“Baby, were you playing well?”
“Meow, meow.”
I play just fine on my own. Owner, just feed me. Aren’t you hungry too?
He leaves early for work and is already gone by the time I wake up. Changgyu takes care of breakfast instead. But no matter what, he always eats dinner with me. He eats his own meal while watching me eat mine happily.
I circled around his feet, pleading my hunger. When I rubbed my body against his leg, the owner gave a soft laugh.
“Is the meal ready?”
“Everything’s been prepared to be timed with the Executive Director’s arrival home.”
At Changgyu’s words, the owner nodded, satisfied.
I trailed along behind him. Whenever he comes home, he always washes his hands first. When he went into the bathroom, I sat in front of the door. I know he’s only washing his hands, but I don’t follow him in.
Because, I hate water! I might not be a cat but a wildcat, but I still hate water. I hate it even more because when my fur gets wet, it gets damp and looks pathetic.
When I sit quietly in front of the bathroom waiting, the owner comes out with a slight smile, crouches down to my eye level, and pets my head.
I didn’t realize it at first, but he always washed his hands before touching me whenever he came back from outside.
Knowing he puts in that kind of care, I let him pet me. And besides, after that comes the meat!
“Nyah-!”
Hurry, hurry up and give it to me. I’m hungry!
The dinner table was set, and my portion was ready too.
Soft meat again today! Sometimes he gives me salmon or tuna as a special treat. Before I knew it, my palate had grown so refined that canned food alone wouldn’t satisfy me anymore.
My body wriggled at the delicious smell.
“Chew it well before you swallow.”
Who do you think I am, some little kid?
“Nyang.”
But despite what I really thought, I let out an affectionate little cry and welcomed the meat.
After gulping down all the meat the owner gave me, I licked every last bit of juice off my mouth too. Satisfied with such a plentiful meal, I licked my fur and made a contented little sound.
The owner stopped eating partway through, reached out a hand, and petted me, squishing me this way and that.
I get it, you’re petting me because I’m cute, but eat your food already!
I jumped down from the chair to the floor to escape his hand. The owner watched my retreating figure as if reluctant, but having achieved my goal, I turned away coldly.
At first I let it slide, but I’d come to learn that the wisest move was to avoid a hand that would spend five whole minutes fondling me without even eating. If I let him, he’d knead me for tens of minutes.
“Baby, you ate, so now it’s time to exercise.”
I was sprawled out on the cat tower, satisfied with my full belly, when the owner shook a fishing-rod toy with a sparkly butterfly dangling from it to tempt me from behind.
At first, I figured I was way past the age for playing with toys like that, so I tried not to pay it any attention. But the instant my real body’s instincts spotted prey, it lowered itself and bolted toward the target.
It’s the same as not being able to stop my eyes from following a butterfly or a bird beyond the veranda.
Before I knew it, I was hopping around trying to catch it. The moment the owner noticed my hips wiggling, getting ready to pounce, he yanked the rod up. As it slipped just past my claws, almost within reach, I grew even more frantic.
Stealing prey from a swift predator like me…!
I’d gotten so worked up that there was no way I could stop before catching it. Time slipped by as I bounced around, paws reaching out. By the time I was panting, exhausted, I finally managed to clamp the prey in my mouth.
Hehe, got it. I win again today!
I rolled around biting down hard on the sparkly butterfly toy with my teeth, and kicked at it with my paws too. While I was reveling in the joy of a successful hunt, growling happily, the owner told me that was enough and took the rod away.
“Eork! Eng! Ewoong!”
Don’t touch it! This is mine now!
The owner’s fine in every other way, but it’s a problem that he tries to take away the prey I’ve caught.
“You’ll hurt your teeth. Bite this instead.”
What he held out was a fluffy toy shaped like a raccoon’s tail.
“Nyah!”
No!
I like the sparkly one better than the fluffy one!
But in the end, it got taken from me anyway. While I was glaring at the owner, fuming, he asked if I was thirsty and held out a bowl of cat milk. I stared at it for a moment, then decided, with great generosity, to forgive him.
Calling it prey is a stretch — it’s just a cat toy.
I was only pretending to hunt enthusiastically so I could play with the owner. The real point of hunting is getting something tasty in your mouth in the end, anyway.
Running around so hard had made me thirsty too. I finished off the milk completely.
“Baby, you’ve got some on your mouth.”
The owner’s large hand approached and wiped across my mouth. A trace of milk stuck to his finger. Feeling his gaze fixed on me, I hurried to clean up the milk mustache around my mouth myself. Then, as I rolled this way and that trying to catch the toy, my fur had gotten messy too, so I groomed it carefully from tail to toe.
As a human, a single shower would do it, but in my real body’s form, I had to groom diligently to stay clean. What if he decided I was dirty and gave me a bath?
“Executive Director, the kitty’s scratched up the door again.”
“Again?”
Again? Does he actually hate it when I scratch the door…? But he’s never once gotten angry about it before?
Caught off guard by his reaction, I groomed myself while sneaking glances at the owner’s expression. The owner looked at Changgyu, then pointed somewhere and asked me,
“You don’t like that one?”
Where the owner’s finger pointed was a scratching post, shiny and new-looking. He’d bought it after I’d scratched up the door. But it had never once been chosen by me.
I nodded quickly.
“Nyang.”
I don’t like it.
Right, that’s all it was — I just didn’t like that thing.
Among the part-timers, there was one who kept a cat. She used to talk about her cat sometimes, and once said sadly that even though she’d bought a scratching post for it, the cat wouldn’t even look at it, so she’d ended up giving it away.
I’d carefully asked her if that wasn’t infuriating. Every place I’d been adopted out to had been just like that. Everyone grumbled about how fussy cats were, considering what they were.
But that part-timer just laughed and said there was no way that was true. That’s just how cats are. They might seem finicky and standoffish, but if they sidle up and act affectionate, your heart melts right away, she’d said.
I hadn’t really understood it back then, but now I think I get it, more or less. Because the owner was exactly like that.
“Maang?”
You’re not mad, are you?
I watched his expression carefully, then approached the owner. I rubbed my body against his leg, then climbed up beside him on the sofa where he sat, and even flopped onto my back to show him my belly. As I put on my charm, the owner gazed down at me steadily.
I could see the corner of his mouth lift slightly. A smile you’d miss if you weren’t looking closely, softening his hard features just a little.
I sparkled my eyes and turned on even more charm. I rolled around, bumping his thigh with my head, and held out a paw, curled slightly, inviting him to touch it.
The owner fell completely for my charm. He kept fiddling with my paw.
“It seems he really likes that room after all.”
“Hmm, he was in there that day too.”
I just met his eyes as if I knew nothing. The owner suddenly stood up. I’d been getting petted, and I lifted my head.
“Eork? Eng?”
Huh? Is he really mad?
My heart suddenly started pounding. Uneasy deep down, I watched the owner quietly from the sofa, then trotted along after him.
“Ang, miya, meow.”
Owner, I didn’t scratch it that much. It’s just really obvious because the color’s black. Why not change it while we’re at it? The inside of the house is way too drab.
I said it as smoothly as I could, but it didn’t seem like the owner understood me at all. In the end, the owner arrived in front of the door where I’d left scratch marks all over. From behind, I heard a sigh of lament.
I turned to see who it was — it was Yeongho.
When did this guy show up again? And why’s he sighing? It’s just a cat thing! Cats can leave claw marks! Don’t dogs wreck the whole house? Chew up the wallpaper too? It’s not like a small cat like me is wrecking the whole house — I just left a little claw mark on the door. I don’t even chew the wallpaper.
But what mattered most was the owner’s reaction. When he showed no particular reaction and just glared at the door, my heart pounded hard.
I rolled my eyes around.
Did I… overdo it?
I’d forgotten that the one holding the upper hand in this relationship wasn’t me but the owner. Right now he might like me, but the moment he grew tired of me, he could throw me out anytime. Besides, if Father didn’t pay back the money within the three-month repayment period, I could be sold off anywhere.
No — even before that, if I fell out of his favor, I could be sold off just as easily. Knowing that, I’d been trying to gather up things that could be turned into money.
Anxious for no good reason, I turned on the charm and circled around at his feet. I let out a high, affectionate little cry too, and rubbed my side against his leg, watching his face carefully.
