Chapter 6

6. Even if I lived a hundred times, I wouldn't grow up.

The cat's face was a mess.

Its conjunctiva was swollen, making it hard to see out of both eyes, and its nose was squished.

The area around its mouth was also very dirty.

Shiu, who had been ready to laugh at the cat falling off the fence in a second, held back his laughter when he saw the cat's condition.

He thought he should have praised the cat for climbing up rather than mocking it for falling.

The black cat wobbled for a moment and then lay down at the base of the fence.

Right in front of Shiu's living room window.

Shiu also slightly opened the outer window of the double-glazed window.

A cold wind rushed into the living room.

"It's cold."

Feeling the cold, Shiu put on a furry baby vest from the sofa, a rabbit hat that goes up when you press it, and returned to the window frame.

Then he spoke to the outside.

"Cat. What are you doing? You're not thinking of dying there, are you?"

The cat, which had been lying on the ground as if it were dead, was startled and lifted its head.

The cat, which had been looking around, noticed a small baby looking down from the window.

– Meow…

A weak cry came from the cat's throat.

"Yeah. I'm talking to you. Why does your face look like that? Are you hurt somewhere?"

– Meow…

"Can't you see? You rude thing. I just asked out of curiosity. I don't care. Don't die here; go somewhere else. If you die here, my mom will be shocked and fall when she opens the window for ventilation."

– Meow…

"Of course, you have a mom too, right? It's not something I can help with. Go somewhere else quickly…"

– Meow!

The cat cried sharply.

"…"

I don't want to die.

Shiu, moving his hands in his vest pocket, thought.

'Even if you don't want to die, everyone eventually dies. I've died 99 times.'

Thanks to that, he became familiar with death and could accept it without resistance… or so he thought.

No matter how many times he died, he never got used to death.

The more he experienced it, the more he didn't want to die.

Just as a person's height has limits, so does a person's mental age, and he couldn't become indifferent to death.

Living his 100th life, the thought of not having a 101st life made him feel like he was going to go crazy, and even after enjoying life, he wanted to enjoy it again when a new life began.

The one thing Shiu realized through his 100 lives was that a mature person is mature even at 10, and an immature person is immature even at 100.

What about me?

Well, it's all the same.

Maybe it's because I haven't grown up even after living 100 times.

Shiu still had many things he wanted to do, and that's why he didn't want to die.

The cat's cry pierced his heart.

"You're right. You should do everything you want and live without regrets. You have a lot of regrets, don't you? Good. I feel good. I'll open the screen door, so come up here."

Shiu fully opened the living room window.

The cat didn't react.

It didn't understand why this small human baby was calling it.

"Jump up. It's about the same height as the fence you climbed earlier, right? If you hit your head on the security window this time, I'll really laugh."

Shiu gestured to the cat.

The cat, which had wobbled as it stood up, looked up at the window.

It didn't know why it was being called, but it wanted to climb up.

Maybe it would be warmer up there.

The street in the middle of winter was too cold.

Seeing the baby who had gestured to it for the first time since being chased away everywhere after being abandoned by its owner, the cat put all its strength into its hind legs.

Shaking its hips, the cat prepared to jump and sprang into the air like a spring.

But it was still a bit short on strength.

It seemed to have used all its strength to climb the fence earlier.

Just as the cat's body was about to fall without reaching the window, Shiu reached out his hand.

Thump!

With one hand, he held the security window to support himself, and with the other, he grabbed the cat's front legs.

Shiu used his inner strength to pull the cat onto the window frame.

– Meow…

The cat, which had climbed up, instinctively licked the arm that had caught it.

"Does your arm hurt? You're exaggerating. Sit there nicely. I have to push myself, so focus."

Practical training is the most effective.

It will be helpful for improving magical abilities, even if it's tiring.

'My free time ends here.'

Shiu decided to wrap things up for the day, looking forward to the next free time that would come someday.

Shiu's hand went to the top of the black cat's head.

Soon, a light much stronger than when he helped his parents sleep began to emit from his hand.

The light continued for a while.

After some time, Shiu took his hand off the cat's head.

The cat's condition was unrecognizably different from before.

New skin had sprouted on the squished nose, and it seemed the blocked nose had cleared, as the sound of breathing through the nose could be heard.

The conjunctiva, which had covered the edges of the eyes, had noticeably improved.

"You had a cold? Small animals and monsters can die from a cold. Even a human baby like me can. Since I treated the cause, you'll gradually get better. You'll probably have developed immunity, so you won't catch it again for a while."

Shiu came back with a bag of Boksil's individually packaged feed from the kitchen.

"Even though it's dog food, eat this. I'm tired and need to sleep quickly."

Tearing open the feed bag, Shiu threw it out the window and pushed the cat's back.

The cat landed lightly on the ground, thanks to the energy it had recovered from Shiu's mana.

– Meow!

The cat cried out in gratitude to Shiu and hurriedly pounced on the feed bag.

Shiu closed the window.

He had no energy left.

Sleepiness overwhelmed him.

'Only 9 months old, and I used too much mana.'

Shuffling.

Shiu, not walking with the same skilled steps as before but with the clumsy steps of a regular baby, headed to the bedroom.

His eyes were already half-closed.

'I can't do this. I'm sleepy.'

The way to the bedroom seemed long.

Shiu collapsed on the living room mat.

As soon as his head touched the mat, Shiu's consciousness flew to dreamland.

Some time later, Hyun-ju, who had been distracted by casting for a movie all day, rushed out to the living room in a panic upon seeing the lowered baby bed rail and the empty baby bed.

She had forgotten to lock the baby bed rail.

"Are you crazy! What do I do! Shiu!!"

Fortunately, Shiu was sound asleep on the living room mat, snuggled up to Boksil.

Hyun-ju, whose legs had given out, let out a sigh of relief and collapsed next to Shiu.

* * *

In early March, when the spring chill was at its peak.

Shiu, now 10 months old, was sitting on the living room mat, letting his mother take care of him.

"Hooray~ Raise your arms. That's right. Good job."

Hyun-ju was changing Shiu's clothes.

After putting on the new outfit she had bought at an outlet recently, Hyun-ju exclaimed.

"You look so cute! It's all about the model. Whatever Shiu wears becomes a new trendy item!"

There had been a battle of nerves between Do-jin, who wanted to buy new clothes, and Hyun-ju, who wanted to buy two sets of last season's clothes for half the price, but in the end, Hyun-ju's way prevailed.

Actually, it was hard to say it was Hyun-ju's way.

Even Hyun-ju, if she had the means, would naturally want to go to a department store and buy only the best new clothes for Shiu.

Even if she didn't eat or wear anything herself, she wanted to give the best to her child, as any parent would.

"Our Shiu looks good. Mom will… buy even better clothes next time! Got it?"

Shiu looked down at his clothes, smiled broadly, and clapped his hands.

Clap clap clap!!

"Is Shiu feeling good? Why is our Shiu so cute? He's so well-behaved, doesn't throw tantrums, and doesn't cry much. I'm so grateful to Shiu."

"Mom!"

Hyun-ju hugged the giggling Shiu tightly.

Although she was a new wife and a new mother, everything was unfamiliar and difficult, but she had gained much happiness from this small baby.

Hyun-ju put on the baby carrier and went out with Shiu.

"Oh, I'll give you a handkerchief."

She wrapped a handkerchief around the shoulder strap of the baby carrier so Shiu could suck on it and covered him with a warmer. Then she saw a black cat sitting in front of the house.

"There it is again. Why does it keep following me?"

The cat followed her to the neighborhood market, when she took out the trash, and had been chasing her around for a while.

Once, it even tried to come inside the house, and she barely managed to send it out.

"It really is well-groomed. This small thing looks like a black panther."

She thought about giving it some Boksil's feed or a can of tuna, but hesitated, thinking it might follow her forever if she did.

Hyun-ju didn't know that this cat had already tasted Boksil's feed.

"It's not okay. Don't come. We're going far in a car today. It's dangerous, so don't follow."

Maybe it was following her because it smelled Boksil?

That couldn't be it.

There were many people in the neighborhood who kept dogs.

A taxi was waiting in front of the house.

Hyun-ju got into the taxi with Shiu.

As the door closed and they started moving, the cat was staring at the taxi from in front of the house.

Hyun-ju tilted her head.

'I'm not its owner, so why is it doing that? Oh! Could this be… the cat's selection, which I've only heard about on the internet?'

It was amazing.

She loved animals and often watched animal-related programs and posts, but she never thought the cat's selection would happen to her.

'Really? Am I selected? What a surprise! Did I have some connection in a past life?'

During the taxi ride, Hyun-ju called a friend who had a cat to brag and chat.

"Is that right? But we have a baby and Boksil at home… Do you want to adopt another one? It's a black cat, and it's really well-groomed."

"What? I really don't know what to do. Maybe it will give up and not show up one day?"

"You can talk to it…"

"…It's the complete opposite of Boksil. Boksil's hobby is to warm up in the room with the boiler running."

"Okay. I need to think about it. I should talk to Shiu's dad too."

While talking to her friend, they arrived at their destination.

"Thank you. Have a good day."

Hyun-ju thanked the driver and got out of the taxi.

"Shiu, are you feeling carsick?"

Shiu answered by sucking on the handkerchief attached to the baby carrier.

Hyun-ju put the warmer back on to keep Shiu warm and headed to the building in front of her.

It was the production company of the movie "Too Scary a Wife for Me."

She was going to sign the contract for her appearance today.

"You're right on time."

After checking the time and place, Hyun-ju waited for the elevator.

The elevator, which had been stopped at the basement for a while, soon came up to the first floor.

Ding!

The door opened.

Inside the elevator was a woman who looked older than Hyun-ju, wearing a fancy coat, and a cute little boy in kindergarten uniform.

The woman, who had been looking at her phone, glanced up and down at Hyun-ju as she got into the elevator.

"Oh.