Chapter 89: A Misunderstanding Waiting to Happen

Jinhyang knew it too Harang was easily scared.

Even if she was a tiger, she was still just a cub.

It was only natural for the world to be frightening.

She tried to hide her fears, probably because of her pride.

But the fact that she was confessing them now meant she trusted Jinhyang more.

For Jinhyang, that wasn’t a bad thing at all.

“Boss, did you know?”

Harang squirmed in her chair, shifting left and right.

Her ears drooped shyly, as if embarrassed.

Jinhyang gently grabbed them and smoothed them out before responding.

“Know what?”

“I’m actually scared of a lot of things.”

“Yeah?”

Of course, Jinhyang already knew.

Harang had tried so hard to hide it that she had simply pretended not to notice.

“Do you remember when we went to the zoo?”

“Yeah.”

“I was really scared of the tiger back then, but I pretended I wasn’t.”

“Hmm…”

That was her pretending not to be scared?

She had hidden behind Jinhyang, trembling the whole time.

But if Harang insisted, there was no point in arguing.

Jinhyang decided to play along.

“It’s fine. Tigers are supposed to be scary.”

At those words, Harang puffed up her chest proudly.

Jinhyang immediately understood why.

She was trying to imply that the scary tiger was actually her.

Suppressing a laugh, Jinhyang sat beside her.

At that moment, Harang’s face turned red as she slowly looked up.

“Boss, now that I think about it…”

“Yeah?”

What was she about to say to make her blush like that?

Jinhyang licked her lips in anticipation.

“When I first met you, I was really scared.”

“Oh.”

So that’s what it was.

Jinhyang had expected something more serious.

Feeling mischievous, she reached out and stretched Harang’s cheek.

Harang stared at her for a moment, then broke into a wide, eye-smiling grin.

“But now, I’m not scared of you at all!”

“Not at all?”

“Nope! Not even a little! I really like you!”

Jinhyang knew Harang wasn’t lying.

Her tail was swaying happily from side to side.

She only did that when she was truly excited.

“It feels so good to say it out loud. Maybe because I told you?”

“You really have a way of saying weird things.”

“Huh? What’s weird about it…?”

Jinhyang quickly turned her head away from Harang’s innocent, sparkling eyes.

Most of the time, she got flustered so easily, but in moments like this, she was oddly bold.

It was impossible to understand what went on in a kid’s head.

Jinhyang debated pulling Harang’s cheek a little harder but decided against it.

Instead, she pushed herself up from the floor.

“Let’s go.”

“Huh? Where? Can’t we stay here a little longer?”

“Where else? We have to find Delphine.”

“Oh, right.”

Harang nodded, then stretched out her arms toward Jinhyang.

At this point, asking to be carried was second nature to her.

Jinhyang chuckled and picked her up.

“Do you think you’ll be scared of other monsters too, aside from trolls?”

“Hmm… I don’t think I’d be scared of anything smaller than me.”

“Yeah?”

There weren’t many monsters smaller than Harang, but a few did exist.

Maybe goblins or rabbit-type monsters.

Jinhyang infused some of her energy into Harang to keep her calm, then started walking toward where Delphine was.

I was in Jinhyang’s arms, moving toward Delphine.

She was probably still watching the troll.

Which meant I would have to go near it, too.

‘It’ll be fine, right?’

Since I had just told Jinhyang that I was scared of trolls, she wouldn’t take me straight to one… would she?

For now, I decided to trust Jinhyang.

She had never done anything I disliked.

“Ugh.”

Just thinking about the troll filled me with fear.

I quickly buried my nose and mouth against Jinhyang’s collarbone, leaving only my eyes peeking out.

With most of my face hidden in her embrace, I felt secure.

Without realizing it, I stuck out my tongue and licked her shoulder.

“Hm?”

But instead of Jinhyang’s skin, my tongue met the artificial texture of her crisp white dress shirt.

I blinked in surprise at the synthetic taste.

‘You annoying shirt.’

How dare it get in the way of a tiger’s grooming?

Frustration surged inside me, and my claws instinctively extended.

I was about to tear the shirt apart, but the moment I realized it belonged to Jinhyang, I quickly retracted my hands.

‘Phew…’

She probably didn’t have a change of clothes at the hospital.

If I ripped her shirt, it would put her in a difficult situation.

‘I can’t tear it.’

But even if I couldn’t rip it, there was still a way to lick Jinhyang’s neck and shoulders.

The answer was simple unbutton her shirt.

I reached up and began undoing the buttons one by one.

Jinhyang came to an abrupt stop when I had unfastened two.

“…What are you doing?”

Her eyes widened in shock.

‘She probably thinks I’m trying to undress her.’

That wasn’t my intention at all.

I simply wanted to pull her shirt aside just enough to show my affection through grooming.

Instead of answering, I undid one more button.

With a total of three buttons undone, I carefully pulled her shirt open.

Jinhyang’s slender neck and pale shoulders were revealed, making me giggle with satisfaction.

“There! That’s better!”

Now I could finally groom her.

But first, I needed to mark her with my scent.

I rubbed my ears against her neck, shoulders, and the exposed part of her chest.

As long as my scent lingered on her, she would be mine and mine alone.

I planned to make sure it wouldn’t wash away even after a shower.

“W-Wait, what are you doing?”

Jinhyang hurriedly tried to pull her shirt back up, but I immediately tugged it back down.

“Just a little more! I only need to lick now.”

“L-Lick…?”

“Yeah!”

I nodded enthusiastically, then stuck out my tongue and licked her shoulder.

Left side, right side.

Her shoulder, her neck.

And the slightly exposed skin.

As I covered every part of her bare skin with my tongue,

Jinhyang suddenly grabbed me by my underarms and stretched out her arms, putting some distance between us.

As a result, I could no longer reach her.

“Aren’t you going to stop?”

“Ah, no! I want to do more.”

Why was she stopping me from doing something so nice?

I reached out in protest, but my arms were too short to reach her again.

“There are too many people here.”

“Yes, there are a lot of people.”

It was a research facility, after all.

Of course, it was crowded.

I didn’t understand why she was pointing out something so obvious, so I tilted my head in confusion.

Jinhyang let out a deep sigh.

“You can’t just start undressing someone in public.”

“Huh? But I didn’t undress you?”

I had only pulled her shirt aside a little for easier access to her shoulders.

As I looked up at her with puzzled eyes, Jinhyang sighed again, then gestured toward her chest.

“Can’t you see this?”

“Hmm…”

I could see it.

Her shirt had slipped down, revealing her bra and cleavage.

But since I hadn’t undone all the buttons, only the top part was exposed.

“That’s not a big deal, right?”

“It is a big deal.”

Jinhyang smiled wryly as she buttoned her shirt back up, one by one.

A vein popped out on Jinhyang’s forehead.

“Ehh…”

As much as I hated to stop, I figured I should end it here.

If I kept going, Jinhyang might actually get mad.

Though I had no idea why she would.

I stuck out my tongue and licked at the air in disappointment, prompting Jinhyang to pick me up again.

“You should only do that when no one’s around.”

“Why?”

“People might misunderstand.”

“There’s no way they would…”

Licking was just an expression of affection.

There was nothing to be misunderstood.

But if Jinhyang said so, then I had no reason to doubt her.

She had never given me bad advice before.

Feeling dejected, I went limp in her arms.

She patted my back lightly and spoke.

“Fine. I’ll let you do it later when I wash you.”

“…You mean, during a shower…?”

“Yeah.”

Jinhyang nodded casually.

Her confidence made my face burn.

“S-Sajangnim, you pervert…!”

“…What?”

“N-No matter what, licking during a shower is just wrong!”

Licking when we were both completely undressed?

That was nothing short of indecent.

Had she been looking at me that way this whole time?

At this tiny body of mine that looked much younger than I really was?

I trembled and stared at Jinhyang in horror, but thankfully, she seemed genuinely clueless.

“…Is there a big difference between grooming now and grooming in the shower?”

“Yes! A huge difference!”

I nodded furiously.

How could she not understand something so basic?

I had always thought Jinhyang was mature, but in some ways, she was as clueless as a child.

‘Ah… right.’

Now that I thought about it, she was actually younger than me.

No wonder she was so ignorant about this stuff.

“Sajangnim, have you ever dated anyone before?”

“…”

“You’re still a baby, huh?”

Instead of answering, Jinhyang grabbed my cheeks and pulled.

It hurt so much that tears welled up in my eyes.

“Owwww!”

Unable to endure the pain, I smacked her hands away, and she finally spoke.

“Then have you?”

“Yes, I have.”

“…Huh?”

Jinhyang froze on the spot.

I had never seen her this shocked before.

“…What…?”

“Yes, I have.”

Back when I was still a popular little elementary schooler.

It wasn’t much more than a game of playing house.

Something light and fleeting, where we’d get together and break up just as easily.

But even that was more experience than Jinhyang had.

“When did you date someone?”

“That’s a secret.”

I grinned at her.

There was no way I was admitting it was back in elementary school.

Apparently, she didn’t like my answer, because she set me down with a dissatisfied expression.

“Who was it?”

“I said it’s a secret.”

“Just tell me the name.”

“W-Why are you like this…?”

Her grip on my shoulders tightened.

For my frail body, it was almost too much to bear.

Pain shot through my shoulders, making me wince, but Jinhyang just muttered to herself.

“There’s no way… Who could it be?”

“S-Sajangnim?”

“Did I miss something…?”

Her eyes looked strange.

Like how Yoon Bora’s did sometimes scary.

“S-Sajangnim…?”

Why was she acting like this all of a sudden?

I had never seen this side of Jinhyang before.

I must have accidentally touched on something I shouldn’t have.