FR | Chapter 1.1

“……Shit.”

A low curse scattered in the solemn atmosphere. The voice, barely audible even within a meter, was tinged with despair.

Won was in such a panic that he didn’t even notice the gaze of the student sitting with an empty seat between them.

Suddenly, heat surged to his eyelids. He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them. Slowly, he lowered his gaze, fearing he might have seen wrong.

He hadn’t.

Won hurriedly hid the scales peeking out from under his sleeve. He had to leave before the scales spreading from his arm reached his face.

He rolled his eyes upward again. The professor was giving a lecture using a beam projector. The voice that usually made him sleepy within a minute was now irrelevant. His throat, tense with anxiety, felt uncomfortable.

He quietly slipped out of the lecture hall. He could feel the number of scales covering his body increasing exponentially.

He pulled his sleeves down to cover his wrists. Why? It wasn’t even the right time for this, so why suddenly?

His mind raced to figure out the reason. But he couldn’t think of a single clue.

His breathing became shorter. He grew more anxious. Realizing scales were starting to appear on his neck, Won covered it with his hand.

He hurriedly hid in the bathroom. As his body began to take on its true form, the vibrations of the ground felt more sensitive.

He entered a stall and locked the door tightly. He started taking off his clothes, which were rubbing against his skin. He stopped abruptly while taking off his pants.

“……Crazy bastard.”

This time, his curse was tinged with anger. His gaze fell on a bite mark on the inside of his thigh.

It was the first time he’d seen it, but he instinctively knew. It was a marking.

He didn’t have to look far for the culprit. Won thought of the leopard he had been dating just a month ago.

He had felt uneasy when the leopard suddenly visited him a few days ago, and now he knew it was because of the marking.

Won wanted to tear apart the leopard who had forcibly marked him during the blackout in his memory. It was a mistake to agree to have one last drink out of lingering feelings.

Marking was something done by those in deep, committed relationships.

By leaving a bite mark and rubbing a certain amount of bodily fluid into the wound, the pheromones mixed in would take effect. Once the pheromones settled in the body, the womb would open in a short time, and some same-sex couples used this method to have children.

Even without pregnancy, marking was often used socially. Repeated marking could lead to imprinting on each other.

The problem was… Won had no intention of having a child or imprinting with anyone.

It was a value he had established since childhood, so he wouldn’t have clung to an ex while drunk, demanding to imprint.

It was a marking with no consent. In other words, he had been betrayed by the ex he trusted so much. Out of nowhere.

Several days had passed since the marking, and the womb had settled, so it was natural for the heat cycle to be accelerated.

An unexpected situation had occurred, and Won had to prepare for the worst-case scenario that might happen. The moment he could sense pheromones from a beastman without direct contact was during a heat cycle like now.

The only silver lining was that the leopard’s pheromones were stronger than his own due to the marking, which was like a territorial mark.

There weren’t many beastmen who could match a predator like a leopard, so it was rare for him to become a target for other creatures. Even if a beastman passed through this space, they would likely avoid him.

Won, grinding his teeth, slipped his right hand into his underwear. He grasped his already hard member.

He needed to relieve this boiling desire, even just a little. He had to get rid of the faint scales on his cheeks to leave this place.

His member, pressed against his palm, began to swell with heat. His body temperature rose without much stimulation, and his eyes narrowed.

“Haa……”

He swallowed the hot breath bursting from his mouth and stroked his member once. Even though it was a familiar sensation, his spine straightened. The pleasure was so intense that he unconsciously tilted his head back.

Every time his sharp fingertips gently touched the tip, his vision blurred. He reached out with his left hand to brace against the partition. He applied a little more force to his grip.

The warmth spread blatantly. Pre-cum burst forth, spreading evenly over a wider area.

As his knuckles bent, scratching the particle board partition, it happened.

Bang!

The firmly closed door was knocked down in one blow.

“I wondered where that disgusting cat smell was coming from.”

Caught off guard, Won froze, still holding his member. His lips parted slightly, sensing the sudden breeze.

The door, with its lower hinge torn off, made an unpleasant sound as it wobbled. His vision swayed like a rollercoaster.

His gaze slid from the door to the floor, then finally up to a man with a chilling smile.

“Just a marked reptile, huh.”

The chill running down his spine wasn’t just because of the scales. Won saw the meaning in the man’s smile.

Those eyes were the eyes of a predator that had finally caught its prey.

Following the man’s gaze from the scales on his upper body to the marking, Won’s body temperature plummeted. He was at a loss for words, his lips forming a silent smile.

The reason for Won’s tension wasn’t just the situation he was in. The man, appearing to be around 190cm with a thick, large frame, exuded an intimidating presence. His deeply tanned skin added to his imposing aura.

His horizontally slit eyes, nose, and jawline were all sharp. The man’s eyes, like a wild animal that could never be tamed, gleamed with a strange light.

The man was exploring with those eyes. They were filled with interest. He was mischievous enough to reveal his teasing without feeling an ounce of shame.

Instinctively, Won’s whole body tensed.

Why is he staring so intently? His narrowed eyes followed the man’s gaze.

The man was staring at his lower body. More precisely, at the hand buried in his underwear.

……Crazy. Realizing this belatedly, Won hurriedly withdrew his hand. The man’s gaze leisurely followed the hand suspended in the air. Their eyes met for a fleeting moment.

The man took a step forward. The distance between them closed by that one step. As Won flinched and tried to pull his hand back, the man roughly grabbed his wrist.

“Ugh……”

The man fixed his sticky gaze on Won. Even as he licked the fluid from his hand, his gaze never wavered.

He seemed truly insane. Won hadn’t been this bewildered in recent memory.

He wanted to lower his eyes. But his instincts, mired in the muck of his subconscious, controlled his self-awareness.

Something was telling him. The moment he avoided that persistent gaze, he’d be devoured.

His hand began to tremble. Whether it was due to the man’s grip or his own bewilderment, he couldn’t tell. All he knew was the urgent cry from his gut to escape this situation.

“……Who are you?”

Barely regaining his senses, Won shook off the man’s hand. The man, meeting his wary gaze, chuckled softly.

Humans couldn’t sense beastman pheromones.

Marking, reptile… From the words in their conversation, it was likely this man was also a beastman like him.

If he understood the fear only beastmen could feel, Won hoped he’d pretend not to see him just once. But the man, standing arrogantly with a leisurely smile, showed no mercy.

The man’s pale lips parted. His tongue, peeking out, moistened his lower lip.

It was as if he was savoring a taste. Won swallowed the saliva pooling in his mouth heavily.

“Seems like you can’t tell what’s important. There’s nothing more crucial than the situation you’re in right now.”

The man’s gaze landed on the increasingly vivid scales. The scales on his white skin shimmered with a dark hue.

It was troubling. If the heat continued and his body became covered in scales, he wouldn’t be able to resolve it with just self-stimulation.

He couldn’t think of how to escape this situation. Won cautiously scanned behind the man.

No one had entered the bathroom with the man. But judging by the vibrations of the ground, there were people occasionally passing by nearby.

The scales spreading to his cheeks and the darkening skin. It was a sight anyone would find strange. But returning to his true form would cause a commotion at the school due to his adult-sized body.

“How would you feel if someone spread a disgusting smell and then acted like they were being forced to eat it?”

“……”

“It wouldn’t be unfair if that really happened.”

The man’s gaze, which had momentarily shifted away, returned to Won. The man sneered at him. His mocking tone was anything but ordinary.

Won, who had momentarily considered asking for help, quickly dismissed the thought.

The man already knew what Won wanted. Despite the pheromones leaking out, he stood his ground, and his twisted words and opportunistic gaze suggested he was waiting for a chance.

Would this man, who seemed to be watching with amusement, really help him willingly?

Won had no confidence that the man would help him. So he just moved his lips silently, and suddenly, the man’s gaze shifted away from him.

The man’s gaze, having lost interest, checked the watch on his right wrist. The metal watch, as sturdy as the man’s solid wrist, looked expensive even to someone like Won, who didn’t know much about luxury brands.

The man straightened his back as if to leave. Reflexively, Won’s hand reached out first.

As he grabbed the man’s forearm, the man’s gaze moved indifferently.

“……Help me.”

A tiny voice barely escaped. The man savored the words, raising one corner of his mouth.

Hmm. He drew out a long breath as if contemplating.

“For free?”

Won tightened his grip. The man’s forearm, seemingly devoid of any fat, was hard under his palm. The man’s gaze lingered on each of Won’s knuckles.

It was a sly reaction, as if he wanted something. Won pondered again. What did the man want?

His anxious eyes scrutinized the man’s expression.

Finally, what filled his mind was the ‘act’ the man had done when he first entered.

“……I’ll give it to you.”

“……”

“When the womb closes.”

After kicking the door, the man’s gaze had occasionally landed on his lower body. He had licked the fluid from his fingers and seemed interested in the scales on his skin.

Anyone but a fool would know what that gaze meant. It was a purely sexual implication.

Even after making such a big decision, the man raised an eyebrow as if he couldn’t believe those words had come from Won’s mouth.

Then he burst into laughter. Won furrowed his brow deeply.

Wasn’t he the one who followed the pheromones into the bathroom? What if he suggested having sex right here and now?

In this situation, which was beneficial to no one, Won could only chew on his lips.

If they had relations before the womb closed, he’d inevitably end up pregnant, and the leopard’s pheromones lingering on him might be off-putting to the man.

Won’s eyes wavered with uncertainty.

What part of this was amusing him? After laughing for a while, the man finally lifted his head.

“Ah, sorry. I thought I looked desperate to a reptile.”

He lazily rubbed his chin. The mocking laughter abruptly stopped.

“I didn’t expect you’d be willing to spread your legs with a marked partner. Not as fun as I thought.”