* * *
“Alright, all done.”
The next morning, Saewoo invited his second-floor tenants—Heungwon, a lion beastman, and Minho, a tiger beastman—to his home to finalize their lease agreement.
“This one’s mine, and this one is yours, sir. I’ll put it in an envelope for you, so please keep it safe.”
“Hmm, so it’s finally over…?”
Heungwon squinted at the densely written lease agreement, as if he was having trouble reading it.
Just as Saewoo was debating whether to bring him a magnifying glass, Heungwon suddenly beamed.
“…Oh-ho, looks like everything went well!”
Clap, clap, clap, clap!
Two tiny baby mice, perched on Heungwon’s shoulder, clapped their little hands.
Their innocent black eyes twinkled as their pink noses twitched, making for an oddly heartwarming sight.
“You little rascals… Thanks.”
Looking slightly embarrassed, Heungwon reached up and gently patted the baby mice on their heads with his finger.
Watching this strange yet enchanting scene unfold, Saewoo was struck by how much it felt like something straight out of a childhood storybook.
“Now, I just need to wrap things up on this side, too…”
If only things could go as smoothly as they had with Heungwon.
Unfortunately, the mouse parents didn’t seem to share the same sentiment.
“Squeak, squeak.”
“Squeak… squeak.”
The two adult mice were huddled over the contract written on a sticky note, squeaking back and forth at each other.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but to Saewoo, it looked like they were having a rather serious conversation.
“Um… Sir, do you happen to know what they’re saying?”
Saewoo turned to Heungwon with a puzzled expression.
He was the only one who could understand the ancient language of mice.
Heungwon nodded and listened closely before relaying their words.
“Hmm… Looks like they’re not sure if this little piece of paper actually holds any authority.”
“…What? Of course it does!”
Saewoo’s voice rose involuntarily.
He couldn’t help it.
He had gone through the trouble of consulting a real estate agent and drafting a simplified contract just to make everything legally sound.
And yet, they were doubting it?
Saewoo had done this for their sake, so the skepticism stung more than he’d expected.
“Whoa there, you’re quite the hot-tempered landlord, aren’t you? If you’d let me finish, I was about to say that this is probably the first time these mice have ever signed a contract.”
“…What? Seriously?”
It had never even occurred to him that this might be their first time dealing with a formal agreement.
“Yup. Seems like they’ve been living in a pretty primitive way all this time. No wonder scammers have been taking advantage of beastmen, thinking we’re all naïve and ignorant of how the world works. Real shame, ain’t it?”
“……”
As Heungwon clicked his tongue in disapproval, guilt weighed down on Saewoo.
He had no idea…
Feeling apologetic, he asked Heungwon to provide a more detailed explanation to the mice and encouraged them to ask any questions they might have.
“Squeak, squeak.”
Thankfully, after hearing Heungwon’s explanation, the mouse parents seemed reassured and readily stamped their tiny paw prints onto the contract.
“Well, well, looks like everything’s sorted out without any misunderstandings. You can stop worrying now, Landlord. Whew… my back.”
Crack.
Heungwon stood up from the sofa and gave his shoulders and waist a firm pat.
“Oh no, did you get muscle pain from moving yesterday? Do you want me to give you a massage?”
It seemed the aftermath of the move had caught up with him.
Heungwon had actually moved in the day before, even before signing the contract, due to some personal circumstances.
Saewoo had wanted to help, but thanks to volunteers from the senior welfare center, the entire move had been completed in under an hour.
“Oh-ho, that’d be nice.”
“How’s everything so far? Is it comfortable living with the mouse family?”
“Yeah, it’s not lonely. I like it.”
“Right? That’s super important!”
Click.
Just then, Minho emerged from the bathroom, grinning brightly.
It was unclear how much of the conversation he had overheard.
“Minho, are you feeling better?”
Saewoo’s question made Minho scratch the back of his head in embarrassment.
“Yeah… Sorry for rushing straight to the bathroom as soon as I arrived. It was, um, kinda urgent…”
“It’s fine. When you gotta go, you gotta go.”
“Right?! Hehe. By the way, sparrow-nim, your bathroom is so pretty! It feels like a forest in there, and it smells amazing too!”
“Oh, really? Someone else said it was too chaotic, though…”
For a brief moment, Saewoo recalled Jibeom’s grumbling.
“Huh? Who?”
“Ah, no one. Anyway, Minho, about that…”
He hesitated. Was it rude to bring this up?
“Oh, you mean my dentures?”
Minho seemed to guess what Saewoo was about to ask and brought up the topic himself.
His expression, however, quickly darkened.
“I lost them…”
“What?! How?”
“I dunno… I took them out to brush after lunch, and then they were just… gone.”
His eyes grew red-rimmed, showing just how much he had been distressed over it.
Saewoo completely understood how he felt.
Those dentures had been custom-made after a long wait.
Honestly, at this point, Heungwon wasn’t the one who needed a massage—Minho was.
“Hmm… well, want to borrow mine? I’ve got some spares I don’t use.”
Heungwon, who had been enjoying his massage, casually offered.
Minho, however, looked slightly horrified.
“Uh… I-I’m sorry. I don’t think I can wear something someone else has used…”
“Someone else? Oh-ho, so I’m just ‘someone else’ to you now, huh?”
“Wait, no! I meant we’re, uh, like neighbors! Neighborly family!”
Minho frantically backtracked, but Heungwon already looked offended.
He swatted away Saewoo’s hands and turned his head with a huff.
“Hmph! You were all for calling me Grandpa before. Turns out, it was all meaningless…!”
…Wait, how long had they even known each other for him to be calling him Grandpa?!
Saewoo was stunned, but he couldn’t let their neighborly relationship turn sour so soon.
Slide.
Quickly, he pulled out a gift he had prepared in advance from under the sofa.
“This is a housewarming gift for you both.”
Both Heungwon and Minho blinked in surprise.
“I wasn’t sure what to get, but I thought this would be a safe choice. You can hang it on your front door or inside your room.”
The gift was a sunflower-shaped air freshener.
Saewoo wasn’t sure if the belief held in this world, but sunflowers were said to bring fortune, so he had chosen it without much thought.
“Can I open it now?”
“Of course.”
With Saewoo’s permission, Minho and Heungwon eagerly unwrapped their gifts, and soon, faint smiles spread across their faces.
“Heh… This is the first time I’ve ever received flowers.”
“Me too! Hehe.”
‘Wait… their first time receiving flowers?!’
Saewoo didn’t show it outwardly, but he was definitely a little shocked.
Surely, at some point in life, everyone gets flowers at least once…?
“Beastmen don’t really give flowers as gifts.”
As if reading Saewoo’s thoughts, Minho smirked.
“Yeah. The closest thing we give is usually a bone.”
“Exactly!”
“When I was younger, I must’ve received hundreds of bones as gifts.”
“Whoa, really? Grandpa, you’re super popular! Did you even make a necklace out of dog bones?”
“Of course! Not just a necklace, I even made a hat!”
“No way! That’s amazing, Grandpa!”
“Hah! My grandson’s the only one who hypes me up like this!”
“Right? Grandpa!”
“Aigoo, my precious kid!”
“…….”
Saewoo watched the exchange between Minho and Heungwon with a blank look, as if he were watching a comedy skit.
“Oh, right! Then, did Mr. sparrow get a lot of flowers?”
“Huh…?”
Out of nowhere, the conversation turned to Saewoo.
“From your lover.”
At the word “lover,” the first person who popped into Saewoo’s head was Jibeom.
Fwoosh—his face flushed red as he quickly denied it.
“Th-that’s not… We’re not like that….”
“Huh? But I never said who it was?”
“……!”
Caught red-handed, Saewoo was too flustered to even make an excuse when Heungwon suddenly asked another question.
“Landlord, are you not renting out the third floor?”
“Oh… The third floor? No, I should….”
It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered the empty unit.
Unlike what he had told Jibeom, the third floor didn’t need much work.
Just replacing the torn screen on the window would make it perfectly rentable.
“Then when are you putting up the listing?”
“I should post it soon, but….”
“And when exactly is ‘soon’?”
“Huh? Uh….”
Saewoo had assumed it was just a casual question, but Minho’s persistent inquiry was throwing him off.
“There are quite a few people in our department looking for a place.”
“Ah….”
It would be convenient if Minho helped him find a tenant.
Still, for some reason, he hesitated.
[Hey, give me a room.]
…Could it be that Jibeom was going to suddenly demand one?
But that wasn’t set in stone.
It made no sense for him to be this conflicted over a single offhand comment.
“Ah, well… I mean, I should rent out the third floor, but…”
“But?”
“But what?”
“…….”
Saewoo hesitated, unsure of what to say to Heungwon and Minho—until he saw his phone light up under the table.
“…Ah! Hang on, I’ve got a call….”
Relieved by the timely distraction, he quickly grabbed his phone.
But the moment he checked the caller ID, his heart pounded, and his eyes widened in disbelief.
「Lo(= ♥ᾥ♥ =)∫ve」
* * *
