Chapter 22

22. Who can understand a cat's heart?

Siwoo...

was not standing awkwardly on the floor, but had been sitting with one knee bent and both hands on the ground, and was very slowly... very slowly... getting up.

It was a landing posture that could be called the textbook of a hero.

The staff held their breath and watched the scene.

Of course, they knew.

It must have been a coincidence.

There was no way a 14-month-old baby, who had only just started walking, could have intentionally taken such a pose.

But whether it was a coincidence or not, the staff were captivated by Siwoo's slow, deliberate movements.

With everyone's attention focused on him, Siwoo straightened his back and lifted his small, adorable face toward the camera next to Director Bae.

Director Bae, who had been looking at the camera footage, swallowed hard the moment his eyes met Siwoo's.

The lollipop that Director Bae had been holding instead of a cigarette fell to the ground.

'What is this kid...?'

It was too early to be surprised.

“Pfff!”

Looking straight at the camera, Siwoo spat out the lollipop in his mouth.

Director Bae flinched at even this simple action.

Exuding an aura that captivated the room, Siwoo extended his right palm forward as impressively as possible, then slightly raised his inner strength and let out a roar.

...

Silence fell over the filming site.

The small baby's determined eyes, clenched mouth, and intense babbling.

In the silence, Director Bae jumped up again.

It was the third time today.

The chair flew backward and was thrown away by the force of Director Bae's buttocks.

“...!”

This time, even the word "unbelievable" couldn't be uttered.

It was impossible to express the current feeling with such words.

Director Bae squeezed out a voice from deep within his chest.

“Cute... so cute... so, so cute...!”

Director Bae's heartfelt scream immediately infected the staff.

People who had lost their composure and were shouting "cute" appeared everywhere.

Siwoo gave a cheerful smile and turned to go to the window where Mr. Green was.

Step by step.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

'With my inner strength, my babbling will stay in their heads for a while.'

* * *

The CF shooting, which started early, finally ended in the evening.

The Siwoo family said their goodbyes to Director Bae and the marketing team leader in front of the set building.

Director Bae shook hands with Dojin.

"Thank you very much for your cooperation in the shooting today."

Dojin and Hyunju had worked very hard today.

Dojin now understood how much Hyunju had struggled to support Siwoo during the previous movie shooting.

"Thank you, Director, for filming our children. To be honest, I was quite worried at first..."

"Concerned?"

"In fact, I did theater in my early twenties and knew about Director Bae's reputation."

Understanding the meaning, Director Bae burst into a light laugh.

"Oh, you did theater. Yes, I was once known as a master of absurdity. That was when I was young. The days when I used to drink and sleep on the streets in front of Hyehwa Station in Daehak-ro. Anyway, it's very nice to meet someone who did theater in the same era."

"Yes, me too."

Director Bae also greeted Hyunju.

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Yes. Please take good care of the children."

Meanwhile, the marketing team leader and some employees came out with a few boxes.

"What is all this?"

Dojin's eyes widened.

The team leader answered.

"Food and treats. I'll send more later. And as we mentioned during the contract, we'll send the children's toys, clothes, houses, and even Nero's toilet... basically, everything. To make it look natural on social media... Yes, hahaha."

It was a request to post more photos.

This was also part of the model contract.

Even if Hyunju didn't intend to, the children's photos would inevitably be exposed.

"World's cutest Siwoo~! Have a good trip~! You did great today!"

"Nero and Boksil! You guys run so fast!"

"Good job, kids. Go ask your parents for lots of treats~!"

The Siwoo family, who had come out to say goodbye to the staff, got into the car and left.

As soon as they got in the car, the children, who had been fighting off fatigue, fell asleep.

Unable to resist his baby instincts, Siwoo also fell into a deep sleep.

Dojin and Hyunju looked at the sleeping children's faces and smiled warmly.

"Really, it was a long day."

Dojin met Hyunju's eyes, smiled, and carefully drove home.

* * *

It had been about a week since the CF shooting.

On a day when the sun was blazing down.

A truck stopped in front of Siwoo's house.

The doorbell rang.

Hyunju, who had been playing with Siwoo in the air-conditioned room, quickly went to open the front door.

"Hello~!"

The delivery men carried boxes on their backs and came inside.

Due to the large quantity, the delivery men had to make several trips between the house and the truck, sweating profusely.

Hyunju took cold drinks from the refrigerator and gave them to the delivery men.

"Thank you~!"

One of the delivery men, who had gulped down the can, handed a printout to Hyunju.

"It's the list of items. Please check it and call this number if anything is missing. I'll be on my way. Enjoy~!"

"Yes~ thank you! You worked hard in the heat."

"Oh, by the way! The cat tower is usually assembled by the customers after reading the instructions. Do you want me to do it for you?"

Seeing the delivery man's face, which was drenched in sweat, Hyunju couldn't bring herself to ask him to assemble it.

"No, it's okay. I'll do it with my husband when he gets home."

"Alright, then. It's the most expensive one from Pet World, so it has a lot of parts, but it's not difficult to assemble."

The delivery men left.

Hyunju looked around the living room.

Thump!

The living room... had turned into a warehouse.

There was no space to step due to the toys sent by Sujin and the boxes from Pet World.

"Clearly a good thing... but I can't just be happy... What should I do?"

First, Siwoo needed a place to play.

"Siwoo, let's go inside for a bit."

Putting Siwoo in the baby crib in the bedroom, Hyunju turned off the air conditioner.

She opened the windows to let the dust out and moved the boxes, which had no place to go, onto the play mat in the bedroom and the small room.

– Crack!

"Ah!"

Boksil, who had been sniffing around the boxes to see what was inside, got her foot stepped on by Hyunju, who was moving the boxes.

"Boksil! Are you okay?"

It wasn't a hard step because she felt the pressure and pulled back immediately.

As Hyunju tried to examine Boksil's front paw, Boksil pulled her foot away and ran straight to the baby crib where Siwoo was.

– Woof!

She then started barking, hanging onto the baby crib.

Siwoo, who was rolling around inside the crib, touched Boksil's front paw with his hand.

"…You're fine. Are you just being dramatic?"

– Whine...

"Alright."

Siwoo lightly cast the lowest level of healing magic on Boksil's whim.

Boksil, enjoying the warm feeling, happily ran back to the living room.

"Boksil, are you okay?"

– Woof!

Seeing Boksil running around energetically, Hyunju felt relieved and started organizing again.

She finished moving the boxes and brought out the vacuum cleaner to clean the dust on the play mat.

After removing the mat cover and putting it in the laundry basket, she took a new one from the linen closet and struggled to put it on the mat.

Hyunju patted the soft, fabric mat cover and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"Phew~!"

Dojin, who had just come home, was speechless.

"Wait... What is all this?"

"Brother, welcome to Pet World. It's all Boksil and Nero's stuff."

"Is there this much? What do we do with it? We can barely handle Siwoo's toys..."

"One thing is certain: we need to at least organize it to make our lives possible."

Dojin and Hyunju nodded in agreement.

Dojin asked, "Got it. What should I do?"

"Brother, please assemble the cat tower first. I'll take care of the rest."

"OK. The cat tower, right? Nero will love his new, awesome cat tower."

Putting Boksil and Nero in the bedroom for a moment and moving Siwoo's baby crib to the kitchen where it was visible, Dojin and Hyunju started unpacking the boxes.

A while later.

Thanks to Hyunju's magical skills, the house was quite neatly organized.

Dojin also completed the assembly of the cat tower.

However, the size of the cat tower was terrifying.

"…Do you know we have several cats in our house?"

Surprised by the unexpectedly large size, Hyunju was quite taken aback.

Cat tower?

No.

This was a cat castle.

Meanwhile, Dojin, who had been sweating profusely and had assembled it from start to finish, was looking at the cat castle with a proud eye.

"Nero can play on top, and Boksil can play in the maze with holes at the bottom. Oh, that's where we put Nero's toilet. It's made of natural wood..."

"…Brother, where do we put this?"

After discussing, they decided to place the cat tower in front of the wall between the balcony and the small room.

It would make the small room a bit less accessible, but there was no other space.

After finishing the organization, Dojin and Hyunju brought Nero and Boksil from the bedroom.

Dojin, with a highly expectant look, placed Nero in front of the cat tower.

"Nero~ Look at this. It's an awesome cat tower. Dad made it. Come on, climb up! Hurry!"

Thump, thump.

Dojin had endured the tiring assembly process after work, all for this moment.

Nero wiggled his bottom and walked toward the cat tower.

Stopping in front of the cat tower, Nero glanced up and down at the towering structure and then walked past it.

He then squeezed his body into the smallest box among the boxes piled up in front of the balcony.

"…Nero?"

Dojin called Nero with a bewildered voice.

Papapap.

Nero moved his front paws quickly inside the box and closed it himself.

Nero had successfully self-packaged.

Dojin, in a daze, asked Hyunju.

"Why is he doing that?"

Siwoo, who was in Hyunju's arms, p