Meanwhile, Jin Siwon glanced back and forth between the two of them, his eyes rolling dramatically before he broke into a grin.
“It’s gonna rain.”
“Wain?”
Serhi and Guru both turned to look out the window at Siwon’s words.
The sky had been perfectly clear, but before he could even finish speaking, raindrops began to fall, one by one.
When Guru asked how he knew, Siwon only smiled without answering.
It rained all night.
Guru stuck herself right up against the window, worried the rain might have torn up the ground where she planted her acorns.
“Wook at dis. Da spwouts awe awweady out.”
Strong, those acorns. Supreme acorns that pierced through wind and rain.
The mounds of dirt that had only been poking up yesterday were now dotted with sprouts peeking through the surface.
It was her first time growing anything, so Guru crouched down in front of the sprouts, staring at them curiously like they were some kind of miracle.
Just imagining those tiny sprouts growing up into big trees as tall as her made her little heart go thump-thump.
“Dat’s fast.”
Serhi crouched down beside Guru and flicked one of the sprout leaves with a finger.
He’d lied and said he worked on a farm, so he didn’t show it, but even to him, the sight of a sprout breaking through the earth was oddly unfamiliar.
Just then, Cheche came trotting over and casually plopped down next to Serhi.
“Chwi-chwing!” (Eat up!)
Cheche shoved a few fruits into Serhi’s arms.
Then, leaving the frozen Serhi behind, she quickly scampered off.
“...The hell?”
Serhi frowned as ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) he watched Cheche’s retreating back.
He looked down at the fruits in his arms, clearly uncomfortable.
He knew bringing food was a classic animal courtship gesture.
Serhi wiped one of the peaches on his clothes and handed it to Guru.
Guru took it with both hands and bit into it with a big chomp.
“Yewwow Gwuu. How do yoo say ‘I fucking hate you’ ow ‘we diffwent species’ in squiwwew wanguage?”
Nom nom. Guru’s squirrel language sucked. What to do. After chewing a bit, she asked,
“Uum, but what’s ‘fucking’ mean?”
“A Korean intensifier adverb. Like, very.”
“Ohhh—”
Guru was just about to try out her new vocabulary.
“Fuuu—”
But just then, Jin Siwon showed up and clamped a hand over her mouth.
“Guru’s not allowed to learn that word. Never, ever say it.”
Guru blinked up at him. Siwon gently pulled his hand away and smiled warmly as he asked,
“Okay?”
“Okaay.”
Satisfied with her answer, Siwon gave her head a gentle pat.
Then he turned his head sharply toward Serhi and gave him a smile straight out of a horror movie.
Serhi blinked in confusion and tilted his head.
“Guru, let’s go change your clothes. We’ve got to head out.”
Leaving the bewildered Serhi behind, Siwon took Guru by the hand and led her back inside the house.
Today’s task was to go out and shop for groceries.
Guru had been shocked to hear there was a market even in a society this primitive. But Cheche had told her that the squirrel tribe was the only one this behind the times, which made her a little sad.
Now that she looked more closely, the clothes and daily goods actually seemed fairly modern.
“The wind’s a bit chilly from the rain last night, so our princess should dress warm.”
“Okaay.”
Siwon snugged a hat down over Guru’s head and tied the wings on either side of it into a ribbon under her chin.
Her ears got squished. Guru waggled her tail, and Siwon suddenly remembered something.
“Oh, I made holes for your ears too. Try poking ’em out.”
“Okayy!”
Guru wiggled her ears. Pop, pop—they poked right through the holes in the hat.
“Comfy?”
Nod nod.
As Guru smiled bashfully, her ears perked up and her tail swayed gently behind her.
Hah! Jin Siwon clutched his chest like he’d been struck. He lifted his masterpiece up high and showed it off to Serhi.
“Adowabwe, wight?”
Perk! Sway!
Guru twitched her ears and tail as she met Serhi’s eyes.
Serhi glanced around in confusion and pointed to himself.
“You mean me?”
“Obviouswy.”
Perk! Sway!
Serhi looked a little embarrassed as he muttered,
“Uh, cute as fuck.”
Siwon scrunched his brow and asked seriously,
“Where did you learn your Korean? A farm?”
“Yeah.”
He’d learned it on a keyboard farm where humans fought for virtual recognition.
“I’ve got a Korean textbook I used. I’ll give it to you once we get out of this dungeon. It’s a language school text, so it’ll help you learn the correct usage.”
“Don’t you think my Korean’s fucking fine already? Saying I need to relearn it is mad disrespectful.”
Siwon replied with a dead serious face,
“Want me to introduce you to a language school?”
Is my Korean really that bad? For the first time, Serhi began to doubt his language skills.
What did they call this in Korea again?
Serhi trailed after the two of them, walking lazily while turning over thoughts in his head.
Guru still couldn’t hide her ears and tail, so the whole group basically screamed squirrel tribe wherever they went.
And that made it painfully clear just where the squirrel tribe stood in this village’s social order.
Like earlier—those eggs that had been selling for 5 dong to a deer beastkin were suddenly priced at 7 dong when they saw Guru’s group.
Wasn’t the term... untouchables?
They didn’t speak the beastkin common tongue, only squirrel language. They were the only tribe that couldn’t take human form. Even the acorn farm was isolated way out on the edge of the village. He’d known they were secluded, but he hadn’t realized it was this bad.
“All you gotta do is spray this once and poof—no more pests. Even the birds stay away, so you don’t need scarecrows. And the nutrients? Top-tier. It’s got royal jelly. You know? The stuff only queen bees eat. That stuff makes your trees and fruit super strong. All the modern farmers are using this now. You can’t farm without it.”
Serhi stared at the merchant jabbering away at the stall with half-lidded eyes.
One spray gets rid of pests, and it’s got royal jelly, blah blah?
This bastard’s a scammer.
Nearby beastkin chuckled as they walked by.
When it became clear this guy was just trying to scam ignorant outlanders, Serhi’s brow furrowed hard.
“I see.”
But the dim-witted man nodded seriously.
“Dey seeee.”
The four-year-old standing next to him went without saying.
“Shouwd we buy it? Dey said it’s a must-have.”
“Buy it? Acowns gonna be stwong.”
Siwon and Guru both turned to look at Serhi and asked in unison.
Even if they didn’t know farming, shouldn’t they feel something’s off? How are they this useless?
“That’s a scam, obviously!”
What the hell’s a must-have, and what do you mean strong acorns?! As Serhi snapped, his snow leopard tail popped out.
The merchant sucked in a breath.
“S-Snow leopard?!”
Instantly, murmurs spread throughout the market.
“Eek!”
“What’s a snow leopard doing here?!”
Apparently, snow leopards sat at the very top of the pyramid.
Swallowing his annoyance, Serhi flicked his tail with deliberate flair.
Whiskers popped out on the merchant’s cheeks—he was a raccoon.
Serhi tapped the stall with his foot.
“Raccoon. Cut the scam shit.”
“I-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, sir Snow Leopard!”
The scammer raccoon bent over at the waist in a hasty bow.
“Scram.”
Serhi jerked his chin. The raccoon turned tail and ran like hell.
Siwon and Guru, who had watched the whole thing, couldn’t hide their awe.
“Knew it. Def a farm boy!”
“Supweme fwawm boy!”
Standing side by side, they both threw up their thumbs.
Serhi scrunched his brow. His head was starting to hurt.
What the hell do I do with these dumbass squirrels? Can they even harvest acorns?
After that, the group ran into so many more scam attempts that Serhi just started walking around with his tail out.
Merchants were so terrified of snow leopards, they even offered discounts.
“This usually goes for 10 dong total, but I’ll give it to you for just 8!”
Ooh! Guru’s eyes sparkled.
“Thank you.”
“Yaaay—!”
Siwon gave the merchant a short, polite bow, while Guru raised her tiny fist up to Serhi with a beaming smile.
Serhi let out a quiet laugh, caught between exasperation and amusement.

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