Who knew a pug lying down would spawn such a creepy-cute creature?

Pugs can be rather cute with their comical faces and occasional sad expressions. Fans of this dog breed can even play with them at pug cafes scattered over Japan, and it seems the dog’s cute factor knows no bounds.

Drawing inspiration from a picture of a sleeping pug lying flat on its tummy, Japanese Twitter user @shin_iesaki came up with a terrifying creation that might make people think twice about their own pet pug.

▼ Transforming the dog’s ears into eyes and the little fold of skin into the creature’s mouth, this is the stuff nightmares are made of.

Capable of standing on its two hind legs and scurrying around on all four, the lack of any teeth means that the pug-monster swallows its prey whole using just its gaping maw. Humans foolish enough to stray near the harmless looking creature will be subjected to a gruesome death.

▼ It also feeds its babies like a boss.

Despite it being a bizarre creature from the infernal pits of hell, some Japanese netizens have taken a liking to it:

“I want a plushie of it.”
“It’s f-feeding!!! It also has multiple teats.”
“That’s rather cute.”
“It’s so gross that I’m having goosebumps.”
“What’s this? It’s so cute!”

@shin_iesaki initially put up a joke poll asking netizens whether they wanted manga or messaging app stickers of the pug-monster made. But seeing the overwhelming response (close to 13,000 votes) from Twitter users, he decided to make it a reality.

“I didn’t think I’d get so many responses. A manga draft is being made at the moment and I’m thinking of creating the stickers too. Thank you!!”

It really is hard to believe that the creepy creature has jumped to manga-in-development status after just two days of conception, but there you have it. The pug-monster may be a terrifying beast, but it does possess those certain, elusive kawaii qualities.

There’s just something strangely fascinating about the macabre and the eerie, and if such things do fancy you, wait till you see nightmare-inducing Pikachu and alien Totoro.

Source: Twitter/@shin_iesaki via ITmedia
Featured image: Twitter/@shin_iesaki