182 – A Quiet Cat #1

182 – A Quiet Cat #1

*Ttaeng-ttaeng*

The sunlight, streaming through breaks in the white clouds, made for such a lovely day.

I approached the small animals, lying prone in a sunny spot, and called out to them.

“Keong-keongies, come here and eat your food.”

━*Keong-keong…!*

━*Keong-keong…!*

Squirrels and peculiar spiders barked resonantly.

Watching the animals, who had been frolicking this way and that inside the fence, come running at my call, I found them quite endearing.

There was a time when Ying-yingie was like this, too.

These days, Ying-yingie’s gotten too big for her britches and is always off wandering somewhere, making it hard to even catch a glimpse of her.

Anyway!

“Hehehe, you adorable little ones. Eat up good and bring back bottle caps. Chang-shik says he’s been making electronic appliances with bottle caps lately. I should try to get an air conditioner out of this.

━*Hio-ong…!*

━*Keong-keong…!*

It was whilst I was mending the fence before the cabin, tossing out scraps to the little critters.

Someone approached me, bearing a basket overflowing with steaming goodness.

“Hey, why are you working all alone?”

“I’m used to working alone.”

At Seo Gaeul’s question, the last two centuries flashed through my mind.

I’ve done so much alone; it’s become second nature, this solitary labor and life.

Then Seo Gaeul gestured to the fence.

“Why bother fixing the fence? It’s not like the woofers can’t hop right over it anyway.”

With that, she covered her mouth, giggling as if something was terribly funny.

I glanced at the bleached sky and the sun.

So harsh was the sunlight, I wondered if Seo Gaeul had finally lost her mind.

Then, she started to look around.

Likely checking whether Baek Yeoul and Yu Yeoreum were nearby.

Confirming no one was around, Seo Gaeul dipped into the steaming basket, scooping a generous three potatoes into her pale palm and offering them to me.

“Hey, they say spring potatoes are the best. You eat them all yourself. Don’t give any to the others or even the woofers!”

Indeed, the steaming potatoes looked delectable.

‘Roasted, no less.’

The difference between boiled and roasted potatoes.

It was akin to the gulf between instant ramen and *gan-jjajang*.

Instant ramen, where you just add water and the flavor packet and boil. Boiled potatoes.

*Gan-jjajang*, where you stir-fry various vegetables and separately boil the noodles. Roasted potatoes.

Boiled potatoes can be made with a simple boil.

Roasted potatoes require the effort of constant vigilance, turning them before the flames, lest they burn, for a delicious finish.

To offer me roasted potatoes like this.

“Feeling berry good!”

*Wadadadat!*

I shoveled all the potatoes into my mouth at once.

Indeed, perfectly seasoned with salt!

Hot, they sent warmth radiating from my belly, instantly recharging my slightly depleted self with a surge of energy.

“So, what is it you want to ask of me?”

There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world.

Having finished the potatoes, I suspected Seo Gaeul had some favor to ask.

Why else would she go to the trouble of cooking something like this for me?

But then Seo Gaeul furrowed her brow and got angry, of all things.

“What’s that supposed to mean? You think I only come to you and treat you nice when I need something? It’s just that you’ve been living alone for like, two centuries, and probably haven’t had a home-cooked meal in ages.”

Wham-.

Saying that, Seo Gaeul grabbed my arm and tucked it tight against her chest, a full embrace.

This was… ‘soft.’

Human warmth had a greater effect than a blazing sun or baked potatoes at making my heart feel all cushioned inside.

Except, I wasn’t used to this sort of thing, and it was making me feel scared, and…icky.

“I have things to do! I’m off!”

“Hey! Where are you going! Hey! Get back here-!”

Thump-thump-thump-!

Using my quick legs, I fled.

Lately, Seo Gaeul had been acting like a sweetheart, all affectionate and tender, like we were lovers for a thousand years or something, and I just couldn’t get used to it, so I often ended up running away like this.

“Jin-ah, what are you rushing around for? Like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Yoo Yeoreum! Perfect timing! Hide me!”

As I was running, I bumped into Yoo Yeoreum who was gathering a huge pile of straw.

I decided to hide in Yoo Yeoreum’s straw for now.

Rustle-.

And so I hid.

Soon, Seo Gaeul came following and asked Yoo Yeoreum.

“Hey! Haven’t seen Ha Namjin?”

“Nope.”

I could feel Seo Gaeul’s gaze on the straw, her eyes narrowed.

Had she found me out!

Just as I was thinking that, Seo Gaeul made a little humming sound, like she was trying to stifle a laugh-.

“If you see Ha Namjin, ask him what he wants for dinner.”

“Okay.”

Step, step-.

The receding sound of Seo Gaeul’s footsteps.

Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief, emerging from the haystack.

Yu Yeoreum, brushing bits of straw from my clothes, asked,

“You two seem to be getting along well these days.”

“That’s the problem.”

“Why is getting along a problem? It’s much better than when Seo Gaeul was just being annoying and irritable. You don’t like Seo Gaeul as she is now?”

If you asked if I disliked her –

It wasn’t like that.

But, I guess you could say getting all chummy and acting cute with someone just doesn’t suit me.

I’ve never really done it before in my life, you know?

It’s just… unfamiliar.

“It feels really awkward. I don’t even know what kind of expression to make.”

“I think you can just smile.”

…I see!?

Anyway, thanks to Yu Yeoreum, I managed to escape from that awkward warmth.

I bet this is exactly how a deer feels after being helped by a woodcutter.

“Since you helped me, I was thinking of helping you out in return. Is there anything you need?”

“Nope. And I wasn’t exactly expecting anything in return either.”

What was that?

Could that even be possible?

Capitalist society is basically give and take.

If something comes, something must also go.

In fancy words, it’s called equivalent exchange (等價交換).

That’s how society stays healthy.

But Yu Yeoreum said she wasn’t expecting anything from me in particular.

Come to think of it, Seo Gaeul said that earlier too.

When I asked what she wanted in return for the baked potato.

She said she didn’t particularly want anything.

A favor without reason.

Is that even allowed in this world?

When I was feeling lost, Yoo Yeoreum said,

“We’re family, aren’t we? That’s what family is. Even if we don’t share the same blood. There are many families like that in the world. Like me, Mom, and Oppa. A family you choose for yourself.”

A family chosen for oneself.

From a certain point onward, Yoo Yeoreum’s words, now laced with a new calmness, often felt like wisdom echoing from a tremendously high mountain.

Could it be, indeed, the daughter of a ‘sage’?

Seo Gaeul, becoming quite affectionate.

Yoo Yeoreum, composed and wise.

As time passes, there will be things that change more and more, surely.

That prospect filled me with anticipation, but also a slight pang of regret.

# # #

“Papa! Look at this! I caught a raccoon! A raccoon!”

━Ggrrr, ggrrrr…!

Yeou-Noi, holding a raccoon she must have caught somewhere, thrust it towards me.

The raccoon, suddenly seized, was growling, truly enraged, but could only thrash helplessly, trapped in Yeou-Noi’s powerful grip.

I said to Yeou-Noi,

“Now that you’ve caught it, let’s let it go.”

“Oh yeah! Raccoon! I’m letting you go, so you need to repay me with bottle caps!”

Yeou-Noi looked exactly like Seo Gaeul,

But her actions and speech were just like Bbangdaeng’s.

Why was that?

When I asked her about it, Yeou-Noi said,

“Because, the moms raised us through co-parenting! Like an assassin’s fried chicken deal!”

“You mean a lioness’s pride?”

“Yeah, that!”

‘Pride,’ the ‘moms’ ‘co-parenting.’

Just listening to it made my head spin.

She was Seo Gaeul’s daughter, but because everyone raised her together, she ended up resembling Bbangdaeng in personality?

“Were there other daughters besides you?”

“That’s…”

Yeou-Noi was glancing sideways again.

He mumbled, barely audible.

“…Can’t say it’s against the rules. If you break the rules too much… everyone will get mad. Especially Racoon-ol… Racoon-ol’s a real stickler… She yells at me every day….”

Racoon-ol is who now?

What a strange name.

Seems like it’s difficult to talk about, whatever it is. Maybe I should stop asking.

No, just one more question?

“Was everyone happy in the future?”

“Uh-huh! But my sister had a problem. Because her strength was too strong, she kept breaking things and had a hard time. The animals didn’t like her either….”

Fox-noi has a sister.

Her grip was so powerful that she couldn’t even pet the animals without hurting them, so she cried every day.

Her strength was too strong to live with, how awful.

“The Nymphs said that if she ate a 「Giant Mushroom」, she might be able to control her strength. But a big wildfire came and they all disappeared.”

Giant Mushroom?

I feel like I’ve heard that story somewhere before.

Didn’t they say they grow in Gangwon Province now?

Perhaps, in the future, a great wildfire had engulfed Gangwon Province, wiping out all the 「Giant Mushrooms」 that grew there.

If I got some beforehand, Fox-noi’s unnamed sister would have one less reason to sob.

# # #

“To Gangwon Province? Ha-namjin, are you trying to cause trouble again.”

Seo Ga-eul opened her narrow eyes.

Looks like she doesn’t like the idea of me going to Gangwon Province.

“That’s why I’m asking you to come with me, so I don’t cause trouble.”

“I can’t. Fox-noi needs to start preparing to return to the world she came from, and she says I have to be by her side. So I can’t leave this place.”

“Ugh, Ha-namjin, I’ve been busy with Mi-bbang these days, so….”

Bbang-ddaeng can’t go either?

Come to think of it, I haven’t seen much of Bbang-ddaeng lately; she must be busy.

Suspicious.

“…….”

Bbang-ddaeng, glancing at my expression.

Just like Fox-noi, who said she had to keep a secret.

“Looks like someone’s hidin’ somethin’!”

But?

I’ll figure out what that ass is keepin’ later, I reckon.

In the end, I embarked on a journey to Gangwon-do to find the “Gigantification Mushroom” without either ppangdaengi or Seo Gaeul.

“Wow, I’ve never been to Gangwon-do before. It’s really just mountains, huh?”

Yu Yeoreum clicked her tongue, gazing at the majestic Taebaek Mountains that bisected the Korean Peninsula.

Mountains here, mountains there.

Mountains upon mountains, really.

Of course, the spring mountains were beautiful, dotted with flowers blooming everywhere and fragrant scents wafting from all directions.

“Hey, Ha Namjin. Over here! Over here!”

At the entrance to a remote mountain village in Gangwon-do, Wang Ja-hyun waved to greet us.

“I heard you’re lookin’ for the ‘Gigantification Mushroom’? I found it last week. Honestly, it ain’t gonna be easy. There’s a ‘Mountain Master’ near there, you see.”

Wang Ja-hyun was currently traveling around the country, helping those in need.

That’s why he knew so much about various things, or so he said.

He was the first to discover the “Gigantification Mushroom,” too. This talk of a “Mountain Master” was new to me, unsettling and exciting at the same time.

“What’s that?”

Yu Yeoreum asked.

Wang Ja-hyun answered simply.

“Just what it sounds like, the master of the mountain. A huge beast. Think of it as a mutated monster, driven wild by eatin’ the ‘Gigantification Mushroom’.”

Wang Ja-hyun said he encountered a beast as big as a small hill while climbing the mountain to help some elderly folks who had settled in the mountain village.

“I barely escaped with my life. I can’t believe there’s such a monster in this world. Well, if it’s you and Yu Yeoreum, you might be able to take it down without a problem, but you better be careful.”

Could it be one of the animals Yingying spat out, having turned into a ferocious monster after eating the “Gigantification Mushroom”?

I have to be careful.

But I can’t just be scared.

And so, Yu Yeoreum and I started climbing the mountain—

As soon as we started up, we found three claw marks scored deep into a massive boulder.

/ / /

Somethin’ like this.

As if a tremendously large predator had marked its territory on the rocks and trees.

“Jina, look at that!”

Yu Yeoreum pointed a finger towards something.

There, a fearsome beast of immense size, its white fur billowing, crouched upon a rock, gazing down at us.

“A cat…!?”

If an enormously huge Norwegian Forest cat existed, it would look exactly like that.

Except its size was…peculiar. Roughly the size of a small village bus.

“Wait a minute, that cat…”

Yu Yeoreum murmured, as if something was bothering her.

*Pounce-*!

The very next instant, the giant cat seemed to leap toward us—

“Myaaaoon.”

And then, it was fleeing, with Yu Yeoreum in its jaws!