“Are you hungry?”
Grrr.
The beast placed its two front paws against the wall. As it stood up, stretching its body to full height, its shadow loomed over me. The response was so direct that it felt like it had heard that question over and over again from my parents.
Certain now that it was hungry, I tilted my head all the way back to look up at it.
“Mom and Dad aren’t home right now…”
Just as I was debating whether to go upstairs and contact my parents—
Hssssssss…
The beast’s nose twitched, and suddenly a pale mist sprayed out from within the wall. I had no idea where it originated from, but in an instant, the fog engulfed the creature.
The beast, blinking slowly, teetered unsteadily with its paws still on the wall. It looked as if it might collapse at any moment, and my eyes widened.
“Yes, the button you mentioned worked properly. It looks like only the automatic feeding function was malfunctioning. I’ll just check if it falls asleep properly and then head up…”
I heard Ji Chanwoo’s voice. Startled, I turned around. He was walking toward me, talking on the phone with his wrist to his mouth—then froze when he saw me. His face was full of shock at my presence.
At that moment, thud, the ground rumbled. I turned back to see the beast lying sprawled on the floor, completely collapsed.
***
It was only natural that my parents, who had just returned from the conference, were horrified after hearing the full story from Ji Chanwoo. He repeatedly apologized, saying he thought the underground entrance had closed automatically. After seeing him off, my parents quickly inspected me from head to toe.
“Are you hurt anywhere, Suho?”
“Your hair’s a mess… There were a lot of stairs—did you fall or something?”
Seeing their faces so full of concern, guilt suddenly welled up inside me for acting recklessly. My shoulders slumped without thinking.
“…I’m sorry.”
“No, no.”
Startled, both my mom and dad quickly shook their heads.
“You were just curious about a place you hadn’t been to before.”
“Exactly, of course!”
Honestly, I thought I was going to get scolded, but my parents were surprisingly calm, saying it was perfectly natural to be curious about places I normally couldn’t go.
“Our Suho must’ve been so scared.”
“…”
Wrapped in my father’s arms as he gently patted my back, I sank into thought. Was this something to be comforted over? Honestly, today’s little adventure had been exciting and fun for me.
“…I wasn’t scared.”
After a brief hesitation, I looked up at them and shared how I’d felt earlier. I knew it sounded strange phrased that way, but the feeling I had when I faced the beast—it was closer to a strange sense of familiarity than fear. It was different from terror.
“Um… I want to see it again… Is that not okay?”
My cautious question made my parents’ eyes widen.
They looked completely dumbfounded.
“Uh…”
They studied my face to confirm whether I really meant what I said, then turned to each other with incredulous expressions.
“Oh my god… Our Suho has never really asked for anything before…”
My mother murmured in a stunned tone. My father’s eyes even grew misty as he covered his mouth.
“So this isn’t a dream, right?”
“…Honey. Maybe it would be okay if we went down together and just watched with him?”
“U-Uh? But still, emotionally, for a child…”
They were in the middle of talking when they suddenly fell silent.
They seemed to realize it wasn’t appropriate to be discussing this in front of me.
“Suho. Would it be okay if Mom and Dad thought about it a bit more before answering you?”
“Yes.”
Just the hint of possibility made my heart flutter. I nodded without protest, but then paused, struck by a sudden thought.
“But… why did you put the beast to sleep?”
“Hm?”
My parents blinked. I pictured the beast again.
“It was hungry. But you sprayed something and made it fall asleep. That man said he was doing what you told him to.”
“…How did you know the beast was hungry?”
“When I asked if it was hungry, it said yes.”
“……”
My parents exchanged bewildered glances.
“Hmm… is that so…?”
They all seemed skeptical that I could have figured out the beast’s condition. Thinking I might have done something wrong, I glanced at their expressions, but my parents quickly composed themselves and started answering my question first.
Breaking it down so I could understand, they explained that they had set up the system to automatically drop food for the beast, but a temporary error had occurred today, and the food hadn’t been dispensed in time. Because of that, the beast grew hungry and anxious, which made it act out. Ji Chanwoo had noticed something was wrong and gone down to the basement to check, then contacted my parents to take appropriate measures.
The building wouldn’t have collapsed just because the beast acted up, but the ongoing stress from hunger could have had a negative psychological effect, so they’d put it to sleep instead. They also mentioned that beasts like it—driven by instinct—don’t handle hunger well.
“Then the broken machine needs to be fixed.”
“Exactly. We need to make sure Rai can eat when he wakes up.”
“Rai?”
“That’s the name of the beast you saw.”
My mother explained that while each beast is given an official designation, they assign easier-to-use nicknames instead.
Rai… I mouthed the name to myself, vowing to call it that next time we met.
After finishing the explanation, my parents moved quickly. Once they changed into comfortable clothes, my mother stayed with me while my father went down to the basement to check the lab. He must’ve fixed the issue relatively easily, because he was back on the first floor in less than an hour.
“Honey!”
“Oh, you’ve already checked? Should I go down too?”
“No, I took care of that, and it’s fine now… But that’s not the issue.”
Dad waved the tablet in his hand as he spoke, his voice noticeably higher than usual. I had been working on a Rubik’s Cube, and Mom had been cleaning the floor, but both of us turned our attention to the tablet.
“I was checking the footage in case Suho had fallen or something—and I found this. Come take a look.”
Dad sat on the sofa and patted the cushions on either side. He meant we could watch together. Our family all huddled together on the couch.
Sitting in the middle, Dad manipulated the screen. Tilting my head, I looked at the footage—it showed the beast and me facing each other with the wall between us. It wasn’t a photo, it was video.
Turns out there were cameras set up at multiple angles covering the beast’s enclosure and the surrounding corridors.
“…! Rai’s reaction…”
My mother murmured in surprise at the video. Then she took the tablet from Dad, raised the speaker volume, and replayed the scene.
I didn’t know what the issue was, so I just shifted my eyes back and forth, watching them curiously.
“He’s that calm?”
“Not just calm. He’s showing intent to communicate. He really responded to what Suho said. What on earth…”
My parents launched into a passionate discussion. Occasionally, they used terms I didn’t understand. I tried to follow along, listening from the side, but my determination was starting to wear thin.
“Could it be…”
Mom took her eyes off the screen and turned to look at me. I blinked at her in confusion.
“…Mom?”
“……”
“Honey.”
Dad placed a hand on her shoulder, making her flinch.
“Ah, yeah.”
She shook her head slightly, as if trying to snap out of it.
“No, it’s nothing. I just had a ridiculous thought for a second.”
She muttered like even she couldn’t believe herself.
After that, my parents rewatched the footage of me approaching Rai several times and, still visibly amazed, began asking me various questions. What I felt when I saw Rai. What kind of thoughts I had. What he looked like through my eyes. I wasn’t sure how helpful any of this would be, but the questions were simple enough that I answered them without hesitation.
For the first time, I felt like I was seeing my parents with their “researcher faces” on. Their eyes sparkled with curiosity, and even I found that a bit fascinating.
The day passed in a whirlwind, and soon it was time for bed.
“Sweet dreams, Suho.”
Dad kissed my forehead once he saw that my eyes were closed, then gently shut the door behind him.
“……”
I slowly opened my eyes. The curtains shielded me from the bright lights outside, and the room was completely still—silent—but I couldn’t fall asleep. Maybe I was still buzzing with excitement from earlier.
Wide awake and growing thirsty, I pushed back the covers, got out of bed, and headed for the door. The moment it cracked open, I heard my parents’ voices faintly murmuring from farther down the hall.
“…I’m not sure. It seemed like Rai calmed down after looking into Suho’s eyes, but maybe not.”
“Hmm…”
“Well, I mean, our kid’s eye color is a little unusual, but what could that possibly mean?”
I tilted my head, catching a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror hanging next to the door.
The room was dark, and my reflection was just as shadowy—but the glint in my eyes, like gold dust scattered across the irises, stood out vividly. Maybe it wasn’t obvious in daylight, but in the dark, it definitely glowed.
