The world was spiraling.

  Chaos.

  Plain and simple.

  On one side of the planet, political leaders sat at round tables, fingers steepled and brows furrowed as they watched blurry footage of a boy swinging an iron rod and reducing monsters to mist.

  Guild leaders screamed at each other over broadcast calls. Governments were forced to issue public statements, half reassurance, half panic.

  On the other side of the planet, conspiracy theorists were already connecting dots that didn’t exist.

  And right in the middle of all that chaos…

  Lee Aseok was bathing a puppy.

  The bathroom was fogged up with steam.

  Lee Aseok sat cross-legged on the tiled floor, clothes half-soaked, hair dripping, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A towel was wrapped around his neck like he’d done this before, which, judging from the calm expression on his face, he probably had.

  The puppy wriggled in the basin of warm water, splashing foam everywhere as it tried to eat the bubbles with enthusiastic failure.

  Lee Aseok watched it without blinking.

  The sponge in his hand moved methodically over its fur. He was soaked from shoulder to shin, but he didn’t care.

  The moment he’d touched the muddy creature’s coat, he realized the dirt wasn’t just superficial, it was deep. Matted. Days old.

  He worked quietly, rinsing and repeating.

  When he lifted the puppy out and placed it on the towel, its true appearance was finally revealed.

  It was a husky breed. Still young, maybe only two or three weeks old. Its eyes were a rich reddish brown, almost identical in hue to his own.

  Its fur was snowy white with streaks of copper and cinnamon across its back, and now that it was clean, it practically glowed under the soft bathroom light.

  It sneezed.

  Twice.

  Then looked at him with wet lashes and full trust.

  Lee Aseok stared at it.

  The puppy tilted its head.

  “…Why are you like this,” Aseok muttered under his breath. He dried its fur slowly, his hands gentle and methodical.

  He hadn't planned this.

  He hadn't planned any of it.

  Originally, the idea of keeping a pet hadn’t even crossed his mind, why would it? He didn’t even know when he’d die.

  His life, if anything, was like a lit fuse: slow, quiet, and inevitably running toward its end. He had no place in the future.

  But when the puppy had followed him anyway.

  When it had wagged its tail and cried softly at the stairs, When it had barked with joy as he opened the door, Aseok had felt something click inside.

  A soundless, invisible shift.

  So, here he was. Giving it a bath.

  He stood up slowly, left the puppy bundled in the towel like a swaddled burrito, and changed his clothes.

  Then he returned to the room with a new towel and gently dried the last bits of moisture from its ears and paws.

  The puppy yawned, tail wagging softly.

  Aseok looked at it and finally signed

  “I named you, Pudding,” Aseok said flatly.

  It barked at him anyway.

  He sighed once more.

  After making sure it was completely dry, he placed the puppy on a clean blanket he’d spread on the floor. It rolled in it once and immediately fell asleep, tiny paws twitching.

  Lee Aseok didn’t smile. But he did reach out and very lightly, very briefly, brush a finger over the soft fur.

  Then he stood.

  He grabbed the old iron rod leaning against the wall and took it into the bathroom with him.

  He cleaned it the same way he always did.

  Warm water. A cloth. A small bottle of metal oil.

  The rod didn’t have a name. It didn’t have a glowing aura. But it had saved his life more times than he could count.

  He didn’t need the Holy Sword.

  He’d already survived long enough without it.

  As he polished the iron to a dull, familiar shine, the holy sword hovered just beyond the bathroom doorframe, still sulking, apparently, from being ignored during the dungeon raid. It vibrated faintly in the air like a child demanding attention.

  Lee Aseok didn’t even glance at it.

  After finishing, he stripped off his soaked shirt and stepped into the shower.

  Steam filled the space again.

  When he emerged, it was with clean clothes, damp hair, and a rod in hand. The holy sword hovered closer, hopeful, but he walked right past it, rod in hand.

  It was a strange morning.

  Not the kind of strange that involved collapsing dungeons or interdimensional threats. No. Those had become almost normal.

  This kind of strange came with paw prints on polished floors and the distinct, horrifying sound of a squeaky toy echoing through Mu Yichen’s house.

  Lee Aseok emerged from his room with wet hair, loose clothes. The holy sword hovered behind him like a child hoping for attention, but it was, as always, utterly ignored.

  His face remained unreadable.

  Expressionless.

  Minimal effort in every movement.

  In his arms, he carried the now fresh puppy.

  The little creature was radiant now. A tiny husky with bright, reddish-brown fur and snow-white paws, its floppy ears perked with every new sound.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  It wiggled enthusiastically, tail flicking, eyes wide with unfiltered joy as it tried, again, to leap at the floating holy sword.

  The sword glowed in alarm, darting up to avoid contact.

  Aseok didn’t even glance at it.

  “Stop that,” he muttered to the puppy, voice low and flat.

  The puppy barked in response.

  Clearly, it had no plans to stop.

  Aseok sighed.

  In the living room, three grown men stared silently at the mountain of puppy supplies being delivered.

  Food bowls. Beds. Chew toys. A collapsible pen. Two different sizes of harnesses. Even a designer raincoat for small breeds that Seo MinHyun was absolutely going to pretend he didn’t like.

  And then came the baby milk bottles.

  “Is that…” Taegun narrowed his eyes.

  “Formula,” Mu Yichen confirmed, flipping through the packaging slip. “Imported. Goat’s milk base. Hypoallergenic.”

  “…How much did he order?”

  “Enough to raise a litter.”

  And just as that last sentence left Mu Yichen’s mouth, they all turned their heads in perfect unison.

  There he was.

  Lee Aseok.

  Wet-haired, blank as ever, carrying an excited, squirming puppy who looked like it had just won the lottery.

  The puppy barked.

  Once.

  Twice.

  Then licked Aseok’s cheek.

  He didn’t react.

  At all.

  It was that utter neutrality that unsettled them most.

  Because Aseok had said that he hated humans. Didn’t trust them. I didn't want them close. But animals?

  He’d never said anything about animals.

  The thought that a dog might be treated better than them settled like a rock in Seo MinHyun’s stomach.

  It felt… unjust.

  Unfair.

  Unbearable.

  Aseok set the puppy down in the living room and walked into the kitchen without a single word.

  The three men stared after him.

  Then, slowly, their eyes fell to the puppy.

  It wagged its tail.

  MinHyun took a cautious step forward. “It’s cute.”

  Mu Yichen crouched first. His hand moved gently, slowly, and he gave the puppy a calm, practiced pat on the head.

  The puppy approved.

  It let out a pleased yip and tried to climb his knee.

  Yichen smiled faintly.

  Seo MinHyun narrowed his eyes.

  “Of course you’d get along with it,” he muttered, picking up the puppy as if to test something. “Let’s see if I..”

  He paused mid-sentence.

  The puppy looked at him.

  Their eyes locked.

  And in that exact moment, Seo MinHyun felt an existential crisis crawl up his spine.

  He was no longer the most charming thing in the room.

  “…I hate this,” he whispered dramatically. “Its eyes are shinier than mine.”

  Taegun, who had barely spared the puppy a glance, crossed his arms.

  “It’s a dog. Not your rival.”

  “Are you sure?” MinHyun held the puppy up like it was Simba. “Because I feel personally attacked.”

  The puppy sneezed on his face.

  “…This is war.”

  Meanwhile, Lee Aseok was in the kitchen, carefully reading the bottle instructions.

  The milk formula instructions were simple, but he double-checked anyway. Then, he boiled water, sterilized the bottle, and began measuring the powder with a level of precision usually reserved for magical potions or deadly poisons.

  He worked in silence.

  No one asked him to.

  No one helped.

  It didn’t occur to anyone to interrupt him.

  The aura around him was still the same, distant, heavy, untouchable. Like something not quite human, or something too worn out by humanity to care anymore.

  And yet, he filled the bottle.

  Shook it gently.

  Tested the temperature against his wrist.

  Then returned to the living room where the puppy was now attempting to chew on Seo MinHyun’s sleeve while Mu Yichen tried not to laugh.

  Aseok didn’t say anything.

  He knelt beside the puppy and held the bottle out.

  The puppy’s eyes lit up.

  It immediately latched on and started drinking like it hadn’t eaten in days.

  Aseok simply sat there, one knee on the ground, holding the bottle at an angle, supporting the puppy’s head with one hand.

  It was the most human he had looked in a long time.

  No expression on his face.

  But no rejection, either.

  Mu Yichen watched with a quiet gaze. Not a word escaped him, but his fingers slowly curled into his palm.

  MinHyun was less subtle.

  “I feed you grape gummies once and you don’t even look at me. But one puppy drink and you’re ready to play Dad?”

  Lee Aseok didn’t respond.

  Not even a blink.

  Taegun muttered, “He doesn’t respond to guilt trips.”

  “Oh, I noticed,” MinHyun hissed.

  The puppy finished drinking and looked up at Aseok, tail wagging. Aseok gently wiped its mouth with the edge of a towel.

  He stood up and walked to the sink to clean the bottle, as if nothing about any of this was strange.

  As if the world outside wasn’t tearing itself apart trying to identify him.

  As if his powers weren’t the current focus of ten different intelligence agencies.

  As if nothing had changed.

  But everything had.

  In that living room, Mu Yichen watched as Lee Aseok dried the milk bottle and returned it to the counter. His presence was silent, deliberate, detached.

  But there was a softness now, barely visible, curled up on a blanket at his feet.

  It wasn’t mercy.

  It wasn’t kindness.

  It wasn’t a promise.

  But it was something.

  And they all felt it.

  Especially MinHyun, who stared at the puppy curled up next to Aseok’s foot and muttered under his breath:

  “…He’s really going to like that dog more than us, huh?”

  “Obviously,” Taegun said flatly.

  “Should we be worried?”

  “Depends. Can you fetch a ball better than that puppy?”

  “…You’re evil.”

  “I’m efficient.”

  A day passed

  It was official now.

  The puppy had taken over the living room.

  Chew toys scattered like landmines. A soft blanket turned into a battlefield for tug-of-war against its own tail.

  And in the middle of the chaos sat three men, each a high-ranking hunter, helpless against a creature that weighed less than a watermelon.

  The puppy was exploring its kingdom.

  First, it trotted up to Mu Yichen.

  The man smiled gently as it approached, crouching to meet the pup halfway. His fingers brushed over the fluffy head with practiced ease, ruffling the reddish-brown fur.

  “You’re curious, aren’t you?” he said softly, voice amused. “unlike your owner.”

  The puppy barked in approval and nudged its head further into his hand.

  From across the room, Seo MinHyun narrowed his eyes like a jealous older sibling.

  “Hey,” he said, walking over and scooping the puppy up with both hands. “Don’t go falling for that fake gentle act. I’m clearly the better option.”

  He held the puppy up and stared into its round, glistening eyes with the gravity of a man facing a life-altering dilemma.

  “…Ugh.” MinHyun sighed dramatically, shoulders slumping. “I can’t compete with this level of cuteness. My charm’s obsolete now.”

  The puppy blinked at him, then licked his nose.

  “Okay, maybe you’re not so bad.”

  Behind him, Park Taegun quietly crouched and extended a hand.

  The puppy was lowered down, and instead of patting, Taegun simply took one tiny paw into his palm and gave it a gentle squeeze.

  A slow nod.

  Minimal expression.

  Almost solemn.

  Then he let go and stood back up.

  Mu Yichen raised a brow. “…What was that?”

  “Pawshake protocol,” Taegun replied without irony. “Trust exercise.”

  Seo MinHyun gave him an incredulous look. “You’re shaking paws with a two week old dog.”

  “It worked.”

  “…You’re such a weirdo.”

  Before anyone could say anything else, the sound of soft footsteps echoed from down the hallway.

  They all turned.

  Lee Aseok walked out, a baby bottle in his hand filled with warm milk. His expression was unreadable as always, neutral, maybe slightly sleepy, but his grip on the bottle was firm, controlled.

  The puppy spotted him instantly.

  It froze mid-step.

  Tail wiggled.

  Then…

  With the speed of a low-tier lightning spell, the puppy launched itself across the living room, skidding across the hardwood floor as it rushed toward Aseok with uncontainable excitement.

  Lee Aseok bent down at just the right moment and caught the puppy in one arm. In the same fluid motion, he sat down on the edge of the sofa, positioned the bottle, and brought it gently to the puppy’s mouth.

  It latched on like a baby.

  Suckling greedily, paws pressing against his arm, tail wagging nonstop.

  The room went still.

  It wasn’t the act itself that surprised them.

  It was the way Aseok did it.

  He held the puppy with such calm precision, one hand supporting its back legs, the other keeping the bottle perfectly angled. His eyes, usually half-lidded and distant, were now focused entirely on the tiny creature, watching each swallow with quiet intensity.

  Mu Yichen found himself unable to look away.

  Seo MinHyun was slack-jawed.

  Taegun just stared.

  There was no smile on Aseok’s face. No dramatic shift in aura. His blank, sleepy look remained.

  But there was something subtly different, something in the angle of his shoulders, the slight curve of his hand cradling the puppy’s spine, the way he tilted the bottle exactly when the puppy started gulping too fast.

  Protective.

  Precise.

  Like someone who didn’t trust the world to handle even the smallest life properly.

  “…He’s feeding it like it’s his firstborn,” MinHyun whispered, awestruck.

  “Maybe it is,” Yichen murmured.

  Taegun folded his arms. “He’s more careful with that dog than he is with his own body.”

  That was probably true.

  They watched in silence as Aseok adjusted the bottle again, eyes following every movement, ensuring the pup didn’t choke. His brows furrowed slightly when the pup made a hiccupping noise, and he lowered the bottle to let it rest for a second.

  The puppy yawned.

  Aseok used the edge of his sleeve to wipe the corner of its mouth.

  The atmosphere around him hadn’t changed, still that lazy gloom, like he was sleepwalking through life, but the way he looked at the puppy had a kind of quiet gravity.

  Like this tiny creature was the only thing keeping him tethered to the world.

  After feeding the puppy with the kind of careful tenderness one might expect from a neonatal nurse, Lee Aseok stood up.

  His grip on the empty bottle was light. He walked with unhurried steps, the same heavy-eyed detachment lingering on his face. The puppy yawned contentedly in his arms.

  Mu Yichen, who had been leaning against the kitchen counter, took a half-step forward.

  “Aseok..”

  “Wait, just a second,” Seo MinHyun added, holding up a hand, “Let me go first. He answered me last time.”

  Lee Aseok walked past them without blinking.

  “Hey.!” MinHyun leaned forward, voice strained. “I said wait!”

  Still no reaction.

  Not a glance. Not a pause. Just a pair of slippers softly padding down the hall.

  “…At least nod!” MinHyun yelled after him.

  Lee Aseok vanished into his room.

  The door clicked shut with chilling finality.

  They stood in silence, again.

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