CDCN Chapter 15

Jin-geon’s face flushed in an instant. He covered it with both hands.

He suddenly felt embarrassed for having jumped to conclusions on his own. Now that he thought about it, what he had felt pressing against his lower abdomen from Yang-hwi hadn’t been hard—it had actually been soft. He was the only one who had gotten aroused by Yang-hwi’s unintentionally provocative movements.

“…Still, perilla leaf scent, huh.”

His pheromones had been described in many ways before, but never as kkaetnip (perilla leaf). Kkaetnip, kkaetnip… Jin-geon murmured the word under his breath, then let out a cheerful laugh. With eyes full of interest, he looked down at Yang-hwi.

“You really are interesting.”

Jin-geon gently tousled Yang-hwi’s hair. The feel of it in his palm was soft, almost like a baby’s.

Yang-hwi’s drunken antics didn’t last long. After whining and grumbling with the occasional swear word for a few minutes, he fell sound asleep.

Jin-geon, who was also pretty tired, considered dozing off next to him. But the heat that had built up below, now half-erect, was too distracting. He gently pushed Yang-hwi to the side of the bed. As the warmth of his body faded, Jin-geon felt an odd sense of emptiness.

He looked down at Yang-hwi’s peacefully sleeping face, then let his gaze drift lower. Unlike him, Yang-hwi’s lower half showed only the faint outline of its natural shape. Another clear sign that he hadn’t been sexually aroused at all.

“That’s a little unfair.”

It didn’t feel great being the only one who got turned on. He’d just been disappointed, thinking Yang-hwi had approached him with ulterior motives, and now here he was, feeling oddly let down that there hadn’t been any sexual intention.

It was kind of funny—proof that he did, to some extent, like Yang-hwi.

Jin-geon looked at Yang-hwi’s slim but defined abdomen, visible under the slightly rolled-up T-shirt. Though he seemed lean, he was fairly toned, and the skin Jin-geon had touched earlier had felt unexpectedly soft.

With no current regular partner, Yang-hwi might actually be…

Not just someone he met for the sake of releasing desire out of obligation, but someone he could genuinely enjoy being intimate with. Jin-geon had a feeling their sexual chemistry might even be good.

That thought made the heat below rise again. Jin-geon glanced down at the clear bulge straining against his pants.

“…Let’s take care of this first.”

He pulled Yang-hwi’s T-shirt back down to cover him, then headed for the bathroom.

* * *

“Ugh… Urgh… Damn.”

A groan escaped his mouth from the throbbing headache. Swallowing a curse, Yang-hwi scrunched up his face and opened his eyes.

‘Where am I?’

Everything beyond his blurry vision looked unfamiliar. Curling up under the blanket, Yang-hwi rolled his eyes around.

It was a studio apartment—spacious for a single person. The modern furniture layout, seemingly reflecting the owner’s taste, made the space feel even larger. He had seen this layout before—it was one of those officetels he had visited while apartment hunting, but the deposit was too expensive for him to even consider.

“…Whose place is this?”

As Yang-hwi tried to recall which acquaintance could afford such a place, he suddenly remembered why he was in this unfamiliar room in the first place. Before heading home, he’d had a strange-tasting drink. The moment he realized it was soju heavily mixed with beer, he’d blacked out.

“Is this Lee Se-jin’s place?”

Yang-hwi figured Lee Se-jin, having mixed the drink, might have taken responsibility and brought him here.

But Yang-hwi couldn’t ignore the faintly familiar scent that had been bothering him for a while now. No, it wasn’t just nearby—the entire apartment was filled with a clean, refreshing fragrance.

“Is this… Cha Jin-geon’s house?”

The moment he realized it, Yang-hwi’s face went pale.

He could usually hold his liquor pretty well. Whether it was beer or soju, as long as he stuck to one type, he could last the whole night—neither Ryu Jun nor Min Ki-hyeok could outdrink him. But the moment he mixed drinks, it was over. One shot, and he’d pass out. He never remembered what he did afterward, but he knew it was always something awful.

He didn’t even want to recall how he knew that. He just remembered that the next day, Min-young’s fur looked like it had been flattened by spit all over, and Min-young got snappy just from seeing him—enough for him to realize he had done something horrible.

Thank goodness he had tested it at home—if it happened outside, he wouldn’t have been able to show his face again.

And now… he had woken up in Cha Jin-geon’s house. In his bed, no less? Yang-hwi had no idea what he might’ve done.

That’s when Yang-hwi noticed he was clutching a familiar T-shirt in his hand—one that Cha Jin-geon had definitely been wearing last night.

“Gasp! Oh god, what… what the hell did I do?!”

Terrified, Yang-hwi threw the shirt onto the floor and stared at it with wide, panicked eyes. He was scared to find out what other ridiculous things he might have done.

Yet despite all the commotion he was making, the house was eerily silent—no sign of anyone else. Cha Jin-geon, the owner, didn’t seem to be home.

“…I need to get out of here.”

He could worry about the consequences later. Right now, he couldn’t bear to face Cha Jin-geon. Grabbing at his hair in despair, Yang-hwi shook his head furiously.

But something felt strange in his hands. Come to think of it, every time he looks around, something at the top of his head is twitching like a sensitive antenna.

Yang-hwi relaxed his grip and patted the top of his head. Soft, squishy—something no human should feel growing out of their scalp.

His eyes widened. Startled, he pulled his hand away and climbed down from the bed. Slowly, he approached the mirror hanging on the wall. He knew he had to check, but he was scared to.

Standing in front of the mirror, Yang-hwi recoiled in horror as if he had seen a ghost. Reflected in the mirror was his own familiar, pale, swollen face.

“What the hell… is this?”

And to his shock, a pair of cat ears twitched on top of his head, moving in sync with his horrified expression.

* * *

Yang-hwi looked up at the sign that read “Clinic for Beastmen”, his expression dark. He swallowed hard and, as if making up his mind, stepped into the building. Worried about being recognized, he pulled his hoodie further down over his face and got into the elevator.

After fleeing Cha Jin-geon’s house, Yang-hwi immediately searched for clinics that specialized in beastmen and went to the nearest one.

“…You said there wasn’t even a 1% chance of this happening.”

‘Then what is this, Dad?’

Seeing the faint outline of his ears under his cap in the mirror, Yang-hwi inwardly cursed his father.

When Yang-hwi stepped out on the 5th floor and hesitated in front of the door, a woman behind him spoke up, saying she’d go in first. He stepped aside, and she opened the door. Following her was a child with rabbit ears and a fluffy tail.

Yang-hwi’s lips parted slightly in surprise. Since he arrived in this world, it was the first time he’d seen someone openly display their beastmen traits.

Though this world was said to be one where humans and beastmen coexisted, Yang-hwi hadn’t really felt that truth. That was because he had never seen anyone walking around with visible beastmen features—at least not on the streets.

The reason for that was simple: beastmen children learned from a young age how to hide their traits naturally, taught by their parents.

But a specialty beastmen clinic was one place where they didn’t need to hide anything. Children openly showed their ears and tails—or even ran around the clinic in their full animal forms.

Among the adults in the waiting room, Yang-hwi was the only one hiding his ears. Embarrassed, he tugged on the strings of his hoodie and buried his head.

“What brings you in today?”

As Yang-hwi stood hesitantly at the reception desk, a nurse asked him.

He had no idea how to explain. ‘I was human until yesterday, and now I suddenly have ears?’ But even if he kept insisting he was human, the truth was—whether it was a 1% chance or not—he really was a cat beastman.

His face only grew redder as he stood there silently, his mouth opening and closing without words. The nurse’s eyes narrowed, as if she were looking at a suspicious pervert. He had to say something before he got into more trouble.

“I need to know your symptoms in order to check you in.”

“W-Well… I didn’t have ears before, but now I do…”

“Ears? You didn’t have them, and now you do? Could you show me?”

The nurse, somehow understanding his babbling perfectly, handed him a form and a pen without missing a beat. After writing down his basic information, Yang-hwi slowly pulled back his hoodie. At that moment, his perked-up ears sprang into view.

“Oh my!”

The nurse’s eyes widened in genuine surprise. And with that one exclamation, all the other patients in the waiting room turned their eyes toward Yang-hwi. It wasn’t just that adult beastmen rarely showed their ears—it was also the sight of the soft, gray, still-fluffy fur-covered cat ears perched on his head that made people start whispering among themselves.

“So… you’re saying they appeared all of a sudden?”

“…Yes. This morning.”

“But according to your ID, you’re registered as a human. Alright, come this way. Before seeing the doctor, we’ll run a few simple tests first.”

The nurse’s previously curt tone softened. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Yang-hwi’s ears. Embarrassed, he pulled his hoodie back up, and she clicked her tongue in disappointment.

The nurse, who had been fondling his ears under the guise of conducting an exam with a suspiciously eager touch, said, “This might sting a little~” before drawing his blood. Then, she promptly led him to the examination room.

“Doctor, Mr. Go Yang-hwi is coming in.”

“Yes, please come in.”

The moment Yang-hwi stepped inside, he momentarily forgot his situation out of sheer surprise. Sitting there in a white lab coat wasn’t someone who looked like a typical doctor—but more like an actor.

But that wasn’t what startled Yang-hwi.

What really caught him off guard was the strange feeling that this doctor looked eerily familiar… like someone he knew.