I stared fixedly at the firmly shut door. Even if I wanted to go out, I couldn’t, not right away. Sneaking a ride in a car is one thing, but I can’t open those doors without turning into a human. Especially the inner door, which was a sliding door.
From what I’d observed of when my owner came home, he only opened the inner door after closing the front door behind him. And once he was inside, he always made sure to shut the inner door tight. Even when my owner crossed through the inner door on his way out, the front door stayed closed, and when he came back in, the inner door stayed closed.
Which meant there was no way for me to slip out in my true form. On top of that, there were eyes watching me too. I glared at Changgyu, who’d become one with the wall and wasn’t moving.
“Do you miss the Executive Director?”
This guy always says this. Where in my eyes did he see longing to see my owner?
Then I remembered what I’d been doing just a moment ago. I’d gone to the front door, then looked toward the terrace, then gone back to pacing in front of the door again.
Ah, no wonder he’d get the wrong idea. Looks like the servant’s made some strange assumption.
I was about to snort dismissively, but then I realized today was a little different. Hearing him say that, my owner’s face flickered into my mind. Changgyu watched me for a moment, then went and pulled something out of the toy box.
“Would you like to play hunting games?”
It was a squeaky mouse toy. I scrunched up my face and turned my head away sharply. Changgyu, who’d only ever watched me quietly before, was now actively trying to play with me. Of course, even when Changgyu offered, I ignored him.
Do I look like the type to sit around laughing and playing with you? I have no reason to act cute for someone who isn’t my owner. There’s a reason I greet my owner and act sweet when he comes home from work.
That’s how I’d gotten the watch out of him, too. Thinking of that, something in a corner of my heart itched strangely. Everything I did had a purpose behind it, but my owner’s wasn’t the same.
Well, but he seems happy about it anyway. I should play with him again when he gets home today.
And who knows, maybe he’ll give me something else too. Should I pretend I lost the watch? Would he give me another one then? Or should I covet another watch he’s wearing?
In fact, when the blanket I always used to lie on disappeared, my owner had bought me a new one similar to it. Yeongho had insisted on looking for it, saying blankets don’t just grow legs and walk off, but I’d stubbornly ignored him and played dumb.
Just then, the sound of a car came from outside.
Is my owner here? Whenever the sound of a car came, it was my owner’s car a hundred times out of a hundred. My body reacted first, my head turning toward the front door.
“…It’s not time for him to be back yet.”
Changgyu muttered, sounding puzzled, but I was already dashing toward the door. My front paws were tucked neatly together, my ears half-perked. Only the tip of my tail gave me away, tapping lightly against the floor, betraying my impatience. Soon, the door opened.
I’d gone to greet him at the front door, full of anticipation, but the one who actually walked in wasn’t my owner. At the sight of the stranger, my ears naturally flattened back.
On top of that, a heavy, sharp pheromone hit me, and my body went rigid.
“This is going to be a problem, sir.”
“What’s the problem with visiting my own brother’s place?”
“But if the Executive Director finds out…”
I couldn’t move from where I stood, looking back and forth between the two men. Both of them were Suin.
Could he be from the same Tiger Clan as my owner?
The man who’d walked into the house so brazenly without my owner there was just as jet-black as my owner, but flashier in the opposite direction. His hands and neck were dripping with gold accessories. And he was giving off a dangerous pheromone. The man following beside him was sweating bullets trying to hold him back, but he wasn’t having any of it.
I stepped back, lowering my body. With an unfamiliar person showing up, I instinctively went on guard.
“Got a honeypot stashed in here or something, going straight home from work every single day… what is this.”
“Eung.”
That’s exactly what I want to know.
I looked up at the man without easing my guard. The moment our eyes met, the air went taut.
“It’s not too late to turn back now, sir…”
“Ah, fuck. You’re so damn annoying.”
Apparently irritated by the man trying to hold him back, the flashy man kicked him. He must’ve had real strength, because the man went down. At the loud sound, my back instinctively arched into a bow and my tail shot straight up into the air.
“Cat, come here.”
It was certain now — this was an uninvited guest.
Changgyu, who’d always been behind me, now stood as if shielding me. It stung my pride a little. This was my territory. My owner lived here too, but this was my space, marked with my scent.
More than anything, the flashy man was glaring at me, not Changgyu. He was picking a fight, and I wasn’t the type to back down. I poked my head out from beside Changgyu’s leg, narrowed my eyes menacingly, and bared my teeth.
“Bold of you. You’re not running even with me looking at you?”
“Kaaack!”
I leapt up, fur bristling.
Get out of my territory right now! Looks like this guy doesn’t like you being here either — what are you even doing showing up while my owner’s away!
This was my owner’s house. The house of the man they called Executive Director.
A threatening Suin walking into this space didn’t sit right with me, not in any good sense. He wasn’t a subordinate. If he were, he wouldn’t even have had the nerve to walk in like this. To begin with, my owner wasn’t the type to keep many subordinates around him.
Since I’d gotten used to this house, the only subordinates I’d ever seen were Yeongho and Changgyu. He was clearly someone in a position of some standing, close to my owner. And yet even Changgyu, who couldn’t treat him carelessly, was only staying on guard without doing anything to stop him.
Tch, pathetic. It’s clearly his fault for barging into a house when the owner isn’t home, so I should bare my teeth and chase him out. Consider it an honor. I’m good at this! I’ve chased off plenty of people who came to collect debts from my father, by shifting into my true form.
They’d all been human, not Suin, and I’d taken a few injuries myself in the process, but I’d driven them off, so I’d won. My claws and teeth are sharp, and I’m a predator!
Before I knew it, I’d planted myself squarely in front of Changgyu and hissed. The man’s eyes twisted into a crooked glare as he stared me down.
But Changgyu blocked my path.
Hey, move already! Why do you keep getting in my way?
“What brings you here?”
“That’s what I’d like to ask. What are you doing here, glued to Baek Yungeon like a tick?”
“…I asked first.”
“Hmm. Looks like there really is a honeypot hidden here. Something important you’re guarding?”
“There’s nothing.”
“Saying it like that just makes it more suspicious.”
The man rubbed his chin with a sly smile. There were three claw-mark scars raked across his chin. Scars that deep meant the wound had been serious. The scars seemed to only emphasize how vicious his face looked.
That guy was, without a doubt, either a loan shark or a gangster.
My owner was in the same line of work, a loan shark too, but he looked clean-cut. He just had a dangerous air about him. This guy, though, was clearly the bad sort. My instincts were telling me so.
It was worlds apart from the feeling I’d gotten the first time my owner had looked at me.
I wanted to bravely block the man, but crushed under the pheromones he was giving off, my body kept sinking lower and lower toward the floor. But I couldn’t afford to lose. I straightened my spine and bristled my fur even more.
“Since you’ve come all this way, sir, I have no choice but to report this to the Executive Director.”
“Do whatever you want.”
The man just shrugged, like it was nothing to him. No sign of being deterred, no sign of displeasure. If anything, he looked delighted. The only thing that bothered me was that delight being aimed at me.
Wait, weird, this guy’s scent is oddly similar to my owner’s… am I imagining it?
“Though there is something I’d really like to hear, in exchange.”
“I’d like you to leave, sir.”
“My little brother’s the type to keep a beast like this as a pet?”
“The cat startles easily. Please rein in your pheromones, sir.”
“You stepping in just makes me more curious.”
The man patted Changgyu’s shoulder. Changgyu was tense all over. Without meaning to, I lifted my head to check on him. That’s when the man suddenly bent down and snatched me up.
In the blink of an eye, I found myself dangling in midair, my scruff caught in the man’s grip. Where my owner always handled me carefully, gently, so as not to startle me, this man scooped me up the way you’d snatch a fish out of water.
“Executive Director!”
“So this is why Yungeon’s been rushing home every day, huh? Why’s that? When’d you pick this thing up?”
I flailed my legs in shock. But they only cut through empty air.
Caught, just like that… Furious, I bared my claws and thrashed wildly. But the more I struggled, the more delighted the man seemed to get.
“Let go of him, sir!”
Changgyu grabbed the man’s wrist as if to make him let go, but the man only scoffed. Changgyu’s expression twisted.
“Kaong! Eeeong!”
Let me go! I said let go!
Clawing and thrashing wildly, I raked my claws across something. The man let out a grunt of “Kk!” and dropped me like he was hurling me away. In an instant I went flying with brutal force, unable to land properly. I was slammed into the floor.
“Cat!”
I could hear Changgyu’s worried voice, but I couldn’t tell him I was fine. Every part of me hurt. I lay collapsed on the floor, trembling all over.
It hurts, I… Owner. This guy’s hurting me….
