Ch. 32 The Words of A Man In Love With A Cat (1)

That evening, I did not move from my hiding place in the corner of the bedroom. A dark mood hung over me, as if I were ill. Running away from home again would be a nightmare, but seeing Si-yul’s face again would be just as perfectly undesirable.

No, not just undesirable. Frustration was boiling up inside of me. What was the point of running away from him? He would just find me again, as if the hunt was a game to him. There were an endless amount of things to nitpick over, but the most fundamental problem was this cat appearance. From a cat’s perspective, there would be no reason to nitpick with a veterinarian over human rights abuse.

“Keung…!” (Damn it…!)

I thought about going to and living with my mom instead, but I soon abandoned the idea. The time I could keep my human shape was so short, and I would also have to give my terrible account of how I ended up this way. I just had to hold on for a year and not cause my family any worry. I had no desire to relive the bizarre experience of revealing myself to someone.

I tried to compose myself with a short breath.

Ding dong.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. My head turned towards the clock—who would come at 10 pm?—then I strolled out the bedroom door in curiosity. I watched Tae-il open the front entrance.

Was it the manager friend? Or Ha-eun? I didn’t like either of them, and my mood turned sulky. Great.

I lifted my nose to the air to smell the visitor.

My eyes widened as I recognized the scent, and I bolted away like lightning.

“You came,” Tae-il said.

“Oh, excuse me…” a voice replied.

My animal instincts caused me to react immediately to the presence of a natural enemy. Emergency sirens wailed in my head, and I darted under the bed and wriggled to the deepest part of it. I took in a sharp inhale when I realized that I was relatively safe.

My body reacted automatically as soon as it recognized the person. My pride was bruised, but at least I was hiding. Initially I wanted to confront him—no use avoiding him anyway—but my body absolutely rejected that notion.

“Hyag!”

My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would stop. Though I knew this place wasn’t completely safe, I couldn’t bring myself to step out and crawl somewhere else. Tae-il would know immediately where I was.

The moment I sensed Si-yul’s presence, I had lost half my sanity. I didn’t get a chance to prepare myself against him yet. Didn’t Tae-il say he would come tomorrow?! I desperately wanted to be proven wrong, but I saw two pairs of feet approach the bed.

Don’t come near!

I felt my mouth trembling in anxiety.

Tae-il spoke first, sounding sheepish.

“She’s fast. I think she’s hiding under here. What do we do? Once she’s under there, it’s hard to get her out.”

“Well, I guess she’s not too happy to see me,” Si-yul replied.

“Keuoueulo!” (I don’t like you!)

I yowled so loudly that I could be heard from under the bed.

“I’m sorry. You’ve come all this way,” Tae-il said apologetically.

“After a few years as a vet, I get used to being hated. I came here early because I thought she would run away. Cats are often referred to as very intelligent animals.”

My tail curled up as I listened to Si-yul speak. That bastard was clever! He said he would come tomorrow, but planned to come tonight. He also considered that I might try to run away again. Si-yul was several steps ahead of the game. He even used his job to appear reliable and get Tae-il in his pocket.

Si-yul continued. “Actually, I had given her a quick checkup while she was with me. There are no problems on the surface, but I wanted to see if there was progress on her back leg.” He was also curious about the environment where the cat lived. He looked around Tae-il’s apartment with interested eyes.

“Are you looking for infectious diseases or something?”

“I’d like to test for FIV or any skin diseases, but I think I’ll do it after she relaxes around me a bit. Oh, and I bought some beer. Is that alright?”

What was he talking about? My eyes trembled and I crawled a little closer to where they were standing. He wasn’t going to go away? I doubted what I heard with my good ears.

“That’s no problem,” Tae-il said. “By the way, I don’t have a lot of things to eat in my apartment. Should I order in chicken?”

“It’s game day, so the order will come late.”

“Oh…I didn’t think about that.”

“Because I suggested coming over, it’s on me. I bought some things near the clinic.”

Si-yul was using the “if you want a horse, aim for the person riding it” strategy. Tae-il was slowly being drawn in by that deceitful vet.

“As I said before, the best way to break boundaries with a stubborn animal is to show I’m close with the owner. It’s proven to be an effective method.”

I crouched slightly outside the bed, rapidly trying to think of a way to prevent the two men from becoming friends. However, as soon as mine and Si-yul’s eyes met, he backed away, taking poor Tae-il with him.

No! Master can’t leave! I’m too scared to go out!

In the end, all I could do was cry out anxiously in warning.

“Uoueueuu…uyang!” (Master, that man is a devil…don’t be fooled!)

Despite my efforts to save Tae-il, the two had already moved towards the sofa in the living room. Tae-il gave Si-yul a glass of water, and they started to bond. I didn’t like this one bit. I twisted my head from out under the bed.

“She’s looking at us,” Si-yul said with a nod.

“That’s true. But what was she saying?”

“Kyaong!” (Don’t hang around with him!)

Tae-il looked wary, but Si-yul used Tae-il’s skepticism to offer his own explanation. He sat on the sofa and pointed towards me with his chin.

“Think how dangerous a vet would look through a cat’s perspective. They get hurt when I give them shots, and I tell their owners to stay away.”

“So they’re just like babies.”

“Simple and lovely.”

That liar…! I ground my teeth, but I dare not leave the safety of my hiding place.

***

The two men watched tonight’s soccer game, emptying about six cans of beer between them as well as a few bags of snacks. They acted like friends that had known each other for a decade.

That was the problem with men. With soccer and beer, they could quickly become friends, right?

“Tonight’s game is exciting, isn’t it?” Si-yul spoke the mysterious language of men, and Tae-il’s sense of repulsion or self-preservation was not triggered at all.

“Oh, I know. How did they get that goal?” Tae-il said admiringly.

“The assist is great. Soccer isn’t just about having good strikers, but good assists as well. But our country looks down on them.”

“Yeah, it seems like it. Everyone wants to be the one to score a goal. Look at the foreign players. They risk their life just to support their team.”

The two had several other things in common as well. They were of similar age, and liked soccer, Bow Meow, photography. Si-yul knew how to easily draw in Tae-il with a carrot.

“Oh, Dongsaeng. You know the picture you liked when you came to my apartment? The big one in my living room. You know what it is?”

“The Perito Moreno glacier by Yann Arthus-Bertrand?”

The Yann Artha-what-now? I thought alcohol must have slurred Tae-il’s tongue.

“Would you like it for cheap?” Si-yul offered.

Tae-il sounded surprised. “Really? Are you sure?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

Si-yul was going to sell it at a fraction of the price, and I couldn’t even tell if it was a bribe.

The two became fast friends, and I could only watch on helplessly.