How Druids Live with the Beast

“Fire… what’s that?”

The black hound asked, and Eunho deactivated the eagle-eyed vision and took off his glasses.

“To put it simply, it means something has gone very wrong.”

Eunho swept his hair back, lifting only the corners of his mouth in a smile.

“Big dog, I’m sorry, but could you possibly remove your territorial marking? Or just… make it a little less noticeable?”

The black hound stopped running suddenly.

“What do you mean by that?”

It seemed to be in a bad mood, as if something had been touched that shouldn’t have been.

“I know you did a great job marking your territory, big dog. I even admired it as soon as I saw it,” Eunho said.

The black hound turned its head quickly, its ears twitching.

Seeing that, Eunho smiled broadly.

“But, big dog, if people see this, they might mistake it for a fire.”

“This is not a fire, it’s my power. It’s only humans who view it that way,” the black hound replied.

“True. That’s just the human perspective. But, people are actually going to come here. I’m sure you must have heard some strange noises already,” Eunho explained.

The black hound turned to look at him.

It had indeed heard the strange sound just a moment ago.

It had judged it as harmless, a weird sound that merely touched its ears.

But the idea of people coming didn’t sit well.

“Are they coming to catch me because of this?” the black hound asked.

“No, not for that,” Eunho replied firmly, stroking the black hound more carefully.

Around 10 years ago, the black hound’s pack had been attacked by beast caretakers. Of course, they had been tricked by a purifier’s lies, but that fact couldn’t be changed.

At that time, it was Seol Taeho who saved the black hound’s pups. Since beasts can’t grow up under human care, they had to be released back into the wild.

The black hound before him was probably one of those pups from that time, perhaps the only surviving one.

Even as a pup, it had been such a traumatic experience, which is why the black hound’s eyes seemed so anxious now.

“If they do come to catch you, I’ll stop them. I promise,” Eunho said.

“……”

The black hound turned its head again and twitched its ears.

It might have been a sign of embarrassment, no matter how many times Eunho saw it.

The tablet screen flickered, and Eunho glanced at it for a moment.

[The black hound’s behavior has been recorded.]

“Even this gets recorded?” Eunho thought to himself.

Eunho nodded in curiosity and looked back at the black hound.

“What I’m trying to say is this. People who really need help could get into big trouble because of us, so we should just reduce the territorial marking a little. I’m not trying to disrespect you, big dog. Is this okay?”

“I understand. But human.”

“Yeah?”

“The reason I marked my territory so widely was to prevent others from crossing into it.”

“So, you did it for me?”

Eunho was touched, and the black hound, feeling a little awkward, walked ahead.

“…I’ll go.”

“Wait, I’ll send those people away first…”

Ziiing.

The phone rang.

It was an incoming call from Oh Ga-eul.

Seeing the name, Eunho felt a slight tightening in his chest.

“…Good afternoon. Or maybe not so good afternoon?”

[Let me ask you one thing first. Did you burn down the kitchen while cooking?]

“No. I’m good at cooking. The kitchen isn’t a place to burn things down.”

[Good to hear. Then can you explain what’s going on here?]

“It’s a misunderstanding related to the big dog’s power.”

[I see. I understand the situation. I’ll handle this on my end.]

“I know it’s been tough dealing with this. But I want you to know, I never planned on causing any trouble, and I certainly won’t.”

Eunho knew how hard it was to clean up after something like this. Would he take it upon himself to deal with it?

[Yes. I’m content with just handling one person’s mess. I sincerely hope that’s all it is…]

A loud noise came through the phone.

“It sounds like an explosion, but I think the cooking’s being done on your end?”

[If it’s cooking, then yes. The doctor, who came because of the beast, is now struggling in front of it. They’ll probably argue with the upcoming beast caretaker. …Sigh.]

Ga-eul let out a short sigh as if she had already seen the future.

“If you need anything, just call. That’s what a good partner does, right?”

Since she already helped with the house, this was the least she could do.

[If you’re in trouble, don’t hesitate to contact me. Now, you can focus on what you were doing.]

“Thank you.”

[Take care.]

After hanging up, Eunho stared at his phone for a moment.

‘What could be so difficult about dealing with a beast?’

He felt curious, but for now, he decided to focus on the situation at hand.

“Why are you just standing there and not leaving?”

Eunho urged the black hound, who had stopped since the phone call came in.

“It’s right up ahead.”

“Huh?”

At the sudden comment, Eunho crawled up to the hound’s ear, grabbed it, and looked down.

Dorolong was running hard, stopping, and then running again with determination, only to stop once more.

‘Running hard, but so slow.’

Eunho couldn’t hold back a smile at Dorolong’s chubby tail.

Suddenly curious about how far they had gotten from home, he glanced back and saw they were about two minutes’ drive from the house.

‘Maybe he walks slowly?’

Eunho lay down on the black hound’s head and observed Dorolong.

Each time Dorolong stopped, he would look around nervously, which seemed really uneasy.

‘Why does he keep looking around like that?’

Eunho looked around, but aside from the mountains behind the house, there was nothing else in sight—just an empty plain.

‘Still, he should at least look behind him.’

Eunho found it funny.

He kept looking to the left and right but never bothered to look behind.

For a brief moment, the ear in his grip twitched, and Eunho casually asked,

“Did I grab it too hard? Is my grip finally coming back after it was destroyed by carpal tunnel syndrome?”

“Do you think I would be hurt by that strength?”

“I was happy for a moment. What a shame.”

“Aren’t you scared of me, human?”

“Scared of you, big dog? Why?”

“…Forget it.”

The black hound, matching Dorolong’s pace, slowly moved forward.

“Big dog, why doesn’t Dorolong recognize us?”

“Human, put on those glasses and look again.”

At those words, Eunho put on the glasses.

“I’m borrowing yours.”

After activating the hawk’s vision, Eunho scanned the surroundings. He saw a few beasts on the left and right, and at the entrance to the forest.

It was clear that Dorolong was so tense because of them that he didn’t even think to look behind.

‘This isn’t a beast protection zone, though?’

This area was far from the city but still a residential zone.

There was no way they would set up a beast protection zone in a residential area.

Eunho thought for a moment before recalling Taehho’s words about beast protection zones.

—The beast protection zone is basically just a place with a fancy name. What you should think of it as is a situation where people who don’t speak the same language are put together in an apartment and have the door removed. How do you think that will go? Will they get along well? If someone steals something, it’s going to be chaos, right? That’s exactly the feeling right now.

The beast protection zone was an area arbitrarily designated by humans for the beasts’ benefit.

In reality, each beast had different preferences for the places and environments they wanted to live in, making the protection zones somewhat unnecessary.

Although the number of beasts wasn’t large, as if to prove this, beasts were visible on both the left and right.

While Eunho was unintentionally identifying one beast at a time, he noticed some of the same species as Dorolong.

Their atmosphere seemed off, and Eunho felt something was wrong.

Not only were the beasts targeting Dorolong, who had come to his home, but the beasts on the left and right were also glaring at him sharply.

“Big dog, why are the beasts acting like that? They look like they’re about to attack.”

“Human.”

“Huh?”

“We are different from humans.”

As usual, his tone was serious, but there was something different in the voice, so Eunho waited for the black hound to continue.

“Above and below clearly exist. That creature is below.”

“Well, it’s the same with people. There’s a hierarchy among humans too. It’s tied to survival and such.”

Eunho, watching Dorolong who was now alone, continued with more conviction.

“I was below. At the very bottom.”

He was nothing more than a part for the company, nothing more, nothing less.

Had he ever been treated like a person?

“Human. The difference between the strong and the weak is a law of nature.”

“Big dog, you’re right. It’s the law of nature. The strong rule the world, it’s a very natural logic.”

Eunho had no intention of denying that logic.

The data accumulated over countless years told him that it was the most efficient way to live.

“But, I wish that logic would be flipped. Instead of the strong ruling the world, they should be a ladder for others. Of course, that’s unrealistic.”

Eunho slid down, reflecting on his thoughts.

What he liked most was efficiency.

That way, he could live more comfortably, and he enjoyed that.

But now, he felt it might be okay to change things up a bit. A life lived solely in one way seemed boring.

“So, I’m going to try it. You understand me, right? So the first step is complete.”

Eunho smiled at the black hound and without hesitation, took off running.

“Friend!”

Eunho shouted energetically, but rustling sounds came from both sides.

Eunho heard the sounds from the ground.

Small vibrations.

Seeing the approaching beasts, Eunho had no idea what was going on but decided to meddle a bit.

He almost bit his thumb hard in frustration but instead grabbed a knife from his bag and slashed.

Swoosh.

He placed his hand on the ground.

The grass grew and reached toward Dorolong.

“Really takes a lot of effort.”

The black hound blended into Eunho’s shadow and sighed.

By the time the unusually large grass had grown to protect Dorolong, the black hound appeared behind him.

“Stop.”

At the black hound’s thunderous voice, the beasts hurriedly stopped.

“Wow, as expected, big dog.”

Eunho excitedly ran forward.

“Now, shall we have a little chat?”

His bold words to the beasts made them freeze in shock. The grass around him had grown into large stalks, shaking wildly.

“…Human.”

“Are you just going to talk? You’ll eat and sleep, right?”

Eunho casually spoke, fiddling with the grass that surrounded Dorolong.

The grass shook, and Dorolong, with a confused look in his eyes, poked his head out.

“Looks like we’ve met again.”

Eunho smiled.

Dorolong, looking at him, the black hound, and the other beasts, immediately fell backward.

After blinking a few times, he spoke.

“…I-I was really surprised.”

“…Ahem.”

Eunho crossed his arms to set the mood.

The beasts gathered around Eunho and fiercely stared at Dorolong, who was curled up on his knees.

“Hey, friends. If you keep glaring like that, your eyes will hurt, you know? You might even get dry eyes. You don’t know how scary that can be. And there’s big dog behind me, too. Keep it up, and you might get bite marks on your body.”

Eunho confidently pointed to the black hound curled up behind him.

The black hound, yawning, seemed utterly bored with the situation.

When the beasts quickly averted their gaze from the black hound, Eunho was dumbfounded. He was just yawning—what was so scary about that? Eunho was currently furrowing his brows very seriously.

“So, Dorolong… Sorry, what’s your name?”

“You… you asked my name? My name?”

“If you can’t tell me, it’s okay. I’ll just make one up. Hmm… What would be good?”

“No, no! I’m Leviyatam!”

Dorolong quickly gave his name.

It was similar to the name of a monstrous creature from some grand myth.

“That’s a dignified name.”

At Eunho’s compliment, Leviyatam looked at him with wide eyes in surprise.

“Anyway, friends. So Leviyatam attacked you first, right?”

“Yeah. We didn’t want to do this either. But the ones we’ve attacked are more than my toes.”

“You suddenly attacked my son! What did my son do wrong?”

“Sorry.”

Leviyatam apologized gloomily.

“I was sleeping, and because my tail was touched, I ended up biting his arm.”

“…I’m sorry about that too.”

“No, that’s our friend’s fault. Why touch the tail while I’m sleeping? Our friend has nothing to do with this, so let’s have him go over there?”

Listening to the back-and-forth, Eunho immediately pointed out the mistake.

As the beasts scowled, the black hound quietly spoke.

“Stop talking and go.”

Leviyatam silently gave a thumbs-up to the black hound as Eunho stood up and pointed to where he should go.

It was quiet for a moment, but after that, the beasts continued protesting.

Among the beasts, Dorolong was the smallest, but watching the smaller ones argue was strangely fascinating.

Eunho slightly removed his headset. He could hear various sounds like “eek” or “kro-long” from the beasts.

It almost felt like being at a special concert.

After all the beasts had spoken, Eunho finally began to speak.

“Now I understand the situation. Actually, I was also affected by Leviyatam’s attack today.”

“…Ugh, I’m sorry! Sorry!”

Leviyatam flailed his short front legs.

“It’s true that I was harmed. That’s Leviyatam’s fault. But something felt off.”

“What do you mean?”

A fellow Dorolong beast asked coldly.

“It seemed like he couldn’t control his strength. And his pronunciation was slipping. Unlike you guys, who are the same species.”

Eunho looked at the Dorolongs.

He had thought it was normal, but it wasn’t. Leviyatam was the only one like that.

It would make sense if they were of a different species, but they were the same.

Logically, shouldn’t they be supporting each other if they were the same kind?

As his eyes narrowed, his gaze became colder.

The beasts tensed up, sensing the difference between his smiling face and his current expression.

“Leviyatam.”

Eunho called out to Leviyatam.

“Yeah?”

“Wait, can you open your mouth for a moment?”

“Ah.”

Leviyatam obediently opened his mouth, revealing an artificially torn tongue behind his small teeth.

That was the cause of the slipping pronunciation.

Eunho thought that this could be the reason why Leviyatam couldn’t control his strength.

Eunho looked back at the Dorolongs.

They were all clustered together, about 3 to 6 of them. They might be a family unit.

But Leviyatam, no matter how he looked at it, was alone.

Leviyatam, alone.

His tongue had been torn, and he had come down from the mountain looking for a home.

Even when Eunho suggested living together, he hastily ran away, saying he was dangerous.

Couldn’t he faintly see what had happened to Leviyatam?

“Leviyatam’s tongue is torn? What happened here, Dorolong friends? I’m really curious now.”

One of the reasons for Leviyatam’s condition might have been his own kind.

Eunho found that fact quite unsettling.