* * *

“It’s already this late…”

It wasn’t until late afternoon the next day that Saewoo finally stepped outside.

Although the time for the beasts to start their hunt was drawing near, he had things to do.

After Jibeom left the night before, Saewoo had spent almost the entire night awake and only got out of bed around noon to finally head out.

“Sigh… I must be crazy…”

Trudging down the path to the hair salon he used to frequent before moving, Saewoo heaved deep sighs.

The events from the day before kept replaying in his mind.

Everything had seemed fine when it was snowing, so how had it turned out like that?

[Ahh! No! It’s true! I mean it! I got aroused because I like kissing…!]

“Ugh…!”

He had kicked his blanket dozens of times while lying in bed, wondering how he would face Jibeom next.

“Am I really that foolish? Why am I even thinking about seeing him again…?”

Saewoo halted and shouted at himself in frustration.

After what had happened, the fact that he was even contemplating meeting Jibeom again made him feel like a complete pushover and an idiot.

“Ugh… Stop thinking about it. Dwelling on it will only make me feel worse…”

Determined to shake off the embarrassing memory, Saewoo braced himself.

Bzzz.

Just then, his pocket vibrated.

“Gasp…”

Instead of relief, Saewoo felt a rush of tension as he nervously glanced at his phone screen.

Thankfully, the sender was Jinho.

[Jinho: Saewoo-yam, my exam is done today!]
[Jinho: ꉂꉂ(ᵔᗜᵔ)]
[Jinho: A new udon shop opened near your place!]
[Jinho: Wanna go eat udon?]
[Jinho: Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go (งᐛ)ว (งᐖ)ว]

The message brought news Saewoo had been waiting for.

He thought it would be perfect to have udon with Jinho after getting his hair done, so he replied with a positive answer right away.

“Oh, right.”

He then recalled the rental flyers.

Only Jibeom, Jinho, and Jinho’s partner Ye Taekwon knew about Saewoo’s plans for rental properties.

If it wasn’t Jibeom distributing the flyers, then Jinho was the only other suspect.

[Jinho, by any chance…]

“…”

Saewoo started typing a message to ask Jinho about the flyers but deleted it right away.

It wasn’t ‘by any chance.’

Jinho had always worried and cared for Saewoo as if it was his own matter.

There was no way he would do something like that.

Plus, Jinho had good taste and skills, so he would never use such a tacky design.

Talking to him about this would only make Jinho worry more.

With a new resolve, Saewoo decided to find the culprit on his own this time.

‘I’ve relied on those around me too much… Now that I’m a property owner, I need to manage and run things on my own. This time, I won’t just let it slide—I’ll handle it properly from the start.’

Saewoo made a firm promise to himself as he pushed open the door to the hair salon he had just reached.

Ding.

A crisp sound rang out as the heavy glass door swung open.

“Welcome!”

“Hello.”

“Oh, it’s been a while, student! Here for a trim like before?”

Though half a year had passed since his university graduation, the salon owner still called him ‘student.’

“Yes, just a quick trim.”

“I see. But… there are a few customers ahead of you, so you might need to wait about 30 minutes.”

“Oh… really?”

Saewoo’s eyes rounded as he scanned the busy salon.

He hadn’t realized it could get crowded, as he usually came during quieter hours, but today, being a weekend, it was quite packed.

“Only 30 minutes? That’s fine.”

He didn’t mind waiting since he wanted his usual stylist to handle his hair.

“All right, take a seat and enjoy some tea.”

The hair salon owner, with a friendly demeanor, guided the customers to their seats before quickly tending to their hair.

Saewoo sat awkwardly on an old, sagging sofa, fiddling absentmindedly with his phone.

“…Really? The old man barged into someone else’s house?”

At that moment, someone among the group of shapeshifters furthest from Saewoo raised their voice.

“Exactly. He insisted on going that way in the morning, even though it wasn’t his usual route, and in the end, that’s what happened. Ugh… I don’t know where he got the energy, but he climbed up to the fourth floor by himself!”

“The fourth floor? How did he manage that? Wasn’t he the one who always walked with a cane?”

The shapeshifters expressed amazement, clicking their tongues in sympathy as they discussed the incident.

‘Someone else’s house? Fourth floor? An old man with a cane…?’

Saewoo, recalling the elderly man who had shown up suddenly asking for a room, couldn’t help but eavesdrop on their conversation.

“Hey, isn’t it strange? Has the old man lost his mind?”

“No way, sis. I don’t think so. Do you know how angry he gets if you forget even a single side dish when serving his meals? Sigh… Maybe it’s just because he’s a predator, but even at his age, that temper hasn’t gone anywhere.”

“Right. He was a predator, wasn’t he? A lion? Was it a lion?”

“Yeah, not just any lion. I heard he used to control a whole area back in the day.”

“What? Are you serious?”

“I don’t know, but that’s what they say. Back then, though…”

The conversation shifted to stories about the history of the shapeshifter world, ones Saewoo wouldn’t understand without studying it.

‘A predator… and a lion at that? Could it really be…?’

Saewoo, listening in silence, felt more convinced that the old man he met yesterday morning was indeed the one being discussed.

Pretending to reach for a magazine, he discreetly glanced around.

Between shapeshifters with rollers in their hair and wearing caps, he spotted the young woman he’d seen briefly before.

‘Oh my god, it’s really her…!’

It was only for a moment, but seeing her thin frame and the mole on her forehead, he was sure.

Now that he thought about it, her voice matched too.

Before she noticed him, Saewoo turned his head the other way, acting naturally.

‘So… the old man who came by was a lion. A predator, after all. Wait, but a predator? Why would a regular shapeshifter care for a predator…?’

The thought puzzled him.

From what he could gather, the woman seemed like a caregiver or volunteer tending to the elderly predator.

“Hey, what were you talking about earlier? That the lion grandpa lost his mind?”

Just then, the salon owner, now intrigued, joined the conversation.

After someone quickly summarized, a scoff was heard.

“Hah… that’s hilarious. That old man.”

“Don’t even start. He kept insisting on going to that area today too. We had a hard time, seriously.”

“That predator territory?”

As the conversation drifted back in that direction, Saewoo leaned forward, straining to hear more.

“Well, at least it’s a relief. He’s moving out at the end of this month, so once he’s relocated, I’ll be in charge of someone else. I just have to hold on until then. But you know….”

“What?”

The young woman paused mid-complaint, lost in thought.

“Come to think of it, it is strange. He keeps repeating the same thing.”

“The same thing? What’s he saying?”

“That a leopard told him, over and over….”

“A leopard!”

Startled, Saewoo, who had been listening intently, jumped to his feet and shouted.

This time, there was no mistaking it.

She had said “leopard.”

“Did you just say leopard? Roar! A predator! Leopard!”

As Saewoo emphasized each word, the salon owner and the others looked at him, eyes blinking in confusion.

A tense silence lingered.

“Um, are you here to get your hair done…?”

With the room quieted, the salon owner asked carefully.

Saewoo was a familiar, if not frequent, customer, but they were now worried he might be trouble.

“Oh… I’m sorry. I get a little sensitive when I hear about leopards….”

Realizing how suspicious his behavior was, Saewoo apologized.

Eavesdropping on others’ conversations wasn’t exactly polite either.

“My, my… Did something happen between you and a predator? Come, sit here. I’ll do your hair.”

With a sympathetic look that suggested she didn’t need an explanation, the salon owner invited him to a chair.

“Sorry for causing a scene….”

Saewoo bowed his head in apology to the other customers as he took his seat.

The group chatting on the sofa dispersed in response.

‘Ah… I was too hasty. I should have just asked casually later. But still, she did say leopard, right…?’

Even though he’d heard it with his own ears, Saewoo still felt unsure, maybe because he hadn’t heard it directly from her.

“So, how would you like your hair done?”

As the owner, now tying a Velcro cape around Saewoo, asked him, a loud ringing bell signaled an incoming call.

The young woman answered it.

“Yes, sir. What? Pardon? Hah… I already told you to stop going on about that leopard….”

“Damn it! A leopard! It’s true!”

Before he could stop himself, Saewoo shouted, shot up from his seat, and dashed out of the salon.

The sound of the glass doorbell jingled loudly as he left.

“What… What was that? Sis, what did you say to him…?”

The other shapeshifters stared blankly, stunned by the sudden commotion.

“Oh my… did he have some bad blood with a leopard?”

The salon owner, who had finally regained her composure, looked out the glass door at Saewoo running off with the cape still tied around him, her expression full of pity.

* * *