Suho stepped into Remedial Class Z with twenty other students and packed the small room.
All of them carried the same dead look in their eyes, low E-ranks who had nowhere else to go.
He kept the blind pup tucked inside his jacket.
She had not left his chest since he woke up.
The instructor, a tired D-rank named Park, pointed at the portal screen without looking up.
"Tier-1 dungeon run today. No excuses. You clear it or you repeat the month. Weapons and beasts only. Get in there."
The class groaned.
One guy in the back muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. "Great. Another day of watching the rich kids flex while we eat slime."
Suho stayed quiet. He felt the pup shift against his ribs.
Her small heartbeat still lined up with his from last night.
He told himself it was nothing, just a weird bond thing.
◆ ◆ ◆
They stepped through the portal together.
The dungeon opened into a narrow stone corridor lined with glowing moss. Slime-covered walls dripped thick green goo. A low growl echoed from ahead.
Three Tier-1 goblins waited around the corner with rusty blades.
The class spread out in a sloppy line.
Suho stayed at the back and watched, he carried the pup in one arm and kept his free hand on the wall.
"Left side has a loose stone," he said. "Push it and the ceiling drops right on their heads. I saw the crack when we entered."
Two students looked at him like he had grown a second head.
One of them laughed. "Who asked the F-rank trash for advice?"
But they tried it anyway.
Rocks crashed down and crushed two goblins flat.
The third one charged straight at Suho.
He sidestepped and swung his cheap iron rod into its knee. The goblin dropped.
He finished it with a second hit to the skull.
Then Choi Minjun stepped out of the side passage.
B-rank badge pinned to his chest like it weighed nothing.
He carried a flame drake on his shoulder that spat small sparks.
Minjun looked Suho up and down then pointed at the pup.
"Nice sewer rat you got there, Kang. Does it piss on command or just when it sees a real tamer?"
The whole class laughed. One girl covered her mouth but still snorted.
Another guy slapped Minjun on the back. "Sewer rat. That's gold."
Suho kept his face blank.
He wiped goblin blood off his rod and said nothing.
The pup pressed tighter to his chest, he felt her small body tense but she did not make a sound.
They pushed deeper.
Suho called every trap before it sprung. He spotted the pressure plate that would flood the hall with acid.
He told the group to throw rocks ahead to trigger the swinging blades and by the time they reached the boss room the class had stopped laughing at him.
They just followed his calls.
The boss was a single big slime. It oozed across the floor and left burning trails.
Suho stayed back and directed.
"Circle left. Hit the core from behind while it chases the decoy. Do not let it corner you against the wall."
They did it.
The slime burst apart in a spray of green goo and the class cheered.
Suho wiped slime off the pup's fur with his sleeve and walked out of the dungeon first.
Minjun waited at the exit. He blocked the path with his drake still sparking on his shoulder.
"Congrats on carrying your little sewer rat through the baby dungeon, Kang. Try not to get it killed next time. Real tamers do not babysit trash."
His class laughed again. Suho pushed past him without answering.
The pup stayed silent inside his jacket the whole walk back to the dorm.
◆ ◆ ◆
The shared bathroom in the remedial wing had one metal tub and cold running water.
Suho locked the door and filled the tub halfway.
He set the pup on the edge and peeled off his own slime-covered shirt. Green goo stuck to both of them in thick streaks.
He dipped a cloth in the water and started washing her. His hands moved slow over her small back.
The moment his fingers brushed her fur both of them froze.
The pup's tail started wagging so fast it blurred.
He felt another wave right after. This one ran straight down his spine and settled low in his stomach.
He kept washing, his hands slid along her sides.
Another pulse hit, stronger this time and his breath caught.
He could not see her but he felt something warm and wet drag across his left ear.
A slow lick.
Then another.
The touch came from nowhere, no one stood behind him.
The bathroom was empty except for the two of them.
The invisible lick moved down to his neck and stayed there.
His pulse picked up hard, he did not understand why his skin felt so hot all of a sudden.
The pup pressed into his hands.
Every time his fingers moved over her fur the pulses came faster. Four times in a row.
Each one left him breathing heavier, he kept washing her belly.
The invisible tongue traced his ear again and he felt teeth graze the lobe.
[DING!] — Micro-Bond Event x4. Obsession Index: Geurim +6 (11/50)
Suho shook his head and finished rinsing her.
He wrapped the pup in a clean towel and carried her back to the room.
◆ ◆ ◆
That night the dorm lights went out early. Suho lay on his back with the pup curled tight on his chest.
She had refused the pet bed again, her breathing stayed steady and slow.
The door creaked open around two in the morning.
A student from the main dorms slipped inside. He moved quiet toward the bed and reached for the pup.
His fingers got close.
A shadow stretched up from the floor beside Suho.
It took the shape of a girl for half a second.
Long hair and sharp shoulders.
The shadow hand wrapped around the intruder's ankle and yanked hard.
The guy crashed face-first into the metal locker.
He screamed and scrambled out the door on all fours.
The shadow snapped back into the floor like it had never been there.
The pup stayed curled on Suho's chest the whole time and never moved.
◆ ◆ ◆
Suho woke to shouting in the hallway the next morning.
He pulled on a shirt and stepped out. The class stood in a loose circle around the guy from last night.
The intruder rubbed his ankle and pointed at their room.
"Something grabbed me in the dark, It felt like a hand. I swear it dragged me across the floor!"
One of the roommates crossed his arms. "Beasts do weird shit at night all the time,could have been anything."
Suho stood there with the pup still tucked inside his jacket. He scratched the back of his neck and said the first thing that came to mind.
"The guy says something grabbed his ankle in the dark, In a dorm full of beast tamers. Any number of beasts could have done that. It's not… it wasn't Geurim. She was asleep on me the whole time and I would have felt her move. I think."
The class looked at him but no one argued.
The intruder limped away still muttering about shadows.
Suho went back inside and shut the door.
The pup pressed her nose to his chest like nothing had happened, then he sat on the bed and stared at the wall for a long second.
His ear still tingled from the invisible licks in the bathroom.
'I need a girlfriend for real, I'm feeling like I'm losing my damn mind'