Ch.2626. Eating a Meal. And Picking Up a Cat.

Dinner is over.

After finishing our dessert with a cup of coffee, we left the restaurant, and the time had already become evening with the sun setting.

“Ah, I’m full.”

“How was it? Better than you expected, right?”

“Yeah, the pizza was really delicious.”

The name “drug sweet potato pizza” wasn’t given for nothing—it was arguably the best pizza I’d ever tasted.

At this point, I was even starting to suspect they might have actually mixed drugs into the pizza.

“Was the pizza called drug sweet potato pizza? I need to eat it again sometime.”

“Heh, Siwoo. It’s not drug sweet potato pizza, it’s drug corn pizza.”

“Oh.”

Not drug sweet potato but drug corn. No wonder I couldn’t taste any sweet potato. I must have been confused.

“Same difference, really.”

“I suppose so. Anyway, I’m glad it suited your taste.”

Having said that, Hwa Nabi pressed close to my side.

The distance between us was just enough to fit a fist, and she was carrying a shopping bag in her hand.

“So, where should we go now? Karaoke? Arcade?”

“I don’t mind going anywhere, but are you planning to carry that around? You might lose it if you’re not careful.”

“I don’t have much choice. It’s not like I can leave it at home.”

Hwa Nabi muttered grumpily. Fair enough, as she said, the timing was awkward to stop by her home first.

It would take at least thirty minutes to get to her house, so round trip would be an hour. Better to just rest at home at that point.

We were walking and chatting about various things.

Just before turning a corner at the entrance of an alley, I heard something like an animal’s cry.

“…Did you just hear something?”

“Huh? What kind of sound are you talking about?”

“Shh. Stay still for a moment.”

I put my index finger to my lips, signaling her to keep quiet.

Sensing something strange, I fell silent. Following my lead, Hwa Nabi also became quiet.

That’s when it happened.

-Meow.

It was a very faint sound, but I definitely heard it. It was the kind of cry an animal or small child might make.

And I wasn’t the only one who heard it. Hwa Nabi, who was standing next to me, opened her eyes wide and tapped my shoulder.

“Oh, it’s real. Siwoo, isn’t that a cry?”

“Yeah. Is there a lost child somewhere?”

“It sounded less like a human voice and more like… an animal cry.”

“Well, we’ll find out if we look.”

If it was just a stray animal passing by, that would be fine, but if it was a lost child, that would be serious. I walked toward the direction of the crying sound.

“Where is it coming from?”

“It sounds like it’s coming from this alley, doesn’t it?”

The place Hwa Nabi pointed to was the alley ahead. I nodded and walked straight ahead, passing the corner.

And as soon as I turned, I was startled.

-Meow.

“This is…”

The source of the strange crying sound was none other than a cardboard box.

“What? Why is there an animal sound coming from a box?”

It wasn’t a stray animal, so why was this strange sound coming from a box? As I was unconsciously clutching my startled chest, Hwa Nabi stepped forward.

“It’s not the box making the sound, there must be an animal inside it, right?”

“Ah… that’s true.”

I seemed to have made a ridiculous judgment because I was too surprised. That makes sense.

It’s not the box making the sound, but an animal inside the box. I hadn’t noticed because the opening of the box was covered in a pinwheel pattern.

I slowly approached the box.

Tap,

I touched it just to be sure, and at that moment, another crying sound came from inside the box.

-Meow.

“The sound is definitely coming from here. Is it a cat?”

“Should we open it?”

“I think we should.”

Whether it was a cat or whatever, if it was left sealed in a box like this, it wouldn’t survive long.

So I opened the box, and sure enough.

“Wow, this is something.”

“Oh my.”

Inside the box was a white-furred kitten that looked too young to even walk properly.

I wasn’t sure exactly how old it was, but it was clearly a newborn or very young kitten.

“Looks like someone abandoned it here.”

“No way… Surely someone just forgot it, right?”

“There are other things to forget. Anyone can see this was deliberately abandoned.”

I could roughly guess what had happened without even looking.

The owner of the mother cat probably kept it without neutering, and when it had kittens, they couldn’t handle it, so they put one in a box and abandoned it.

It was something you could witness surprisingly often in life.

“Siwoo, what should we do with it? Looking at how its eyes are barely open, it seems like it was born very recently. Should we buy some food for it?”

“I’m not sure that would help…”

It was a harsh thing to say, but also realistic.

Feeding it wouldn’t be difficult. But what’s the point of keeping it alive for a few more days?

From the looks of it, the kitten was abandoned without its mother, and in this state, it would die soon anyway. It’s not about giving false hope; if you can’t take full responsibility, it’s better not to start.

“But we can’t just leave it here. Now that we know, how can we just walk away?”

“That’s true. But…”

I couldn’t think of a good solution. I couldn’t take it home and raise it just because I felt sorry that its owner abandoned it, but leaving it behind made me feel very uneasy.

What should I do with it? I squatted down in front of the box, pondering.

“Isn’t there a good solution?”

“I don’t know…”

-Meow.

Whether it was because it was just born or because it was curious, looking at the kitten staring up at me with its round eyes made me feel guilty. Even though I wasn’t the one who abandoned it.

“Sigh. Who on earth left this here?”

I unconsciously reached out my index finger to touch it, but suddenly stopped.

This was because Hwa Nabi, who was beside me, frantically stopped me as soon as I showed signs of touching the kitten.

“Wait, Siwoo. You shouldn’t just touch it like that.”

“Huh? Why?”

“The mother might be around. Cats identify their kittens by smell, so if it gets human scent on it, the mother might not recognize it.”

“Oh. Is that so?”

After hearing the explanation, I understood why Hwa Nabi had been so alarmed. If she hadn’t been beside me, I might have caused an innocent kitten to lose its parents.

“Yes. Judging by how tightly the box was closed, it seems like the owner deliberately abandoned it, but still, we can’t be sure.”

“So, do we need to wait until its mother comes?”

That makes sense. There was a very low probability, but the mother might be around.

So I stood up and asked Hwa Nabi, and she nodded.

“It could be disastrous if we touch it carelessly, so that would be best.”

“Okay. How long should we wait? Ten minutes? Twenty minutes?”

“No. We should wait at least an hour or two. The mother might have left the kitten temporarily to find food.”

“That doesn’t seem very temporary…”

Though I said this, I didn’t know much about this area, so I had to go along with it.

“Anyway, let’s wait a bit.”

“Alright. Let’s do that.”

With that brief exchange, we followed Hwa Nabi’s suggestion and found a spot a little distance away to observe the kitten.

And as we chatted about various things, an hour and a half passed.

The result.

“Hmm, it doesn’t seem like its mother is around, does it?”

“No. It doesn’t seem so.”

Including the time since we first found it and had our conversation, we had been watching for almost two hours, and during that time, there was no sign of a mother cat. At this point, it’s safe to say there isn’t one.

“Sigh, then what do we do with it?”

It had been almost two hours since dinner, so the sun had long set.

In the dark alley where the streetlight was the only source of light, the unusually bright eyes of the kitten looked pitiful… probably not just my imagination.

I squatted down in front of the box containing the kitten and unconsciously sighed.

-Meow.

“Oh my.”

The eyes looking at me while leaning against the box wall were not ordinary. A stray cat making people troubled in the middle of the night.

If it had been a fully grown cat, I would have left without hesitation, but being a kitten, I couldn’t be so heartless.

With such complex thoughts, Hwa Nabi, who had neatly arranged her skirt, squatted down next to me. Then she slowly reached out her hand and began to stroke the kitten’s chin.

-Meow, meow.

As if it felt really good, the kitten even rubbed its body against Hwa Nabi’s palm.

“It doesn’t seem to be very afraid of people.”

“It’s because it’s still too young to know anything. Cats start to be wary of people after they grow a bit older. But this one is particularly affectionate.”

“Really?”

From the way she talked, she seemed to know a lot about cat physiology. I wondered if she had experience raising cats before. Just as I was about to ask that.

“Siwoo. Would you like to touch it too?”

Hwa Nabi, who was gently scratching the kitten’s chin, looked at me and offered.

I would like to touch it if possible, but is it okay? Having just heard that it shouldn’t be touched by human hands, I felt somewhat reluctant.

“Is it really okay to touch it?”

“Yes. Since there’s no parent around, it should be fine.”

“Really? Then…”

With permission granted, I carefully reached out and touched the kitten’s chin. I chose this spot because I wasn’t sure where to touch a cat. When in doubt, it’s usually safe to follow what the person next to you is doing.

“Oh, Siwoo. I forgot to mention, cats like being touched under the chin or above the butt.”

I see. Following Hwa Nabi’s words, I moved my hand and also touched the upper part of the kitten’s butt. To be more precise, not the upper butt but around the tailbone where the tail begins.

-Purr.

Gently, softly, like handling a fragile object, I stroked it with a light touch, and its short tail carefully moved from side to side.

“Oh my, it’s purring?”

“What’s purring?”

“You know, that sound cats make when they go ‘purr’ like just now. That’s called purring. Cats only make that sound when they’re really happy, so it must like your touch, Siwoo.”

“Oh, really?”

I wasn’t quite sure, but anyway, since it was making that sound because it liked my touch, I felt pleased too.

“Hey, does my hand feel that good?”

-Meow, meow.

“Heh, Siwoo. It says it does.”

“Heh, when did you learn to speak cat? Next you’ll be having conversations with it?”

“Hehe, why? Want me to show you a conversation with it?”

“No, that’s okay. Let’s say you can.”

Just as we were exchanging such silly jokes.

Hwa Nabi suddenly became serious, and looking straight into my eyes, she asked:

“Siwoo. Should we take it home and raise it ourselves?”