Predator Alert chapter 28

* * *

The season when everyone at school wore short sleeves had suddenly arrived. Jeongseo opened his tumbler and took a sip of cold barley tea.

Though wrapped in a navy handkerchief, drops of water still fell from the bottom of the tumbler.

They soaked the “148” page number written in his world history textbook.

Jeongseo stretched his body toward Pyo Yoontae’s direction. Despite being short and sitting in the back, he had to lean forward to see the blackboard properly.

Though there were many obstacles, Jeongseo’s sharp eyesight made it manageable.

His midterm results showed he’d scored an impressive 89 in world history, largely thanks to Pyo Yoontae’s “memorize everything” approach.

Since then, Jeongseo never missed paying close attention in history class.

While diligently taking notes on the blackboard, his shoulder bumped into something cool and firm.

Looking down, he saw it was none other than Pyo Yoontae’s bare arm.

Since yesterday, Pyo Yoontae had switched to his summer uniform, exposing his arms completely.

Standing next to his arm, Jeongseo noticed how different it looked—thicker, with a darker skin tone.

Could his darker skin be because he’s like a “black” panther?

Jeongseo had never paid much attention to Pyo Yoontae’s arm before, so he was now silently intrigued.

Is that muscle twitching? Why does it look like there’s a heartbeat in his arm?

Just as Jeongseo’s gaze grew narrower, his head lowering closer to Pyo Yoontae’s arm, a large hand suddenly covered his face.

“Ah!”

Startled by the unexpected attack, Jeongseo stood up with a jolt, knocking over his chair in the process.

His tail, which had already popped out, puffed up in surprise.

The classroom fell silent. Jeongseo, wide-eyed, accidentally locked eyes with the equally surprised teacher at the front of the room.

While everyone stared at Jeongseo, only Pyo Yoontae kept his head down.

Jeongseo’s face flushed red just as the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

The teacher glanced at the clock, gathering up his materials before saying, “Jeongseo, you did well on your history test, so I’ll let this slide. Don’t forget, your project is due Thursday, everyone.”

The world history teacher left, and immediately laughter erupted from the side.

Pyo Yoontae, lifting his head, grinned with his eyes completely crinkled in amusement.

Jeongseo swished his tail back and forth as he set his chair upright.

Once again, he had fallen victim to Pyo Yoontae’s prank.

“Thanks to you, I got in trouble with the history teacher!”

“You’re saying it wrong. Because of me, you aced the test and didn’t get in trouble.”

That wasn’t entirely untrue, Seo Jeongseo fell silent, merely glaring at Pyo Yoontae while checking the back of his pants.

Since the last mock exam, Jeongseo had avoided wearing light-colored underwear.

Pyo Yoontae, watching with a smirk, tilted his chin toward Jeongseo.

“Need to sew them again? Want me to come with you?”

“…No, thanks! I can do it myself.”

Jeongseo frowned, pulling out his sewing kit as he stood.

He made sure to cover the rip in his pants with one hand.

“Let me come. We can stop by the snack shop after.”

Contrary to Jeongseo’s wish to fix his pants quickly and return, Pyo Yoontae stuck by his side.

Though Jeongseo shot his annoyed glances, he didn’t tell his to leave.

Pyo Yoontae frequently fiddled with his brown ears.

Even now, he reached out and gently rubbed the round tips of his ears before asking, “Jeongseo, have you heard of the lesser weasel?”

The lesser weasel?

That sounded like a steel weasel or something.

Jeongseo glanced at Pyo Yoontae and shook his head.

“Never heard of it. What’s a lesser weasel?”

“It’s a much smaller version of a regular weasel.”

Pyo Yoontae leaned down slowly, bringing his lips close to Jeongseo’s ear.

“And it molts its fur in winter—becomes pure white.”

Jeongseo’s heart dropped.

He stopped walking, turning to look up at Pyo Yoontae.

His dark brown eyes were filled with confusion.

“…It molts in winter?”

Pyo Yoontae, who had also stopped, answered with a faintly peculiar expression.

“Yeah, but they say it rarely molts in Korea. Are you just a regular weasel?”

“I…”

Jeongseo’s voice trailed off, his gaze wandering uncertainly.

As far as he knew, he was just a regular weasel.

No one had ever called his a lesser weasel.

But despite that, Jeongseo found it hard to deny being one.

“Jeongseo?”

Snapping back to reality at the sound of Pyo Yoontae’s voice, Jeongseo quickly answered, “I’m just a regular weasel!”

“…Is that so?”

At least on paper, Jeongseo was an ordinary weasel.

He had known it his whole life, so there was no reason to think otherwise.

But why was Pyo Yoontae suddenly bringing this up?

Could he have noticed something?

Jeongseo scanned Pyo Yoontae’s face quickly, but there was no indication of anything strange.

He was simply smiling mischievously, as usual.

Or was there something subtly off about him?

“Look it up when you get home, Jeongseo.”

Pyo Yoontae whispered softly near Jeongseo’s ear, his breath warm and causing a chill to run down Jeongseo’s spine.

“…I don’t molt.”

For some reason, Jeongseo felt the need to offer an excuse.

“Yeah, because you’re just a regular weasel.”

Despite Pyo Yoontae’s reassured response, Jeongseo still felt strange.

While it was a relief, something weighed heavily on him.

Maybe it was because of the lie?

Feeling confused, Jeongseo tilted his head, deciding it was best to get away for now.

Just then, they arrived at the bathroom, and Jeongseo quickly ducked inside.

As he was sewing his pants, the thought of “lesser weasel” kept stubbornly lingering in his mind.

Moreover, what if he really was a lesser weasel? What if PyoYoontae found out?

Maybe he had asked out of pure curiosity, although… the fur of PyoYoontae’s first love ‘was’ white.

But was PyoYoontae even interested in finding his first love?

Come to think of it, I’d never seen his actively searching for him.

He didn’t even seem particularly interested in Haiyan, who seemed like a strong candidate.

Currently, the only person PyoYoontae was closest to—or maybe “interested” in, though I wasn’t sure if that was the right word—was me.

“…No way!”

An absurd idea suddenly popped into my head: What if PyoYoontae had already figured out that he was his first love?

But that seemed highly unlikely.

For starters, his fur was perfectly brown, and he didn’t shed, so there hadn’t been any reaction from him.

Besides, he only knew about his first love because ‘he’ told him, and he had never shared anything about his past with him.

“Am I just overthinking this?”

Lost in thought, he found himself sitting on the toilet in just his underwear, his mind consumed by these worries.

As he mulled it over, my ears perked up at the sound of a voice outside the door.

“Jeongseo, did you fall in the toilet? I’m coming in!”

A knock followed the voice, jolting me out of his reverie.

In his distraction, he realized he had botched the stitching on his pants.

“No, I’m fine! I’m coming out! Don’t come in!”

There was no time to fix it. He hurriedly pulled his pants on, opened the door, and found PyoYoontae standing right outside.

For some reason, he was too nervous to meet his gaze.

“You were in there for so long I thought something had happened.”

“…I was just making sure my pants wouldn’t rip again!”

There was no way he could tell him he had been delayed by thoughts of lesser weasels and his first love, so he desperately tried to change the subject.

“I was going to the snack bar…”

Just as Jeongseo stepped out of the bathroom, PyoYoontae tugged me back.

“No need. Break’s almost over. We’ll go next time.”

“Oh.”

Jeongseo had zoned out for too long and missed his chance.

Feeling guilty, Jeongseo lowered his ears in apology, and PyoYoontae released his grip on his shoulder with a soft sigh.

“But Jeongseo, for someone who stitched their pants so carefully…”

His hand slid down to the small of his back, brushing over the seam.

The ticklish sensation made him flinch as Jeongseo tried to pull away, but PyoYoontae was quicker.

“This is pretty sloppy.”

With a flick of his finger, he poked through the gap in the stitching.

He lightly scratched the fabric above his underwear, causing him to jerk away and press his back against the wall, his face flushed red.

“What are you doing, you pervert!”

Sure, there had been a time when he accidentally flashed a part of his underwear to him, but showing was completely different from touching.

Jeongseo glared at PyoYoontae, panting in frustration, while he broke out into a mischievous laugh.

His laughter echoed down the hallway, drawing glances from a few passersby.

“Come on, Jeongseo. Didn’t you say you preferred being around a pervert like me?”

“When did I ever say I liked being around a pervert!”

“You just called me a pervert, didn’t you?”

While his cheeks were still burning, PyoYoontae leaned in with a playful smile, closing the distance between us.

With his back already against the wall, there was nowhere to run.

“…That’s because you…!”

His face was so close, Jeongseo’s heart pounded in his throat as he instinctively ducked his head, leaning as far back as possible.

Just as Yoontae’s breath tousled his bangs—

“Do you own this hallway?”

* * *