Sleeping Together
A man so drunk he could barely stand.
A woman supporting him, keeping him upright.
To anyone watching, it was the kind of scene that invited every wrong conclusion imaginable.
And Seo I-eung, who happened to be passing by at that exact moment, was no exception.
Ugh. How much did she pour into that guy? What is she even trying to pull?
She clicked her tongue and shot the pair a sideways glance—then froze the instant she saw their faces.
Because the man and woman were none other than Kang Hahwi and Isabella.
W-what? Why are they…?
A thousand thoughts crashed through her head at once.
Why were those two out drinking together?
She'd never even had a drink alone with Kang Hahwi herself.
Don't tell me the two of them had been secretly seeing each other behind everyone's backs?
While every wild possibility scrambled itself together in Seo I-eung's mind—
"I-I-eung? What are you doing here?"
Isabella's voice cut straight through her spiraling thoughts.
Seo I-eung pulled herself together and answered.
"I was just passing by…"
"Really? What a coincidence. Anyway, perfect timing!"
Isabella let out a long breath of relief.
"I had no idea where Kang Hahwi lives, so I was completely stuck…"
She never finished the sentence.
She'd noticed the look on Seo I-eung's face—and it was not a good one.
Why is I-eung making that face?
She looks upset about something…
The question didn't linger long. Isabella caught on fast to exactly what kind of expression that was.
"I-eung. I think you're getting the wrong idea…"
She explained the whole story, carefully and calmly, determined to clear up the misunderstanding.
"Oh, right… You two work the same part-time job."
After hearing Isabella out, Seo I-eung nodded, the misunderstanding finally settling.
"Guess working together made you pretty close. Close enough to go out drinking, just the two of you."
"N-no. We're not that close yet. Today was just me treating him to a meal as thanks for helping me out. The drinks just… kind of happened while we were eating…"
Isabella answered in a rush.
The worst of the misunderstanding was gone, but Seo I-eung's expression still looked sour—tinged with a vague, stubborn hurt.
"Then you should've called me too. You know I live right around here."
"S-sorry… I just didn't think that far…"
Yep. She's sulking.
Isabella scratched her head and apologized. It wasn't really a situation that demanded an apology—but she understood how I-eung felt well enough.
Finding out the guy you like went drinking with another girl.
And that the other girl was your own friend.
For anyone nursing a one-sided crush, complicated feelings were only natural.
"So how much did this idiot even drink?"
"About two bottles… He said he could handle that much, so I ordered them…"
"Really? He really can't hold his liquor, huh."
"I know. He was fine up until then, but the second bottle just knocked him out cold. I didn't think he'd go under that fast either…"
Isabella fidgeted as she answered.
Watching her, Seo I-eung asked in a deliberately teasing tone,
"You weren't planning to get him drunk and do something weird, were you?"
She wasn't actually suspicious of Isabella. She just wanted to lighten the mood—Isabella looked far too guilty for her own good.
"I-I never even thought about it! I know perfectly well that you like him, I-eung…"
Hup!
Isabella clapped a hand over her own mouth in a panic, then slowly turned to check Kang Hahwi's face.
Thankfully, he was completely out of it. He hadn't heard a thing.
"Sorry… That was a slip…"
"It's fine. He wouldn't have heard it anyway. And that question was a joke, so don't worry about it."
Saying so, Seo I-eung took Kang Hahwi off Isabella's hands.
Seo I-eung and Isabella sat on a park bench, trading ideas about what to do with Kang Hahwi.
"You don't know his address either, I-eung?"
"I know roughly which neighborhood, but I never asked for the exact address."
"Then let's check his phone."
"Would looking at his phone even get us his address? And isn't that kind of invading his privacy…"
"It's not like we've got better options. We won't even glance at his gallery or texts—just the contacts."
"And what are we supposed to do with his contacts?"
"Find a family number and ask them for the address."
"He doesn't have any family."
"Ah…"
Isabella made a small, pained sound.
She hadn't known Kang Hahwi had no family. Touching such a sensitive subject left an awkward silence hanging between them.
She cleared her throat and tried again.
"Well… wouldn't his landlord's number be in there, at least? Whoever he's renting from now?"
"Maybe? I'll take a look."
Seo I-eung picked up Kang Hahwi's phone and tried to unlock it—only to hit a wall immediately. A privacy passcode blocked the screen.
"No fingerprint or face unlock set up either. No way to get in…"
She sighed and slipped the phone back into his pocket, then floated another idea.
"What if we just grab a motel nearby?"
"And sleep there with him?"
"Who said anything about sleeping with him? You trying to get me sued? Obviously we leave him there alone and go."
"Ah. But isn't that kind of weird too?"
"How?"
"Think about what goes through his head when he wakes up alone in a motel. That Isabella chick did this and that to me, got what she wanted, then dumped me and ran! What a piece of trash!—he might actually think that."
"……Yeah. If he woke up alone in a motel room, he could definitely go there."
"Right? And I can't stay till morning either. That has its own problems—he might think I did something weird to him while he was out…"
"So the motel itself is the problem from the start."
"Pretty much."
Motel idea: scrapped.
The two of them sank back into worrying over what to do with Kang Hahwi—until two rabbit faces flashed through Seo I-eung's mind.
"…Wait. Wouldn't the professor and the instructor know his home address?"
"Calling a professor out in the middle of the night! You've got some nerve, carrot!"
Professor Santoto arrived at the park where Seo I-eung and Isabella were waiting.
"What ill-mannered brats! Lotus root!"
Instructor Suptoto had come along too.
Seo I-eung narrowed her eyes.
"When did I ever call you out? I just asked for his address. You're the one who insisted on coming here…"
"Quiet! Carrot!"
"Contacting us at night in the first place is bad manners! Lotus root!"
Santoto and Suptoto took Kang Hahwi off their hands, then used magic to float him gently into the air.
"Carrot! Anyway, we'll get Kang Hahwi home safe!"
"Lotus root! You two go on home now! Stop worrying!"
"Yes… His house key's in his pocket."
While Seo I-eung answered, Isabella pressed in close beside her and whispered,
"I-eung. Don't the professor and the instructor have human forms too? Female ones, at that…"
"Ah… Right."
A sudden unease gripped Seo I-eung.
Professor and instructor or not—she couldn't trust them. Not with how shameless those rabbits usually were.
"…No. We should go with them."
In the end, she couldn't shake the bad feeling. She decided they would follow all the way to Kang Hahwi's place.
Seo I-eung, Isabella, and the rabbits arrived at a building tucked away in a quiet corner.
This was the studio apartment building where Kang Hahwi lived.
Crossing the yard, Seo I-eung glanced at the wooden platform sitting outside.
He always said the landlord drinks out here…
Not tonight.
Good.
The rabbits were one thing—but two girls helping Kang Hahwi home would definitely have looked suspicious.
They climbed to the third floor and unlocked his door with the key.
"Hmm. No bed in the room—just a mattress on the floor. Carrot."
"We'll have to buy him one later. Lotus root."
The rabbits carefully released the magic and laid Kang Hahwi down on the mattress, then gently pulled a blanket over him.
Arms folded, Seo I-eung had been watching the whole thing in silence. She finally spoke.
"Let's go now."
"Carrot?"
"Lotus root?"
The rabbits tilted their heads.
"We're sleeping here. Carrot."
"You two can leave. Lotus root."
"What are you talking about? Why would the professor and the instructor sleep here?"
"Lotus root! To prevent any unforeseen accidents! Plenty of people die alone after drinking!"
"Carrot! Looking after one's students with utmost care is a professor's duty!"
"Crazy rabbits…"
Seo I-eung thought it, and she meant it. They clearly had impure motives.
Isabella seemed to share the same suspicion. She pressed close and lowered her voice.
"What do we do? If we leave them, I feel like the professor and the instructor are going to do something weird to him…"
"……"
Seo I-eung wrestled with it for a moment, then answered.
"…We're staying too."
"W-we are?"
"Yeah. If we want to protect Kang Hahwi, we have to take turns keeping watch."
"So you're saying we sleep in this room with him?"
"We can't just hand him over to those rabbits and walk away. Who knows what they'd do to him."
"But… if we all sleep in this room together, won't Kang Hahwi look at us like we're disgusting when he wakes up…?"
"It's fine. I've got a plan."
"A plan?"
"You haven't forgotten what my magic is, have you?"
"Ah…!"
Isabella remembered. Seo I-eung's specialty was transformation magic—turning into animals.
"But I can't use transformation magic…"
"I can cast it on other people too, so don't worry."
I'll put it on you as well.
What kind of animal do you want?
With that question hanging between them, Seo I-eung activated her transformation magic.
Warm sunlight slipping through the window tickled my cheek.
"Ugh…"
I forced my heavy eyelids open, pressed a hand to my throbbing head, and pushed myself upright.
Blacked out, huh…
I couldn't remember anything after eating meat with Isabella last night.
I never realized my alcohol tolerance was this bad.
From now on, even if I drink, I'm keeping it light.
Somehow I made it home in one piece, though…
I looked around.
A familiar room. No question—this was my studio apartment.
Or did someone bring me back?
That thought was still forming when something in my field of vision made me freeze. The blanket over me was bulging strangely, twitching.
What is that?
I carefully lifted the covers.
What emerged underneath was—
"Carrot carrot…"
"Lotus root lotus root…"
Professor Santoto and Instructor Suptoto.
Both of them were curled up around carrots, snoring softly in their sleep.
Why were these rabbits in my house?
Had they been the ones who brought me home?
And it wasn't just the rabbits.
"Purrrr…"
A cat was glued tight against my right leg—the same one I often ran into in alleyways, the same one I'd met once at the cat café.
Why was this cat here?
As if that weren't dizzying enough, another animal was stuck to my left leg.
Unlike the cat and the rabbits, this one was a complete stranger.
"Ruff… ruff…"
A dog I'd never seen before.
A Pomeranian that, for some reason, looked oddly friendly.
…Did I get so drunk that I rounded up every animal on the street and brought them all home?