SLC 51

Just as Jinkyung lay down after his shower, a message arrived from Seo Sangil.

Seo Sangil

Holy crap. Isn’t this that panther we know?

A link to a post with a short video followed the text. Jinkyung opened the video in a panic.

<Wow, did you see that? Right there! Zoom in and record it. Over there! Aaagh!>

The five-second clip showed the blur of a massive panther sprinting across a hospital hallway. The footage was dark and the movement was instantaneous, but Jinkyung immediately knew.

It was Mok Seongha.

“…How did this happen?”

Jinkyung had spent his entire time at the bar calling and messaging him. Mok Seongha had remained silent. When Jinkyung asked what to do if someone refuses to answer out of anger, Sangil gave him some kind of friendly advice. He told Jinkyung to call ten times at most, because anything beyond that was stalker behavior. Since Jinkyung had already surpassed ten calls, he stopped right then.

He might actually dislike it, but I didn’t think of that.

…They say people with dating experience are better at this for a reason.

Jinkyung lay back on his bed with the intention to sleep and try again tomorrow. Then, he received this message from Sangil.

Jinkyung immediately stood up. He called Secretary Kang first. A ringtone echoed nearby.

It came from right outside his front door.

“Hello…?”

“Open the door.”

It was Secretary Kang. Jinkyung opened the door to find the man standing there with a large box on a dolly. A heavy blanket draped over the top.

“…Is he in there?”

“Yes.”

The panther on the screen was indeed the one in front of him.

“Why…”

“How should I know? He was resting after a perfectly normal shower when he suddenly insisted on washing again. He went back in, transformed, and he hasn’t changed back since.”

“Did you dry his fur well?”

“I dried it. I dried it very thoroughly. Every single strand.”

Regret was visible on Secretary Kang’s face as he spoke about the meticulous drying process. Jinkyung could guess how frustrated the man felt, especially since the panther had then bolted through a hospital corridor.

“Why did he take another shower?”

“Ask him yourself later.”

“Is he alright? That video was posted online…”

“I will see to it that the footage is deleted. We will claim it is an AI-generated composite and have the hospital take legal action.”

“But it isn’t a composite.”

“Who cares?”

It was a world where money solved everything.

“Is the Chairman alright?”

“Fortunately, this happened while he was asleep. If it hadn’t…”

Secretary Kang let out a long sigh and wiped his weary face with his palm. Jinkyung could picture the struggle the man must have endured.

“Here. Take this.”

“Yes.”

Jinkyung took the handle of the dolly from Secretary Kang.

“Is he sleeping?”

No sound had come from the box for a while. Jinkyung wondered if they had used a tranquilizer gun to calm him down.

“No. He is just lying there.”

“…….”

He’s sulking.

Jinkyung sighed, that was likely the reason he had ignored the calls all evening.

“You managed to bring him here without being caught.”

“Kim Jinkyung-ssi.”

In response to the call, Jinkyung reflexively stood straight.

“You know the neighbors next door moved out, right?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know the people next to them and across from them moved out as well?”

“…Yes.”

He had noticed moving trucks frequently and thought it was strange.

“No one else lives on this floor. In fact, no one else lives in this entire building now.”

“What?”

“Everyone is gone. So, feel free to move about comfortably.”

“I see. …Thank you.”

Jinkyung wasn’t sure if he should be grateful for the eviction of every tenant in the building, but he thanked him.

“Please return the young master by tomorrow.”

The phrase ‘return him’ implied that he should be back in his human form by then.

“I will be going now.”

Secretary Kang whipped the blanket off the box and turned to leave. Jinkyung stood there blankly.

He watched the man’s retreating back before coming back to his senses. He quickly bowed and said his goodbyes.

As soon as Secretary Kang disappeared, Jinkyung opened the box. The black panther, who had been lying there with his massive body cramped into the confined space, turned his head around.

“Would you like to come out?”

The black panther acted as if he hadn’t heard a word. Jinkyung tried to pull the dolly inside the house, but the box was so large that the front door wouldn’t even close. He groaned as he pushed the cart, then leaned down to peer into the box.

“Excuse me.”

His eyes met those of the black panther, who was looking up at that exact moment. The panther immediately looked away, pretending not to notice him.

We already made eye contact…

“The box is too big to fit inside. I can’t exactly leave the door open like this.”

His tail thwacked against the bottom of the box.

Then who told you to live in such a tiny, cramped place!

Jinkyung felt as if he could hear the words even without them being spoken.

“Are you going to stay in there?”

He hit the box once more in response to the question.

I have no choice.

Jinkyung took a deep breath, bent over, and tried to lift the massive panther. He let out a strained grunt as he attempted to hoist the animal up, but the weight was so immense that he could only manage to straighten his own upper body.

“Seongha-ssi.”

The panther’s rounded ears perked up when he heard his name.

“You are… you are far too heavy.”

A low growl vibrated from the box.

Put me down then.

“I think I need to go out for a moment.”

“…….”

“If you are going to stay in the box, I will just go out by my….”

The black panther jumped over the side of the box and landed on the floor before Jinkyung could even finish his sentence. He bared his teeth, tilting his snout upward.

Where do you think you’re going? This late at night?

Jinkyung knelt on the floor in front of him.

“Do you want to come with me?”

“…….”

A flash of bewilderment crossed the beast’s eyes. The panther understood the current situation, so the suggestion to go outside made no sense to him.

“Oh, we are going up.”

Jinkyung looked toward the ceiling. The panther’s head naturally followed his gaze.

‎

‎

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“Haha. This feels very strange,” Jinkyung muttered as he climbed the stairs with the black panther.

This was a luxury they could only enjoy because every other resident in the building had moved out, but the sensation was still peculiar.

“It feels like we are the only two people left in the world.”

“…….”

The heavy thud of paws on the steps served as the only reply.

The feeling of climbing the stairs of an old building in the middle of the night with a large beast was difficult to put into words. Jinkyung felt a mix of excitement and fear. His feet felt light, almost as if he were floating.

“But why did you suddenly take another shower?”

Before they left the apartment, Jinkyung had meticulously checked the panther’s fur to see if Secretary Kang had missed any spots. Just as the secretary had claimed, the fur was bone-dry down to the last strand.

The panther glared at Jinkyung with as they continued up the stairs. His tail suddenly whipped out and smacked Jinkyung’s thigh.

“Ouch.”

Jinkyung groaned while rubbing his stinging leg. Perhaps feeling a bit guilty, the long tail then wrapped itself around Jinkyung’s thigh.

“I am fine. It didn’t hurt that much.”

“…….”

“But seriously, why did you do that? It is dangerous to act like that in a hospital.”

The panther looked dissatisfied again and tapped his tail against the floor. His gaze remained fixed on Jinkyung.

“Don’t tell me…”

A dark thought occurred to Jinkyung. He squinted and continued.

“…Did you do that just to come here?”

“…….”

The panther turned his gaze away, his tail still thumping rhythmically against the floor.

Did he really commit such an act just because he wanted to leave the hospital? Like some kind of fake-shower extortionist?¹

“If you wanted to come over, you could have just come. You could have gotten into serious trouble…!”

The panther’s whiskers bristled as he let out a growl.

I did it because I couldn’t get out otherwise!

“…….”

This was trouble. Even though he wasn’t speaking, Jinkyung had reached a point where he could hear the panther’s dialogue in his head. Jinkyung massaged his aching brow.

“Even so… ha.”

Jinkyung sighed and continued.

“But why haven’t you changed back?”

A transformation caused by water is usually resolved by drying off. That was a proven theory. Yet, he still stood there in the form of a panther.

The panther shrugged while standing on all fours. It was a gesture that meant he didn’t know either.

…He is cute.

Jinkyung barely kept the corners of his mouth from rising and nodded.

“I am sure you will return to normal after a night of sleep.”

The black panther nodded. At this moment, Jinkyung was the solution with the highest probability of returning him to human form. Mok Seongha knew this, which is why he had staged his fake-shower stunt. Secretary Kang knew it too, which is why he had sighed and hauled the man here on a dolly.

The request to return him by tomorrow morning must mean I should fix this before the Chairman wakes up.

Jinkyung began to walk again. He wanted to show Seongha what he had prepared and get him to bed quickly. The panther’s tail tapped the back of Jinkyung’s hand. He then looked up toward the top of the stairs.

It was a question asking why they were heading up.

“Oh, there is something I want to show you.”

“…….”

What is it?

“I will show you when we get there. It is nothing major. …Don’t get your hopes up too high.”

Jinkyung awkwardly laughed as he climbed the steps. Before opening the rooftop door, he turned around to give one final warning.

“You must never run outside the building. If you see a person in the opposite building, you have to come back inside immediately. Understood?”

The panther brushed past Jinkyung’s side.

“I know without you telling me,” his body language seemed to say.

Jinkyung opened the rooftop door. The beast, who had intended to confidently walk out, suddenly froze in his tracks.

“I didn’t do this illegally. I received permission from the building manager.”

Jinkyung explained earnestly while looking at the scattered pots on the roof.

“It isn’t exactly a garden, but I thought it might make you feel a bit better when you feel trapped….”

After hearing that Seongha preferred gardens because they provided places to hide rather than because he liked flowers, Jinkyung had visited a nearby flower shop. He asked for plants that a beginner could grow and that would bloom quickly. The shop owner simply pointed to the pots that were already in bloom.

“I didn’t actually make the flowers bloom myself. I just bought the pots, haha. Even taking care of these hasn’t been easy. A few of them have already died.”

He had carried the pots to the roof one by one and watered them. Every pot required a different amount of water. The optimal sunlight and humidity levels varied as well. Jinkyung had even created a chart to track the watering schedule for each flower.

Then, he realized something.

“About the garden.”

Jinkyung turned around. Amidst the poorly tended, wilting, and somewhat gaudy flowers, he saw golden eyes staring at him.

“You said your mother was the one who planted those flowers, but the Chairman was the one who tended to them.”

“…….”

“She must have cherished and loved you very much. No one could grow flowers like that without those feelings. So…”

Before he could finish, the panther pounced and climbed onto Jinkyung’s body. The sudden weight of massive paws on his shoulders sent Jinkyung tumbling backward.

“……!”

He was about to protest such a dangerous move when a large mouth approached.

“No! This is…”

“No?”

It was Mok Seongha. Jinkyung’s eyes widened in shock.

“How did you suddenly…?”

Mok Seongha hugged Jinkyung and kissed him. A large hand held Jinkyung’s head. Their lips searched for the perfect angle, and their tongues entangled as they sought a deeper connection. After a long kiss that left them both breathless, Seongha pulled back and whispered.

“…You said I had to be in this form.”

Seongha muttered with a look of enchantment.

“…….”

Those were Jinkyung’s own words. Mok Seongha had taken what he heard to heart. Like a child believing a parent’s word, he had accepted it as absolute truth.

“Do you… cherish me too?”

Jinkyung hesitated for a moment. Anxiety flickered in Seongha’s eyes, and his pupils narrowed into thin slits. Jinkyung knew exactly what that meant.

“I cherish you.”

He quickly answered. In response to this, Seongha’s eyes returned to normal. Jinkyung had to admit that he had now become the source of the anxiety that triggered the man’s changes.

“A lot?”

“…Yes.”

“How much?”

“A lot. So much.”

He cherished and liked Mok Seongha enough to want to build him as many gardens as possible.

“Even if I am not ugly?”

“…I have told you this several times now…”

Mok Seongha pulled Jinkyung into his arms. Strong arms held him close as Mok Seongha sighed.

On a quiet summer night, in a humble rooftop garden, the heartbeats of the two men echoed. Their kiss began again without a word, and it only stopped after several flower pots had been knocked over.

1. A specific type of small-scale scammer in Korea. The name comes from a specific tactic where a person deliberately bumps into someone—often a delivery person, a waiter, or a regular pedestrian—while carrying a bowl of food or a drink. They then claim that the “shower” of liquid ruined their expensive clothes or caused them an injury. They use this “accident” to intimidate the other person into paying an immediate cash settlement on the spot to avoid police involvement. ↩︎