* * *

Thud, bang, rattle, thump.

“Ugh, what’s with all this noise? Are they doing construction or something…?”

Jibeom’s consciousness slowly rose to the surface as the dull, loud noises reached his ears.

Shaking his disheveled hair lightly, he ran his hands over his chest, recalling the small, fluffy creature he had placed there before falling asleep.

“…?!”

But there was nothing there to touch. Jibeom’s eyes snapped open.

“What the… Where did it go?”

The tiny bird that had been nestled snugly between his chest, its white bottom sticking out as it dozed, was gone.

A sense of foreboding washed over him.

Sitting up abruptly, Jibeom panicked, wondering if he might have crushed it by accident while tossing and turning.

“Damn it…”

Jibeom frantically searched for the bird.

Though the room was darker now, thanks to the night’s arrival, his nocturnal leopard eyes had no trouble seeing.

He overturned the blankets and pillows but found no signs of squashed remains resembling exploded dumplings.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Jibeom’s mind shifted to another worry.

“You’re not hiding again, are you…?”

Given the trouble he had gone through last time to find it, he was especially wary.

If that bird decided to play hide-and-seek in earnest, finding it could take all day.

He even considered kneeling down and pleading.

Just as he bent down to check under the bed, the thudding sounds from outside the bedroom grew louder.

It seemed the bird hadn’t hidden or run off, at least.

Before sleeping, Seowoo had reverted to his humanoid form, and Jibeom had prepared clothes for him nearby.

It seemed Seowoo had simply changed and gone outside.

Bang. Thud.

“What’s all this racket? What is he even doing?”

With a growl of frustration, Jibeom ruffled his already messy hair and flung the bedroom door open.

“Ehehehe…”

Then, from somewhere, came a spine-chilling laugh.

“…?”

The eerie sound disappeared as suddenly as it came, leaving Jibeom to wonder if he had imagined it.

Shaking off the strange feeling, he followed the increasingly loud noise to the kitchen.

“Is he… cooking something?”

The thought prompted a drastic change in his expression.

He pictured Seowoo, stark naked save for a pink lace apron, wielding a ladle.

It was a cheesy, porn-like scenario, but somehow, Seowoo made it work.

With his pale skin, Seowoo would look strikingly good in such an outfit, though Jibeom doubted he’d ever allow it without throwing a fit.

Thunk.

Lost in his lewd imagination, Jibeom came to an abrupt stop, his foot hitting something on the floor.

“What the hell is this?”

Scattered across the living room floor were heavy books from the study, clothing from the dressing room, guest pillows, kitchen utensils, and even food from the refrigerator.

The scene resembled the aftermath of a robbery.

“…”

Jibeom, rarely fazed, was stunned into silence. A strange sense of unease filled the air.

Cautiously stepping into the kitchen, he noticed several rolls of toilet paper strewn across the table and trailing to the floor, forming a makeshift curtain.

The eerie sight resembled something straight out of a horror movie, sending a chill down his spine.

“Uh… Seowoo?”

At his uncharacteristically hesitant call, something stirred beneath the table.

“Baek Seowoo? Is that you?”

Though the indirect lighting above the table didn’t fully illuminate the figure, it was undeniably Seowoo.

He was sprawled under the table, surrounded by Jibeom’s clothes, which he had stacked like bricks into some sort of fort.

What is he doing? Sleepwalking?

Jibeom briefly considered the possibility.

Predators occasionally exhibited odd behaviors like hunting in their sleep, though such cases were rare.

Maybe Seowoo, as a bird beastman, felt drawn to nest-like spaces and mistook this for home.

Still trying to rationalize the scene, Jibeom knelt and cautiously lifted the toilet paper curtain.

“…Ugh.”

A waft of alcohol hit him.

Thanks to the lingering effects of the anti-pheromone spray, the smell wasn’t overwhelming, but it was unmistakably alcohol.

“What are you doing here? Did you drink?”

“Hmm…?”

Only then did Seowoo seem to register Jibeom’s presence.

His head whipped around, and their eyes met.

Jibeom sucked in a sharp breath.

Oh, for real…

Seowoo was completely drunk.

His cheeks and nose were flushed, his eyes half-lidded, and crumbs of snacks clung to his messy hair.

His once-dried shirt was damp again, and he was chewing something like a hamster, his cheeks puffed out adorably.

“This is ridiculous.”

Jibeom pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply.

Seo, now recognizing Jibeom, pointed dramatically at him and exclaimed, “Ohhhh! A predator!”

“…Yes, I’m a predator. Do you recognize me? Who am I?”

Jibeom waved his hand in front of Seowoo’s face, trying to jog his memory.

“Of course I do! You’re the rude, tasteless, crazy, hot-headed predator!”

“What did you just say?”

Seowoo, emboldened by the alcohol, fearlessly rattled off insults while grinning smugly.

Nuts spilled from his puffed cheeks, but he paid them no mind, his mood visibly lifting with every jab.

“What the hell did you drink…?”

Jibeom glanced around and spotted an empty bottle on the floor.

It was a fruity liquor someone had brought over, low in alcohol content and excessively sweet—practically a soft drink.

Apparently, Seowoo had drunk some of it.

…Not even a full bottle, just half? And he’s like this?

Jibeom was dumbfounded.

Beyond being a lightweight, Seowoo’s drunken antics were downright bizarre.

“You’re so… mean. So temperamental… like a nasty, unpredictable cat…”

Seowoo mumbled and grumbled endlessly, all traces of fear for the big predator gone.

“A front-stab instead of a back-stab, huh? Whatever. Just come out of there. I’ve got something for the hangover.”

Deciding not to take a drunk’s ramblings to heart, Jibeom reached out and grabbed Seowoo’s arm.

But Seowoo stubbornly resisted, digging in his heels.

“Oh, so you’re rebelling now?”

“Nooo! Don’t! Stop! Nooo!”

Saewoo, who had been shaking his head fervently, strongly denied it.

“N-No…?”

After being rejected four times in a row, Jibeom didn’t feel like pushing any further.

“Fine, fine. I’ll let you go. But what are you doing? Why won’t you come out? What are you trying to do in there?”

Letting go of Saewoo’s arm, Jibeom glanced around at what Saewoo had been so absorbed in.

He had spread out Jibeom’s jeans vertically, layering them to block the outside, and inside, he was forming a round shape using softer clothes.

For gaps, it looked like he had even ripped open a cushion and stuffed the filling in.

“This is…”

At a glance, it was unmistakably a nest.

“Hehe, I made my nest pretty well, didn’t I?”

Saewoo grinned proudly.

“……”

Faced with Saewoo’s pure and untainted smile, Jibeom found himself at a loss for words.

He’d heard before that bird beastmen liked cozy spaces like nests, but he hadn’t expected that—even drunk—they’d actually make one themselves…

“Should I… say it’s well-made?”

“Yeah, tell me it’s well-made.”

Saewoo brazenly responded to Jibeom’s muttered words.

His eyes, so clear and innocent, left Jibeom with no choice but to reluctantly nod.

“So… why’d you make a nest all of a sudden? Oh, wait, is it because you want to lay eggs with me?”

It was just a teasing remark as usual, but the moment Saewoo heard it, his shoulders trembled, and he turned to look at Jibeom, wearing an expression of utter shock, as if such an idea had never crossed his mind.

“No, I mean… that’s not…”

Jibeom had completely forgotten that Saewoo was heavily drunk.

Worried that he might spiral into a drunken tantrum, Jibeom quickly tried to backpedal.

“You know I’m kidding, right…?”

“…Yeah, I know.”

But then, unexpectedly, Saewoo grabbed Jibeom’s hand and said firmly,

“I want to lay eggs.”

Saewoo spoke with an expression so shy it left Jibeom stunned.

* * *