Don’t Mess with the Puppy!

"He’s going to play with that bastard’s hole until it’s torn. Does the price change depending on use? How much do you want?"
"...No. We’ll hand him over as soon as we finish our part."

Park Geontae had to rely on his help. Getting information on Yoon Chiyoung was difficult, and since this horse beastman also wanted Gyeon Heeseong, it was a win-win either way.
“How much should I sell Heeseong for to cover the losses?”
Besides, if he handed Heeseong over to this perverted horse beastman, he could make a decent amount of money.

That night, Park Geontae started scheming meticulously while listening to Kwon Gihyeok's information, trying to understand the cunning intentions of the carnivorous wolf.
After the wolf clan’s event ended, Yoon Chiyoung didn’t go straight home.
“Puppy, wait here a moment, okay?”

Instead, he left the puppy with Jiyoungbae and hurried somewhere. Heeseong watched Yoon Chiyoung’s retreating back, puzzled.
“Is he giving me a chance to run away?”
It had to be that; a skinship-obsessed guy wouldn’t do this otherwise. It was strange.

The puppy was left in a quiet waiting room with three organization members. Compared to last time when six were watching, three felt more comfortable. The puppy dozed off repeatedly, overwhelmed by drowsiness, and finally collapsed sideways onto Jiyoungbae’s palm, falling asleep. Then, Jiyoungbae’s gentle hands carefully covered the puppy with a blanket—the handkerchief originally belonging to Yoon Chiyoung. It was very comfortable.
After a while, the puppy stirred, got up, and washed his face with his front paws like a cat. Since it wasn’t a vast bed, he woke up quickly.
“Has it been an hour already?”

Checking Jiyoungbae’s wristwatch with his front paw, it showed an hour had passed. Woken from his light sleep, the puppy irritably rubbed the sauce stains from his head with the handkerchief.
Just then, the door opened, and a soft voice called.
“I’m back. Did you wait?”

Yoon Chiyoung quickly walked in. Heeseong showed his tiny teeth—he had been waiting for a whole hour. He was so sleepy he could die.
“I waited, and he even changed clothes?”
Plus, Yoon Chiyoung was dressed in a sharp new suit. The puppy glared at him as if to kill the moment he saw him from ten steps away. That look must have seemed just coy to Yoon Chiyoung because he smiled broadly in response.

“Sorry, I tried to finish quickly…”
“I wish you’d just left me alone instead of leaving me with the wolves...!”
The puppy’s soft body tensed instantly while grumbling.
From the approaching Yoon Chiyoung came a thick smell of blood. Though he had changed clothes neatly and tried to cover the blood scent with soap and perfume, the puppy’s keen nose could not be fooled.

“There was no blood smell before? …Why wear perfume when your sense of smell is so sharp?”
The puppy’s angry face froze blank. Even when Yoon Chiyoung kindly said, “Let’s go home now,” he couldn’t respond and instead checked the scent again.
The puppy sniffed the approaching hand. Though faint, it was definitely the scent of blood.

“Who did you deal with?”
Since this was a place where purebred wolves gathered, Yoon Chiyoung must have been fulfilling his duty as a watcher.
With that thought, a vivid memory flashed in Heeseong’s mind—the beastman soaked in blood who had collapsed before Yoon Chiyoung long ago. That fear resurfaced with a chill.

“I came as fast as I could... Are you upset?”
“......”
Even as Yoon Chiyoung lifted the puppy’s face close to his, Heeseong couldn’t meet his eyes.

It wasn’t because he was scared. Even if he felt that way, Heeseong didn’t want to fear him. He didn’t want to become like the purebred wolves who despised and feared him after raising a child as a watcher and entrusting him with dirty work.
But his body stiffened from tension. Heeseong grew up in the hands of fighting dogs who valued loyalty. The Yoon Chiyoung who had just taken care of his relatives suddenly felt so distant.
“Has the puppy ever felt like that?”

Ignoring the startled heart, Yoon Chiyoung held the puppy close and kissed the fur on his back. His hands were so gentle, like handling a jewel, but as his body neared, the blood scent became clearer. Hiccup. The puppy started hiccuping.
Yoon Chiyoung carefully petted the hiccupping puppy and said,
“At first, honestly, you were just someone I liked a little…”

“…Hic.”
“Now, I do things I didn’t before because I want to look good to you.”
Even as Yoon Chiyoung spoke, his face flushed as he covered it with his hand and laughed. Watching such an embarrassed handsome face was like seeing an actor experiencing his first romance. The puppy just thought nervously.

“…Who exactly does he want to look good to?”
It couldn’t be the puppy himself, so maybe a family member at the banquet or someone else. Startled, the puppy hiccupped loudly again, his fluffy body stiffening briefly then returning to normal. Still unable to meet Yoon Chiyoung’s gray eyes.
He had told himself not to be intimidated by Yoon Chiyoung just moments ago, but he felt pathetic for being scared like this without reason. Yoon Chiyoung wouldn’t want this either.

“Can’t you stop being a watcher? Just do something simple like a potato…”
Heeseong wanted to say that for no reason. He didn’t even know why he wanted to recommend that. But fratricide was the biggest, most incomprehensible wall to Heeseong.
“Why is our puppy hiccuping so much?”

Yoon Chiyoung leaned close, looking at the puppy with concern. He held him and gently stroked his back. It was surely a kind gesture, but Heeseong had a hard time calming down and hiccupped for a while.
“Puppy…”
Feeling something strange, Yoon Chiyoung whispered while holding the puppy to his shoulder.

“I didn’t do anything bad.”
“......”
“It’s true. Today I just gave a warning.”

‘Is that the problem now?’
Heeseong wanted to argue that but still felt a bit relieved.
Heeseong was used to the blood scent anyway. He had rolled around in gambling dens where accidents happened several times a night. Knowing the rules of this world well, he could endure what Yoon Chiyoung did.

“You must have been really scared… I’ll feed you well and make sure you sleep soundly when we get home.”
Soon Yoon Chiyoung walked through the vast hall holding the puppy. Organization members followed behind him, and purebred wolves cleared the path with stern faces as he walked.
Heeseong looked at the sight strangely. Those were wolf beastmen with sharp noses, so they must have smelled the blood scent from Yoon Chiyoung. They must have been as scared as he was just moments ago after noticing what Yoon Chiyoung had done. Even though it was a role forced on them.

“…I won’t be afraid of you.”
Seeing that scene, Heeseong thought silently like a vow. He hated that he was scared even after knowing Yoon Chiyoung’s situation just moments ago and resolved firmly.
“I’m a fighting dog, so I won’t act cowardly like those wolves.”

After organizing his thoughts, the puppy glared intensely at Yoon Chiyoung as usual.
“Now you’re starting to look out for me?”
Finally meeting those dark, round eyes, Yoon Chiyoung smiled gracefully. He even took a video, thinking the hiccupping puppy was cute. Though the video didn’t capture the vow, the puppy’s determined gaze was clearly recorded.

The round fighting dog’s vow to judge him by what he saw and experienced with his own eyes.
After returning from the wolf clan’s event, Yoon Chiyoung headed to a hotel, saying the house was too far.
“The hotel doesn’t allow pets.”

‘I guess I’ll just leave him behind.’
While the puppy stared blankly at the night view outside the car window, the proactive Yoon Chiyoung was already finding and implementing an alternative.
“This is better than my coat pocket, right?”

‘What a freak!’
This time, the puppy ended up inside the suit jacket. Heeseong struggled desperately, not wanting to lean on the man’s chest, but Yoon Chiyoung soothed him with a kiss, so he had no choice but to voluntarily escape inside the jacket. Then Yoon Chiyoung’s left chest bulged as if hiding a loaf of bread.
‘So cozy…’

Once settled, it was quite nice. Reluctantly admitting it, the puppy gradually flattened out comfortably. Yoon Chiyoung took care of his body so well that he had a separate home gym and exercised daily. Leaning against his well-trained chest to sleep wasn’t bad.
Outside, several sounds could be heard—the sound of Yoon Chiyoung entering the hotel lobby, polite check-in conversation, and a warm greeting to a beastman child met in the elevator.
Yoon Chiyoung secretly said to the child he met for the first time,

“Want to see something scary?”
No matter what sounds came from outside, Heeseong just lay curled up and slept. Soon Yoon Chiyoung bent his knees and slightly opened the jacket wrapping the puppy. A small child’s delighted squeal followed, calling the puppy cute. Heeseong’s ears twitched in surprise but didn’t wake. He just thought Yoon Chiyoung wasn’t really cut out to be an organization boss.
Click.

After entering the room, Yoon Chiyoung’s muttering could be heard in the quiet space.
“Oh, I forgot to feed him dinner…”
‘…He’s not talking about me, is he?’

The puppy opened his sleepy eyes vaguely. Lately, Yoon Chiyoung had been muttering strangely more often, but it was hard to intervene. After all, Heeseong was just a puppy now.
Then a large hand slid inside the jacket and carefully lifted the warm puppy out.
“Shall we eat and then sleep together?”

‘I don’t want to go out!’
Just as he was perfectly comfortable, Yoon Chiyoung disturbed his sleep. But Heeseong had no energy to bite or attack him, so he just blankly settled on the table as Yoon Chiyoung put him down.
A hotel room service menu spread out in front of the puppy.

“What do you want to eat?”
“……?”
Despite the question, the puppy only widened his eyes.

‘Is he crazy? Why is beef bone soup fifty thousand won?’
It was an unbelievable price. But Yoon Chiyoung seemed indifferent to the cost and suggested eating Korean food since it was before bed.
“Shall we eat the galbi set? Puppy can digest it, right?”

The puppy usually had trouble digesting, so Yoon Chiyoung paid special attention to his diet. Heeseong nodded absentmindedly, thinking he would only eat a little anyway.
The room service was set when Yoon Chiyoung came out after washing. The puppy was also washed briefly at the sink and wrapped burrito-style in a towel. As soon as they sat down, Yoon Chiyoung fed the puppy tender galbi meat with a few grains of rice.
“How is it? Tasty?”

‘…Wow.’
The puppy’s sleepy eyes widened.
Though he thought it was extravagant due to the price, the tender ribs were the best meat Heeseong had ever eaten. In fact, he hadn’t eaten ribs many times, but that was the feeling.

“More, give me more.”
Heeseong happily hung on Yoon Chiyoung’s wrist while being fed. Yoon Chiyoung gladly fed the puppy as he spread the meat, then laughed ruefully seeing the galbi sauce stains around the puppy’s mouth.
“You’re supposed to be raised well, but you keep getting messy…”

The puppy, not understanding, wiped his nose with his tongue, then noticed the mirror beside him late. He saw a stained puppy with sauce marks on his head, wine stains on his back, and galbi sauce around his mouth.
‘Half of those stains are yours!’
Heeseong struggled, baring his teeth, and Yoon Chiyoung soothed his anger with more galbi. The puppy calmed down and finished the satisfying meal.

After eating, the puppy happily lay on the soft bed. The hotel bedding felt like lying on clouds—soft and plush.
‘Feels good…’
Now Heeseong was getting used to living with Yoon Chiyoung and enjoying luxury. All these were unfamiliar things in his life, but he thought he adapted quickly.

“…….”
But whenever Heeseong felt like this, he often became a little melancholic.
It was because he was enjoying something that wasn’t truly his, all by lying to himself. If anyone found out that he wasn’t just a puppy but the beastman dog, Heeseong, he wouldn’t be enjoying any luxury like this—instead, he’d be busy cleaning up the mess he caused. Maybe out of guilt, Heeseong suddenly longed for the gambling den where he could live as his true self.
Soon, the puppy thought firmly:
‘No. …I don’t miss the gambling den at all.’

Even if he didn’t want to recall the reasons, many came to mind. Customers who sexually harassed him. Beastmen who tried to buy him with money, and memories of abuse and violence after he refused. And his older brother scolding him, saying he should just endure it a little—all of that was painful.
‘…I wish my brother had always been on my side like Yoon Chiyoung.’
Thinking that, the puppy quickly shook his head. He couldn’t compare his older brother, who was both kin and the one who took him in, to a carnivorous wolf. After all, his brother was Heeseong’s benefactor.

Later, the puppy raised his head, puzzled.
‘Why is he so quiet today?’
Normally, Yoon Chiyoung would cling to the puppy annoyingly once they lay down on the bed, but today was strangely silent. Suspicious, the puppy approached Yoon Chiyoung’s face with all his fur standing on end from static electricity.
‘…Are you in pain again?’

Yoon Chiyoung was panting heavily, showing his black wolf ears as before. He was curled up to the side, frowning deeply, clearly in pain just by looking.
The puppy had seen this a few times already. Night by night, Yoon Chiyoung’s painful times were growing longer. As the doctor warned last time, it was probably pain caused by his inability to release pheromones.
“Ugh, haa…”

‘Why don’t you just transform into your true form? Just turn into a wolf.’
Now that he thought about it, Yoon Chiyoung had never shown Heeseong his true form. Even though they were together 24 hours a day, he hid it obsessively.
Could it be that he thought the puppy would be afraid? But Heeseong grew up among violent fighting dogs; wolves weren’t scary to him.

“Hey, transform. I’m not scared of wolves. If you keep storing pheromones like this, you’ll get pheromone shock.”
The puppy tried to say that to Yoon Chiyoung. It probably sounded like babbling to Yoon Chiyoung, but Heeseong was serious.
Pheromones, a beastman’s trait, are toxic when accumulated and must be regularly released by returning to true form or through mating.

If pheromones built up like poison and caused pheromone shock, the beastman would lose control of aggression and rampage. In severe cases, it could lead to self-harm, so regularly releasing pheromones was very important.
“Puppy…”
At the puppy’s nagging, Yoon Chiyoung gave a faint smile. His forehead was slightly wet with cold sweat, and his eyes curved beautifully. He looked annoyingly handsome, but Heeseong ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) obediently listened.

“I felt good that you sided with me today…”
‘Does that even come from someone in pain?’
“Now, puppy… must like me too, right?”

‘Don’t be delusional.’
The puppy looked at him pitifully but licked Yoon Chiyoung’s cheek slightly. Then Yoon Chiyoung caught his breath and gave a faint laugh. The gray eyes in those eyes shone sharply as if watching the puppy’s reaction carefully.
“Even if I’m a little sick… I think it’s okay to keep living like this with you.”

“……”
It sounded quite romantic, but if a carnivorous wolf said it, it meant something else. The puppy knew today, too, that he’d brought someone’s blood scent on his hands.
Still, he wasn’t afraid anymore… but Heeseong was growing increasingly anxious. The longer the carnivorous wolf couldn’t release pheromones, the closer the time to return seemed.

And Heeseong wanted to answer differently.
‘I’m scared to live like this…’
Quietly thinking, the puppy looked at Yoon Chiyoung and covered him completely with a blanket using all his strength.

That night, Heeseong couldn’t fall asleep until late. Lost in thought, he wandered restlessly on the bed alone. His small body made even that a decent walk.
Finally, crawling under the blanket, the puppy curled between Yoon Chiyoung’s thighs and thought,
‘What if I don’t want to return to being human?’

Born as a beastman, was it right to deceive others and live as such a small puppy?
But Heeseong was also afraid of paying for his sins if he returned to being human. Though it was true he caused trouble for Yoon Chiyoung, even the times he was drugged and nearly killed felt unfair and painful to blame on himself.
But more than that, another fear existed.

His older brother, who took him in, might criticize and turn away from him. Heeseong had already experienced being abandoned by family. He knew that pain better than anyone and never wanted to be abandoned by family again.
‘…I don’t want to be cast out of the pack.’
Tears welled up in the puppy’s black eyes. But he curled tightly and fell asleep to avoid crying. He hated how comfortable he’d become beside the carnivorous wolf.

The next day, Heeseong had no energy. He ate only a little of the egg porridge he usually ate well and stared blankly out the window.
“If the puppy doesn’t eat, it hurts my heart…”
‘…Just eat yourself.’

Heeseong pushed the teaspoon away with his front paw. For the first time, he left some egg porridge uneaten. Yoon Chiyoung gently petted him, checked the date, and examined the wounds on Heeseong’s legs. But the puppy didn’t have the energy to care and just lay sprawled on his thigh.
Heeseong was confused. The worries from last night remained into the morning.
Yoon Chiyoung killing his own kind, and himself understanding that logically but not accepting it emotionally.

And the wolf whose pheromones grew stronger as the heat approached, and yet his own heart was scared of returning to human—all of it was confusing.
Even at the office, Heeseong leaned against Yoon Chiyoung’s chest. Now, seeing someone getting a warning from Yoon Chiyoung and running away scared, or seeing someone barely alive didn’t faze him anymore. That was partly from seeing cruel things in the gambling den, but mostly because he had grown used to this place.
‘At first, I didn’t want anyone to find out I was the beastman who punched Yoon Chiyoung’s face…’

But now, heavier worries filled his fluffy body completely. Heeseong always saw the situation without much hope. The worries he couldn’t solve grew deeper and deeper.
‘…Anyway, if I return to being human, Yoon Chiyoung will try to kill me.’
Though obvious, Heeseong still worried about that.

No matter how much Yoon Chiyoung had grown fond of him, that was affection for the puppy, not for ‘Gyeon Heeseong’ himself. He had been lucky to fool him by pretending to be a puppy, but if he was found out to be the beastman, or the one who caused the incident, Yoon Chiyoung would abandon him without hesitation.
Heeseong didn’t expect anything more from Yoon Chiyoung anyway, but he found his heart growing heavier for no reason.
Then something was offered right before the puppy’s nose.

“Here, yum-yum.”
“……”
Yoon Chiyoung handed over dried sweet potato strips. Heeseong, who had been lying face down on the desk, just looked at Yoon Chiyoung irritably for a moment and turned his head to refuse the snack.

“Why is the puppy like this… Is he sick?”
Worried, Yoon Chiyoung raised the puppy’s face in front of him. He seemed concerned about Heeseong’s unusual behavior. Unlike usual, when the puppy bit and fussed when hugged, this time he hung his head low and closed his mouth gloomily.
Soon, Heeseong was back on the desk. Weakly sprawled, Yoon Chiyoung leaned his head close and gently asked, like soothing a lover,

“Should we go home if you’re hurting? Hm?”
“……”
“Or are you tired of here? Shall we go play by the sea together?”

‘…No. Don’t bother me.’
Even with the question, Heeseong curled up and hid his head, as if refusing to listen. The kindness Yoon Chiyoung showed him today didn’t make him angry nor happy. After all, he couldn’t live forever as a puppy while deceiving him.
Then one of the organization members cautiously spoke.

“Director, there’s something to report separately.”
“Just say it.”
Yoon Chiyoung spoke quietly while stroking the puppy. His tone was low and different from when he cherished the puppy.

The member briefly said,
“We caught the fox clan you mentioned last time. Also… the manager of the dog clan’s gambling den came.”
“……”

Heeseong was the one who reacted. The puppy finally raised his head and looked at the reporting member.
‘My brother came all the way here?’
Usually, the gambling den manager didn’t visit customers because even their information was kept secret. Instead, they were always prepared to receive customers, his brother had confidently said.

But coming all the way to the wolf clan’s base meant there was a big problem that had to be resolved in person—like his own disappearance, for example.
But the decision maker, casually stroking the puppy, said,
“Let him go. Tell them I’m on a date.”

“Yes, sir.”
A date, clearly an excuse to dismiss the gambling den manager. But the members left the room after leaving a heavy answer. Only Heeseong, who had just shaken himself off and stood up, became frantic.
Damn…!

If his brother came all the way here, it must be serious, and no matter how much he thought about it, the biggest cause had to be the trouble he caused. But he couldn’t just let himself be turned away like that. Heeseong scratched Yoon Chiyoung’s arm and grabbed his sleeve tightly to try to stop him.
“Shall we eat prawns together today?”
“……”

But Yoon Chiyoung just asked lazily. Seeing that, Heeseong realized he had no choice at all. It was the karma of remaining a puppy.
Heeseong ate a luxurious Korean meal with prawns for a late lunch. Sitting on Yoon Chiyoung’s lap, he ate as he was fed. Though it was mostly high-class food he was tasting for the first time, Heeseong had no appetite at all. Moreover, the thoughts lingering in his mind tormented him constantly.
‘My brother must have come all this way because of me.’

It had been almost a month since he disappeared. Though his disappearance was a problem, the dog clan boss must not have left his brother alone because the missing drugs vanished without a trace. He probably threatened his brother in a fighting dog way to get it resolved somehow.
The puppy eventually ate less than half of the meal.
Yoon Chiyoung neither blamed nor scolded the puppy. He just ignored all reports received that day and kept the puppy close without putting him down.

Finally, probably worried about the drooping puppy, Yoon Chiyoung lifted him up and asked,
“Shall we go home early today?”
‘Why even ask?’

He’d do whatever he wanted anyway. Yoon Chiyoung always asked the puppy’s opinion. Sometimes even about matters involving someone’s life. Yoon Chiyoung’s muttering had now become a familiar daily routine for Heeseong.
“Let’s go home, eat something delicious, and rest well.”