Churu for the Angry Guide

22

The sound of Siwoo’s startled heartbeat was masked by the pattering of raindrops.

His heart was beating so fast. It was incomparable to when Jihan had tried to touch his tongue. Now his left chest ached from the intense pounding.

“Kang Geonho.”

Taebeom, who had been silent like a giant statue, finally made a sound.

Siwoo’s fur stood on end, even more startled by the low, deep voice. At first glance, it sounded similar to Geonho’s voice, but his was much lower.

His appearance also seemed similar, yet his expression felt completely different. He looked even more different because Geonho always showed a smiling face to Siwoo.

Siwoo was frozen, overwhelmed by Taebeom’s intimidating aura, which was far more oppressive than what he had seen on TV.

Still, he felt like he should run away now.

As Siwoo hesitated, only twitching his paws, Taebeom took a step closer.

Simultaneously, a loud “Thwack!” rang out.

It was the sound of Taebeom striking a chair with his umbrella. He had nearly hit Geonho’s face lying on the chair.

Startled, Siwoo pulled hard on Geonho’s chest with his front paws, trying to escape together. However, only his clothes stretched; the heavy body didn’t move an inch. He showed no signs of waking up.

Ha, haaark…!

Siwoo opened his mouth wide to hiss. But only a weak sound escaped his frightened throat.

Giving up on pulling the heavy Geonho, he just bared his white teeth. Though it was clearly a threatening expression, his ears were flattened back, making him look terrified.

‘D-don’t hit…! He’s your brother.’

He glared at Taebeom while firmly gripping Geonho’s chest in a lowered posture. Seeing Taebeom’s chilling expression, it seemed like he might really hit Geonho with the umbrella this time. Or hit me.

“Leader!”

Just then, a familiar voice was heard from afar. Siwoo perked up his ears and quickly turned his head towards the sound.

It’s Secretary-nim!

The secretary, holding a bright green umbrella, was running towards the pavilion. His speed was incredible, befitting an Esper.

Ah, saved.

Siwoo’s eyes sparkled as he watched the secretary arrive in the blink of an eye. His sturdy face was more welcome than ever before. With the secretary here, at least he wouldn’t get hit, Siwoo thought.

“Why did you come out in the rain?”

The secretary, catching his breath, folded his umbrella and entered under the roof. He received real-time reports on the locations of guild members, including the leader. As soon as he confirmed Taebeom was on Geonho’s walking route, he had rushed over.

“Oh my, Esper Geonho is sleeping here again.”

The secretary quickly approached the chair to wake Geonho up. Subtly shielding Siwoo with his large body.

“Leave him be.”

Taebeom stopped the secretary and jerked his chin, as if telling him to step back.

The secretary, making eye contact with Siwoo, swallowed dryly and followed his words. Instead, he clapped his hands and brought up the topic of the cat sitting tightly on top of Geonho.

“Oh, there’s a cute cat here. Where did you come from?”

He seemed to be pretending not to know Siwoo. He acted as if he was seeing Siwoo for the first time.

Siwoo also looked at the secretary with an indifferent face, following his lead. He tried to maintain an expression of complete disinterest, holding his twitching tail.

“As expected, Esper Geonho is popular among stray cats. Well, of course he would be, offering treats like that.”

The secretary chattered, glancing outside the pavilion. He was worried the cat might run away in this heavy rain. Even though it was summer, catching this rain would surely lead to a cold.

“Let’s wake up Esper Geonho and head back. Since it’s raining, let’s take the cat along too. I’ll carry it.”

He tried to wake Geonho again but was stopped by the black umbrella.

Taebeom, blocking the secretary with his umbrella, looked down at Siwoo. His sharp gaze was directed at Siwoo’s neck, not his face.

Following his gaze to Siwoo’s neck, the secretary swallowed a big sigh. He had tried to insist it was a stray cat, but seeing the collar proudly worn around Siwoo’s neck, he was at a loss for words.

Moreover, because of the engraved message on the pendant, he could no longer feign ignorance.

“Sometimes they… uh, give collars like that to stray cats as gifts…”

He still tried to cover up until the end. With Geonho deeply asleep, the secretary had to handle the situation.

Judging by Geonho sleeping with his mouth open, it didn’t seem like he would wake up easily. Once he fell into a deep sleep, he slept like the dead even if a gate opened next to him. This symptom had worsened since he started taking sleeping pills.

“Where was the beastkin test done?”

The secretary tilted his head at Taebeom’s sudden question.

“…Pardon?”

“Are you sure it’s not a beastkin?”

Taebeom asked again to the dumbfounded secretary. He was looking into the cat’s eyes, as clear as the summer sky.

Then he glared at the silent secretary, urging an answer with his eyes.

“Ah, you knew?”

The secretary rubbed his forehead, blinking rapidly. Seeing Taebeom’s calm reaction, it seemed the secret had been exposed long ago.

“No, when, when… How did you find out?”

He stumbled over his words, not knowing what to ask first. Even though Taebeom was a mental ability user, he didn’t use that ability except during missions.

The control bracelet he wore on his right wrist every day was proof of that. He couldn’t use his power while wearing the control bracelet.

“It would be stranger not to know with all that fuss while trying to hide it.”

Taebeom continued speaking with an indifferent face, still looking at Siwoo. Despite his cold eyes showing no apparent interest, he never took his gaze away.

“Then you should have at least told me! I’ve been living in fear every day, worried it might be discovered.”

“Secretary Nam.”

Taebeom interrupted him and faced the secretary.

“Just answer the question I asked.”

The secretary cleared his throat, coming to his senses at Taebeom’s stern warning. He had let his words run long out of relief. He was reassured that Taebeom knew but hadn’t kicked the cat out.

“I heard no separate beastkin test was done.”

The secretary began his answer with a more relaxed mind. However, seeing Taebeom’s subsequent expression, he tensed up again.

“If Kang Geonho didn’t do it, you should have ordered it.”

“That… it seemed certain it was an animal. To do the test, we’d need to draw blood from it, which didn’t seem necessary.”

“Do it today.”

Meow…

Siwoo, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, let out a faint meow.

A beastkin test. That was something he absolutely had to avoid.

Siwoo made a firm resolution, tightly closing his eyes and spreading his legs. I didn’t want to do this, but…

He opened his reluctant mouth and stuck out his pink tongue. Deliberately facing Taebeom with his belly exposed, he lowered his head in that position.

Lick, lick.

Siwoo licked his private parts right in front of him. It was an action no person in their right mind would do.

While diligently cleaning his important area with his tongue, he pretended not to care about human gazes. If it weren’t for the white fur, his blushing face would have been exposed. The human Siwoo’s mind was red with embarrassment.

Ah… life really…

“Look. Could that be a beastkin?”

The secretary pointed at Siwoo as he spoke. Though it was clearly meant to help him, Siwoo felt upset for some reason.

He kept licking his tongue while hitting Geonho’s innocent chin with his tail. He just wished that grim reaper-like guy would leave quickly.

“But Leader.”

The secretary, who had been considering his words, cautiously asked.

“Are you allowing him to keep it?”

He had only expected that Taebeom would kick it out immediately upon finding out. He never imagined he would just stand by like this.

“For the time being.”

“What?! For the time being? Once you decide to raise it, you should keep it for life.”

The secretary burst out angrily, telling him not to say such terrible things. Raising an animal, giving it lots of affection, and then sending it away was the worst thing one could do. As an animal lover, it was absolutely unacceptable.

“Then send it away now.”

“No… why so decisive…”

The secretary’s momentum immediately faltered, his mouth moving silently. Unable to think of any other rebuttal, he backed down for now.

His phone had been vibrating with notifications for a while now. Having left during work, he couldn’t stay away for long.

“Let’s head back for now. You need to prepare for the meeting.”

There was an all-hands meeting for leaders in an hour. The secretary waited for Taebeom to call a teleport Esper. Only the leader could call a teleport Esper when it wasn’t an emergency situation.

“You go first.”

However, Taebeom didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving.

“Why? Let’s all go together.”

“I said go first.”

The secretary looked at Taebeom and opened his umbrella. With a final order to complete the beastkin test and report back, he had no choice but to nod in agreement.

Why order a test when anyone could see it was an animal? He was really an inflexible person.

Siwoo swallowed a sigh as he watched the secretary’s receding green umbrella.

Unable to sit properly due to the most uncomfortable guy staring at him, he stood in an awkward posture. He kept his legs tensed, ready to dodge immediately if Taebeom tried to hit him.

And then, Taebeom stretched out his arm and tapped the ground with the tip of his umbrella.

“Sit.”

With a face that clearly expected the command to be understood.

What’s he saying?

Siwoo squinted his eyes and only twitched the tip of his tail. There was no way a cat would obey commands.