Even a Lonely Squirrel Has Its Burrow - Chapter 51

Chapter 51

 

Sa Heeran let out a sigh and remained silent for quite some time. The name that eventually came out of her hesitant lips was entirely unexpected.

 

“I think the lawyer you mentioned… might be Mujin.”

 

“Sa Mujin?”

 

Confirming her nod, Sa Muheon let out a hollow laugh and leaned back in his chair.

 

“I’ve insulted him countless times for being stupid, but I never thought he’d actually be this stupid.”

 

“……”

 

Despite his scornful remark, Sa Heeran remained silent.

 

Sa Mujin. A name Sa Muheon knew all too well.

 

More precisely, it was a relationship where knowing him deeply was inevitable. Sa Mujin was the son of Heeran’s elder sister—Sa Muheon’s aunt—which made them cousins.

 

As cousins of the same age, the two had naturally been placed in a competitive dynamic since childhood.

 

In his younger years, Sa Mujin had been quite a clever child. Unfortunately for him, however, his opponent in this unspoken competition, Muheon, was far too exceptional. Sa Mujin’s cleverness was dismissed as insignificant compared to Sa Muheon’s brilliance.

 

Perhaps because of this, the relationship between the two had never been good, even in Sa Muheon’s earliest memories.

 

Sa Heeran’s sister, harboring feelings of inferiority toward her talented younger sibling, projected her resentment onto the most accessible target—Sa Muheon—when her son began following the same path of comparison and struggle.

 

To her credit, Sa Mujin was no slouch himself. But having spent her entire life overshadowed by her younger sister, she had a burning desire to push her son into the limelight, no matter the cost.

 

Thankfully, while she detested Sa Muheon, she was a mother who doted heavily on her own child.

 

Because of her unwavering support, Sa Mujin—despite the formidable obstacle that was Sa Muheon—sharpened his natural intelligence and achieved notable accomplishments. He graduated from university with excellent grades, as his mother had hoped, and became a lawyer at the law firm Seunghwa, making him quite successful for someone his age.

 

But to think it all amounted to supporting someone like Ryu Beomju.

 

“Click…”

 

Sa Muheon clicked his tongue and furrowed his brow.

 

Having observed Ryu Beomju closely over the past few years, Sa Muheon had arrived at one clear conclusion about the man.

 

An irredeemable degenerate.

 

In truth, there were countless dishonorable labels that could be attached to him, but Sa Muheon felt that this particular description encapsulated Ryu Beomju most accurately.

 

The fact that, despite being a tiger shifter, Ryu Beomju had completely severed ties with his parents and faked his own death to live as a human was telling. Not to mention that he endured countless indignities to wield a petty semblance of power, bowing to those inferior to him and venting his frustrations on weaker humans as a result.

 

There was no term more fitting for Ryu Beomju in Sa Muheon’s eyes.

 

“Of all people…”

 

Sa Muheon muttered softly, drawing Sa Heeran’s gaze toward him.

 

Even though Sa Mujin had shown hostility toward Sa Muheon from a young age, Sa Muheon had never thought poorly of him.

 

Snake shifter were known for their intense competition within their own kin, and Sa Muheon had been no exception to this environment.

 

Having survived such conditions, Sa Muheon believed there was no such thing as good competition. Competition, after all, meant that while someone savored the sweetness of victory, someone else had to endure the bitterness of defeat.

 

Aware of this truth from an early age, Sa Muheon approached competition with complete seriousness. He wasn’t particularly interested in winning for its own sake, but he thought that victory might at least silence the negative comments directed at his mother.

 

Just as Sa Muheon took competition seriously, so did Sa Mujin. Of course, after tasting the bitterness of defeat, Sa Mujin grew to despise Muheon even more. Yet, Sa Muheon didn’t harbor much ill will toward his cousin, who had tried his best until the end.

 

Perhaps that was why the knowledge that Sa Mujin had aligned himself with Ryu Beomju, seemingly out of hatred for him, left a sour taste in Sa Muheon’s mouth.

 

“Muheon-ah.”

 

The voice of his mother broke through the endless spiral of his thoughts.

 

Sa Muheon finally cut off the train of thought and met the concerned gaze of his mother sitting across from him.

 

“…Well, what’s done is done. All we can hope for is that he doesn’t do anything worse.”

 

“Right, that’s all we can do…”

 

At his shrugging remark, Sa Heeran let out a sigh-like response.

 

“Honestly… it was your request, but I spent a long time debating whether I should tell you.”

 

“What made you hesitate so much?”

 

“I was worried I might be stirring up unnecessary trouble. If Sa Mujin really made the wrong choice… well, it was his decision, but I was afraid that digging into it might bring backlash onto you.”

 

As she spoke, her eyes held a resolute light, a stark contrast to the sighs she had been letting out earlier.

 

“But leaving it alone would inevitably lead to even worse consequences for you down the line.”

 

“……”

 

“The fact that he came to hate you so much is partly influenced by my sister’s resentment toward me.”

 

It was the topic Sa Muheon had most wanted to avoid.

 

It wasn’t the fault of either Sa Heeran or Sa Muheon. However, the mother, who couldn’t fully protect her child from harassment even by close family, still considered it her own failing.

 

Seeing his mother looking a bit sorrowful, Muheon thought it was time to wrap up the conversation. He had obtained the information he had requested from her, and he felt that continuing the conversation would only lead to topics that might hurt their feelings.

 

Having made his decision, Sa Muheon stood up from his seat instead of continuing the discussion.

 

“You’re leaving already?”

 

His mother looked up at him with a face full of disappointment, but Sa Muheon nodded without hesitation.

 

“I’ve heard everything I needed to know, so it’s time for me to go. Besides, you know there’s someone waiting for me at home.”

 

“You…”

 

Though she chuckled at his words, Sa Heeran’s expression soon grew serious as she stopped him.

 

“I’ve been looking into the cases Mujin has been handling lately, and something seems off. It seems like he’s helping cover up things Ryu Beomju has done. I thought you should know.”

 

“Is that so?”

 

With his arm held, Sa Muheon let out a thoughtful hum and turned his gaze to the books lining the shelves.

 

If his mother was saying this, then Sa Mujin was likely more deeply entangled with Ryu Beomju than Sa Muheon had initially thought.

 

Whether his foolish cousin had willingly lowered his pride to side with Ryu Beomju in an effort to bring Sa Muheon down, or if he had been coerced with some leverage, the exact nature of their connection remained unclear.

 

But regardless of the specifics, it didn’t change the reality at hand. What mattered was the fact that Sa Mujin had allied himself with Ryu Beomju.

 

“I’ll keep it in mind for now. Thank you.”

 

Hearing his response, Sa Heeran lightly patted Sa Muheon’s back.

 

“No need to thank me.”

 

“I mean it.”

 

“I know. That’s why I’m saying this.”

 

Though she gave her son a small, teasing glare, she still moved slowly to see him off.

 

“Take care, and drop by more often. Anytime is fine.”

 

“You’re both so busy. How could I just show up whenever I please?”

 

Even as Sa Muheon climbed into his parked car and started the engine, she waved him off, urging him to get going.

 

Though he suggested she head back inside first, his mother insisted on watching him leave. Unable to win against her stubbornness, Sa Muheon finally drove away.

 

As he glanced at her figure growing smaller in the distance, he eventually focused back on the road ahead.

 

The drive home felt unusually long that day.

 

As he tapped the steering wheel, his thoughts drifted back to the conversation with his mother. Excluding the subject of Sa Mujin, only one topic remained.

 

“Marriage, of all things…”

 

A faint laugh escaped between his tightly closed lips. There were several reasons why Sa Muheon had resolved not to seek a partner. Though his mother’s reasons were valid, the bigger factor was Sa Muheon’s belief that he himself was the issue.

 

For ordinary humans, marriage was a matter of personal choice. But for a shifter, the circumstances were different.

 

Shifter, who experienced heat cycles, sought partners to manage their cycles more stably. For them, marriage was less of a choice and more of a necessity.

 

Since their heat cycles played a significant role in marriage, shifters often inquired in detail about their potential partner’s beast form and cycle frequency. For shifters with average cycles, frequent or prolonged heat cycles in a partner could overshadow other appealing traits and lead them to reconsider marriage altogether.

 

For snake shifters, the heat cycle occurred roughly once every two months—not particularly short, but the duration of the cycle was exceptionally long. While most shifter’s heat cycles lasted between a day to three days, a snake shifter’s cycle could last from five to seven days, making it notably lengthy.

 

Thus, the treatment snake shifter received in the marriage market was all too predictable.

 

Moreover, snakes were inherently tenacious. Due to their unique characteristics, many shifters avoided considering snakes even as romantic partners, let alone spouses. This led to a common perception that the high concentration of snake shifters in professions like law or other specialized fields was an attempt to attract partners with their credentials.

 

It wasn’t an entirely baseless assumption. Without emphasizing their other qualities, snake shifters would have to live alone forever.

 

While this might not seem terrible to ordinary humans, for a shifter, it was a dreadful fate.