Even a Lonely Squirrel Has Its Burrow - Chapter 61

Chapter 61

 

Since that day, Sa Muheon had to fight every day against the questions that kept surfacing in his mind.

 

Among them, there was one question that arose most often and yet remained unanswered: Why had he touched the tail, even though he knew it wasn’t a real squirrel but a shifter?

 

Sa Muheon regretted and reflected on his actions that day, but he still hadn’t found an answer to why he had done such a thing. In the end, he began to suspect that he might have momentarily lost his mind at that moment.

 

“The problem is…”

 

Yes. The problem was himself. His actions that day were an issue, but his thoughts afterward were an even bigger issue.

 

Sa Muheon was deeply shocked by the fact that he had recklessly touched the tail of a fully grown shifter, not a child. No matter how much the kid looked like a squirrel, he was a shifter. Sa Muheon couldn’t believe he had done something so inappropriate, especially since he wasn’t young enough to be unaware of the implications of touching another adult shifter’s tail.

 

And yet, ever since that day—or, to be honest, even before that—the biggest problem was that he found Garam unbearably cute.

 

Of course, the outward appearance was that of a squirrel, but the essence was a shifter.

 

If he were an ordinary human and the other was an ordinary squirrel, it might have been a different matter. But Sa Muheon and Kang Garam were both shifters, so was it right for him to find the other so endlessly adorable? He arrived at a fundamental question.

 

Finding another shifter cute, unless it was a child or someone in a romantic relationship, was considered extremely… inappropriate. It was almost equivalent to viewing the other not as a person but merely as an animal.

 

So Sa Muheon was well aware that his feelings for Garam were strange. However, he could swear that he wasn’t simply treating the boy as an animal. He could stake everything on that claim.

 

But that, too, was inappropriate in its own way. If he wasn’t seeing Garam as just an animal, did that mean he was viewing him as a potential romantic partner?

 

Lost in thought, Sa Muheon slammed his head onto the desk.

 

Thud.

 

The low sound echoed, and Jang Seokgyu, who was standing in front of the desk to give a report and had witnessed the entire embarrassing scene, cautiously spoke up.

 

“Surely, something’s…”

 

“…Forget it. Don’t worry about it.”

 

Sa Muheon lifted his head as if nothing had happened, but this time, Jang Seokgyu didn’t let it go so easily.

 

“How can I not worry? You keep acting strangely.”

 

As he spoke, Jang Seokgyu motioned with his chin toward the phone on Sa Muheon’s desk.

 

“You said you were coming out after a long time, so I only brought the tasks that needed immediate attention. But if all you’re going to do is stare at that, why did you even bother coming out?”

 

“……”

 

Sa Muheon couldn’t respond. Yet, even so, he couldn’t take his eyes off the phone on the desk.

 

The screen displayed the view from cameras placed throughout his house. Among them, the largest display was from the camera installed in front of the sofa, showing a squirrel sitting quietly on it.

 

The squirrel, which had been eating quietly, soon finished its portion and got up without hesitation. Hopping down from the sofa, the squirrel began running laps around the living room as if on a track.

 

“Hmm…”

 

Watching this scene intently, Sa Muheon kept a serious expression, while Jang Seokgyu, observing alongside him, let out a sigh and spoke.

 

“He’s not just a kid. He’s fully grown. A college student and an adult, for goodness’ sake. What exactly are you so worried about?”

 

“……”

 

It was a sharp point. Sa Muheon had no response.

 

There wasn’t a single thing wrong in what Jang Seokgyu said, but Sa Muheon wanted to argue back.

 

Fully grown, huh? Could anyone really say that tiny thing was fully grown? Besides, even if he was an adult, he was only twenty-one. A kid eleven years younger than Sa Muheon.

 

And Sa Muheon was secretly alarmed by the fact that, even knowing Garam was a shifter, he still found those behaviors so endearing.

 

At first, he had doubted the boy, but by now, it was almost proven that Garam had suffered unjustly because of Ryu Beomju.

 

But Sa Muheon’s nature didn’t allow him to trust Garam completely. Yet, separate from those feelings, he couldn’t stop finding the small and young squirrel shifter irresistibly cute. Watching him warmly, Sa Muheon would think he had lost his mind and bang his head in frustration.

 

His gaze fell to his hand resting on the desk. More precisely, to the finger that Garam had bitten with his tiny teeth not long ago.

 

It was a small wound that left no particular sensation, but the faint marks were still there. As he stared at the tiny tooth marks, a smile crept onto his face.

 

Suddenly breaking into a grin without saying anything, Sa Muheon startled Jang Seokgyu, who cautiously spoke up.

 

“Surely… it’s not that, is it?”

 

Though vaguely worded, Sa Muheon immediately understood what Jang Seokgyu was implying.

 

Was he possibly considering Garam as a potential mate?

 

Clicking his tongue briefly, Sa Muheon shook his head.

 

“No. Do you even know how old he is?”

 

“Twenty-one, isn’t he?”

 

“Exactly. Twenty-one.”

 

When Sa Muheon looked up at Jang Seokgyu with a gaze that seemed to ask what on earth he was talking about, Jang Seokgyu shrugged and spoke.

 

“As I said earlier, while he may be young, he’s an adult who knows everything he needs to know. Aren’t there couples or married pairs among shifters with significant age differences?”

 

“……”

 

It wasn’t unheard of, but Sa Muheon was genuinely confident that he did not see Garam in that way.

 

“It’s not unheard of, but I’m telling you, I’m really not. He’s just a kid… and honestly, isn’t he kind of cute?”

 

“And that’s why you yelled like that?”

 

“I did?”

 

Sa Muheon blinked at Jang Seokgyu as if hearing this for the first time.

 

“Yes, when I visited a few days ago.”

 

“Oh, that day.”

 

It was the very day he had touched Garam’s tail. Nodding, Sa Muheon prompted Jang Seokgyu to continue.

 

“Do you know how startled I was that day?”

 

When Sa Muheon simply stared at him instead of answering, Jang Seokgyu sighed and began recounting the story as if he had been waiting for this moment.

 

“As soon as I opened the door, something came charging toward me. And then, you, Director, were yelling from inside to grab it. So, I shut the door, but instead of trying to escape, whatever came out of the house climbed all over me….”

 

“Hmm…”

 

“And then you appeared, looking like a demon, sighing heavily and clicking your tongue. That tiny thing shook so hard it seemed like it might break.”

 

Sa Muheon had no idea about any of this.

 

“…He was trembling?”

 

“Yes. He looked so pitiful that I just placed him back down and followed him inside.”

 

“……”

 

It was only then that Sa Muheon began reflecting on the situation.

 

He belatedly realized that what must have felt like an ordinary event to him could have been extremely threatening for a small squirrel-like shifter. Consumed by sudden embarrassment, Sa Muheon let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair.

 

“I didn’t realize.”

 

“Well, I can see that you were worried about him running away, but…”

 

Sa Muheon didn’t respond to that. It was true that he had been concerned about Garam potentially leaving the house. However, what was more significant was that Jang Seokgyu’s earlier words had unexpectedly provided him with a crucial clue.

 

“So that’s why…”

 

Jang Seokgyu looked at him with a puzzled expression, but Sa Muheon’s gaze was directed far away, as if recalling something.

 

After hearing that Garam had been scared, Sa Muheon realized that the solution to the problem he had been agonizing over was right in front of him all along.

 

Since the incident that day, it seemed as though the two of them had reconciled smoothly. However, perhaps he had been mistaken. Garam often appeared downcast, unable to hide his dejected demeanor. At times, he would stop in his tracks, let out heavy sighs, or sit idly, lost in thought.

 

Each time, Sa Muheon found himself wondering what could weigh so heavily on this small squirrel. His own thoughts were often preoccupied by this question.

 

At one point, he even speculated that Garam might be stressed from spending too much time in his small squirrel form. As a result, he had been spending his time pondering what activities might bring joy to the tiny squirrel shifter. Yet, all those efforts had been in vain.

 

No wonder the ambitious squirrel shifter exercise equipment he had purchased the day before had elicited no reaction. His entire approach had been completely off the mark.

 

“Anyway, don’t be too hard on him. He may look like a small squirrel, but he’s sharper than most. And given the circumstances, where he could run into trouble if he left the house alone, are you worried he might even run away?”

 

There was no fault in Jang Seokgyu’s slightly pointed remark. Sa Muheon looked at him with a surprised expression.

 

While Jang Seokgyu was generally kind to everyone, it was notoriously difficult to truly earn his approval. Yet now, it seemed that, after spending time together for security purposes, he had grown fond of Garam. So much so that he was taking Garam’s side while subtly criticizing his own boss.