Ch. 25 A Lost Cat (2)

“Oh, my, my, my!” a woman’s voice proclaimed.

“See? The cat’s dying,” the boy said.

“You left your umbrella!”

The boy had returned, dragging his mother by the hand. My nose twitched, and I scented the smell of rice, as if the woman had been in the middle of cooking. It wasn’t enough to stimulate my appetite, but it was enough to bring a wave of nostalgia.

My mom used to cook for me like that, and I cried out in yearning.

“Myaa…” (M-mom…)

“Goodness,” the woman said.

She gently wrapped me in a dry towel and hugged my head. The gesture was done with familiarity, as if she had experience with cats before. She made sure to hold me in a way that wouldn’t make me feel uncomfortable. Tears sprang to my eyes as I was swathed in her arms.

This sort of maternal kindness was different from Tae-il’s. The woman’s bosom smelled just like my mother’s.

“What to do…” the mother murmured.

The boy jumped beside her. “Mom! Is the kitty okay? Is it going to die?”

“Well…let’s go home and give it something to eat, shall we, Wu-ju?”

The mother took her energetic son’s hand with one hand and hugged me with the other.

If the mother was someone from a shelter or a clinic, I would have run away already. However, she was an ordinary person that picked me up, and so I decided to lean on her for a while and then fall asleep. After all, it was my mom that I missed the most.

***

Ahhh. A warm bath was just what I needed to rejuvenate and refresh myself. Wu-ju’s mother praised me for being the first cat she had seen act so well-behaved and sweet in a bath.

However, my appetite was non-existent, and she looked on worriedly when I refused to accept anything to eat. Wu-ju was scolded by his mother when he ate the piece of boiled chicken breast that I had ignored.

“Don’t eat that…”

“The chicken is delicious.”

“What’s with the cat?” The father had returned home from work in the evening, and he seemed to be an animal lover as well.

“Well, Wu-ju—” the mother started, but her son interrupted her excitedly.

“I found her and we picked her up!”

“She’s very comfortable around people. She must have an owner,” the mother explained.

The father inspected me with a curious eye. “Really? How will you find them?”

“I can make a post on the Internet. There are message boards for that. Or maybe there’s already a page where the owner is looking for them.”

The mother turned on the computer and started looking through the message boards about lost cats.

Wu-ju started whining behind her. “Moooom, can’t we raise her? Huh? Mom~”

“What are you talking about?” the mother exclaimed. “We can’t raise animals in this apartment!”

“Then why does that old lady own a puppy?”

“Because she’s the landlady!”

“…No! I want to raise a pet too!”

I looked around the apartment. It housed a young couple and a child in elementary school. It had a living room, a large bedroom, and a small bedroom. It was rather compact, and certainly too small to raise an animal.

“No!” the mother scolded.

“Don’t want the owner!” the boy complained.

“The cat must have one. I’ve already posted it, so don’t ask for the impossible!”

“Don’t want! I found her!”

Wu-ju was a young boy, so it was difficult to persuade him otherwise. I was grateful for that they picked me up and gave me a bath, but I didn’t like how Wu-ju kept trying to grab me now, not with my still injured hind leg.

I managed to escape from Wu-ju’s hands and safely jumped into the closet. The bath made me feel warm and content, and as I licked my paws and tail slowly, I thought of taking it easy in this house for at least a day.

“Huh?” the father said, pointing at the computer. “Look here. There are two comments.”

“Where?”

“There.”

Wu-ju and his mother went to the computer. I lifted my head up and looked at the computer from behind them.

The animal pictured on the screen was definitely me.

It was a black cat sitting on a wall with its back against the moon, its head slightly turned towards the camera. It had clear golden eyes, shiny fur, and a prim look. It looked very intelligent, and was even more beautiful after the touch of a professional photographer. I was so proud of that photograph that I lifted up my tail.

It was a picture that Tae-il had taken not too long ago. The cat in the photograph looked so different from my pathetic wet and ragged form. After a warm bath, however, the resemblance was unmistakable.

The mother read the post, alternating between looking at me and the computer screen.

“Black fur, gold eyes, about 3.5 kg, back leg injury. Her name is Bow Meow, but doesn’t respond to her name yet. Doesn’t eat anything in front of other people.”

“That’s about right.”

“But the location is from Hannam-dong. It’s a long way for a cat to walk…” She trailed off.

“Bow Meow?” Wu-ju called to me.

“…”

When the boy called me by that name, I whirled my head away. I was not going to dignify that with an answer. I was just going to pretend that there were other cats that looked similar to me. Unfortunately, black cats with golden eyes were fairly rare.

“She doesn’t respond to her name.”

“That’s just like the description, right?”

“Yeah.”

The woman looked at the message board again. “The owner seems to be really worried looking for her…Oh, and the reward…”

“Well, give them a call,” the father prompted.

“From the two posts, one seems to be the owner and the other is from the animal clinic.”

“Start with the one above.”

It was already past 9 p.m., but the couple called the number listed, hoping to reunite the sad owner with their cat.

I watched them from behind. The reward would probably let the family purchase beef several times.

***

Because of the couple’s desire to find the owner, I had to face him again.

“Why is she like this?” the mother said worriedly.

“Myaaak! ” (Hate!)

“Come on, good girl.”

“Wugagak!” I protested.

I shot a menacing glare at the person before me. I thought my savior Tae-il would come, but it turned out to be the devil Si-yul.

What a fool I was to let my guard down! Initially I was glad to come across someone I already knew, but then Si-yul had started to act embarrassingly.

After he arrived, he picked me up in and tried to kiss me, and I stretched out my front legs and pushed his face away with my feet.

“Nya!” (Gross!)

Despite my stubborn rejection, Si-yul comically pursed his lips, and I batted him in the face with my tiny cat paws. Without my sharp claws out of course.

Wu-ju’s parents looked on at the scene doubtfully.

“…Are you really the cat’s owner?”

“Hmm.”

“It’s weird…she seems to hate you a lot.”

“Oh, no! I mean, I’m a vet. I’m here on behalf of the owner.”

“The owner?”

“Yes, he’s on a business trip overseas.”

Tae-il had indeed posted the message, but he had asked Si-yul to take charge of picking the cat up. The vet smiled shamelessly.

“Here’s my ID. And my veterinarian’s license, and a business card. Feel free to verify it. You can call the clinic.”

Although the family was initially skeptical, they felt reassured at the reliable evidence Si-yul presented them. Though the cat and vet had a strange relationship, the cat didn’t hate him to the point of scratching him.

“I’ll make sure she gets back to her owner,” Si-yul said with an encouraging smile. He looked credible in his veterinarian’s coat, and he had obviously come in a hurry, arriving only 30 minutes after the message board post.

“Well…I believe you,” the mother said.

Si-yul nodded. “I’ll pay you the reward.”

“Oh my.”

“Mnnnng…” (Ominous…)

A sense of unease rolled through my gut. Si-yul looked a little too joyful in finding me.