Don’t Mess with the Puppy!

“Wolf pups are cunning and violent. Plus, their bond is strong—if you bite one, the whole pack will come after you. So never offend them; just bend and submit no matter what.”

That was the explanation Heesung heard from his hyung about the wolf tribe.

Since it was his brother’s advice, Heesung took it to heart. Knowing the traits of beastmen customers by their species was crucial when working at the gambling den. For example, feline beastmen valued cleanliness and preferred playing solo, while fox beastmen considered themselves smart and needed to be put in gambling groups with somewhat dumb beastmen to make them spend more money.

From his experience, Heesung believed these traits were innate from birth—until he met Yoon Chiyoung.

‘This crazy bastard…!’

Right now, Heesung was squeezing out every ounce of strength he had. He was wrestling with Yoon Chiyoung’s handsome face, which was smiling at him just inches away. Heesung desperately stretched out his front paws to block Yoon’s advancing lips.

Yoon Chiyoung burst out laughing joyfully, then asked the puppy as if whining to a lover.

“I gave you treats… Can’t you give me just one kiss?”

‘Ha…’

Heesung finally settled on the table and sighed. Letting out a sigh in his puppy form, Yoon found him adorable and poked his soft, warm body affectionately. Though all were expressions of love, Heesung was annoyed to the point of death.

He just wished Yoon Chiyoung would leave him alone for once.

He thought it might be easier if Yoon Chiyoung was cunning and violent like a typical wolf. Then all he’d have to do was bow his head and it would be over.

But Yoon acted like the puppy was his lover and never let him out of his arms. So much so that he boldly brought the puppy into meetings to ask important questions—of course, he ignored those questions.

The more that happened, the more impatient Heesung became. He’d escape this wolf’s den at the first chance, but Yoon carried him everywhere, calling him cute, so there was no opportunity. He even suspected this was all surveillance.

“That’s strange…”

Yoon murmured while burying his nose in the puppy’s desperate belly.

“Why did someone abandon this cutie?”

‘Who was abandoned?’

The puppy stamped Yoon’s cheek hard with his short front paw. That careless remark annoyed him badly.

Abandoned? Yoon seemed to think Heesung was just a discarded puppy. But Heesung hated the word so much it made him feel sick.

‘I wasn’t abandoned.’

In a fit of anger, the puppy bit Yoon’s hand hard, but due to his injury, he lacked strength and no blood appeared this time, unlike before. Yoon even chuckled softly at the small bite mark, finding it cute. The pride of the noble canine tribe was deeply wounded.

“Why’s the puppy mad?”

On the way home, sitting on Yoon Chiyoung’s lap in the car, Heesung didn’t even look at him when Yoon stroked him.

“I’ll buy you a doll. Cheer up.”

‘Are you kidding me?’

Even those sweet words didn’t calm him. It only felt humiliating. After all, Heesung was a proper adult.

Yoon, having bought a doll without permission, put it in the washing machine as soon as they got home.

“I’ll wash the doll and then let you play with it.”

‘Crazy bastard.’

Grumbling, Heesung followed the housekeeper who was cleaning, plotting some vicious scheme. When Yoon came home, the housekeeper hurriedly tossed the doll into the washer and ran off, so it was easy to carry out the plan.

Meanwhile, Yoon noticed the puppy staring intently at the drum washing machine. Inside, a small duck and snake doll were spinning around. Finding it cute, Yoon sat in front of the washer following the puppy’s gaze.

“Ah…”

Then Yoon realized that what the puppy was so eagerly watching wasn’t a new doll.
Yoon’s wireless earphones were spinning inside the washing machine too.
Heesung was punished for putting the wireless earphones in the washing machine. The punishment was to accompany Yoon Chiyoung to dinner.

“Sorry, but our restaurant does not allow pets.”

There was a small obstacle, but Yoon laughed and said he understood, then prepared a solution.

“Wait here a moment.”

‘Crazy bastard!’

Heesung bared his teeth and struggled, but eventually ended up inside Yoon’s coat pocket.

Yoon gently wrapped his hand protectively around the puppy’s body inside the pocket. The pocket was just the right size, and his large hand could cradle the puppy’s round body.
In the end, Heesung gave up and lay down inside the pocket with a tired expression.

‘So warm…’

Exhausted from his injury and having endured Yoon’s constant lips and finger battles all day, Heesung felt he might fall asleep anytime. But a thin thread of tension barely kept his consciousness intact. The tension of being near a carnivorous wolf.

‘I would have been more comfortable in hyung’s pocket.’

When he was younger, his hyung would put tired Heesung into a bag or pocket. Back then, hyung was struggling hard at work in the organization, and that was the best way he could care for Heesung. It was the only place where Heesung could sleep soundly and warmly, so he remembered it vividly.

But if it was Yoon Chiyoung, no way.

‘Is Yoon Chiyoung just playing with me, fattening me up to eat me?’

He was rumored to be a man-eating wolf, so there was no way he wouldn’t eat a puppy. Even Yoon’s kindness and generous treats seemed suspicious.
Meanwhile, Yoon was being guided somewhere by a staff member. The smell told Heesung it was a Korean traditional restaurant. The sound of a door opening suggested Yoon was entering a reserved private room.

“Hey, Yoon Chiyoung, you’re here?”

As the door opened, the voice of a somewhat familiar young man was heard.

Heesung’s tired ears perked up sharply. Why did that voice feel familiar? His black eyes widened.

Yoon continued the conversation.

“What’s the occasion calling me here?”

“You know, we have business to discuss.”

“Of course.”

Yoon answered coolly. It sounded playful, but the other man awkwardly laughed it off. Though the tone was casual, Yoon was clearly the senior in rank.

Then the other man spoke more secretly.

“Hey, Yoon Chiyoung. I’m paying for everything today. But come with me to the canine tribe’s gambling den.”

“Sigh…”

Yoon sighed as if annoyed. On the contrary, Heesung in the pocket stirred hopefully.

‘Canine tribe gambling den?’

If Yoon followed the man to the canine tribe gambling den, it would be a perfect chance to escape.

The man coaxed smoothly.

“If you go, those canine guys might even dig up corpses for you. Just lend a hand once.”

“What’s the purpose?”

Yoon settled down. Without taking off his coat, Heesung ended up settled near Yoon’s thigh. He tried to get out somehow, but Yoon’s hand firmly blocked the puppy’s round body.
“There’s someone I’m looking for, but lately, I’ve been going to the canine tribe gambling den, and they won’t let me have him. Even if I call, they don’t give him up.”
Judging by his expression, it seemed like someone was taken away… The man muttered as if talking to himself. Curious who he was talking about, Heesung bit Yoon’s hand repeatedly, begging to be let out.
The man continued speaking.

“Someone’s missing, but I’ve been to the canine tribe gambling den several times recently, and they won’t give him up. Even when I call, the canine tribe won’t hand him over.”

He muttered as if to himself. Curious about who he meant, Heesung bit Yoon’s hand again, pleading silently to be let out.

The man went on.
“I even found out his name. It’s Kyeon Hee-seong.”
‘Is he really looking for me?’

Hee-seong waited with a hopeful face. Until just a moment ago, he wanted to stay inside the coat, but now he wanted to poke his face out immediately. The other might be a Kyeon tribe werewolf worried about him, or maybe an acquaintance of his older brother. They could save Hee-seong from this cannibal wolf’s grasp.
But Yoon Chi-young murmured in a bothersome tone while drinking something.
“Strangely, there are a lot of people looking for that puppy...”

“Hah, I keep thinking about it, I can’t help it.”
‘Listen to me! Let me out!’
The restless Hee-seong wriggled hard inside the pocket. Then Yoon Chi-young finally acknowledged him.

“Why? You want me to take you out?”
Yoon Chi-young muttered as if conceding, and took Hee-seong out. His tone was soft, as if indulging a spoiled child. But there was a subtle hint of enjoying the situation somewhere.
Hee-seong, who didn’t care about that at all, showed his face outside the coat with an expectant expression. His fur stood on end from static electricity, but confirming who the man looking for him now was more important.

“Hah. When I meet him, I’ll definitely...”
Finally, the puppy’s eyes filled with murderous intent when he saw the man.
Hee-seong knew the guy too. They were already acquainted, and just as much hated as Yoon Chi-young.

“I’m going to bite his dick off first.”
‘...Fuck...’
Unlike Yoon Chi-young, who was the boss of the organization and handsome, this was just a rude and unpleasant horse werewolf. And the very one who got Hee-seong scolded by his older brother.

〈You’re all just acting tough because you’re pretty. Why do you suddenly throw chips at the guest’s face?〉
That was Kwon Ki-hyuk, who once asked Hee-seong to suck during poker, and then slapped a chip in his face.
Normally, Hee-seong didn’t remember other werewolves well, but he remembered Kwon Ki-hyuk clearly.
〈How old are you? Have you slept with a man?〉

〈If I win this round, I’ll buy this one first.〉
〈Wanna go up together? Unlike this guy, I don’t eat werewolves in bed.〉
Those were the words Hee-seong heard the first time he met Kwon Ki-hyuk. Hee-seong clenched his fists tightly at that first sentence but endured firmly, thinking of his brother. He was already in trouble at that time and had been firmly warned by his brother.

〈The Kwon family is a political family... they’re going bankrupt so there’s no money to get, but don’t make a fuss and behave yourself, okay?〉
That was what his brother warned Hee-seong.
But whether or not he was the son of a politician, to Hee-seong he was just a perverted horse werewolf bastard.

And he found out later that Yoon Chi-young was in that same game.
〈Unlike this guy, I don’t eat werewolves in bed.〉
Surely, Kwon Ki-hyuk said that referring to Yoon Chi-young. At the time, Hee-seong just wanted to kill Kwon Ki-hyuk and didn’t care, but thinking back, rumors about Yoon Chi-young eating his own kind were quite widespread. Which meant it was likely true.

Still, Hee-seong hated the pervert bastard more than the cannibal wolf cub.
“What’s that puppy?”
Kwon Ki-hyuk, who met them again, asked disdainfully as if looking at something insignificant. Typical arrogant horse tribe attitude. Suddenly, he even threatened the puppy with an “Auu!” showing his teeth.

Hee-seong showed the same caution in response to that threat. He bared his fangs and growled, anxiously pawing at Yoon Chi-young’s arm.
Yoon Chi-young, holding a beast in his arms, leisurely raised his glass and answered.
“My puppy.”

“Not a werewolf, a real dog, right? Look at his temper. So tiny.”
“Woof!”
Kwon Ki-hyuk said with a smirk, and Hee-seong sharply barked. His body was still hurting and he shouldn’t push himself, but if he didn’t vent his anger like that, he felt like he would explode. Then Yoon Chi-young stroked the fist-sized puppy like a master and stood up.

Yoon Chi-young, gently calming the puppy, approached Kwon Ki-hyuk sitting across the table. Then he showed the puppy Kwon Ki-hyuk’s face up close and asked.
“What’s wrong? You don’t like him?”
‘I fucking hate him. Disgusting.’

The puppy nodded as if he understood. In his eyes toward Kwon Ki-hyuk was nothing but contempt and hatred.
Then a low but gentle question was heard.
“Then do you want to eat him?”

‘What...?’
Feeling something strange, Hee-seong tilted his head back eagerly. He saw Yoon Chi-young’s handsome face looking down at him. Every time he saw him, he felt the same — his face was so good-looking that it could easily be a movie star.
His naturally half-falling black hair, strong yet sharp features, and soft gaze. In those eyes… there were crazy gray pupils faintly dilated.

“Shall our puppy play with him? Put a leash on him and drag him around ourselves?”
“What kind of bullshit is that, ugh...!”
Yoon Chi-young grabbed the hair of the disheveled Kwon Ki-hyuk, pulling it back hard so his face was clearly visible. Embarrassment showed on Kwon Ki-hyuk’s face, veins bulging on his exposed neck. His breath became rough from discomfort.

Tension filled the room instantly. Yoon Chi-young’s smile turned cold. His behavior was cruel for someone doting on a puppy. Hee-seong suddenly remembered that Yoon Chi-young was a cruel wolf tribe.
At that moment, Kwon Ki-hyuk, embarrassed, grabbed Yoon Chi-young’s strong arm and laughed awkwardly.
“Hey, Yoon Chi-young… haha. You’re always joking, damn it.”

“Oh… you don’t like it?”
No matter what Kwon Ki-hyuk said, Yoon Chi-young only looked down at the puppy in his arms.
Hee-seong was already shaking his head vigorously. Kwon Ki-hyuk was filthy and someone he didn’t want near. In truth, Hee-seong hated the entire horse tribe who flaunted their sexual desire and dick size. The horse tribe always enjoyed sexual jokes in gambling halls. They didn’t even realize they were known as premature ejaculators behind their backs, just like wild horses.

Slowly, Yoon Chi-young nodded.
“Right. Our puppy shouldn’t eat dirty things.”
“…Hah.”

Whether Kwon Ki-hyuk laughed dumbly or not, Yoon Chi-young contemptuously dropped the hand that had grabbed his hair. Kwon Ki-hyuk’s face, veins popping on his forehead, twisted unpleasantly. Next to him, Yoon Chi-young wiped his expensive-looking suit casually. The puppy looked back and forth at the scene with an expression that said he didn’t understand.
‘Weren’t they friends?’
He had thought they were friends, but now Yoon Chi-young treated Kwon Ki-hyuk like just a toy for his puppy.

“I’m too busy playing with the puppy.”
With a sigh of boredom, Yoon Chi-young returned to his seat. Then carefully placed Hee-seong on the table as if handling a jewel. Because of that, the puppy stood among all the fancy Korean dishes.
Though grilled short rib patties were right in front of him, Hee-seong paid more attention to Yoon Chi-young’s bored remark.

“I thought Congressman Kwon was coming to prepare something before the news came out…”
“What?”
“No need to come all the way here.”

“What are you talking about, Yoon Chi-young?”
Kwon Ki-hyuk asked seriously. His carefully styled hair was now a mess like a mad scientist’s. Even the awkward smile he tried to force disappeared from his face.
Watching that scene, Hee-seong suddenly felt strange.

He saw how easily he could see through the guy who had been tormenting him. Somewhere hollow, Hee-seong felt a nasty satisfaction. He was never someone to pity.
He dragged me to the bathroom attached to the room, planning to fuck me.
Recalling the past, Hee-seong did not hold back. Limping on his hind leg, the puppy made his way through the dishes toward Kwon Ki-hyuk. Yoon Chi-young saw everything but didn’t intervene, and Kwon Ki-hyuk paid no attention to the small puppy.

Hee-seong made Kwon Ki-hyuk’s crotch burn exactly as he wanted.
“Why would my dad—First, explain what the hell—ugh, fuck!”
Hee-seong caused an obvious scene. He spilled the hot soup that had been in front of Kwon Ki-hyuk.

The spectacle of Kwon Ki-hyuk, now with a burning crotch, cursing and thrashing about was comical. He scrambled to his feet and awkwardly fanned his groin, looking exactly like a restless pony.
“Are you okay?”
Even then, Yoon Chi-young cradled only Hee-seong, ignoring Kwon Ki-hyuk as if he didn’t exist. In that embrace, the puppy glared at Kwon Ki-hyuk with a vicious sparkle in his eyes.

“You wanted to spill that? Good job.”
Yoon Chi-young praised Hee-seong for causing trouble. Unlike his brother, who always told him to hold back. Hee-seong puffed out his chest, fur standing on end in thrilling satisfaction.
Then, just as Yoon Chi-young was about to leave the room, Kwon Ki-hyuk grabbed him with rough curses.

“You bastard, what the hell was that earlier?”
“Hah.”
The smile vanished from Yoon Chi-young’s face. Seeing his cold glare, Hee-seong flinched and perked up his white ears. Instinctively, he felt it—messing with Yoon Chi-young now was dangerous.

Yoon Chi-young didn’t lose his temper. He simply put Hee-seong carefully back into the coat pocket, as before. But what he muttered sounded ominous.
“Don’t look at bad things. Stay here.”
‘Look with me!’

Hee-seong tried [N O V E L I G H T] hard with his front paws to grab Yoon Chi-young’s wrist to avoid going back in, but it was no use.
Then Hee-seong heard a heavy sound. The coat collar trembled violently—Yoon Chi-young had clearly kicked something.
Crack.

Hee-seong heard a perfectly clean sound of bone breaking for the first time. He even heard Kwon Ki-hyuk wheezing, struggling to breathe.
Soon, the cruel sounds faded away, the door opened, and only the clinking of fine tableware in the hall remained. Inside the pocket, Hee-seong was filled with a strange exhilaration and his heart kept pounding.
It was the first time he caused trouble and wasn’t scolded. Someone had sided with him.

Back in the car, Yoon Chi-young got into the back seat. The car smoothly pulled out of the parking lot as soon as he got in.
Even then, Hee-seong’s heart was pounding. He was pleased to have messed with Kwon Ki-hyuk. After all, he was a bastard at heart too.
While enjoying that feeling, Yoon Chi-young’s pointless question came.

“Did I do well?”
Hee-seong ignored Yoon Chi-young’s words. He just lay down on Yoon Chi-young’s thigh, sulking and looking elsewhere. Feeling good now, he wanted to quietly savor the sound of Kwon Ki-hyuk’s bones breaking.
“But… why did you spill the soup on his dick earlier? Were you interested?”

Then Yoon Chi-young lowered his voice as if hurt. Surely he was using his handsome face to the fullest, but Hee-seong never looked up at him. It annoyed him.
“My dick’s bigger than his…”
‘Ugh!’

Hearing something he didn’t want to know, the puppy shuddered and tried to cover his ears with his front paws. But his legs were too short to do it properly. Whether dick or whatever, he didn’t want to know anything about that.
“Why? Jealous?”
Jealous of what, exactly? Hee-seong was so tired of swearing he didn’t even respond, just desperately covered his ears. But Yoon Chi-young wasn’t the type to shut up just because the other wasn’t listening.

“I didn’t try to look on purpose. That guy was going around asking everyone to suck him off.”
Hearing this unwanted explanation, Hee-seong clenched his tiny little canine tightly.
When he recovered and returned to human form, he vowed to sew that mouth shut.

Among werewolves, bonds were far more important than among humans.
When injured and returning to their original form, a werewolf absolutely needed help from the pack.
‘Ugh, my ear itches.’

Now back as a puppy, Hee-seong especially needed the touch of his kin. Already unable to use his paws well, his half-folded ear was vulnerable to ear infections and it itched frequently. On top of that, his hind leg was injured, so he couldn’t scratch it with his back paw like usual.
Eventually, Hee-seong sought out Yoon Chi-young. When necessary, even a cannibal wolf’s help was to be borrowed.
The puppy went out onto the wide terrace. There, Yoon Chi-young was smoking—since the house was on the top floor, it didn’t really matter. He bit Yoon Chi-young’s pant leg and tugged. Yoon Chi-young, looking at documents on a tablet, happily looked down at the puppy.

“Hm?”
‘My ear, my ear itches.’
Hee-seong scratched his ear vigorously with his front paw. It was unbearably itchy. Until then, his brother had regularly cleaned his ears, but since coming to Yoon Chi-young’s house, no one had wiped them once.

The biggest reason was that they couldn’t communicate.
“Want me to hold you?”
‘No, hey.’

“Oh, pet you? Kiss?”
Woof!
Finally, Hee-seong burst out in frustration. He pushed away Yoon Chi-young’s lips with his paw, desperately avoiding the kiss.

The frustration of not being able to communicate was too great. Among the same kind of werewolves, even when returning to original form, some communication was possible. Though they couldn’t speak complete sentences, they could share two or three key words with body language.
But between dogs and wolves, even body language was completely different. It was like meeting a foreigner who spoke a different language. In fact, among werewolves, wolves’ body language was especially secretive, so they often didn’t understand others well.
Curious, Yoon Chi-young, who was looking at documents, made a phone call somewhere.

“Is Young-bae there? Tell him to come up.”
Hee-seong knew today was the weekend, but gangsters didn’t seem to have holidays. A few minutes later, a burly man entered Yoon Chi-young’s house. Silent and with scary pale eyes, he looked intimidating but surprisingly had delicate hands. Hee-seong knew him because he once stuck a pin in Hee-seong’s hair. He took it out immediately, though.
Yoon Chi-young smiled cheerfully and gestured toward the puppy on the terrace table.

“You’re from the Kyeon tribe, right?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the puppy saying?”

‘Does he understand me?’
Hee-seong glared at Ji Young-bae with little hope. It seemed suspicious that a fellow Kyeon tribe member worked under the wolves.
Moreover, if he was from the Kyeon tribe, he might have noticed Hee-seong was not just a puppy, but a werewolf. Werewolves and animals of the same species could communicate somewhat. But animals were less intelligent than werewolves, so from a werewolf’s point of view, it was like talking to a five-year-old. If communication was too good, his identity might be revealed, so it was best to be cautious.

At that moment, his ear itched terribly again. Desperate, Hee-seong rubbed his ear with his paw and grumbled.
‘Clean my ear, please.’
This time he showed very clear and precise body language. Ji Young-bae seriously reported to the boss.

“He wants his ear touched.”
‘Fuck!’
There was a communication error because they weren’t from the same region Kyeon tribe. Even werewolves had trouble communicating if they were from different areas. It was like meeting someone who spoke a harsh dialect.

Despite the misinterpretation, Yoon Chi-young lifted Hee-seong close to his face, looking into his eyes as if he found him adorable.
“Oh, want me to touch your ear? Our puppy likes having his ears touched, right?”