, don’t ever tell a beastman you don’t know your name.’

The memory of his mother’s stern voice came back to him—her hand gripping his tightly.

‘If they find it out themselves, that’s fine, but you be careful about telling it yourself, because…’

He couldn’t remember the rest. But the instinctive sense that it would be dangerous to hand over his name freely blocked out the fear pressing on him.

“If you’re going to a-ask for my name… you should give yours first. That’s… manners.”

Huff— I-bom’s breathing came in short bursts, his shoulders trembling.

The strange, heavy pressure constricting his body made it hard to bear, but he still forced the words out. He wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand; the skin beneath was red and damp.

In that instant, the suffocating tension in the air seemed to ease. Haa… His ragged breathing slowly calmed.

“Hmm… I suppose you have a point.”

The boy nodded seriously, as if acknowledging his words. Then, smiling brightly, he said,

“But right now, it’s a little difficult for me to tell you. Well… someday, you’ll find out who I am.”

He fixed I-bom with an unreadable smile, his gaze unwavering.

* * *

It was already dark; the evening sun had long since set.

Ring—.

A loud bell rang through the small language building at the university, and students poured out all at once. It was the signal that the late-night TOEIC prep class had ended.

“Ugh, damn TOEIC… During the holidays, really? This is such crap.”

Soo-hyun muttered under his breath as he slung his bag over his shoulder and trudged outside. After a full day of TOEIC drills, his face had gone sallow with exhaustion.

Studying was never his thing. With the typical dog-breed mentality of “playing is the best,” he had lived his whole life in a straight line away from diligence or academics.

Luckily, Kang Soo-hyun was the only son of the richest family in their poor half-dog village. His father and grandfather, both icons of hard work, had struck gold with a dog food factory, and thanks to them, the family had more than enough wealth. Because of that, Soo-hyun had never worried about getting a job and spent his time enjoying life to the fullest.

But this trial called “TOEIC special lectures” had blown in on the winter wind.

It was a bitter blow to the sweet vacation life of a college student—worse still, it was during the Christmas holidays. Normally, he would’ve spent the whole break eating, sleeping, gaming, and enjoying lazy days, but misfortune had found him.

No more fun winter break, no Christmas joy—he had been forced into “Full-Day TOEIC Special Class” for the break. And Soo-hyun, who didn’t even glance at his major textbooks, let alone TOEIC materials, had only one man to blame: his father.

“Soo-hyun, what are you doing all break?”

His father had cleared his throat and opened a newspaper. Normally, the man wouldn’t bother, but lately he’d been trying to act cultured, even reading the paper he never used to touch.

This was the same father who, until recently, spent all his time obsessing over whether to accept or refuse a pureblood beastman’s matchmaking offer because “our family isn’t at that level.” But now, after a stroke of luck had raised the family’s social standing and attracted a pureblood suitor, he had become unbearably haughty. Soo-hyun muttered to himself that his father was a shallow snob.

“Me? I’m gonna play, of course. What else?”

Even on Christmas morning, Soo-hyun had been humming cheerfully as he answered back.

He was in high spirits. “Enjoy life while you’re young” was his motto, and he’d already planned to spend the whole break with friends, even hitting the ski slopes.

The only real worry in his life had been the fear of meeting some terrifying pureblood beastman in an arranged date. But thanks to the smart advice of Kang I-jun, he’d managed to push the unwanted meeting onto a friend’s younger brother. Soo-hyun had grinned, shoulders bouncing, giving a big thumbs-up.

“You little punk!”

His father’s face turned red as he gripped the newspaper tightly, rolling it into a tube and whacking Soo-hyun on the back over and over. The loud thwacks drowned out his own yells of pain.

“You idiot! When are you going to grow up? Learn some culture, study a little! You bird-brained brat!”

“Hey! Why are you calling a dog a bird? That’s discrimination! I’m suing!”

Soo-hyun darted around to avoid the blows, but his father was right behind him, fuming.

“Do you have any idea how rare it is for a pureblood beastman to send you a proposal?”

“Then why hit me? You said yourself you weren’t going to marry me off into a pureblood family!”

“That’s beside the point! You have to think about how much higher your standing is now! More high-class offers are going to come your way!”

His father’s face was flushed with rage.

“And guess what! ‘Beastman Match & Marry’ contacted us! Professional beastman bachelors are interested in our family now! So! Stop playing and start preparing!”

“Beastman Match & Marry” was a matchmaking company exclusively for beastmen, known for only accepting ordinary beastmen and purebloods as members. For them to reach out first meant his matchmaking news had spread fast.

“Wow. Big dreams, huh.”

Honestly, both his mom and dad were ridiculous—getting so excited over such a weird proposal.

“From today on, you’re studying TOEIC hard! At least your English should be good! I already signed you up for your school’s TOEIC class, so get going!”

It was absurd. Just because a pureblood had proposed first, they wanted him to build “culture” so he could snag some other high-ranking marriage?

He’d shouted, “No way!” but escaping his father’s glare was no easy task. In the end, he was caught by the scruff of his neck and dragged to the TOEIC class.

“Ugh, I thought I was free when the matchmaking got postponed, but now it’s study time? This sucks…”

Kicking at the dirt with the toe of his shoe, Soo-hyun grumbled. Yesterday’s snow had frozen the ground solid, but it had all melted by now. The dirt splashed onto his shoe, leaving yellow mud stains. The squelch of mud under his soles only worsened his mood.

Nothing was going right. If it weren’t for that stupid matchmaking, if his father hadn’t gotten silly ideas in his head, he’d be having a blast with his friends at the ski resort right now—not stuck in a lecture room.

“…Speaking of which, I wonder how I-bom’s went. If he came back from the date, he should be giving me the report. Why hasn’t he said anything?”

Frowning, he muttered to himself as he walked, then pulled out his phone.

“He didn’t ghost me, did he?”

He pressed the power button, but still, there were no messages from I-bom.