UR Chapter 63

Chapter 63

I-bom packed the cabbages he was going to take to the neighbor into a vinyl bag, then straightened up and thumped his aching lower back with his fist as he walked out.

“…Huh?”

Something black and white caught his eye in the corner of the cabbage field. It was a small, round tuft of mottled fluff.

What is that?

He frowned, tilting his head. He had only spotted it by chance—if he hadn’t been looking closely, he wouldn’t have seen the tiny bundle of fluff at all.

A doll? Or… a keychain?

Lately, small plush keychains were popular among the local elementary school kids. He remembered seeing a pink rabbit keychain hanging from I-seol’s school bag.

So he wondered if the little ball of fluff lying in the corner of the vinyl greenhouse might belong to one of the neighborhood children.

I should return it to its owner.

Forgetting to take off his boots, I-bom slowly walked toward it.

“…?”

His eyes widened. The round tuft of mottled fluff was actually two kittens—tiny, fluffy little things. They were so small they could be mistaken for stuffed toys, clearly only a short time since they’d been born.

“What the…”

He let out a helpless, incredulous laugh.

“Meow.”

When he got closer, the tiny kittens were squirming and playing with each other. They were so small he hadn’t realized they were moving, batting their little paws at frost-burned, shriveled grass.

“Oh, they’re cute…”

Almost entranced, I-bom crouched down and murmured. Watching those tiny, not-yet-fluffed-up bodies move made the corners of his mouth lift high without him realizing.

When he kept staring, the little balls of fluff seemed to notice his attention and wiggled around, hopping here and there. They looked right at him and mewed softly. With no sign of fear or wariness, I-bom clapped a hand over his mouth and watched them spin in circles, chasing their own tails in delight.

“They’re really tiny. I thought you were toys.”

As he watched the mewling kittens with a pleased expression, something occurred to him, and he stretched his neck out.

“But where’s your mom…?”

The vinyl greenhouse he’d set up to grow cabbages wasn’t much of a shelter from winter’s cold wind, but maybe they’d come in here because it was warmer.

He glanced around, but there was no sign of a mother cat. As much as they tugged at his heart, he couldn’t just take them away. If their mother was nearby, leaving a strange human scent on them would only make her more cautious.

I-bom stayed crouched, wearing a troubled expression.

“Oh, it’s little brother. Hi!”

From a distance, I-seol’s loud voice rang out. He was spinning his shoe bag in circles and waving, with his close friend Min-ji walking beside him.

“You’re back, I-seol?”

I-bom smiled warmly at the sight of his younger brother waving. Realizing that his brother was looking at something, I-seol came running full speed like a hunting dog. Min-ji followed shyly behind, and soon the three of them were standing around the two tiny kittens.

“Whoa! What’s this, hyung?”

I-seol dropped his shoe bag on the ground with a thud and cried out. I-bom widened his eyes and put a finger to his lips.

He was worried the kittens might startle and run or cry, but instead they lay right down on the dirt. Rolling over to show their pink bellies, they wriggled like spoiled babies. The plump little bellies rose and fell with each breath.

Oh my god, they’re too cute. I-seol muttered in a lovesick tone.

“I thought they were toys…! Hyung, where did you get them?”

He curled his fingers into a circle and reached out cautiously. Before long, he was sitting beside I-bom, eyes fixed on the kittens like he was waiting for a chance to pet them.

“I didn’t bring them here.”

I-bom shook his head. Then, biting his lower lip, he looked at the kittens with a serious expression.

“Oh, right.”

Min-ji, who had been standing nearby watching the siblings, suddenly spoke up. She began rummaging through her bag.

“I have cat food.”

She pulled out a tube of cat food from the front pocket of her bag.

“What? You carry cat food around with you?”

I-seol immediately butted in, staring at the packet, but Min-ji crouched down and deftly tore it open. It was a small tube labeled “kitten formula.” As she squeezed gently, a pale beige, watery paste came out.

“Mew?”

The kittens, who had been rolling and showing their bellies, twitched their noses and turned toward her. They reacted instantly to the food she held.

“Come on, eat up.”

They dashed toward her hand, licking eagerly with tiny pink tongues. They seemed hungry, eating with surprising energy.

“Yeah. They’re the ones that have been hanging around the spring lately. The ajummas call them Blackie and Whitey.”

“Blackie and Whitey? You know them?”

I-bom raised his eyebrows at her words.

“Yeah. I’ve seen them a few times. They’ve been showing up for a few days now, always with their mom.”

“Oh, that’s good. So they do have a mother.”

I-bom let out a relieved sigh. Knowing they had someone to care for them was comforting. If they didn’t have a home, he might have tried to find them temporary shelter, but for now he decided to just keep an eye on them.

“Do you carry cat food on purpose?”

“Convenience stores sell cat food and snacks these days. I just buy one now and then.”

Then she spread out her palm and folded down her fingers one by one.

“Cat tuna, and… what was it, Churu? They sell that too. I’ve seen people from the neighborhood buying them to feed these guys.”

It was a relief to know that the cat food and snacks he’d ordered for the store were selling. Since the people in Aji Village had little experience with cats, he’d worried about how they’d react—but clearly he wasn’t the only one who liked them.

“Oh, that reminds me—Hyung, have you seen that cat? The one as big as a tiger that’s been hanging around the convenience store lately.”

Min-ji looked up at him slowly, her eyes rolling upward as if she’d just uncovered some great secret.

“Oh… I know!”

I-bom’s face lit up with delight. He hadn’t expected her to bring up that subject. A cat roaming near the store could only mean Weoong.

“He’s the boss cat of this neighborhood.”

“The boss?”

I-bom tilted his head.

“Yeah, the boss. My grandma says that a long time ago, there used to be stray cats in Aji Village too. But when hyena beastmen started gathering near the mountain, the cats disappeared. People say that recently, that cat drove off all the thug hyenas hanging around the mountain, and ever since, cats have started visiting the village again.”

“So he really is the boss…”

I-bom nodded, looking convinced.

* * *

[Cat]

[Marrying a Cat]

Tap-tap-tap.

I-bom sat at his work computer, the search window open. The blinking cursor stopped after typing “marrying a cat.”

“This is too…”

The dream wouldn’t leave his head. It had been a truly strange dream. The cat, Weoong, had hugged him and asked him to marry him. He already knew the big guy had a lot of bulk when he hugged him, but still—he was an adult man himself.

For someone to hold him like that, they’d have to be at least 190 centimeters tall. Even if Weoong stood on two legs, he probably wouldn’t reach 190. Maybe it was just his subconscious manifesting a wish to marry someone quiet, kind, and handsome, and that’s why he’d had such a strange dream where Weoong whispered a marriage proposal. People did say delusions were a kind of illness.

I-bom couldn’t bring himself to hit the “search” button and sat there with a serious look on his face. The embarrassment was his alone, so he covered his face with a hand and rubbed hard as if washing without water. He wasn’t sure if the heat in his cheeks was from shame or the friction. After hesitating, he quickly typed something else.

[Dream interpretation: marrying a cat]

He covered his eyes with one hand so he wouldn’t have to fully face the moment of humiliation, peeking at the screen through the small gap between his fingers.

[Popular Post (Today’s Knowledge) Dream Interpretation]
Title: I’ll interpret your dream about marrying a cat (Reward 100 points)

Have you recently met someone who makes your heart flutter? You must be in the mood for love. A dream about marrying a cat usually means your subconscious is projecting the person you’ve been thinking about onto the cat.^^♡

If you’re single, you’ll meet someone special and start a relationship; if you’re already in one, you may receive a proposal, get married, or become pregnant. It looks like good things are ahead. If this helped, please leave a like~^^

“…What is this. Da…ting? Love…?”

I-bom mumbled, peering drowsily at the screen through the gap in his fingers. What nonsense. It was already mortifying enough to think he’d subconsciously projected desire onto a cat, and now they were calling it a subconscious urge born from inner feelings? Honestly, it was depressing.

“…Someone who makes my heart flutter? Well… I guess there is, but…”

He pressed his lips together. A face came to mind, but he slowly shook his head. That was over now.

Just as he was about to close the search window—

Ding–.

The convenience store door opened with a cheerful chime.