Chapter 30 – 30. Octopoda’s Can’t Have You

– One –

[Animal Kingdom – Gentleman of the Seabed Octopus Part 1]

Wheeeee.

The cool breeze of a late autumn evening lingers around the alley.

[A rock crevice in the deep sea.]

Through a gap in a shabby back alley, a man looks at the back of a woman as she hurries her steps.

[An octopus is hiding in a rock crevice waiting for its prey.]

A bald, middle-aged man watches her carefully, the light of her street lamp reflecting off her glasses across the tip of his nose.

A middle-aged man whose hair loss had already completely progressed and only the fringes remained, had his remaining hair completely shaved off because it was unsightly.

It was only the sideburns and the dark roots that rose around the back of his head that proved that not all of his hair was gone through baldness.

Because of that, he was completely bald.

He mouths the name of the woman he is looking at.

“Deomosi…”

Suddenly, the woman looks at the corner alley where the man is.

[Octopus skin can reproduce not only the color of the surroundings, but also the texture depending on the shape of the terrain.]

Fearing that the woman will notice, he quickly hides in the dark.

In the extremely cold weather, the collar of the coat she wore was pulled up to hide the cold nape of her neck.

He blows on her and presses down his fedora to hide her face.

His body is imbued with naturalness and slyness, as if waiting for someone in a back alley.

His proficiency was not perfected by doing it once or twice.

[The octopus’ innate stealth ability is close to transformation, and the octopus’ stealth ability is phenomenal.]

“Demosi. Why don’t you accept my heart, Demosi…”

In the narrow angle of view through her alleyway, she, Demosi, disappeared.

But he doesn’t panic.

For she already knows which road she takes to her house.

[The octopus is a master hunter who never misses the prey he caught.]

Tumble.

A man crosses a dark alleyway where the lights flicker faintly, perhaps because the power supply to the streetlights is not smooth.

[Also, its pliable and stretchy body compresses well enough to fit through tight gaps with little room.]

Passing through a dark alleyway, we are about to enter a bright upper-class residence.

“Haha.”

The man exhales a breath of tension.

But he was never nervous about being caught.

His spatial perception and cognitive abilities convinced her that she was close to her own.

The excitement that came from that certainty made his body tense and hot.

[Ah, the octopus over there has caught its prey.]

As he expected, she passed in front of his eyes.

“Found.”

Today is not just a day for following and observing.

For the follower, it was a more special day than that.

He stroked something that protruded a little from inside his right breast pocket.

And even out of the alley.

Tumble.

The moment she unlocks the door of her own house,

[The octopus stretched out its legs in an instant toward its prey,]

“Demos.”

Tup.

He puts his hand on her shoulder

[The hunt is successful.]

“Ah ah ah ah!”

Demosh screams and quickly turns around and clings to the door.

She looks at the man behind her with wary eyes.

Her dark green eyes, raised up, trembled with anxiety and fear.

“Haha, Octopo.”

A feeling of relief appears on her face as she confirms that the identity of the assailant behind her is not a threat to her, but a familiar and kind friend.

“I’m surprised. What happened all of a sudden?”

She had an unexpected look.

She thought it was the first time Octopoda had appeared in front of her after work.

[Octopuses are not simply predators in the sea with excellent hunting skills.]

“No, it’s not like this, would you like to come in for a while? It’s a bit messy because it came suddenly and couldn’t be cleaned, but I can’t leave you standing outside like this.”

She opens the door without even listening to Octopoda’s answer.

Iron lump.
Awesome profit.

The sound of rusted hinges is annoying because they are not properly oiled.

“Come in, quickly. The day has become very cold.”

She lit a fire in the porch and called Octopoda.

He is silent for a moment, then nods his head and follows her cautiously into the house.

It was the first time he had been formally invited into her house.

[Octopuses are very clever.]

Tumble.

Octopoda follows her in and surveys her surroundings.

The uncarpeted floor is so dusty that you don’t know when it was cleaned.

“If you’re coming, couldn’t you tell me in advance? Ugh, look at the dust. Wait there for a moment.”

She hastily disappeared somewhere.

Rumble.
Udang-tang-tang!
Chaeng-Geurang!

“Aww!”

With the sound of something breaking, as her screams rang out, Octopoda quickly stood up and cried out loudly.

“Demos, are you okay?”

“Yes! I was just shocked. I’m not hurt. You can’t, never come in! Just sit on the sofa in the living room… Well, put those clothes aside and sit down!”

[She has a very high intelligence and has excellent calculation ability, memory, and cognitive ability.]

Octopoda does as she said and pushes the clothes off the sofa, then pauses.

‘Your underwear is the same. New clothes… There is none.’

I pull off my clothes and sit down on the sofa.

Dump.

And take a good look around.

There are still spider webs stuck in the corners of the walls.

The cheap wine on the bedside table in front of the sofa, which I drank but didn’t even close the cork, is still the same.

Only the order of the clothes and underwear piled up layer upon layer has changed, but everything remains the same.

‘No one has ever been there. Thank god.’

Octopoda felt relieved that Demosh was still alone, and stroked her right breast.

I felt something bulging and hard.

‘My dear Demosh.’

She calls her name to herself and closes her eyes and counts backwards from ten.

‘… Two, one.’

“You waited a long time? I’m sorry. This is the only thing I have to drink now.”

She smiled bashfully as she set down her van with a bottle of cheap wine and two glasses.

Rather than feeling content with her complete absence of guard against him, Octopoda felt miserable.

It was because she realized once again that there was no strange tension and fluttering distance peculiar to women who had a man conscious of the opposite sex in front of them.

Yes.

She only felt her Octopoda as a kind, gentlemanly ‘friend’ who would do no harm to her.

[The ecology of octopuses is quite mysterious.]

“It’s fine. I’m fine with cheap wine with Democy.”

“As expected! Unlike the showy idiots, Octopoda knows a thing!”

She smiles single single and twists her opener to open a new bottle of wine.

Pong!

The sound of the cork being opened is pleasant.

It was once again confirmed that Octopoda was quite a drinker in her skillful hand movements.

Every inch.

She poured the wine into the glass to the right level.

The two of them took a wine glass without saying a word.

Grab the long neck of the wine glass and spin it round and round.

It spreads the unique, cheesy, smoky scent of cheap wine.

But the silence isn’t awkward.

The two were good friends who didn’t feel awkward even if they didn’t say anything out of their mouths, on the surface.

No, only for her.

Visor!

The sound of cheap wine glasses colliding echoed.

Take a sip

The bitter and astringent taste of the cheap wine seemed to represent Octopoda’s feelings, no, to ridicule him.

He carefully sets the glass down on her bedside table.

Widely.

“Demos.”

“Oh, it’s Octopo. I was so busy drinking that I forgot. What else did you come here for? Do you have anything to discuss about the annual report?”

They were researchers working at the Imperial Central Research Institute.

It was between colleagues who were researching the same project in the same department.

Also, they were close friends.

“I just came here because I wanted to see Demosi.”

Although not as much as the private research institute, the workload of the research institute was not easy.

So nothing made her happier than a glass of wine she enjoyed after work.

But she, now, for this moment, was more willing than her friend to wine, that she had come to find out that she genuinely wanted to see herself.

“Welcome back! Wine with good friends is always sweet, even if it’s cheap!”

[Especially in mating and reproductive activities, you can find the mystery.]

Octopoda thought she was beautiful with a wide smile on her face.

Even the traces of the years that had settled between the corners of her eyes, the nape of her neck, and the wrinkles on her fingertips were lovely.

“A good… Friend, are you?”

“Yes! My best friend, my dear friend, my friendly neighbor! Octopoda is a very good friend to me.”

[There is a part on the right third leg of the male octopus that, unlike the female, does not have a sucker.]

Sigh.

The moment she put the word ‘lovely’ out of her mouth, even though she knew it didn’t mean it, Octopoda’s heart pounded and hurt.

He held his heart

[This special leg is called the copulation arm; instead of a sucker, the genitals containing the seminal vesicles are located at the tip of the copulation arm.]

He sighs and quietly takes off his bowler hat and sets it down on the sofa.

Demosi looks in the direction where he casually put down his hat.

He realizes that his underwear is sticking out between the clothes he has pushed aside.

Her face turned red with shame and embarrassment.

“Am I just a good friend to you?”

At his sudden question, Demosi widens her eyes with her blushing face.

Octopoda thought her blushing face was very beautiful.

[A male octopus doesn’t do the barbaric act of randomly entering into mating with a female he likes.]

Octopoda’s shiny scalp is sweaty with tension.

He quietly took something out of the inside pocket of his coat on his right chest.

It was a small ring box.

He turns its entrance toward Demosi.

Open the lid so Demosh can look at the ring.

He gets up from the sofa and walks towards Democy.

I look up at her as I get down on one knee on her bare, dusty floor, where her carpet isn’t even laid.

Then, carefully holding out her ring box toward her, she struggled to open her mouth.

[The male octopus confesses his feelings in a gentlemanly way by removing his seminal sac from the copulation arm and handing it to the female he likes.]

“Demossy. I’d rather be a good husband than a good friend to you.”

Demosi’s eyes tremble violently.

At this point, if he didn’t know why he came to visit him today, he couldn’t.

“I love you. I love you, Demosi. Please marry me.”

She accepted the ring right away, not letting out her cheers.

In her ecstasy, she didn’t even share her kiss with him.

She just stayed silent, not knowing what to do for a while.

“…”

She thought that he would be on his knees all night at this rate, and he soon took her heart.

A little awkwardly, a little difficult, I opened my mouth to him.

“That, uh… Octopoda? I-didn’t I tell you enough of my refusal last time?

[Oh, the female octopus doesn’t seem to like the male octopus.]

This time, Octopoda’s pupils vibrated violently.

A cluster of her light diffuses through the one-carat diamond set in the ring she holds out toward her.

The randomly scattered light seemed to represent his dizzy state of mind.

Because of this one clumsy confession, the two, who had been good friends until now, have fallen into an awkward relationship.

Perhaps Democy’s conscious treatment of him as a good friend was a hint that he never meant to be more than a friend to her.

No, if she was smart and warm-hearted, she would have done it to be considerate of him so that he would not be hurt while expressing her euphemistic refusal.

She carefully wraps both of her hands around his ring box.

Widely.

The ring box is closed.

And gently but stubbornly pushed back into the arms of Octopoda.

[The female returns the seminal sac that the male octopus put out.]

“It’s Octopo. It’s Octopo, my dear friend.”

Sigh.

She will definitely say no.

Despite knowing that in advance, Octopoda feels the word ‘love’ she uttered stabs her own heart.

“You’re competent. You’ve accumulated a lot of money, and you’ve got a great personality. You’re serious and thoughtful. You’re tall and you have a pretty face. You’re a good person. But…”

She bows her head

“I’m just a divorcee. I don’t have kids, but I’ve already been married once.”

“Your past matters nothing to me.”

Even though Octopoda already knew that she was her divorcee, he loved her.

She was utterly fascinated by her brilliance and brilliance, her exuberant liveliness.

“In addition, you’re at an age when you’re starting to have a belly and wrinkles around your eyes.”

“You are still beautiful. Even if the traces of the years are buried, I have not seen a single woman more beautiful than you until this moment.”

The other woman reflected in the retina of Octopoda, whose eyes were already thickly covered with bean pods, looked like squid, grasshopper, cod, pollock, or turtle.

“I live with a girl who is much younger than me, pretty, and has a good personality. I don’t suit you.”

“Even though I may be foolish and lacking, you are a wonderful woman that I do not deserve.”

Democy didn’t answer anymore, just shook her head.

[It is not enough for this ordinary male octopus to win the heart of this extremely attractive female octopus.]

At her soft but blunt refusal, Octopoda drops her head.

The bare top of his head reflects the light and shines red.

Crunchy!

Octopoda grinds teeth.

Wax!

He suddenly raises his head.

“Demosi. Is that really your intention?”

Octopoda’s eyes were glistening with intense emotion that even he could not define.

[-To be continued next time-]