#1.

I’m hungry.

I stared blankly at the sky, hastily eating the snow around me.

It’s been a year since I became a ferret beastman. From the moment I opened my eyes, I had to survive in the harsh wilderness by instinct.

I endured spring, summer, and autumn like a stubborn creature, but the first winter was too severe.

Now, all the food I had stockpiled is gone.

I had no strength in my body because I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.

I wish I could survive by eating snow, but ferret beastman can’t live on just grass.

‘I’ve already become a ferret beastman, and now I’m destined to die like this. This is too much!’

I tried digging the ground in despair, but there was no food to be found. It was a moment of deep disappointment.

‘Sniff, what’s that smell?’

Somewhere in the distance, a faint but delicious smell of food. I instinctively followed the scent.

My hunger made my sense of smell extremely sharp, and I could smell scents from far away as if they were right next to me.

‘That place…’

A huge fortress in plain view. It was the territory where the many people I had seen while surviving here lived.

I had always avoided it instinctively, fearing that if I entered, I might be torn to pieces.

However, there was an incredibly delicious smell coming from there. A scent that was hard for someone like me, who hadn’t eaten for two days, to resist.

‘Oh, it’s Bianco.’

At that moment, I spotted Bianco, who was trying to make a hole to enter the fortress.

Like me, Bianco was a ferret beastman who had been abandoned in the wilderness but had succeeded in becoming somewhat human, although quite crooked compared to me.

‘Come to think of it, Bianco mentioned that he was raiding some warehouse from last time. Could that be the place?’

I suddenly remembered that he had been persuading me for the past few days to go raid the warehouse with him without getting tired.

According to Bianco, the warehouse was undoubtedly full of food.

Seeing the scent vibrating in the air, I was sure of it. I stared in that direction for a moment, deep in thought. It didn’t take long.

‘Oh, forget it. Whether I die of hunger or get torn apart by a human, it’s all the same.’

Blinded by hunger, I entered a place I should have avoided.

* * *

Upon successfully infiltrating the fortress with Bianco, I unexpectedly encountered a crisis.

Bianco had suddenly disappeared.

I waited for a long time, but when I went to the warehouse, it was already empty.

This beastman fellow had abandoned me and gone alone.

That’s why there’s no one to trust!

But the misfortune didn’t stop there. The biggest problem occurred at the escape route.

Who would have known that the place where I landed would be the head of a young lion beast?

“What’s this?”

“?!”

Startled, I landed with a jolt and put some distance between the boy and me. The boy, unexpectedly using his head as a stepping stone, looked at me with a peculiar gaze. His eyes, filled with drowsiness, were full of languor.

“Huh, what is this?”

For someone like me, who had been seeing animals all the time, but when I saw a humanized beastman after a long time, I unconsciously missed the moment to run away.

His golden eyes resembled the intense yellow of the sun, much like a lion beastman. His black hair sparkled with a radiant light, as if it contained the brilliant blue of the night.

‘What to do, is he the lord of this place?’

Just by looking, I could tell that this boy emitted an extraordinary aura, and I involuntarily swallowed my saliva. If he found out I had raided the warehouse, he might decide to take drastic measures.

It was a moment when I was glancing at the boy while trying to figure him out. Suddenly, my friend’s words from a past life, who used to enjoy watching “Animal Kingdom”, came to mind.

‘When a beastman hunts rabbits, they act like they’re insane. That’s how they can lure in a careless rabbit.’

I don’t know why my friend’s words suddenly came to mind, but it was now or never. What wouldn’t I do to survive?

I stared at the boy, who was yawning while swallowing dry saliva.

After a while, with all my might, I started acting like I was completely insane, hopping around frantically.

Did my spectacular display of insanity have an effect? The boy’s two eyes widened in disbelief.

‘That’s right, let your guard down like that!’

I started leaping even more vigorously while maintaining some distance. But if I had known it would grab the boy’s attention, I would never have done it.

* * *

“This is the first time I’ve seen something like this.”

Zerakiel looked at the white ferret beastman in front of him with a peculiar gaze. The one who unexpectedly landed on my head, as if surprised, rolled over and over before going completely crazy, using its whole body to leap around.

Jumping here and there.

A creature that was nothing but a cotton ball, hopping around and stealing his gaze.

So dazzling that it even dispelled my drowsiness, making my eyelids heavy.

Still, he seemed to sense that it was a beastman who had transformed into a ferret beastman, just like me. Perhaps because it was in the process of becoming human, it didn’t realize the lack of fear in its actions.

The spectacle unfolding in front of him was more than enough to capture Zerakiel’s attention, even more so than a lazy afternoon nap.

Originally, I had intended to avoid Ivan and take a short nap. The sight of the white creature in front of me dancing with all its might was quite comical.

How could so much strength come from such a tiny body that would end with a single bite if placed on a plate?

It seemed that it had accidentally ventured into lion territory while hunting.

Still, unless you were a fool, you wouldn’t dare leap around like that in front of a lion.

“Where did this lacking creature come from?”

At Zerakiel’s words, the ferret glared at him with a start. Such actions were like a little puppy trying to be intimidating in front of a terrifying tiger.

The ferret was so small that you could easily jump over it in a single leap.

It seemed to understand my insults as if it were a ghost.

The ferret’s fur displayed a pure white form, so white that when it was scattered among the still unmelted snow, only its eyes, nose, and mouth would be visible.

It was the late winter season, and while the biting cold wind had subsided a bit, the air was still chilly.

Seeing its unusually small size compared to a typical ferret, it seemed like it hadn’t been able to find enough food, which was evident from the fact that it had ventured all the way here.

Originally, I would have just left it alone, but perhaps due to the interesting spectacle, my gaze became fixated on the ferret, and I couldn’t let it go without further observation.

‘When I look at its trembling fur, it seems like I’m frightening it. Will it faint in shock when it returns to its body?’

As I imagined the tiny creature shivering in fear, I suddenly felt like playing a prank on it. The ferret continued to dance, completely oblivious, and seemed fearless, as if it treated the small creature as its prey.

‘Could it be playing a trick?’

I had never heard of a ferret playing tricks before.

It was while Zerakiel was observing the ferret, tilting his head in curiosity. Suddenly, the ferret, which had stealthily moved quite a distance, blinked its pink eyes and, taking advantage of Zerakiel’s distraction, made a quick escape.

“Ah.”

Only then did Zerakiel realize the reason for the ferret’s antics and let out a shallow sigh.

It had been trying to distract me and make its escape all along.

“It’s not a fool, after all.”

However, no matter how far it jumped, it was still his territory.

Zerakiel, who had been half-sitting on a tree, stood up, and he, who had transformed back into his lion form, began to follow the ferret.

It was an unusual game of cat and mouse between the lion and the ferret.

* * *

Why, why are you following me!

I used all my might to create a smokescreen, successfully distancing myself from the lion, but I soon encountered another crisis.

The reason the lion beastman had suddenly started following me with a frantic gaze was that he had been chasing me from behind.

It was entirely due to his sudden change back to his original form and his pursuit that I found myself cornered.

Even though he was still a young lion, a lion was still a lion. He chased me with his mane shaking, and he was pure terror to me.

‘I’m scared, I’m scared, I’m scared!’

The guy who had seemed fairly mild just moments ago had turned into a terrifying lion, and fear welled up within me.

If I got caught like this, it would be no different from boarding a one-way train to his large mouth.

Why on earth had I, without a shred of fear, ventured into lion territory to search the warehouse? Where had Bianco, who had been pestering me for days to go raid the warehouse, disappeared to?

‘You little rascal! Go become lion food!’

Of course, I had a feeling I’d become lion food first.