PUPPY 9

“Seowoo, you’re waking up early these days.”

As Seowoo, finished with his preparations for school, came out, his grandfather, who was kneeling in the yard, turned around and said.

“You woke up early too, Grandfather.”

Seowoo’s grandfather had already been up for quite a while, replacing the stray cats’ water with fresh water and piling kibble high in their food bowl.

“A cat is here…”

Today, there was a new feline guest. The cat, which had started visiting Seowoo’s house a few days ago, was not an adult. It had been extremely wary and wouldn’t come near when Seowoo and his grandfather were out, but it seemed to have fallen for the temptation of fish and was eating diligently.

“Grandmother filled the bowl with new food last night, so a lot of birds came, but this one chased them all away.”

“Really?”

“It has quite a temper. It didn’t even touch the kibble, but it’s eating the fish.”

His grandfather muttered, watching the cat from a step away.

“I’ll buy some treats on my way home today. It might eat treats.”

“Would you? Here, take this.”

At Seowoo’s words, his grandfather took a 50,000 won bill out of his pocket and gave it to him. Although the card his parents had given him had a generous balance, Seowoo accepted the allowance his grandfather occasionally gave him without refusal.

“Thank you.”

“Did you eat?”

“Yes. I ate everything on the table.”

His grandmother, who had trouble sleeping at night but slept in in the morning, always prepared breakfast the day before for Seowoo and her future daughter-in-law, Jihye. Because of that sincerity and effort, he would rather be late than skip breakfast.

“And the juice?”

“I drank the juice too.”

He had also drunk a hearty glass of the juice his grandfather had blended since dawn. This time, thankfully, a lot of apples had been blended in, which moderately masked the taste of the other vegetables.

“It doesn’t look fully grown yet, but it has a scar…”

Seowoo, sitting side-by-side with his grandfather, muttered as he looked at the young cat. There was a long, healed scar above the cat’s eye.

Just then, a chubby gray cat quietly approached them in the yard. The gray cat, which brushed its tail against Seowoo’s leg, was the boss of this territory.

“Meeeoow.”

The gray cat cried out, acting territorial as if to say it was its food. The orange tabby, which had been quietly demolishing the fish without being fazed, glared at the gray cat as it drew nearer. Although the orange tabby was much smaller, the gray cat quickly backed down.

“I’m off to school. I have tutoring and then I’m stopping by the study library, so I’ll be late.”

“Alright. Call when you’re on your way. They said it’s going to rain today, did you bring an umbrella?”

“Yes. I’m leaving now.”

As Seowoo got up from his seat, the orange tabby cat also got up and leaped nimbly over the high wall.

“Oh my, it ran off just like that.”

As the orange tabby cat disappeared, the birds flew back with a flutter and began to chirp.

🦴

Standing in the empty alley, Seowoo turned his head to look around and then counted silently to himself.

One, two, and…

“Sleep well?”

Three.

“We didn’t even set a time to meet, how did you know?”

It’s strange. Seowoo added, his eyes curving as he asked. His face was a little swollen because it was morning, which made the cute fat under his eyes look plump.

“Just a feeling.”

Juwon answered, looking back and forth between Seowoo’s face and hands.

“Don’t tell me you were waiting?”

“Sometimes.”

“Ah, really? I’m sorry.”

Seowoo, who had thought it was just a strange coincidence that Juwon appeared exactly three seconds after he opened the main gate, apologized to Juwon. But Juwon had an expression that showed he didn’t mind at all. And he answered, looking down at Seowoo’s hand.

“I’m naturally good at waiting.”

“…Did you wait long today?”

“No.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Really. If you think it’s commendable, you can praise me.”

“Thank you.”

“That’s not a compliment.”

“Good boy?”

For Juwon, waiting for Seowoo was the start of his day and something that came with a vague sense of anticipation, so it wasn’t psychologically taxing at all.

Juwon, being a shapeshifter, had inherited many dog instincts, and one of them was a great patience for waiting. If he had to wait for days or months without any promise, his patience would reach its limit, but that was a far cry from waiting for Seowoo for thirty minutes to an hour every morning.

They began to walk side by side down the path they walked every day, just like usual. Juwon, who would normally be looking around here and there in the alley while exchanging jokes, was fidgety today and couldn’t seem to settle his gaze.

“Are you uncomfortable somewhere?”

At Seowoo’s question, Juwon’s gaze went to Seowoo’s face, then back down to his hands. The trajectory of his gaze was so burdensome that he needlessly readjusted the extra bag containing the basketball.

“Ryu Seowoo.”

“…What?”

Juwon called Seowoo in a serious voice. Seowoo, meeting Juwon’s dark eyes, asked cautiously.

“I’m sorry. But… I can’t stand it.”

“Huh…? What.”

After he finished speaking, Juwon took Seowoo’s empty hand. Juwon’s hot hand, which tended to be warm, touched his.

“Let’s go for one round before we go.”

Because you can’t stand it, let’s go for a round?

What does that mean… Seowoo felt confused by Juwon’s jumbled words.

“…A round of what?”

“That.”

“…That?”

Juwon, looking at Seowoo’s face full of question marks, gestured with his chin towards Seowoo’s hand. More precisely, it was the basketball Seowoo was holding.

“Let’s play one round of basketball.”

At Juwon’s words, Seowoo let out a deflating laugh and said.

“We have to go to school.”

“We still have time.”

“We’ll be late if we play basketball. And, I’m not good at basketball…”

“If we’re late, I’ll carry you and run. I mean it.”

Before Seowoo could complete his sentence of refusal, Juwon cut in. Then he looked at Seowoo with quite a desperate gaze.

Shapeshifters retain strong instincts from their animal forms, and they enjoy in their human forms the games they loved in their animal forms. Juwon’s noona enjoyed tug-of-war, and his hyung enjoyed playing frisbee. And Juwon loved playing with balls.

Not just loved… it would be more accurate to say he was crazy about it.

He was already brimming with energy because it was morning, and with Seowoo gently swinging the ball in front of him, Juwon was on the verge of going mad.

If he had his way, he would pounce on Seowoo right now and play with the ball together until they were both breathless…

Juwon tried hard to dismiss the imagination that was about to cross the line and said to Seowoo in a sincere voice.

“Just one round.”

“I’m not good at basketball.”

He had thrown a basketball before for a performance evaluation, but he had only played an actual game, bumping into others, just once.

“I’m not saying let’s have a proper match… let’s just play a little before we go. Huh?”

As if to prevent Seowoo from escaping, Juwon put his arm around his shoulders. It was a sweet and gentle tone, not his usual indifferent, blunt way of speaking.

At the sound of Juwon’s voice in his ear, Seowoo gave a rough nod. At Seowoo’s permission, Juwon smiled brightly and quickened his pace.

The two crossed the crosswalk and went against the flow of students heading to school, towards the basketball hoop in the apartment complex.

Just as Juwon had told Seowoo, he seemed to be playing with the ball rather than taking the game seriously. But Seowoo was gradually getting serious.

“Oh, Ryu Seowoo. You’re putting up a good fight for your short height.”

Seowoo desperately blocked Juwon, who was dribbling and approaching the hoop. At the sight of Seowoo, who seemed to have no technique whatsoever, Juwon chuckled softly.

“I’m, huff… not, short, huff… in height.”

Even as he struggled to breathe, Seowoo’s eyes were wide open, trying to prevent Juwon from getting closer to the hoop. Juwon, who was watching him, this time walked to a spot far from the hoop. Towards the puzzled Seowoo, Juwon scrunched up one eye and winked.

“Dunk shot, coming up.”

Juwon threw the basketball with picture-perfect form. From where he stood, Seowoo also jumped as high as he could, but there was no way to stop the ball that was already flying towards the hoop in a graceful arc. The net of the hoop rippled, signaling a score. Seowoo, seeing that, plopped down on the spot where he stood.

“Huff… huff… I feel like I’m going to die from being out of breath.”

“Drink.”

Juwon handed him a bottle of water he had taken out of his bag.

“Oh, thanks.”

Seowoo didn’t refuse and gulped down the water. The water he couldn’t swallow completely flowed in streams down the corners of his mouth and under his chin.

“Haaa… ha, haaa…”

Even after drinking the water, Seowoo was still gasping for the air he lacked. He must have overdone it in the morning, as there was a distinct taste of blood in his mouth. Juwon, who was looking at Seowoo with an awkward gaze, held out his hand. When Seowoo handed him the water bottle, which was about 1/3 full, Juwon finished the remaining water.

“How hard did you defend to work up such a sweat.”

Juwon casually wiped the sweat beaded on Seowoo’s forehead. It was Seowoo who was more surprised by that gesture. Do friends normally do this? No, I think this is a bit strange… In front of Seowoo, who was lost in thought, Juwon’s broad back appeared.

“What?”

“Hop on.”

“…Why?”

“You said we can’t be late. I’ll run at full speed, so hop on.”

Whether he had taken his joke seriously or not, Juwon seemed ready to carry Seowoo and run to school if necessary. Just how confident in his stamina did one have to be to offer to carry a grown man?

“I was just kidding. There’s still time…”

Seowoo, who checked the time, couldn’t finish his sentence as he saw that school time had already passed by a long shot. Juwon, who had already anticipated being late, turned only his head slightly back and asked.

“We’re late, aren’t we?”

At Juwon’s question, Seowoo let all the strength go out of his body and answered in a resigned voice.

“…I don’t know, I’ll just be late.”

Other than the time he was late because he had to stop by the hospital, this was his first time being tardy. And yet, he didn’t feel anything.

“Ryu Seowoo.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re more assertive than I thought.”

After saying that, Juwon got up and held out both hands to Seowow. Seowoo took Juwon’s hands and struggled to his feet. A groaning sound, “Ugh—” escaped him automatically.

“Well, I’m sort of like that.”

“I’m falling for your assertiveness.”

Juwon said, still holding tightly onto the hands of Seowoo, who had stood up. Behind Juwon’s brightly smiling face, the morning sunlight was shining brightly.

What the… What kind of things do guys say to each other?

While Seowoo was confused, Juwon picked up the two bags that had fallen in the corner at once and slung them over his shoulder.

“Let’s go. I’ll carry the bags.”