Don’t Mess with the Puppy!

He always walked around with a stern expression, which was the only regret. Although he always acted fierce, in truth, he was like a small frightened animal, which made him somewhat pitiful.

Until then, Hee-sung remained frozen in silence. Yoon Chi-young sighed as if feeling deeply hurt and said,
“We know each other, but you don’t even show your face, and you ignore what I say.”
He lifted the glass of liquor he had placed on the table where he was sitting. Every time he moved his arm, the well-toned muscles beneath his white shirt were subtly visible.
After taking a sip, Yoon Chi-young continued,
“I’m really disappointed…”

“Well, that’s…”
Although he was clearly speaking with a smile, Hee-sung felt a chilling sharpness in his tone.
But Hee-sung was in a position to receive something. Besides, his older brother had told him to use charm to get the goods well. Hee-sung tried hard to muster some words despite his usual lack of smooth talk.
“I, I’m glad too.”

“Glad?”
Yoon Chi-young looked at Hee-sung’s stiff expression and laughed as if it was ridiculous. His face clearly showed it was a lie. He pushed back the black hair falling over his forehead and burst into a joyful laugh. The sweet smile on his handsome face was far from the image of the bloodied beast he had made out of a werewolf.
He spoke pleasantly,
“You came to get the goods, right? I’ll give them to you.”

“Ah, yes.”
Yoon Chi-young received something from an associate. The item was a suspicious packet filled with powder. It was just about the size to fit snugly in Yoon Chi-young’s large hand, but Hee-sung guessed that the amount was worth tens of millions of won.
Holding the item, Yoon Chi-young motioned. Hee-sung, stiff but determined, stepped forward toward him.

‘Just play along with Yoon Chi-young this once and get the goods.’
Hee-sung reminded himself of his role. His brother had said this would be the last time, so he wanted to finish quickly and get through it.
As he got closer, the sensitive nose of the werewolf caught several scents. From Yoon Chi-young came a fresh soap smell, a faint hint of drugs, and a thick scent of blood.

“Here, take it.”
Yoon Chi-young pushed the drugs out like bait.
Hee-sung looked suspiciously at Yoon Chi-young and the drugs, alternating his gaze between them. The wolf handing over the goods so easily seemed suspicious. Hesitating while reading the situation, Hee-sung timidly reached out to grab the item.

But as expected, Yoon Chi-young did not hand over the goods easily.
Yoon Chi-young pulled Hee-sung’s hand and bit down hard with his fangs. Having almost been bitten once before, Hee-sung was shocked and swore loudly.
“You crazy…!”
If it had ended there, it might have been okay.
Thud!

With a fierce punch, Yoon Chi-young’s head violently snapped to the side. His black hair lightly scattered over his neat face, turning the atmosphere precarious.
At that moment, time seemed to freeze in the room, and everyone stiffened. An eerie silence filled the space. Along with the terrifyingly fierce atmosphere that Hee-sung deeply despised.
Even after being hit, Hee-sung staggered back in shock.

He looked down at the hand bitten by Yoon Chi-young, then back up at Yoon Chi-young’s face. Afterward, he glanced at the blood clotted on his own leg. Shit. Along with the thought, a chill ran through his entire body.
“Ugh…!”
The action was initiated by the associates first. Three men grabbed the back of Hee-sung’s head and forced him to kneel on the floor.

With his hair pulled, Hee-sung took a deep breath in tension and looked up at Yoon Chi-young. From below, Yoon Chi-young appeared much taller and larger. Suddenly, the reality hit him with chills—that he had just hit the real power of the werewolf clan and a VIP of the gambling den.
He was touching the cheek he had been slapped on. As if confused by the spot, he slowly wiped it and spat on the marble floor. The spit was mixed thick with red blood. His mouth was clearly torn.
“…Your hands are sharper than I thought.”

However, Yoon Chi-young did not care that Hee-sung had hit him.
Rather, he chuckled late as if pleased. But no one else in the room laughed with him, making it look strange.
“D-damn crazy bastard.”

Hee-sung looked up fearfully at him and clenched his teeth tight. Even though he had just caused a scene, what first came to mind was how terribly he hated the sharp fangs visible whenever Yoon Chi-young smiled.
After a long laugh, Yoon Chi-young spoke with a deep sigh,
“Let him go.”
For the first time, Yoon Chi-young looked down at Hee-sung without a trace of a smile. His characteristic gray eyes looked cold. Hee-sung had never imagined that the expressionless face that usually smiled gently would feel this cold.

“You came as a guest. I have to send you off without injuries.”
At Yoon Chi-young’s words, the associates roughly released Hee-sung onto the floor. Blood coated Hee-sung’s hands as he touched the ground. The pungent smell of blood made his head spin. Somewhere, the smell of burnt flesh also lingered.
Hee-sung’s face turned ghostly pale. Although he was used to cruel scenes in the gambling den, he was alone now, separated from his group. The fear naturally felt several times stronger than usual.

“Goodbye… …See you again.”
Yoon Chi-young spoke without any trace of a smile. The simple phrase “see you again” sounded frightening for the first time to Hee-sung.
Snatching the goods stealthily, Hee-sung ran frantically out of the building. There was no way Yoon Chi-young would chase him, but he ran as if being chased in a nightmare. He did not want to stay there even a moment longer.

After leaving the building, Hee-sung approached his bike parked in an alley.
“Haa, ha…”
Just breathing the outside air after leaving the building made him feel alive. Only then did he realize what he had done.

He had caused a major accident. This time, he had hit the boss of the werewolf clan, Yoon Chi-young.
His brother had told him to use charm to get the goods. Instead, he had come back swinging his fists. Hee-sung looked up at the tall concrete building built by the werewolf clan and bit his lips nervously, thinking of his brother. If his brother found out about this, he would have the hardest time.
‘How am I going to tell my brother?’

Hee-sung steadied his breath with trembling fingertips, loaded the goods onto the bike, and was about to put on his helmet. Since he had the goods, he had to return safely to his group.
But the worry did not last long.
Thud!

With a sharp sting at the back of his head, Hee-sung’s body collapsed weakly.
The memories after being struck on the head came back in fragments.
Hee-sung, who had been attacked, struggled violently. He had promised his brother to work until the end of this month, so now he couldn’t afford to mess things up.

Even though his vision went white from the blow, Hee-sung swung the helmet in his hands wildly. About four or five men charged at him. They were definitely the group trying to take the drugs away. Hee-sung tried desperately to strike them with the helmet and make a break for it.
“Ahhh!”
But at the same time as feeling the flesh tearing pain in his leg, his body collapsed. A knife was stuck in Hee-sung’s thigh. The pain of being pierced made him unable to stand properly and he collapsed curled up.

“You little bastard. Your attitude’s even worse.”
Someone spat out as they kicked Hee-sung hard in the stomach. Unable to scream, Hee-sung whimpered and crawled on the floor. Then, the men who had attacked him searched his bike and body and took the drugs he had received from the wolves.
‘No, that’s the stuff my brother told me to get…’

Hee-sung gritted his teeth and pulled out the knife stuck in his thigh. With a final desperate crawl, he tried to follow them, but the mocking laughter only faded away.
Left in the alley, Hee-sung instinctively felt that if he collapsed like this, he would die.
‘I can’t return to my original form now…’

He was too small, so his brother would have a hard time finding him. Even though he thought this, Hee-sung was already returning to his small puppy form. It was a natural process the werewolf went through to recover from injuries.
The puppy crawled into a corner and desperately struggled to move his already shrunken body.
‘My brother said it would be the last time…’

His beaten body hurt too much, and the injustice made him sad. He wanted to cry but the pain didn’t even allow that.
The puppy, half leaning against the concrete wall, barely managed to crawl halfway around the building. He thought that if he collapsed in a place with many people, at least he might be able to return to his brother.
But the damn huge building showed no end no matter how far he walked. Following the trail of blood droplets, Hee-sung collapsed weakly at the end.

As his consciousness began to fade, the scent of cigarettes and a familiar voice came from above.
“What’s this filthy little puppy?”
‘Let go, you bastard!’

Hee-sung fiercely cursed in his mind. It might have been the men who ambushed him.
But all that came out was a weak whimper. He tried to run away again, but his white four legs just twitched, utterly powerless.
“Ah…”

After a low sigh, someone carefully picked him up in their arms.
“I didn’t touch him because he was so cute.”
He didn’t hear the rest clearly. He only faintly sensed Yoon Chi-young’s voice nearby and felt afraid.

But warmed by the gentle touch, Hee-sung instinctively curled up in his arms and fainted.
Hee-sung was able to faintly regain consciousness a few times.
Every time he came to, he smelled faint medicine and disinfectant.

‘No…’
Thinking he was in a hospital, Hee-sung tried desperately to wake up. But he couldn’t move his body, only weak whimpers escaped.
‘Animal hospitals are expensive…’

Werewolves often couldn’t use insurance, so veterinary or werewolf hospitals were costly. Hee-sung had no money. The drugs he was transporting had been taken, and he felt sorry to even ask his brother for hospital fees.
Suffering inside, Hee-sung opened his eyes faintly. Then he saw an unexpected sight.
‘Where the hell is this…?’

It wasn’t the hospital scene he had imagined. He was lying on a large bed about the size of his own room. The blankets were black and the surrounding sleek modern interior was all black toned. The only white thing was himself, the puppy.
And, in his blurry vision, he saw someone. A skinny werewolf wearing a white doctor’s coat and a tall man sitting on the bed. The werewolf in the white coat looked worn-out like a drug addict, so Hee-sung doubted if he was really a doctor.
“Why are you awake? Go back to sleep.”

He was truly living the dog’s life.
He painfully turned his head and heard Yoon Chi-young speaking sweetly as if soothing a lover. Hee-sung wanted to curse, but having reverted to a puppy, all he could do was barely show his tiny fangs.
The doctor spoke cautiously.

“Since the patient is so small, surgery was risky, but fortunately, there was no damage to the organs, so recovery should be fast.”
He felt the doctor touching near his thigh, the place stabbed by the knife. In pain, Hee-sung curled up tightly and trembled. He wanted to throw away the hand touching the wound, but the medication in his body made even small movements difficult.
“And this time, the patient’s pheromones… are barely detectable, so it’s difficult to determine if he’s a werewolf.”

Yoon Chi-young nodded while looking at the puppy as if it didn’t matter.
Hee-sung had never heard that before. Because he had avoided hospitals due to money, he didn’t know his pheromone levels were almost undetectable.
‘Why do I have no pheromones?’

Werewolves emitted pheromones hundreds of times stronger than normal animals. That was why pheromone levels were often measured to distinguish werewolves from normal animals. But for Hee-sung, the lack of pheromones meant it was unclear whether it was lucky or unlucky that he wasn’t detected as a werewolf.
‘Maybe it’s lucky for now…’
Anyway, for now, he thought it was better that Yoon Chi-young didn’t know he was Gyeon Hee-sung.

‘Because, I…’
The little head that had been thinking struggled more and more as his body weakened. Yoon Chi-young gently stroked the puppy’s neck. Though he didn’t want to admit it, the soothing touch was truly wonderful.
Eventually, the tension broke and Hee-sung slipped back into a deep sleep again.

Early in the morning, Hee-sung woke up in his puppy form.
Because werewolves returned to their original form when seriously injured, it was natural. The wound was probably deep, so he would have to remain in this form for a few days.
‘Why is this guy sleeping with me?’

Hee-sung glared at the sleeping Yoon Chi-young and checked his own hind leg. A stiff bandage was wrapped around it, and there was a catheter mark on the front paw. Having been to the hospital a few times as a child, he knew what it meant.
Apparently, Yoon Chi-young had picked him up and treated him. Though surprised, Hee-sung looked around cautiously. After all, he was now inside the werewolf den.
The puppy looked around the dim surroundings and limped as he moved his hind leg. At the edge of the bed was Yoon Chi-young’s smartphone.

Hee-sung barely managed to walk up and pressed the phone’s home screen with his paw. Then, the date appeared alongside Yoon Chi-young’s stylish selfie against a sea background — looking extremely self-loving.
Wednesday, November 3rd
‘I’ve been asleep for three days?’

He had definitely gone to Yoon Chi-young to get the goods on the last day of October. Hee-sung sighed deeply. His brother would be worried. He didn’t realize so much time had passed.
The drugs he was transporting had been taken by someone, and he himself had disappeared without a trace.
The werewolf clan’s gang members at the gambling den probably thought their youngest ran off alone with drugs worth tens of millions of won. But only his brother surely believed in him and would wait.

‘I have to contact my brother somehow.’
Hee-sung clearly prioritized his thoughts. He had to contact his brother, inform him of the situation, and return as soon as possible.
Determined, the puppy busily moved his front paws to use the smartphone that was half the size of his own body. Luckily, the phone wasn’t locked, but manipulating a smartphone with jelly-like paws was nearly impossible. It felt like handling it with his toes.
Pressing this and that wrong button, Hee-sung soon noticed the gallery was full of photos of himself asleep under the album titled ‘Furry Friends.’ Frustrated, he threw the phone under the bed. It was a meaningless start to the dawn.

The next day, Yoon Chi-young, having gotten up with his impressively toned body, pressed his nose against the puppy’s pink belly and murmured something strange.
“Sleeping with this guy isn’t so bad after all…”
‘What kind of crazy talk is that?’
Hee-sung frowned deeply and glared at Yoon Chi-young. Perhaps because it was morning, Yoon Chi-young seemed more relaxed than usual. The puppy gave a morning greeting to his handsome face with its tousled charm.

Achoo!
With a powerful sneeze, the werewolf clan’s boss collapsed helplessly onto the bed. Yoon Chi-young let out a long, amused laugh. In front of him, the puppy proudly licked his nose, glaring up at him.
From the very first day he woke up, Hee-sung didn’t relax his guard. First, he analyzed the huge house’s layout and dreamed of escape.

But that crazy Yoon Chi-young took Hee-sung to his office.
Again inside the werewolf’s stronghold, this time the puppy took a seat on Yoon Chi-young’s lap. Being a very uncomfortable companion, the puppy sat awkwardly with a displeased face atop his leg.
Still, there was good news.

“Director, there’s been a call from the gambling den looking for Gyeon Hee-sung.”
‘Looking for me?’
Hee-sung perked ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) up and sat upright to listen closely. The puppy sat like a sphinx on one of Yoon Chi-young’s thighs.

‘My brother is looking for me.’
His tail wagged quickly with a mix of joy and guilt for worrying his brother. His heart raced with urgency.
‘How do I get out of here?’

Only that thought filled his small head completely.
At that, Yoon Chi-young asked, as if hearing the name for the first time,
“Gyeon Hee-sung?”
“This is the guy from the Gyeon clan who came to pick up the goods for us.”

“Ah…”
Yoon Chi-young sighed quietly and mulled over the unexpected information.
“The one who hit my face?”
As he said that, Yoon Chi-young gently stroked the white little figure on his thigh.

Hee-sung wanted to read Yoon Chi-young’s expression but couldn’t. He felt the sharp gaze of Yoon Chi-young from behind. If he turned to meet his eyes, it would obviously look suspicious.
“Let the Gyeon clan keep looking.”
Yoon Chi-young said cheerfully, like watching a fire next door with a carefree attitude. Hee-sung, a member of that burning house, was seriously troubled about how to escape and put out the fire.

Yoon Chi-young quietly added,
“If they find him… tell them to bring him to me first.”
“……”
“I have to collect the debt.”

Smiling, Yoon Chi-young fiddled with the white puppy’s body. Every time his unusually large hand touched his back, Hee-sung twitched his folded ears nervously.
‘That wolf’s got a long memory…’
Hee-sung thought timidly. Yet, Yoon Chi-young still bore the torn wound on his mouth—the scar Hee-sung had caused with a strong punch.

At that moment, a vivid fragment of memory flashed through Hee-sung’s mind: the werewolf collapsed in a pool of blood in front of Yoon Chi-young.
If his identity was revealed, he might be next. Or worse, he might be devoured as a meal by this cannibalistic wolf. With no background and a small original form, he was easier to dispose of.
“Why’s your tail curled up?”

At that moment, Yoon Chi-young asked, gently stroking near the puppy’s tailbone. Hee-sung flinched in surprise and looked back, only to realize his tail had slipped between his legs without his noticing.
Yoon Chi-young gleefully toyed with the tail curling inward. His eyes, holding a hint of laughter, curved sweetly as he handed Hee-sung a dried sweet potato snack.
“Here. Yum yum.”

“……”
Faced with the treat, Hee-sung sank into serious contemplation.
Yoon Chi-young didn’t know he was Gyeon Hee-sung. Even the doctor hadn’t identified him as a werewolf.

So maybe, he thought, he could pretend to be a puppy until fully recovered, then transform back into a human and escape to his brother.
It was a plausible plan. In fact, there was no other option. If Hee-sung transformed now, it would severely strain his body. And if Yoon Chi-young discovered his identity, who knew what revenge he might take.
In the end, Hee-sung chose temporary survival.

Woof.
Pretending to be a puppy, he accepted the dried sweet potato. His jet-black triangular eyes fiercely stared at Yoon Chi-young.
‘My brother said it’s wise to bend when you must bend.’

Embarrassed to have to act like a puppy, Hee-sung forced himself to recall his brother’s teaching.
He would definitely return to his brother without being eaten by Yoon Chi-young. If possible, he would steal plenty of information or money on the way. Holding onto that big dream, Hee-sung took another bite of the treat. It tasted good.