PUPPY 28

First, Juwon surveyed the yard. He put his nose to the ground and gathered olfactory information.

“Grrrr.”

The scent of the beastman kid was mixed in with the scents of several cats. Juwon followed that scent into a cat house made from a cardboard box.

It seems the kid thought of it as his cozy little home, even though he had only stayed one night. Inside the box was a small doll of unknown origin, and it was filled with the kid’s scent.

I should just rip it to shreds.

Juwon snorted with a huff and, opening his small mouth as wide as possible, bit down on the doll with a chomp. Shaking his head back and forth, Juwon tossed the doll into a corner and stuck just his head out of the box.

“Grrr…”

Would it be okay to just stake out here and wait?

With one eye half-open, Juwon began to wait for Seowoo.

‘I wish he would hold me too.’

Juwon thought, yawning with his mouth wide open. When he was in his human form, there was quite a difference in height and build between him and Seowoo. When he put his arm around his shoulders and pulled him in, Seowoo was almost completely held in his embrace. The thing to be careful about was controlling his strength when he pulled Seowoo.

‘Don’t use too much strength… It hurts.’

If he was careless with his strength, a pained voice would often burst from Seowoo’s lips. Moreover, his skin was delicate, so if he held him with even a little force, marks would quickly be left behind.

‘It hurts, Juwon.’

Whenever he heard Seowoo say that, he would get a ticklish feeling and run his hand through his hair or grip the hem of his pants, and now the reason for that had become clear.

On the other hand, he felt grateful to that cheeky kid. It was because the experience of not just getting annoyed but getting royally pissed off seeing him cling to Seowoo had made him realize it.

Juwon, that is, the small, white, and grimy puppy, lay on his stomach and looked up at Seowoo’s room. As it was still too early to sleep, he could see the light was brightly on, but it was uncertain whether he would come down to the yard to check the cat house.

Out of boredom, Juwon opened his mouth and yawned again.

He was curious about what it would feel like to be held by Seowoo, who fit so perfectly into his arms when he was a human. If he just rashly asked to be held while in his human form, he couldn’t even bring himself to say it, afraid the atmosphere would become awkward again like before.

So, turning into a dog and being held was the best way. Juwon thought, scratching his head with his short leg, scratch scratch scratch.

At this point, he started to feel sorry for belittling the Ha family kid’s actions as a total mess.

Anyway, when would Seowoo come out? Juwon, who had been lying on the cold ground, slowly wagging his tail, got up from his spot.

It seemed unlikely that he would meet Seowoo no matter how long he just lay here. Juwon got up and walked toward the house. To get to the second floor where Seowoo lived, he had to use the stairs, but there was a rather high safety gate, likely to prevent cats from getting up.

If he turned into a person and opened this gate, there seemed to be a high chance of being caught by Seowoo’s grandparents who lived on the first floor. Juwon lifted his head as high as he could and looked for another way.

‘He said he was lying in front of the door…’

To meet Seowoo, it seemed like a good idea to be proactive and lie down in front of his room like the kid. Having made his decision, Juwon trotted around the house, pat pat pat. After making one round, Juwon stopped in the backyard of the house with a determined expression.

There were no windows, so it was unlikely to be seen by Seowoo’s grandparents, and there were suitable grooves, so it seemed possible to climb the wall.

‘This is going to look a bit perverted.’

Thinking that, Juwon tilted his head once, and his short limbs grew long and his fur disappeared, instantly turning him naked. But there was no way he could climb a wall as a puppy.

With the skills he had honed through his usual indoor climbing, Juwon reached the second floor in an instant. As he lifted his body with momentum, Juwon, who had transformed into a puppy, sniffed the air, sniff sniff, and followed Seowoo’s scent.

And he flopped down in front of Seowoo’s door where he arrived. When he perked up his ears, he could hear rustling sounds from inside.

“Ruff…”

He was usually the patient type.

Waiting for someone wasn’t a very difficult task. He didn’t know why he felt so anxious, unlike usual.

Juwon got up and pointlessly circled in front of the door, walking and then sitting, over and over. Only after a long time had passed did Juwon flop down in front of Seowoo’s door again.

He had half given up on being held in Seowoo’s arms. He just wanted to see his face before going home… He’d said he was tired, so was he getting a nosebleed again? The moment Juwon thought that and let out a short sigh—

Creak.

The sound of Seowoo’s firmly closed door opening was heard.

‘I have to act pathetic.’

Juwon’s resolve to stay true to his concept didn’t last even three seconds. When the door opened, he was startled by the bare legs he saw in front of him and shot up.

“You scared me.”

Seowoo’s bare legs were dangling out from under a large, baggy class T-shirt. At first, he thought he wasn’t wearing any pants, but when he narrowed his eyes and looked up, he could see the round hem of his shorts under the large T-shirt. Seowoo, who had knelt down, carefully stroked Juwon’s head with his hand.

“I put up a gate to keep them from coming up, how did you get up here?”

He had intentionally installed a high auxiliary gate in case the cats jumped over it, so how did he get in? He’s a puppy, so it’s not like he could have jumped in. Thinking that, Seowoo looked at Juwon and muttered quietly.

“So dirty…”

Dirty? He had intentionally smeared soot on himself, but he was confident in his cleanliness. He was pathetic, not dirty, Juwon protested.

“Ruff! Ruff!”

At the sight of Juwon barking, ruff ruff, Seowoo looked around and then raised a finger to his lips.

“Okay. Quiet, shh.”

“Ruff…”

Juwon closed his mouth and nodded, worried he might get Seowoo into trouble. At that, Seowoo once again carefully stroked Juwon’s head. Juwon’s gaze was directed toward Seowoo’s slightly open door.

It would be nice if we could go inside and talk, instead of being out here in the dark…

“…Is it because you’re cold?”

Seowoo muttered quietly, noticing Juwon’s gaze was directed toward the inside of his room.

“Ruff, ruff…”

‘I am a pathetic puppy right now.’

Having once again completed his self-brainwashing, Juwon slowly lifted his head and looked at Seowoo. Light gathered in his large, black eyes, making them sparkle.

“I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before…”

Seowoo muttered as he looked at that gaze. Juwon flinched inwardly but shamelessly let out a whining sound, whine. He knew that what he was doing now was no different from the actions of the Cheonho-dong Ha family’s youngest, but he felt no pangs of conscience whatsoever.

“I’ll get in trouble if I let you inside…”

“Whine, whimper.”

‘It’s okay! It’s okay!’

From Seowoo’s hesitant gaze, not refusing him outright, Juwon read a glimmer of hope. Then, with all his acting skills, he looked into the room.

“Should you just stay for a little while?”

You have to go back out later. Adding that, Seowoo got up and opened the door. Juwon grinned and confidently walked into Seowoo’s room.

“Are you thirsty?”

Seowoo asked, knowing well that clean water was just as necessary as food for stray animals.

“Ruff.”

Juwon, mistaking it for Seowoo’s way of treating a guest, nodded his head.

“You have to be quiet. Got it?”

Seowoo again brought his finger to his lips and made a ‘shh’ sound. Then he left Juwon alone and went outside.

“……”

Juwon’s ears were perked up, listening to Seowoo’s footsteps fade away. Once the sound of his footsteps was completely gone, Juwon began to survey the room in earnest.

The cozy room had only a bed, a small desk, and a drawer. True to his neat personality, there were almost no personal belongings left out.

‘Wow, Ryu Seowoo’s scent is insane.’

He had felt it even when standing outside, but once inside, the space was completely filled with Seowoo’s scent. From the cool scent of the shampoo Seowoo mainly used to his slightly sweet body scent. It was especially strong from the bed, and he felt a strong desire to just go up there and rub his body all over it.

Just then, the door opened again and Seowoo came in. Placing a plate on the floor, Seowoo poured water into it with a trickle. He wasn’t particularly thirsty, but as a matter of courtesy, Juwon drank the water, lap, lap.

“You drank it all, good boy.”

Seowoo’s face was full of pity as he watched the puppy with a soot-blackened mouth drink the water hastily. After drinking all the water, the puppy came closer to Seowoo.

The brown puppy that came last time too, how do these young puppies find their way to his house? As Seowoo thought that, he held out his hand.

“Paw.”

“Woof.”

Juwon opened his mouth and gently bit Seowoo’s approaching hand.

“Ouch…”

He had only bitten him very lightly, playfully, but when a sound of pain came from Seowoo’s mouth, Juwon stopped in surprise.

‘Did I not control my strength and bite too hard?’

Juwon watched Seowoo’s reaction, then carefully placed one paw on Juwon’s hand.

“Wow, did you give me your paw?”

“Ruff…”

‘Yeah. Does it hurt?’

“You’re smart.”

There was no way the human Seowoo could understand Juwon’s question. Seeing him smile, it was a relief that he didn’t seem to have a wound or be in real pain. As Juwon let out a small sigh of relief, phew, this time Seowoo threw a question at him.

“Then can you do this too? Lie down?”

“Ruff…”

‘What do you mean, lie down.’

He’d given him his paw, that seems like enough cute tricks. Juwon barked lowly in an indifferent tone.

“Hmm, do you need me to show you?”

“……”

“Like this.”

Saying that, Seowoo turned his face and pressed it to the floor, assuming a pose with his butt held high in the air.

“This is lying down.”

As Seowoo changed his position, his already short training pants rode up sharply.

“Now, you try to follow me.”

Those pants are really short… Juwon thought, panting. He could only hope that his panting, which was unavoidable for a dog, didn’t look too perverted.