CDCN Chapter 5

Cha Jin-geon was a little different from Yang-hwi’s last memory of him. His height, which used to be similar to Yang-hwi’s, had grown so much that Yang-hwi now had to tilt his head up to meet his gaze. Even at a glance, his body looked solid, likely from consistent exercise. Above all, his aura felt more mature.

Yet, while the youthful innocence had faded, his captivating beauty—the kind that could enchant anyone—remained unchanged. Despite Yang-hwi’s resolve to stay composed, his heart skipped a beat the moment he saw Cha Jin-geon’s smile. If he’d let his guard down, he might have been unconsciously drawn in.

“Yeah, it’s been a while.”

“We haven’t seen each other since graduation, right? I heard you got into Korea University, but somehow we never crossed paths.”

‘That’s because I’ve been avoiding you, obviously.’

Despite the nervous fluttering in his chest, Yang-hwi smiled calmly.

“The campus is big, and we’re in different departments, so that’s probably why.”

“Still, it’s nice to see your face like this. You’re taking ‘Structure of Society’ too, right, Yang-hwi?”

As he spoke, Cha Jin-geon’s eyes crinkled lightly.

‘No, why is this guy still so annoyingly nice? He could stand to be a little less friendly with the guy who used to stalk him.’

He was like that before too. He never once showed a sign of dislike towards Yang-hwi, who stared at him persistently. In the end, he seemed to become indifferent, but anyway, Yang-hwi had never seen him get angry.

“Yeah, you’re taking it too?”

“It’s a required general education course. But Yang-hwi, you know Min Ki-hyeok?”

Cha Jin-geon turned his head toward Min Ki-hyeok, who was standing beside them. From the tone, it seemed like the two of them already knew each other—quite well, at that.

‘He’s not misunderstanding this, is he?’

In the past, Yang-hwi had been so obsessed with learning everything about Cha Jin-geon that he’d tried to connect with the people around him however he could. He worried that Cha Jin-geon might think he was doing the same thing with Min Ki-hyeok this time.

But Cha Jin-geon only seemed mildly curious, nothing more. Min Ki-hyeok was the same.

“Yang-hwi, you know them?”

“We were high school classmates.”

‘And I was Cha Jin-geon’s stalker. Not anymore, though.’

At Yang-hwi’s brief explanation, neither Cha Jin-geon nor Lee Se-jin added anything further. Only Lee Se-jin let out a small “Hmm” with a slightly meaningful smile, but he didn’t seem inclined to tell Min Ki-hyeok about Yang-hwi’s past stalking.

“And you—how do you know them?”

“Our parents are close.”

Yang-hwi had casually asked about their relationship when he suddenly realized something odd.

In the original story, the first meeting between the two was intended to be at a bar on the university opening day; however, they plainly already knew each other.

Yang-hwi’s heart started pounding fiercely. This was an error—a complete deviation from the original setting.

Their first meeting was a crucial episode where Cha Jin-geon and Min Ki-hyeok imprinted on each other, yet it was already off from the very beginning.

He’d felt a vague sense of unease before, that something was different from the original story. He’d even considered that this might not be the world of the novel.

But now, with concrete evidence staring him in the face, Yang-hwi couldn’t contain his inner excitement.

Afraid he might slip up and say something wrong, he rolled his tongue in his mouth, searching for the right words.

“So, you’ve known each other since you were kids?”

“Well, yeah.”

Min Ki-hyeok’s face twisted slightly as if he’d bitten into a bitter persimmon, but Yang-hwi didn’t notice. He just clenched his fist lightly, inwardly cheering.

‘Then I don’t have to worry about getting killed by you guys, right?’

“Since our families know each other, you could say we’re what people call childhood friends—or something like that.”

Cha Jin-geon kindly added an explanation. It suddenly hit Yang-hwi why his character was described as angelic. An angel saving him from a hellish death. ‘If only he could also pull me out of this world while he is at it.’

His mood dipped again at the reminder that he was still in the novel’s world, but Yang-hwi soon flashed a bright smile.

‘At least I’ve escaped death—that’s something.’

Just then, his eyes met Cha Jin-geon’s, who had been staring at him. Yang-hwi awkwardly froze the corners of his mouth and slowly shifted his gaze elsewhere. A small “pfft” laugh escaped.

“What’s the point of being childhood friends? No matter how much I ask to hang out, he acts so high and mighty. Since starting college, I can count the times he’s shown up to gatherings on one hand,” Lee Se-jin seized the moment to vent his frustrations about Min Ki-hyeok. But Ki-hyeok glanced behind Se-jin nonchalantly, unfazed.

“Now that you mention it, I don’t see Park Ji-woong or Shi Yoon-soo around.”

“Yeah, now that you mention it? Wow, Jin-geon, check out this guy Min Ki-hyeok. The group chat was flooded with the others crying about not wanting to go, and he doesn’t even know where they went?”

“Where’d they go?”

Yang-hwi’s ears perked up at the familiar names. Grumbling about how indifferent Ki-hyeok was, Lee Se-jin continued.

“They both took a leave of absence. Park Ji-woong went to the military earlier this year, and Shi Yoon-soo left for overseas because of family business. We had a farewell party in January—did you already forget that?”

“Oh, that was that?”

“You were spaced out back then too…”

From Yang-hwi’s memory, Park Ji-woong was a bear beastman, and Shi Yoon-soo was a snake beastman. Both were love interest candidates in the original story.

But now they weren’t at Korea University?

Yang-hwi’s eyes sparkled again. More decisive proof emerged that things weren’t following the original plot.

‘So I don’t have to avoid Cha Jin-geon anymore?’

Last year, canceling every lecture that overlapped with Cha Jin-geon had left his schedule a mess. The memory of spending entire days at school, taking classes from morning to night in a chaotic pattern, nearly brought tears to his eyes.

But now wasn’t the time to cry. All that was left was to smile with peace of mind.

Watching Lee Se-jin and Min Ki-hyeok bicker and toss casual insults at each other from a distance, Yang-hwi smiled happily—until his eyes met Cha Jin-geon’s, who was staring at him again.

At first, it seemed like curiosity in his gaze, but then his eyes curved into crescents as he smiled prettily.

In this moment, Yang-hwi’s heart started thumping wildly. He felt heat rising from the back of his neck. But despite his warming body, an odd chill ran through him.

‘Damn it, if it’s not following the original story, shouldn’t this kind of setup disappear too?’

To suppress the sudden urge to rub his face against Cha Jin-geon’s body, Yang-hwi swallowed his tears and pinched his thigh hard.

…

With a “See you later,” Yang-hwi quickly dragged Min Ki-hyeok, who was bickering with Lee Se-jin, away from the scene.

Then, at lunch time, while watching Min Ki-hyeok grill Samgyeopsal¹, Yang-hwi sank into thought.

Now that he was farther from Cha Jin-geon, his rationality kicked back in. Yang-hwi mentally organized the current situation.

Since Drawn by Your Scent only has a synopsis, it seems the novel’s settings aren’t fully functioning.

But it’s certain that Min Ki-hyeok doesn’t like Cha Jin-geon, right? He’s not secretly harboring a crush or anything?

As Yang-hwi stared intently at him with narrowed eyes, spoon in his mouth, Min Ki-hyeok must have felt the hot gaze because he looked up. Frowning, he set down the meat tongs.

“What’s with you since earlier? Got something to say?”

“You said you’ve known Cha Jin-geon since you were kids, right?”

“Why are you asking that? Aunt, cider over here.”

His tone suggested annoyance at the pointless question. Ki-hyeok poured cider into a glass and placed it in front of Yang-hwi. Watching Ki-hyeok drink directly from the can, Yang-hwi asked,

“…Do you, by any chance, have a thing for Cha Jin-geon?”

“Cough, hack. What kind of nonsense is that?”

Choking on his drink, Ki-hyeok coughed violently, sending Yang-hwi a bewildered look. Seeing him tear up from the coughing fit, Yang-hwi handed him a napkin.

“I was wondering if you liked Cha Jin-geon.”

“You’ve been weird since this morning—have you finally lost it?”

“…I was just asking, but I guess not.”

Seeing both bewilderment and irritation flash across Min Ki-hyeok’s face, Yang-hwi slightly curled the corners of his mouth. Ki-hyeok gave him an incredulous look, but Yang-hwi was unfazed. Finally, the doubts that had been piling up felt like they were being properly digested.

Yang-hwi could be sure now. He was indeed inside the novel, but only the world was the same.

It was strange that all the characters from the story existed in reality, but he didn’t want to dwell on that.

The main character had no interest in the love interest and even seemed repulsed by the idea—there was no way the story would progress properly now.

“You’re a beastman, right? If you’re a beastman—”

“What does being a beastman have to do with liking Cha Jin-geon? Sometimes, Yang-hwi, you talk like you’re from another world.”

“That’s because I’m human. I don’t know much about beastmen.”

Yang-hwi calmly spouted a lie.

‘But considering how I, a cat beastman, feel the urge to cling to Cha Jin-geon every time I see him, it does seem like he’s human catnip. Wait, wolves are canines—don’t they not care about catnip? Though dogs chew on grass sometimes…’

Lost in pointless thoughts, he picked up a piece of overcooked Samgyeopsal to put in his mouth when Min Ki-hyeok spoke this time.

“What about you? You seemed pretty interested in Cha Jin-geon.”

“Cough, hack. What—cough.”

This time, it was Yang-hwi who choked. He pounded his chest and hurriedly gulped down the cider. Once the lump in his throat passed, he finally felt like he could breathe.

“Damn it, I almost died because of you.”

“I just asked the same question you did—how’s that my fault? Are you actually interested in Cha Jin-geon?”

“N-No, what kind of ridiculous thing is that?”

“If not, why couldn’t you take your eyes off him for a second? Why did your face turn red when you looked at him?”

“Damn it, that’s…”

It was all because Cha Jin-geon was human catnip. If he let his guard down even for a moment, his subconscious kept sneaking glances at him.

Even if this wasn’t the novel’s situation anymore, being around Cha Jin-geon made Yang-hwi feel an ominous premonition that his dignity as a human might vanish.

Who knew when his cat beastman genes might suddenly flare up?

“I was just surprised to see him after so long. Anyway, no. I don’t have the slightest interest in Cha Jin-geon.”

At his strong denial, Min Ki-hyeok said, “Sure,” and stared at him for a moment before a faint smile crept onto his lips. It looked like he was satisfied with something, but it gave Yang-hwi an uneasy feeling.

‘They say a strong denial is an affirmation—wait, he doesn’t actually have a crush on Cha Jin-geon, does he? Maybe he’s relieved I’m not a rival.’

A sliver of suspicion crept up, but Yang-hwi shook his head to dismiss it. Thinking like this might actually make things flow according to the original story.

Instead of these thoughts, he started thinking about how to live from now on.

‘Still, to avoid being swayed by Cha Jin-geon, it seems best to keep some distance from him for now.’