If You Understand, Everyone Raise Your Front Paws
Ssal-i had transformed into an orangutan, the largest primate after gorillas.
Min-hyeok didn't know it, but Ssal-i had once made contact with Chun-sam-i, the orangutan from Saemangeum Safari.
'Hmm. This is pretty comfortable. No need to change my fur color in a sealed room like this.'
With the power of the haetae, Ssal-i could transform into the same species as any animal he'd touched.
But because his default fur was white, even when he shifted into other animals, he ended up looking like an albino version with pristine white fur.
To match the natural fur color of the transformed species, he had to go through an extra step of magic. Feeling refreshed about skipping that, Ssal-i spun his massive, snow-white arms around.
—Your whole body's white and huge. You look way too scary.
—S-scary...
—I told you all to shut up.
—Eek?!
—Hic!
The animals froze like stones at Ssal-i's deep bass voice, which had dropped even lower as his body grew larger.
'Looks like I've got their full attention. Time to get to the point.'
Sensing all eyes on him, Ssal-i crossed his thick, white-furred arms and continued.
—My name's Ssal-i. Anyway, this isn't the time for introductions, so I'll cut to the chase. I'm here to rescue you guys.
—R-rescue us? Why? What do you mean?
—I don't really...
The animals left in the room just stared in shock, their faces blank.
They hadn't yet grasped the dire situation they were in. But not everyone reacted the same way.
—We're in danger, right?
Semo twitched her large, triangular ears and spoke cautiously. Ssal-i nodded gravely.
—You probably don't realize it, but most of you are CITES species. You don't look like anything that belongs in Korea.
—CITES species? What does that mean?
—Simply put, it means endangered species. You should be living freely in the wild or carefully protected in human society if you're there at all. Not locked up like this in some house.
—I knew it... I knew it was something like that.
Semo nodded as if she'd half-expected it.
But the other CITES animals showed the opposite reaction.
—N-no way. Us? Locked up?
—Why would Dad do that? Why would he lock us up?
Except for Semo, the CITES animals hadn't even realized how terrible their conditions were. They exchanged wide-eyed glances and whispered among themselves.
—Listen up, everyone. I get that you're confused, but what I'm saying is the truth. Haven't you ever thought something was off? About having to live in a dark, stuffy place like this instead of under a blue sky or among trees?
—...Sky? Why is the sky blue?
—What's a tree? What does it look like?
—What?
Ssal-i was at a loss for words at their reactions when—
—These guys were mostly brought to Korea when they were too young to even remember properly.
Semo perked up her big ears and continued.
—In my case, I only have fragments from when I was little, and even those are fading now... Anyway, I've always felt like staying here was dangerous.
Most CITES animals were smuggled in as helpless newborns, eyes barely open.
So except for Semo, who'd experienced a bit of wild life, the others didn't even grasp basics like what a blue sky was or what trees looked like.
As Semo's explanation continued—
—Dangerous my tail!
—...?
The spotted cuscus—famous in webtoons as a wise, calm character despite looking like a mix of a mottled monkey and rat (actually a marsupial)—suddenly exploded.
—Dad always said he was taking us to good places! Don't spread anxiety with your nonsense!
—But doesn't Semo have a point? It's true no one's ever come back from those "good places," not a single one...
—If it's such a good place, why would they come back? Use your brains! You can't even speak up in front of Dad, but now you're blindly following Semo and spouting rubbish?
—What? When did I spout rubbish?!
Watching the animals snarl at each other, Ssal-i fell into thought.
'The kids don't grasp how serious this is yet. Dad needs to get here soon...'
Originally, the plan was for Ssal-i to wait here until Min-hyeok tracked the location device and arrived.
But with such perfect soundproofing and a double-sealed room, even if Min-hyeok pinpointed the spot, he wouldn't have grounds to enter a private home.
That left only one option.
Steeling himself, Ssal-i clapped his hands to grab the arguing animals' attention.
—Okay, everyone quiet. No fighting—look here.
He crossed his white-furred arms again, eyes resolute, and pressed on.
—...I was gonna wait for my dad, but no can do. Let's get out first. Go outside and see for yourselves if living like this is wrong or not.
—W-wait! How are we escaping?
—Yeah! Where are we going? Where do we get food? What if we starve following a stranger like you!
Though they'd never lived in the wild, the animals instinctively knew securing food was key to survival.
For them, food meant life itself. Their sharp reactions were natural.
—No starving on my watch. We'll head to my house first. It's an animal hospital.
—Animal hospital? What's that?
The spotted cuscus rolled his huge eyes suspiciously, but the lifelong captives had no clue what an animal hospital even was.
—A place where they check if animals are sick or healthy and treat them. Tons of different foods, plenty of feed, no worries there. You can sleep whenever you want, too. You don't even know day from night, right?
The constant fatigue they felt every day—most of it from cramming nocturnal and diurnal animals together.
—...
—...?
The CITES animals, clueless about it all, just blinked at each other, unable to respond easily.
—Hmm... Anywhere with plenty of food sounds good to me!
—M-me too, as long as there's food. Honestly, Dad waking me up when I'm sleeping is exhausting, and the noise from others keeps me from resting well.
A few animals' eyes lit up at Ssal-i's words.
But every group has its rebels.
—Hmph. I can't trust you.
And this group's rebel was the spotted cuscus.
—We've never heard of CITES or whatever before. Sure, Dad tires us out sometimes, but he never starved us—everything was fine. Following a total stranger like you seems riskier. Even Semo won't buy into a newbie's words that easily, right?
—...
As the cuscus said, even Semo felt a deep unease.
No matter how shady Odokhan seemed, blindly trusting a strange new animal wasn't easy.
The instinct to slap him surged, but if this burly male orangutan form accidentally landed one...
'Hoo, hold it together. Ssal-i's a good haetae.'
The cuscus might end up facing his floating ancestors in the Australian sky.
Exercising supreme patience, Ssal-i shook out his clasped wrists.
—You don't trust me, huh... Fine. If I prove what I'm saying is true, will you believe me then?
—Hmph. We'll see. How do you plan to prove it?
—Honestly... even showing proof feels iffy, like maybe I shouldn't.
Ssal-i's eyes hardened at the cuscus's persistent suspicion.
—But it's the only way, so don't freak out—watch closely. I'll show you what happened to the other animals who left this room.
—What? That's ridiculous—
Before the wide-eyed cuscus could finish—
Ziiing—
Ssal-i's massive orangutan body began glowing brightly, shrinking smaller and smaller.
By the time the light faded, the animals with bulging eyes shouted in unison, as if on cue.
—E-Ellie?!
—It's Ellie!
Ssal-i had transformed into the saltwater crocodile Ellie.
But he didn't stop there.
—Gasp!? Yong-yong? Minky?
—N-no way. Now it's Latte?
—I can turn into the form of any animal I've touched directly. If I touch you, I could even become you.
From saltwater crocodile to great yellow-crested cockatoo.
From cockatoo to Sulcata tortoise.
From tortoise to veiled chameleon.
The CITES animals raised their voices because every form Ssal-i took was a former roommate from this very room.
—H-ha! See? They're all fine out there! That's why you can change like that, right?
—Great! Now we can go worry-free. Hehe.
The animals beamed at Ssal-i's transformations.
But when he reverted to orangutan form, Ssal-i's expression darkened even more than before.
—...The ones I transformed into were abandoned outside after leaving here.
—A-abandoned?! Dumped? Why would—
—If they got rescued, lucky them. Some never woke up again.
—...What?
—They died after being abandoned.
—...
The animals' mouths snapped shut.
No hint of a lie in Ssal-i's voice.
—Sorry to tell you this. But we need to get out fast, so I had to. On their last day here, didn't they seem sleepy or listless?
The shocked animals came to their senses at Ssal-i's question and nodded faintly.
—The first ones out were probably fed food laced with sedatives. That's why they were so drained and sleepy.
—N-no... How could he...?
—I can't believe it...
Even as the CITES animals went pale and soulless, Ssal-i kept going.
No time to coddle their feelings in this urgent situation.
—And you don't know when that stuff'll end up in your feed. So I'm getting you out now. If you understand, everyone raise your front paws.
The CITES animals glanced at each other, then raised their varied front paws together. Ssal-i stood his massive frame with a determined glint.
—Good. Let's go.
Moonlight seemed to gleam from it.
The pure white-furred orangutan's hand rattled the firmly shut doorknob open.