The Symbiotic Relationship Between the Rabbit and the Black Panther

After several verification procedures, presentation of identity cards, the place we entered was an old ivory-coloured temple.

I rolled my eyes, only revealing my face from the pocket. The murals that were painted everywhere and the flames burning over the torches created a divine atmosphere.

“Mister Grace, welcome.”

A man with a long beard, wearing a grey-white priest uniform silently welcomed us in.

From the moment I faced him standing far away, I couldn’t think straight. My heart started beating. I kept thinking about the bad memories from my past.

[ This is a terrible curse! ]

It was a loud voice that made my ears ache. What if I end up hearing the same thing again. And what if it were to be heard by Ahin and Evrin. The anxiety that I had been suppressing inside me continued to rise.

“Wait here for a moment.”

Ahin took me out of his pocket and put me on the floor. As he looked at me with uneasy eyes, he demanded with a slow voice.

“Answer.”

Nod, nod. As he forcibly moved his head, Ahin burst into laughter, rose up and walked away.

I looked at his back with trembling eyes. His back, dressed in a black suit, felt too distant today.

“It’s been a long time. Has it been three years?”

“It’s the first time you’ve recieved us. It’s an honour to be personally visited by Monk Grey.”

The longer it took for Ahin and Evrin to do the greetings, the more it made me feel sick. I was standing somewhat far away, but I could infer two words from the way their mouths were moving.

Rabbit.

Shapeshifter.

As I breathed in, the unpleasant cries from that day clouded my mind. The voice of the priest echoed in my muddled head.

[ This is a terrible curse! ]

I choked up. If I hear the same words from this priest again.

[ Sadly, she has been abandoned by the divine beast! ]

As I came back to my senses, I was madly running somewhere.

As I saw the priest standing there, I had been driven with an urge to run and before I knew it, I was moving my feet.

My vision quickly became blurry due to tears filling up in my eyes.

[ Unfortunately, there is no way. ]

Oh, the black panther had told me to quietly wait for him. I broke my promise, so I might really get eaten this time. Even though I had such absurd thoughts, my feet kept moving contrary to my will.

[ There is no precedent to this. ]

Stop. I felt the anxiety that had been eating me so far rising to the surface.

[ Didn’t the priest say that it was a curse recieved from the divine beast. How unpleasant. ]

After running for a long time, I arrived in front of a large stone statue. The towering statue represented the divine beast that was worshiped by the shapeshifters. It was made of several animal figures intertwined together.

As I stared up blankly at him, my tears came dripping down. Mister divine beast, why can’t I change into a human being? Am I really cursed?

Questions that couldn’t be answered continued to rise in my mind. It was a now a situation where the statue was almost invisible due to my blurred vision. My heart was beating fast due to the frustration I felt.

‘…Why only me.’

Why. In their childhood, everyone is able to get recognized so I don’t understand why I am the only one who had to go through this.

My younger brother, who was born three years after me, has already transformed into a boy since a long time. The other half-siblings were also the same.

Despite my endless grudges, there was no one to really blame. As I cried, I felt that my entire body had been drained of energy.

As I was about to stretch myself for a moment, suddenly a large hand reached out and picked me up. My sight was filled with familiar silver hair.

“Hey.”

His voice was very low. Ahin, who was breathing lightly, looked rather angry instead of having his usual smile or expressionless face.

“This time I was a little irritated, you.”

He roughly sweeped his hair and before I knew it, he was holding me high.

Frustrated with nothing to say, I just struggled to get out of Ahin’s hands. It wasn’t my will to run away either. And I still don’t want to go to the temple.

“Why are you crying?”

If you were in my situation, wouldn’t you also be crying? I really hate it, let go. Eventually, with my claws up, I scratched Ahin’s hand. Despite the scratches, his hand showed no sign of releasing me.

After a while, Ahin asked in a slightly soft voice.

“You don’t like the temple?”

Without thinking further, I nodded my head my head aggressively. I hate it so much. I hate the temple, and I hate the priests even more. I kept nodding and stared at Ahin with tears in my eyes. And oh, I don’t like you either.

“Sir Ahin!”

Evrin’s loud voice echoed at the back. His neat black hair soared all over.

As he hurriedly approached, he looked relieved once he found me in Ahin’s hands. Evrin, who was gasping for breath, put his hands on his waist while having his usual expressionless face.

“Bunny-nim, you’ve got good running skills. I’d never thought that you would try to run away from the temple.”

Even in this situation, I still couldn’t overlook his habit of spouting nonsense. Having running so fast, I had absolutely no strength to even glare at him, so, I stretched myself in Ahin’s hands.

Ahin, who looked at me being like that, turned his eyes towards Evrin.

“It has an aversion to the temple.”

I don’t remember expressing myself to that extreme, but I was dumbfounded and gave a thumbs up to Ahin by jumping. The leap was very high.

“Shit, I didn’t know. Bunny-nim must be an unholy atheist.”

“I guess so. Isn’t it strange that a normal rabbit has a religion in the first place?”

“Don’t rabbits tend to pray sometimes?”

“Oh. Isn’t that interesting?”

No matter who heard it, a strange conversation continued between them. Then, Evrin made a suggestion while tilting his head.

“Then let’s go back to the mansion.”

Was it that simple? In a daze, I opened my mouth slightly. Ahin, who looked down at me, smiled as usual.

“Yes, let’s go back.”

We went back home. It was an easy ending for someone like me who had been desperately running away a while ago because I didn’t want to meet the priest.

“Bunny-nim.”

Undoubtedly, Evrin had stood close enough to Ahin so that I could hear him. Then he carefully raised his hands and arranged his thick hair.

“This Evrin is a civil servant, not a military officer. So, I’d like it if you don’t abruptly run away next time.”

“Evrin, don’t talk too close to my face.”

“I respect Sir Ahin’s cold attitude.”

“Mouth.”

“Yes.”

Evrin, who barely managed to zip his mouth, then led the way. As I alternately looked at the two figures in the carriage, I was suddenly overcome by drowsiness. The words, ‘let’s go back’ somehow made me feel tired and sleepy.

‘This place is….?’

When I opened my eyes, there was darkness outside the window. Maybe I fell asleep in the carriage on the way back. I rubbed my eyes on the white bed and turned my back.

My eyes felt heavy and swollen, perhaps because I had cried so much while sitting on the floor of the temple. I still felt tired even though I had just slept soundly.

Looking around at the cosy bedroom, I pretended to sleep quickly.

It was a quiet night, but there was one problem. It was Ahin, who was staring at me while wearing his night gown.

‘No way…’

At first glance, his firm expression looked like he would rebuke me for running away from the temple. When I was suddenly frightened, my eyes became tensed.

Moreover, although I sees him every night, his strong exposed body that could be seen through the night gown today was quite burdensome. It’s already a challenge to look at his beautiful face, and now, it’s too much to adjust to such a disheveled appearance.

After all, I’m a healthy adult who has already had my coming of age ceremony. And that defenseless black panther seems to have no idea how dangerous this Miss Bibi can be.

“Hey.”

He called me all of a sudden, but I didn’t intend to open my eyes. If you think I’m going to get caught up in your provocation, then that’s a big miscalculation.

“Cry baby.”

Shit. In irritation, I quickly got up and punched Ahin’s hand with my front foot. After blocking my blow, he pushed my head. If I do something wrong, I’ll end up breaking my neck.

‘Damn it!’

In the midst of this situation, as I saw his blinding red eyes, I immediately pretended to sleep. I couldn’t believe it, but I could hear the sound of the breeze.

“Well.”

After a brief pause, chills appeared on my back. It was because Ahin’s fingers were slowly stroking my back.

It was a gesture that contained no threat, but I could still feel chills for some reason.

“You know what?”

Like a siren’s song, It made him sound like a possessed shapeshifter. (1)

I don’t know, I don’t want to know what it is forever. As I continued to think like that, I felt a cool touch on my back.

“The wild beasts are possessive, no matter what it is.”

Slowly, his fingers brushed against my back. It was slow but steady. He usually patted me on the back like this but it always made me uncomfortable.

“Sometimes, if you follow your desire, it will break you.”

He was a wild beast, so he was calmly talking about this as it was just something else. On the other hand, I had enough goosebumps on my body to the point I wanted to jump up.

I don’t think Ahin’s current words are true for everyone.

‘Oh my god.’

Don’t tell me you’re going to try to put me in your mouth again. Unlike my worries, fortunately nothing happened.

However, I was not relieved of the tension, so I stayed alert. After a few seconds of silence, I once again heard a deep, low voice.

“You were picked up by me.”

“That’s why you were able to live.”

“That’s why you are my possession. Isn’t that right?”

As I listened to the words that followed, my mouth dried up.

It was such a subtle warning that I might somehow be ruined if I even as much tried to run away.

Somehow, I had a feeling that it would be better to run away as soon as possible from this mansion, but was I mistaken?

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Glossary

(1) ‘Siren’s song – So, I did some research on this and it seems to have two meanings:

I. Something that’s alluring, appealing and seductive on the surface but ultimately, it is deceptive and dangerous.

II. In Greek mythology, the sirens were dangerous creatures who would lure nearby sailors with their enchanting songs.