“This is my house’s rabbit!”
Certain, the grandmother scooped him up into her arms.
“Where’ve you been crawling around before coming back here, huh? How’d you know Grandma was here?”
“……”
With trembling eyes, Eunho looked back at her. It seemed the message he had diligently written out in the yard hadn’t been delivered after all.
What do I do?
Eunho chewed on his lip. If he told her the truth, it was unbearably embarrassing to admit that he’d been digging into the ground and hopping around pretending to be a rabbit all this time.
As he hesitated, the grandmother spoke.
“Oh my, our rabbit came to save Grandma, didn’t you? Huh?”
“Pardon……?”
Caught off guard, Eunho opened his mouth without thinking.
“I was brought here too, though?”
The grandmother’s expression instantly went blank.
***
After explaining everything that had happened, Eunho asked the grandmother for forgiveness. The entire time she listened, she kept exclaiming, “Oh my heavens! Goodness gracious!”
Then she pulled Eunho tightly into her embrace.
“You’ve worked hard protecting your baby!”
At those words—you’ve worked hard—his eyes stung with tears. Afraid she might notice, Eunho buried his face into her side.
I wish Ahjussi had said something like that to me.
As Yi-beom’s face surfaced in his mind again, his mood sank.
No. I can’t do this anymore.
Sniffling softly, Eunho secretly wiped his runny nose on her clothes.
Saying that someone carrying a baby had to eat well, the grandmother tucked Eunho against her side and headed toward the hall—the place that was supposed to distribute meals.
“Grandma, khng, why are you here?”
When Eunho poked his head out between the red cardigan, the grandmother firmly pushed it back in.
“Don’t catch a cold breeze—stay inside!”
“I’m fine,” Eunho muttered, but she pretended not to hear him. When she even tried to button up the cardigan, Eunho hurriedly ducked his head back inside. Only then did she begin to answer.
“Why am I here?”
“Yes.”
“Well, they said it was some kind of government program, so I followed along. Said they’d give support funds to elderly folks.”
“Support funds?”
They’d said this place existed to protect herbivore Beastmen. It was completely different from what Sobin had told him.
When Eunho lifted his head again, the grandmother grumbled that he wouldn’t listen and tightened the cardigan around him.
That’s strange.
Eunho tilted his head.
“So you came because of that?”
“Yeah. Half the people from our neighborhood are here. And only the old ladies who lost their husbands at that.”
“Damn it.”
The grandmother muttered a curse under her breath and continued.
“They said the old men don’t qualify, and that only herbivore Beastmen are eligible. So I came, and now these brats won’t let me leave.”
Even if it had been a hillside slum, it was still the city. Living cooped up in this tiny village made her joints ache from restlessness.
She and a few others had said they didn’t need the support money anymore and asked to be let go, but the staff insisted that once you applied, you couldn’t withdraw.
“They say just endure it for two months. Like that’s easy!”
They had arrived in front of the hall. Glowering at the staff guarding the entrance, the grandmother muttered,
“Bastards. They ought to lock those punks up on some island too.”
The rabbit who had just come from an island flinched, his shoulders jerking.
The staff, spotting the two of them, opened the door. Bright light spilled out from inside. Eunho blinked to adjust to it.
Bang—the door to the hall shut behind them.
Inside were long tables and chairs, like a smaller version of a school cafeteria. Every seat was filled with people.
Eunho’s eyes widened.
Children, elderly women, and—
“Oh my, I’ve never seen a pregnant rabbit Beastman before.”
The room was packed with people with swollen bellies.
What is going on?
Eunho stared at them uneasily. His pale pink fur bristled faintly. His instincts were sensing danger.
This is strange.
From one to ten, everything was strange. It was suspicious enough that they’d been locked away in a remote village rather than placed in a protective facility. And even if the intention truly was protection, gathering only those with weakened bodies was odd.
There’s something going on.
Still tense, Eunho was held as the grandmother took a seat at an empty spot at a table. The moment they sat down, the empty seats across from them quickly filled up. Children and pregnant women alike turned their attention to Eunho.
“How many months along are you?”
“Looking at your belly, it seems like it won’t be long now?”
The pregnant women sitting across from him asked eagerly, clearly excited to see a new face. As they leaned forward while questioning him, the grandmother swiftly tucked Eunho back into her cardigan.
“Oh dear, you’re going to scare our rabbit. Ask slowly!”
At her scolding, they flinched. But only for a moment—apparently used to it.
“Ah, Grandma’s got such a temper……. We’re just curious!”
“What? Temper?”
As voices began to rise, Eunho quickly poked his head out and flailed his feet.
“It-it’s okay, Grandma.”
You sure? the grandmother asked with her eyes.
After glancing around, Eunho nodded. They just seemed excited, not dangerous.
The grandmother carefully set him down on the table. Eunho slowly approached the ones who had spoken to him. Their gazes dropped to his slightly protruding belly. The woman whose stomach was the largest asked,
“When’s your due date?”
“M-my due date?”
He searched his memory, but nowhere could he recall being told a due date. Even Professor Hwang, who came daily to check his condition, had never mentioned it.
It was such a basic thing—why hadn’t he asked until now?
Eunho wrapped his arms around his lower belly.
Seeing his troubled expression, the woman nodded as if she understood.
“It’s okay if you don’t know.”
“……”
“There must be a reason you ended up here. Especially if you don’t know your due date.”
Her smile deepened. Unlike the wary grandmother, this woman genuinely seemed to believe this place was a protected zone.
“You did well to come. If you get your checkups on time here and chat with us, you’ll meet your beautiful baby before you know it.”
“……Do you think so?”
“Of course.”
As if sharing a secret, the woman raised her hand to the side of her lips and whispered softly.
“When it’s time to give birth, they send you to a big hospital.”
Clutching her large belly, she added,
“Eight people have already gone to give birth.”
At that moment, a strange unease brushed the back of Eunho’s neck. Without realizing it, he stepped back and leaned into the grandmother.
He couldn’t pinpoint why, but the number eight felt familiar. He had seen it somewhere before……
He thought hard, but couldn’t immediately remember where. The same sense of déjà vu he’d felt seeing the nameless houses swept over him.
Even while eating cucumber in the grandmother’s arms, the uneasy feeling didn’t fade. Not even knowing where the food was going, Eunho finished dinner absentmindedly.
***
The next morning at breakfast, the woman was nowhere to be seen.
Did she fall ill?
After pacing around the dining hall restlessly, Eunho returned to his seat. Without even looking, the grandmother sensed him and lifted him with one hand.
“Looking for that lady from yesterday?”
The pregnant woman sitting beside them—the one who had been next to the missing woman last night—asked him.
“Yes. I don’t see her…….”
“She went to give birth last night.”
“What?”
She hadn’t looked like she was about to give birth.
As Eunho murmured that, the woman smiled quietly.
“She didn’t have any particular symptoms, but the medical team did an urgent checkup last night and said it was dangerous, so they took her. It’s a relief.”
“Babies come out suddenly,” the grandmother muttered while chopping up the carrots and cucumbers from the meal.
The sweet scent of carrots wafted up sharply, making Eunho’s stomach churn.
Ugh.
He quickly covered his nose and stumbled back.
Since arriving here, food had strangely not sat well with him. As if belated morning sickness had struck, delicious vegetables like carrots and cucumbers now felt nauseating.
Urrgh—
As acid rose in his throat again, the grandmother pushed the tray away.
“Looks like the morning sickness hit you late.”
Even though there was nothing left to bring up, he kept gagging. Unable to endure it any longer, Eunho jumped down from under the table.
Beep—!
With a soft thud beneath his feet, the television mounted on the ceiling turned on. Looking down, he saw a small remote control. His foot was pressing precisely on the red button.
<Last night, a cheetah Beastman attacked a squirrel Beastman. The victim, a pregnant woman who was nearing her due date, is currently hospitalized with severe injuries.>
The news anchor’s voice echoed through the cafeteria. The screen quickly showed the alley where the incident had taken place the night before. Though blurred, the faint red stains were visible. A collective gasp escaped the room.
<The victim’s family is grieving, saying they have lost both their child and the wife. This marks the ninth incident this year in which a carnivore Beastman has harmed a pregnant herbivore Beastman.>
At that moment, a memory flashed through Eunho’s mind like lightning.
It was the last news he had seen before leaving Yi-beom’s house.
That day had been one where he and Yi-beom watched a movie together for the first time in a while. Reluctant to get up, they kept switching channels even after the movie ended.
Snuggled deep into Yi-beom’s arms, Eunho had rested his head against his arm while staring at the TV.
Yi-beom had stopped on a news channel. He didn’t look like someone who would watch TV or movies much, but he enjoyed the news more than Eunho had expected.
“Feels like one day our old man’s name might pop up.”
Saying he couldn’t miss the chance to tease someone, Yi-beom made sure to watch the news regularly.
I don’t want to right now.
Just as Eunho rubbed his head against him, the screen changed.
The sensational headline ‘Mass Murder of Pregnant Women’ appeared, and Eunho flinched violently.
When it was revealed that carnivore Beastmen were responsible for killing eight pregnant women, the air grew heavy. He could feel tension enter the arm he had been leaning against.
The stiff rabbit was pulled deeper into Yi-beom’s embrace. Feeling his warmth all the way down his back, Eunho slowly relaxed.
“……Ahjussi.”
