Chapter 4: Meal

“Ah….”

It was a hot day.

Having endured the heat and cold of Gangwon-do Province for a year and a half, even Kim Hyunseok, a returning student, found it difficult to fully withstand Seoul’s summer creeping in from outside the platform.

The outside temperature was exceeding 30 degrees, and his skin felt sticky as if a humidifier was turned on.

If Gangwon Province had warm sunlight as its forte, Seoul generously added over 90% humidity to it.

He didn’t bother filtering his thoughts. It was a day so unpleasant that even lifting his phone was difficult.

After quickly scanning his surroundings and confirming no one was there, he muttered as if complaining.

“The weather’s gone crazy… sigh….”

There were about ten minutes left until the subway arrived.

He considered going into the convenience store inside the subway station, but even if he bought something, waiting inside for ten minutes seemed somewhat off-putting.

The saying “endure it with grit and determination” was something he had heard until recently whenever he felt bored.

But did he really have to endure this kind of weather with grit and determination by coming out into society?

The only consolation was,

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[General] Damn, the weather’s messed up.

[2025.08.XX Recommended 0 Not recommended 0 Views 53 Comments 7]

(Roughly sketched image)

My life, going to school with luggage in this crappy weather, is legendary… Damn it… Isn’t there any animal that can’t stand the heat? It’s so freaking hot.

[All Comments] [Sorted by Date]

­Why are you going out on a day like this???? Are you crazy????

ㄴ[Author] There’s a good reason for everything, kid.

­Desert fox?

ㄴEven desert foxes struggle in the high humidity of hellish urban areas.

ㄴI have a friend who suffers from that, he’s always dying in the summer haha, poor guy’s sweating like a pig.

­Just go home and turn on the air conditioner.

­Seriously, it’s freaking hot.

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He wasn’t the only one feeling hot, as evidenced by the comments.

Text shining through the phone screen.

Reading the comments rolling in one by one, he could momentarily forget the hot weather and the tedious wait.

Seeing the word “desert fox” that caught his attention for a moment, he ran a simulation in his mind.

Even if a desert fox were to adapt… it would still be hot. After all, foxes do have fur.

Anyway, to put it simply, it went like this.

In this world, there have been exceedingly rare occurrences of individuals possessing animal traits.

Formally referred to as Ancients, but in society, they were called Manifestations, or simply, Beasts.

Well, even so, outwardly they might just have tails or ears, if lucky, both. But with significantly enhanced strength.

“Ugh, I can’t stand this anymore.”

Anyway, he had hoped to become a Manifestation for a brief moment just to endure this godawful heat, but that was out of the question in the end.

His body was moving automatically.

As he lightly pushed open the convenience store’s glass door, it made a sound like a sigh of relief. Cool air rushed in like a surge of ice.

His wallet would get a bit lighter, but so what? In a world where time is money, that had been the case for quite a while.

Buying a drink to momentarily gain the right to be inside the convenience store, it was roughly equivalent, one could say.

It didn’t take long for the cold and sweet drink to slide down his throat.

Once again feeling the sensation of his body’s engine in motion, he lifted his phone once more.

[Bonin getting tickled by a white tiger’s tail? Dream come true.]

[Today’s 1050th ho-dduk… 3 generations…jpg]

[Honestly, what’s the difference between people with patterns only in their hair and ordinary folks?]

[Are people who think Manifestations are the same as furry animals sane?]

It’s a mess today too.

But on the other hand, it was the breadcrumbs he always saw.

Having spent quite a long time in the Manifestation gallery, he was an experienced forum user, able to predict what might come next after one breadcrumb ended.

He clicked on one conspicuous post and entered.

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[General] Why the hell do you guys keep fetishizing skeletal deformities, you idiots

[2025.08.XX Recommended 73 Not Recommended 11 Views 1153 Comments 53]

Beyond accessories, it’s obvious it’s fucked up, you idiots

To be frank, anything beyond hair color, ears, tails, fangs, horns, or eye shapes is brain-dead

Anything more, please just fuck off to the furry forum, damn it. There hasn’t been a single Manifestation in this world whose body changed with fur or even face, so why do you keep pushing it, makes me want to smash your heads in

[All Comments] [Chronological Order]

­­­­­­­­Logical and flawless in its development… jeez…

No, it’s not, you bastards~~

Perry chung, identified

‘I’ve noted down all the annoying bastards kekeke, so satisfying.’

‘Seriously, these guys don’t even know why they’re being cursed keke. Even if they have such elements, they’re fundamentally different from humans in appearance and Perry, yet they insist on comparing and babbling nonsense.’

‘So, reptilian manifestations are signs of brain damage?’

ㄴ[Author]: If their face looks like that, then yes, it’s brain damage. If they have a tongue, fangs, pupils, and a tail, then it’s definite.

ㄴ[Author]: But I’ve never seen that side so I don’t know haha;; js;; keke!

ㄴIs it possible?

ㄴ[Author]: If they’re pretty, then they might just be obsessed bastards.

ㄴWhen I looked at reptile-human photos, there wasn’t a single person with scales. They just look similar to us.

.

.

.

.

“Sigh.”

The phone screen naturally turned black.

It was like a colosseum in there.

But sadly, that was just how things were in this place.

People fought for all sorts of ridiculous reasons, and when there wasn’t much fighting, they talked about famous manifestations on the internet, or something like that.

So, it’s not like they spent that much time in the cyber world beyond the screen anyway.

But today, a slightly different curiosity was tickling his mind.

“A snake….”

A possibility he had never considered before.

He briefly pondered, trying to imagine, but he couldn’t come up with a fitting image.

After all, those related individuals were not well-discussed even within the gallery, and fundamentally, there were only tiger-related manifestations in Korea.

He didn’t know.

Breathing quietly, he cautiously stepped out of the convenience store. Time had passed quite a bit unnoticed.

The platform was still hot, but it was bearable compared to before.

As he waited for the screen door to open, capturing the approaching train with his eyes, perhaps,

“Huh?”

Naturally, there was one person whose presence stole all attention.

A woman crossed paths with him.

Her slightly pale white skin, which was clearly vibrant, wasn’t exactly pale.

Her long, jet-black hair, lightly tinged with blue, contrasted naturally with her skin, but they both exuded vitality.

However, the sharp ears protruding between her sideburns were distinctly alien.

As her sharp gaze swiftly scanned his body from head to toe, their eyes met. Kim Hyunseok felt an inexplicable chill.

The blue gaze seemed as if it were carved from sapphire and embedded as it is.

However, that wasn’t the important part.

“and…”

From the hip area, a long snake tail naturally extended, twisting multiple times and moving freely.

He found himself inhaling deeply without realizing it.

She, who smoothly tucked the tail into her own pocket and casually took out her phone, opened her lips slightly.

“What can I do for you?”

“N-nothing, nothing at all.”

A voice that simultaneously exuded elegance and femininity, lower than expected. Yet, it gently pierced his ears.

She began to slowly fade from view.

“Student, if you’re getting on, hurry!”

“Ah!”

Phew.

Due to his gaze being distracted over there, he almost missed catching the subway he had just arrived at.

As he hurriedly boarded, whether it was because of that or some other reason, Kim Hyunseok’s heart was racing.

At the entrance where she had just left, he took another deep breath, perhaps fearing he might never meet her again.

…For some reason, there was a faint scent of gunpowder, cleaning oil, and lubricant in the air, reminiscent of what one might encounter in the military.

“Thank you.”

“Thank you! Enjoy your meal!”

Rustle, rustle.

She sat down in a suitable spot, took a bite of the toast he had just purchased, and chewed slowly.

Egg, finely shredded cabbage, ham, sweet sauce, bread, all melded together in her mouth and slid down his throat as one. The warmth and crispiness felt on his fingertips.

‘Despite having eaten five of them earlier, and now another, my stomach still demanded more food.’

Perhaps due to handling the equipment for too long, the smell of cleaning oil and lubricant still lingered on her body.

She had washed her hands with soap three times, but unfortunately, there was no shower facility in the safe house.

‘Let’s see, did I have about three or four hours?’

“Hmm.”

This tastes good.

Unfortunately, the toast quickly turned cold after a few bites.

She wiped her mouth with the tissue provided, disposed of the empty wrapper in the trash bin, and in the meantime, a pungent smell, too strong to be masked by the toast, emanated from her clothes. It would be nice if the smell could just vanish by changing clothes.

Pov Eugene-

But considering that the smell hadn’t left my clothes yet, I had already experienced too many such incidents.

It seemed inevitable since the internals of both the machine gun and semi-automatic sniper rifle had been practically new when they were dismantled.

Blindly firing .338 will naturally lead to this, but.

In fact, it didn’t feel too bad to have cleaned the firearms accessories thoroughly since there might not be shooting opportunities in the future,

and the tactical vest, covered in a lot of dust, had been meticulously cleaned with an airbrush, so it was already three o’clock in the afternoon.

As I exited the subway station, unfamiliar sights greeted me.

Several apartments and shops, which I had no memory of, stood tall as if boasting their dominance. Most of them had glass walls.

Even though the glass windows allowed one to locate and shoot enemies from inside the building without breaking them… no, that’s not it.

Not a pleasant memory.

Urban warfare is all the same.

Recalling not-so-good memories, I walked towards home, basking in the sunlight pouring down from the high sun in the sky.

But isn’t the sunlight today unusually hot despite the high humidity?

I should wear a long-sleeved shirt or something like that from now on.

“The weather’s nice.”

Still, I’m grateful it’s summer. It would have been much harder if it were winter. Digestion doesn’t work well, and…

‘I think the heating bills will be high in winter.’

Anyway, for whatever reason, adapting back to society was surprisingly quick.

Walking on dirty asphalt mixed with garbage, corpses, snow, mud… or a conglomerate of those, placing a finger next to the trigger while walking was like taking a break.

With hundreds of holes nearly piercing my head while having random thoughts.

Thinking about what to eat for today’s breakfast slash lunch while walking was quite a luxury.

After walking a bit, I can see the apartment building where I live across the street.

And below that.

[Real Tiger Pizza Shop]

…What’s that?

Was there such a thing?

Maybe because I’ve been staying indoors for the past few days, I don’t really know what’s around, but nevertheless, the name of the store stimulates my curiosity.

There were more people in front of the store than I thought.

I was thinking of just grabbing a simple pizza or a few slices to go, but it turns out it’s a whole restaurant on one floor of the building.

…Is the power out?

“Oh, it’s break time….”

There’s even that.

Are the people standing in line going to enter as soon as business resumes? There are quite a few people.

How much tip should I give here… Wait, do they have a tipping culture here too?

Actually, I’ve been to restaurants in New York so few times that I can almost count them on one hand… I can’t even remember the last time I went to a restaurant.

However, while I was confused, the distance to the restaurant was steadily getting closer.

Curiosity is the problem after all.

Anyway, that’s how my first exploration after returning began.