Two hours before Yu-Han's arrival...
<10 liters of gas for 20 million won.>
Dr. Yang Su-Hyeon spoke calmly to Yu-Han and Alice, who had shown up at her home.
Yu-Han immediately complained.
<…You wanna get slapped? If you don't like the price, go fuck off somewhere else.>
Alice shoved Yu-Han aside and stepped forward, pleading instead.
Yang Su-Hyeon recalled Yi-Rang's bright, sunny face as she shared meat with her when she'd been injured, and let out a small sigh.
Yu-Han grumbled.
Yang Su-Hyeon shot him a look of pure contempt.
///
Back in the present, Yu-Han—now wearing a gas mask—spoke to the people of the Cheon-Rang Center.
"Thanks to you guys, I took a massive loss and I'm in a really bad mood.
I'd appreciate an official statement saying it was all a false accusation. I even went out of my way to buy paralyzing gas just for this."
Park In-Hyeok and the beastkin all transformed into their animal forms at once, weapons already in hand.
It was a clear 'we don't want to hear it.'
"Furry mode, huh?"
"How dare you drop the F-word, you beastkin-hating piece of trash!!"
The first to charge at him was the black panther beastkin woman.
Unlike last time when Yi-Rang had knocked her out, she was now gripping a vicious dagger.
Yu-Han didn't even change expression as he instantly severed one of her legs.
"Kuaaaagh!"
"Whoops. Cut off the bad leg for you. Go get yourself a new one later."
It sounded like a cruel joke, but with modern biotech, growing replacement limbs was child's play.
As expected, Yu-Han was a kind law-abiding taxpayer!
"Useless idiots! Can't even handle one single beastkin hater?!"
"Director. I'm not a beastkin hater. I'm an equal-opportunity human hater."
While everyone's attention was on Yu-Han's nonsense, the wall beside Park In-Hyeok exploded.
Kim Ga-Eun had smashed straight through it, Alice right behind her.
Their target was the director alone.
"Damn it, these bitches have the cutest ideas!"
Park In-Hyeok proved his experience wasn't for nothing. In wolf form, he dodged Kim Ga-Eun's claws and wrapped mana around his arm to block Alice's beam sword.
"Director Park In-Hyeok! Are you doing this under Kim Je-Hyeon's orders?!
Stop now and surrender—there's no need for bloodshed!"
"Hah, I have no idea what you're talking about.
Our center has nothing to do with some big-shot politician."
"You're really going to play dumb after kidnapping our employee?!"
"That tiger girl came here because she couldn't stand the beastkin hatred anymore!
Sa-Yoon! You take care of that black-clad bastard!
Everyone else, come educate these clueless bitches!"
At his command, Ma Sa-Yoon stepped forward to face Yu-Han alone.
In furry mode, now in lion form, he cracked his knuckles.
"…I thought this since you dueled our Yuna Nim, but you're a bastard who can only pull cowardly tricks!"
"Mr. Lion, that's a huge misunderstanding.
Dirty tricks are just one of the ten thousand things I'm good at."
"Shut the hell up!"
Dual-wielding single-edged axes, Ma Sa-Yoon unleashed overwhelming power and skill, aiming to butcher Yu-Han.
But Yu-Han calmly parried every strike.
To be clear—Ma Sa-Yoon possessed monstrous strength. Lifting a multi-ton truck bare-handed was nothing to him.
Yet right now, the situation was clearly off.
'What the hell is this guy's insane mana…?
He doesn't even seem to be using tools to supplement it this time.'
Sensing that his opponent was overthinking, Yu-Han immediately swung his carbon-coated blade.
Ma Sa-Yoon barely dodged, suffering only a shallow cut on the back of his hand.
Without pausing, Yu-Han struck straight at his gas mask.
'This bastard—he's trying to make me breathe the gas…!'
"You shouldn't celebrate just because you blocked the second attack.
The hits keep coming until you're dead!"
Watching Yu-Han flow from one attack to the next like water, Ma Sa-Yoon realized something was very wrong.
Meanwhile, the rest of the office staff swarmed Alice and Kim Ga-Eun.
Alice dismissed her beam sword and summoned her carbon-coated blade instead.
"You bitch… you're looking down on us?!"
"Wait, don't misunderstand! It's just that the beam sword drains too much electricity…"
Hyena, leopard, coyote beastkin and more charged at her like wild animals.
Alice released electricity in every direction with a magic, instantly shredding three of them.
'Good thing I learned electro-magic first.
Kills two birds with one stone—battery problem solved and it handles swarms of perverts perfectly.'
On Kim Ga-Eun's side, even more beastkin had piled on.
Knives, awls, and chainsaws were buried in her monstrous hide, but she looked utterly bored.
"Hey, I'm a some kind of beastkin too. You guys are being a little too rough."
Park In-Hyeok spoke as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"How the hell is a monster like you a beastkin?!"
"Not even letting me in the club… How heartbreaking!!"
With one wide swing of her body, the clinging beastkin were sent flying like leaves and slammed into the walls.
Still, a few stubborn predators held on with sheer willpower.
"That's it! Hold on tight and don't let go!"
Park In-Hyeok summoned a heavy hunk of metal and gripped it with both hands.
It was a minigun.
The subordinates who knew exactly how terrifying the smuggled weapon was turned deathly pale.
"Director?! We'll get hit too!"
"You incompetent fools who can only drag her down!
Sacrifice yourselves for the beastkin!!"
The minigun roared mercilessly. Some of the beastkin holding Kim Ga-Eun tried to flee but were torn apart by bullets.
"Even his own men…!"
Alice amplified the electric current running through her body.
Her physical ability and reaction speed skyrocketed for a single instant.
She charged at Park In-Hyeok like lightning and slashed his upper body wide open!
"Kuaaagh… you bitch…!"
"Wait… why isn't he dying?"
The cut had gone deep enough to reach his heart and lungs, yet Park In-Hyeok was still alive and writhing in pain.
No—he was already regenerating.
But Alice sensed zero mana from him…
"That regeneration is definitely not a beastkin ability!!
That's a rare species—a 'werewolf'!!"
Yi-Rang, still paralyzed and only able to watch, shouted at the top of her lungs.
The word "werewolf" sent the entire beastkin group into an uproar.
Park In-Hyeok flinched under their freezing stares.
"Hey, I may be a werewolf, but there's not that much difference from beastkin!
Sure, werewolves are a little… superior, but still!"
"You worked us to the bone talking about fighting beastkin hatred… and you were lying the whole time?!"
"At least I paid your salaries on time! Is this how you repay my grace!?"
"When the hell did you ever pay on time?!"
The beastkin's mood turned violent, as if a riot was about to explode.
Ma Sa-Yoon, still fighting Yu-Han, couldn't hide his shock.
He desperately wanted to believe it wasn't true.
'First I need to finish this fight…'
Ma Sa-Yoon spotted a tiny opening in Yu-Han's relentless barrage.
Yu-Han seemed strangely careless about protecting his own gas mask.
"I'll end this play!"
Ma Sa-Yoon swung and knocked Yu-Han's gas mask clean off.
However, It was a mistake.
"…Why?"
Yu-Han instantly exploited the gap in Ma Sa-Yoon's stance and severed the tendon in his arm.
It wasn't even a desperate final struggle before the gas took effect.
Yu-Han was completely fine.
"I've had most of my organs modified. This level of paralyzing gas never worked on me in the first place."
"So you were just toying with me from the start…"
As Ma Sa-Yoon dropped to his knees, Park In-Hyeok realized it was over.
"Damn it… just as I thought, you beastkin really are nothing but stupid furries!
That's why everyone hates you!"
With those final words, Park In-Hyeok unleashed his full werewolf power and fled.
Alice and Kim Ga-Eun tried to chase him, but a werewolf's speed was on another level.
The battle ended.
All that remained were the abandoned members of the Cheon-Rang Center, leaderless and lost.
Ma Sa-Yoon knelt before the Cheong-Am group and begged.
"…We've lost.
I'll take full responsibility with my life as the Deputy Director. Please… just spare the rest of them."
Yu-Han looked down at him with something almost like pity.
"I told you from the beginning—I came to clear our names.
Stay alive and get ready for the press conference."
"…But if we expose Kim Je-Hyeon as the one behind this, he'll come after us."
"You don't have to mention him. It wouldn't make a difference anyway."
"Thank you…"
"Of course, you'll still have to pay me back for the damages one way or another."
While Yu-Han and Ma Sa-Yoon talked, Alice and Kim Ga-Eun walked over to Yi-Rang.
"You guys… you really came to save me!!"
Yi-Rang tried to create a touching moment, but Alice and Kim Ga-Eun's faces remained cold.
Alice asked seriously.
"Yi-Rang. Why did you leave the house when Yu-Han told you not to—even though it hadn't even been a full day?"
"Uh… that's a little hard to explain…"
"Tell the truth. Now."
"We were outta beer in the fridge, so I was just gonna run to the convenience store right around the corner for a second! Haha…"
At her answer, every single person present gave her an ice-cold stare.
Somehow, it felt even harsher than the one they'd given Park In-Hyeok.
Yi-Rang couldn't take it and immediately looked like she was about to burst into tears.
"Everyone, please don't look at me like that!!"
Anyway, the ten million won for the paralyzing gas was added to Yi-Rang's debt.
***
The next day, the news exploded:
The director of the Cheon-Rang Center had been a werewolf who committed countless crimes.
All the dirty rumors about Yu-Han were proven false.
Of course, the Cheon-Rang staff couldn't just become unemployed, so the center had to continue operating.
Ma Sa-Yoon was chosen as the new director with no opposition.
He promised to fix every single injustice that had existed before.
At the all-hands meeting:
"Director, shouldn't we change the name 'Cheon-Rang(天狼)'?
It just reminds everyone of the old director, Park In-Hyeok."
"Good point. Any suggestions?"
Everyone tried to come up with something, but nothing felt quite right.
Then something suddenly hit Ma Sa-Yoon.
Recalling Yi-Rang's words, Ma Sa-Yoon smiled faintly.
"How about the Yong-Ho Office? 'Yong(恿)' for brave, 'Ho(虎)' for tiger."
Everyone burst out laughing.
"Well, it's a weird name… but I like it!"
"Hopefully naming it that won't attract even more idiot humans, right? Heh…"
And so the Cheon-Rang Center disappeared, and the Yong-Ho Center was born.
To celebrate the new beginning, they decided to throw a company dinner.
"Baek Myo-Hee C! Wanna come to the dinner with us?"
"No… If someone as trivial as me joins, I'll just ruin the mood…"
The black panther woman who had invited her smiled.
"Trivial? Myo-Hee C, you're great at your job, pretty, cute, and you've even got a huge breasts... Wait, why has someone like you had no presence until now? Something's strange..."
She suddenly stopped.
For a split second, Baek Myo-Hee's eyes quietly locked onto hers.
"What are you talking about? I'm a 'trivial existence,' remember?
Let's not waste time on 'trivial' thoughts."
"Ah… right…"
The black panther woman stood there blankly for a moment, then walked right past Baek Myo-Hee as if she were just a pebble on the sidewalk.
Baek Myo-Hee let out a deep sigh of relief.
"Phew~ That was scary…
After all, I feel much safer doing trivial odd jobs than going to a noisy company dinner…"