The Symbiotic Relationship Between The Rabbit And The Black Panther [EN]: Chapter 3

The Symbiotic Relationship Between a Rabbit and a Black Panther 3 (3/75)

A faint medicinal scent drifted past my nose. Half-conscious, I felt someone gently turn me over.

They carefully opened my mouth and manipulated my front paws. As my awareness sharpened, an unfamiliar voice echoed in my ear.

“Hmm. He simply lost consciousness from the shock. His pulse is perfectly normal.”

*Ah.* Thankfully, it seemed to be a diagnostic touch. The feeling was so cautious and gentle that my tense muscles relaxed.

Relieved, I continued to feign sleep; my eyelids felt like lead.

“Evelyn, there’s nothing wrong with his health, so you don’t need to worry.”

“That’s a relief. It would be a disaster if Ahin ate a sick rabbit.”

*Who are you calling a sick rabbit?* As I fumed over the rude remark, I immediately recognized the voice.

It was definitely the black-haired man who had caused me to faint while talking about emergency rations.

I wanted to get up and deliver a furious front-paw punch, but the cowardly cells in my body dissuaded me, so I just pretended to be asleep.

“Are there any other problems? Like a rabbit beastkin [a human with rabbit-like features and abilities] who briefly reverted to his original form? He seemed quite clever earlier, as if he understood what we were saying.”

Again, I heard the voice of the man called Evelyn.

“Well… I don’t sense any beastkin pheromones at all, and it’s already been half a day since Ahin brought him here. Beastkins can’t stay in their original form for more than half a day after humanization. If he were a beastkin, he would have returned to human form by now.”

“What about the possibility of a young beastkin who hasn’t undergone humanization yet?”

“That’s also impossible. Humanization is a process that’s almost complete by the age of three, so a beastkin that young wouldn’t be able to show such active behavior like this rabbit.”

*Oh dear.* As I unintentionally eavesdropped on the conversation, I finally realized my mistake—showing that I easily understood their words.

It was a natural thing at the Lavian mansion, so I had been reacting to Evelyn’s voice without much thought.

*Would they let me out of here if they knew I was a beastkin?*

*‘But….’*

The more I worried, the more another anxiety crept in.

I heard that there are many scholars in the black panther territory. If they found out that I failed to humanize even after my coming-of-age ceremony, they might hand me over for experimentation.

Paled, I chose to remain silent for now.

“He seems like an ordinary baby rabbit for now.”

The physician, who examined me for the last time as I stubbornly pretended to be asleep, asked cautiously.

“Um… Ahin, did you really bring this rabbit here with the intention of eating it?”

“No, it’s just my conjecture.”

What *is* he basing his conjecture on? It was hard to tell how much of what this man, Evelyn, was saying was a joke or the truth.

His voice was always so monotone.

The more I thought about it, the less sense it made that Ahin, the black panther who owned this lavish bedroom, would bring me as a snack.

As if thinking the same thing, the physician replied somewhat awkwardly.

“Ah, yes… Evelyn, I’ve finished the examination, so I’ll be on my way.”

*Wait, don’t leave me alone with this strange man!* Despite my desperate cry, I heard the sound of the physician leaving the bedroom.

It’s starting to get hard to pretend to sleep. But I felt Evelyn approaching me beside my closed eyes, so it was awkward to get up.

“Rabbit-nim [a polite suffix, similar to ‘Mr.’ or ‘Ms.’],”

A low whisper came with a breath beside my face.

“Your closed eyelids are twitching. If you don’t wake up, you might end up on the table as an appetizer. Would you prefer soup or grilled?”

I 벌떡 [baltteok – Korean word for ‘abruptly’] raised my body and glared. This atrocious beast. From today on, I think I will hate the black panther clan the most among the beastkins.

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