The older brother could think of nothing more to say to persuade him. He looked exhausted as he left.
After seeing his brother out, the apartment owner quietly returned to the living room and sank onto the sofa.
He closed his eyes and let out a long breath, looking strangely relieved.
Only then did Hae Dam realize that the apartment owner had been uncomfortable the entire time his older brother was there.
He was more at ease now that he was alone.
And yet, he was lonely.
Hae Dam knew nothing about this man's past, but he could sense something of what he was feeling.
The very fact that he found solitude comforting made his loneliness all the deeper.
"......"
Nuteori had gone out of the way to drop the unconscious Hae Dam in front of this particular man.
That meant a stray cat who had spent years among university students in their early to mid-twenties, the most outgoing period of their lives, had judged this student to be someone trustworthy.
And the man had indeed taken Hae Dam to a veterinary clinic, brought him into his own home, and bought all sorts of canned food in an effort to get him to eat something.
With that thought, Hae Dam began to move.
The apartment owner still hadn't petted him.
Given how adorable Hae Dam looked in this form, that was practically unthinkable.
But he thought he understood why.
Perhaps the man was trying not to grow attached.
The apartment owner's eyes were closed, so he didn't notice the little creature inching toward him.
Hae Dam slipped beneath the large hand resting loosely on the sofa.
"......"
Only then did the apartment owner open his eyes, finally noticing him.
Hae Dam rubbed his soft fur against the man's palm and pushed his tiny head between his fingers, shamelessly begging for affection.
You won't be able to resist petting me. I'm adorable. Go on, touch me. You'll feel better if you do.
His efforts seemed to work. A faint smile appeared at the corners of the apartment owner's mouth.
The man gathered the weasel into his hands and placed him on his lap. Then he began stroking his fur with both hands.
His hands were so smooth and soft that Hae Dam could tell immediately they had never been anywhere near hard labor. His finger joints were rather prominent, though, and his nails were short and neatly trimmed.
His body temperature was on the low side.
As though he had just arrived from Iceland.
The hands stroking Hae Dam's fur were gentle and careful, if somewhat clumsy. Unlike his older brother, the man wasn't rough or thoughtless, but it was obvious he wasn't accustomed to handling animals.
Hae Dam stretched his neck between the man's fingers and looked up at him.
His eyes were pitch-black, made even darker by the contrast with his pale skin.
Even though he was petting the cutest weasel in the world, there wasn't the slightest glimmer of light in them.
They were a profoundly lonely darkness.
Hae Dam opened his eyes.
He pricked up his ears and confirmed that the apartment was quiet before climbing out of his makeshift bed in the corner of the sofa.
The living room lights were off, but the illuminated liquor display cabinet kept the room from being completely dark.
The digital clock on the cabinet read 2:01 a.m.
Hae Dam stretched his front paws forward, pressing them into the soft cushion, then extended his hind legs in a long, luxurious stretch.
Unfortunately, he had to stop before he could properly loosen up.
He was so hungry...
Stretching out his body had only made the hunger worse.
The apartment owner's asleep, I'm starving, and there's plenty of food here!
It was time to act.
Hae Dam hopped down to the floor and landed lightly.
He ran straight to the liquor display cabinet, only to discover that every door was locked.
That was no problem at all.
The little northern weasel blinked once.
The next instant, the weasel vanished, and a human stood in his place.
He had unruly black hair that stuck out in every direction and clear, luminous eyes. His features were small and delicately arranged, giving him such an adorable, youthful face that he could easily be mistaken for a boy.
In reality, however, he was a young man of twenty-two.
Having completed his human transformation, Hae Dam first checked his clothes.
A sky-blue padded jacket, a gray hoodie, jeans, and a navy waist bag.
Exactly what he had been wearing before he collapsed.
This is easy now.
When he was little, changing forms had been troublesome because he always ended up naked.
There had been times when he transformed from an animal into a human and found himself completely undressed, much to the amusement of the ginseng-gathering couple.
Other times, he had transformed from a human into an animal and gotten buried beneath his clothes, only to be discovered much later.
But after spending four years as a wild northern weasel and another eighteen years alternating between human and animal forms, he had finally figured out how to transform without losing his clothes.
It had been quite difficult, since there was no one to teach him. He'd had to work everything out on his own.
As far as he knew, he was the only being in the world who could change between human and animal forms. The only people who had ever known about his ability were the ginseng-gathering couple who had taken him in and raised him.
And since they had died several years ago, there was effectively no human left who knew his secret.
Of course, if he counted animals other than humans, there were quite a few.
The neighborhood crows, dogs, cats...
Even Nuteori knew.
Nuteori, thank you.
Come to think of it, perhaps Nuteori had known not only that the owner of this apartment was a kindhearted university student, but also that he kept all sorts of ginseng at home.
Hae Dam would have to ask later.
He took a pouch out of his waist bag.
Among the various tools he always carried, the one he needed now was a bobby pin.
Without hesitation, he inserted it into the keyhole of the display cabinet and began turning it, listening carefully for the faintest clicks.
His movements were remarkably practiced.
Fortunately, the cabinet was secured with an ordinary lock rather than an electronic keypad.
It wasn't that he couldn't open an electronic keypad lock, but doing so inevitably produced a series of electronic beeps, which made it risky.
Within seconds, there was a soft click.
The lock released, and the door swung open.
Before opening any bottles of infused liquor, Hae Dam decided to deal with his immediate hunger by eating the easiest thing available.
He tipped some red-ginseng jelly straight into his mouth.
Haaaah...
His stomach had quite literally been on the verge of collapsing against his backbone.
But as the rich flavor and nutrients of the red ginseng spread through him, the pain rapidly subsided.
I feel alive again.
Hae Dam closed his eyes for a moment and savored the nourishment.
It felt as though he had spent the entire day hunched over, his shoulders drawn tight, and could finally straighten up.
It was rare for a single piece of jelly to ease his hunger this much.
This is seriously high-quality red ginseng!
That one piece of jelly told Hae Dam everything he needed to know.
The ginseng products in this apartment were the real deal.
He could tell immediately because he had spent his entire life eating nothing but ginseng.
Long ago, when that mysterious forest spirit had brought Hae Dam back to life as a human, it had also left him with one unfortunate side effect.
He couldn't eat vegetables.
That was normal for a weasel.
He couldn't eat grains, either.
Again, perfectly normal for a weasel.
But Hae Dam couldn't even eat meat, which was supposed to be a weasel's staple food.
The only thing he could eat was ginseng.
It had been an extraordinary stroke of luck that the people who found him on the mountain that day were a couple who gathered wild ginseng.
If they hadn't lived in a house where all kinds of ginseng were readily available, the four-year-old child would have starved to death.
Whether he was in human form or animal form, his hunger would only subside and his stomach would only feel full when he ate ginseng.
He had even tried forcing himself to eat rice, bread, meat, and other ordinary foods in the hope of changing his constitution.
But he had always vomited everything back up.
He'd kept trying until he was diagnosed with malnutrition, at which point even the gentle, affectionate ginseng-gathering couple had given him a severe scolding.
Ginseng was expensive.
Obtaining the one ingredient he could eat required an enormous amount of money.
That was his biggest problem.
It was why he was always poor despite earning a considerable income for someone in his early twenties.
And it was why he kept collapsing from chronic hunger and waking up beneath unfamiliar ceilings.
For someone like Hae Dam, this apartment was practically heaven.
He took out a bottle of ginseng liquor.
If he could have followed his heart, he would have gone straight for the wild ginseng.
But Hae Dam was a beastfolk with a conscience.
Beastfolk was the name his adoptive mother had coined for his kind. Since he was both human and animal, Hae Dam thought it was a remarkably accurate description and often used it himself.
The moment he opened the bottle, the distinctive scent of ginseng liquor rose strongly into the air.
The liquor had been aging for so long that the smell of alcohol was almost suffocating.
Hae Dam had a very low tolerance for alcohol, and he didn't particularly enjoy drinking.
But right now, he wasn't in a position to be picky about whether the liquor contained ginseng or the ginseng was soaked in liquor.
The cultivated ginseng roots were small, and all ten were tangled together. He figured no one would notice if one went missing.
Without touching the liquor itself, he plucked out a single root and popped it into his mouth.
The moment he began chewing, the strong, potent alcohol made his head swim.
Then a comforting warmth spread through his bloodstream.
His stiff muscles relaxed, and a wonderful fullness began replacing the burning ache in his stomach.
His body felt lighter, and his mind rapidly settled.
It's real. The ginseng here is the real thing.
The fullness it gave him was on an entirely different level from the cheap ginseng he'd been eating all these years.
How long had it been since he'd felt this satisfied?
Seven or eight years?
Hadn't it been since he started living alone at fifteen?
He was so happy that tears welled up in his eyes.
That's right. This is what being full feels like.
I'd forgotten...
I'd forgotten that people can actually feel full...
After a moment's hesitation, Hae Dam took out another root.
Munch, munch.
Then another.
Munch, munch.
And one more...
By the time he came to his senses, only three of the original ten cultivated ginseng roots remained in the bottle.
"......"
Hae Dam quietly replaced the lid and slipped the bottle back into its original position.
But people usually throw away the leftover ginseng after drinking all the liquor anyway, don't they? I just took care of it ahead of time. I saved the apartment owner the cost of a food-waste disposal bag.
Having shamelessly justified his actions, he tried to lock the display cabinet properly.
But his hands kept missing the lock.
His head was spinning, and his eyes kept drifting shut.
Warmth was spreading through his body. The apartment was cozy. The potent alcohol from the aged liquor was taking effect, and for the first time in years, he was experiencing the bliss of genuine fullness.
All those sensations came crashing over him at once like a tidal wave, threatening to drag his eyelids shut.
The alcohol was the worst of them.
It was his own fault for eating ginseng soaked in liquor when he could barely hold his alcohol.
But he hadn't had much choice.
If he hadn't eaten something immediately, he genuinely felt he might have starved to death.
I need to stay awake...
He shook his head vigorously, trying to clear away the intoxication.
Instead, the alcohol seemed to spread from his head throughout his entire body.
His hands continued fumbling uselessly, and his vision grew blurry.
In the end, Hae Dam collapsed facedown right where he stood.