By Zephyria Yumin must have dozed off. He opened his eyes as the car stopped, jolting him. For a moment, he couldn’t quite grasp where he was. He couldn’t recall why his body was so wet, or why he was trapped in a dark, narrow place. Then, sensing someone approaching while on the phone, Yumin snapped back to reality.
‘Right, I ran away from Tae-jun and hid here.’
The shock he felt when confronting Tae-jun in the bathroom resurfaced. His body began to tremble.
‘No. I have to pull myself together. I can’t stay like this.’
Just then, with a click, the trunk door opened slightly.
“Oh, you arrived okay. Uh, just a sec.”
The car owner seemed to be a young man. He was reaching out with one hand to open the trunk.
‘Now!’
Yumin straightened his crouched body and jumped nimbly. He had a gut feeling he couldn’t miss this chance.
“Whoa, what the—!”
The startled car owner shouted, but Yumin paid no mind, mustering all his strength to escape the car. He ran without looking back. His breath was ragged, but he couldn’t afford to care about that now.
“Kitty! It’s dangerous!”
He heard someone calling him from behind, but Yumin ran as if his life depended on it. The problem was that this was the side of the road. Cars sped past, their roars deafening.
He zigzagged to avoid the cars, but a vehicle closing in on him from behind made him feel like he couldn’t breathe. Meanwhile, the pedestrian signal briefly turned green. Yumin didn’t miss the chance and ran again.
“Hah, hah…”
How long had he run? After a long sprint, Yumin stopped near an alley. He tasted the metallic tang of blood in his mouth, his heart pounding. Still, he was relieved to have run far enough that no one could chase him. Then Yumin paused. He didn’t know when it started, but blood was flowing from his front paw.
‘What is it? Did I get hurt while running?’
He quickly licked his front paw, but the bleeding didn’t stop. It seemed he had torn his skin badly by hitting something. He must have been too focused on escaping to feel the pain.
“Mrow…”
Suddenly, a wave of sorrow washed over him, and Yumin cried out mournfully. He had been happy just a few hours ago; how did things turn out like this? The more he thought about it, the more indignant and sorrowful he felt.
He had thought Tae-jun’s kindness was out of affection. He had mistaken his loving gaze for genuine care. But now, looking back, it was the glint in the eyes of someone with a delicious meal beside them, a generosity born from the confidence that he could devour Yumin at any moment. Yumin had been so utterly mistaken.
Once the thoughts started, they wouldn’t stop. The past memories felt like mere fuel for him to be consumed whole, and tears streamed down his face.
It was then. A voice came from above Yumin’s head.
“Huh? A cat?”
Startled, Yumin tried to flee, but the pain from his injured paw prevented him from moving quickly. Moreover, the path behind him was a dead end. Terrified, Yumin looked up.
A young woman, who looked like a college student, was looking down at him. Her expression was full of pity.
“Are you hurt?”
As she spoke, the woman cautiously extended her hand towards Yumin. Yumin flinched, flattening himself and flattening his ears. He wasn’t sure if he could accept this touch. But she didn’t seem like a threat. Besides, she mistook him for a cat.
At this moment, Yumin needed help more than ever. He squeezed his eyes shut and remained still.
“Don’t be scared.”
The woman spoke gently, carefully stroking Yumin’s head. Though trembling inside, Yumin meekly accepted the touch.
“Let’s go to my place for now. You look really exhausted.”
Saying that, the woman scooped Yumin into her arms. Feeling her warm body, he felt tears welling up again.
“You’re so well-behaved.”
The woman said, sounding surprised, and placed Yumin into her backpack. He was trapped in a dark, narrow space once more, but this time, he felt relatively less anxious. Yumin let out a long breath and curled up.
Yumin didn’t know it, but the area where the woman lived had a high foot traffic even at night. There was also a 24-hour animal hospital nearby.
This was none other than the vicinity of the main gate of Korea University, the nation’s top university, always bustling with students.
“Sigh… Of all things, it has to pour down with rain. The scent will scatter.”
Tae-jun wandered through the forest, drenched by the heavy rain. Normally, he could track Yumin’s scent with his keen sense of smell, but unfortunately, the rain had washed away every trace. His heart seethed with anger.
“Gone. Nowhere.”
He searched and searched, but there wasn’t a single strand of Yumin’s hair nearby. It was highly suspicious. Unless he had vanished into the ground or ascended to the heavens, how could he have escaped so far in such a short time? He hadn’t driven away, and there was no public transportation nearby.
“Hmm…”
Tae-jun, revealing his three-pupiled eyes beneath sharply narrowed lids, turned and entered the building’s management office. He then searched the CCTV footage showing the garden. A surprising sight unfolded on the screen.
“What is this? It’s Kkabyang?”
A dark-colored cat that appeared in the garden right after Yumin disappeared—it was undoubtedly Kkabyang. Tae-jun replayed the last moments of Kkabyang darting towards the woods several times and let out a hollow laugh.
“Haha, I was surprised enough that he was a Beastman… but Yumin was Kkabyang. No wonder he used to come in and out of the house so familiarly.”
He had been quite surprised when ears suddenly popped out during sex. To be honest, he hadn’t expected Yumin to be a Beastman. He had planned to have a calm conversation with Yumin once he woke up, even discussing having children, but he had run away like this.
And the even more surprising fact was that Yumin was actually Kkabyang.
Looking back, the missing puzzle pieces clicked into place. Kkabyang, who had approached him so affectionately every time they met in front of the school, unlike other cats, wasn’t afraid of Tae-jun. That wasn’t all. He’d come into the house without permission, and once, Tae-jun had even dreamt of Yumin transforming into Kkabyang naked.
“It wasn’t a dream. He had been lingering around me all along.”
Although they were of the same Beastman lineage, Tae-jun, as a descendant of a god, had a different physical structure from ordinary Beastmen. He couldn’t even have an instinctive connection with felines. That’s why he hadn’t recognized Yumin, a cat Beastman, right in front of him.
Yumin probably hadn’t recognized him as a descendant of a god either. His flustered reaction after revealing his cat ears earlier, and his fainting spell upon seeing Tae-jun’s golden eyes, could only be explained by that.
Suddenly, Tae-jun thought of the semen he had filled Yumin’s belly with.
Normally, male Beastmen cannot get pregnant. However, the reproductive ability of the Beom family was as miraculous as that of a god’s descendant. They could even mate with human males, which was why he had sown his seed in Yumin.
Furthermore, species was important when Beastmen mated. While horses and lions couldn’t produce offspring, felines could interbreed. All of Tae-jun’s instincts pointed to one conclusion.
‘I have to find Yumin. He’s precious now, carrying my child.’
Yumin struggled to lift his eyelids. A full day had passed since the woman found him on the street and brought him to her home. Yet, despite the time that had passed, Yumin’s condition hadn’t improved much. He had eaten the cat milk and wet food the woman had hastily bought, but even that didn’t go down well. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the taste. His body was rejecting the food.
“You left some again.”
The woman sighed, looking worried. Yumin lay listlessly in front of his food bowl. He wished he could eat and regain his strength. That way, he could make plans and put them into action. But his body wouldn’t cooperate.
“This won’t do. Let’s go to the vet.”
At the word “vet,” Yumin was startled. Of course, she meant an animal hospital, not a human one, but that made it even more frightening. The woman now thought he was a poor, lost cat, but Yumin wasn’t an ordinary cat, was he? If a professional saw him, they would immediately notice something was wrong.
Yumin’s mind flashed back to a conversation with a relative. Before Yumin had ventured into the human world, they had talked about animal hospitals during a holiday gathering.
‘Do you understand? No matter what, you must never go to an animal hospital.’
‘Why?’
‘In the human world, wildcats are an endangered species. So, if your identity is discovered, you’ll be taken straight to a shelter.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. And you’ll never see your family again. So be careful, and be very careful.’
‘Yes, I understand.’
Yumin vividly recalled that moment. In his hometown, where Beastmen lived together, wildcats were common, but he had learned then that they were treated differently in the human world, so he had to be cautious.
But now, an unforeseen crisis had arrived. If he stayed like this, he would be taken to an animal hospital and live in a cage, never to see his family or relatives again.
Terrified, Yumin hissed.
“Huh? Are you perhaps… you know where we’re going?”
The woman’s eyes widened in surprise. In her hand was an object that filled him with dread: a carrier.
“Good thing I bought this when I bought the food. Come on, let’s get in.”
The woman spoke softly, but it didn’t work on Yumin. He braced himself on all fours, resisting.
“What’s wrong with you? Nabi, get in quickly.”
Yumin stretched his paws across the carrier entrance, resisting. But he eventually lost the tug-of-war. Yumin had no choice but to be crammed into the carrier.
“Mrow—.”
He cried pitifully, but it was no use. The woman picked up the carrier and walked out the door.
‘What do I do? It was good to escape from Tae-jun, but now I’m going to be taken to a shelter.’
Regret washed over Yumin for following the woman from the street. But what was done was done.
However, inside the swaying carrier, Yumin, who was curled up and on guard, was startled. The road felt familiar.
‘What is it?’
Yumin stretched his head out from the carrier to survey the outside. Fortunately, the carrier had a transparent window so animals wouldn’t feel anxious. Thanks to this, Yumin could see where they were.
‘My god, no way.’
He couldn’t believe it. Yumin was near his school. It was too astonishing to be a coincidence, and cruelly so.
A 24-hour animal hospital was located about a 10-minute walk from the woman’s house. It was in a different direction from his usual route to school. But the scenery was undeniably familiar.
“Hello.”
While Yumin was dazed, the woman entered the animal hospital.
‘Ah! We’re inside!’
Lost in his daze, Yumin missed the chance to escape and sighed. While the woman filled out paperwork at the reception desk, Yumin struggled inside the carrier. The sturdy carrier shook violently.
“Nabi must be scared.”
He heard the voice of a nurse.
Nabi. To call the descendant of a wildcat, a predator of this land, such a flimsy name was unbearable, but that didn’t matter now. Yumin twisted and turned inside the cramped carrier.
“She must be. She hissed earlier too.”
“We’ll take her in to check her condition. Please wait a moment.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the carrier was lifted into the air.
‘I’m doomed. I’m going to be caught like this.’
Yumin felt like beating his chest in frustration. As if sensing his mood, the woman waved goodbye with a worried greeting.
‘Thank you for picking me up and taking care of me. But this isn’t right!’
He screamed silently, but it was no use.
Finally, he was placed on the examination table. His heart pounded ominously. Now, when the carrier door opened, his identity would be revealed.
And Yumin’s prediction came true.
“Yes? What did you say?”
“It’s not a cat.”
“What?”
The woman asked several times, as if she couldn’t believe it. Yumin curled up quietly inside the carrier. Thinking it was the end, he couldn’t even cry.
“It’s a wildcat. An endangered species.”
“Why would a wildcat be on the street…”
“It’s rare, but it happens sometimes.”
The gazes of the two people turned towards the carrier. Yumin tried his best to put on a gentle expression, but he couldn’t escape his impending fate.
“It needs to be sent to a shelter.”
“Really?”
The woman asked with pity, but the veterinarian nodded firmly.
“Wildcats cannot be kept as pets in ordinary households.”
“But…”
“Normally, we’d care for it at the hospital and then send it to a shelter, but unfortunately, we’re full right now. Please take it home for now. We’ll contact you soon. You can hand it over then.”
“Nabi… what are we going to do.”
The woman sighed, making eye contact with Yumin inside the carrier.
‘That’s what I want to say!’
Yumin was just as at a loss. He had avoided being taken to a shelter immediately, but that didn’t mean the danger had passed. It was only a matter of time before he ended up there. Yumin wanted to cry out loud.
Upon returning to Seoul, Tae-jun contacted his household secretary without delay. Since Yumin had run off, finding him through ordinary means would be difficult, so he needed to set an effective trap. The secretary, who handled any task with perfect execution upon Tae-jun’s command, quickly found a capable individual: the most outstanding cat detective in the country.
The cat detective arrived at Tae-jun’s house as soon as dawn broke.
“Greetings, Beom Tae-jun. You’ve lost your cat, and you must be worried sick.”
“Yes. I haven’t slept a wink all night. My Kkabyang… he was within my reach just yesterday…”
“Your eyes are quite bloodshot. You must love your cat very much.”
“Of course. I can’t imagine life without him. Once I find Kkabyang, I’ll never let him go again.”
Seeing Tae-jun’s glistening eyes, the cat detective felt a chill. The reward was a staggering 100 million won. A devoted owner driven mad by the loss of his beloved companion. He tried to think positively, assuming it was just extreme love, and decided to begin the search immediately.
“Do you have any toys your cat usually liked?”
“He liked this fish-shaped skewer. He’d chase it when I shook it, his paws burning… but actually, he liked me more than this.”
“Ah, then using your clothing to lure him might be good. Cats remember their owner’s scent well.”
“I’ll get it for you right away. Just find my Kkabyang for me.”
“Yes. Then, based on the place of disappearance, I’ll search for places the cat might have gone.”
Tae-jun believed in Yumin’s love. Although he had run away in shock after discovering his identity, Yumin fundamentally loved and was obsessed with him. Therefore, he would surely fall into the trap Tae-jun had meticulously prepared. Tae-jun firmly believed it.