217 – Haildo If This Goes On #2
The sleeping situation was unusually uncomfortable.
The blanket felt too large, and the bed was way too soft.
This morning, I opened my eyes feeling strangely different from usual.
I realized that I had turned into an animal.
Fur grew fluffy all over.
A body that looked soft and plush.
Pointy ears.
This sight left me feeling dizzy.
What the heck is this—!
It felt as if the dream I had the previous night was continuing.
But my instinct was telling me.
This is not a dream; it’s reality.
For some reason, I could tell that this was not just a dream but reality.
What on earth is this—!
I screamed again as I looked at my reflection in the mirror.
But my scream only echoed in my mouth, producing a completely unexpected sound.
“Kung Kung—!”
It was a very charming and cute bark.
Squirrel Beasts that loved chomping on strawberries or lettuce barked just like this.
Not just the Kkungkkungi, but all Squirrel Beasts barked this way.
That’s why they’re called ‘Squirrel’ Beasts.
“Kung Kung—!”
What this meant was one thing.
It meant that I had become a gigantic Squirrel Beast.
What on earth happened?
Did the man who turned into a bug once feel as confused as I do now?
But I was better off than that unfortunate man who had turned into a bug.
The first reason for that.
I thought I vaguely knew why I had transformed.
In the past, it was said that Inoi, Illinois, and Kalilnoi collaborated to create the “Animal Potion.”
The bitter aftertaste of that terrible potion still seemed to linger on my lips. My brilliant instinct was telling me that the cause of this transformation was definitely the Nymphs’ “Animal Potion.”
“Kung Kung—!”
Yes!
If it’s the Nymphs, then they must know how to undo this transformation!
Identifying the cause leads to the solution.
With that thought, I left the room and headed to the living room.
The hands—front paws—of the Squirrel Beast were structured in such a way that they could grip objects better than I expected, so it was easy to open and close the doorknob.
Arriving in the living room felt like that.
The time was 10 AM.
“Kung Kung—!”
I called for Inoi.
But Inoi wasn’t home; perhaps she had gone out with the Nymphs!
Ssssss—.
At that moment, I could sense a scent similar to the candy smell characteristic of the Nymphs wafting through the tip of my nose.
It seems the wet tip of a Squirrel Beast’s nose can literally sniff out and detect almost any scent, and it turned out to be true.
Dudang dudang—.
I stood on my back legs, feeling a bit uncomfortable trying to walk upright.
Walking on two legs was more challenging than I expected, and the newly appeared ‘tail’ moved around haphazardly, making it particularly difficult to control my body.
Anyway.
I felt like a pilot sitting in a strange cockpit as I moved my body and noticed a note attached to the house’s front door.
A yellow Post-it.
It had Inoi’s scribbled Hangul written on it.
“I’m off with the Nymph sisters to pick five-leaf clovers…! I’m taking Kkungkkungi, Ahn Ahn, and Bang Bang with me…!”
It seemed that Nymph Inoi, along with Illinois and Kalilnoi, had gone for a walk or expedition to a nearby rice field.
The Nymphs were incredibly outgoing and explorative, so they loved to scour rice fields or catch insects like butterflies.
It appeared to be the same today.
It seemed they took all the small animals along for a stroll too.
“Kung Kung—!”
That’s bad.
I felt quite embarrassed at the thought that I needed to maintain this plush and fluffy appearance until the Nymphs returned.
When would they be back?
I didn’t know exactly what a “five-leaf clover” was, but I vaguely understood it was a rare plant that the Nymphs mentioned from time to time.
It didn’t seem like they would return anytime soon.
“Kung Kung—!”
A body that found walking on two legs difficult.
I was in a state where I couldn’t even speak human words.
Ding dong—.
Just then, I heard the sound of the bell from the well house.
Someone had come to our house!
Ssssss—.
I could strongly smell the scent of balloon gum at the tip of my nose.
This distinctive balloon gum smell belonged to no one else I knew.
Lee Jin-A had come!
# # #
Lee Jin-A had seen Haildo’s message from the previous day.
“There’s something I need to talk about, so let’s meet at the cafe we always go to at 9 tomorrow.”
The cafe mentioned here referred to the newly opened “Starbox – Primal Village Branch.”
The owner of this place was a middle-aged man who had a coffee-colored Squirrel Beast, and the flavors of the beans picked by the Squirrel Beast were excellent, making it a popular spot for people.
‘What could he want to talk about?’
Lee Jin-A was feeling a bit angry as she had been fighting with Haildo.
She was determined not to see or talk to him for a while. When he suggested they meet first, she couldn’t ignore it.
So she went to the cafe at 9 AM.
But after waiting for an hour, Haildo didn’t show up, and the thought that she had been stood up only made her mood worse.
Thus, Lee Jin-A went to the well house.
Ding dong ding dong—.
She pressed the bell while looking at the closed gate.
But there was no answer from inside, and she felt no presence.
“What’s going on? Is someone messing with me?”
Lee Jin-A unlocked the gate with a key she had taken out of the milk delivery bag. When she stepped into the yard full of golden apple trees and various herbs—
She noticed something huge charging toward her.
“What is this…!?”
It was a beast with brown fur. It was the size of an adult human and walked awkwardly on two legs, with pointy ears and stripes.
A bear.
For a moment, she thought a bear, rumored to live somewhere in Korea, had come down to the village. Startled, Lee Jin-A clenched her fist and was about to swing it, but upon closer inspection, it was a squirrel.
“What the heck is a squirrel doing?”
It was an extraordinarily large squirrel.
Could there really be a squirrel this big?
But if there was, it wasn’t surprising.
“Is this a charismatic giant squirrel…?”
The owner of this house, Haildo, was known as the ‘Squirrel Beast Haildo.’
Haildo was close with all the Squirrel Beasts of Primal Village, and it wouldn’t be strange at all if he had invited such a giant squirrel to his house.
“Come to think of it… I think the Nymphs mentioned encountering an extraordinarily large squirrel in Greece. What did they say? Ancient squirrel? No, was it a godly squirrel…?”
The ancient species of Squirrel Beast said to have been met by the Nymphs in Greece.
It was said to be extremely large.
Perhaps this could be the squirrel they were talking about.
No, that was the only thought that made sense.
“Kung Kung—!”
The Squirrel Beast barked.
It circled around Lee Jin-A and somehow seemed to feel friendly. Lee Jin-A had a disposition that was sensitive to the affection and goodwill of others.
She realized that this peculiar godly squirrel had no intention of harming her and seemed to hold some goodwill instead.
“Kung Kung—!”
What is it saying?
Suu—.
Lee Jin-A raised her hand and gently petted the enormous Squirrel Beast’s head. However, the giant Squirrel Beast continued to circle around her, barking, “Kung Kung—!”
“Are you hungry?”
Lee Jin-A recalled that somewhere in Haildo’s house there was a pile of macadamia nuts meant for the squirrels.
Didik, dididik—.
Unlocking the door lock, Lee Jin-A entered and rummaged through the messy living room and room to find a bag of nuts, spilling the contents into an empty bowl.
Charrarrr—.
The plate piled high with nuts.
The large Squirrel Beast gobbled the nuts into its mouth as if it had been starving. Watching this, Lee Jin-A couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Wow, were you that hungry? Was Haildo the one who fed you? Where on earth has that guy wandered off to without even feeding his Squirrel Beast? We had a meeting too.”
Though she had momentarily lost focus due to the large Squirrel Beast, Lee Jin-A soon refocused her thoughts on the fact that Haildo had stood her up.
“I was just gonna apologize for hitting you yesterday. And this guy dares to stand me up. He suggested we meet at the cafe until 9.”
“Kung Kung—!”
The big Squirrel Beast moved around inside Haildo’s room. It turned on the computer and began randomly hitting the keyboard, though she couldn’t make out what it was trying to do.
But Lee Jin-A was taken aback.
“Can a Squirrel Beast use a computer? Is it just imitating things?”
She’d heard that Squirrel Beasts were pretty smart, but she hadn’t realized they could bang on a computer keyboard like that.
Curious about what the big Squirrel Beast was aiming to do, she decided to observe closely.
An extremely large Squirrel Beast.
Its fur was fluffy all over, and its very long tail swayed about uncontrollably, while its ears were perked up.
Lee Jin-A thought to herself.
‘Cute.’
Since Lee Jin-A cared about what people thought, she usually didn’t pet animals like Squirrel Beasts or Honey Ants in front of others.
However, when nobody was around, she occasionally liked to play with Haildo’s animal friends, Kkungkkungi, by petting them or fooling around with them.
At that moment, with nobody around.
After glancing around, Lee Jin-A slowly reached out and hugged the enormous Squirrel Beast with both arms.
It was really soft, warm, and smelled wonderful.
“The Squirrel Beast is so cute! What should I do?!”
# # #
“I was going to apologize to Haildo for hitting him. This guy dared to stand me up. He said we’d meet at the cafe by 9.”
I, who had decided to apologize to Lee Jin-A, left her a message right away. But today I overslept for various reasons and didn’t make it to the meeting spot.
Lee Jin-A seemed to think I had intentionally messed with her.
What an absurd misunderstanding.
So, I made various efforts to reveal my identity as Haildo.
I tried to turn on the computer’s notepad to write “I am Haildo,” but due to the differences between my hands and front paws, it didn’t work well.
Just then, Lee Jin-A wrapped her arms around me.
“The Squirrel Beast is so cute! What should I do?!”
I was flustered.
Usually, Lee Jin-A presented a cool demeanor toward animals. Of course, I knew she would give Kkungkkungi peanuts or play with him when others weren’t around, but—
“Come here! This is so soft and warm, it’s healing! Wow, this is life! I love this feeling…! The Squirrel Beast is so big, it feels amazing…! I don’t know what it is, but I feel like I’m getting addicted…! Eeeeek!”
Lee Jin-A was treating me like a real Squirrel Beast, smelling me and shivering obsessively.
I thought to myself as she held me tightly like a stuffed toy.
Lee Jin-A acted cool on the outside but was actually pretty shy and reserved.
What if she discovered that this giant Squirrel Beast was me, Haildo?
And what if she realized that the things she had done were to me, Haildo, and not to some Squirrel Beast?
Lee Jin-A would probably feel incredibly embarrassed, and that embarrassment might turn into aggression directed at me.
“More than that, you smell similar to Haildo. A strange herb smell. I want to smell it more… What should I call it? I think I remember this scent from Haildo’s clothes…”
So, I had to make a decision.
Before Lee Jin-A accumulated more embarrassing memories, I needed to somehow let her know what was going on!
Pababat—!
So I wriggled out of Lee Jin-A’s embrace.
Then I headed to the yard, picked up some stones nearby with my mouth and paws, and formed ‘letters’ on the ground.
“What’s up? Where are you going? Come here!”
Lee Jin-A seemed to chase after me into the yard and spotted the letters written on the ground.
“What’s this? ‘I am Haildo’…?”
At first, her expression was one of confusion, as if she didn’t understand, but then it quickly changed to surprise before flushing red like a tomato!
