The Symbiotic Relationship Between the Rabbit and the Black Panther

It was a very relaxed call, without being aware of the urgent situation. I wasn’t expecting that lazy voice at all.

‘Ahin!’

I was overwhelmed with emotions. When I pulled my head out of the railing gap, two human figures were reflected in the lamp light.

Even if this place was only three stories high, it still felt scary.

Underneath the terrace, I could see Ahin and the lion shapeshifter with whom he seemed to have a bad relationship. It was definitely the same person that Meimi had described as Rune Manionche of the lion clan.

‘Was that lion still here?’

It’s not the time to think about this. When I looked behind me in a hurry, I could sense the wolf’s hesitation. With my face stuck between the railings again, I waved my front paws desperately and asked for help.

‘There’s a wolf here!’

It’s a transformed wolf that’s drooling in front of me. But unlike my desperate cries, Ahin simply waved his hands back lightly as if to greet me.

“Lord Manionche, wave your hand.”

“…..?”

“Isn’t it basic manners to respond to greetings?”

“Don’t say stupid shit.”

That’s not it! Feeling frustrated, I slightly raised my body and swung my feet back and forth. However, both Ahin and Rune, had a frown on their face as they did not seem to understand anything at all.

“What does it mean to say?”

“….? How do I know that.”

“That’s why lions are useless.”

“What did you say?”

Moreover, there was a pointless argument going on between them. The wolf’s eyes flashed as he hesitatingly listened to the conversation. The wolf then licked around his mouth with his tongue and approached me with breathless steps.

‘…O-oh, here he comes.’

As I stumbled and fell, I realised there was no way out of this. Unfortunately, the two men below could not see this situation at all and were still arguing about what my gestures meant.

‘You wild beasts, I’m in a desperate situation here!’

The sound of the wolf’s feet came closer. The height of this terrace was dizzyingly high, but there was no more time for any hesitation. After dodging the wolf’s sharp claws, my body finally fell into the air.

“How is it possible for an ordinary rabbit to do greetings?”

“It’s a genius rabbit…..Bibi!”

Ahin and Rune’s pupils expanded greatly. They reflexively extended their arms upwards.

‘Aahh!’

The closer the floor appeared, the more my fear of crashing increased. As my fear reached its peak, my body was then quickly wrapped up in something.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t find stability and kept struggling with my feet.

“Bibi, wait a minute…”

As the familiar voice came close, my rationality that had been eroded by fear gradually became clear.

‘…Hair?’

As my sight was completely filled with silver hair, I could feel my blood cooling down. Having stopped moving, I seriously considered the current situation.

I fearfully clinged on to Ahin’s forehead and messed with his hair and face. I might end up dying at the hands of a wolf, let alone a black panther.

“Bibi.”

Ahin frowned, barely managing to remove the frozen me from his face.

“‘Why did you jump all of a sudden. Do you have a hobby of engaging in thrilling things?”

Isn’t that really your hobby? As I dangled in the air, I wanted to kick him with my hind feet if I could.

Maybe I wasn’t the only one who thought that way, because Rune, who happened to meet my eyes, had a blank look on his face.

“Lord Grace, don’t you smell something strange?”

Rune, who was standing at a certain distance, suddenly looked at the terrace. At that moment, Ahin’s eyes became dull.

“…Wolf.”

As soon as he finished saying that, there was a troubled cry of a wolf heard from above.

Soon after, Meimi appeared on the terrace with urgent footsteps and looked down with a worried expression.

“Bunny-nim!”

Meimi’s wandering gaze soon settled on me, who was held by Ahin.

With a sigh, she exhaled a breath of relief.

‘Meimi…’

When I saw Meimi, I felt like I had been freed from the shadows of death. As soon as my nervous body relaxed, I could feel tears pouring out of my eyes.

Then I heard Ahin whispering a warning in my ear.

“Don’t cry now.”

Didn’t you always tell me to cry more? When I glared at him, he curved his eyes in response. I bit my lips and swallowed my tears.

According to Evrin’s explanation, the wolf that had shown up in the library was a mixed breed of both the black panther and the wolf clan.

No wonder his eyes had been red as it seems he also had the blood of the black panther clan. In addition, the wolf chose to commit suicide as soon as he had been attacked by Meimi.

He was confirmed to have infiltrated through a simple recruitment process for the temporary employees and late at night, when all the employees had returned, there had been a commotion to prove whether every employee belonged to the black panther clan or not.

The relationship between the black panther and wolf clans was dangerously complicated.

It was completely unthinkable in the rabbit terrioty to even try to infiltrate using a mixed-blood shapeshifter.

But what was his reason for attacking me? Was it starved or was it a curious attack simply because I was Ahin’s emergency food?

Moreover, the extreme choice of suicide was a whole different story, as it was something that I had seen for the first time outside of the world that I had lived in.

Questions about this and that arose in my mind, but I was forcibly awakened from my thoughts due to the hand that stretched out in front of me.

‘Get out of the way.’

When I struck the back of the hand, the big hand retreated back. It was already the tenth time that this same situation had been repeated.

Presently, Meimi and I had been waiting in Ahin’s office while he was still investigating with Evrin. However, if there was a problem, then it was the fact that the lion named Rune kept reaching out to me on the sofa.

‘Why the hell is this wild beast here anyway?’

Again, when that hand didn’t give up, Ahin’s voice echoed in my head again and again.

[ Bibi, if you come back with that scent one more time, then…. ]

[ If you come back with that scent one more time, then…. ]

And then..! I shook my body violently and threw away Rune’s hand roughly.

“That hurts.”

‘I hit you so that it hurts.’

As he glared at me with those golden eyes peculiar to the lion clan, I quietly avoided his gaze.

He looked back at Meimi, who was waiting with me, and held the back of his hand which was burning red because of the repeated scuffles between us.

“Excuse me. This, isn’t it a shapeshifter that has undone humanization?”

“It’s an ordinary rabbit.”

Meimi denied it sharply. But I was a shapeshifter who hasn’t undone humanization, so he was half-correct causing me to become surprised and step back.

Perhaps, he could sense my pheromones just like Miss Valence. One thing was surely right in its place.

“I don’t think so.”

Rune, who did not give up on his questioning, opened his mouth again. It was an overly confident voice.

“I’m sorry but it’s an ordinary rabbit.”

“What do you mean by ordinary. There’s a rumour going around that it can understand words.”

“Bunny-nim is rather special.”

Can’t you just answer without that ‘bunny-nim’? When I look at it, Meimi can be really stiff sometimes.

“Is he really keeping it as a pet? That black panther?”

Rune scoffed as he glanced at me with his golden eyes. On a closer observation, contrary to Ahin’s playful expression, Rune had more of a sharp look.

A lion’s signature laziness seemed to be reflected in my dim view.

“Oh well, how can I read the thoughts of some lunatic black panther.”

Last time too, he had called Ahin crazy. I mean that’s right but what kind of status do you have to be able to make such a bold statement about him?

As I was full of doubts, Rune made eye contact with me and muttered.

“Why did the wolf target you?”

“……”

“Well, it does look delicious.”

Apparently, the minds of wild beasts must always be occupied on how to satisfy their appetites. Why else would you be making such a cruel remark?

My astonished feeling seemed to be completely absent for him, because Rune inadvertently checked his pocket watch.

“If there’s such a commotion, the ball may be postponed.”

“Since the invitations have already been sent, it will proceed as scheduled.”

“–Ah, so bothersome. Can’t we just go back to our territory?”

When Meimi answered, he looked irritated and leaned back, burying himself in the sofa.  Rune’s murmurs continued.

‘Ball?’

As I looked at Rune who was rubbing through his disheveled, curly hair, I suddenly realised why the number of the employees in the mansion had increased.

The Raebian family also used to hire temporary servants whenever they held a ball. Although no opportunity was ever given to me to participate, in such a large mansion, wouldn’t the ball be twice the size of that of the Raebian family?

It was impossible to even estimate how many other clans would be present. Thinking blankly, I sneakily glanced at Rune.

“You must have been surprised. It’s not unusual for other clans to infiltrate the chief’s mansion.”

Rune’s gaze, which I had misunderstood, changed and he greeted me with laughter. There was sarcasm in his voice, and a tone that sounded like he was saying something really insignificant.

“This is not a place for herbivores.”

“Mister Manionche.”

Perhaps it was out of concern as I had just been chased by a wolf, but Meimi immediately interrupted Rune. My fear at that time did not completely go away, but now my pupils were trembling for a different reason.

‘Chief…, what?’

Ah. I didn’t want to face reality, so I crouched with my front paws below my head. The Grace family. Valence Grace. Ahin Grace.

The conversation between the maids of the Raebian family that I vaguely remembered passed through my head.

[ This time, there was a commotion in the city. ]

[ I heard a delegation of the hyenas passed through the city. If you cross the forest boundary, you’ll see the Grace family. They showed up in the village to take a shortcut to the place. ]

[ Sigh, the family that borders the black panther territory is the family of the chief. ]

They would sometimes talk about their aversion to the wild beasts, mostly the black panther and lion clans who bordered the rabbit territory.

Finally, I realized why I had sensed deja vu when I had first heard Miss Valence’s name.

‘It was the chief’s family…!’

In a territory where no royalty had existed, the chief was actually the head of all the black panthers. Naturally, a large mansion with several annexes and a gorgeous interior would belong to them.

Then, it means that Valence was the overlord of the black panther territory and Ahin would be the next overlord. (1)

‘The next chief of the black panther territory.’

Calm down, let’s calm down. But I couldn’t stop spinning around on the couch.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Bunny-nim?”

I heard a frosty voice, but it simply escaped through my other ear. Only then was I able to understand Ahin’s arrogance and unruly nature as if he possessed the entire world.

[  Isn’t it said that a shapeshifter dies everyday by the hands of the Grace family? ]

[ The forest is full of dead bodies. How would we know about the world of the wild beasts? ]

Turning around, I finally ended up slouching on the couch. Somehow, I felt my eyes darkening just like the fur of a black panther .

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Translator’s Corner

Please read! For those who are interested in this translated novel and wish to continue reading it and stay updated, please join my discord server (link below). Considering the situation with the publishers and shutting down of translation groups lately, I advise you to join the discord as you can stay informed about any recent changes in my translation schedules and other things. Plus, if I’m not able to translate here, then discord will be the safe place for everyone who’s interested in this novel. Also, please don’t share my blog or discord link anywhere, thanks.

Discord Link – https://discord.gg/DjjJhE3 Glossary

(1) ‘Overlord‘ – So, the word used here is ‘가주’. This is a word that was frequently used in the ancient times but not in modern Korea. It refers to the head of a rich, honorable family that has GREAT influence over the economy of a country. They are very powerful families and have a very high status and authority, almost like a family that describes a generation. I don’t really know the right equivalent English word for it, so I’ll be using Overlord as just ‘lord’ doesn’t do it. Of course, for referring titles, I’ll just use ‘lord’ (Copy pasting definition from ITLIWL).