When he slowly lifted his head, he saw Yi-beom watching him.
Even as he registered that the man holding him was the lover who had always been by his side, an inexplicable awkwardness crept in. Noticing that Eunho was choosing his words carefully, Yi-beom tapped the bridge of Eunho’s nose.
“Scared? Afraid I’ll gobble you up like that?”
“I-I’m not pregnant, you know?”
Stung at a strange point, Eunho raised his voice.
“I just—my stomach’s sticking out a bit, that’s all.”
As he muttered, stroking his belly, Yi-beom let out a short laugh. His hand came to rest on the rounded swell.
“Who said anything?”
“……”
“I’m just saying it because you’re watching the news and getting scared.”
Silence settled between them. While the two stared at each other without speaking, the television screen changed rapidly, alternating between footage of the crime scene, the victim’s home, and the obstetrics clinic she had attended.
Each time the screen shifted, Yi-beom’s face was washed in blue light. Without realizing it, Eunho lifted his foot and pressed it against Yi-beom’s cheek.
“Ahjussi, your face right now—it’s b-blue, you know?”
“……”
“But just because it’s blue doesn’t mean you’re not Ahjussi. You’re still Ahjussi anyway……”
“You were scared just last week.”
“My boyfriend suddenly turned into a tiger—who wouldn’t be scared? You’d have been scared too if I were a tiger……”
The corners of Yi-beom’s lips curved up slightly. His jawline darkened, as if he were holding back laughter that threatened to spill out. Quick-witted, Eunho narrowed his eyes.
“You’re laughing, aren’t you!”
This time Yi-beom couldn’t hold it in and let out a laugh. Ha ha—his hearty laughter filled the living room.
“That’d be fucking terrifying.”
Eunho deliberately ignored Yi-beom’s muttered words.
With both arms, Yi-beom suddenly pulled him tight and, in an instant, lifted Eunho’s body onto his own stomach.
“Eek!”
Eunho shrieked and clutched at his clothes tightly with his claws.
“W-What is this!”
When Eunho lifted his head in surprise, he saw Yi-beom’s smiling face. As if unable to contain the emotions welling up inside him, Yi-beom hugged Eunho even tighter.
The strength was enough to take his breath away. “Hey, let go!” Eunho kicked his legs, but it was no use. Yi-beom, as if out of his mind, was already smooching everywhere—his tiny feet and legs, his ears, the bridge of his nose—making exaggerated kissing sounds.
In the end, unable to endure it any longer, Eunho transformed back into a human with a pop.
Yi-beom let out a low, rumbling purr as he gazed at Eunho, now straddling him naked.
“If you were that kind of tiger, I think I wouldn’t mind being eaten.”
His eyes curved softly.
“I’d tie up all my limbs and roll myself right in front of you.”
“……I-I have my own tastes too.”
“No, you don’t.”
Like a predator stalking prey, Yi-beom moved slowly toward Eunho’s neck. The motion was quiet and elegant.
Each time his breath brushed against his skin, Eunho’s heart pounded as though it would burst. Thud, thud—he could feel the heartbeat through his entire body. Alongside instinctive fear, he found himself waiting for the moment those lips would touch him.
“I’m perfectly your type.”
He took a mouthful—careful not to hurt—and bit into Eunho’s neck.
After that, it was a continuous string of affectionate acts, and the news anchor’s voice no longer reached their ears. What was certain was that the number of pregnant women murdered at the time had reached eight.
“……Could it be a coincidence?”
Eunho lifted his head and looked at the TV. In that moment, something caught his eye.
At the entrance of the alley where the incident had occurred, a yellow gauze handkerchief lay on the ground. It wasn’t very noticeable because it had been stepped on and dirtied, but it was unmistakably a handkerchief.
“Ah……”
And it was exactly the same one the woman had been wearing around her neck last night.
***
The village seen from above was very small. The more Yi-beom looked at the red, blue, and multicolored rooftops, the more his expression hardened.
The houses were built close together, and they all had identical roofs, making it difficult to track Eunho’s location. Tearing his gaze away from the rooftops, Yi-beom looked toward the direction of the village hall and the medical office.
“You have to turn back! At this rate, they’ll catch the signal!”
Jinwon, seated beside the pilot, shouted.
“Isn’t it impossible to go in right now!”
Keeping his gaze fixed stubbornly on the village to the very end, Yi-beom ground his teeth. If it were up to him, he wanted to go down immediately and sweep the place clean—but because they were connected to the government side, the other party also had many armed personnel. Moreover, herbivore Beastmen, including Eunho, were being held there, so he couldn’t attack carelessly.
He understood in his head that they needed to assess the opposing firepower first, yet the words wouldn’t come out of his mouth.
“President!”
“……”
“A-at this rate, Eunho will be in danger too!”
Only after Eunho was mentioned did Yi-beom’s head move. The helicopter that had been circling overhead changed direction.
As soon as they arrived at a nearby island, Yi-beom roughly tore off his headset. Younguk and the organization members hurried over to greet him as he stepped down from the helicopter.
Leaving behind those who bowed their heads, Yi-beom walked toward the sea. When Younguk tried to follow, Jinwon raised a hand to stop him.
“Now’s not the time.”
Meeting his eyes and shaking his head, Younguk let out a sigh.
The evening glow spread across the sea. Walking along the waves that rolled in and retreated, Yi-beom looked down at his hand.
He clenched and unclenched his large hand. He had believed there was power in this hand. Even if it wasn’t overwhelming power, he thought it was at least enough to protect Eunho. After all, it had been his achievement to successfully build up the gambling operations and to open venues in various countries where Koreans could gamble.
Whenever Yi-beom immersed himself in the casinos, his father would click his tongue.
“You’re clutching something useless.”
Though that look of disdain came his way, Yi-beom didn’t care. Rather, he liked that it was the most useless of the Kwon family’s affairs. Power that was too strong was forged by crushing someone else—and that someone inevitably became one of the people around you.
After his mother had been targeted and killed by another organization, Yi-beom devoted himself solely to the work he had been assigned. His father didn’t find him satisfactory but left him alone, saying it was only because he hadn’t yet felt the necessity.
“……It really was useless.”
Yi-beom slowly opened his palm. It felt as though the things he had been clutching all this time scattered into the air like waves.
After a moment of deliberation, Yi-beom pulled his phone from his pocket. He dialed a familiar number. It had been deleted from his contacts, yet it was a number he could never forget.
After several rings, a voice answered.
“Is that Yi-beom?”
“Yes, Father.”
Silence hung between them. Yi-beom didn’t elaborate on what he needed. Since he had already ordered his cousin, Su-hee, to investigate Sobin, his father would surely be fully aware of the situation.
A greedy old man. A merchant by nature, he didn’t seem inclined to make the first offer—even to his own son.
“I’ll take over the work my older brother was handling.”
“……”
“You’re planning to raise me as the successor anyway. If that’s the case, you’ll need someone to clean up the remaining matters.”
“That’s not enough.”
The sound of a tongue clicking came through the receiver.
“Take your second brother’s share as well. He’ll be busy assisting the eldest.”
No matter how one looked at it, it was a losing deal. Quickly recalling the duties his eldest and second brothers had been responsible for, Yi-beom clenched his teeth.
Taking both their shares meant that Yi-beom himself would have to step directly into the family business. It was precisely what he had desperately tried to avoid.
“Yes.”
But now, there was no choice. The image of a rabbit standing before the waves, tears streaming down its face, kept flashing before his eyes.
“I’ll do that.”
“I’ll send someone soon, so wait.”
“……”
“How is it that in matters like this, you take after your mother so much?”
With that displeased voice, the call ended. Even afterward, Yi-beom held onto his phone for a long time.
He turned his head toward the village where Eunho was. He almost wished that, like before, he still trusted Sobin implicitly. That way, Eunho could at least remain at ease until he went to rescue him.
When he thought of Eunho, his mouth went dry. He missed the way Eunho would shrink back yet glance at him sidelong, the lips that talked back, the soft scent that escaped when he held him.
“Ahjussi!”
Eunho’s voice seemed to mingle with the sound of the wind. Damn it. Yi-beom muttered a curse under his breath, his face stricken.
***
After that, he only waited for a chance to escape.
Whether going to the medical office or to the hall, he always glanced around, looking for an opportunity, but staff members were stationed everywhere they went.
When he had run from Yi-beom before, there had at least been many people around. Here, there were barely a dozen people, and unlike Seoul, there weren’t many cars or densely packed buildings. Realizing that escaping barehanded was impossible, Eunho decided, for now, to pretend to be satisfied with this life.
“There’s nothing good that’ll come from bolting for no reason.”
Seeing Eunho constantly lifting his head and scanning his surroundings, Grandma whispered quietly to him.
“The trick is to lie flat. If you make noise and cause trouble, you’ll just become a target.”
Eunho’s eyes widened at the way she whispered as if sharing a secret.
“How do you know that, Grandma?”
“How old do you think I am? It was the same during the war. The ones who made a fuss trying to run were the first to die.”
“Gasp.”
Eunho sucked in a breath. Finding him cute, Grandma burst into laughter.
Following her advice, Eunho stopped looking around. When it was time, he ate. When the time came, he went to the medical office for checkups. With the same kind face he had worn when they first met, Sobin said the baby was growing well.
What a smooth-faced liar. Thinking of that slick expression, Eunho washed his face with both hands.
Once he started suspecting him, there wasn’t just one or two suspicious things. From the way Sobin subtly avoided talking about Chanwoo to how he had so easily found the island where Eunho had been with Yi-beom—everything was strange. He wanted to curse with the words he had learned from Yi-beom, but with the baby listening and Grandma asleep, he couldn’t raise his voice.
Through the crack in the open door, he could see the night sky. The only good things about coming here were meeting Grandma again and the sky filled with countless stars.
“Baby.”
“……”
“What do you think Daddy’s doing?”
It’s not your fault. Yi-beom’s parting words echoed in his ears. A foolish man who worried only about him until the very end.
