Translator/Editor: TranslatingNovice

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Chapter 7: Cat Mom

Most accidents are preventable.

The three cats I'm about to talk about - Gucci, Hermes, and Jackfield - were, in some sense, preventable disasters.

"Ma'am, please don't feed that cat."

The woman was a middle-aged female living alone in the vast wasteland left between Seoul and my territory.

She always covered her face with a mask, scarf, and sunglasses, possibly due to burns from a nuclear attack. I got to know her around the time I started begging regularly in Seoul.

I could feel a chilling fear and deep loneliness emanating from her as she hurriedly left with her cart upon spotting me, a robust man.

Every time I passed by, she was feeding homeless cats at the same spot. Observations suggested she had no husband or children.

Such things weren't rare in those days, so I ignored her, but soon she got used to my presence and no longer left upon seeing me.

Our relationship evolved from one side constantly fleeing from the other to both sides ignoring each other.

Our parallel relationship was disrupted by an incident.

Her cats had grown abnormally large, visibly odd to anyone.

"Hey. Can't you hear me?"

No doubt about it.

It was a pre-mutation symptom.

Back when the Chinese government was still intact, South Korea also sent hunters to jointly deal with monster invasions. After seeing India and Africa collapse and their effects spread to neighboring countries, it was clear that South Korea would be next if nothing was done.

I had seen similar things in China's newly, grandly built but scarcely populated cities.

At that time, humanity, being more ignorant than now, couldn't distinguish between mutations and monsters. Defying my colleagues' opposition, I captured an overgrown rat, claiming it to be a new species of hamster. This sample contributed to the discovery of mutations.

Not to brag, but my contribution to uncovering mutations was significant.

Overgrowth beyond genetic growth limits is a classic pre-mutation symptom.

The three cats fed by the unnamed woman had grown as big as Golden Retrievers by then.

"Those cats. Don't you think they are too big, ma'am?"

"They are Ragdolls."

She defended.

Ragdoll is a cat breed known for its large size.

But to me, the three cats, including the calico, looked distinctly Korean.

"That's not a Ragdoll. I'd believe it if you said they were human-eating monsters from the desert."

"Mind your own business. Who are you to order me around?"

She retorted without looking at me.

"It's for your own safety, ma'am. Do you want to be eaten by those cats?"

"They won't do that. They are angels. See how much they follow me?"

As she reached out her hand, the three cats rubbed their heads against it, competing like old Western nobles kissing the king's hand.

I said nothing more.

She's an adult, not a child. She'll take care of herself.

Partly, my selfish calculations also contributed to me ignoring her and leaving.

By then, I was thinking of cutting ties with Seoul.

Having received my personal identification code, I no longer needed to go to Seoul, and more importantly, people were needed on the battlefield.

As a skilled individual, I could be pulled into any excuse.

Welcoming the three mutated cats as new neighbors, alongside the crazy sniper to the southeast and Gold's pack to the southwest, to guard my bunker didn't seem too bad.

After all, the woman wouldn't listen to me anyway.

"What are the names of those cats?"

I asked the departing woman.

"Why?"

"They look cute."

"Hermes, Gucci, Jackfield."

Strangely, she didn't specify which cat had which name, but I felt I knew which was which.

"Move it like weaving a net with a fishing line for a richer texture."

A tranquil afternoon.

I was making a wool felt doll, watching a video of the late Anonymous337.

The creature I created was more akin to a Lovecraftian goat than a sheep, but I kept modifying it to look like a sheep, referencing the master's video.

Like the ones on that shelf by Anonymous337.

As I’m focused, my K-walkie-talkie beeped.

Beep-! Beep-! Beep-!

This pattern meant a direct call to my personal identification number.

An important message.

Sure enough.

Caller: Kim Daram

"Ahh fuck."

I reluctantly press the receive button, and a bleak voice immediately comes through.

"Sunbae. I need a favor."

"Another favor? Didn't you say you wouldn't ask for more?"

"I don't like doing this either, but we have to help each other in these dark times. Besides, it's not just anyone's matter. You know about the recent mass deaths near the golf course where you live?"

"Rupert Fucking Palace, right?"

"See? You know."

The woman, who raised three street angels that turned into monsters, causing the apartment complex residents to become real angels, seemed to be a boon for me. Unfortunately, it appears to be a serious issue for the central administration.

The government has issued an order to kill Hermes, Gucci, and Jackfield.

"I'm sorry, but I can't hunt mutations anymore. I don't have the skills, nor do I want to. And above all, I don't have the equipment."

"It's not Sunbae who will do it. We'll send someone."

"Someone?"

"A freelance hunter."

This freelance hunter, who rode a rare vintage motorcycle hard to be seen even before the war, appeared before me.

"Hello?"

Wearing a leather coat and pants that clung to his body, he isn't very large but has a solid, strong presence. His face also looks young yet aged.

"I'm Baek Seung-hyun."

For our first meeting, he scans me up and down, as if trying to size me up, and then gives a knowing, odd smile while snorting through his nose.

I don't particularly want to get close to him, so I keep my words to a minimum.

My conditions are threefold.

"I won't participate in combat, nor will I help. And I'll only accompany you until sunset today."

Baek Seung-hyun just smirks.

Silently, he suddenly speaks.

"You're Park Gyu from the school, right? The legendary 13th generation."

"I wonder what this noise is all of a sudden."

"I went to the same school. 12th generation."

"......"

"Splendidly standing, the fortress of trials~ We, like shining jade, polish ourselves~ Receiving the spirit of Mt. Samgak, reborn as hermits of the era~"

Suddenly, he starts singing.

A melody from memory, the school theme.

Knowing the school theme, which was used for about half a year before being discontinued due to complaints of being outdated, he doesn't seem to be just talking nonsense.

Looking closely, his face faintly rings a bell.

We might have crossed paths in the schoolyard a few times.

Of course, both he and I were more immature and less experienced then.

"Park Gyu is in such a place. That's surprising."

"Let's not talk about the past."

"I knew I was doomed as an inferior student. But someone like you, a top student..."

I give a strong signal that I don't want to hear more.

His eyes soften, and Baek Seung-hyun quickly apologizes.

"Sorry. No comment."

He rode his motorcycle, and I rode my bicycle to the operation site.

But even before we got close, the smell of blood was strong, and upon arrival, we found scattered flesh, fur, blood, and chaotic footprints.

"What's this?"

Baek Seung-hyun grins.

"Actually, I had a scuffle with them before meeting you."

He taps the heavy weapon mounted on his bike.

Type 21 large-caliber hunter rifle.

Literally, a hunter's equipment for hunting monsters - mutations.

"They were aggressive, maybe having tasted human blood, but they were quite sensitive. I only inflicted a few scrapes."

Honestly, I looked down on him because he’s a freeland hunter.

I will correct myself.

Baek Seung-hyun is strong.

Fighting and smashing three mutations in the wild with a slow, cumbersome bolt-action rifle, without analysis or observation, is impossible without considerable guts and skill.

He's at least Grade A.

If it was me, I would give him an A-grade rating.

"I don't like meeting other people either. I contacted you because I had no choice. How can I deal with those beasts that try to cover their blood and move to a ditch?"

His purpose in finding me is one.

Help find the injured cats.

But how would I know?

I'm not a cat detective.

Wait, a face comes to mind.

The nameless woman who fed Gucci, Hermes, and Jackfield passes through my mind like an old procrastinated task.

The abandoned detached apartment is hidden under trash and fallen leaves, creating an eerie atmosphere.

Every window is broken, and the blood-red water flowing from the old balconies eerily decorates the apartment.

"Cheap apartment. It's got to be over 40 years old."

Baek Seung-hyun surveys the surroundings with sharp eyes.

"No supermarkets or shops around. Just fields. Doesn't seem like the surrounding farmland is extensive enough for everyone here to farm."

He mutters his unsolicited thoughts and squints at the apartment.

"Still, this is the only place around here suitable for living."

Sure enough, the veiled woman was hiding in that apartment.

Baek Seung-hyun has a knack for handling people.

Specifically, he has a talent for herding people like livestock.

"Auntie."

Baek Seung-hyun extends his phone's screen.

"You recognize these, right?"

"......"

"Auntie, don't just keep your mouth shut. Speak up. You know how many people they've killed, right?"

"That can't be true."

"What do you mean it can't be true?"

"My babies wouldn't do that!"

Baek Seung-hyun sniffs the air.

He then goes around to the back of the apartment and returns with a blood-stained piece of clothing.

"Among the dead was my wife."

He holds a piece of men's clothing, but the woman bursts into tears, halting the conversation.

I wonder what wind breezed by.

When I came to my senses, I was standing beside her.

"Are you alright?"

I even offered her a canned coffee I had brought for myself.

It seems that gifts, regardless of the era, are keys to opening a woman's heart.

The woman, who had been sobbing, took the coffee with both hands and began to speak.

"......On that day, the apartment residents locked themselves in the bunker, leaving me out. It was built during the Saemaul Movement."

She points towards the bunker.

"When I arrived later, the door was already closed. They wouldn't open it no matter how much I knocked and shouted. It was like they were telling me to die outside. We had a bad relationship because I fed cats. But then, Jackfield appeared with a meow."

She takes off her sunglasses and wipes her tears.

"The cat led me to the basement as if guiding me."

Her eyes were horribly scarred from burns, making it difficult to look directly, but they hold a warmth that could charm animals.

"Thanks to those kids, I survived. And they survived because of me."

"What happened to the people in the bunker?"

I can guess even without seeing, looking at the black soot near the ventilation that remains like a ghostly imprint.

"It seemed there was a fire inside. Smoke and screams all day long."

The woman's secret to survival is revealed.

All the small apartment residents died.

Though a small apartment, it housed 60 families.

The resources of 60 families were now in the hands of one person.

As Baek Seung-hyun said, it’s a crumbling apartment in a remote area, ignored even by looters.

"You don't feed them now, do you?"

"Yes. Now they are too... big..."

"Do you know where they might be? Next time, someone even more reckless than this man might come."

Urged by me, she seems to make a decision and tries to open the coffee can I handed her.

Perhaps due to alcoholic tremors, she couldn't even open the can. When I opened it for her, she took the coffee, bowing her head.

Drinking the coffee warmed by my body, she gazes into the distance, perhaps steeling herself for something.

"I have an idea where they might be."

She led us to a ditch leading to an abandoned rice field.

She briefly explained the significance of this place as she guided us.

"I found them here. I took care of them after they were abandoned by their mother."

Her intuition is accurate.

There are bloodstains.

"Hermes~ Gucci~ Jackfield~!"

She desperately calls out to her beasts.

Baek Seung-hyun and I stand at a distance.

Wanting to avoid seeing Baek Seung-hyun as much as possible, I coldly ask while focusing on the woman.

"Do we really have to do it this way?"

Baek Seung-hyun put a vest on her.

A bomb vest.

Although I agree with his opinion that this is less painful than being torn alive by mutations, this is, in human terms, fucked up.

"The dead would probably want to ask the same question to that woman."

Massive beasts, dripping blood, emerge from the ditch.

Mutations.

Baek Seung-hyun's finger hovers over the detonator switch.

I have no particular comment to make.

Beyond emotional considerations, his judgment is valid.

Scholars say that mutations are too intelligent to be tamed.

They attack humans because they know how humans think and treat them.

Just as the most gentle sheep of God becomes the most fierce critic of God, mutations choose to hate humans.

This is the general theory about the aggression of mutations.

But then.

"Meow."

An unbelievable scene unfolds.

The mutations are following her.

Just like before they changed, they competed to rub their lion-sized heads against her, wearing the bomb vest, just like the cats of the old days vying for her touch.

"See? How good our babies are. Even after becoming like this..."

"......"

The unchallenged theory is directly contradicted by the nameless woman and her cats.

However, that brief miracle is swiftly erased by the fingers of a man buried in reality.

Click!

The mundane sound of a switch being pressed is followed by an explosion, engulfing everything in light and sound.

"You do a shitty job."

It’s probably the first time.

That I seriously look at Baek Seung-hyun.

Baek Seung-hyun, who has been intently observing me all this time, avoids my gaze just then.

"......It's a shitty world."

After muttering in a voice that seemed to grumble, he quickly leaves the scene.

The woman's body has vanished without a trace.

Only one mutation lay there, its lower half blown off, gasping its last breaths.

I look down at the cat.

It weakly looks up at me with fading eyes.

"So you're Jackfield."

The ugliest of the three, almost human-like, nods its head and then stops breathing.