Chapter 15 : New Price

“Meow~”

Seo Yuna loves cats.

When she sees a cat while walking down the street, she sits quietly and watches.

The way they blink their eyes, seeming sleepy while yawning,
or when they curl up under the sun, squirming around, are all too cute.

‘I want to touch it…!’

She always has this feeling, quietly approaching with held breath, but

“Meow!”

The cat always runs away.

The sight of it disappearing without looking back sometimes leaves a scar.

So, she made a resolution.

One day, she would definitely pet a cat.

Actually, if there were no cat allergies in her family, she would have had one by now,
but unfortunately, the only cats allowed for Yuna were the ones she encountered by chance on the street.

And as time passed, one day.

Was it a response to her childhood wish?

A fateful encounter suddenly came.

“Meow….”

She found an injured cat.

Though it was too large to be called a cat, it had a sleek body and beautiful, refined features.

The cat was making a pitiful sound, suffering in pain.

Strange?

As she approached, she instinctively realized.

This wasn’t an ordinary cat, but a monster.

It was a Bakeneko with two tails.

“Danger level B…”

It was a very dangerous creature, one that absorbed human life expectancy, something she’d read about in a ghost story dictionary.

In an instant, Yuna instinctively took a step back.

It was a natural reaction.

But,

“Meow…”

Seeing the cat dying in agony, her feet froze.

So, she made a decision.

She formed a contract to share her life force in exchange for borrowing its power.

After all, she was destined to fight monsters for the Seo family.

Giving up her abundant life force wasn’t a big burden.

More than that, being able to form a contract with a B-level dangerous creature was an extremely rare stroke of luck.

After the contract, she could naturally communicate with the Bakeneko, and she could hear the language of cats.

Her dream had come true.

But then a problem arose.

“Kim Min-woo, male, has a sharp gaze, and is a handsome human. Find him.”

It was the new request of the Bakeneko.

Finding him wasn’t difficult.

Luckily, she had joined the Bureau of Anomalies as a colleague with him.

The problem arose when the Bakeneko used Seo Yuna’s body.

“I want to mark him too.”

After the battle with the mountain flower, the Bakeneko mounted Kim Min-woo on Seo Yuna’s body.

It was so close that it was hard to tell whether it was intentional or not.

In the proximity where she could hear the faint sound of breathing,
she bit Kim Min-woo’s ear.

While lending her body, Seo Yuna was fully conscious.

As a result, she experienced for the first time in her life, biting the ear of a peer in that kind of way.

Seo Yuna, a precious girl who had only met elders from her family, this was an incredibly stimulating and bold act for her.

And after that event, the Bakeneko spoke to her again after a long time.

“Human, don’t you need more power?”

The sweet yet dangerous whisper of the creature.

“…I need it.”

She had painfully realized after the battle with the mountain flower.

She was still not enough.

Thinking about the enemies she would have to fight for her family in the future made Seo Yuna feel overwhelmed.

“I can give you more power… but in exchange, we need to make a new contract.”

It was tempting.

“What’s the price?”

She asked cautiously.

The first contract was about giving away her life force.

Due to her natural constitution as a member of the Seo family, she could freely share her life force.

But what about this new contract?

If it involved more power, it might require a tremendous price.

If necessary, she was prepared to ask her brother for help and borrow the family’s power.

But the Bakeneko’s terms were unexpected.

“Ask my male to pet me regularly.”

Seo Yuna’s face turned bright red.

For someone who had lived her whole life keeping a distance from others,
asking a man for something like that was incredibly difficult.

‘Of all things… to ask for petting…!’

Her face turned crimson, all the way to her ears.

But she couldn’t give up.

She decided to gather her courage.

“Would you like to come to my house tonight?”

For the first time, she invited a man over to her home.

‘Anyway, my brother told me to bring him…

I can at least come up with a reasonable excuse.’

Using that as an excuse, she tried to hide her embarrassed feelings.

‘Petting…’

Still, the fact that she had to become Min-woo’s cat didn’t change.

“Please come over to my house… to see my cat.”

Seo Yuna spoke carefully, her head slightly lowered.

…Would the man actually refuse?

Kim Min-woo, 27 years old.

As a healthy man, he couldn’t refuse.

But unfortunately, it wasn’t a pure flirtation.

“Actually… my brother insisted that he wanted to greet you. He wants to formally invite you…”

“Ah… Haha. Sure.”

He was slightly disappointed.

He thought he was being invited for personal reasons.

Damn it!

If the curse from the mountain flower hadn’t been in place, would she have invited him for a different reason?

A little resentment crept up.

“…I’ve never invited anyone to my house before. I’m embarrassed, but… thank you for agreeing.”

Seo Yuna avoided his gaze and blushed.

Her shy personality made such a request feel embarrassing.

And that was… so cute.

“Alright.”

There was no reason to refuse Seo Yuna’s invitation.

Instead, there were several reasons to accept it.

He was curious about how she had made a contract with the ‘butterfly.’

And above all…

A pretty, cute girl had invited him to her house.

For any man, it was only natural to go along, right?

So he followed her to Yuna’s mansion, and honestly, it was beyond his imagination.

It was huge, grand, and seemed like a fortress in itself.

“Is this… really your house?”

Armed guards stood at the entrance, and even the garden was a giant maze.

It was smaller than the labyrinth of Karsla he had seen in his training, but it was hard to believe such a thing existed in a private mansion.

“Ah, here… be careful. The family manages some creatures here.”

“Pardon? You have monsters guarding your house?”

Seo Yuna said it so casually, but he was stunned.

Her earlier words about being “from another world” were not just a simple expression.

Seo Yuna was someone who had lived in that kind of world.

And within it, she was the daughter of a prestigious family.

“I’ll show you this way.”

Guided by a servant, they entered the guest room.

As the door closed behind them, Yuna suddenly felt a sense of unfamiliar distance.

‘Wow… this person is really rich.’

She even had servants in her house?

She felt like someone from another world.

What does a woman like this want from me?

…Did she just invite me out of courtesy?

Sitting on a luxurious chair, I looked up at the ceiling.

For a moment, I thought about it.

I had recently paid off my debts and thought I was finally starting to live like a proper person.

But I realized I still had a long way to go.

‘What if I became wealthier than Seo Yuna… would she look at me differently?’

I let out a bitter laugh.

It seemed impossible. It was too distant a goal.

‘Still… someday.’

Wallet, can I do it?

“Of course, Master! You’re a fucking real man! I believe in you! If you don’t believe in yourself, believe in me believing in you! I got you, Master!”

As I was lost in such meaningless thoughts, the door opened with a knock.

“Mr. Kim Min-woo?”

A strange man entered.

But there was a familiar feeling from his face.

“I’m Seo Kang-il.”

The team leader of the Containment Department and,

Seo Yuna’s older brother.

And the one responsible for the invitation today.

“Did you find it uncomfortable during your break?”

“No, not at all. It’s a wonderful house.”

“Haha, thank you. I wanted to formally greet you, Mr. Min-woo.”

He slightly bowed his head as he spoke.

“I’ve heard that you’ve protected my sister…”

“Ah… well, I didn’t do much…”

“Thank you, as a family member.”

It was a sincere thank you.

But for some reason, it felt a little disappointing.

‘So it wasn’t Yuna who invited me, but her brother’s request.’

Even though I already knew that,

for some reason, my heart sank a little.

As I tried to steady myself,

Seo Kang-il continued speaking.

“And about the contract, Mr. Min-woo. We can help.”

“The contract?”

“Yes. We have some information that might help with the contract with the creature. The temperament of the creatures in containment, their conditions, and if you want, we can recommend a creature for the contract.”

“Oh, really?”

This was unexpected good news.

“And the cost of the contract… whatever it may be, our family will bear it.”

“…I truly appreciate it.”

I remembered what Baek Seok-ho had said.

The price of a creature contract might be heavier than expected.

Even if I wanted to make a contract, there might be an unbearable price waiting for me, he had warned.

But they would cover it for me?

I nodded in surprise.

Seo Kang-il smiled and gestured.

“Now, let me show you the house briefly. It would be good to familiarize yourself with the layout since you’ll probably visit often. Also, my father is here, so it would be nice for you to greet him.”

“Yes…?”

He wanted me to come often?

For a moment, I didn’t understand what he meant.

But Seo Kang-il was already leading the way, so I followed along with Yuna.

The house was a massive mansion, about four stories tall.

Walking through the corridors and passing several doors,
the air changed.

It became cold.

And strangely chilly.

“Here we are. This is my father’s room.”

Seo Kang-il opened the door.

I carefully followed him inside.

Inside, a man with a dignified air was seated, and next to him, a middle-aged woman lay on the bed.

For a moment, I felt as though I had stopped breathing.

The red spots that suddenly came to mind. The coldness that flowed over the skin.

The lifeless, motionless figure.

“Those symptoms…”

They were familiar.

Too familiar.

I couldn’t look away from my eyes.

…Just like my mother.

The same symptoms, the same state, now right in front of me.

My mother, who hadn’t woken up in years.

The same thing was happening right in front of me.