Chapter 7

7. Cat Mom

Most accidents are preventable.

The three cats I want to talk about - Gucci, Hermes, and Jackfield - were, in a sense, preventable man-made disasters.

"Madam, don't feed that cat."

The woman was a middle-aged lady living alone in a vast wilderness between Seoul and my territory.

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

When she saw me, a robust man, she hastily left, pulling a handcart. I could sense a deep loneliness and chilling fear from her back.

Every time I passed by, she was feeding stray cats in the same spot. After a few observations, it seemed she had no husband or children.

Though not uncommon these days, I ignored her. Eventually, she got used to me and no longer left when she saw me.

Our relationship, which had always been parallel, was disrupted by one event.

Her cats had grown to an alarming size.

"Hey, can't you hear me?"

It was undeniable.

It was a sign of mutation.

Though unimaginable now, when the Chinese government was still in power, they sent hunters to South Korea to jointly deal with monster invasions.

Given the collapse of India and Africa and its impact on neighboring countries, it was clear that South Korea would be next if nothing was done.

I had seen similar things in China's new cities, which were newly built, large, and grand but sparsely populated.

At the time, humans were more ignorant and couldn't distinguish between mutations and monsters. I boldly captured an overgrown rat, claiming it was a new breed of hamster, and that sample contributed to the concept of mutation.

Not to boast, but my contribution to the discovery of mutations was significant.

Overgrowth beyond genetic limits is the most representative sign of mutation.

The three cats the unknown woman fed had already grown to the size of golden retrievers by that point.

"Those cats. Don't you think they're too big?"

"They're Ragdolls."

She defended.

Ragdolls are a breed of cat known for their large size.

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

"What kind of Ragdolls are those? I'd believe they were desert cannibals."

"Mind your own business. Who are you to tell me what to do?"

She spoke with a voice full of anger without even looking at me.

"It's for your own good. Do you want to be eaten by a cat?"

"They wouldn't do that. They're angels. How loyal they are to me?"

When she extended her hand, the three cats rubbed their heads against it, competing like Western nobles kissing the king's ring.

"..."

I said no more.

She's not a child but an elder; she'll know what to do.

My selfish calculation also contributed to my decision to ignore her and leave.

At the time, I was thinking of gradually cutting off contact with Seoul.

With a personal identification code, there was less need to go to Seoul directly, and most importantly, the battlefield was short of personnel.

High-level personnel like me could be dragged away for various reasons.

Having three mutations as new neighbors to guard my bunker, along with the mad sniper to the southeast and the gold group to the southwest, didn't seem so bad.

But she wouldn't listen to anything I said anyway.

"What are the cats' names?"

I asked the woman as she was leaving.

"Why?"

"They look cute."

"Hermes, Gucci, Jackfield."

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

*

"By moving the needle in a crisscross pattern like this, you can create a richer texture."

On a peaceful afternoon, I am making a wool felt doll while watching the video of the now deceased Anonymous337.

My creation was more like a horrific shape from Lovecraft's goat than a sheep, but I was steadily modifying it to look more like a sheep, referring to the master's video.

Like the works on the shelf above.

While I was concentrating, the K-walkie-talkie beeped.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

This sound pattern indicated a direct call to my personal identification number.

In other words, it was an important message.

Sure enough.

Sender: Kim Darum

"Damn it."

I had no choice but to press the receive button, and a bleak voice immediately came through.

"Senior, I have a favor to ask."

"What favor? You said you wouldn't ask me to do anything again?"

"I don't want to do this either, but we need to help each other in these dark times. Besides, it's not someone else's problem. You know about the multiple deaths around the golf course where you live, right?"

"Rupert Shibal Palace, was it?"

"See? You know."

The incident where the three stray angels turned into monsters and made the apartment residents real angels was a boon to me but a serious issue for the central administration.

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

"Sorry, but I can't hunt mutations anymore. I don't have the skills, the desire, or the equipment."

"It's not you who will do it. I'll send someone."

"Someone?"

"A freelance hunter."

The freelance hunter appeared before me on a vintage motorcycle, which was rare even before the war.

"Hello?"

He wore a tight leather coat and leather pants, and though not tall, he had a solid, boulder-like image. His face looked young but also aged.

"I'm Baek Seung-hyun."

From the moment we met, he scanned me from head to toe as if examining me, then smiled strangely and snorted.

Not wanting to get too close, I kept my words to a minimum.

My conditions were threefold.

"I won't participate in the fight or help. And I'll only stay with you until sunset today."

Baek Seung-hyun chuckled.

He suddenly spoke.

"Park Kyu, right? A graduate of the legendary 13th class."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm from the same school. The 12th class."

"..."

"Standing tall and proud, the castle of trials~ We polish ourselves like precious jade~ Receiving the energy of Triangle Mountain, we become the sages of the era~"

Suddenly, this guy started singing.

The melody was the school anthem, which disappeared after about half a year due to complaints about its rusticness.

Seeing that he knew the anthem, it didn't seem like he was just talking nonsense.

Looking closely, I recognized his face vaguely.

We might have met a few times on campus.

Of course, back then, both of us were less mature and more naive.

"Seeing you here, Park Kyu, is quite a surprise."

"Let's not talk about the past."

"I knew a mediocre student like me would end up badly, but you, an excellent student..."

I gave a strong signal that I didn't want to hear more.

With a sharp look, Baek Seung-hyun looked slightly surprised and then apologized.

"Sorry. No comment."

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

Even before we got close, a strong smell of blood filled the air. When we arrived at the scene, chunks of flesh, fur, blood, and chaotic footprints were mixed together.

"What is this?"

Baek Seung-hyun grinned.

"Actually, I had a run-in with them before meeting you."

Baek Seung-hyun tapped the heavy weapon on his bike.

A 21st-style large-caliber hunter rifle.

Literally, hunter equipment for monster and mutation hunting.

"They were aggressive, having tasted human blood before, but they were quite dramatic. I only gave them a few scratches."

Honestly, I had underestimated the freelance hunter.

Let me correct that.

Baek Seung-hyun is strong.

To take on three mutations with a slow, bolt-action rifle without analysis or observation requires considerable courage and skill.

He's at least A-level.

I would rate him A-level.

"I don't like meeting new people. I only contacted you because I had to. How could a beast clean its wounds and move to a ditch?"

His purpose for finding me was clear.

To help find the injured cats.

But how would I know?

I'm not a cat detective.

Wait, a face came to mind.

The unknown woman who fed Gucci, Hermes, and Jackfield flashed before my eyes like an old homework assignment.

*

The abandoned detached apartment was shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere, hidden by trash and fallen leaves.

All the windows were broken, and red liquid from the old balcony decorated the apartment like blood tears.

"Cheap apartment. It must be over 40 years old."

Baek Seung-hyun looked around sharply.

"There's no supermarket or shops nearby. Just fields. The surrounding farmland isn't extensive enough for everyone to farm."

He loudly shared his unasked-for observations and looked up at the apartment.

"At least this is the only place around here where people can live."

Sure enough, the woman with the covered face was hiding in the apartment.

Baek Seung-hyun was good with people.

More accurately, he was good at managing people like livestock.

"Auntie."

Baek Seung-hyun showed her the phone screen.

"Do you know these?"

"..."

"Auntie, don't just stand there. You know how many people they've killed, right?"

"It's impossible."

"It's impossible?"

"Our babies wouldn't do that!"

Baek Seung-hyun sniffed.

He went around to the back of the apartment and came back with a blood-stained piece of clothing.

"One of the dead was my wife."

The clothing was a man's, but the woman burst into tears, ending the conversation.

What wind blew?

When I came to, I was standing next to her.

"Are you okay?"

I even offered her a can of coffee I had brought to drink.

Gifts seem to be the key to a woman's heart, regardless of the era.

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

"Everyone in the apartment went to the bunker without me. It was built during the Saemaul Movement."

She pointed to the bunker.

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

She took off her sunglasses and wiped her tears.

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

Her eyes, with no eyebrows left, were too scarred to look at, but they held a warmth that could make animals follow.

"Thanks to those kids, I survived. And thanks to me, they survived too."

"What happened to the people in the bunker?"

It's obvious.

The black soot on the ventilation shaft suggests a fire.

"It seems there was a fire inside. Smoke and screams came out all day."

The woman's survival secret was revealed.

All the residents of the small apartment were dead.

A small apartment, but with 60 units.

That means the resources of 60 units were now in her possession.

As Baek Seung-hyun said, the isolated, dilapidated apartment was ignored by looters.

"Do you not feed them now?"

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

"Do you know where they are? The next person might be even more aggressive."

At my urging, she seemed to make a decision and tried to open the can of coffee she had received from me.

Perhaps due to alcohol-induced tremors, she couldn't open it, so I opened it for her. She bowed her head and took the coffee.

While drinking the coffee, which still held my body heat, she looked into the distance, as if making a resolution.

"I have an idea where they are."

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

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

"I found the kittens here. I took care of them after their mother abandoned them."

Her instincts were accurate.

There were bloodstains.

"Hermes~ Gucci~ Jackfield~!"

She called out to her beasts desperately.

Baek Seung-hyun and I stood a distance away.

I didn't want to see Baek Seung-hyun, so I fixed my gaze on the woman and asked coldly.

"Do we have to do it this way?"

Baek Seung-hyun put a vest on the woman.

A bomb vest.

While I disagree with his opinion that being torn apart by mutations is more painful than this, it is, in a human sense, a mess.

"That's what the dead people would want to ask this auntie too."

From the ditch, large beasts, drenched in blood, appeared.

Mutations.

Baek Seung-hyun put his finger on the detonator switch.

There's nothing to say.

His judgment is reasonable, beyond emotional considerations.

Scholars say:

Mutations are too intelligent to be tamed.

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

Like humans, who were once the most gentle of God's sheep, became the most intense critics of God, mutations choose to hate humans.

This is the prevailing theory about the aggressiveness of mutations.

But.

"Meow."

An unbelievable scene unfolded.

The mutations were following her.

Like before, they were rubbing against her, competing for her touch, just as they did when they were smaller.

"See? How good our babies are. Even now..."

"..."

The prevailing theory, which could not be denied, was directly contradicted by the unknown woman and her cats.

But that short miracle was instantly erased by the man's finger, which was grounded in reality.

Click

The monotonous sound of the switch being pressed was followed by an explosion, which swallowed everything in light and sound.

"You work like shit."

It might be the first time.

I looked at Baek Seung-hyun seriously.

Baek Seung-hyun, who had been observing me closely, avoided my gaze for the first time.

"..."

"It's a shit world, after all."

He mumbled and fled the scene.

The woman's body had disappeared without a trace.

Only one mutation, with its lower body blown off, was gasping for its last breath.

I looked down at the cat.

It looked up at me with its cooling eyes, weakly.

"You're Jackfield, aren't you?"

The ugliest of the three nodded like a human and stopped breathing.