The Symbiotic Relationship Between the Rabbit and the Black Panther

My surroundings were dark when I opened my eyes. My ears perked up as I heard footsteps on the ground.

I stretched out my foot and tapped the wall in front of me. My foot sole gave off a rough woven straw sensation.

‘No way, am I in a basket?’

Seeing my body shook even while I remained still, it seemed I was in the basket that I occasionally used when I went out.

Where are they taking me? A husky voice that I had never heard before immediately rang as if to answer my question.

“If we go a little further, we’ll be in the Black Panther’s territory.”

“Let’s deal with it quickly. By the way, how can she didn’t shift into a human even after her coming-of-age ceremony?”

“The priest said it was a curse given by Sooshin (God of Beast)— it must be uncomfortable.” 

I quickly found out that they were talking about me. 

That’s right. It’s very fascinating. Even though I was definitely a shapeshifter, why can’t I get rid of the baby rabbit’s appearance? 

Whenever my mother saw me, she always showed her irritated face. With her fine eyebrow frowned, “Why have you not turned into a human being yet? Your younger brother, Kylie, has already become a full-fledged shapeshifter. Everyone shifts within three years of birth, and why are you!”

She yelled, loud enough to sting my ears. If she couldn’t control her rage, she would pick up a whip. Sometimes, she would punish me by not allowing me to go out of the bedroom. 

I couldn’t go out without being punished. In the first place, it was impossible to even open the door on my own without a maid. 

Not only my mother, my father was also ashamed of me.

The Levian household. 

Our family was a well-known aristocrat in rabbit territory. My mother was Yvonne Levian, the third wife of my father. She was upset because I, the eldest, couldn’t shift into human. 

Fortunately, my younger brother Kylie succeeded in shifting into a human less than three years after birth. At that time, I was already five years old, but I was still in the form of a baby rabbit. Normally, shapeshifters achieve their human form before their third birthday, so why couldn’t I? 

Everyone was wondering. No one knew the reason why and became frustrated.

She will be able to shift tomorrow, she will be able to shift the next day, she will be able to shift in a week. As if it laughed at the vain expectations, time flew by real quick. 

Eventually, I turned 18 and held a coming-of-age ceremony last month, and I still couldn’t be able to shift into human. 

When I reluctantly went to the temple with my mother, the priest shouted that I was cursed. His voice was so loud that my heart had started to pound.

“Hey, isn’t this too far from the territorial border?”

“We have to bring it deep into the forest—the command was her to die in the hands of black panthers.”

“You can cut that grass over there and take it back as a proof. It’s a poisonous plant that grows only in the black panther’s territory.”

Listening to the conversation, I immediately realized that I was abandoned. I had a feeling that I would be. 

After visiting the temple, the way my parents looked at me was no longer irritation and had changed to contempt. I also heard a clear murmur that killing me was unsettling.

“It’s too deep. If we cross the border, we will no longer be protected by the territory.” 

I felt the basket touch the ground with the anxious man’s urging. 

“I was going to put it down here anyway.”

Clearly this was a forest that bordered the rabbit’s territory with the black panther’s. It’s obviously a place packed with black panthers. 

No. Please don’t leave me in a place like this. I’ll try to be a decent shapeshifter. 

I scratched the straw endlessly, but my feet didn’t even touch the lid. Even my visions become blurred by tears.

“Argh!” 

“Ugh!”

Suddenly, I heard loud screams. My paws stopped scratching the straw, I reflexively held my breath. 

The nerves all over my body were on edge. If this was really the black panther’s territory, the shapeshifters who were moving me might have been hunted by the black panther. Should I pretend to be dead? 

The basket soon began to shake and the lid opened. When the bright light suddenly leaked in, my eyes closed automatically. 

Before I knew it, I was caught in the nape of my neck and lifted into the air.

“A baby rabbit?” 

Somehow, a slow voice rang out. It was a pleasant voice with a clear, low-pitched tone. 

When I opened my frowned eyes gently, there was a surprisingly pretty man in front of me. 

He had silver hair that seemed to have poured out silver threads. After adjusting to the brightness, I began to struggle in order to live. 

‘B-black panther!’

The Black Panther clan. Although it has only been drawn in my imagination, the tooth in front of me must be the black panther’s.

“Didn’t the red eyes make you feel uncomfortable?”

“That’s true. I saw the black panther clan in the city last time, and it was creepy for no reason.”

The maids said that the black panther clan generally had red eyes. 

The man has clear red eyes, moreover, it was definitely fangs that were shining between his lips. 

In the first place, this was the black panther’s territory, so there was a high possibility that he belonged to the black panther clan.

‘Let go, let me go!’

I was desperately kicking my front feet, but stopped moving when I felt a chilly mood. The expression of the uninterested man gave off an overly cold feeling. 

‘I might get captured and eaten.’

Looking at me as I was frozen, he soon smiled with his eyes folded into a half moon shape. Somehow it looked like a satisfied smile.

“Are you crying?”

Was this your first time seeing someone cry? I had probably been crying since the first time I came into my senses in the basket. 

I wanted to pretend like nothing was wrong, but I felt stuffy as if something was stuck in my throat.

However, in his next words, I couldn’t help but had to stop crying.

“Cry more.”

Oh my gosh, he must be crazy!

***

Afterwards, the man stuffed me into his pocket like a lump and walked away. 

In the meantime, I fainted because of his rough handling.

When I came to my senses, I was in a dazzling bedroom that I had never seen even in the Levian mansion.

‘ —Where am I?’

I was running around desperately on soft bedding. I had to escape from here. But I didn’t have the courage to jump out of bed. 

Before I passed out, I saw something I shouldn’t have seen.

A scene where a head rolls onto the ground. On the other hand, the man held a sword covered with bright red blood. 

It was obvious he had killed the two shapeshifters who were moving me. 

The Levian family’s maids said the black panthers in the next territory were impatient and vicious.

I should have died on the spot, why did he bring me here instead?

I’ve been racking my small head, only to reach a terrible conclusion. The appearance of a baby rabbit was not even an emergency food, but an emergency snack. 

‘No!’ 

I bawled and struck the bed with my front feet. 

No, never. It was not even my home, I didn’t want to be eaten in a strange place like this. 

‘I have to escape right now.’

With my eyes wide open, I began to bounce on my hind legs. Even if I would have broken a bone, I had to jump off. 

‘ —Here I go!’ 

I’m jumping, I’m really going to jump! 

I leaped with a bold and determined look, but a hand caught me halfway. 

Please don’t tell me it’s the black panther I saw in the forest earlier. As I shifted my gaze, a man with black hair was looking at me with concern.

“It could have been a disaster. How dare you act so reckless.”

Fortunately or unfortunately, the owner of the hand who caught me was not the rude black panther from before. 

The strange thing was, contrary to his neat impression and tone, his expressions and voices were rather dull. 

As soon as the tension was relieved by the strange irony, I swallowed a weary sigh again.

I can’t let down my guard. Whenever this man talks, his fangs make my fur stand out. 

In addition, it was true that most of the black panthers had red eyes, and his eyes were also red. 

“Lord Ahin, really, throwing this little rabbit on the bed. Anyway, it’s my first time seeing you. Where are you from?”

There was no way I could answer the question. I’m from rabbit territory, rabbit territory! Unfortunately, my inner cry could not reach the man.

“I see. So you couldn’t talk—!”

That was not something to be surprised about. You didn’t have a conscience, did you? Let me go! I cursed bitterly inside, but the man seemed to have no intention of putting me down. 

“The floor would be safer than the bed.”

Soon after, he walked to the sofa, he picked up a cushion that looked fluffy and placed it on the floor.

“As long as Ms. Rabbit is here, you shouldn’t get hurt recklessly. Because you’re Lord Ahin’s possession now.”

He carefully put me down on the cushion and explained carefully.

‘Please explain it in detail.’

Ms. Rabbit? What’s up with the weird title? And what’s possession? I tapped the cushion with my front foot frustratedly.

Perhaps he managed to understand, but the man just stroked my hair with his index finger. 

“Also, you have to maintain cleanliness.”

Cleanliness? I looked up at him with a puzzled gaze.

Still, some information has been obtained from the man’s words and actions so far.

It seemed the man in front of me was the servant of the black panther who put me in his pocket, and the name who was repeatedly called by the servant, Ahin, was his master’s name. 

‘Tell me more.’

The more information, the better. 

He patted my head with a friendly touch, then my eyes caught the man parting his lips.

“Since Lord Ahin brought Ms. Rabbit into his bedroom, I think you’re probably special!”

‘Special?’

“Perhaps as an emergency food.”

—That’s really a sensible thing to say. I gasped again and passed out.