* * *
Jeongseo stared up at Pyo Yoontae, his expression completely baffled.
He never expected Yoontae to suggest giving Doyoung his number first.
Yoontae ran a hand through his hair, looking somewhat troubled, before grabbing Jeongseo’s hand and leading him inside.
“I completely forgot about him, but seeing his face jogged my memory.”
Jeongseo, who had taken off his shoes first and stepped inside, turned to look at him.
“…So who is he?”
“He’s some bastard who’s been trying to get close to me since high school. He even followed me to the same high school. I kept ignoring him, but he just wouldn’t stop bothering me…”
Yoontae trailed off, pressing his fingers against his temple as he glanced at Jeongseo, looking reluctant to continue.
But this time, Jeongseo wasn’t going to let it slide.
He fixed his gaze on Yoontae, waiting.
“And?”
“…I threw water in his face.”
Jeongseo’s mouth slowly fell open.
Throwing water in someone’s face?
That was pretty harsh.
But knowing Yoontae’s personality, Jeongseo figured it was lucky Doyoung didn’t get punched instead.
And considering it was Park Doyoung, he couldn’t help but feel a little satisfied.
As Jeongseo simply stared at him in silence, Yoontae hurried to explain himself.
“I was drinking water, and that crazy bastard suddenly snuck up and smacked me on the back. I got pissed and just dumped my tumbler of water all over his face.”
As if embarrassed by his past actions, Yoontae kept watching Jeongseo’s expression while grumbling, “I held back, you know. I almost smashed the tumbler over his head.”
At that, Jeongseo burst into laughter and playfully tapped Yoontae’s arm.
Yoontae gave him an unimpressed look before suddenly grabbing his shoulders and leaning down.
“Anyway, Jeongseo. That guy is really… ridiculously persistent. Just give him my number. If he contacts me, I’ll deal with it. What I really don’t want is for him to cling to you.”
But contrary to Yoontae’s expectations, Jeongseo hesitated instead of agreeing right away.
He looked up at Yoontae, then smiled brightly.
“Nope! I’ll handle it myself.”
At first, he had felt upset about Yoontae telling him to give Doyoung the number.
But now that he understood the reason, there was no way he was going to hand it over.
Just like how Yoontae hated the idea of Doyoung clinging to Jeongseo, Jeongseo hated it just as much.
Besides, if he didn’t have to keep his relationship with Yoontae a secret, then he had more than enough reason to push back against Park Doyoung.
“Jeongseo, it’d be easier if I just took care of—”
“No, I got this!”
The firm tone in his voice left no room for argument.
Yoontae thought it would be easier if he handled it himself, but Jeongseo was clearly drawing the line.
Even though he didn’t get why Jeongseo was being so stubborn, Yoontae eventually gave in with a reluctant nod.
He probably didn’t know how persistent that bastard really was.
Even after getting water thrown at him, Doyoung had cheerfully greeted Yoontae the very next day.
The more he thought about it, the more unsettled he felt.
What if, instead of asking for Yoontae’s number, Doyoung started focusing on Jeongseo instead?
The mere thought of it made his stomach churn with unease.
As Jeongseo smiled at him reassuringly and gently rubbed his cheek, Yoontae couldn’t help but sulk.
°❀•°❀°•❀°
6:40 PM.
Since it was prime dinnertime, the restaurants near campus were packed.
The three of them ended up heading to a small eatery-slash-bar a bit farther from the busy streets.
It wasn’t completely empty, but it was quieter compared to other places.
“It’s been a while, Hayan. But… you look thinner.”
It had been almost two months since they last saw each other at the start of the semester.
Jeongseo scrutinized Hayan, noticing his dark circles seemed darker than before.
Hayan sighed heavily before downing his yuzu highball in one gulp.
“Well… It’s nothing major. Just… this tutoring gig is a total pain in the ass.”
“Oh, right! You mentioned you started tutoring. Is teaching really that hard? You made things super easy when you taught me.”
“It’s not even about teaching. The kid’s just… a fucking lunatic. Ugh, never mind. No point in complaining.”
Muttering bitterly to himself, Hayan grabbed a freshly served bacon cheese potato pancake.
Just a few weeks ago, he had been bragging about landing a great tutoring job.
What the hell happened? Jeongseo couldn’t help but feel bad for him.
Meanwhile, Yoontae, sitting next to Jeongseo, didn’t seem to care about Hayan’s struggles.
Instead, he silently placed a bowl of kimchi udon in front of Jeongseo.
“By the way, Jeongseo, how’s school? I heard there are a lot of huge, muscle-bound guys there.”
“Oh yeah, one of the seniors was even taller than you, Yoontae. He was a giraffe beastman. His neck was super thick, and his thighs were massive.”
Yoontae shot him a glare and muttered under his breath, “…You sure checked him out in detail, Jeongseo.”
Hayan, watching the scene unfold, let out a snicker.
“I heard giraffe beastmen have really strong necks. Never seen one in person, though.”
For some reason, Jeongseo absentmindedly repeated Hayan’s words in his head.
He sat quietly for a moment, lips slightly parted as if he was about to say something.
But when no words came out, Yoontae noticed and asked,
“Jeongseo, something on your mind?”
Jeongseo glanced between Hayan and Yoontae before setting his chopsticks down.
“Have you guys ever been told that you’re not really like a hamster beastman or a typical black panther beastman?”
Yoontae, caught off guard by the unexpected question, exchanged glances with Hayan.
“Did someone say you don’t seem like a weasel beastman?”
“Yeah. It’s not just one or two people—most of them seem to think that. On the first day of school, almost everyone was surprised when they found out I was a weasel.”
“What, do they think they know better than you? Just ignore them, Jeongseo.”
“Yeah, they probably don’t mean anything bad by it anyway.”
Hayan also agreed with Pyo Yoontae’s opinion.
It could be nothing, just as they said.
But for Jeongseo, it was different.
No matter how much he tried not to care, those words had settled in a corner of his mind, lingering.
Besides, the perfect example of what people called a “weasel” was right next to him, making it even harder to ignore.
“Yeah, but there’s another weasel in our department. People say they don’t like weasels because of him, and that makes me keep thinking about it. I’m a weasel too, so why do they say, ‘You’re not like a weasel’ instead of ‘Oh, so there are weasels like you too’?”
As Jeongseo spoke, his face gradually lost its usual color, as if he was more stressed than he initially let on.
“I know I don’t have to take it this seriously, but… maybe it’s because I was raised by a human family, unlike other beastkin. It makes me wonder—am I not weasel-like enough? Should I act more like a weasel? Until high school, I couldn’t even properly hide my ears or tail…”
This part of Jeongseo’s past made the comment about him not being “weasel-like” hit even harder.
Trailing off, he absentmindedly stared at the ice melting in his highball glass, then awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, sensing the atmosphere turning heavy.
“Ah, I’ve been talking about such serious stuff. But it’s not like… I’m super upset or anything, just that it keeps bothering me a little.”
“If that’s the case, I’m not really that much like a golden hamster either.”
At Hayan’s words, Jeongseo looked at him with wide eyes.
His gaze then shifted upward to Hayan’s fluffy white hair.
Jeongseo didn’t know much about hamsters, but if it was called a “golden” hamster…
“Golden… hamster?”
Jeongseo tilted his head slightly, and Hayan, as if he could read his mind, answered before he could say anything else.
“Golden hamsters come in different colors, and they’re also called Syrian hamsters. People generally say golden hamsters are gentle and timid, but you know that’s not how I am, right?”
Come to think of it, Jeongseo hadn’t thought of Hayan as a hamster at first either.
He recalled being shocked when Pyo Yoontae told him Hayan was a hamster.
At the same time, he suddenly realized something and took a sharp breath, pointing at himself.
“Oh, I’ve been doing the same thing!”
As soon as Jeongseo realized that he had been unconsciously making judgments based on species stereotypes while getting upset about others doing the same to him, his face started heating up.
“You can’t really say stereotypes are good, but you can’t say they’re entirely bad either. It’s just the way things are.”
“Really? Aren’t stereotypes bad?”
People usually say to break stereotypes, not to keep them.
At Jeongseo’s question, Hayan tapped the table as if to say, “See?”
“Even thinking that stereotypes are bad is a stereotype in itself. If stereotypes were completely useless, they would have disappeared long ago.”
“…That’s true?”
“They make life simpler in some ways, so they stick around. And honestly, a lot of things in the world do follow stereotypes, which is why they don’t fade easily. Seo Jeongseo, what did you think when you first saw Pyo Yoontae?”
“Hmm…”
Jeongseo turned to look at Pyo Yoontae, who seemed to be waiting eagerly for his answer.
Now that he thought about it, he had never told Pyo Yoontae about his first impression of him.
“Before you introduced yourself… I thought you’d be charismatic, quiet, and mature!”
The black panther stereotype probably played a role, but generally, because of their dark fur and sharp eyes, black panthers were often perceived as commanding just by standing still.
Hayan, having had a similar first impression of Pyo Yoontae, nodded and asked,
“And what do you think of him now?”
“He’s cute!”
Hayan immediately frowned.
* * *
