The next morning.
Taeil was busy rummaging through every corner of the house, gathering stacks of papers. Since he had decided to leave, it was only natural that he had a mountain of things to sort out.
“Hyung, do you know anyone around here looking to buy a car? I can let it go cheap.”
“Your car? Hmm, I’m not sure.”
“I think I’ll need to sell it within the month.”
From the way he was holding an armful of books like a pile of laundry, those seemed to be on the sorting list as well.
“…Time’s tight, so I don’t know if I’ll find anyone. But I’ll ask around.”
“Thanks. I’ll check with a used-car dealer too, but I’d rather sell it to someone I know at a lower price.”
“Fair enough. Just the dealer’s fee alone isn’t small. Need a hand with all that?”
“It’s fine. I just need to separate what goes to the family home and what to sell first.”
Siyul, who had the afternoon shift and was reading leisurely in the living room, felt a sudden jolt of reality when Taeil mentioned selling his car.
He really was leaving.
Of course, it wasn’t just a few months—at least two years. He’d have to sell off everything he could.
The more Siyul realized that, the more complicated his feelings became. But it wasn’t because he had any misplaced emotions toward Taeil. After yesterday’s incident, he kept remembering Ha-eun’s misunderstanding.
He knew it wasn’t true, but he resolved to be more careful about how he acted around Taeil in front of others. He thought of the women at the animal hospital who would squeal just from a short conversation with Taeil.
What if those women had the same thought as Lee Ha-eun? The idea bothered him more than he wanted to admit.
“……”
“Mmhm.”
Still, it wasn’t nearly as bothersome as this cat’s eyes. Since yesterday, Haein had been staging a silent protest.
Sure, cats couldn’t talk, but this one usually meowed often enough to feel like she was trying to have conversations. Which only made her silence more pointed.
Siyul knew exactly why Haein was behaving this way. That was why he was pretending not to notice.
________✧⑅˖♡∘˚˳°↝^._.^_________
Not long after, Haein appeared with yesterday’s leash dangling from her mouth.
She dropped the red leash at Siyul’s feet, then used her round little paw to nudge it toward him—staring straight at him all the while.
It was a blatant protest.
A strong demand to go out and talk.
This terrifying cat.
Siyul had tried to ignore her, but realizing she would keep at it, he finally picked up the leash with a sigh.
“Young lady, this kind of thing is for dogs.”
“Myaang!” (No, it’s not!)
“You’re a cat.”
“Myaak!” (Don’t you dare put it away!)
Siyul quickly tossed the leash aside. He had hidden it well, or so he thought, but it was useless. Haein immediately fetched it again.
Stubborn as only a cat could be, she and Siyul locked into a silent battle of wills.
“Oh? Looks like she wants to go for a walk, hyung.”
Unaware of the situation, Taeil watched in amazement. He had heard smart dogs did this kind of thing, but for a cat that had only been walked for the first time yesterday to be doing it—it was impressive.
“If you’re busy, I can take her after I’m done with this…”
“I’ll go.”
Siyul shut his book right then and there.
________✧⑅˖♡∘˚˳°↝^._.^_________
Walking a dog was common enough, but a cat on a leash was rare, so on their way to the parking lot, Siyul and Haein drew plenty of curious stares.
“Kitty! Mom, look, a kitty!”
Having been chased by children a few times before, Haein immediately leapt into Siyul’s arms when one came running.
Her jump carried her straight to his chest—a height no dog could match. A few people who had assumed she was a small dog turned back in wide-eyed surprise when they realized she was a cat.
The sight filled Siyul with a quiet pride, and a smile tugged at his lips.
This much amazement, just from a walk. And this cat can even talk.
“Take the leash off!”
“Yes, yes.”
“Open the door, quick!”
“Sure.”
“Stand guard.”
And she can turn into a human, too.
Once they reached the car, Haein hopped inside and demanded he shut the door. She was probably planning to transform and change back into the clothes she had left behind yesterday.
While keeping watch outside, Siyul found himself thinking.
So this is why I went with the expensive tinting. I didn’t want strangers peeking in. But now? I kind of regret it. At least a silhouette would’ve been nice…
“Mm?”
The rear door suddenly swung open, and Haein yanked him inside with sharp hands. To anyone watching, it would have looked like a kidnapping.
No sooner had he been pulled in than she grabbed his collar and shook him hard, venting her frustration at not being able to speak freely.
“You ignored me!”
“My, my, why is our young lady so angry?”
“Don’t play dumb! Why won’t you tell me?!”
As expected, that was her grievance.
Even with his collar in her grip, Siyul just smiled calmly, as if saying it was useless.
“I knew you’d say that. But no.”
“Why not?!”
“I’ve told you before—Lee Ha-eun is about to get married.”
“…But you’re not gay!”
Why did she feel so wronged? Haein could hardly breathe from the sheer unfairness of it. Alone in the car with Siyul, she shouted again.
“This whole thing is weird!”
Her face was twisted in frustration and on the verge of tears, and Siyul fell silent for a moment.
He didn’t want to fight with Haein over something like this. Especially when she was in her human form—every moment like this was precious.
In a voice as gentle as ever, Siyul caught her trembling wrist.
“I know. But what’s weirder to me is fighting over someone else’s business.”
“I’m ‘someone else,’ to you?!”
“I’m a stranger to her.”
“But you’re living off my master’s kindness!”
Right. In her head, I was just a freeloader.
“…I pay rent properly, you know.”
“Still… still, gratitude is gratitude, isn’t it?”
“Not at all.”
“Let’s help him. Please? Let’s help him!”
So this was why she turned into a human—just to beg like this. Siyul felt his patience waver under Haein’s pleading eyes, sparkling as she clung to him.
“Please? Please?”
“You… You only act cute at times like this, don’t you?”
“N-no! I’m really begging you this time!”
“No matter how much you beg, it won’t work.”
Normally, Siyul spoiled Haein with anything she wanted, but when it came to something he truly thought was wrong, he was immovable.
“…Why? It’s not like Lee Ha-eun loves two men at once. She just misunderstood you. Anyone can see she’s in love with him.”
“Fine, let’s say that’s true. Then what about her fiancé? That poor man is getting married in less than a month.”
“That’s…”
“I’ll say it again. No. It’s none of our business.”
His tone dripped with ice. He could be endlessly tender with Haein, but with everything else, he was like this—practical, and frighteningly cold.
“Lee Ha-eun will marry that man and start a family. Taeil will leave for Africa. By the time Taeil comes back, both of them will have sorted out their feelings. And then they’ll live their lives, never knowing the truth.”
“Kang, you’re too cold!”
“I’ve always been selfish.”
Haein, on the other hand, was still young at heart and easily swayed by emotion. She couldn’t stand watching someone she cared about suffer, even if she herself wasn’t hurt.
She looked up at him, her eyes wet and trembling.
Those wavering eyes were the one thing Siyul could never be completely immune to.
“Then… what if, later… you end up marrying someone else? What happens to Lee Ha-eun then?”
“…Then.”
“How would she feel?”
How wretched and hollow would that be? How unbearable, how bitter? Too late for regret, too late to turn back.
Haein couldn’t ignore it, because she already knew that feeling.
Maybe it was because she herself was in the middle of a hopeless love.
Even so, compared to her, Lee Ha-eun still had a chance. Watching it end so meaninglessly was too tragic.
“She’d realize just how much of a fool she’s been.”
But Siyul didn’t understand at all.
Cold man. Haein bit her lip.
When it came to other people, Siyul was endlessly unfeeling. If only he cared half as much about others as he did about her… maybe that was why her heart ached even more.
“Kang, you really don’t understand women’s hearts.”
“…Even if you cry, it won’t change my answer.”
“…You’re awful.”
“No, just realistic.”
“You’re awful!”
He refused to budge, and she had nothing she could do. The frustration boiled over, and Haein pounded her fists against his chest.
“You idiot, Kang!”
Her strength was enough that Siyul had to wince.
That’s going to leave a bruise, he thought.
“…Ow. That really hurts.”
“My master is suffering! Waaaah!”
“If you ask me, I’m the one suffering more…”
She sniffled, then clung to his chest, wiping her tears against his shirtfront.
Even as she cried, she knew he was right. She knew she was powerless.
But the heart never obeys what’s right.
“I don’t like it.”
“I don’t like it either.”
“Ugh… It’s so wrong when two people who love each other are kept apart.”
“Yes, it’s wrong.”
“They should be together, shouldn’t they?”
Seeing her sniffling and trembling, even Siyul couldn’t stay entirely at ease.
For all her sharpness, Haein was fragile, young, and easily wounded. She barked and snapped because she was afraid of being hurt—just like dogs who bark the loudest are often the most timid.
“Not everything in the world is fair.”
There were plenty of cruel, unfair, unjust things in the world. The purer someone was, the harder it was for them to accept that—and the moment they did, they could no longer stay pure.
Siyul stroked her head and gently patted her back as she leaned into him.
“When you cry, it hurts me too.”
“Then do something. Please.”
“You know we can’t. There’s nothing we can do.”
“…If you don’t know what to do, then who will? You’re the smart one, Kang.”
Does she think I’m invincible?
Haein looked at him with blind faith, as if convinced Siyul could do anything. And though he didn’t dislike that trust, right now he couldn’t return it.
“As I always say—my only concern is you.”
“…Huh?”
“All I ever think about is how to keep you from leaving. How to make you stay with me a little longer. How to… be with you.”
His gaze suddenly burned.
Like a predator ready to devour its prey in a single bite.
Realizing how close he was, how his hand was still patting her shoulder in that cramped car, Haein instinctively pulled away.
No way… not here, not in this tiny car—
But the balance shifted in an instant.
“I… I want to go home now.”
“You came out on your own, but going back isn’t up to you.”
Even smiling, Siyul had the uncanny ability to scare.
Come to think of it, their date yesterday had ended abruptly. And their last kiss… had been right here, in this car. Continuing from there was all too natural.
“Call me selfish, but… the one I pity most isn’t her. It’s me.”
“…You’re not awful. Not awful.”
“How do I know you won’t disappear tomorrow? Sorry, but I don’t have the luxury of worrying about anyone else.”
The backseat was narrow and dark, tinted so heavily that no one could see inside.
His face drew closer.
Being pulled into his arms and kissed was instant. The overwhelming pressure of his kiss made her feel wholly possessed.
“Mmngh—”
As if to punish her for tormenting him earlier, Siyul kissed her deeply, fiercely, until she was left with no choice but to endure.
Day by day, he approached her more completely as a man.
That dazzling smile, that warm voice, that tender manner—all could vanish in an instant, leaving only the raw intensity of a male.
“Breathe.”
“H-haah!”
“You’re bad at this.”
“Kang… I can’t catch my breath.”
How am I supposed to breathe when he’s kissing like this?
Their faces were too close. Every flicker of expression was visible. Every bit of warmth seeped from skin that wasn’t hers. The kiss grew deeper and heavier, but she couldn’t push him away.
They didn’t need a reason anymore—they were lovers.
A glance, a brush of fingers, was enough excuse for a kiss. But Siyul always came at her so suddenly, so overwhelmingly.
And every time, he poured into her an energy she could barely endure. Not the faint yin she collected from moonlight, but thick, heady yang.
If yin was like mist, yang was like mud—dense, heavy, inescapable.
One day she realized she had more than enough to transform at will. And all of it came from Siyul’s yang.
But was it safe, him giving her so much?
“…Good girl, aren’t you?”
Unaware of her worries, Siyul whispered against her lips, soothing her as he kissed her again.
Their skin burned with heat, her body trembling at the same time.
Every sensation was too vivid—his breath sliding down her throat, her body quivering with tiny spasms in her fingers and toes.
She hated the feeling of drawing something vital from him through their locked lips.
And yet, every kiss left her thirstier, craving even deeper contact.
That thirst was aimed at Siyul alone. A thirst that was, unmistakably… desire.
God, this is monstrous. Why am I so greedy?
Even as she wished the kiss would never end, Haein rebelled against herself.
“S-stop… stop it.”
But the protest was feeble, barely a twitch.
And Siyul, having given so much, demanded just as much back. He lifted her chin, bent down, and pressed his lips hard against hers again.
He swallowed her ragged breaths, savoring every sound, every tremor, the very warmth of her breath.
Then, with her head tilted back, he pulled her waist closer still.
The relentless kiss left Haein no escape. The pressure, the breathless intensity—it made her dizzy.
The more he burned with desire, the more energy flowed into her. Never had it surged so powerfully before.
“Stop, really! Kang, if this keeps up—”
“You don’t want it?”
“N-no! That’s not it—it’s just… if this keeps going, you—”
Her face burned, because she knew exactly what he wanted. She could feel it in every part of him.
“Me?”
“Something terrible could happen to you.”
Who else worried about their partner’s health in the middle of a kiss? But Siyul only smiled, unbothered.
“That’s impossible. I feel nothing but bliss.”
Who’s the real monster here?
Even as she absorbed his strength, it felt like he was devouring her instead—because he was too strong.
“I mean it… It’s too much. Too intense. It’s dangerous.”
“Dangerous? How?”
“You… you could die!”
“Why?”
Haein pleaded, deadly serious, but Siyul wasn’t convinced.
“Because… I can’t tell you…”
“Ah. Yang energy? That’s what this is about, isn’t it?”
“…Eh?”
“I know about it. I studied.”
What on earth was he saying, with that innocent smile? Studied? Studied what?!
Haein was so stunned by his complete lack of worry that she nearly forgot to be upset. Meanwhile, Siyul only looked pleased with himself for figuring it out.
“Like a gumiho, right?”
“H-how do you know that?!”
Of course—he was a model student. Quick to catch on, and better read on the subject than she was. No wonder her spiritual wards were useless against him—he already knew too much.
Moving closer, calm and unshaken, Siyul brushed his lips over hers again.
“I’ll be fine. Drink my yang.”
“Eh—”
“How much do you need?”
