At the words that clearly referred to Yi-beom, Eunho’s tongue came to a halt.
“Damn, we almost died. Hey, it’s a blessing in disguise that the movie sucked.”
“Imagine if we’d stayed till the end. If they’d jumped us from behind, herbivore types like us wouldn’t even have time to scream.”
Excited laughter followed. At the same time, Eunho’s body trembled. It looked a little different from trembling out of excitement.
“Stay here.”
After pushing Eunho inward, Yi-beom kicked the door open. With a loud bang, the door crashed onto the floor.
“W-what the hell?”
The three men who had been washing their hands staggered backward. Apparently gatherings among Beastmen of the same species were trendy these days— all three of them were dog Beastmen.
“If you wanna spout shitty nonsense, do it among yourselves.”
Yi-beom walked toward them slowly.
“Instead of making a scene here…”
The color drained from the three men’s faces. Instinctive fear wrapped around their entire bodies. Yi-beom slowly cornered them into the wall and rubbed his chin.
“No matter how much you’re a bunch of mutts, you should still have manners in a public place. Don’t you think?”
“Th-th-the ones without manners in a public place… isn’t that you?”
One of the trembling guys lifted his head. Judging by the way his tail stood straight up, he seemed to be the boldest of the three.
“This is a shared space. If a carnivore Beastman is just s-sitting there openly, other herbivores get nervous!”
“Seriously, no consideration!”
“How are we supposed to know if you’re watching a movie or stalking prey?”
As one raised his voice, the other two, who had been shrinking back, straightened their shoulders as if on cue. One barked, and the rest barked with him. Yi-beom’s eyebrow twitched.
Hearing bullshit didn’t bother him. Ever since he started working in this field— no, ever since he was born the youngest son of the Kwon family— the whispers had never stopped. The problem was that Jung Eunho was hearing it.
The moment Yi-beom clenched his fist, something pink shot out from behind with a loud thud.
“Krrang.”
With terrifying front teeth bared.
An angry rabbit was fierce. With the sharp clack clack of teeth colliding, it lunged at them viciously. The movement was so aggressive that you’d never guess it belonged to a herbivore.
“Aagh!”
A dog Beastman screamed as his cheek was torn at. A cute set of front-tooth marks dug deeply into his skin.
The rabbit landed on the floor, eyes gleaming. This time, it went for the snout.
“What did our Ahjussi even do?!”
Hssh, hssh— revving up its hind legs, the rabbit bent them. Kicking off the ground with all its strength, its body shot up to the man’s mouth.
Intent on tearing that snout apart, Eunho bit down on the dog Beastman’s lips. Rabbits were herbivores that ate even more than pigs, and because of that, their teeth were no less formidable than those of carnivores.
“What did he do, huh?!”
“Aagh, you crazy rabbit!”
“Ah, Ahjussi only eats me!”
Yi-beom stared blankly at the rabbit that even started chewing with its front teeth.
“T-tastes awful too!”
Fighting three dog Beastmen wasn’t enough— even the random lines it spat out were absurdly bold. Watching the fearless, impudent rabbit, Yi-beom didn’t know whether he should be pleased or not.
What was certain was that he hated the idea of that filthy snout touching the rabbit’s mouth. Snapping back to himself, Yi-beom wrapped his arms around the rabbit.
It had bitten so hard that part of the dog Beastman’s lip came away with it.
“Dirty. Don’t eat stuff like that.”
“Hssh, hssh.”
Eunho’s tail trembled uncontrollably with excitement as Yi-beom lifted him into his arms. Still not over it, Eunho began gnawing at Yi-beom’s sleeve.
“I-I was watching you guys instead of the movie too!”
With both ears pressed flat, Eunho shouted.
“You’re my prey!”
Seeing the rabbit baring claws no bigger than baby teeth, Yi-beom clutched his chest. He couldn’t stand how adorable it was. He wanted to shove it into his mouth and roll it around with his tongue right then and there. Every time those tiny front paws waved around, a dull ache spread through his lower body.
Was there still more for me to fall for?
If Eunho heard that, he’d probably scream and call him a pervert.
“That crazy rabbit…!”
The man clutching his cheek staggered to his feet. The moment he did, Yi-beom blocked his path.
“The tiger’s crazy too. Wanna see?”
“……”
“This time, I might really rip that snout off.”
A brown tail swayed behind Yi-beom— longer and thicker than any dog’s. Instinctive fear wrapped around them. It was a different kind of fear than what they felt from the rabbit. As if by silent agreement, they tucked their lips inward and backed toward the door.
Only after they completely left did the rabbit stop tearing at Yi-beom’s sleeve.
“Jung Eunho.”
“……”
No answer came back. Eunho only shifted his hips and turned away.
Like a child hiding, the rabbit buried its face into Yi-beom’s arms.
This date is ruined.
Yi-beom’s shirt grew damp.
***
“Stop crying.”
Holding the steering wheel, Yi-beom glanced down at the passenger seat.
“You’ll collapse at this rate.”
Despite Yi-beom’s attempts to calm him, the hiccupping sobs didn’t stop. The rabbit, barely managing to fasten the seatbelt over its plump belly, sniffled and wiped its tears.
“W-why, hngh, why won’t they even let us watch a movie!”
It felt unfair. Eunho pounded his chest with a small fist.
“W-we hadn’t even done anything bad yet, hff.”
“Baby.”
“Hngh, th-they even said you were looking at them like p-prey!”
That was the part that really made his blood boil. If they had cursed at both of them, maybe it would’ve been different, but seeing them openly hostile only toward Yi-beom weighed heavily on his heart.
The sights he’d seen all over town that morning, what Sobin had said, and now the movie theater— everything was tormenting Eunho. Swallowing sob after sob, Eunho shook his head.
Watching the rabbit show no signs of stopping, Yi-beom let out a sigh.
“Come here.”
As he held out one hand, Eunho wriggled his belly through the seatbelt. The plump stomach bounced up onto the strap with a soft thump.
“Hngh… ah, Ahjussi……”
Scrambling up, Eunho grabbed onto Yi-beom’s fingers tightly. How much had he even cried? Lifting the damp little body, Yi-beom clicked his tongue.
“I told you not to cry.”
“Snff, hngh, th-the movie……”
“I’ll play something you like. So don’t cry.”
When Yi-beom set him between his legs, the rabbit buried its face into his waist. Judging by how his shirt kept getting wetter, Eunho was still crying.
We could’ve eaten popcorn, shared cola, a-and maybe even held hands…!
Everything had fallen apart overnight. All that remained was a future of growing old together with Yi-beom, yet problems kept popping up.
Hssh, hssh— the rabbit kicked its hind legs, instinctively trying to dig into the ground.The problem was that what it was touching wasn’t the ground.
“Baby……”
The “ground” kept rising, but Eunho didn’t stop. Yi-beom groaned softly as he watched the busy little feet move. He couldn’t exactly devour him right here.
***
The problem continued at home.
Yi-beom thought their plan to go back to the early days of dating had ended with the chaos in the theater restroom, but apparently he was the only one who thought so. Sitting at the edge of the bed, he ran a hand through his hair.
“So.”
A sharp inhale came from near the door.
“You’re saying we should sleep in separate rooms again?”
At the sound of teeth grinding, Eunho clutched the pillow in his hands. He had already turned back into a human at some point and was even wearing pajamas.
Ahjussi was scary, but there were still lines that had to be kept. The date might’ve been ruined, but everything didn’t have to fall apart.
“N-no…… how can a brand-new couple sleep together?”
“We slept together yesterday.”
It was clearly polite speech, yet it somehow sounded delinquent. N-no, maybe he misheard. Suppressing his fear, Eunho parted his lips.
“That was yesterday. T-today is different.”
“What’s different?”
Yi-beom’s brow lifted high.
“Did we break up?”
“That’s not it— we said we’d act like we just started dating!”
As Yi-beom kept pretending not to understand, Eunho’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Ahjussi liked it too…!”
“That was before you ran off with a pillow.”
Everything had been good. The cute finger-play, the secret kiss they shared while hiding— even Eunho’s bashful expressions had been fun to watch. And he’d even seen a brave, unexpected side of the rabbit.
“But this is cheating.”
Letting out a low sigh, Yi-beom reached out his hand. It meant come here. Fortunately, it seemed like this level of skinship was allowed even in the early-dating phase, because Eunho obediently approached.
“I only slept well yesterday. Before that, I barely slept at all.”
Yi-beom rested his head against Eunho.
“You know I can’t sleep without you.”
“…That’s not a thing.”
“You made me sleep alone for a whole week. Was that not enough?”
Wrapping an arm around Eunho’s waist, Yi-beom lifted his head.
“Hm?”
At the soft voice, Eunho looked down at him. Maybe because of what he’d just heard, Yi-beom’s face seemed a little sharper than usual. With his hair no longer tied up like it normally was, it gave off a strangely seductive atmosphere.
