Chapter 568 (1/2)

“It has only been two years since you started acting?”

“It’s my third year, but if you only count the time I’ve properly gotten into acting, I don’t think it has even been a year.”

“Yet you can put on a delinquent act of that level. Are you good at punching at school or something? Did it feel that realistic because it was based on reality?”

“I’m on the side of getting hit, not the one doing the hitting.”

“Hey, hey. Guys like that scare me the most. You know, in movies, they’re always the ones that stab you in the back in the end.”

“No way.”

Jincheol giggled.

Maru took a bite out of the sandwich. Jincheol had brought back some sandwiches when he went to get some food. He made a joke that went like ‘I bought it from my wife’ or something, but Maru stayed expressionless thinking that there wouldn’t be an end to his jokes if he reacted. Of course, it was completely ineffective. Jincheol’s awful jokes continued regardless.

“Did you know? Cats live in cat-hedrals.”

The pun came out of nowhere, but Maru did not bat an eyelid. Jincheol kept signalling him to laugh.

“The sandwich is good.”

“And a cat’s favorite movie is The Sound of Mew-sic.”

“The madam’s cooking skills are really good. I would come here more often if this place wasn’t so far from where I live. What a pity.”

“Plus, looking at a cat makes you feel purr-fect.”

“I should buy some for myself when I leave. This bread with the black sesame seeds especially. I have similar tastes as my family, so I’m sure everyone will like it if I take some home. It’s really a pity that it’s so far away.”

He munched on the sandwich as he looked at Jincheol. After groaning while stroking his beard, he took off his glasses and stroked his face.

“Geunsoo. This guy is way too dry. He could laugh at least once.”

“Don’t you like him because he’s the lunatic you thought he is?”

“There are different levels to lunatics, and this one is on the higher side. Normally, people would laugh out of courtesy at least, but this kid is way too cold even though it hasn’t even been an hour since we have met.”

“Rather than cold, it looks like he understood how he should handle you.”

“He won’t talk about cats with me. What a disappointment.”

After grumbling, Jincheol picked up a cat that was rolling around on the floor. The cat purred for a while before falling asleep.

How interesting - Maru thought as he wiped his hands with some napkins. The cat in Jincheol’s arms looked extremely sensitive. It acted even more violently than the spotty one, so he didn’t even think about touching it, but that cat was sleeping like a baby in Jincheol’s arms. Do cats know their owners as well?

“It’s because cats are territorial animals. They are pretty generous to the things they got used to seeing in their territory. To this guy, I’m probably something like ‘human 1 that feeds me’. That’s why it doesn’t put up its guard around me. It doesn’t act cute, but that’s one of a cat’s charms. Bad kitty.”

After tickling the sleeping cat’s head, Jincheol said ouch before grimacing. The cat had woke up and bit him. The cat then jumped down from his arms before walking around the 2nd floor. Maru was reminded of a stereotypical businesswoman from how it acted.

Maru looked down at his knees. The spotty cat was sleeping in a weird posture. At first, he was sleeping docilely with his front paws together, but after twisting around for a while, he was now sleeping in a weird position that made Maru wonder if such a posture was possible. He wanted to tickle the cat’s belly since it was widely exposed, but he held back since it might cause some bad things to happen.

“Why don’t you take this opportunity to raise a companion cat?”

Companion cat[1]. Maru thought that he should not use the word pet in front of this person.

“I don’t think I can.”

“Why?”

“I don’t like them to the point that I want to take responsibility for one.”

“Just take it easy and raise one. A lot of people raise one these days.”

Maru raised his head when he heard Jincheol’s words. Was he serious? Maru looked around at the cats walking around the 2nd floor before speaking,

“I don’t think you can take anything easy when it comes to taking responsibility and raising something. Even raising a plant requires you to change out the soil and even the vase sometimes. On top of that, there is watering them and cutting off dead leaves. There’s no need to talk about animals like cats when they need so much freedom on top of that. They say babies grow up by themselves, but you know it isn’t like that. Seeing them born is a miracle, and it’s wonderful when they start talking. But it all ends there, doesn’t it? After that, you’re filled with worries. A little creature, who can’t even walk, crawls around everywhere, including dangerous places, and puts sharp objects near their mouth all the time. The day they have diarrhea or something, you won’t be getting any sleep. Furthermore, even when they fall asleep, you feel like your world is collapsing if you hear their breaths going faint.”

Maru subconsciously stroked the spotty cat’s chin.

“When they reach an age where they can bow to others, that’s when the real troubles start. Even if you tell them not to run, they will never listen to you, and even if you tell them not to go to high places because it’s dangerous, they always end up there, making you feel worried sick. If you want to feed them a carrot, you gotta suck up to them with all sorts of actions. And once they get sick or something, you hope that you were the one sick instead.”

The spotty cat turned around. Maru smiled bitterly. There was no memory of anything. He just ‘knew’ that ‘something’ had happened, but anything other than that was pitch black. There was definitely something between him and her, which he poured all of his love into, and sometimes treated more preciously than his own life, but he couldn’t remember what that was. It was probably a child. Maru could only guess. Perhaps there was never a baby between him and her. Perhaps they lived with some cute dogs or some cats.

However, that small voice which was his motivation in life, as well as the reason he appreciated life, was definitely similar to his. That, no, that child’s trace definitely remained inside him despite his memories becoming fuzzy like a burned up ash. Was it a boy? Or was it a girl? Perhaps he had twins.

He tried not to forget. He thought that there was no way he would be able to forget. He thought that it would be engraved in his soul as something eternal and that he would be able to see that child’s smile in the flashbacks even if he died once again. However, the pitch black memories cruelly painted over the figure of his child as well. His own figure, uneasily trembling outside the delivery room, no longer felt realistic as it felt like it was a scene from a movie. What happened after that? What was the child’s face like? What was his or her favorite clothes? Or food? Or name, even?

“Raising a baby requires an unspeakable amount of responsibility.”

Meow - the spotty cat cried. Maru looked down at his hand. His hand was shaking endlessly as though he was someone who drenched his life with alcohol. That trembling seemed to have affected the cat. He tensed his hand before sighing.