UR Chapter 141

Chapter 141

Eun Beom-ho’s eyes—his pupils, round and wide from tension—trembled as they looked up at I-bom.
Did I-bom realize there was fear mixed into the gaze looking up at him right now?

Even after getting engaged to I-bom and bringing him to his home, he was terrified that he might hear words of rejection. Fear wrapped around his whole body. How should he convince him? Just imagining I-bom looking at him in disappointment for having deceived him made his chest ache and his heart clench.

“…I’m sorry.”

In the end, Beom-ho—still in Weoong’s form—slowly parted his lips and spoke cautiously. His wavering eyes trembled dangerously, as though they might collapse at any moment.

“But it wasn’t on purpose. I—”

…I did it because I liked you. I wanted to be near you, to win your heart. I didn’t want to part with you. So I hid my true form and tried so hard to be loved that way.

“I… wanted to be someone you thought was cool and good, I-bom.”

His voice trailed into a murmur. His ears drooped back as if sulking. What if he said he was leaving? What if, like Kang Soo-hyun, he called him a monster? What if he pushed him away and went to someone else? The thought made his whole body tremble.

“…Mr. Beom-ho.”

I-bom’s shadow fell close. The deep shadow crept in until it completely covered him. I-bom raised his hand. Please—don’t go. Beom-ho closed his eyes.

“Does Kang I-bom know you’re a monster?”

But the place I-bom’s hand touched was not his tail—it was the top of his head. The warmth where it rested was gentle.

“I worried a lot. About whether Weoong was doing okay. Because he… gave me the strength to keep living, just like you do, Mr. Beom-ho.”

I-bom looked at him and smiled softly, then reached out to stroke the fluffy fur of his face. The touch was careful.

“Before I met you, I was always alone. When I lost the only friend I could truly open my heart to, I felt so heavy inside… But knowing you were doing well, it puts me at ease.”

“…Aren’t you angry with me? I hid the truth… and deceived you.”

Beom-ho, speaking through Weoong’s mouth, blinked, his long whiskers twitching. He didn’t even realize his drooping ears were showing how deflated he was.

“Mm, not at all. Not one bit.”

I-bom gently rubbed behind his drooped ears.

“You’ve always stayed by my side, even when I didn’t know it. I’m glad we finally got to meet like this.”

“…”

“So I like it.”

I-bom’s warm breath brushed against his ear.

“I told you… I like you, Mr. Beom-ho.”

Suddenly, it was as if a sharp blade stabbed into his head—pain flared.

Beom-ho felt something being dragged out from the deepest corner of his heart, something he had stuffed away.

Ah. So this is Yangsim Fever.

Yangsim Fever wasn’t just some old legend handed down—it was real.

…It really was a matter of conscience.

It was something he’d secretly wondered even when talking to Kang Soo-hyun. The old stories said Yangsim Fever was an illness pureblood beastmen suffered when they felt true guilt. He remembered Soo-hyun yelling, “That’s just a monster pretending to be human!”

Honestly, he had never really understood. Could it really exist? They said it developed as a way for purebloods to control their overwhelming power, but did people actually fall ill from it? It had always been one of those questions lingering in his mind.

Beom-ho found himself gasping. This really hurt. More than anything before. The sky seemed to turn yellow and his head spun.

“I-bom.”

His eyelashes fluttered. Seeing that, I-bom frowned in concern and scanned him up and down.

“Why—what’s wrong?”

Thump. The moment before, he had been in his cat form, but with a sudden pop, he returned to human shape. Sweat poured from him like rain, and his face was pale. Then his body pitched forward. I-bom hastily caught him, supporting his weakening frame. Beom-ho’s upper body slumped against I-bom’s lap, his lips pale and trembling.

“M-Mr. Beom-ho?”

“…I… I’m sick.”

Even saying just that one sentence took all the strength he had. His whole body felt feverishly hot, as though boiling. The mountain lord who once strode about in short sleeves in the dead of winter was nowhere to be seen. I-bom gripped his hand tightly.

“Ah, what do I—your body’s burning—”

“…I think… this is Yangsim Fever.”

Beom-ho lowered his gaze, lips barely moving.

“Because I deceived you… because I felt sorry… that’s why.”

“…”

The guilt of not telling the truth to the one he loved pressed endlessly on his heart. He should have said it when he told him he liked him—that they had already met before.

I should have.

Thud.

The moment those words left him, Beom-ho collapsed onto the floor.

“Mr. Beom-ho!”

I-bom cried out, startled, as he rushed to touch his forehead. His whole body was burning hot. Hugging Beom-ho’s limp form close, he shouted toward the window inside the house—

“M-Mr. Butler!”

* * *

“Hey.”

With a loud bang, the hospital room door flew open. Kang Soo-hyun ripped off the sleep mask he’d been wearing and muttered.

“Ah, damn it… what the hell.”

Light seeped in through the gap where he had irritably thrown aside the mask. A mocking voice reached his ears.

“Who the hell gets hospitalized for insomnia?”

Lying in the hospital bed, Kang Soo-hyun frowned. He stared blankly for a moment, unable to clearly recognize the figure before him. A man wearing a cap grumbled as he leaned against the wall at an angle. Still hooked up to a yellow IV drip, Soo-hyun blinked groggily.

“…What the—Kang I-jun?”

His voice was hoarse, his deep dark circles making him look worn down.

Soo-hyun had ended up hospitalized from the aftereffects of his nightmares. The endless mewling of cats in his dreams every night had pushed him to the brink of a nervous breakdown. As if starting the year with a pile of criminal charges from a lawsuit wasn’t bad enough, he had ended up plagued by dreams so noisy that he couldn’t sleep—simply because he hadn’t apologized to Kang I-bom. Who could be more unlucky than him?

The cats in his dreams—something he had once laughed off—had multiplied until they filled every blank space in his mind. Five became ten, ten became twenty, until they packed his head so tightly he couldn’t sleep from the racket. It was like being pricked over and over with needles to keep him awake.

“You’d better beg. Beg hard. The mountain lord is angry.”

With no end to the cats and tigers in his dreams, Soo-hyun had cried out in desperation. In a last-ditch effort, he had even gone to see a shaman. They all said the same thing—it was about the mountain lord.

“Th-then… how do I calm the mountain lord’s anger?”

“There’s no way. You just have to endure it until it resolves itself someday. Or…”

“Or what?”

“Beg the mountain lord’s mate.”

The mountain lord’s mate. That was when Soo-hyun finally understood who the shamans meant.

He immediately sought out I-bom and begged—once, twice, more than ten times. He dredged up every memory of making I-bom sad or angry, going through them one by one as he apologized. He begged so much that he wondered if it was even necessary to go that far.

And so, little by little, the cats and tigers in his head began to fade—slowly, agonizingly slowly.

“I-jun-ah…”

Soo-hyun called his name in a raspy voice. If he himself had been punished this badly, then it was obvious Kang I-jun—who had also tormented I-bom—would face a heavy reckoning. He could still vividly picture Eun Beom-ho in cat form, staring at him with that blank expression.

Not human, but a beastman—and not just any beastman, but a being somewhere between spirit and god. Now he knew what happened when you angered such a being. The best course was to stay out of their sight and commit no sins. Soo-hyun stared at I-jun with fearful eyes.

“…Where have you been? Are you okay?”

“Don’t know, fuck.”

I-jun gave no real answer, just snapped irritably as he slumped into a folding chair. Soo-hyun narrowed his eyes, studying him. He was filthy and exhausted, as if he’d been rolling in a dust pit. Like Soo-hyun, his face was marked with heavy dark circles, and his jaw was rough with stubble. Clearly, he had been through something too.

“Man, my luck’s absolute shit. Lost all the money I’d been investing. Got into another company and nearly ended up in jail for embezzlement. While running from that, hurt my ankle so bad it’s all swollen up now. What kind of fucked-up mess is this? Anyway, why are you hospitalized? You can get admitted for insomnia?”

I-jun gave a short laugh, then opened the fridge beside Soo-hyun’s bed. His shabby clothes and the way he tore into a fridge apple without hesitation made it obvious he hadn’t been eating properly.

“I-jun.”

Soo-hyun’s eyes sharpened. With his gaunt face, he carefully grabbed I-jun’s sleeve.

“You need to go apologize to I-bom. No—you have to. Only then will your troubles clear up.”

“What? Are you out of your fucking mind?”

Disgust flashed across I-jun’s face. He shook off Soo-hyun’s hand as if it were an insect and spat on the floor.

“Why the fuck would I apologize to Kang I-bom? Have you lost it? That little shit. I went to borrow some money because I heard he got engaged into a rich family, and I ended up humiliated and had to run out. Apologize? Me?”

“Kang I-jun, I’m telling you, you can’t do that. You can’t talk to I-bom like that!”

Soo-hyun muttered the words like a prayer. But to I-jun, he just looked out of his mind.

“Hey, if you’re gonna keep spouting that kind of bullshit, just shut your mouth.”

Unbelievable. I-jun grumbled as he got up, tossing the half-eaten apple into the trash and cursing under his breath.

“What a fucking nuisance…”

“I-jun-ah, I’m serious.”

Even faced with Soo-hyun’s earnest expression, I-jun’s face was like stone. He brushed his hands off and turned his head away.

Bang—!

Suddenly, the quiet hospital room erupted with the sound of the door slamming open. Along with the rush of footsteps, a group of men stormed inside.