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Chapter: 4
Hadam turned his face forward.
His eyes caught the neatly written characters in the middle of the blackboard.
“Ungyak-san.”
Judging by the atmosphere, it seemed to be a name.
Ung… as in the surname Ung?
Did that even make sense?
As if to answer his curiosity, the man looked at Hadam and spoke.
“I told you earlier, I’m a bear beastman. But I’m still human. No different from you. Except my strength is a bit higher.”
Hadam covered his mouth with both hands.
Looking around more carefully, he noticed his classmates were already slightly stiff.
He was really a “bear” beastman?
His eyes widened as he looked at Yuna, but she just shrugged, seemingly as confused as he was.
It dawned on Hadam that the air in the room had completely frozen.
Even if someone appears human, you can’t ignore the animal instincts they’re born with.
The aura of the new homeroom teacher was more intimidating than anyone Hadam had ever met.
Ungyak-san glanced around the classroom and spoke casually.
“Any questions?”
“Then, are you from the Taebaek Institute?”
“Yes.”
The person who had been waiting to ask a question was Majio.
She always tied her hair tightly and constantly wiped her thick glasses.
She had said she heard strange noises in the relic museum.
Beastmen have keen hearing, and considering what happened yesterday, it didn’t sound like a lie.
The howls that shouldn’t exist in the main school, and a teacher from the Taebaek Institute, home to only predatory beastmen… There seemed to be some connection.
“Why? Taebaek Institute beastmen usually stay there. I’ve never seen one come to the main school.”
“I’m probably not the first,” Ungyak-san replied indifferently, then continued while looking at each student one by one.
“In any case, the reason I came here is…”
After a brief pause, he made a shocking announcement.
“This afternoon during lunch, one of our students—Taebaek Institute students—will come to this class.”
The classroom erupted instantly. Hadam also let out a short gasp.
“Quiet, quiet! Anyway, don’t leave your seat during lunch. Pay attention in class. Oh, and the temporary class president is Byeol Yunseong. That’s all.”
With that, Ungyak-san left the classroom.
The students quickly formed small groups.
Hadam pulled his chair close to Yuna’s.
“Have you ever seen the students from the annex?”
The “annex” was another name for the Taebaek Institute, commonly used by students.
It made sense—the Taebaek Institute was so isolated within the Beast Academy that it might as well have been a separate school.
The path wasn’t even properly laid, and some students didn’t even know a route existed from the main school to the Taebaek Institute.
“I doubt it.”
Yuna teased him as if he expected to hear something absurd.
Undeterred, Hadam asked again.
“I heard you occasionally run into them outside school.”
“That’s what alumni say.”
“Really? Have you seen any alumni yourself?”
“Nope. There aren’t many Taebaek students in the first place.”
“Right, if you had seen any, you would’ve told me by now.”
“Of course.”
Yuna checked her schedule and took out her textbook, showing no interest whether the teacher changed or a new student came.
Well, she was aiming for the top 0.1% on the college entrance exams. What else could interest her besides studying?
But Hadam was different.
“Why are they coming now, I wonder?”
Hadam rested his chin on the desk and continued talking, causing Yuna to shake her head but not avoid the conversation.
“Yeah, it’s strange. Grade 11 records are the most important, and the timing is odd, plus only one student is coming.”
“Maybe they’re coming precisely because grade 11 records are important? To add something extra. I heard the annex has fewer students.”
“They’ve never done that before, and now suddenly?”
“They never did?”
“Yep, I know all my seniors’ admission processes and results. Never happened.”
As soon as Yuna finished, the bell rang, but the classroom seemed too noisy for anyone to notice.
Hadam quickly scanned the room. Everyone seemed busy talking amongst themselves.
Unable to resist, he began.
“Actually, yesterday I…”
“Right! You yesterday!”
Yuna immediately interrupted him.
Hadam waved his hands and cut her off, lowering his body to whisper very quietly.
“Last night… did you hear that strange sound in the relic museum? Could it be related?”
“What? The relic museum?”
“Hey, the voice!”
Hadam quickly reached over to cover Yuna’s mouth.
She glanced around.
Fortunately, no one seemed interested in them.
“So that’s why you turned into Todam…”
“No, the room was too hot to sleep.”
He hurriedly tried to explain, but it didn’t work.
“Unbelievable. So you went out at night? To the relic museum too?”
He felt as if he’d done something terribly wrong.
Not that it was really bad… but still.
Hadam ignored Yuna’s glaring eyes.
“I didn’t plan to go there from the start. I went out, heard a strange noise, traced it, and it seemed to come from the relic museum. I just peeked for a moment.”
Yuna narrowed her eyes. Then sighed as if she couldn’t believe it and asked,
“So? What happened?”
“I… heard a tiger’s roar.”
“…?”
“…I’m serious.”
Yuna snorted.
“Stop joking. The relic museum? There’s nothing there except antiques.”
Hadam would have reacted the same way if he hadn’t heard the strange noise himself.
“You know that feeling when your fur stands on end?”
Yuna’s expression turned serious.
It was a sensation any beastman would recognize—a primal instinct reminding them of their original form.
Humans may say “chills,” but the fear felt by beastmen is far more primal.
Fear of predators is deeply instinctual.
“…Really?”
Hadam nodded vigorously.
“I’m serious. I thought about it. Usually, no one goes to the relic museum, so maybe something is hidden there.”
“Hidden what?”
“…A tiger?”
Even Hadam felt this answer was unconvincing.
Yuna’s expression relaxed, clearly thinking it didn’t make sense.
“Fine, then why did you become Todam?”
“I ran away in surprise.”
“Geez.”
“But near the dorm, I ran into… Byeol Yunseong.”
“Why does his name come up here?”
Yuna cut him off sharply.
Hadam sighed inwardly. He hadn’t needed to mention that far.
“Just ran into him, by chance.”
He tried to brush it off, but Yuna frowned in irritation.
“Chance my foot. He’s monitoring you, right? Otherwise, why would he be out at that hour?”
“Maybe he couldn’t sleep either because it was hot, like me.”
“You really are either naïve or dense… I’ll catch proof of this. Just wait.”
Hadam knew she meant well, but the idea that Yunseong was following him was over the top. There was no reason for it.
He had talked about this topic several times, but always ended up back at square one.
So he tried to avoid saying Yunseong’s name.
“Okay, okay. But what I really want to say is… I think the new homeroom, the incoming student from the annex, and the sound from the relic museum are all connected.”
“Based on what?”
“A hunch.”
Yuna sighed heavily.
“Even if there’s a connection, what can we do? Just focus on studying.”
“It’s just… scary! Why would the homeroom teacher be a bear beastman? Isn’t it to suppress problems with force if something happens?”
“That makes sense.”
For the first time, Yuna nodded in agreement, then crossed her arms and whispered.
“You know why they isolate the predators in the annex?”
“Because it’s dangerous?”
“Why dangerous? The teacher said they’re no different from us. So they’re just humans, right?”
“Hmm.”
Hadam was momentarily speechless. He’d never thought of it that way.
It was natural that small animals didn’t live with predators. Literal laws of nature.
Not just Hadam, everyone probably thought the same.
He tilted his head and asked,
“Then why isolate them?”
“A few days ago, I met my sister. She majored in beastman history. She said predators’ pheromones are generally unstable. Like you.”
Like you.
Hadam immediately understood what she meant.
Like you, who can transform into an animal.
“So they isolate them just in case. It’s also why it’s hard to meet predator beastmen in society. If they’re unstable, they can’t live as ordinary humans.”
His grandmother, grandfather, his aunt who was the school nurse, even the principal who occasionally asked after him—none had ever explained this.
Could it be true?
His heart started racing.
Was it fear of encountering a predator, or excitement at possibly meeting a beastman like himself for the first time? He didn’t know.
