If I hadn’t trusted my father — if I hadn’t let myself care again and agreed to see him after cutting ties with him once I became an adult — none of this would have happened. Nothing has changed from before. I tell myself every time that I won’t be fooled again, and every time I am. Because he’s my only family. And what exactly does that family mean to me.
“Is he crying?”
“Why would a cat cry? His eyes are just round — you’re imagining things.”
“Animals cry too, you know?”
I’m not crying! In truth, tears had nearly spilled out — but hearing the word “cry” made me even more determined not to show them. I held it back with everything I had.
“…I’ll set him down.”
The Tiger Suin lowered me to the floor. The gloom of a moment ago was short-lived — the instant my paws touched the ground, I bounded straight up the staircase. The startled men called out after me, but I paid them no mind.
If nothing else, I refuse to leave without knowing what’s up on the second floor when they went out of their way to keep me from going up there.
“Reow?”
Hm, nothing particularly special, is there?
The second floor I’d arrived at was dark and unlit, unlike the first floor with its bright, cheerful lighting. The floor was clean without a trace of dust, but with no one living there, there was no warmth to it. Cold and austere. And something else drifted through the air — pheromones, layered so thick and oppressive they could only be described as ominous.
They seemed like old traces, but the pheromone markings that lingered here and there hadn’t faded. As a Suin myself, I was afraid to step further in. Because it was proof that someone had released pheromones of tremendous power in this very place.
Even so, I had no intention of going back down. With ears pricked and eyes wide open, I made my way slowly along the corridor.
All the doors to the rooms around me were closed, and the corridor was dark. But at the far end, sunlight was streaming in through a large window. As if drawn by something, I leapt up onto the windowsill. And then my mouth fell open in shock.
I was glad I’d come back to the house after all. From up here, I could get a rough sense of the scale of the mountain — and it was clearly a house sitting deep, deep in the heart of it.
Why on earth is there such a grand house all the way out here?!
The trees obscured most of the view, but far in the distance, something tiny like a speck — that looked like a city.
“You’ll get scolded by the Executive Director later if he finds you up here.”
The man who had caught me earlier — the one said to be a Tiger Suin — was right behind me.
He was the only one who’d followed. It seemed this was a floor he could access, but the other subordinates could not. Why? There’s no way for me to know.
I’d gotten a good enough look, so I let myself be caught and was brought back down to the first floor without resistance. I thought back to the second floor I’d just seen. There were windows up there, but the height was too great — jumping down wasn’t a viable option.
Ha. Of course nothing is ever easy. In the end, if I was going to sneak out of this mansion, using a car was the most realistic option.
My true form was small and good for slipping around unnoticed, but physically crossing the mountain was more than my stamina could handle. Who knew how far it was from civilization? That was next to impossible.
This place was clearly far removed from where I lived — hitching a ride in a car was far better than struggling along on two legs. The drive here had felt like roughly two or three hours, by my sense of it. And there was no way to tell whether the city visible from the window was even the one I’d lived in.
In a situation like this, the more I conserved my energy, the better.
“Good thing we caught it before the Executive Director gets here.”
“It didn’t get into anywhere strange, did it?”
“The doors were all closed. It was sitting on the windowsill looking outside.”
“Must like high places — cat thing.”
When the man reached the first floor, he set me down. I immediately squeezed myself into a narrow corner out of their line of sight. I didn’t want to hear their voices or see their faces.
What am I going to do…? I’ve never had this much trouble escaping before. And these people are watching me on top of everything. What if I really can’t get out? Do I just wait here until my father comes to get me? And will he even come for me at all…?
Even just trying to think through an escape plan made my head throb.
I twitched my tail for no particular reason. Then I spotted a small space that only I could fit into. I squeezed myself inside without hesitation.
I didn’t want to rest anywhere that man had prepared for me. With all that spacious room available, I chose to curl up in a cramped, dark little corner instead.
***
Inside a sleek luxury sedan, there was a man with his legs crossed, scrolling through the photos his subordinates had sent him. Doha had assumed him to be the leader of some loan sharks — but the reality was quite different.
He owned a financial group, but he was no loan shark. He was the Executive Director of H Company, and a figure being discussed as the next head of his clan.
“What was your reason for taking that cat as collateral? And giving out that much money on top of it….”
Yeongho, who was driving, glanced at Yungeon as he asked. Yungeon simply rested his chin in his hand and gave a languid smile.
“I was smitten.”
“…Pardon?”
Yeongho startled without meaning to and spun around to look back. And what he saw was Yungeon with the corners of his lips curved upward. Smiling was something anyone could do — but because it was him, the incongruity was something else entirely.
Even Yeongho, who as Yungeon’s secretary was always at his side, could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen him smile — and yet here he was, smiling. And not the vicious, feral grin he wore when passing judgment on someone or catching the scent of blood — but a soft, languid one.
His sharp eyes, dark brows, and gleaming gaze resembled those of a predator, and the ever-present blankness of his expression gave him a dangerous air. His features were defined and handsome, but that particular atmosphere of his made it difficult for people to even approach him, let alone speak to him.
And that man was smiling at the thought of that tiny little cat.
“The moment I saw it, I thought it was so adorable I had to raise it myself.”
“That… you do know it’s a Suin, r-right?”
The meeting between Yungeon and Doha’s father, Doseok, had been entirely the result of chance. They had happened to cross paths at a gambling den, and Yungeon had simply lent money to Doseok, who had been begging and pleading for it.
In truth, Yeongho had found it strange that Yungeon lent Doseok money in the first place. It was true that Yungeon frequented gambling dens often enough that people around him found it odd. But he had never placed bets there himself, nor had he ever helped anyone.
It had gotten to the point that some employees whispered among themselves that he went there just to watch the expressions of people ruining themselves and losing everything in despair.
“I know. I had everything investigated.”
“…….”
And yet — ‘little one’.
A Suin who had only just come of age was not anyone’s idea of a little one. On top of that, it was puzzling that he had accepted as collateral someone he clearly knew to be a Suin, yet insisted on treating like a wild animal. In the end, wasn’t it the Suin himself — or his father — who had been running a con while hiding what they were?
Doha certainly had value. A rare Suin species, nearly unheard of in Korea. And despite being a predator, his true form was undeniably cute. Just put him on the market and the demand would explode. But setting all of that value aside — Yungeon found that sort of thing repulsive.
Then there was only one explanation left.
“Is it out of pity?”
Yeongho cleanly erased the word “smitten” from his mind.
He thought back to Doha. Razor-tongued and snarling, yet with those wide, dilated eyes that betrayed fear. Constantly looking around, as if desperate to get out at any moment.
Seeing all of that, it was hard to believe Doha had actively participated in any scheme. He, too, was a victim who had been deceived by his father. The background investigation had turned up an impressive track record of escaping from loan sharks on his own.
Being tricked the same way by family, over and over — it looked foolish. Was that what was drawing Yungeon’s interest? Suffering because of family was something Yungeon understood firsthand.
“…Ah. It is a bit of a sad situation.”
“…….”
Yeongho fell silent. Yungeon did feel for Suin in difficult circumstances — but he wasn’t the type to bring one home over it. And if that had truly been his reason, he would have let Doha go long before now. With a warning never to trust his father again, and a reasonable sum of money. Or by becoming his guardian. As he had done before, time and again.
The word “smitten” that Yungeon had said drifted briefly through Yeongho’s mind again — but he shook his head.
Yungeon had investigated Doha only after lending money to a gambling addict. Which meant there was a strong chance Yungeon hadn’t even known of Doha’s existence beforehand. Naturally, the idea of having been smitten didn’t hold up. Then why had he lent that man money?
The fact that he wasn’t the type to joke made it all the more puzzling. He did occasionally give orders no one could have predicted, but still….
“Why? Are you curious?”
Their eyes met through the rearview mirror — those gleaming, sharp eyes — and Yeongho gave a small shudder and shook his head.
“N-No, not at all!”
Years of experience had taught him by instinct that showing interest was the wrong move. It seemed that was the right answer, because Yungeon curved his lips into a smile.
“Good. Don’t be. I’ll be the only one who gets to.”
“…….”
One thing was clear — that cat had thoroughly won Yungeon over.
“The little one needs to grow up nice and healthy.”
Yeongho thought back to the image of Doha, so very small.
A vague unease settled over him and he stole a glance at Yungeon.
Surely “won him over” didn’t mean… he looked tasty. Right?
