It was a hazy world.

In a world that might have been a dream, I was catching horned rabbits.

One horned rabbit could be dealt with, with my life on the line.

Two meant I had to run away on the spot, and with three, survival was uncertain.

And that day, I was being chased by five horned rabbits.

It was because I had inadvertently disturbed their burrow under a tree.

The horned rabbits were small, but they moved on all fours.

I couldn’t escape them with the running speed of an ordinary human.

To survive, I had to roll on the ground the moment they thrust their horns.

Gasp!

As always, I rolled on the ground as I saw a horned rabbit charging at me.

The chasing horned rabbits were scary, but what was more terrifying was the mockery of people who just watched me.

— In all my life, I’ve never seen someone being chased by a horned rabbit.

— Are they mentally unstable?

Giggle

I wanted to cover my ears from the blatant laughter, but I couldn’t in the midst of fleeing.

It was embarrassing, but to survive, I had to seek the help of someone strong.

The person I sought that day was Choi Jinhyuk, a burly man managing the hunting grounds.

— Pant! Pant!

— Please save me just this once.

With desperation, I ran towards Choi Jinhyuk.

However, what approached me was his cold gaze.

— Ah, this is crazy…

I reached out for help but then stopped in my tracks.

Suddenly, the thought of dying crossed my mind.

Why must I live like this?

With that question, I opened my eyes.

“Uh…”

It was a dark room.

Relief washed over me as I saw Sophia sleeping soundly next to me.

‘Thank goodness.’

It was a dream.

I placed my hand over my chest to calm my pounding heart, then realized.

The current situation was far better than when I was alone hunting horned rabbits.

I should be a little kinder to Yeoreum from now on.

With that resolution, I was about to close my eyes again when I heard rustling sounds inside the tent.

‘Huh?’

Someone was rummaging through the tent.

The footsteps were heavy; it definitely wasn’t Yeoreum.

Could it be a thief?

I wanted to wake Sophia, but once she fell asleep, she wouldn’t wake up easily.

It seemed better to handle this on my own.

I cautiously tried to open the container’s door, but the rusty door made a creaking sound.

Creeeak–

The metallic sound echoed strangely in the darkness.

Realizing this, the intruder inside the tent held their breath.

This was definitely a thief.

I grabbed my bow and arrows and quickly went outside, and at that moment, someone ran out of the tent into the darkness.

The nearby street lights were all turned off for sleep, but thanks to the exceptional eyesight of the beast-kin, I could see the figure completely.

‘…Who is that?’

It was a man I had never seen before.

In his hand, he held my clothes that I had mended yesterday with thread and tape.

“My clothes–!”

Why would such a well-groomed person resort to theft?

I reflexively aimed my bow at him, but I had no real intention of shooting.

Even if he was a thief, I didn’t want to shoot an arrow at a person.

Realizing I had no intention of attacking, he started to flee into the distance.

Maybe he didn’t see my bow due to poor eyesight.

“St–stop right there—!”

I ran after him with my bow in hand.

Normally, I should have been faster, but the dozens of arrows rattling behind me with every step prevented me from closing the gap.

The bow I was holding was also quite heavy.

“Give me back my clothes—!”

The distance between us grew.

I thought about abandoning the bow to chase him, but without it, I had no means to confront him.

In this situation of neither here nor there, the thief was getting further away.

Feeling it was all hopeless as I just watched his retreating figure, a burly man suddenly appeared and blocked the thief’s path.

Thump-!

The fleeing man, unable to stop his momentum, collided with the burly man.

The man who appeared suddenly was Choi Jinhyuk.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Choi Jinhyuk grabbed the thief by the collar with one hand and lifted him up.

His immense strength rooted me to the spot for a moment, then I cautiously approached Choi Jinhyuk.

“My–my clothes were stolen…”

“Here.”

As Choi Jinhyuk squeezed the thief’s hand, the latter screamed and dropped the clothes.