Don’t Mess with the Puppy! - Vol.2 Chapter 4 Part 7

“……”

When Yoon Chi-young woke up again, it was early dawn.

With the sickening pain rushing through his entire body, Yoon Chi-young exhaled heavily and surveyed his surroundings. The position of lying on his side felt unfamiliar, but upon a second look, he realized he was lying in the form of a pitch-black wolf.

He had awakened as a terrible beast. Along with the pain, his breath gradually roughened as he found himself repulsive.

An IV line was uncomfortably connected to his thick front paw. However, the wolf didn’t care and fumbled around with his front paw, scratching with his claws. It was to search for Heeseong.

Thud.

As he stretched out his front paw, it hit a transparent glass wall. Perhaps he was receiving pheromone suppressants, as the bed was surrounded by a circular glass enclosure. It seemed to be an isolation room.

‘If it’s an isolation room, visitors wouldn’t be allowed…’

When receiving pheromone suppressants, visitors were not allowed for the sake of stability, so it was a place no one could enter unless the puppy sneaked in or persisted. Still, he had hoped for Heeseong to be by his side. It was an unavoidable situation.

The disappointed wolf limply lay down and began to look around, exhaling rough breaths.

‘Who on earth put this blanket here…?’

Normally, no items were allowed in the isolation room, but there was a micro-fleece blanket covering the bedding. It was a blanket Heeseong loved so much that he would rub his body against it intensely just by looking at it. The only person who would put such a thoughtful item here was Ji Young-bae, who had a lot of consideration. He seemed to have brought it for the sake of stability.

However, there was no trace of Heeseong anywhere, only the blanket he liked. The black wolf’s eyes sank desolately. Each time he exhaled roughly, his elegant mane puffed up and settled.

‘The puppy… must be hurt too.’

Driven by the rushing anxiety, he tried to recall his last memory somehow. However, the only thing that came to mind was Heeseong’s innocent face looking at him before losing consciousness. The sight of him stepping back upon seeing Yoon Chi-young, his eyes trembling with unease, and the frightened face he couldn’t hide in the end. Even if Heeseong wasn’t hurt, Yoon Chi-young couldn’t find any hope in that last memory.

There was no memory after that. Having lost his reason and transformed into a wolf again, someone might have been injured or killed. The nightmarish incident repeated itself. Even after taking medicine, he couldn’t control it. The wolf’s body began to tremble intermittently with a sense of futility and self-loathing.

‘I want to stop doing this…’

Yoon Chi-young found this situation itself more painful than the wound on his shoulder. Whenever he lost consciousness due to pheromone shock, someone precious who stayed by his side got hurt and bled. The gray eyes of the pitch-black wolf wavered thinly. Still, he didn’t want to let at least the small puppy, the person he loved, get hurt because of him.

‘Heeseong….’

The body was always influenced by the mind. Gradually, his breath quickened and dizziness surged due to the anxiety that swelled in his chest. However, his strength didn’t fade. Rather, the heavy muscles all over his body tensed up so hard that his fangs were exposed in pain as he clenched his jaw fiercely. He could hear his own heartbeat as blood circulated rapidly. It was a precursor symptom of pheromone shock.

‘Heeseong….’

Grrr…

A beastly sound like soot came out between his rough breaths. Yoon Chi-young tried to move his legs and get up himself, forgetting even the painful injury. If he didn’t check Heeseong’s safety right now, he felt like he would break and destroy everything around him due to anxiety.

Thud.

His front paw caught on the glass wall. The sound of claws scratching continued spine-chillingly, then weakly cut off again. It was difficult to lift his body as excessive strength entered his muscles. Gradually, his heart began to beat loudly, and his body started to heat up.

‘Heeseong… Haa.’

The wolf let out a low, painful howl along with his rough breathing. Regardless of whether the wound reopened or not, he tried to return to his human form immediately. However, his body wouldn’t listen at all, so he ended up only scratching the sheet with his thick front paws. He didn’t want to stay in this terrible form even for a moment.

Then, a hectic bark was heard from somewhere.

Woof, woof.

The eyes of the wolf, which had been contorted in pain, widened. He was certain he heard a barking sound nearby like an auditory hallucination, but he couldn’t find the puppy at all. Yoon Chi-young looked around, exhaling roughly, and soon realized where the puppy was.

Something wriggled frantically inside the blanket, within the luxuriant mane of the wolf lying on its side.

Soon, as if it had lost its way inside the bedding, a fist-sized lump could be seen wandering around in a daze. Then, as if making a big decision, it tried to escape the bedding by climbing over the lush mane. Even while his wound was painful, the wolf felt his breath gradually stabilizing at that ticklish sensation.

Soon, a cotton ball with its fur all staticky poked its head out from the side of the bedding.

Woof!

It was Heeseong. The puppy, transformed into a small dog, rapidly approached Yoon Chi-young’s face, wagging its tail as if it would fly off. It was so delighted that it even touched noses with him, whimpering “awoong, awoong,” and climbed onto the wolf’s nose bridge, rubbing its cheeks frantically.

Yoon Chi-young willingly accepted the puppy. He tried to lick its pink belly and stroke it with his front paw. However, the puppy would fall off with a thud, so he had no choice but to stay still. All he could do was lick the small body slightly and make delighted sounds.

But even that was enough to make him happy. Heeseong was safe. The body that had been stiff with muscles to the point of aching relaxed. Just a moment ago, he had only thoughts of turning everything upside down and destroying it to find Heeseong, but now the wolf’s eyes became so docile that it seemed he couldn’t even win against the small puppy.

‘Puppy…’

The huge wolf whimpered weakly, unlike his usual self. His gray eyes gleamed discreetly under his elegant black ears. The puppy leaned closer to those eyes. In the dark and quiet hospital room, the two were fully feeling each other’s warmth.

Yoon Chi-young knew Heeseong wouldn’t understand anyway, but he asked the question he most wanted to ask.

‘Did you… wait for me?’

The sound that came out was only a rough, painful growl of the wolf. If it were a small animal, it would have tucked its tail and run away, but the fearless one-day-old puppy showed a delighted reaction, wiping its nose with its pink tongue.

Woof!

The white one glared at Yoon Chi-young as if reproaching him, then smacked his nose with its front paw. Even though it felt like a warm cotton ball pressed against him, Yoon Chi-young tightly closed his eyes and laid his black ears back as if pretending to be in pain. It had become a habit to pretend to be hurting like this, as Heeseong would then lick him apologetically, as if kissing him.

As expected, the puppy couldn’t be fierce towards the weak, even though it was the most ferocious. The puppy, which had lightly licked the wolf’s jaw, looked around as if finding a spot, then slowly changed its form while laboriously climbing the hill of the wolf’s luxuriant black mane fur.

“…Hey, Yoon Chi-young.”

Heeseong, who had leisurely transformed into his half-beast state, called out softly. He was in a position straddling the wolf’s body, which was lying on its side. However, Yoon Chi-young only felt his weight as light as a feather. Heeseong had a small build, whether as a puppy or a human, so he only felt like a cotton ball.

With concern and resentment in his black eyes, Heeseong asked fiercely,

“You, did you ask me again if I waited for you?”

“……”

How on earth did he understand? Yoon Chi-young wondered if he had been asking such obvious questions all along. Or perhaps he had only wanted one answer so much. As it was an obvious question, Yoon Chi-young hoped Heeseong would quickly give him the obvious answer.

As expected, the puppy hadn’t changed.

“Then… would I have not waited for you?”

Heeseong spoke as if reproaching him. Worry was evident in his eyes, which were unusually fiercely raised. His thinly spread black pupils even trembled with moisture, looking young and tender.

With that one answer, Yoon Chi-young’s entire body relaxed as if melting.

The puppy had really believed in him and waited for him. Along with the relief, even his heartbeat settled calmly. Just the fact that Heeseong stayed by his side without getting hurt or changing made his heart ache and his eyes hot. His nightmare could change.

Beside him, Heeseong roughly stroked the wolf’s mane and spoke as if nagging,

“You were asleep for 3 whole days. You know?”

“……”

“What kind of sleep talk do you do so much? Every time you suddenly growled, how much I… Are you, are you crying?”

“……”

Heeseong asked, startled. It was difficult to notice unless looked closely because of the black fur, but the wolf that had been lying limply was pitifully shedding tears. The sight of the huge wolf crying silently looked quite strange, but rarely, Heeseong widened his innocent-looking eyes in surprise and wiped away the tears. Then, as the wolf struggled with rough breaths, Heeseong awkwardly embraced the crying wolf’s head to comfort him.

“Hey, hey… Males shouldn’t cry except when howling.”

‘You can’t even howl properly…’

“Wh-what are you saying…? Did you curse at me?”

Fortunately, Heeseong couldn’t understand because he spoke in wolf form. Yoon Chi-young burst into laughter even while crying silently. Even though it only made his mouth slightly tear to the point of revealing the wolf’s fangs, he was truly happy to have Heeseong by his side.

“Or are you crying because it hurts? Should I call the doctor? Hm?”

In the meantime, Heeseong was flustered and at a loss. He wiped the wolf’s eyes with the bedding, but his touch was rough. Yoon Chi-young groaned in pain as if it hurt, but he liked that too because it was so like Heeseong.

I should transform into my half-beast form after all.

Not being able to speak in his true form, which couldn’t transform, was inconvenient to the point that it was surprising how Heeseong had been living as a puppy all this time. Yoon Chi-young roughly tore off the IV line with his teeth, forgetting the pain. Heeseong tried to stop him, saying he shouldn’t, but Yoon Chi-young’s form was already changing. The muscles on the huge wolf’s body flexed, and his already large build grew even larger. His expression was contorted in pain. As he had a wound, the transformation itself was extremely painful.

“Puppy….”

“You, you… What if your wound reopens if you transform so recklessly?”

Heeseong spoke as if reproaching him and tried to stop the bleeding on the back. However, Yoon Chi-young, lying on his side, pulled Heeseong into his arms and kept him there. Then he licked Heeseong’s forehead, who was nagging, and carefully kissed him. Perhaps sensing that solemn atmosphere, Heeseong also quietly remained in his embrace.

Clearing his locked throat, Yoon Chi-young tried to speak calmly as usual.

“When the puppy confesses that he’ll only look at me… I can’t stay in my true form.”

“I, I never confessed that… Stop distorting my words….”

“Ah, no….”

Heeseong rubbed his forehead against Yoon Chi-young’s chest, looking embarrassed. He deeply leaned his forehead against Yoon Chi-young’s chest as if wanting to hide his expression. But his puppy ears twitched as if he liked the confession. Looking closely, even his white fur was all standing up. Yoon Chi-young let out a long, ticklish laugh. Heeseong always acted the toughest in the world, but when it came to such expressions of affection, he was the most vulnerable.

After some time in the ticklish atmosphere, Heeseong suddenly called out in a sunken voice, hesitating,

“By the way… Yoon Chi-young.”

Yoon Chi-young noticed Heeseong’s intention to speak with just one hesitant call. The puppy had never properly hidden his emotions even once. Such a mild call was definitely made when he had caused trouble.

Yoon Chi-young’s intuition was not wrong.

“I… I caused trouble.”

“Okay. You caused trouble?”

“…Yeah.”

“…What is it?”

The prediction was correct. Yoon Chi-young pretended as if the atmosphere had sunk. It was the only time he could see Heeseong clumsily trying to read his mood. And in fact, even if Heeseong said he had caused trouble now, Yoon Chi-young only felt his heart flutter and excited. He was really in deep.

“It’s about the guy currently hospitalized in another hospital….”

Hospitalized? This incident seemed to be quite large in scale. Unlike his usual self, Heeseong was timid, unable to even make eye contact.

And contrary to expectations, this time Heeseong caused trouble not as a puppy, but as a lover.

“I went to find Yang Hye-chan and… be-beat him up quite a bit.”

In the end, Yoon Chi-young burst into laughter and tried to tightly hug Heeseong.

However, perhaps out of embarrassment, Heeseong quickly turned back into a small puppy. The shy little puppy dug into the bedding, burrowed into it, and lay down with only his steamed bun-like bottom exposed to Yoon Chi-young’s chest. Even when Yoon Chi-young poked that bottom, asking why he was doing that, and tried to coax him, the puppy never showed his face with its fur standing up, only occasionally biting his finger.

Hugging the puppy with one hand, Yoon Chi-young quietly fell into thought.

The puppy waited for someone even in a collapsing, dilapidated house, and waited for someone even when abandoned and injured.

And he had wandered after losing his hometown, searching for the one existence that would wait for him. Desperately, while trembling thousands of times since he was a very black and small wolf.

Now Yoon Chi-young was certain that Heeseong was where he would settle down. That’s why he vowed to love and protect him for a lifetime. Yoon Chi-young carefully pulled the puppy’s body and kissed him. It was to repay the puppy who had expressed his love in his own way.

“You did well, I love you too.”

“……”

The puppy didn’t answer. Instead, he hesitantly tapped Yoon Chi-young’s jaw with his front paw, then licked his lips as if hesitating and went into the bedding. Yoon Chi-young, who burst into laughter, curled up in pain but still enveloped the puppy with his hand. Heeseong also tightly held Yoon Chi-young’s wrist with his small strength. As desperately as they had waited for each other for so long.