How Druids Live with the Beast

When the distant scene suddenly appeared as though a camera had zoomed in, Eunho had to grab his head.

‘…I’m dizzy.’

He immediately felt the urge to gag.

Looking at the ground, he saw a crawling bug.

He couldn’t tell what kind of bug it was, but seeing its antennae and the hairs on its legs clearly, Eunho shut his eyes in disgust.

“…Tablet-ssi. How do I undo this? The bug is too gross.”

He had forgotten to ask the most important question.

《Search results show: ‘I will return your power’ is the phrase to use.》

Eunho looked at the tablet, but even that was zoomed in so much that only the edges were clear, making it difficult to read the text.

He lowered his glasses slightly and felt like he had just put on a pair with a very high prescription, causing him to stagger and sit down.

After gagging a few more times, he wiped his mouth.

‘Now I understand why I’m training.’

He closed his eyes, stood up, and turned around.

When he opened his eyes, the liquid that had stained the apartment like paint came into clearer view.

The edges were still a bit fuzzy, but suddenly the focus shifted to the center.

From afar, it looked like a 5-year-old’s random scribbling, but up close, it was different.

It seemed like it was trying to express some kind of emotion.

《Observing.》

《.》

《.》

《Observation complete.》

《The substance originated from an undiscovered familiar’s body, and it is highly viscous. It is harmless to humans, and after receiving sunlight for about three days, it will harden. We suggest a disposal method for future handling.》

Words appeared on the tablet, but Eunho didn’t see them, instead understanding through his intuition.

‘It’s not dangerous.’

It was more of a clear warning directed at humans.

‘…A final warning? It seems to say that… Is that right?’

Although it looked like an unreadable scribble, he could still infer some of the emotion behind it.

Was this the power of a Druid?

Sssshhh.

Suddenly, Eunho focused on the black wind marks he saw in his vision.

The flow seemed slower than usual. Knowing where the black hound was headed, Eunho tilted his head downward in advance.

He could feel the black hound entering his shadow.

“Did you come?”

“Human, there’s no poison there. It would be more accurate to call it a warning.”

“As expected of you, Brother Woof. We’re on the same page, huh? I was thinking the same thing.”

“…Human. What’s that on your face?”

“Oh, these are glasses. I’m currently in training. Honestly, I really want to take them off.”

Eunho kept lifting and lowering the glasses, swaying a bit from dizziness, and then covered his mouth.

‘…I thought I had gotten used to this, but I guess not.’

“So, human, is that why your eyes changed? Because of those glasses?”

He felt a curious gaze from below.

Unfortunately, Eunho couldn’t check at the moment, so he shrugged his shoulders.

“By any chance, have you seen a familiar that’s been coloring the apartment like that?”

“It’s definitely around here, but the scent is scattered in various places. Trying to track it would be a foolish endeavor, so I didn’t follow the trail.”

“Seems like it’s quite smart, enough to avoid being tracked?”

“Perhaps.”

Hearing the black hound’s somewhat displeased voice, Eunho lightly laughed.

He was about to turn his eyes to broaden his view when a gust of wind blew, making him squint his left eye.

As the apartment suddenly seemed to get closer, he shut his right eye as well.

‘Just now…’

Surprised, he reopened his eyes, and he saw someone hanging from the window of a building between the apartments.

At first, he doubted his vision because the person was hanging from the inside window, not outside, but it was indeed a familiar.

‘It wasn’t an illusion? Earlier, I could only see the building.’

No matter the distance from where he was to the figure, it was far better than the closest zoom through a camera lens.

It wasn’t a joke; it looked so vivid, as though the familiar was right in front of him, and the awe that surged in his chest hit him hard.

Suppressing his racing heart, Eunho kept his gaze on the familiar hanging from the window.

If he had to compare it to an animal, it could be called a monkey, but only the lower jaw resembled one. The eyes were much larger and rounder, like a doll’s, and the ears were round like a panda’s.

Despite all the chaos, it was amazing that it hadn’t been detected. Its fur shimmered with multiple colors, as if it had gathered all the hues of the rainbow.

Its tail was very long and the same color as its body.

While Eunho was observing the familiar, the tablet displayed text.

《Familiar detected.》

《Poiki.》

《.》

《.》

《Poiki lives in groups in forests and mountains, with distinct territorial boundaries. It does not invade areas outside of its territory. Its tail is always damp, and it expels a viscous liquid that is highly poisonous. The toxicity can be controlled.》

“Druid’s Guide to Living with Familiars” Episode 9 Continued

***

“It’s playful, and with the exception of sleep time, it’s always on the move, so it’s very active. It has little sense of danger and is quite friendly, but it sees any intruder in its territory as an enemy and will relentlessly attack.”

As Eunho slightly closed his right eye, the zoom effect finally kicked in.

‘Ah, this is how it works?’

Once the world he had been seeing returned to its usual state, Eunho raised both arms in a victory gesture, relieved by the fading dizziness.

From his shadow, the black hound’s front paw gently pressed down on his head.

“Focus, human. Are you mesmerized by those glasses or something?”

With the force pressing down from above, Eunho sank down and locked eyes with the black hound, who had peeked out of the shadow.

Seeing the concerned look, Eunho couldn’t help but smile.

“Right! I shouldn’t be like this. Tablet-ssi.”

Eunho immediately turned to the tablet that flew toward him.

“Could you bring up the things I couldn’t see earlier?”

The eyes of a raptor.

He would definitely use them in the future, so he needed to understand exactly how they worked, and also what he could do with them.

Eunho examined what he had seen with those eyes, piece by piece.

“…Hey, Tablet-ssi. Why isn’t there anything written about the zooming and focusing effect when I close my right and left eyes?”

“I am a device for recording. Anything not recorded cannot be displayed on the screen.”

“I will record this.”

“Well, I suppose it would be boring if everything was shown at once. The fun is in filling it out gradually, right?”

Eunho chuckled slyly like a fox, grinning.

“Then, should we take a look at our new friend?”

Eunho glanced at the newly added “Poiki” in the familiar app on the tablet.

It was so much easier now that the object he had observed with the raptor’s eyes was recognized.

“Poiki.”

Eunho was about to call Poiki, but the sharp sound of Taheo’s voice made him turn his head.

“Are you really going to kill it when you don’t even know if it’s still poisonous? Don’t you know what’s more urgent right now?”

Hearing the word “kill” made Eunho jump up in shock.

The familiar caretaker, who had been crawling on the ground a moment ago, was now floating in mid-air.

The scene of Poiki’s expelled liquid being covered with a hard, shell-like substance looked like something from a movie.

In a movie, the protagonist would have shown up and taken care of it, but this was reality.

Eunho’s heart raced.

‘Why are they jumping to conclusions already?’

If the liquid covering the apartment was poisonous, that was definitely scary. But panicking and spreading fear without checking things out properly was the worst way to handle the situation.

“Stop being angry and let’s observe the situation. You know that Poiki’s liquid is poisonous, right?”

“I know, but I think dealing with the poison should come before the killing. What do you think?”

“Yeah, that’s true, but what if Poiki comes back again?”

“Poiki’s return is hypothetical, and it’s not something we need to focus on right now. You’re not seriously believing that if Poiki is killed, the poison will disappear, are you?”

The caretaker swallowed nervously under Taheo’s pressure.

“Orders came from above. I couldn’t do anything about it.”

“Should I make the call? Or do you want to contact them first?”

“Uh…”

“There’s no poison in that liquid!”

Eunho raised his hand and approached urgently.

“No poison? Really?”

Taheo asked in surprise, and Gaeul, who had been on the phone, lowered it for a moment and moved closer to Eunho.

“Seon Eunho, it’s not good to make baseless claims.”

“I know. But please trust me. Poiki’s just a bit angry, that’s all.”

Seeing Eunho smile, which was different from his usual, Gaeul’s gaze shifted.

She whispered softly.

“Then, what exactly are you so sure about?”

“My power.”

Eunho’s power was unlike anything anyone had seen before, which made things complicated.

Currently, people with supernatural abilities were being monitored by national agencies due to a global law.

Although this country treated people with powers well, depending on the strength of their abilities, it could result in severe consequences, and Eunho wasn’t sure what would happen.

Even if Eunho were an ability user, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t be assigned to a research facility. It might actually suit the familiar caretaker role more.

The already complicated situation was becoming even more tangled with the potential for Poiki’s death.

Gaeul, however, focused on the immediate issue of Poiki’s possible death.

“Are you really sure this is okay?”

“If this goes wrong, I’ll voluntarily join a research facility.”

“That’s something I like to hear. Don’t worry about anything else. I won’t just stand by.”

Gaeul subtly showed Eunho the tablet.

As the personal information of the familiar caretakers appeared, Eunho looked at her with surprise.

“It’s better if there are many weaknesses to exploit.”

Gaeul grinned as Eunho confidently approached the familiar caretaker.

“Shall we go over things one by one? The people have evacuated, so now the question is whether this liquid is truly poisonous or not, right? After that, we need to figure out why the familiar did this. Aside from the apartment being ruined, there hasn’t been any real damage, right?”

“Well… it’s true, but the familiar did attack a human. That’s enough of a reason.”

“If the familiar really attacked a human, I would agree that killing it is justified. But what if the humans attacked the familiar first?”

The caretaker was speechless for a moment as Taheo spoke up first.

“That would remove any justification for killing it. In fact, it would be more of a reason to protect it.”

“Exactly. The situation changes completely.”

Eunho smirked at the familiar caretaker.

“…Even so, if the familiar attacked a human, it doesn’t change anything.”

“No, it does. If humans caused the problem, the outcome should be different. First of all, there’s no poison in that liquid, so there’s no need to kill the familiar. If they keep insisting on killing it even though it’s not poisonous, it raises doubts about whether the familiar caretaker is actually doing the right thing.”

“That’s exactly what I was saying! Eunho, you’re even better at arguing than I am.”

Taheo, who had been chiming in, pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and showed it to the familiar caretaker.

“Actually, I could have contacted them with my phone, but I didn’t. What are you going to do about that?”

“There’s only one thing I’m asking for. Immediately stop the kill order.”

Eunho smirked like a mischievous child.

***

As the situation calmed down, Eunho left the matter to Taheo and rode the black hound into the forest.

“…Hey, big dog.”

Suddenly, Eunho remembered something he had been wanting to ask for a while.

“Speak.”

“Do you… mind being touched?”

He had seen the black hound refuse when someone tried to touch it many times.

“You don’t mind.”

“Really? That makes me really happy. I was worried you might not like it since you’re the one who picked me up.”

The black hound suddenly stopped and stared at him in surprise.

‘You’re such a shy one.’

Eunho pretended not to notice and changed the subject.

“Well then, should we try calling Poiki now?”

“Human. What do you mean by that?”

“Well.”

Eunho chuckled and took out the tablet.

“Poiki.”

He used the summoning function on the tablet to call Poiki.

“Wait a moment. It’s a bit slow.”

As the black hound’s eyes shifted, Poiki appeared, climbing the tree with its tail and sitting in front of Eunho.

Poiki tilted its head, gently closing its bright eyes, and raised its front paw.

“Hello!”