SMW 48

I listened intently, but it was still quiet outside. In a hanok, where only a single paper-covered door separates the inside from the outside, you could feel even the slightest change in weather against your skin.

Houses with a courtyard and a mountain directly behind them were particularly vulnerable to such natural phenomena. Eventually, dragging my heavy body along, I crawled over and flung open the paper door. I had expected it to be cold, but instead, a fairly cool breeze blew in, and a clear blue sky stretched out before me.

It felt like only yesterday that all that chaos had happened during Chuseok, yet it was already October. The mountain towering beyond the courtyard displayed the full mood of autumn, boasting a variety of colors as if someone had dabbed different paints across it. Everything swayed under the pouring autumn sunlight. The trees in the backyard forest swayed, and the blades of grass swayed.

“Meow.”

A cat’s tail swayed, too.

“Oh, it’s Il-sun-i.”

“Meow.”

At the sight of a welcome face appearing just in time, I reached my hand out the door and greeted Il-sun-i warmly. And, as always, I was ignored. Whether she had come for breakfast or not, Il-sun-i headed straight for the back door the moment our eyes met.

“Traitor. Now you won’t even look at me because I’m not the one giving you food.”

Ever since Choi Seol arrived, I had been constantly robbed of the opportunity to feed the cat. Every morning, Choi Seol woke up first and took care of everything—not only the cat’s food but my breakfast as well. In the evenings, since I was the one on meal duty, I was too busy preparing food to ever get near the cat’s bowl.

Because of this, not only Il-sun-i but other stray cats as well tended to linger only around Choi Seol. unauthorized copyWhen I [visit our site]saw them meowing at a distance that seemed ten centimeters closer than what they [unauthorized copy]ever allowed me, I felt a sense of betrayal that went beyond a mere heartache; it made me shudder.

For nearly a year, I was the one who had boldly invested the cost of three pounds of pork belly every month to provide kibble, treats, and even supplements. And yet, they followed a guy who had only appeared for a month and provided nothing but basic kibble. As expected, animals seem to be more drawn to beautiful things. Then again, since I, a human, have been unable to snap out of it because of those looks for ten years, I have no right to complain.

“Meow. Meow.”

While I was spending time in jealousy, envy, and self-reflection, Il-sun-i returned.

“What. It’s too late for regrets now—”

“Meow. Meow.”

Wait a second. There’s no way she’s acting like this out of regret.

“Is there no food?”

Come to think of it, Choi Seol always fed the cats after returning from his workout. I looked up at the sky again. As we transitioned into the autumn season, the sunrise was getting later and later. However, the sky I looked up at was blue. That meant the sun had already risen.

What time is it? Only then did the thought occur to me, and I quickly searched for my phone. It was eight o’clock.

It’s already this late? I must have been mistaken because I’ve been waking up in the early hours of the morning lately. Anyway, has Choi Seol not returned yet? Normally, he would have come back by now, woken me up, and be preparing breakfast.

Why isn’t he here? Did something happen? Perhaps because this had never happened before, worry began to flood in.

“Meow, meow. Meow.”

I felt like I should fill that pitiful cat’s stomach first before looking for Choi Seol. Just as I pushed myself up, the inner gate opened and Choi Seol stepped into the courtyard.

“You’re awake?”

I nodded absentmindedly at the greeting he gave me, as he always did.

“Welcome back. Did you run all the way to Yongso again today?”

“I couldn’t go today. When I went out, the elders asked for some help, so I’m on my way back from assisting them.”

He had been working again.

“At this rate, you’re really going to become the village servant. I heard the harvest schedule is packed. Try to turn down some of the requests.”

As it was the harvest season, the countryside was a time when a lot of labor was needed. Since there were so few young people, it was a place where the village head, who had reached seventy, was still called a “young man.”

In my case, I rarely went outside and was awkward even when I did encounter people, so the village didn’t expect much from me. But because Choi Seol had helped with all sorts of village chores from his first day here, the number of times he was called around was steadily increasing. While it wasn’t the case yet, I wondered if I would be dragged into it soon at this rate.

“I’m only doing as much as I can, so don’t worry. And today, I was helping out with preparations for the typhoon.”

“Right. I heard the announcement earlier; they said it starts here tonight?”

“That’s what they said. Is there anything we need to prepare?”

“Just tidy up anything that might blow away and put it in the warehouse, and make sure the doors are locked. Since we aren’t farming, we just need to keep the house safe. The problem will be cleaning up the courtyard afterward.”

“What about the vegetable garden on the mountain?”

“That’s a place we don’t really manage after sowing in the spring, so there’s no need to worry about it. But what’s that in your hand?”

I pointed to the side-dish container in Choi Seol’s hand. I had been curious about it since he entered the courtyard. I wondered if he had received some kimchi for helping out, but the answer was unexpected.

“Galbi.”

“Galbi? Meat?”

“…Yes. Beef.”

Suddenly, a wave of emotion washed over me this morning.

“Meat! How commendable—no, who is this benevolent person who has bestowed such a gracious gift upon us?”

“You know the house with the big persimmon tree down the road? The grandmother there gave it to me. She said she made a lot because her children are visiting this weekend.”

Not everyone gives away galbi just for a bit of help. According to Noona’s intel, many grandmothers had been sitting on the village forest platform since early morning lately; surely, this was no coincidence.

“Then is galbi for breakfast today?”

“Isn’t galbi a bit much for breakfast?”

“What’s wrong with morning galbi? No, maybe it’ll taste better if we save it for dinner?”

Whether it should be breakfast or dinner—that was the question. I was seriously contemplating this when…

“Meow.”

It seemed I had to take care of this one first.

“You haven’t fed the cat yet, have you? Gasp!”

When I suddenly clutched my chest, Choi Seol asked, looking surprised.

“What’s wrong?”

“Look at Il-sun-i. She’s so cute.”

“….”

Before I knew it, Il-sun-i was stretching near Choi Seol. My heart ached at the sight of her extending her body, showing off her stretched-out pink jelly paws. Faced with that level of cuteness, my worries about the meal menu were irrelevant; I had to offer her something right now.

“I need to feed her quickly. stolen contentIs visit our sitethere anything else to give her? Galbi? Should I give her some galbi scraps?”

“It’s seasoned, so you can’t. If you really want to give her something, open a can of cat-specific tuna later. But I don’t think even that’s a good idea. Il-sun-i seems to have gained quite a bit of weight.”

Cold-hearted bastard. To not even blink after seeing such heart-stopping cuteness. Il-sun-i, did you see that? A person isn’t just about their face. It’s all about the heart. The heart.

“Hey, why would a stray cat gain weight? That’s all bloating. It’s because they eat food waste and other things while wandering around.”

“Really?”

“I’m telling you. Right, Il-sun-i?”

I looked back after answering, and she actually did seem to have gained some weight. Come to think of it, her belly was quite protruding. As I continued to stare in wonder, Il-sun-i sat down and meowed as if urging him.

“I’ll go feed her first.”

As Choi Seol moved toward the backyard, only then did Il-sun-i stand up and follow him. The moment the shape of her swollen belly became more visible, a realization flashed through my mind.

Could she be pregnant?

I quickly followed Il-sun-i to the backyard. Choi Seol had just finished serving the food, and Il-sun-i was burying her head in the bowl.

I kept a distance so as not to startle her and examined her belly again. No matter how I looked at it, it was too swollen to be just bloating.

“Is she… really pregnant?”

“Pregnant?”

Hearing my words, Choi Seol looked down at Il-sun-i quietly.

“You’re right. I think she’s pregnant.”

“Ugh, which cat bastard did this!”

Unable to contain my anger, I shouted, and Il-sun-i, who was eating, flinched and shrank back. I quickly covered my mouth and took a couple of steps back, then Choi Seol spoke.

“Isn’t it one of the males that comes by every day?”

“No. Noona had the chubby one and the spotted one neutered.”

“The police officer?”

“Yeah. Before I came here, Hae-sook-i Noona took care of the stray cats. Then, because the females kept getting pregnant over and over, she couldn’t stand to watch it anymore, so from then on, she spent her own money to catch every cat she saw and have them neutered. Then, around the time I arrived, the city started providing subsidies for the costs, so for a while in the spring, I helped Noona catch cats and hand them over. But since Il-sun-i was still young, we decided to wait a bit longer…”

I stared at Il-sun-i’s swollen belly with fire in my eyes.

“Just wait until I catch that cat bastard. He’s going straight to the clinic.”

“Are you that shocked?”

“Of course. I’ve seen her since she was a kitten; how dare he touch her? Whether it’s a human or an animal, the body gets so ruined after having a baby.”

“That’s true. If things go wrong, they could even die.”

Come to think of it, he had mentioned that Choi Seol’s mother passed away after childbirth. I flinched for a moment, but Choi Seol seemed composed. Thinking it would be weirder to walk on eggshells, I focused on Il-sun-i again.

Looking at her now, her fur, which had become sleek while eating kibble, seemed coarse again, and she looked quite exhausted.

“I should put more food in the bowl from now on.”

“Let’s do that.”

“Are there separate supplements for pregnant cats? I’ll have to ask Noona about that.”

Since Il-sun-i was born in the warehouse, I was wondering if I should put a box and a blanket in some corner when I felt a blatant gaze. Choi Seol was looking at me. Usually, this meant something was displeasing him.

“What?”

“Are you going to tell the police officer?”

“I should. Noona is an expert on cats. And since we have to catch the cat bastard who got Il-sun-i pregnant and hand him over to the clinic later, we need to share information.”

“Did you used to meet her that often?”

“I don’t know. There aren’t just one or two cats in this village.”

“No, I mean the police officer.”

Oh, he was talking about Noona.

“It hasn’t happened that often… but can you stop calling her ‘the police officer, the police officer’?”

“Why?”

“It makes it sound like I’ve committed some crime.”

Of course, this could be rude to the police officers who work for justice. However, since police are perceived as beings you encounter when you do something wrong, I felt strangely uncomfortable every time Choi Seol said “police, police.”

“Then what should I call her?”

“Hmm… Noona?”

He didn’t say anything, but dissatisfaction poured from Choi Seol’s eyes. How picky.

“Then Hae-sook-ssi?”

Ah, the moment I said that, I almost bit [stolen content]my tongue. I felt an impulse to wrap my arms around [Read on Read BL Novels]myself and rub them because of the cringe, but Choi Seol, on the contrary, looked like it didn’t matter.

“Do you really call her that? Hae-sook…”

“Never mind, just call her the police officer. It’s nice, makes it feel like I have backing from public authority. Let’s just eat.”

I was starting to get hungry. After all, galbi is the way to go for breakfast.