Even a Lonely Squirrel Has Its Burrow - Chapter 121

“Haa….”

“Director, even now, shouldn’t we head to the hospital…?”

Seated in the driver’s seat, Chief Han cast worried glances at Sa Muheon every time they stopped at a red light. In the end, he suggested heading to the hospital, but Sa Muheon shook his head.

“There’s nothing the hospital can do for a shifter in heat anyway. You know that.”

“Then at least some medicine…”

“Judging by my condition, it’s already too late.”

Sa Muheon responded as he closed his eyes. He thought that shutting his eyes and cutting off his senses might help calm his mind. With his eyes still closed, he continued speaking.

“Baby(garam) has his last exam today. He’ll probably go out to eat with his friends afterward…”

Even he could feel the heat in his breath between sentences. Sa Muheon let out a long sigh.

“Huu… For now, tell him not to come home. Until I contact him, he should stay away. Call my mother and ask her to let him stay at her place for a few days. If he’s uncomfortable with that, he can stay at Team Leader Jang’s house instead.”

“Yes, understood.”

Confirming Chief Han’s response, Sa Muheon fell into a faint-like sleep.

Enduring the heat alone without a partner was an immense torment. Since his body had already entered its heat cycle and couldn’t be subdued with medication, all he could do was wait for it to pass. Typically, beastmen without a partner controlled their heat with medication, and Sa Muheon was no different.

However, when the heat he had been suppressing was forcibly triggered by the drugs, his body couldn’t withstand it. But rather than enduring the unpleasant sensation of his body continuously burning up, it was better to be unconscious.

What woke Sa Muheon from his brief sleep was a familiar voice.

“…Sir. Director.”

It was Chief Han. His vision was hazy from the fever, but when he blinked and looked around, he recognized his surroundings. It was his home.

Sa Muheon staggered as he got out of the car. Chief Han quickly tried to support him, but Sa Muheon lightly brushed his hand away.

“Director, I have something to tell you. Right now, at the house…”

But Sa Muheon’s consciousness was already half gone. Normally, he wouldn’t ignore what Chief Han had to say, but right now, his mind was filled with only one thought: he had to get inside the house.

He had to lock himself in a safe place immediately.

Though he wouldn’t lose control and indiscriminately grab someone just because of the heat, the safest and most foolproof way to protect Garam was to lock himself away.

Chief Han tried several times to stop him as he staggered forward, but unfortunately, the instincts that had taken over Sa Muheon gave him overwhelming strength, and each attempt ended in failure.

“Director!”

Chief Han called out to him desperately one last time, but his voice didn’t reach Sa Muheon.

Finally, when Sa Muheon reached the front door, Chief Han urgently pulled out his phone. Just as he was about to find a contact and make a call, the sound of the door lock disengaging echoed.

Chief Han’s face darkened with frustration as he watched the door slowly open.

Peeking through the gap in the door was none other than Garam.

“Chief Han, is something wrong…?”

Garam, unaware of Sa Muheon’s presence behind him, first noticed Chief Han and tried to ask what was going on.

Just moments ago, he had heard Chief Han shouting, and his face was filled with concern, as if worried something dangerous had happened.

However, seeing that Chief Han’s appearance wasn’t particularly out of the ordinary, Garam seemed relieved and unlatched the door, opening it wide.

“Oh, Sa Muheon is here too….”

Garam’s eyes widened when he belatedly noticed Sa Muheon. He looked back and forth between Sa Muheon and Chief Han.

At that moment, Chief Han had no choice but to accept that the situation had already reached an irreversible point.

With a sigh, he put his phone back into his pocket.

Sa Muheon’s prediction that Garam would be late returning home after his last exam had been completely off the mark.

After quickly finishing and submitting his answers, Garam had come straight home.

Chief Han had only learned about this after they had already arrived at the house.

At this point, the only option left was to explain the situation to Sa Muheon and move him elsewhere, but that plan had completely fallen apart.

Chief Han had underestimated just how a shifter in heat would react—because he himself was not one.

He had tried to stall for time and keep Garam out of Sa Muheon’s sight, but now that Garam had walked straight into his line of vision, the last plan he had prepared was utterly useless.

“What’s wrong? What’s going on that you and Chief Han…”

Garam approached Sa Muheon with a worried expression, confused by his silence.

But before he could get an answer, Sa Muheon pulled him into his arms, burying Garam’s head against his chest.

“Wh-why are you doing this?”

Garam, conscious of Chief Han’s presence, tried to push Sa Muheon away, but the more he resisted, the tighter Sa Muheon’s arms wrapped around him.

Eventually, Garam gave up on struggling and instead tapped Sa Muheon’s back in protest.

“Chief Han is right there! What are you doing, seriously….”

At Garam’s small, exasperated sigh mixed with grumbling, Sa Muheon’s head slowly turned.

Normally, he wouldn’t be wary of someone as close as a father figure to him, but a shifter in heat was different.

The look in Sa Muheon’s eyes as he stared at Chief Han was filled with hostility and wariness.

Provoking Sa Muheon now wouldn’t be a good idea—not for Chief Han himself, nor for Garam, who was still unaware of the situation and trapped in Sa Muheon’s arms.

After a swift assessment, Chief Han slowly stepped back.

As the distance between them grew, the tension in Sa Muheon’s posture seemed to ease slightly.

“Uh…”

But that was only for a moment. Just as he had gained an appropriate distance, Sa Muheon swiftly held Garam in his arms and entered the house. With his vision blocked in Sa Muheon’s embrace, Garam opened his mouth in confusion, but the front door was already closing.

Bang—!

In the end, Chief Han let out a sigh as he stared at the closed door before him. But since there was no way to undo what had already happened, he merely cast his gaze upon the shut door for a brief moment before turning around and walking away. The only relief in this situation was that today marked the end of Garam’s semester with his final exam.

“Uh, wait a minute. Sa Muheon, hey!”

Having shut the front door behind him, Sa Muheon moved forward without hesitation. As soon as he stepped further inside, he lifted Garam into his arms and headed toward the deepest part of the house—his bedroom.

Though Garam, flustered, called out to him multiple times, Sa Muheon acted as if he could hear nothing.

Once inside the bedroom, Sa Muheon closed the door and carefully placed Garam onto his bed. For someone who had acted as if he could not hear a single word, his hands were inexplicably gentle, treating Garam as though he were something precious.

Garam, startled by the sudden situation, simply stared at Sa Muheon, but he offered no explanation—he merely gazed at him in silence.

In the enclosed space, on the very bed where Sa Muheon slept every night, under the heat of his intense stare, Garam’s heartbeat began to quicken.

Something about Sa Muheon’s gaze felt different than usual.

“Uh…”

Feeling slightly overwhelmed by the way he was being looked at, Garam averted his eyes for a moment. But soon, he steeled his resolve and looked back at Sa Muheon. He needed to hear the reason behind this behavior.

However, Garam found himself unconsciously parting his lips at Sa Muheon’s next action.

“…Oh.”

Sa Muheon shrugged off the jacket he was wearing and casually tossed it to the floor. His movements showed no sign of feeling any pain from his injured arm.

But what shocked Garam more than that was the fact that Sa Muheon had actually thrown his clothing onto the floor.

Normally, he was an extremely meticulous person who preferred to keep everything in its proper place. The most he would leave lying around was his phone, and even that was only because there were few people who would call him after work.

Yet here he was, throwing his clothes onto the ground.

Seeing this unfamiliar sight, Garam was now completely certain that Sa Muheon was not in his usual state.

“S-Sa Muheon…?”

Garam cautiously called out to him.

But Sa Muheon simply looked at him as if wondering what the issue was, offering no response.

As if his jacket had not been enough, he undid his tie with an air of irritation and tossed it onto the floor as well.

Something was definitely off.

“Kang Garam.”

That was when Sa Muheon finally spoke.

For a brief moment, Garam’s face brightened—but it did not last long.

Sa Muheon slowly approached him, placing a hand on the bed beside him and leaning in closer.

Startled by the shrinking distance, Garam instinctively tried to move away, but Sa Muheon did not stop.

He only drew nearer.

In the end, Garam found himself half-lying on the bed, propped up by one elbow, looking up at Sa Muheon.