The Second Pet
I laid Seunghee down on the bed. After just one round of sex, she had turned into a complete mess. Her labored breathing came in tiny, exhausted puffs as she lay there flushed bright red like a ripe tomato.
“Seunghee, want to go again?”
“Hiiiieee.”
At my words, Seunghee tried to crawl away on all fours. She was still seriously lacking in stamina. Passing out after just one time? She was at the perfect age for this kind of thing.
“Changjae. Drink some water first.”
Mom brought over a cup of water. Perfect timing—I was actually pretty thirsty.
“Thanks.”
I sat on the edge of the bed and gratefully accepted it. Gulp, gulp. The cool liquid soaked into my sweat-drenched body. Mom was also helping Seunghee drink some water beside me.
While I was drinking, Kaylee approached.
“I’ll take care of this side.”
With that, Kaylee bent down right in front of me. Huh? Again?
Before I could even say anything, Kaylee started cleaning my cock with her mouth—the same one that had just finished fucking Seunghee.
“……”
Mom silently gave me a long, meaningful look. I didn’t need words to understand what she was thinking.
Mom’s eyes were clearly scolding me. I just shrugged. It wasn’t like I specifically told her to do it. Kaylee was just way too motivated, that’s all.
When I emptied the cup, Mom took it back.
“Mom. You want a turn too?”
“I’m fine. You should rest a bit too, Changjae.”
“I’m still full of energy though.”
“Then do it tonight. It’s not good to overdo it all at once.”
Hmm. She had a point. Honestly, I’d rather fuck Mom when I was bursting with energy instead of squeezing it out when I was tired.
“Kaylee, that’s enough.”
It felt good getting sucked, but if we kept going like this I’d end up blowing another load. Then we’d just have to keep going. There’d be no end to it.
“Chup. Yes.”
Kaylee lifted her head after finishing her cleaning duty.
“Thank you, Kaylee. That felt really good.”
As thanks, I gave her a kiss on the lips. Of course, I kept it light. I didn’t particularly want to taste my own cum. Kaylee accepted the kiss with her usual calm demeanor.
“You should replenish your fluids too, Kaylee.”
“I’m fine. I’ll do it later.”
“Then take whatever you need whenever you want. There’s pretty much everything in the fridge.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“And if you need anything else, don’t hesitate to tell me. You can’t use the shop anymore, right?”
I glanced at Seunghee, who was still sprawled out, before continuing.
“You could ask Mom or Seunghee, but Seunghee’s busy collecting coins to save her brother.”
“……Understood. Then……”
Since the topic had come up, I went ahead and discussed daily necessities with Kaylee. Normally, clothes in her size wouldn’t fit someone as tall as her, but here, clothes and underwear automatically adjusted to the wearer’s size, so there was no problem.
After buying clothes, I also got her slippers and athletic sneakers for daily use. Combat gear could wait until later.
“Is there anything else you need personally?”
“Then… I would like some deodorant.”
“Deodorant?”
Deodorant, as in the stuff that removes body odor? I’d seen other guys use it in the military, but I’d never used it myself. Plus, the only people I saw using it back then were dirty men, so I never really liked that distinct smell.
I leaned in toward Kaylee’s chest and took a sniff.
“Sniff, sniff.”
“Ah… um……”
The faint scent of a woman’s sweat after sex. It wasn’t unpleasant at all.
“You don’t smell bad though?”
“Still, I……”
Kaylee looked troubled. Was this because we’d said she smelled when she first arrived at the hideout? Hmm. Yeah, it had been pretty bad back then. But that was after going days without washing while sweating nonstop, so it couldn’t be helped. Still, we had perfect bathing facilities here, so she could wash as often as she wanted.
Even so, it seemed Kaylee was self-conscious about her own body scent.
“Alright. But don’t spray it too often. I actually prefer the smell of sweat over perfume. And since we can wash right away after sweating here, it’s fine.”
“Ah… yes……”
In the end, I bought her a set of deodorant too.
“And also… we should probably start dividing up the space soon?”
Me, Mom, Seunghee, and Kaylee. The luggage for all four of us was steadily increasing. Naturally, the space to store everything was getting tighter. We already had simple closets and drawers, but it was about time we each got our own personal space.
The days of holding back just because coins were precious were over.
Since the topic had come up, I was about to call Mom over so we could discuss it together. But then—
-Beep! Beep!
Ppiyak, who had been sleeping with his face planted on the dining table, suddenly jumped up and started chirping loudly.
“What? Did another dinosaur show up?”
The last time the T-Rex appeared, Ppiyak had made a huge fuss just like this. I naturally pulled up the map on my Metapia Terminal first.
“Whoa! A dinosaur?!”
Seunghee, who had been sprawled out like Ppiyak, shot upright at the word dinosaur.
“Hmm? No, it’s not.”
But it wasn’t. There was no marker on the map at all. I didn’t feel any vibration either.
-Beep! Beep!
“Ppiyak, what’s wrong?”
Seunghee asked while hurriedly putting on her underwear. Ppiyak flapped his wings, hopping from the table to a chair, then from the chair to the floor. Then he waddled over to a corner of the hideout.
“Ohhh.”
Only then did I realize why Ppiyak was acting like this. In the corner he was heading toward sat the Pet Egg incubator.
“Ah! Unnie! It looks like another one is about to hatch!”
Seunghee noticed too and shouted. The second egg in the incubator had entered its hatching countdown. 40 seconds, 39 seconds—the numbers were steadily decreasing.
“Really?”
Mom, who had been washing the cups, came over after hearing Seunghee.
-Ppiyak! Ppiyak!
Ppiyak was flapping his short wings and dancing in front of the incubator.
“I wonder what will hatch this time?”
“It would be nice if it’s something cute like Ppiyak, right?”
-Ppiyak!
No. We already had Ppiyak. It would be better if something actually useful came out this time. Pets raised in a place like this were usually for hunting, right?
“Um, what is this…?”
Kaylee, who had also only put on her underwear like Seunghee, came over. She tilted her head in confusion as she looked at the incubator.
“Oh. An animal like Ppiyak is about to hatch from here soon. The number here——”
While Seunghee was explaining, the countdown finally reached zero.
-Crack.
“Ah! It’s hatching!”
-Ppiyak Ppiyak!
The three women and the baby chick gathered around the single egg, watching the hatching. I observed the scene from a little further back.
“Eh?!”
Seunghee, who had been watching the hatching, suddenly raised her voice in surprise.
“Oppa! Look at this!”
“What?”
“Hurry, hurry!”
At Seunghee’s fussing, I moved closer to check. The top of the egg had cracked and a small piece had fallen off. Through the gap, I could faintly see what was inside.
“……What the hell is this?”
What kind of animal hatches from an egg that looks like this? A bird like a chicken. A reptile like a turtle or lizard. And… a platypus?
“This doesn’t look like a bird, or a reptile, or a platypus.”
“Oppa. Why would a platypus come out of there?”
“Platypuses do hatch from eggs.”
“Aren’t they mammals?”
“I don’t know either.”
I’d only heard that somewhere. Besides, this wasn’t important right now.
“……Could this be a puppy?”
“It does look like one.”
I agreed with Mom. What was breaking out of the egg definitely looked like a puppy—a newborn one at that.
“Oh my goodness.”
-Crack. Crackle.
As the puppy inside the egg wriggled, the shell gradually split open. Then the middle cracked wide open and—
-Snap!
The egg split cleanly in two.
“Ah!”
And from the broken egg, a real puppy emerged… wriggling around with its eyes still closed.
-Kyuuung.
It opened and closed its tiny snout, making small sounds.
“It’s so cute!”
Its fur was pure white. It was about the size of a fist. It looked slightly bigger than Ppiyak when he first hatched. But wasn’t the egg bigger than this? How did it even fit inside?
-Kyuwooo.
“Kyaa! What do we do?!”
Seunghee was completely flustered by the whimpering puppy. Mom and Kaylee were also watching with great interest.
“What do you mean, what do we do?”
“Ah!”
I grabbed the puppy by the scruff of its neck and lifted it up. Then I checked its belly. The thing that should have been there… wasn’t.
“What? It’s a female… huh?”
For some reason, Mom, Seunghee, and even Kaylee were all looking at me with anxious expressions.
“……Why are you all looking at me like that?”
“O-oppa? Maybe you should put the puppy down?”
“Yeah, Changjae. It’s still just a baby.”
“We need to take care of this puppy.”
Mom and Seunghee looked genuinely worried. And for some reason, Kaylee had even switched to English.
“Geez. Who said I was going to eat it?”
I gently placed the puppy back down in its spot. Only then did the three women breathe a collective sigh of relief.
“But what do we do? What do we feed a newborn puppy? We can’t give it mother’s milk.”
“Wouldn’t regular pet food work?”
“Oppa. It doesn’t even have teeth yet. How is it supposed to eat pet food?”
“Can we give it the milk we drink?”
“No, no, let’s try the pet food first. Ppiyak doesn’t have teeth either but he eats it just fine, right?”
-Ppiyak!
“You think so?”
“I’ll go get the food!”
Seunghee ran off in a hurry to grab the same food Ppiyak ate. Meanwhile, Kaylee was staring at the puppy with a serious expression.
“Leo……”
She suddenly muttered.
“Leo?”
“Ah.”
When I repeated it, Kaylee answered in a flustered voice.
“I-I’m sorry. It reminded me of the dog I raised when I was young……”
“Was your dog’s name Leo?”
“Yes. It was a Samoyed. A smart white dog.”
The fact that she said “was” probably meant it had already passed away. Hmm. If she raised it as a child, that made sense.
“Then should we name this one Leo too?”
It was perfect timing. I quickly snatched up Kaylee’s suggestion.
“I-is that… really okay?”
Kaylee asked, flustered. I nodded vigorously. Mom was also nodding with a touched look on her face.
If we left it like this, the puppy’s name would obviously end up being something like “Puppy” or “Whitey.” Just like what happened with Ppiyak. I couldn’t miss the chance to give it a proper name before that happened.
In that sense, the name Leo was just right. It was easy to call now, and it wouldn’t sound weird even if it grew into a big dog. Since there was a story behind it, even Seunghee probably wouldn’t insist on changing it. Ppiyak was going to become a chicken when he grew up, so calling him that would get awkward. Poor guy.
“Leo. That’s a cool name.”
“Yes……”
Satisfied with the dog’s name, I smiled brightly. Kaylee didn’t seem to mind either. I couldn’t quite read her expression, but the atmosphere told me she was happy about it.
“Leo.”
As Kaylee gently stroked the puppy with her fingertips, a small smile formed on her lips.