I’m Not a Bad Person, I’m a Pitiable Person 38

His back. Let me see his back.

Yeom Hajae’s burning gaze said as much.

If it could end with simply taking off his shirt once, he’d have stripped as many times as needed… but for some reason, he had a gut feeling that he shouldn’t show it to him.

“Now that I think about it, your back yesterday…”

Yeom Hajae muttered something unintelligible and reached out again. I knocked his hand away and pressed myself flush against the emergency door.

“We’re nothing to each other now, so why would you need to worry about it?”

“Nothing to each other?”

“That’s right, strangers. Are we family or something?”

Drawing a clear line, I reached behind me and grabbed the door handle.

“Then I’ll be on my way. I’ll wait inside the room until the rescue team arrives.”

Keeping my gaze fixed straight ahead, I opened the door very slowly. Watching for Yeom Hajae’s reaction.

Creeeak—

The slow-grinding hinge let out a chilling sound.

“In this dark building, alone, waiting. With weak abilities, and not even a hunter.”

Even with my emphasis on leaving, Yeom Hajae stayed still, head hung low.

Creeeeeak—

In the end, the door swung half open.

Left with no choice, I was about to turn around when Yeom Hajae grabbed my arm. Since I’d secretly been waiting for that touch, I stopped dead in my tracks.

“Hunter? …Is there something you wanted to say?”

I waited, but Yeom Hajae, having grabbed me, said nothing at all.

One word—that he wouldn’t get involved—and this would’ve been over.

Was he really trying to pick a fight here, of all places? Annoyed, the smile slipped from my face. I leaned in to check the face of Yeom Hajae, who’d been staring at the floor this whole time.

“Hng….”

“?”

He was holding back tears.

When our eyes met, Yeom Hajae flinched.

“S-sorry.”

A single tear that had been precariously gathering rolled down his cheek. Yeom Hajae hurriedly wiped it with his sleeve. But the tears, having already begun to overflow, kept streaming endlessly, soaking his face.

There’s no way a man would come seeking revenge just because he made a coworker cry.

I was thoroughly bewildered.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No. It’s just, I want to get closer to hyung, but, that…”

“……”

“Hiding your ability and living by stealing in some shady organization—I’m worried about that.”

He couldn’t continue, choking up. He looked like a child stifling sobs for fear of being scolded.

“…Stealing?”

Nod, nod.

Stealing shouldn’t even be the issue here.

Yeom Hajae continued, his voice trembling with sorrow.

“You’re even scared of dungeons, and you forced yourself to come in here…”

“Right. I was scared of dungeons.”

Come to think of it, I’d never properly used my ability in front of Yeom Hajae before.

Don’t tell me he still thinks of me as some petty criminal who joined a villain organization just to dodge military service, hiding his ability?

And on top of that, someone with dungeon trauma?

If that were true, it would mean I’d never even been on Yeom Hajae’s radar as a target of suspicion in the first place.

Yeom Hajae, his face flushed red, was frantically wiping away tears and snot.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. Ugh, the tears are just, suddenly…”

Unless he was a genius actor, there’s no way he could’ve pulled off such a pathetic display this perfectly… So all that talk about reporting me had just been sulking.

With the small seed of suspicion put to rest, one thought came to mind.

Is there really any reason not to show him my back?

Getting closer to Yeom Hajae would be a good thing, wouldn’t it?

This was separate from pride. If he saw the scars on my back and mistook me for a weak victim?

I could use that as a shield if things went south.

“Understood. I’ll show you my back.”

“!”

Yeom Hajae’s head shot up. Hope filled his tear-laden eyes.

“Once we’re out of the dungeon, though.”

“What?”

If the opportunity arose, I’d show him; if not, I just wouldn’t.

“Saving people comes first right now. Or should I strip right here on these stairs?”

“N-no!”

“So stop crying now.”

At my words, Yeom Hajae roughly rubbed his eyes with his sleeve. The corners of his eyes, already red from crying, turned even redder.

“…Thank you.”

“Let’s head up.”

I promptly shoved Yeom Hajae toward the stairs. I wanted to get out of the dungeon quickly, before the rescue team arrived. Did Yeom Hajae still not grasp the severity of the situation?

Following after him, I spoke lightly.

“Actually, I saw a crack in the wall earlier.”

“What?! Why are you telling me something that important only now—!”

“I forgot for a moment. Anyway, let’s hurry before the building collapses.”

Whether it was the intent of getting him to snap out of it and move faster that worked, the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs sped up.

We walked in silence, picking up the pace together, when a small whimpering sound came from behind us.

Kkrrr….

I stopped short. Looking back toward the sound, a pair of red eyes glowed in the darkness. Yeom Hajae seemed to have heard it too this time, and he shone his flashlight back.

The round beam of light pinpointed the source of the sound exactly, revealing the identity of the creature that had been gnawing on my ankle.

It was a white ball of fur, staring intently at us from between the railing bars.

“A monster…!”

Startled, Yeom Hajae pulled out a dagger from inside his jacket. He came down a few steps to stand in front of me, aiming the dagger at the monster below on the stairs.

“Stay behind me. I’ll protect you, so…!”

It’s a narrow space, so he’d have trouble using his ability properly anyway.

From what I’d witnessed at the Association event, his ability itself seemed fairly strong. But what exactly did he plan to do in a situation where he couldn’t use it properly? Not very reassuring at all.

“Wait,”

“It could hurt people, so we need to deal with it here.”

He glared at the monster. He looked like he was about to do some circus-style knife throwing. The moment I thought that, Yeom Hajae threw the knife.

Clang!

The knife bounced off the railing and rolled down the stairs.

“Skreek!”

Startled, the monster fell off the railing and hid.

Yeom Hajae glanced at me, looking flustered.

“M-my hand slipped.”

He reached into his jacket again and pulled out a new dagger.

This time, holding the knife, he carefully headed down himself.

Hm.

After watching for a moment, I brushed past him and went down the stairs.

“Please don’t attack it, just wait a moment.”

“Wait, hyung….”

I heard Yeom Hajae’s flustered footsteps hurrying down after me.

Reaching the landing, the creature came into clearer view. The meerkat-shaped creature was crouched low, blinking its round eyes. It looked wary.

I crouched down in front of the stairs where the creature was. I beckoned with my hand the way you’d call a cat, and the creature responded.

“Aww, who’s a good boy.”

The creature crept toward me cautiously, one step at a time. After waiting a moment, it came close enough to touch. Without hesitation, I placed a hand on top of its head. After a few strokes, the creature rubbed its head against my palm on its own.

“It seems to be used to humans. Maybe it’s a monster that has an owner.”

“! Are you saying someone trapped in the hotel was keeping a monster as a pet?”

Yeom Hajae looked aghast, as if this were unthinkable.

We made decent money off that sort of thing too, actually.

I didn’t bother explaining further.

“Or maybe being friendly toward people is just this monster’s nature.”

“Anyway, we should kill it—!”

Yeom Hajae raised his dagger. I lifted my arm to block his movement.

“Don’t kill it.”

“What?”

I clenched my hand, which was trembling with excitement.

“It has pretty eyes, this one.”

The sparkling red eyes reminded me of Hyunwoo.

“Since its fur is white, maybe Whitey would be a good name?”

“Huh?”

I looked down at the creature with a satisfied expression. The creature looked up at me with gentle eyes too.

As our gazes lingered on each other, the creature suddenly opened its mouth wide. A mouthful of densely packed teeth was revealed. And then—

Chomp!

“……”

Blood streamed down from my bitten hand.

“Aaack, hyung!”

***

…He could sense killing intent.

Jang Ijung slowly opened his eyes. In the dim room, the afterimage of a pair of bright yellow eyes floated before him.

“……”

For some reason, Seo Sinwoo had accepted the monster as one of their own. He’d even petted it as if it were a puppy, not a monster.

Feeling oddly guilty, he hastily severed his connection with the creature. Even though there was no way the other party could know his identity.

…Should I rest a bit?

Jang Ijung, who’d been sitting up, fell over onto his side. The plush hotel bed was perfect for letting his body rest.

Using his ability had left him hungry. Reaching out as he was, he rummaged through a bag of bread sitting by his pillow. He bit into whatever bread came to hand and chewed.

“Tasty….”

That’s right.

The place he was currently in wasn’t outside the dungeon.

He was still inside the hotel. He’d been watching the two of them this whole time, from a distance that was both close and far.

Using his ability—Taming.