Chapter 3: Into the Lion’s Den

On the Road to Jinhyang

Yoon Bora, holding the steering wheel, glanced at the girl sitting in the passenger seat.

“I really did pick out some nice clothes,” she thought.

The overalls highlighted the girl’s cuteness. Bora had gone the extra mile and even made a hole for the tail to poke through. Though it didn’t seem like Harang cared much about the clothes she was wearing.

“Aww,” Bora pouted.

She had put a lot of thought into choosing those clothes. It would’ve been nice if Harang had acknowledged it, but the girl was merely staring out the window, her tail lazily swaying back and forth, clearly in a good mood.

“Well, this is nice too.”

Harang really was an enchanting girl, almost to the point where it felt unreal. She couldn’t even think of him as a guy anymore.

Looking at Harang brought many random thoughts to Bora’s mind, even memories of hateful comments and trolls.

“Her personality is really awful, like a damn dog,” Bora remembered some troll had said.

In truth, compared to the kind of hate Jinhyang received daily, Harang’s hate comments were practically tame. Jinhyang had endured far worse: family insults, sexually explicit comments, and other unmentionable horrors. Yet, Jinhyang always laughed them off with a scoff.

“Jinhyang wasn’t the type to care about those kinds of things.”

Her personality might have been sharp, but surprisingly, she had a lenient side too. The proof was that she had never sued a single troll or hater.

So, why did Jinhyang suddenly call for him?

Out of all the trolls, why specifically him?

“This can’t be a coincidence.”

Having spent so much time with Jinhyang, Bora knew one thing for sure: Jinhyang was not someone who acted purely on impulse. She was meticulous, calculating.

It was no accident that she rose to the top of her field.

“There must be a reason behind it,” Bora concluded.

There was some connection between Jinhyang and Harang, she was sure of it.

With that thought in mind, Bora glanced at Harang again.

“Is she… asleep?”

The girl was quietly dozing off, softly breathing as she slumped in the passenger seat. It looked like she was treating Bora as a mere chauffeur, but Bora didn’t feel upset. After all, Harang had been through a lot today; of course she’d be tired.

“Hmm.”

Feigning indifference, Bora reached out toward Harang’s ear.

She gently squeezed it.

The soft, plush ear filled her hand, feeling smooth yet pleasantly tender, like a non-sticky cotton candy. It stirred a strange desire to just bite into it, though she resisted the urge.

“Hehe,” Bora chuckled.

This much was satisfying enough. It felt like heaven.

“I always wanted a little sibling.”

But Bora only had a twin sister, and no one ever knew which one of them was the older or younger.

“Too bad,” she clicked her tongue.

Bora ran her fingers through Harang’s hair, as if she were brushing it. Despite knowing that Harang was technically older than her, she couldn’t help but see her as a little sister.

“Maybe she could be my little sister,” Bora mused.

Or even my big sister, she thought with a smile.

“Or maybe… oppa…?”

Yoon Bora let out a small laugh at the thought. Her hand, aiming for the next target, Harang’s tail, hovered in the air. Unfortunately, the tail was stuck between Harang’s back and the car seat, making it impossible to reach. Her hand paused mid-air with nowhere to go, so she resigned herself to continuing to play with Harang’s ears.

As she alternated between focusing on driving and gently rubbing Harang’s ear, she was a bit too distracted to notice the change in the girl’s breathing.

“Huh?”

Like a scene straight out of a horror movie, Bora slowly turned her head toward Harang. There, staring back at her with innocent eyes, was the girl, wide awake.

“…?”

Her eyes seemed to ask: Why are you touching my ears?

In a bit of a panic, Bora quickly came up with an excuse.

“A bug… It looked like a bug was about to crawl into your ear.”

“Oh!”

Harang immediately started shaking her head, perhaps buying the lie. Her large ears bounced along with the motion, flopping with each shake.

“90…”

Harang shook her head so many times that she eventually grew dizzy, her eyes spinning as if she couldn’t focus. Seeing this, Bora couldn’t help but cover her mouth, giggling.

“Hehe.”

They soon arrived at Jinhyang’s building, a towering structure so tall that Bora had to crane her neck all the way back just to see the top.

“How many floors does this place even have?” she muttered.

Jinhyang, only twenty-two years old, had achieved this. She was two years younger than Bora, but this accomplishment felt beyond belief.

“My home is just a one-room apartment…” Bora thought to herself, comparing her tiny living space to this massive building.

It wasn’t even in a nice part of town, and to save on money, Bora took cold showers every day.

“Maybe I could use the bathroom here for showers,” she mused. Even if she couldn’t shower, maybe she could at least wash her face and feet here to save on the water bill.

“Sigh,” Bora sighed.

The more she compared herself to others, the smaller and more insignificant she felt. Although, in reality, the only people she knew here were Jinhyang and Harang.

“What am I even doing here…?” Bora questioned herself.

She hadn’t even graduated from high school. Most of Jinhyang’s staff were probably elite professionals, and here she was, feeling a little down. She glanced at Bora for some kind of reassurance.

“Um…”

“Yes?”

“What kind of work will I even be doing here?”

“Hmm… I’m not really sure?”

Yoon Bora shrugged, seemingly as clueless as Harang.

“Maybe cleaning the bathrooms?” Harang wondered. “Since I’m smaller now, maybe they’ll have me clean the ventilation ducts or something.”

At the very least, she knew it wouldn’t be anything impressive.

I didn’t have any special skills to offer, so I could only wonder about the work ahead.

“Shall we go in?” Bora asked.

“Oh, yes.”

As I prepared to follow Yoon Bora inside, she suddenly grabbed my wrist. Confused, I looked up at her, but she didn’t say a word, just kept pulling me forward.

“There’s no need to be this forceful. It’s not like I’m going to run away,” I thought. After everything we’d been through together, I wasn’t going to back out now. Did she really have so little trust in me?

“Sigh.”

I let out a quiet sigh and followed her into the building.

And then I saw him.

Inside the building, we immediately encountered a giant of a man. He was at least two heads taller than I had been as a man. Startled, I looked down and pressed myself closer to Yoon Bora, but the giant started walking towards me.

“What… what’s this about?”

His presence was overwhelmingly threatening, like he could tear a person in half without breaking a sweat. I squeezed Bora’s hand tighter, instinctively preparing to break free and run if necessary.

But…

“Urgh,” I groaned inwardly.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake her off. Her grip on my wrist was like a pair of handcuffs, unyielding. I’d thought I’d been pulling with some real strength, but it was no use. To make matters worse, Bora didn’t even seem to notice my distress.

“D-damn it!”

The giant was already standing right in front of us. If he threw one of those massive fists at me, my head would probably spin a full circle. And with a body this small, it would be even worse.

I shut my eyes tightly, bracing myself for the impact.

But instead of a blow, what I heard was… a casual conversation?

“You’ve arrived,” the giant said.

“Yes,” Bora replied.

Surprised by the sudden calm, I opened my eyes. The giant was simply talking to Yoon Bora.

“And who’s this?”

“This is someone who’ll be working with us from today.”

“Ah, I see.”

The man gave a brief nod before turning to look at me. His gaze was sharp, much like Yoon Bora’s, but his larger frame made it far more intimidating. His eyes were as cold as Jinhyang’s, which only made him seem more threatening.

Instinctively, I ducked behind Bora, too embarrassed to care about pride. In situations like this, pride is useless when faced with a giant’s fists.

“Let’s go upstairs, let’s go upstairs,” I thought urgently.

I pressed down on Bora’s hand, signaling her to hurry, and she glanced down at me.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Jinhyang…” I started to say, meaning to suggest we go to her, but I bit my tongue before I could finish.

Trading this beast for a dragon didn’t sound like a much better plan.

Maybe staying here wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

While I was lost in thought, Yoon Bora pointed toward a corner where an elevator stood.

“We need to go see Jinhyang Unnie. Let’s head up.”

“Alright, take care.”

“Yup.”

Yoon Bora waved at the man as he walked away, then looked down at me.

“He’s the security guard here.”

“Oh, I see.”

So, he wasn’t a thug, just a security guard. But why was the security guard that huge? His hand alone was the size of my head.

“…Are security guards always this big?”

Well, as long as he wasn’t hostile, it didn’t matter if he was a security guard or a hunter.

We rode the elevator to the very top of the building the 132nd floor. That’s where Jinhyang’s office was.

Knock, knock.

Yoon Bora knocked on the office door.

“Unnie, I’m here!”

There was no response from inside. But Yoon Bora, seemingly used to this, reached for the doorknob.

“I’ve already explained things roughly to her. No need to worry about introductions,” she said.

“Oh, okay.”

With my response, Yoon Bora opened the door and gave me a gentle push.

“W-wait a second!”

As the door opened, anxiety rushed in. I tried to step back, buying time, but Yoon Bora’s strength overpowered me.

“Sorry.”

She shoved me through the door before I could resist any further. In shock, I turned around, only to hear a click.

Yoon Bora hadn’t followed me inside. She’d closed the door behind me.

“Huh?”

It took me a moment to grasp what had just happened.

She had left me here on my own.

“She abandoned me.”

I stood there, staring blankly at the door, feeling betrayed. Just as that realization sank in, I sensed someone behind me.

“Shouldn’t you be looking this way instead?”

That voice it was Jin-hyang’s.

A shiver ran down my spine.

“Oh…”

Slowly, I turned around to find Jinhyang standing there, her cold gaze sweeping over me from head to toe, as if assessing the changes in my body.

“You woke up this morning, and that’s how you ended up?” she asked.

“Y-yes.”

“You’re sorry? For what? For posting hate comments?”

“S-sorry…”

As I apologized, Jinhyang slowly approached me. Her deliberate movements carried a sense of menace, and I instinctively tried to back away, but my only escape route was blocked by the closed door. Left with no choice, I stood frozen in place.

Grab.

Jinhyang seized my ear, her grip rough and far from the gentle touch of Yoon Bora.

“Are you a cat? Or a dog?”

“I-I’m not sure.”

Though I couldn’t say for my ears, my tail was long and slender, more like a cat’s. So, I guessed I belonged to the feline family, though I couldn’t be sure.

“Huh. Interesting.”

Jinhyang grabbed me, inspecting my body from all angles as if I were her toy. Then, without warning, grab!

She caught hold of my tail.

“Hngh…!”

A sudden, inexplicable jolt ran through my body, causing my back to arch involuntarily. Jinhyang didn’t seem to care about my reaction, focused solely on my tail.

“Can you move it?”

“I-I’m not sure. Should I try…?”

“Go ahead, try.”

Closing my eyes, I concentrated, trying to direct my energy toward the part of me that Jinhyang’s hand held.

Wiggle wiggle.

My tail twitched slightly, but all I could manage was a small flick at the end. It seemed it would take time to get the hang of controlling it.

“I can’t… really make it work.”

“Well, if you can’t, you can’t.”

She let go of my tail and returned to her desk.

“Anyway, changed or not, we still have work to do.”

“Y-yeah, I guess.”

“But before that…”

“Uh…?”

Jinhyang smiled at me, something I had never seen her do before, across any media.

“Follow me.”