Thanks in part to a renowned Suin family that had helped Korea avert a financial crisis, public perception of Suin as a whole improved dramatically starting from a certain point in time. On top of that, the timing worked out well — the predators raised their voices in support of coexistence, insisting that humans and Suin could live together just fine. As the stronger party, they were the first to bow their heads and offer whatever concessions they could.
As a result, the negative perception of Suin softened somewhat. However, since Suin had not been integrated into Korean society for very long, discrimination still existed. It was simply a matter of no longer being openly ostracized. Even so, many people still feared Suin.
Young Suin in particular were subject to state-level oversight on the grounds that they lacked self-control and could pose a danger to others. For this reason, the educational facilities for humans and Suin were kept strictly separate. That went doubly so if the Suin in question happened to be a predator.
They carried a reputation as savage, ferocious creatures that acted purely on instinct.
And yet, laughably enough, Suin who were cute or beautiful were sometimes traded among the wealthy like pets. It was illegal now, but such things had once been commonplace.
In certain countries where Suin were severely oppressed, there were even Suin being sold illegally through brokers.
The irony was that as Suin rights hit rock bottom and the number of people treating them like pets grew, demand for rare animals surged right along with it — and the trend had only intensified further after Suin trading was made illegal.
In the middle of all this, demand for me had risen sharply, on the grounds that I was both a predator and cute. Because of that, loan sharks had happily taken me as collateral, going so far as to lend my father a considerable sum of money.
…In a situation like this, if those people had figured out that I was a Suin, things would undoubtedly get worse.
Did my father know that these people were Suin? Did he know everything, and still try to hand me over anyway?
“Well, I’ll be. Boss, that little bastard actually showed up.”
“If he’s here, that’s that. Saves us the trouble of having to track him down.”
The man’s gaze finally slid away from me.
My body was trembling with fear. Even my father seemed to tense up at the sight of so many rough-looking men gathered together — he swallowed dryly, his throat visibly bobbing.
The dangerous man sat with his legs crossed, lazily gesturing with his hand. My father startled and hurried over to them.
“I brought what I told you I would!”
“Weh, weong?”
W-wait, he’s going to give me to that man?
My father turned away from me as I recoiled in shock. Lowering himself as much as possible, he thrust me out toward the man and his group. The trembling lasted only a moment — I steadied myself, and the fur along my spine rose on end.
I’m a predator. I have my pride.
“Kyarr…!”
The most dangerous-looking man regarded me with an impassive stare.
“What do you think? Isn’t he cute? I’ve heard that cute predators are popular among the ladies. He’s a species that’s quite rare to see in Korea. I raised him with great care, specifically for this day.”
“How did you get your hands on him? For someone like you, this seems like a rather… valuable acquisition, doesn’t it?”
My father’s eyes went wide. Not many people recognize at a glance that I’m a predator. Usually, when I was introduced as one, people would just berate whoever brought me — calling them a liar for passing off some ordinary cat as a fierce beast. But this man recognized me. Recognized my breed.
No — not my breed. He clearly recognized that I was a Suin.
“Ah, well, I, I, I found him after he’d escaped from a broker. There are plenty of people who want to keep cute predators as pets, aren’t there? And besides, cats are all the rage these days. Isn’t that right?”
That part was true, at least. The only difference was that the Suin my father had helped hadn’t been me — it had been my mother. Back then, he must have still been a decent young man. Not the shameless con artist he’d become.
“As you can see, he’s young and doesn’t know anything. I raised him with care, so once he lets his guard down, he’ll be affectionate. He’s a gentle and sweet little thing by nature.”
“Hmm. For something supposedly raised with care, he’s quite thin.”
The man tossed the words out in a flat tone. As though the compromised quality of the merchandise were deeply unpleasant, he rubbed the corner of his mouth and let his eyes drop. My father straightened his shoulders and stumbled over his excuses.
“He, he’s an animal, so he must have sensed something was coming. After he figured out he’d be leaving home, he refused to eat or drink.”
“Is that so?”
One of the men took hold of the cage I was locked in and held it out toward the most dangerous man — the one I least wanted anywhere near me. He was clearly the one in charge here. I blew my pupils wide and set myself on edge.
Just try sticking your hand in here. I’ll scratch you to ribbons.
But he only offered the faintest smile at my threat.
“For something supposedly not threatening, he’s quite fierce.”
“Ha ha… W-well, isn’t there a certain satisfaction in taming something that puts up a fight?”
“You just said he was gentle and sweet.”
The man’s eyebrow arched slowly, as if to ask whether he’d been lied to. My father flinched at that look and rushed to continue.
“He, he’s never seen you before! He’s just shy around strangers. And he’s irritable right now because he’s hungry! Fill his belly and he’ll be purring in no time!”
“If he’s refused to eat or drink, he must be quite hungry.”
I glanced back and forth between my father and the man.
…He was actually planning to take me? Not as a joke — he seemed to genuinely intend to keep me. The fact that the man was scrutinizing me with such careful deliberation made the dread worse.
Then, the man let drop a single offhand remark.
“He’s tiny, though. Is he a cub?”
“Ka-ong, kaak!”
W-what? T-tiny? What kind of tiny have you ever seen this big?
I instinctively puffed up my back and raised my tail — trying to look as large as possible. Being small was my complex. I was a predator, but my body was on the small side.
Partly because I hadn’t eaten well when I was young, I’d ended up even smaller than I should have been. Black-footed Cats were already famously small among predators, and I was smaller still — the humiliation of it was genuinely upsetting.
“Still, you don’t really think some little beast cub is worth what we’re owed, do you?”
Little beast cub? So he hadn’t figured out I was a Suin after all…?
“O-of course not. But he’s more than worth the value, I assure you!”
My father rushed to add more. With exaggerated gestures toward me, he threw himself into selling me off.
“You can tell at a glance that he’s something special, can’t you? He’s so small and cute that people mistake him for a kitten, but he’s a Black-footed Cat. Cute, yet a predator — that makes him all the rarer. There aren’t many of his kind! He’s a predator, so he’ll be skittish at first, but he’ll come around with time. On top of that, he’s a predator that can’t hunt, so he won’t be any kind of threat.”
“Ka, ka-ong? Kaak!”
What? What did you just say? How would you know, Father?! How would you know?! I can hunt just fine! I’m a predator!
I snapped my head toward my father and snarled, utterly beside myself. The betrayal still hadn’t faded, and now he was adding insult to injury.
My father was working hard to appeal to my value as merchandise. But every single thing he said was an insult aimed squarely at me. Cute, rare, non-threatening. All words I couldn’t stand to hear.
I swiped my claws toward my father, but the distance between us was too great and I couldn’t reach him.
“You mistake him for a cub? He’s not a baby?”
“Hm? N-no. He’s not a cub. That’s what makes him all the more valuable. As you can see, he’s just the right size for the ladies to adore. A predator, but cute and compact. Being small, he won’t eat through much feed, either. S-so? Isn’t he more than adequate as collateral? He’s fully grown — won’t get any bigger. He doesn’t even weigh a full kilogram.”
“Collateral.”
Those two words made the air go cold and still.
Both my father and I tensed. My father worried that the merchandise — me — wasn’t to the man’s liking. I, on the other hand, was terrified that this would actually end with me being seized as collateral and dragged off somewhere unfamiliar.
“It feels less like you’re offering him as collateral and more like you’re trying to unload him altogether. Don’t tell me you have no intention of repaying the debt.”
“Th-there’s no way I would do that!”
My father trembled, yet still managed to say everything he wanted to.
A lie. My father had never once repaid the money and come back for me. I always escaped on my own.
“Hey, Boss — are we actually going to end up having to raise this thing ourselves? Let’s just take something clean and expensive instead. Why would we take some little beast as collateral?”
“E-oong!”
You said it. That’s right — take something else, not me.
The man ignored his subordinate’s words and stared down at me in silence. His gaze was strangely fixed, strangely persistent. Then his hand came up and tapped at the cage — tap, tap. My body seemed to rattle right along with it.
I bared my teeth naturally and let out a low growl. At that, the man gave a small, amused smile and provoked me further. Even knowing I wasn’t some house cat but a true predator, he slipped a finger right between the bars of the cage.
In an instant, my body reacted before my mind could. Driven by the single thought of sinking my teeth into that infuriatingly composed hand, I lunged forward.
But my timing was off, my aim was off, and I smacked my forehead right into the bars. At the same moment, the man’s rough, thick finger landed squarely on my forehead. “Landed” was too gentle a word for it — “got hit” was more like it. A dull ring went through my skull.
“A-ung!”
H-he hit me?
The man’s pupils wavered for just a moment. For the briefest instant, something like surprise crossed his face. But I was too busy being furious to register it. The fact that my attack hadn’t landed, that I was the only one who’d gotten hurt — it made my blood boil.
I bared my sharp teeth and threatened him the way a predator should, but not a single person was afraid of me.
I’m a predator, for all that’s worth!
