“Little one, you can eat more if you want.”
As if he already knew exactly what I was thinking, the man opened a new can and placed it right in front of me himself. Unlike before, I plunged my face into it without any hesitation.
Eat a proper meal, then scope out this place!
I was eating away enthusiastically when a bowl of cat milk was set down beside the can as well. My eyes lit up and I drank eagerly. With my belly packed full, I licked the corners of my mouth in satisfaction and let out a low, rumbling purr.
A little while later, I cautiously crept out from the sofa.
I stretched in every direction, working out the stiffness that had built up from all the tension. I could feel the gazes of the leader and his subordinate on me, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t keep being afraid forever.
The two of them simply watched me without making any other move. As long as they weren’t going to hurt me right away, that was fine.
“…He’s suddenly full of energy. Not long ago he was too scared to even lift his head. But are you really planning to keep him here?”
“Don’t pick on him.”
“When did I ever pick on him?”
The subordinate cried out at the man as though deeply wronged. Of course, the man paid his subordinate no mind.
Hmph, I don’t plan on staying here forever either. I’ll get out on my own, so don’t worry.
No matter how much time I’d spent in my true form, I was a Suin. Which meant I was human. When I was little, I’d spent long stretches in my true form, but ever since I’d struck out on my own, I’d been living as a human. And I had absolutely no intention of going on pretending to be a cat like this.
Besides, how could I know when their attitude might suddenly change? If my father didn’t come to get me, they might sell me off somewhere. I had to escape before that happened.
Alright. How do I get out of here?
I wiped my muzzle with my paw and licked my fur, getting rid of the smell of the can and grooming the mess out of my coat. With a full belly, a sense of calm finally settled over me.
I scanned the inside of the house with sharp eyes.
Earlier I’d noticed the expensive furniture, but now I was focused on things that actually mattered — where the front entrance was, whether the veranda door was open or locked. It was annoying being mistaken for a kitten, but thanks to my small body, any gap wide enough would be all I needed to slip through.
It’s not for nothing that cats are said to be liquid.
Once I got out of here and transformed back into a human, no one would be able to find me, right?
And so my great escape began.
I stayed away from the two of them and slowly explored every corner of the house. But it was no easy feat from the start. The place was far bigger than I’d expected, and there were plenty of moments when my nerves were on edge trying to move around stealthily while avoiding the men.
Of everything, what caught my eye most was the wide yard that stretched out beyond the large veranda.
At first, the heavy curtains had hidden it so well I hadn’t even known the veranda was there. But when I nudged my way into the gap between the curtains, the man quietly approached and drew them open for me.
What greeted me in that moment was a view of flowers in full bloom, with butterflies and small birds drifting lightly above them. As if in a trance, I plopped right down in front of it and stared at the scene in a daze for a long while. Every time a butterfly or a small bird appeared near the veranda, my eyes tracked after them and my backside started wiggling on its own.
In the end, I’d frittered away the entire afternoon completely in vain.
But I was nocturnal. Once night fell, everyone would go to sleep and the living room would go quiet. It would be the perfect time to move around without being seen.
With that resolve, I waited and waited for nightfall — but then I overlooked one more thing.
Saying I was nocturnal referred to my true form. As a human I’d mostly lived on a daytime schedule, and even if I’d pulled many early-morning day labor shifts before, the accumulated exhaustion meant that the moment evening came, drowsiness hit me like a wall.
I clearly remembered curling up and falling asleep in front of the veranda, yet when I opened my eyes in a half-waking daze, I was on top of a plush cushion. And right next to me, a large cat tower had appeared. With sunlight streaming down over it, it was the perfect spot for a nap.
The house was too cozy and warm. Without even realizing it, I had settled into a sunny spot. And then, sprawled out at full length, I fell back into a deep sleep.
“…Is he still asleep? He’s not unwell, is he?”
“He appears to be in good health.”
Why is it so noisy around me…?
“Uwng….”
“Ah, I must have disturbed him.”
A gentle hand came to rest on top of my head, and I instinctively nuzzled into it. Then it hit me that there was no one who would touch me like that, and my eyes flew open. To my astonishment, the man was right there in front of me.
For some reason, his mouth was set in a rigid line. I startled and jumped to my feet, then put plenty of distance between us.
“Reowk!”
Wh — what? What were you doing?
The man was quietly looking down at his hand, where the warmth had gone. He seemed to be trying not to show that he was reluctant to let go of it, and I found that puzzling. While I tilted my head to one side, the man walked off somewhere.
“So that hyung doesn’t have to bother — let me do it first — ah!”
He intercepted the food bowl from the subordinate before it could reach me. Inside the bowl was the dry kibble the subordinate had already poured — and the man dumped it all into the trash without a second thought.
My eyes went wide. Not that I was going to eat kibble anyway, but he’d thrown it out without a moment’s hesitation? And wasn’t that technically my food? My jaw dropped — and then, in place of the kibble, the bowl was filled with canned food instead.
“Sleeping is all well and good, but you still need to eat.”
I blinked a few times and stared at the man.
“Starting tomorrow, I’ll have to bring someone over to look after the little one.”
“What…? I — I can’t have that! Shouldn’t I be the one at your side?”
“I’m not leaving it to you. You don’t have a knack for it.”
The subordinate opened and closed his mouth. He seemed genuinely unsure whether to be hurt by being told he had no knack for it, or relieved that he wouldn’t be saddled with the task of looking after something like me.
“I believe Changgyu is free starting tomorrow.”
“I’ll let him know.”
I had no idea what was going on, but I’d just woken up and I was hungry. I had to eat the canned food. I needed to eat to survive.
As I dug eagerly into the can, a hand came to rest on top of my head again. My ears reflexively flattened back and my body tensed up, but I didn’t run. From everything that had happened so far, I could tell the man had no intention of hurting me.
…Even if he might be planning to fatten me up nicely and sell me off.
“Did you sleep well? Were you very tired?”
The ticklish tone of his voice right next to my ear made me want to scrub my ears raw. Just then, the hand that had been stroking my head changed course and slowly moved toward my face. As that large hand filled my entire field of vision, I let out a sharp hiss.
“Oh, did I startle you? I was just going to wipe away your eye boogers.”
Huh? Eye boogers?
My reflection in the veranda window was an absolute mess. Having just woken up, my fur was sticking out every which way and standing on end.
I tucked myself into a corner and hastily licked myself clean all over, wiping away the eye boogers too. I felt embarrassed at having been seen so unkempt.
And then I remembered something important.
The plan to get up at night and look around the house has gone completely down the drain! I slept in so hard I overslept entirely.
Maybe I’ll just scout the inside now…? Cats are territorial animals and do tend to thoroughly patrol their territory. Yesterday I hadn’t been able to look around carefully because I was too busy being cautious, but it seems like they’re going to let me move around freely.
I snuck a careful glance at the man and then made a mad dash across the living room.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going!”
“He wants to run around — let him be.”
“B-But….”
I ran a few steps and spun around to check behind me. The man wasn’t chasing after me. Just like yesterday, he left me alone. It was a little unsettling when our eyes occasionally met, but if anything, he seemed to be watching me tear around with something like quiet satisfaction.
Should be fine, right…? It’s not like he’d know I’m looking for a way out.
Escaping through the veranda would be ideal, but the door was closed and even latched. And the veranda was too exposed — I’d be spotted immediately. It was a sliding door too, so there was no way I could open and close it myself. At the very least, to buy time before they found me again, I needed to leave through a route they wouldn’t know about.
Isn’t there some kind of small window somewhere nice and out of the way?
And so I roamed every corner of the house.
But there was nothing. Not a single gap anywhere that I could slip out through.
The only exit available right now was the front door. Honestly, it was the route I’d escaped through most often. The problem was that the inner door was closed as well. I stared at the firmly shut front door like I could bore a hole through it with my eyes.
“Little one, do you want to go outside?”
“Mrao?”
When did you get there?
The man had quietly come up behind me and scooped me up. I hadn’t sensed his presence at all, and I startled so hard my whole body jerked into the air — then scrambled away as fast as I could.
For now, the front door was an absolute last resort. The inner door was a sliding door just like the veranda, which meant opening and closing it would be a struggle. Times like this made me feel sorry about my small body.
But there was simply no other suitable escape route to be found.
