Predator Alert chapter 12

Periods 3 and 4 were a joint PE class with Class 5, which happened once a month.

Jeongseo had already changed into their gym uniform and neatly folded their school uniform into their locker.

As Pyo Yoontae was changing into his gym uniform, a student approached him.

The boy with light brown hair was the class vice president.

He wasn’t a shape-shifter, just an ordinary human, as far as Pyo Yoontae knew.

“Uh… Pyo Yoontae.”

Pyo Yoontae tilted his chin up slightly.

The vice president, wearing thick-rimmed glasses, glanced around cautiously before speaking.

“Can you tell Seo Jeongseo to take it easy today? But don’t say it was me who told you…”

This was completely unexpected.

Pyo Yoontae furrowed his brow slightly, not understanding what the vice president wanted Jeongseo to take easy.

But before he could ask for clarification, the vice president hurriedly fled.

Jeongseo had never shown much enthusiasm for PE class.

He only put effort into running at the beginning, but didn’t really participate in the activities afterward.

So what exactly did he need to take easy?

And why did the vice president ask him to deliver the message?

Pyo Yoontae didn’t even know why Jeongseo didn’t have any friends.

It was a bit intriguing, but not enough to make him really curious.

In fact, Pyo Yoontae liked it better that Jeongseo didn’t have friends.

Just thinking about that annoying brat, Seo Kanghyun, who clung to Jeongseo like a baby made his blood boil.

Even if they were family on paper, they weren’t really related by blood, so who knows what could happen.

Jeongseo might not realize it, but Pyo Yoontae couldn’t trust that brat.

Pyo Yoontae clenched his jaw in frustration.

°❀•°❀°•❀°

After stretching exercises, the PE teacher told the two classes to play dodgeball.

Since it was a joint PE session, it felt more like free time than a formal assessment.

Pyo Yoontae, not planning to participate fully, volunteered to play as an outside attacker.

Dodgeball required agility, and since Pyo Yoontae was nearly 190 cm tall, the others didn’t mind him staying on the outside, thinking his large frame would only get in the way.

But Pyo Yoontae was a black panther. Agility was a their best ability as a feline predators.

Even so, he pretended to be disinterested and stood on the sidelines, expecting Jeongseo to do the same.

But to his surprise, Jeongseo stepped inside the white line.

As expected, Jeongseo was small.

Standing among the other students, he looked like he could easily dodge any incoming balls.

Maybe that’s why he went inside.

Pyo Yoontae chuckled quietly, and with the whistle blow, the game began.

In Class 5, a blonde boy stood out with exceptional skills.

He wasn’t particularly tall, but he was agile, darting around and attacking Class 4 relentlessly.

Thud, thud—one by one, the students from Class 4 were struck out and stood outside the court with a peculiar expression.

Jeongseo was still in, skillfully dodging the ball.

But instead of making any bold moves, Jeongseo was just quick to dodge, not doing anything to stand out, making the vice president’s earlier request seem unnecessary.

Pyo Yoontae, thinking the request was pointless, didn’t bother passing on the message, and he was right.

What exactly did the vice president want Jeongseo to take easy?

Pyo Yoontae watched the game indifferently.

Just as he was getting bored and wishing it would end soon, something happened.

Class 5 had several agile shape-shifters besides the blonde boy, so Class 4 was struggling to hold their own and being quickly eliminated.

Only two students remained on Class 4’s side: a rabbit shape-shifter and Jeongseo.

The rabbit was small, as expected, but Jeongseo was slightly taller.

Their builds were similar, though.

It seemed like the weakest students had somehow managed to stay in the game until the end.

The blue dodgeball was already on Class 5’s side, held by the blonde ace.

At this point, the outcome was practically decided, yet he didn’t throw the ball right away, instead gripping it tightly and pacing back and forth.

The gym fell silent.

A series of incomprehensible hand signals passed among the students from Class 5 standing outside the court.

Finally, the ball flew with a sharp whistle, aimed directly at Jeongseo.

But Jeongseo easily dodged it, and the ball was quickly passed to another outside attacker on Class 5’s side, who then passed it diagonally.

‘…They’re taking this way too seriously.’

The dodgeball whirled around the center of the court, moving at high speed.

The tension was evident on the faces of Jeongseo and the rabbit shape-shifter as they followed the ball with their eyes.

Once again, the ball spun and a female student from Class 5, standing at the vertex, firmly grabbed it and threw it fiercely.

His target was a rabbit shape-shifter.

The ball flew towards the rabbit shape-shifter in an instant, leaving no time to dodge.

“Ah!”

With a single cry, the ball struck his shoulder with a thud and bounced off.

Jeongseo tried to catch it, but the ball had already crossed over to Class 5’s court.

The rabbit shape-shifter, clearly in pain from the hit, glared at the Class 5 student who had thrown the ball and walked off the court.

The student, feeling guilty, quickly rubbed his hands together in apology.

Now, Jeongseo was left alone on the court.

Dressed in a navy jersey and matching gym pants, with one pant leg slightly rolled up, Jeongseo stood alone, in stark contrast to the opposing side, where ten players still remained.

At a glance, the outcome seemed certain, yet strangely, the gymnasium was filled with an intense tension.

Pyo Yoontae suspiciously surveyed his surroundings.

Everyone was tense, watching Seo Jeongseo with bated breath.

‘No way…’

Given that they referred to him as a weasel, could Seo Jeongseo be a formidable opponent?

Pyo Yoontae, who had grown bored, now found himself interested on what was happening.

A blonde-haired player threw the ball hard.

This time, instead of aiming at Jeongseo, they openly passed it to an attacker outside the court.

The ball spun faster and more aggressively than before.

Pyo Yoontae, unexpectedly absorbed in the thrilling match, watched as the ball zipped back and forth so rapidly that it was hard to tell if it was aimed at Jeongseo or being passed around.

The ball cut through the air with such sharpness that it hardly seemed like a high school dodgeball game.

Jeongseo narrowly avoided the ball, and an attacker from Class 5, standing just behind Jeongseo, caught it.

When the Class 5 attacker immediately threw the ball, the distance between them and Jeongseo was barely a meter.

As the ball hurtled toward Jeongseo’s side, he suddenly collapsed to the side, and luckily, the ball sliced through the air and landed near the centerline.

Jeongseo tried to pick it up, but the blonde-haired player had already grabbed the ball and swung it right at Jeongseo.

Even with Pyo Yoontae’s sharp eyesight, it looked impossible to dodge.

The ball was already close to Jeongseo’s chest when a loud thud echoed through the gym.

The blonde-haired player raised their arms in victory, and just as they were about to burst into joy, the ball dropped to the floor with a soft thud, causing everyone’s eyes to widen in disbelief.

Where Jeongseo’s chest had been, his face was now.

Pyo Yoontae saw it.

In that brief moment, Jeongseo had bent over sharply, headbutting the ball with his face.

With his face flushed red, Jeongseo picked up the ball.

“Guys.”

Jeongseo’s low voice echoed eerily, sending chills through the crowd.

Everyone fell silent as Jeongseo gripped the ball tightly and continued.

A tail that had suddenly appeared wagged rapidly in the air.

The wind whistled sharply.

“Hitting the face doesn’t count, right?”

A whimpering sound came from the Class 5 court.

In this situation where everyone else felt despair, Pyo Yoontae was the only one who seemed on the verge of laughing.

°❀•°❀°•❀°

It took just ten minutes for Jeongseo to end the game after grabbing the ball.

Class 4 had won.

Pyo Yoontae was secretly impressed by the spectacle that had just unfolded.

Jeongseo had utterly massacred the Class 5 kids.

There’s no other way to describe it but a massacre.

The speed he had shown before seemed like mere child’s play as Jeongseo moved with incredible agility and flexibility.

‘I’m not that bad-tempered! Everyone avoids me because they think I’m a fierce beast! They don’t even know me!’

Pyo Yoontae could almost hear Seo Jeongseo’s confident voice from the day he had first transferred to the school.

He glanced around at the Class 5 kids sprawled across the gym floor.

“They’re definitely scared of you.”

Pyo Yoontae let out a chuckle as he approached Jeongseo, who was unzipping his gym jacket.

His rounded, triangular ears perked up as his face turned towards Pyo Yoontae.

Seo Jeongseo, with his chest puffed out proudly and his hands on his hips, looked incredibly satisfied.

“Jeongseo, you really are a terrifying beast.”

“Exactly. Now you know how scary weasels can be, right?”

Jeongseo’s shoulders shrugged repeatedly, his cheeks flushed from the exertion.

“Class presidents, the teacher’s off to the staff room for a bit, so make sure the kids don’t wander off!”

Whenever the PE teacher said that, he usually didn’t return until the end of class, so the kids naturally started forming their own groups.

Jeongseo usually just sat alone on a bench during this time.

That’s how it used to be.

But now, Jeongseo kept glancing at Pyo Yoontae.

A subtle expectation filled his brown eyes.

“Yoontae! What are you doing? Come over here!”

But from afar, a large group of kids were waving at Pyo Yoontae.

Jeongseo let out a sigh and was about to head towards the bench as usual when—

“Why are you going alone, Jeongseo?”

Pyo Yoontae grabbed Jeongseo’s wrist.

“We should go together.”