A Tiger Rolled Into My Life, Bringing Chaos With It - Chapter 15

“Ungrateful kid.”

After “that incident,” he knew well that Cher couldn’t form attachments to the group, but for him not to even say a simple “nice to see you too” to a friend who had been searching for him for two weeks… it wasn’t quite hurtful, just irritating.

Though he felt like throwing a punch, seeing that Cher was in a subdued mood, Tiga decided to let it go with a generous heart.

“So, why did you disappear?”

At his question, Cher bent his knees and put down something he had been holding. Only then did Tiga realize that Cher had been holding something. As Tiga naturally followed the movement of his hand, he suddenly turned his head at a rustling sound.

The frown that had been on his face since meeting Cher suddenly smoothed out. His mouth fell open. The unexpected sound was that of clothing falling to the ground, having lost what it was covering. A hat that fell with a thud covered his face, but couldn’t hide the small body underneath. When even that was pushed aside, the hidden form was fully revealed.

There was a white tiger cub.

“You… you, what is this…?”

“As you can see, I’ve become like this.”

A familiar voice came from the small mouth. Tiga knelt down and held the white tiger cub with both hands.

“W-what kind of state is this! Why did this happen! I mean, I’ve cursed you whenever I got angry, but this is too much! What… what is this, huh?”

Annoyed by the fumbling fingers, Cher bared his teeth. When he bit down with a crunch, Tiga clutched his hand.

“Ow!! You’re biting the hand of a friend who’s worried about you?!”

“I don’t remember having a friend who just spouts curses.”

“That’s just a figure of speech!”

Ignoring the excuses, Cher transformed into human form. Perhaps because he had been shifting back and forth recently, his transformation speed was no different from before. While he got dressed after becoming naked, Tiga stared at the ground, deep in thought.

“Is this why?”

By the time Cher had finished dressing and was putting on his hat, Tiga spoke up. Cher answered lightly while pressing the hat onto his head.

“Yeah.”

At the concise answer, various scenes flashed through Tiga’s mind. Things like what would happen if Cher returned to the group in that form.

‘It would be chaos.’

Tiger shifters are generally independent. Though they have a leader, they value their own territory. Even couples don’t interact for long except when raising cubs. But even such tiger shifters commonly show interest in white tigers.

The white fur, rarely seen in carnivorous districts, and the mysterious atmosphere captivated many. The existence of Cher, born from the womb of a white tiger, further fueled their desires. He was born with only the best traits from both sides.

But the main object of fascination had died. And she had been exclusively claimed by Cher’s father, the former leader, and had no other children besides Cher. It would have been better if the interest had faded, but it didn’t. Instead, it transferred to Cher, as if he were a substitute. Moreover, he was still a young man who hadn’t formed his own group. The situation was completely different from when they couldn’t even approach the white tiger due to the strong leader.

The prevailing atmosphere had somewhat subsided because Cher was so disgusted by it, but there were still tigers targeting him. In the midst of this, if Cher appeared as a cub? There would be tigers wanting to possess him, tigers revealing desires they had suppressed, and even tigers trying to cage him to avoid repeating the vain loss of the white tiger.

‘It’s horrifying just to imagine.’

Tigers rushing at Cher? A group of tigers trying to cage him? No. The actions that the troublesome Cher would take, refusing to stay quiet in such a situation. Would Cher’s spirit be dampened just because he was weakened? In Tiga’s eyes, he could clearly see Cher making the tigers who coveted him fight among themselves with contemptible aegyo, while watching the scene unfold while tearing into meat.

Tiga felt goosebumps rise on his forearm just from imagining it. If such a thing happened, his father, the current leader, might close his eyes from stress-induced illness.

That must not happen…!

“It was a hyena that made me like this.”

“…What?”

What pulled Tiga out of his distant future imaginings was Cher’s single statement. At the word “hyena,” Tiga’s expression instantly hardened. Cher bent his knees to pick up the deodorizer he had put down earlier. Then he turned the nozzle toward himself and sprayed.

Spritz!

“What’s with the sudden—”

Spritz, spritz, spritz, spritz, spritz.

As he continuously sprayed the unknown substance, the liquid spread in Tiga’s direction. Tiga waved his arms and complained.

“Hey. Weren’t we in the middle of an important conversation—”

“Smell me.”

“What?”

“I said, smell me.”

It was a very random act in the middle of a serious conversation, but Tiga reluctantly approached Cher and smelled him. While inwardly complaining that it was difficult to follow the flow of the situation, he soon frowned when he couldn’t detect any scent.

Human forms usually have faint smells, but if one had just transformed from animal form, the animal’s distinctive smell would typically linger. No matter how small his animal form had become, there was no way the smell would disappear completely, so there should have been some scent remaining. However, Tiga couldn’t smell anything. Even when he brought his nose close to the nape of the neck, where the smell would be most strongly embedded, it was the same.

Tiga pulled his head back and looked at Cher with a serious face.

“What is this?”

“They call it a deodorizer. It seems to completely mask smell and pheromones for about two to three hours. Well, it seems you need to spray a lot to eliminate pheromones.”

Tiga’s expression hardened. It masks smell, even pheromones? Just from the explanation, he could imagine several situations where this could be misused.

Currently, the carnivorous district is clearly divided into territories based on the Yutri River. That doesn’t mean one can’t step into another’s territory at all. Like how lion shifters occasionally visit bars in tiger territory.

This is possible because each species’ unique smell remains distinct. Of course, human forms don’t have prominent smells, but for carnivorous shifters, human form can only exert less than a tenth of their abilities, so even if they walk around in that form, they don’t pose a threat.

But what if they spray this deodorizer and walk around in animal form? And not just for 10 or 20 minutes, but for two to three hours. To put it extremely, if hyenas spray that and come to tiger territory, there would be no way to detect them…

No way.

“Did a hyena attack you while odorless?”

Seeing his friend quickly reach the conclusion, Cher quietly nodded. Tiga sighed and rubbed his face. After a moment of silence, he finally spoke.

“Deodorizer? I get that. But how did you become small?”

“They fed me something.”

“…”

“I had the idea to attack them first, but my body wouldn’t cooperate, so I couldn’t even kill one cub.”

Cher smiled, saying he didn’t even have a single wound, but there was a chilling energy in that smile. A shiver ran up Tiga’s spine for a moment. Was it because he had seen him kill hyenas with that face before? Tiga ignored his reflexive reaction and barked at him.

“You! If you ended up like that! You should have come to me right away! How long have you been like this?”

“About a week?”

“A week in that state… ugh.”

His hand automatically went to the back of his neck. It was all the more shocking because he couldn’t even imagine that something bad had happened to him, having considered leaving Greyden the worst-case scenario.

“Forget it. Let’s go to my house right now.”

“Tiga. Don’t be stupid and think about it. Those barely intelligent creatures tried to kill me with some strange d**g, but they failed. They’ll most likely have the deodorizer, so what do you think they’ll be monitoring?”

He was speechless. Especially since Tiga was the child of the current leader. It was clear that taking him along would paradoxically make him more conspicuous. He was planning to move soon, but not yet. Should have moved earlier! Tiga tore at his hair in frustration.

“The good thing is that we also have deodorizer.”

As Cher spoke, he threw the deodorizer to Tiga. Tiga easily caught it with the instinctive reaction typical of tigers. Only after it was in his hand did the thought ‘Why give this to me?’ cross his mind, but that question was resolved by the person himself.

“Spray that and go check out the hyena territory. I think if they can make such a strange d**g, they probably have a separate laboratory.”

“…Hey, be honest. You met me just to ask me to do this, right?”

“Since I knew you wouldn’t be able to sit still after hearing my story, I just gave you an exciting task.”

He also hates hyenas. Of course, how many tigers actually like hyenas?

“Haha. Thanks, really. I’m about to cry.”

Curses rose to the tip of his tongue, but he held back. Cher’s expression didn’t change at all despite Tiga’s reaction.

“While you’re at it, check if there are other species involved. No matter how I think about it, those stupid creatures, except for their leader, don’t seem capable of making such a d**g.”

“That means… there’s a possibility that lions or bears are involved?”

“No.”

I smell shifters from outside of Greyden.