UR Chapter 70

Chapter 70

The quiet in the emergency quarters was broken by the loud sound of footsteps. The front door swung open and Eun Sung-jun burst in.

“Sir!”

“Mm. What is it?”

Eun Beom-ho replied without even looking at him, his expression calm.

If it was about something concerning Beom-ho, Sung-jun usually knew all about it. Still, he hadn’t expected him to come barging in again right before going on an overseas trip.

“You swore up and down you were taking vacation days. Shouldn’t you be on your way to the airport?”

Tsk. Beom-ho clicked his tongue in mild reproach. This was always how it went—Sung-jun would say he was taking time off, but if he decided something had happened to Beom-ho, he’d drop everything and come running. It was such a familiar pattern that he joked this time Sung-jun would end up on the travel agency’s blacklist. But Sung-jun’s face was serious. Shaking his head, sweat dripping down his face, he held a thick paper envelope in one hand.

“Huff… It’s about the CCTV footage from the time of the blind date. Haah, I had to… explain it, so I rushed over…”

Beom-ho stopped, halfway through straightening his clothes to go out. Slowly, he turned his head.

“…CCTV?”

The playful smile vanished from his face, replaced by a hardened expression. Sung-jun glanced at him nervously, noticing the stillness in his hands.

“When we checked the footage from that day, it turns out… the person you met, sir, was not Kang Soo-hyun.”

“…Not him?”

“If you read the report, you’ll understand.”

The slippers on Beom-ho’s feet stilled. A long, dim shadow stretched quietly across the room.

“A report, huh…”

‘I’m… I’m not Kang Soo-hyun.’

The image of a tearful Kang Soo-hyun flickered in his mind. Drugged into a daze from side effects, the man had been in his arms, whispering.

He remembered the way his lips had trembled as if to speak, the faint shaking of his fingertips, and the unfocused wandering of his pupils.

‘I’m a fraud… a liar…’

A shadow passed over Beom-ho’s smooth brow, and the graceful curve of his eyes twitched like a spasm.

“…Sung-jun, just one question. Where did this CCTV footage come from?”

Taking the envelope, he shot a sharp look at Sung-jun, who flinched.

“I never told anyone to investigate this.”

His eyes shone icy blue—an unhidden flash of the predator’s gaze he usually kept in check.

“Who gave the order to dig into this?”

“Th-that…”

Sung-jun’s eyes darted to the side. The atmosphere around Beom-ho was like the edge of a honed blade, freezing him in place.

“I-I got it from the hotel’s PR office. The source was… the private secretary of Hotel Owner Seol Dae-yoon.”

“Seol Dae-yoon?”

The name belonged to the owner of the hotel and a pureblood snow leopard beastman who had business ties with him. Beom-ho didn’t like him much—he was timid and sly—but he liked the atmosphere of the hotel, which was why he’d chosen it as the blind date location.

“Ah… so there was more than one set of eyes watching.”

Beom-ho laid his cashmere coat across the table. It was an Italian custom-made piece he especially liked to wear, but it was tricky to maintain. As expected, it had gotten wet in the snow, and black water stains had already appeared in spots.

He brushed away the droplets, sending dandelion-like tiger hairs scattering like snow. He had tried to be careful, but in winter, when his coat grew thick, keeping the shedding hidden wasn’t easy.

“They said it was in response to a report that Kim Soo-wan from Donghwa Group’s management team had approached you without warning. Seol Dae-yoon said that even though they had strict security in the hotel lounge, he worried you might have been uncomfortable, so to correct it, they scanned the faces of everyone present at that time and ran background checks.”

“Some excuse.”

Beom-ho let out a short laugh. He knew Seol was cunning, but the pretext was laughable. The cheetah was just a cover; most likely people had been pressuring him to find out who Beom-ho was meeting. To dig up someone’s background without permission—his smile froze, his face twisting.

“They were curious about which beastman the Beom family was using as a bargaining card. And?”

If they’d handed the information to Sung-jun so easily, Seol’s side must have decided there was nothing in it that could threaten them. Otherwise, they would have kept the investigation quiet.

They probably laughed when they learned he’d gone on a blind date with a half-beastman, then handed over the data without a second thought. The move was obvious without needing to be explained.

“They gave me the file along with that explanation.”

“He talks a good game. But in the end, he just wanted to know who I was meeting. So, who was it?”

Biting his lower lip, Sung-jun answered cautiously.

“A man named Kang I-bom… who lives in the same village.”

Finally, Beom-ho opened the envelope. Inside were printed stills from the CCTV footage and a single résumé. Lowering his eyes, he examined them quietly. The paper was creased.

“…Anyway, it was my mistake that someone went in place of Kang Soo-hyun. I apologize, sir. It won’t happen again.”

Sung-jun bowed respectfully. He was relieved the situation hadn’t escalated further—the position of the heir apparent to the head of the tiger beastman family came with constant risk. Even among relatives, there were those lying in wait for an opportunity to take his place, so Beom-ho always had to be cautious.

“What’s this résumé?”

“They said it’s the one Mr. Kang I-bom wrote himself. Just in case the background check didn’t match, they verified it alongside the investigation.”

“I see.”

Beom-ho nodded and unfolded the stiff sheet of paper.

Kang I-bom. 21 years old.

It was a neatly written résumé in precise, tidy handwriting. Eun Beom-ho sat down on the edge of a chair and slowly read through what he had written.

The résumé was packed with numerous part-time job experiences unusual for someone so young. The periods varied—some lasting as little as one month, others up to eleven. None exceeded a full year, but he had certainly worked in many places.

As he read, Beom-ho recalled the feel of I-bom’s hand clasped in his own—the rough, calloused joints that contrasted with his soft, gentle face. Well, even the night he had stayed over at his house, I-bom had been busy moving around, so perhaps he was always like that.

“They say he’s not a relative, but don’t you think they look alike? Or maybe all dog beastmen families just resemble each other.”

After finishing the résumé, he tried to neatly slip the paper back into the envelope, but something caught at the corner and wouldn’t go in properly. Reaching inside, Beom-ho pulled out a small item.

A photograph.

It was his ID photo. He was dressed in a school uniform, the top button fastened snugly up to his neck, with short, uneven bangs as if cut with scissors. His youthful face was not much different from now, though with a bit more baby fat rounding his cheeks, making him look more like a child. His wide eyes stared squarely and earnestly into the camera, matching his personality perfectly.

With a faint smile, Beom-ho slipped the ID photo into his pants pocket. As he tried again to put the résumé into the envelope, the paper snagged once more. Reaching in, he found another ID photo—this one of a different person.

“Ah, that’s the real Kang Soo-hyun.”

The other man wore the same school uniform. His soft brown hair was curled into a fluffy perm, and he had a bright, cheerful smile. Do they look alike? Maybe not. Beom-ho rubbed his lower lip.

“They look similar enough that you could have mistaken them. Same brown hair, fair skin—if styled similarly, most people would be fooled at a glance. And since he’s a half-beastman, his scent would be fainter than a full beastman’s, so that could have caused confusion too. If you’d like, we can make an official new match request to meet the real Kang Soo-hyun, and we’ll hold Kang I-bom legally accountable. I’m sure you—”

“Sung-jun.”

Beom-ho’s expression twisted as if he had picked up something filthy. Holding the ID photo between his thumb and forefinger, he gave it a little flick.

“Do these two look alike to you? In your eyes?”

“Huh? Uh… I think they do.”

Not understanding his point, Sung-jun adjusted his glasses. To him, the two young men in identical school uniforms looked so alike it was hard to tell them apart. He doubted he was the only one who thought so.

“Get your eyes checked. They’re completely different.”

Beom-ho crumpled the real Kang Soo-hyun’s photo and dropped it to the floor. With a soft thud, the now-wrinkled photo landed on the smooth surface.

“I… I’m not sure I understand what you mean, sir.”

Sung-jun fidgeted with his fingers.

“I’m saying this one is the real one. The one I fell for at first sight.”

Beom-ho pulled the ID photo back out of his pocket—the one with the wide-eyed, youthful face.

“Look. Totally different. Kang Soo-hyun’s smiling in a fake way, but here—see? My I-bom has kindness and warmth in his expression. Can’t you see that difference?”

He pointed dismissively at Soo-hyun’s crumpled photo on the floor, then held up I-bom’s picture close to Sung-jun’s face. The slightly downturned lips, the round eyes on the verge of tears—it was admittedly somewhat cute, but to claim it radiated kindness… Sung-jun couldn’t understand.

“…All dog-type beastmen look the same to me, so I can’t tell…”

Sung-jun shook his head reluctantly.

“And like I said, the one I fell for at first sight is this one. This is the real one.”

Beom-ho cast him a sidelong glance, then carefully tucked the résumé back into the envelope and took it with him.