When I woke up, it was morning. I awoke to the sound of sparrows singing outside, but I discovered that there was a heavy weight on not just my chest but my legs as well. I looked down and saw that Rangii, who was sleeping while curled up like a cat, must have moved in her sleep so that she was resting on top of me. …I still have no idea how she can move around so much in her sleep. I carefully set Rangii down and left the room. I heard someone chopping with a knife, and the delicious aroma of food sent my stomach into ecstatics. Narae stayed up late trying to calm down Chii and Pyeii who were trembling in fear after what happened last night, so there was only one person who could possible be there.
“Have you awoken?”
Saehee. I was beginning to have second thoughts.
“Yeah.”
“From the faint scent of magic on you, it appears that Nyangii-nim paid you a visit.”
“Yeah.”
Saehee’s face darkened ever-so-slightly, so quickly that I might have missed it had I not been looking, before returning to normal.
“From the looks of your devastated face, it appears you have discovered the answer to her question.”
What’s wrong with my face?
“Well, more or less.”
“I see.”
Saehee gave a soft sigh and put the kitchen knife down on the cutting board.
“Do you have something you would like to say to me?”
“You’re seriously asking me that?”
“When did you sleep with Pyeii-nim?”
“You’re playing with the ambiguity of my words? Really?”
Right. She told me this multiple times. She had no desire to have me do as she wanted. Could she have seen this coming?
“I see you did not even blink after hearing that joke. The shock from your realization must have been quite sizable.”
It felt too much like she was a cat worrying over a mouse, so I deliberately blinked. Saehee took a black plastic bag out of her sleeve and bent down at the waist before making a certain sound.
“Uweeeegh.”
Will the day ever come that I best Saehee in an argument?
“Enough. Are you sure you don’t have something you’d like to say to me?”
“I do not.”
Saehee turned around and picked up the kitchen knife, making it obvious that she had nothing else to say.
“You’re not even going to give an excuse?”
“After all you have learned of me, Young Master, there is not a word I could say that would have any meaning to you. I will readily divulge everything once your emotions have steadied and you are ready to hear my words.”
Saehee’s serious response to a question I gave without thinking caught me off guard. However, this was likely what Saehee wanted. Because her evil, twisted thoughts go farther than anyone else’s. That’s why I decided to try a surprise attack that she couldn’t possible see coming.
“In that case, I have a question for you.”
“I shall answer.”
“What’re your three sizes? I’m especially curious about your chest. You’re at least bigger than Rangii, right?”
“Do you wish to see pictures of your naked body circulate all throughout the Internet, Young Master?”
There was no beating that.
It was still early in the morning but I was exhausted after my simple conversation with Saehee, and I went out into the yard. There, I saw Baduk sleeping atop a cushion underneath the roof because of last night’s rain. Any passerby wouldn’t look twice at this perfectly normal sight of a dog sleeping outside, but I couldn’t help but be a little concerned since I spent time with her while she was in human form. Filled with these sentiments, I petted Baduk starting from her head and down her back. Some people complain about dog fur, but her fur was so unbelievably soft that I couldn’t believe it was really fur I was petting. Mental peace. It felt as though I could forget about all of the worries of the world like this. I just might get addicted.
“Is something the matter, Young Master?”
…I still haven’t gotten used to seeing her speak while in dog form.
“No, nothing really.”
“You look tired, woof!”
Was it really showing on my face that much?
“If you feel tired, then please take a nap here with me.”
“I’ll take you up on that next time.”
I couldn’t do that, even if I wanted to. Maybe we could nap together if Baduk went inside, but people wouldn’t look too kindly on me if they spied me sleeping here. Plus, Baduk looked like the one who needed more sleep, not me. Because my aunt had a dog at her house, I knew that a dry nose was a bad sign. Baduk’s nose was completely dry, unlike normal.
“Have you gotten sick or something?” I asked.
Baduk sat down as if embarrassed and scratched her neck with her back paw.
“Heheheh…. For some reason, I haven’t been able to dream, so I’m out of energy.”
Even today? Baduk sleeps a lot, so she should’ve been able to dream plenty as well. Does this mean something’s wrong? Or could she just be lacking exercise? It seems like she hasn’t been able to move around a lot since we got to Seoul. I’d better do something about that.
“Do you want to go for a walk after I come back from school? Maybe the extra sights will help you dream. Or if you’re tired, I can hug you.”
I said this in order to steer Baduk’s focus away from me, and my words caused her to madly wag her tail as she ran in circles around me.
“Really?!”
Seeing her like this made me think that she really was a dog. But please don’t misunderstand. I’m not insulting her.
“Yep.”
But before that, I had to go to school. I petted Baduk, who was in ecstatics, and I beat my intense desire to simply spend the rest of the day like this and went back inside. Maybe I’ll take a quick shower while I’m getting ready. I grabbed the door handle and….
That was close. Maybe Baduk had some magic remaining after all. I almost forgot that Pyeii destroyed the door handle. Plus, I heard water running inside. Normally it would be a rare thing to take a shower in the morning, but it was summer. There were no guarantees that someone wouldn’t be showering. Phew. If I had mistakenly entered, I would’ve been pulverized into a bloody pulp. And I have absolutely no intention of pretending to have mistakenly entered. After all, I am a gentleman.
“Hm?”
Rangii appeared behind me, likely while I was busy reveling in my greatness.
“You’re up, then?”
Her hair was unbraided, so she likely just got up. Rangii poked me in the stomach and spoke, resentment apparent in her voice.
“How could you get out of bed first? Do you have any idea how surprised I was when I woke up because your body heat was gone?”
…Surprised? She was sleeping soundly when I left. Rangii carefully closed one eye and stuck out her index finger like a teacher scolding a student, and she said:
“So next time, if you wake up, then hug me until I wake up. Got it?”
So that’s why she gave that nonsensical complaint earlier. It seems like she’s getting better at coming up with ways to trick me. I didn’t particularly dislike her growth, but I felt it best to firmly teach her a lesson. When I didn’t say anything, Rangii mistakenly believed that I fell for her trick, and she crossed her arms, her amber eyes that seemed to reflect the night sky of Jirisan sparkling. I put my hands on Rangii’s head. She probably thought I was going to pat her head, because her tail started swaying from side to side. Not at all, you brat. I then grabbed Rangii’s ears.
“Hm?”
This was punishment. I squeezed Rangii’s ears.
“So you think you can trick me, you brat?”
“Unyaah!!”
Rangii jumped up and down as she shouted.
“It hurts! It hurts!!”
It hurt so much that her speech style went back to normal. Her shouting made me feel bad, and I let her go, when….
“Rangii! What’s wrong?!”
The bathroom door slammed open. My head naturally turned towards the sound, and I saw Narae with a towel wrapped around her, and Chii washing Pyeii’s hair for her. Narae glared at me with frightening eyes, and with just a single word, she told me that if I dared to hurt our adorable little Rangii without a good reason, I’d be given suitable recompense for my crime.
“Explain.”
“Rangii lied to me, so as punishment, I gave her a small pinch on her ears.”
After I said that, Nyangii focused her gaze on Rangii, the corners of her eyes wet with tears as she rubbed her ears.
“Is that true?”
Rangii answered honestly.
“I-it is.”
This is why I can never hate Rangii. Narae gave a heavy sigh.
“You scared me. I was afraid Sunghoon was doing something bad.”
…Like what?
“Kyawooo! Narae-unni!
“Hm?”
Chii’s outburst caused Narae to turn around.
“You haven’t gotten dressed yet!”
This caused Narae to realize the state she was in.
“Kyaaah?!”
Narae screamed like a kid before slamming the door shut with a bang. Phew. I didn’t get hit. I didn’t do anything wrong, so she couldn’t hit me. I got to see a beautiful sight without getting hit, so maybe today would turn out to be a good day.
“Uu…. Sunghoon, you’re so mean. You don’t care about how I feel.”
Rangii said this in a soft voice, and, in response, I put my hand on her head. It was truly just like Rangii to flinch because of what happened earlier but not slap my hand away.
“Only because you tried to be all sly about it. If you were honest and told me you wanted me to hug you, everything would’ve been okay.”
“But she said it was best to ask you like this.”
…Oh ho?
“Who did?”
“Earlier, Pyeii said that…oh shoot!”
Rangii blocked her mouth with her hands, but it was already too late. Those brats apparently had a bone to pick with Rangii. Rangii panicked, looking rapidly from left to right, but I hugged her by the waist and said:
“Don’t listen to things like that and just do what you want to do, you little brat.”
Rangii smiled happily.
“Okay! Sunghoon! I love you! Give me a kiss!”
But don’t be so direct about it, either. Now, my only choice is to kiss you.
‘Why do you think that my pretty little Snowy is in love with you?’
“Sunghoon?”
…Ah. I shook my head. Why did I have to think about her words now, of all times?
“What’s the matter?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Rangii was quick to notice when something was wrong with me. Now isn’t the time to worry about what Nyangii said. In order to stop Rangii from worrying, I kissed her on the cheek. But this didn’t cause Rangii to brighten up very much. As if she knew that my mind wasn’t fully with her when I gave her that kiss. I decided to get out of there. I was no good like this. With Nyangii’s first question and her second question weaving together inside my head, I couldn’t bring myself to look at Rangii.
“I’m going to get ready for school now.”
I put Rangii down. I put showering off for later and decided to start packing for school.
“Sunghoon. What’s wrong?”
“Go to the bathroom and ask Narae to help you wash up. Okay?”
I said this and entered my room, as if I were running away from Rangii.
What Nyangii said. Why does Rangii love me? There are a variety of possible reasons. The first reason is that when I saw her as an infant, I wasn’t scared of her in the least. Plus, the first time I remember meeting her, I wasn’t scared of her then, either. That could conceivably have caused her to feel affection for me. Also, Rangii knew, since before we first met to the present with her seal weakening, that her fated partner would come to her. Or, at least, that’s what she thought. And, after getting to know that partner, Rangii realized without thinking too deeply on it that she truly liked that person. Those feelings grew until the day Jungmi-noona came. Or rather, strictly speaking, until Ungnyeo used the Bear Clan to try to kill me. And that was when Rangii learned of one kind of love. A love that you could sacrifice anything for.
This was all according to Sahee’s plan. Now I’m certain of it. Saehee planned all of this. There’s no other explanation. Actually, this is all perfectly in line with Saehee’s style. Manipulation. Planning. Once I found the answer to Nyangii’s first question, the answer to her second question came to me easily. I bit my lip. I must have copied the habit from Narae. I caught the slight whiff of blood.
“Big Brother? What are you doing?”
I looked up, and there was Chii. When did she get here?
“I’m getting ready for school.”
“You were just standing still.”
…That’s because I’m bad at multi-tasking. I decided to make a joke to brush over the truth. I couldn’t let Chii worry.
“That’s because I don’t want to go to school.”
“Awooo? Big Brother, you’re an idiot, so your only choice is to go to school.”
“Being bad at studying doesn’t make you an idiot.”
“That’s only because you’re good at being clever, Big Brother.”
“Well, would you look at this brat?”
I grabbed the hair above Chii’s ears and lifted it skyward.
“Kyawooo? What are you doing?!”
“I just thought this looks funny.”
I heard the jingle of her anklet as she kicked me in the shin.
“That hurt!”
“Hmph! Whatever! Big Brother, you idiot!”
She huffed indignantly and left the room. It was painful, but I successfully kept her from noticing something was wrong.
I had difficulty tasting anything during breakfast, and when I was about to leave for school, Rangii spoke to me.
“I’m going with you.”
There was a fierce determination in her gaze, her eyes focused unwaveringly on me and her lips closed fast. She looked like she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Honestly, isn’t she a bit too fast to realize when something’s wrong with me? However, Rangii didn’t think one part of her demand fully through: the one who would decide wasn’t me but Narae.
“Sure, why not.”
I looked at Narae in surprise.
Why?
Are you seriously asking me that?
Narae noticed something was wrong as well. However, I was surprised to hear Rangii refuse Narae’s affirmation.
“I want to hear Sunghoon’s answer.”
This meant I couldn’t push this off to Narae. I could have made up some excuse, but I didn’t want to go to such lengths to avoid Rangii. It may be a little uncomfortable to look at Rangii right now, but there was no way I could use my own problems as an excuse. I sighed and gave my answer.
“Only up to the school gate, got it?”
“I do.”
“You’ll need to go home by yourself. Are you okay with that?”
Rangii’s tail puffed up.
“I-I’m not a child!”
That wasn’t what I meant. Still, I felt a lot better after seeing her cheeks puff up in indignation. I poked Rangii in the cheek, forcing out the air.
“Bu~uu.”
It sounded like air rushing out of a balloon.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay.”