Yi-hyeon felt sorry that Han Jun was worrying so much because of him. And he was certain that if it were Han Jun, he’d protect this other secret of his as well. So after hesitating for a moment, Yi-hyeon gently grabbed Han Jun’s wrist as he was about to stand up.
He wanted to give an honest answer, out of appreciation for Han Jun’s willingness to help him.
“Even if you’re outside the storage room, I can still recognize you.”
“How?”
“I can tell your footsteps and your scent apart.”
“Really? I mean, my hearing and sense of smell are pretty good too. But today I didn’t put on any cologne, so I shouldn’t smell like any—!”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Having formed a strong trust in Han Jun, Yi-hyeon felt confident that he wouldn’t regret this decision.
“My sense of smell and hearing are good. Not ‘good for a human’ like you—but exactly like a dog.”
Han Jun’s eyes widened more and more as he stared at Yi-hyeon.
When the dark pupils within them quivered faintly and then went still, Yi-hyeon felt a small ripple rise in his chest. Even so, his resolve not to regret this didn’t waver.
He’s going to think I’m a monster after all, isn’t he?
Han Jun, who’d been silently staring at him, slowly parted his lips. The meanings that might spill out with the breath he took in—though it was only a brief moment, it felt as long as hours to Yi-hyeon.
“Seriously? For real? That’s insane!”
When an exclamation of awe burst out instead of a subtle sigh of discomfort, the anxious ripple settled into a calm relief.
“How good are we talking? Then earlier, when I was standing outside, could you smell me too?”
“Think of it as exactly the same as a dog. If the air’s stagnant, I can only smell scents that’ve come into direct contact with me. But if there’s even a little airflow, I can pick up smells from really far away.”
“Whoa.”
When Yi-hyeon nodded, Han Jun kept letting out awed murmurs, his face full of disbelief. There was no sense that he found Yi-hyeon monstrous or uncomfortable for having such an unusual ability.
“That’s crazy. Hey, then you should become a cop. Like, go to crime scenes and sniff out the culprit or something.”
“That’d be tough. My stamina’s bad.”
“True. You’d be running after criminals and your tail would pop out, and you’d get dragged straight to a lab.”
“And there’s something else I want to be.”
“What is it?”
“A film director. My mom loved movies. So ever since middle school, I wanted to become a director.”
Yi-hyeon’s mother had loved movies dearly.
Her only real pleasure was coming home after work, setting the TV to a channel where she could watch movies with Yi-hyeon, and watching together. Standing in for his mother—who’d wanted to become a film director but couldn’t afford college even after getting accepted—Yi-hyeon said it was his wish to step over the threshold of that department himself. Han Jun listened quietly to every word.
“So my first choice is Min-guk University’s film and theater department. I keep thinking that since she loved movies so much, she’ll definitely watch the ones I make from up in the sky. Is that kind of… childish?”
“What’s childish about that? Not childish at all. Looks like your mom and my mom had the same hobby. My mom was a huge movie fan too. She said that’s why she became an actress.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Come to think of it, I’ve watched movies that your mom was in together with my mom.”
“Really? Which ones?”
“Pretty much all of them.”
“And what did she say?”
“She said the female lead was so pretty she couldn’t remember the plot at all. I remember her laughing and saying I felt the same way, honestly.”
It was the first time Yi-hyeon had ever talked about his mother in such detail with someone. He’d expected Han Jun to laugh it off and call it childish, but when Han Jun took him seriously, Yi-hyeon’s heart felt like it was floating.
“If she’d seen me, carrying on her bloodline, I bet she would’ve said I was pretty too.”
“You’re handsome.”
“Really?”
“You already know that—why ask? Fishing for compliments?”
“No. I just wanted to hear you say it.”
“What are you even saying?”
With his face inexplicably heating up, Yi-hyeon said they should stop talking nonsense and switch topics, steering the conversation back to movies. As they spent time talking about the films of Actress Joo Mi-yeon that he’d watched with his mother, Yi-hyeon’s ears slowly began to shrink.
“Your ears got smaller.”
“Really? Did my tail shrink too?”
“Want me to check?”
“No thanks.”
Yi-hyeon reached back and felt along the tail connected to his hips. Since it was a tailbone linked to his spine, even touching it himself sent a ticklish sensation all the way up to the nape of his neck. The stimulation was so intense it sent a faint ache through his lower abdomen—so if someone he liked touched it, he’d surely be too embarrassed to know what to do with himself.
But wanting to give Han Jun what he wanted, and remembering how much Han Jun had gone through for him today, Yi-hyeon thought long and hard before slowly opening his mouth.
“Hey, Han Jun.”
“Huh?”
Han Jun turned toward him.
Yi-hyeon, eyes half-lidded, pushed the tail he was tightly gripping right into Han Jun’s line of sight.
Han Jun’s gaze dropped abruptly from Yi-hyeon’s face to the fluffy tail, fur softly bristling.
“……Want to touch it?”
“Seriously? I can touch it?”
At the eye-smile as clear as morning dew, Yi-hyeon nodded instead of answering. Even as he gave permission, he couldn’t suppress the embarrassment boiling up deep inside—but seeing how happy Han Jun looked, that embarrassment somehow vanished completely.
Just as Han Jun excitedly reached out his hand, he paused and slowly curled his fingers back.
“You didn’t hate being touched? Don’t push yourself just because I helped you.”
“I’m not pushing myself. It’s okay if you touch it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s going to disappear soon anyway, so if you’re going to touch it, do it now.”
Han Jun cautiously extended his arm, and the tips of his fingers lightly brushed against Yi-hyeon’s tail fur. A sharp, mysterious sensation shot up Yi-hyeon’s spine, tickling the back of his neck.
When Yi-hyeon flinched and tensed up, the hand stroking his fur stopped again.
“You don’t like it up here? Then I’ll just touch the tip.”
Yi-hyeon gently grabbed Han Jun’s index finger as it hesitated in midair and guided it back onto his tail.
“No. It’s just ticklish. You can keep going.”
“Ticklish? Where?”
“If you ask where…… um, well, kind of everywhere?”
“Is it like an erogenous zone or something?”
Yi-hyeon had never really thought about erogenous zones, but he was so embarrassed by the sexual implication that he denied it outright.
“Absolutely not.”
“Why are you emphasizing ‘absolutely’?”
“And why are you suddenly saying something sexual like that with no warning? That’s embarrassing.”
“Sexual? Erogenous zone?”
Han Jun snorted with laughter.
“How is that sexual? Wow…… you’re seriously ridiculously innocent. And even if it were, wouldn’t it be weirder to announce it beforehand?”
“What’s weird about it? It’s not weird.”
Yi-hyeon said stiffly.
“Really? Okay then. I’m going to start searching for your erogenous zone now—”
“Don’t!”
As Han Jun smiled, tugging one corner of his mouth upward, Yi-hyeon swallowed hard, avoiding his gaze.
“What is it—do you want me to warn you or not? Why do you keep changing what you say? Or are you…… embarrassed?”
Han Jun leaned his face right into Yi-hyeon’s field of vision as he asked. Startled by the sudden closeness, Yi-hyeon’s ears flushed bright red at the tips.
“No. I’m not embarrassed. What I meant when I said don’t was—why would you even look for something like that?”
“Yeah?”
“Anyway. Whether I like it or not, my tail’s connected to my spine, so if you tickle it, my whole body reacts. It’s not sexual or anything like that. So don’t get weird ideas.”
“Sounds like you’re the one having weird ideas.”
😜😜😜