“What—what rabbit?”
A rabbit? At such a late hour, what kind of nonsense was that? Mrs. Park scratched the back of her neck roughly. From the way he spoke, he didn’t seem like a bad person—just a lunatic. When she slowly opened the door, a huge man stood there.
“Eek.”
In the darkness, yellow eyes flashed. His imposing build was obvious at a glance, and Mrs. Park instinctively took a step back. In that moment, Yi-beom crossed the threshold with his long legs.
“I asked if you’ve seen a rabbit.”
“N-no, I haven’t. A rabbit or anything like that…”
Becoming automatically polite, Mrs. Park stepped aside. She even clasped her hands respectfully.
Twenty years in this hillside neighborhood. The area had always been rough—last year she’d met detectives, the year before that loan sharks—but the man in front of her was on a different level altogether.
After circling the yard once, Yi-beom turned his head. With that build, being a carnivore-type Beastman was practically cheating! Sensing instinctively that he was a carnivore Beastman, Mrs. Park quickly avoided his gaze.
“You haven’t seen a man like a rabbit either?”
“…Excuse me?”
“Ears standing straight up, tail sticking out.”
Pointing to his face, Yi-beom added,
“A guy cute like a rabbit. You don’t know him?”
“Y-yes, yes.”
As soon as Mrs. Park answered, Yi-beom turned without hesitation. Even at a glance, this wasn’t a house where Eunho would hide. That tiny thing was fussy about cleanliness to the extreme.
It had already been two hours since he’d lost Eunho. The entrance to the alley was completely blocked, so there was no way he’d escaped…
Yi-beom’s expression darkened.
When he pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, Younguk was already beside him, lighting it.
“They’re searching every nook and cranny. We’ll find him soon.”
“…It’s already been two hours.”
Yi-beom’s eyes sharpened.
What the hell is going on in that tiny head of his?
Exhaling smoke, Yi-beom glared at the alley where he’d last seen Eunho.
“No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t add up.”
“…”
“It’s not like he suddenly started hating me, and it’s not like he found some other guy.”
“…”
“If he was scared because I’m a carnivore, he would’ve shown it long ago.”
Thinking of how Eunho had fiercely lunged at the people who cursed at him in the movie theater bathroom, that couldn’t be it. To begin with, he wouldn’t have chased after him out of Eunchan’s house.
“Fuck, I feel like I’m going crazy because there’s no answer.”
Frustrated, Yi-beom tossed the cigarette aside. Before he could even grind it out, raindrops began to fall from the sky.
“Hey, bring an umbrella!”
The scattered drops grew heavier. With a roaring sound, the rain poured down.
Yi-beom didn’t move, letting the rain soak him completely.
Even drenched, his mind didn’t clear. It was a sensation he had never felt even once since meeting Eunho. Pushing his wet hair back, he muttered, “Fuck.”
Younguk quickly opened a black umbrella handed to him by one of the organization members.
At that moment, the gate across from them opened—the one house they hadn’t checked yet.
“It’s raining, so what the hell are you all doing out here?”
It was Mrs. Kim, the grandmother who had hidden Eunho. With dried chili peppers tucked under her arm from the gate, she clicked her tongue.
“Why would you go catching and eating an animal that’s carrying babies?”
“…”
“That’s the kind of thing only sons of bitches would do. You hear?”
At the stream of curses pouring out, Younguk flared up.
“Grandma, are you talking to us right now?”
“Then who else would I be talking to?”
Pointing at the organization members filling the alley, she raised her voice.
“In a neighborhood already dark as it is, what are you doing standing around like grim reapers? You trying to scare all the old folks here to death or what?”
Bastards. I knew it from the moment they set up that dog-meat soup place. Clicking her tongue to the end, the grandmother watched as Younguk lunged forward.
“Grandma!”
Blocking Younguk, Yi-beom stepped toward her. With his massive frame, it would’ve been natural to be intimidated, but the grandmother didn’t flinch as she looked up at him.
“Have you seen a rabbit?”
“A rabbit?”
When he nodded, she smacked her lips.
“Let’s see, I think I saw one on TV last year.”
“You haven’t seen a rabbit Beastman either?”
“They say I’m some kind of deer or something myself, but I don’t know much about that. Haven’t seen a rabbit Beastman either.”
Calmly spinning her lie, the grandmother turned. As she opened the gate, it let out a creaking metallic sound. Seizing that brief opening, Yi-beom looked inside.
It was a neat house. Even the yard was tidier than the others.
Yi-beom habitually rubbed his chin.
“It’s raining, so stop suffering out here and go inside. Rabbit or no rabbit, we don’t have anything like that in our neighborhood.”
Strong denial was affirmation.
The grandmother, who had been home for the entire two hours, couldn’t possibly know for certain that there were no rabbits in the neighborhood. The mention of an animal carrying babies bothered him slightly, but that was probably just a lie to divert attention.
Having reached a conclusion, Yi-beom gestured to Younguk.
“Pull out.”
“…Pardon? We haven’t found him yet.”
“We found him.”
A faint scent of carrots brushed against his nose.
It was coming from the grandmother’s house they had just entered.
Yi-beom stared at the red gate.
“Post someone at this house. He could climb over the wall, so keep watch on the house next door too.”
Younguk immediately relayed the orders to the organization members. The sound of rain masked their voices.
Meanwhile, Yi-beom crouched down in front of the red gate, suppressing all sound.
He’s probably listening to the noise outside.
Imagining the rabbit with its ears perked straight up made him want to storm into the house immediately.
“No. Not yet.”
He intended to wake him up properly—so he wouldn’t even think of running again. To do that, he’d have to tighten the net further.
Tapping lightly at the gate with his fingertips, he soon stood up.
The once-noisy alley fell silent. No organization members, no Younguk, no Yi-beom in sight.
On the surface.
***
Listening to the sounds outside, Eunho let out a long breath.
I almost got caught.
As he sat by the gate with his ears perked, he heard voices. They sounded like the uncles who worked under Yi-beom, but the rain made it hard to hear clearly.
What are they saying?
Were they saying they’d search more?
After whispering among themselves for a while, they eventually left the alley.
It was the complete opposite of what Eunho had expected.
Just as he was standing there in a daze, the grandmother appeared holding a towel and scooped Eunho up.
“You were in the room—when did you come back out?”
“It’s cold. Just because you’ve got fur doesn’t mean you won’t feel it.”
Though she scolded him, her hands drying his fur with the towel were gentle.
Just like Yi-beom’s.
She set the rabbit down in the warmest spot of the main room’s heated floor and wrapped blankets around him tightly. Then she carefully wiped even inside his ears.
“Grandma told those dog-meat soup bastards I didn’t see you. So don’t you worry.”
“…”
“Even if I leave the door open, don’t you go outside.”
If he were really just a rabbit, there was no way he’d understand her words, yet she kept earnestly warning him.
Still not satisfied, she lifted both of Eunho’s front paws.
“Did you understand, or didn’t you? Grandma’s asking.”
Gripping both paws tightly, she shook them back and forth, making Eunho’s body wobble wildly. Feeling like he might get motion sickness, Eunho hurriedly moved his mouth.
H-how does a rabbit cry?
In storybooks, cows went “moo,” but rabbits… hopped. Realizing he had never once heard a rabbit’s cry in his life, Eunho panicked.
After a moment of thought, he brought his mouth to the back of the grandmother’s hand.
Then he gently nibbled her—chomp.
“So that means you don’t know, huh?”
Ah, no, that’s not it!
As Eunho wiggled his ears helplessly, the grandmother burst into laughter.
“What a little charmer.”
Tapping his nose lightly, she brought over the bowl she had set in the living room.
As Eunho accepted and ate the vegetables she handed him one after another, he organized his thoughts.
Once things quiet down, I’ll leave.
Even if they had withdrawn now, he didn’t know when they might burst in again. They could be setting a trap, waiting for him to come out on his own.
If I stay here just a little longer and then go to Moon Bar to ask for help…
Eunho’s eyes slowly blinked shut.
With a slice of cucumber still in his mouth, the rabbit’s body tilted and slumped over.
“Oh my?”
Curled into a little ball, the rabbit fell asleep.
When the grandmother gently pulled the cucumber from his mouth, tiny rice-grain-like tooth marks were left behind.
“How adorable.”
She gazed at the little marks, like scattered grains of rice, for a long time.
