# Chapter 77
‘Huh?’
Iyeon blinked. For a moment, Mungchi’s fur seemed to sparkle. Was it because of the sunlight? As Iyeon was about to dismiss it without much thought, he suddenly realized.
The bristling fur was creating small sparks as it rubbed together.
And this was a swimming pool full of water.
“Mungchi, no!”
Iyeon shouted frantically, his face turning deathly pale. He had to prevent a catastrophe. Electric Current Discharge Incident at Hotel Swimming Pool. He had a vision of tomorrow’s newspaper headlines flashing before his eyes.
But Mungchi didn’t let down his guard. He even took a step forward, still in his combat stance with his head and neck lowered.
“No, that’s not it! I’m fine! You absolutely cannot do that!”
Unable to find the right words in his urgency, Iyeon hugged Sano. Pressing Sano’s head against his shoulder and mechanically forcing a laugh, he could see Mungchi tilting his head in confusion. It was working. Iyeon desperately ran his fingers through the hair tangled in his fingers, flaunting their close relationship.
“See? Don’t come over. We’ll get kicked out. And I haven’t even enjoyed myself properly yet!”
Inadvertently blurting out his true feelings, Iyeon wiped the droplets running down his cheeks. He wasn’t sure if they were tears or pool water.
It was already surprising that there was a madman who brought an electric-type variant to a swimming pool, but the fact that it was himself was unbelievable. The only consolation was that other people were keeping their distance from Sano, so they hadn’t fully grasped the situation.
Fortunately, whether Iyeon’s appeal worked or not, Mungchi’s puffed-up body gradually returned to normal.
Kiiiing…
As Mungchi made a dejected sound and started to trudge toward the pool, Iyeon rushed over to intercept him. No matter how calm he seemed, Iyeon couldn’t bring him near the water. Green eyes narrowed in displeasure as they watched the white figure darting away like a bullet.
Since he was already out, Iyeon grabbed a large towel and covered Mungchi, stroking him gently. His fluffy ears and tail were drooping. He seemed dispirited after hearing so many negatives. Mungchi, you did well. You restrained yourself well. Mungchi, you’re the best. Only after Iyeon chanted these praises did Mungchi partially raise his ears.
“…Are you okay?”
Hyegang asked glumly. Iyeon hugged Mungchi, who was burrowing into his arms wrapped in the towel, and muttered dejectedly.
“Besides here… what else is there?”
The sight of him trudging along—soaking wet, half-naked, holding his companion variant wrapped in a towel—looked like a defeated soldier even at best. Hyegang gave him a sympathetic look, grabbed his bag and followed, and finally Sano left his seat.
The swimming pool found peace, so it was a happy ending from the hotel’s perspective.
There weren’t as many facilities where they could take Mungchi as they’d thought. They eventually chose a walking trail near the lake and forest. As they walked down the path that branched into a side trail, moving a bit away from the hotel, a view full of greenery that seemed like it could suffocate them with phytoncide came into sight.
“A walk, huh.”
Sano muttered slowly.
“Don’t even dream about it.”
Iyeon firmly shut down the fitness fanatic’s scheme. He had changed from his palm-sized swimsuit to simple clothes. His loose white t-shirt had shoulder seams that came down to his forearms, and the hem covered half his thighs. Beneath it, wide shorts with bold English prints were barely visible.
“Here, Mungchi. This place is better than back there, right?”
When Iyeon put down Mungchi, whom he had been holding, Mungchi wagged his tail and jumped around excitedly. Watching the small tiger striding along the walking trail, Iyeon shook his head, causing a few droplets to spray. After a leisurely walk around, everything would dry.
“This place is nice too. Don’t you think?”
“Uh, well…”
Hyegang’s response was noticeably more perfunctory than when they were at the pool. His indifferent and shuffling gait clearly indicated his lack of enthusiasm, but Jung Iyeon, an extrovert who couldn’t understand the mind of someone who didn’t understand why walking was necessary, failed to notice.
“How far are we walking?”
“Hmm. Is this connected to the mountain?”
Iyeon, who failed to recognize even subtle hints, looked around. Not far away, a wooden sign was visible.
[Do not enter as the mountain path is not maintained and it is easy to get lost.]
“I guess it’s not connected.”
“Seems so.”
The forest in the late afternoon, just transitioning into evening, had sunlight beautifully shining through the trees and occasionally the sound of birds chirping could be heard. You could say it was a scene where all the peace in the world seemed to be gathered… But the end of the forest was not visible, and judging by how densely the tops of distant trees could be seen from here, the terrain didn’t seem very flat.
“There won’t be any variants coming out, right?”
“They say there’s no hotel these days that doesn’t hire hunters.”
This was the latest information Iyeon had picked up while working part-time. Hyegang nodded as if to say, “I see.”
Unlike the bustling city center, less developed, quiet areas were perfect for variants to remain undiscovered and active. The area near Changju Lake was just barely within the range of the Red Void, and since variants didn’t discriminate between cities and rural areas, the hotel would have taken its own thorough precautions.
“What a waste of money.”
Sano, who had been following them silently, abruptly muttered. This was asking for trouble. Iyeon wore a stern expression as if admonishing him.
“This isn’t something to skimp on.”
“That’s what I meant.”
…Why does it feel like we’re not understanding each other even when we’re talking? Iyeon looked at Sano in confusion, but as always, he didn’t explain himself clearly. Wondering if he was the strange one, Iyeon looked at Hyegang, but he also seemed not to understand, which was somewhat reassuring.
While Iyeon wasn’t the type to explain everything in detail either, Sano was extreme. He would talk about Z when everyone else was discussing A, and to make matters worse, he’d omit both subjects and objects, making it remarkable that anyone understood him at all.
‘No wonder I didn’t realize we’d become close…’
Detecting Sano’s affection would be nearly impossible even for Jongchan or Jonghee. Iyeon, who had said he wouldn’t care but kept thinking about Je Sano at every opportunity, nodded with a thoughtful “hmm.”
While thinking about this, he glanced at Sano and received a look that seemed to ask what he was looking at. This must also be Je Sano’s way of communication. As Iyeon, full of unnecessarily firm belief, exuded a gentle aura, Sano’s gaze became more intense. Yeah, I understand it all.
“Tell me why you’re looking at me like that.”
Well, there was no need to pretend to understand. No point in saying something that would lead to who knows what response…
“Hey.”
While Iyeon was drinking his imaginary soup, Mungchi, sensing the increasingly tense atmosphere, came running back. His face was wet with dew from whatever he had been doing.
But Mungchi circled around Iyeon a few times and then leaped over the walking trail barrier. The meaning of his actions—wagging his tail and pretending to run beyond the rope boundary—wasn’t hard to decipher.
“Mungchi. Do you want to play there?”
When Iyeon gestured toward the forest, Mungchi’s yellow eyes sparkled even more. Next to him, Hyegang was horrified.
“Hyung, are you crazy? You want to let a Grade 2 variant loose in the forest?”
“It’s just Mungchi. People can’t go into the forest anyway, and even if someone spotted him, I don’t think he’d attack people.”
Mungchi had been in the form of a baby tiger ever since Hyegang found him. Of course, his original form would be the house-sized Cheongho, but he had always stayed small, which must have been uncomfortable.
Since Mungchi came in right as Iyeon started living with Sano, they had been together for quite a while. During that time, they had roamed the neighborhood streets together not infrequently, but this intelligent variant had never tried to attack people unless Iyeon was threatened.
He was even well-behaved when a child on the street tried to hug him, calling him a cute cat. Perhaps because of being a high-grade variant with self-awareness, he understood words very well… So Iyeon had built up considerable trust in this perceptive baby tiger.
“But you absolutely must not attack humans. Variants… handle as you see fit. But not humans. Better yet, don’t even encounter them. Understood?”
Mungchi swished his tail as if answering. Being an intelligent creature, there shouldn’t be major problems.
The black tiger turned around gracefully and quickly shrank after pawing the ground a few times. A glimpse of his retreating figure showed him transforming into a massive tiger with blue fur. Hyegang, still concerned, kept glancing in the direction where Mungchi had disappeared.
“What if hunters discover Mungchi?”
“It’s fine. Our Mungchi will win.”
Hyegang put his hand to his forehead at Iyeon’s words, which sounded like those of a doting parent. Iyeon chuckled and continued walking.
“I’m kidding. He’ll avoid them on his own. Let’s come back and get him tomorrow.”
If Mungchi had wanted to leave Iyeon’s house, he could have done so long ago. Couldn’t he just break a window or door and go anywhere?
But the fact that he hadn’t meant Mungchi was content staying with Iyeon. He probably wouldn’t do anything to provoke Iyeon’s hostility.
