So this place wasn’t entirely safe either, after all. There’s no such thing as a completely safe place in this world. What good is it that the owner’s kind-hearted? What good is it that the house is nice? He’s a loan shark.
It seemed he wasn’t the top boss after all. Everyone called him Executive Director. If he’d really been the top, he’d have been called President or Chairman. And it seemed there were enemies within the group too. If someone who disliked me showed up, my safety would be at risk.
Being a loan shark meant he had to collect money, and the power to make that call would belong to the leader, the boss — since he was an Executive Director, not the President.
“Whoa, fuck. What a temper, huh? Of all places to claw, right where it hurts? Is it because you’re that owner’s little cat?”
I forced myself up off the ground. The man’s face was twisted in displeasure. My claw marks now overlaid the old scar on his chin, and blood was dripping down.
That’s when the sound of another car came from outside. This time, it really was the car the owner rode in. The door swung open roughly, and the owner arrived.
Owner, who is this guy? Why’d he suddenly show up throwing his weight around?
I was staggering, trying to make my way toward him, when —
“Hyung, what on earth are you doing here?”
“Ah, my little brother’s here. The moment your work was done you vanished, so I got curious. But to think it was here. If Father were alive, he’d have been delighted.”
I froze on the spot.
Huh? An actual blood relative? I just figured it was the usual organization thing where everyone calls each other hyung and brother, so I didn’t think much of it — but they’re actually real brothers…?
The owner let out a hollow laugh. That laugh was closer to a sneer, but I was too stunned after learning the man’s identity to notice.
“If Father were alive, he’d have been absolutely thrilled.”
I quietly approached and tapped the owner’s leg with my paw.
Is that really the owner’s hyung? They don’t look alike at all. I — I didn’t know…
That’s when our eyes met, and the owner’s brows snapped into a deep frown. He looked back and forth between me and the man, and his expression grew more and more menacing by the second. The more it did, the more a savage edge crept into his pheromones.
“What… did you do here?”
“What do you think I did. Can’t you see this? This.”
The man calmly pointed at his bleeding chin in front of the owner.
“That thing scratched me.”
The owner’s eyes narrowed to thin slits. He wasn’t looking at me. But his menacing pheromones felt as if they were rebuking me anyway — because I’d hurt and drawn blood from the man who appeared to be his own brother.
But I had plenty to say for myself too.
“A-aung, eng….”
It’s, it’s not my fault. You grabbed me out of nowhere, that’s why this happened. Owner, I, I’m telling you…
I was about to rub against the owner’s leg, pleading for him to understand, when —
“Wait. Changgyu, take him away.”
“Yes. Understood.”
“……!”
I froze on the spot, blank. The owner, who always happily held me whenever I came near, was rejecting me. The look he gave me had gone dull and murky. I felt like I’d seen that look somewhere before.
‘You hurt my son’s hand!’
‘Waaah, Mommy! It hurts!’
‘Just a little scratch… gasp, there’s blood…! Wait, why didn’t you even trim the cat’s claws?’
‘I was supposed to trim its claws, but even the vet threw up their hands, said it was too vicious!’
Family is the one thing you must never touch. And if you touch someone precious to the owner, a beast like me gets thrown away. No matter how much affection I’d been shown, I’d never matter as much as family.
After all, the only reason I’d been taken in to begin with was because some kid had thought I was cute. Now that the kid was hurt, of course the parents would resent me. They’d called my father, screaming at him to take me back right away, saying they had no use for a vicious, savage cat.
Some of them had even demanded a refund. My father refused, and there’d be shouting matches.
It hurt when a kid who’d doted on me suddenly grew afraid of me, and it hurt when an adult who’d fed me started yelling at me too, but hearing my father’s voice say no refunds, deal with it yourself and dump it if you don’t want it — that was harder to bear.
At times like that, things would end with my father hauling me off in his hands, or with furious people just flinging me outside. It had technically counted as escaping the house according to plan, but it never felt good.
I stumbled backward. The owner’s pheromones seemed to climb up my ankles and tighten around my throat. My heart, my chest, felt suffocating.
“Kitty, come here.”
Why? What’s he going to do if he catches me? Lock me up?
He’d called the owner his little brother, so that man was his hyung. Which meant, family. Would he forgive me for hurting family? When I was nothing but collateral to get money out of my father?
“Executive Director, Director…! If you fight here…. Huh? Hey?!”
It was instinct.
The wolf mister opened the door and came in, and that narrow gap looked like an escape route. When the owner had slammed the inner door shut, the force had left it slightly ajar.
I squeezed my body through the gap and bolted out past the front door.
“…Baby?”
I thought I heard the owner call out softly, but I told myself it was just my imagination. He was going to throw me out. I’d hurt his hyung and done something wrong, so of course he’d glared at me with eyes like that.
I made up my mind. If someone was going to abandon me, I’d abandon them first. That way it hurts less.
Because then it’s not that I got abandoned — it’s that I left.
***
“Ewoong…….”
Ugh, my whole body’s filthy now….
Having bolted out in such a panic, I was covered in dirt from head to toe. No matter how much I shook myself off, the dirt wouldn’t come off. I picked a quiet-looking tree and climbed up. I thought I’d climbed pretty high, but all around was nothing but forest scenery, and I had no idea which way to go.
I knew it was a forest. I should’ve just hidden in the car instead. Hiding somewhere like the exhaust pipe, people can barely find you there. I bolted out without thinking, so I have no clue where I am. I just wanted to run on instinct.
Unlike before, I couldn’t go back to the mansion this time.
I ran hard for a while, then lifted up my dirtied front paw. There was the man’s blood still on my claws.
No matter how much I looked like an ordinary cat on the outside, I was, without question, a wildcat — a beast of prey. Of course my claws were sharp. I’d even hunted with these claws before. I licked away the blood that brought back what had just happened, and groomed my filthy body diligently.
Then I felt a dull ache in my front leg. My raised left front paw trembled. I could recall exactly why it hurt.
Ah, earlier…
It seemed I’d gotten hurt when the man had flung me aside. I hadn’t landed properly. And after that, I’d run at full speed. I’d been running so frantically I hadn’t even noticed the pain. Now that I’d gotten away from the mansion and calmed my racing heart, my whole body throbbed.
Ugh, a little spit’ll fix it!
While grooming myself, I thought through what to do next. This escape had gone way off from my original plan. And that’s when something flashed through my mind — the expensive watch.
My watch! The watch I’d left behind — it was so aggravating I could’ve kicked myself. That was a gift I’d gotten from the owner after laying on every bit of charm I had…! But there’s no going back into that mansion either. I let out a deep sigh.
Let’s just get out of these mountains and go home. Would Father even be home? If he’s not, do I have to go find him…? The image of my father, delighted as he took the bag of money and left me behind, came to mind.
I shook my head hard.
Going on about Father again! It’s just because the owner’s family showed up out of nowhere. Who calls a person like that a father, seriously! I decided to live on my own!
There was still no one in this world I could lean on. The strength drained from my shoulders, and my tail hung limp too.
It’s just because my whole body hurts. I needed to get out of here, but the pain made it impossible to walk any further. If spit could really fix everything, hospitals wouldn’t exist.
By now it wasn’t just my paw — sharp twinges ran through various parts of my body. I hoped nothing was wrong with my bones.
Meanwhile, night had fallen, and everything around me had gone dark.
Tomorrow, once the sun comes up, I’ll head down the mountain and find where people live. That way I’ll know roughly where I am.
I climbed up the tree as best as I could. Higher up was at least somewhat safer — there was no telling what animal might leap out from the forest. Once I’d settled into a spot and curled up, my stomach gave a low growl.
After eating so well lately, my stomach clock demands food the instant dinnertime rolls around — how heartless. I tried hard to ignore it and buried my head in my paws.
No food. So just bear with it. You can handle a little hunger just fine.
I tried to fall asleep, but the chirring of insects, the cries of unknown animals, and the eerie rustle of grass swaying in the wind kept me from drifting off. Every strange sound made my ears prick up on their own, keeping watch in every direction.
I might call myself a beast all the time, but if a small beast like me ran into a bigger one, that would be real trouble. This was a forest where I had no idea what creatures lived. Since a Tiger Suin had claimed this territory, most ordinary animals probably wouldn’t show up around here. Was there a chance a tiger might appear…?
A shiver ran through my body, just from the fear of it.
