Even a Lonely Squirrel Has Its Burrow - Chapter 102

Sa Muheon let out a light laugh as he watched Garam, who showed no sign of stopping his tears. Stepping closer, he gently pulled Garam into his embrace. Without any resistance, Garam followed his touch and nestled into his arms. Though slightly cool, his embrace felt incomparably warm to Garam, who continued to sniffle. Sa Muheon patted Garam’s back with a slow hand and spoke.

“I’ll wait until you’re ready.”

“…Hic, sniff.”

“But I hope you won’t push me away.”

Even at this moment, he was considering Garam’s feelings. He had decided to give Garam more time so that he wouldn’t feel burdened, so that one day, when he was ready, he could accept him completely from an equal standing.

Anyone could see that in this relationship, the one lacking was Garam, yet Sa Muheon was giving him the decision and saying he would wait.

Garam silently nodded. Though his face was hidden in Sa Muheon’s embrace, it wasn’t hard to imagine what kind of expression he was making as he said those words.

Only after confirming his answer did Sa Muheon release Garam from his arms. He wiped away the tears soaking Garam’s cheeks one last time before taking his hand. Garam lowered his gaze to their joined hands for a moment, then looked up at Sa Muheon again.

“For now, that’s enough.”

“…….”

“Let’s go inside. You must be tired.”

When Garam nodded, Sa Muheon gave a gentle tug on his arm, leading him inside the house. Until they reached Garam’s room, Garam couldn’t take his eyes off Sa Muheon’s back as he walked ahead.

To Garam, the sight of someone’s back had always been the last image of someone leaving. But now, Sa Muheon’s back felt more reassuring than anything.

Sa Muheon personally opened Garam’s door before turning around to look at him. As Garam, who had been staring intently at his back, suddenly found their eyes meeting, he blinked in surprise. When he only stood there, flustered, Sa Muheon smiled and ruffled his hair.

“Get some rest. You had a long trip today.”

“Ah….”

As soon as he finished speaking, Garam unconsciously held onto Sa Muheon’s hand tightly. When Sa Muheon looked at him, as if asking why, Garam hesitated before speaking.

“…Good night.”

Even though he had grabbed onto him, he had too many things he wanted to say and didn’t know where to begin. In the end, he could only leave behind a simple goodnight before slowly letting go of his hand.

Sa Muheon didn’t say anything, simply watching Garam until their hands completely separated. Just when Garam, feeling embarrassed, thought he should hurry inside his room, Sa Muheon moved.

Smooch.

“Sleep well.”

“Uh….”

With an effortlessly bright expression, Sa Muheon bid him goodnight and swiftly disappeared into his own room. Left alone, Garam could only stare blankly in the direction where Sa Muheon had disappeared, holding the cheek where his lips had just touched.

It was only after some time had passed, when he finally grasped the situation and his face turned bright red, that Garam hurried into his room.

Sa Muheon leaned back in his office chair, gazing at his phone with a cheerful expression. His fingers moved busily across the screen, as if he were exchanging messages with someone.

He had never been the type to have a particularly unpleasant expression, but seeing him walking around with such an openly delighted face was still a strange sight to many. However, after witnessing it a few times, people quickly adjusted. Recently, Sa Muheon always carried that dopey grin, and it had become a familiar sight to everyone in the office.

That included Chief Han, who had known Sa Muheon since he was young. For him, the change felt even more significant. But as they say, humans are creatures of adaptation. Chief Han had adjusted to Sa Muheon’s transformation faster than anyone and was one of those most pleased by it.

Observing Sa Muheon smiling brightly at his phone again today, Chief Han looked at him warmly before speaking.

“You seem to be in a good mood these days.”

“Hmm… Do I look that way to you, Chief Han?”

“Yes.”

Not just to Chief Han—every employee, even the lowest-ranking ones, thought the same. But Chief Han kept that to himself. Hearing the response, Sa Muheon unexpectedly let out a soft laugh, looking slightly bashful. If anyone else had seen it, they would have been utterly shocked, but Chief Han remained expressionless, simply waiting for Sa Muheon to speak.

“Well… there’s nothing to feel bad about, is there?”

Although he was trying to make an excuse, Chief Han knew better than anyone why Sa Muheon was in such a good mood. Though Sa Muheon hadn’t explicitly told him, as his closest aide, Chief Han could easily figure it out.

“That’s good to hear.”

Instead of saying anything further, Chief Han simply nodded with a faint smile. He placed a file folder in front of Sa Muheon and continued.

“This is a document sent by President Yoo’s side. These are the sites where construction is currently underway.”

The expression of Sa Muheon, who had been grinning at his phone just moments ago, instantly hardened. He set his phone down and carefully examined the documents Chief Han had handed him. His eyes gleamed dangerously.

“Hmm… Seems like they picked these locations selectively.”

“There are too many eyes in the city center to act openly.”

“But we can’t pick a place that’s too remote either. If they catch on and run, that would be troublesome.”

“Yes.”

After reviewing the final page of the documents, Sa Muheon gave a slight nod and casually tossed them back onto the desk.

“It doesn’t seem like President Yoo is playing games, so we can just pick a suitable location and proceed.”

“Understood. I’ll move forward with that.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

After Chief Han left the office, Sa Muheon silently stared at one of the locations listed in the documents.

It wasn’t too close to the city center, yet it was in a fairly isolated area. Just as President Yoo had described.

After their last meeting, President Yoo had reached out to Sa Muheon first. There was no mention of his previous mistake, no apology either, but Sa Muheon didn’t bother nitpicking over trivial matters. After all, Yoo Taewoo was only capable of so much, so he hadn’t expected much in the first place.

Still, the fact that he had made the first move was somewhat surprising. Sa Muheon’s outright dismissal of his business must have been quite irksome, yet it seemed that his anger at the time was outweighed by his need to eliminate Ryu Beomju.

In any case, it wasn’t a bad situation for Sa Muheon.

President Yoo had asked him if he had any good ideas, and Sa Muheon had given him a vague answer. Though he had received confirmation that Yoo would cooperate, he hadn’t come up with a concrete plan yet.

As if he had been waiting for this, Yoo immediately started laying out his own thoughts.

He explained that Ryu Beomju, perhaps due to his true form as the king of the mountains, had an exceptionally keen sense. Even the slightest deviation from the norm would alert him that something was amiss, making it difficult to lure him out separately.

Sa Muheon had already expected as much. Even if it wasn’t Ryu Beomju, beastfolk in general had an excellent instinct for detecting danger. That was precisely why he had struggled to come up with a viable plan—there was no clear way to lure Ryu Beomju out without arousing suspicion.

But then, Yoo had made a rather tempting suggestion.

He proposed vacating one of the sites currently under Ryu Beomju’s management, offering it as a location for their operation.

Sa Muheon had no reason to refuse.

Of course, he still needed to verify that Yoo wasn’t pulling any tricks. That was why he had Chief Han retrieve the documents.

“Hmm….”

Sa Muheon reviewed the papers once more, but nothing suspicious stood out.

Truthfully, he would have preferred to deal with Ryu Beomju in a more discreet manner. No matter how deserted the location was, as long as it wasn’t entirely removed from human presence, there was always a risk of someone witnessing something.

Moreover, if Ryu Beomju reverted to his true form, the situation would escalate. He needed to ensure that the job was done cleanly, but an overt approach carried too much risk.

Even so….

Bzzz—.

Sa Muheon’s phone vibrated. He quickly checked the screen, and as soon as he saw the name, a smile naturally formed on his lips.

[Squirrel: I’m heading into class now! See you later.]

Below the message was a squirrel emoji, seemingly engrossed in taking notes.

It was just like him to send something like that.

Sa Muheon let out a quiet chuckle and typed out a short reply.

[See you later.]

After sending the message, his gaze returned to the documents.

A more discreet method would be preferable, but if he wanted to keep the little squirrel in his arms safe, the tiger hunt needed to be swift.