However, in a confined space, the options for escape were limited. On top of that, there were four people working together to catch Go Hoon. He didn’t stand a chance of outmaneuvering them all on his own.
“Ah, over there! Sir, this way!”
“Oh no…! Missed him.”
Darting this way and that, trying desperately to flee, Go Hoon was ultimately caught by Bae Jung-yoon.
“Got you.”
A calm, low voice tickled his ear. Just like before, Go Hoon fought back fiercely. As he had done with the nurse, he bared his claws and raked them across the back of Bae Jung-yoon’s hand, which was lined with bulging blue veins. But Bae Jung-yoon didn’t so much as flinch.
“Hold still, Kkongddeok. Good cats stay still.”
The stern voice was accompanied by a subtle but firm grip that tightened around him.
“Kkongddeok.”
The quiet voice called him again. And surprisingly, at that moment, Go Hoon froze in place. He felt an inexplicable pressure emanating from Bae Jung-yoon.
…What the hell was that just now? Like a bucket of cold water dumped over his head, his senses snapped back in an instant. At the same time, Go Hoon noticed the strong scent of blood. Looking down, he saw Bae Jung-yoon’s hand, shredded and dripping, covered in blood from his claws.
“Oh no, what do we do…! Sir, your hand looks seriously injured….”
“It’s fine.”
Unlike the nurse, who was clearly startled as if it were her own injury, Bae Jung-yoon seemed completely unfazed, as if he couldn’t even feel the pain.
“Oh no, it really doesn’t look fine. Please, let me take Kkongddeok for now.”
Transferred to the nurse with the bobbed hair, Go Hoon soon found himself bound tightly, all four limbs restrained and wrapped snugly in a towel.
“Sir, should I apply some ointment for you?”
“It’s alright. I’ll take care of it after Kkongddeok’s check-up.”
“No, that won’t do. Your hand looks really bad. I’ll give you first aid.”
“Yes, you’re bleeding quite a bit. Please let Nurse Yeon-seo treat it.”
Bae Jung-yoon kept insisting he was fine, but between the persistent nurse and now even the vet chiming in, he had no choice but to receive first aid.
The check-up paused for a moment. The nurse, whose name tag read Yoon Yeon-seo, disinfected both of Bae Jung-yoon’s hands, applied ointment, and carefully placed bandages over the wounds.
The vet, watching the two of them, had a faintly pleased expression, as if watching a picture-perfect couple. The nurse with the bobbed hair also looked like she was suppressing a smile.
“Thank you.”
Bae Jung-yoon flashed a crescent-eyed smile that looked like it could melt anyone on the spot as he offered his thanks.
“Oh no, this is nothing.”
Yoon Yeon-seo quickly waved her hands, blushing furiously. Now that he looked more closely, Go Hoon could see her round eyes brimming with something extra when she looked at Bae Jung-yoon. Well, well. The two of you go ahead and start flirting. Flirt all you want.
Bound up so tightly he couldn’t budge thanks to the bobbed-hair nurse, Go Hoon shot a bitter glare around the exam room, evenly distributing his resentment to everyone present.
It hadn’t been his intention to injure Bae Jung-yoon, but he couldn’t help it. Who in their right mind could stay calm after hearing they were about to be neutered?
After all the commotion, they finally breathed a sigh of relief once Bae Jung-yoon’s first aid was done and Go Hoon was securely wrapped up.
“Wow, this guy’s got quite the temper.”
The vet chuckled good-naturedly. Go Hoon glared daggers at him. You’re laughing right now, seriously?
“I know, right? I didn’t expect him to bolt like that.”
“He was calm during the exam. What happened all of a sudden, Kkongddeok?”
Seeing the three of them so relaxed, despite his very real crisis, made a wave of injustice rise in Go Hoon’s chest.
“Yiaaaoooong!”
‘Let me go!’ Go Hoon yowled sharply and started wriggling again inside the towel cocoon. The bobbed-hair nurse chuckled and pulled him firmly into one arm.
“Not falling for it twice. Be still, Kkongddeok.”
Surprisingly strong for her appearance, the nervous expression she’d had earlier was long gone. She now handled him with practiced ease. Left with no choice, Go Hoon let out a huff of air and ceased his futile struggling.
“I wonder why he suddenly acted out like that. Do you think he understands human speech?”
Yoon Yeon-seo said it half-jokingly. The vet and the nurse both burst into laughter.
“Could he really?”
“If that’s the case, he’s a pretty clever one, huh. Ha ha.”
The three of them laughed together like old friends. Go Hoon scowled, thoroughly unimpressed. What the hell is so funny, huh? He was dying to call them out. They were talking about removing his precious balls, and they were laughing?
“Alright, shall we get back to Kkongddeok’s case?”
As the vet brought the topic back around, Go Hoon let out a low growl. He looked fierce on the outside, but truthfully, he felt a cold sweat trickling down his spine.
There was only one thing left to trust now.
Go Hoon looked at Bae Jung-yoon with earnest, pleading eyes, putting on the most pitiful expression he could muster—like that boot-wearing cat from the movie with the green monster.
‘Don’t do it. Please don’t. Tell them the neutering isn’t necessary.’
Had his desperate plea somehow reached him? Locking eyes with Go Hoon’s vivid blue gaze, Bae Jung-yoon finally answered in a low voice.
“It’s not something we can go ahead with immediately anyway. I’ll take a little more time to think it over before giving an answer about the neutering.”
‘Phew, saved.’
Go Hoon let out a huge sigh of relief. The tension that had stiffened every muscle in his body instantly dissolved.
***
The vet ultimately concluded that the cat hadn’t yet fully adjusted to his new environment, so they should come back in a week for the first round of vaccinations.
After that, he applied a medication to the back of Go Hoon’s neck for heartworms and fitted him with a plastic cone.
The moment they got home, Bae Jung-yoon replaced the cone on Go Hoon’s neck. The new one was bright yellow and shaped like a flower—much softer and lighter than the old plastic one, but just as much of an annoyance in his field of vision.
Naturally, Go Hoon tried to remove the frilly contraption that was messing with his movements. But he got caught red-handed by Bae Jung-yoon and had to endure over five minutes of nagging about how he couldn’t take the cone off for at least two more hours.
Go Hoon didn’t bother to hide his bad mood. He curled up like he was on strike inside his cozy, blanket-lined hideout. In the darkness, he brooded over everything that had happened at the clinic. Nothing about it sat well with him.
‘How could they just jam a cotton swab into my butthole like that? Not even my nose—my actual butt.’
He’d done a typhoid test before to get a health certificate, sure. But that had been something he did himself, and not even that deep. What happened at the animal hospital today? Not even comparable. The depth, the discomfort—it was in a whole different league.
And don’t even get him started on the neutering. He didn’t exactly have dreams of fathering kittens, but that didn’t mean he wanted to end up as a hollowed-out shell at such a young age.
If they actually went through with that surgery, he’d be nothing but an empty husk—literally neutered, a walking puffball with nothing inside. Just thinking about it made his vision swim.
“I’m impotent. No… I’M IMPOTENT?!”
A scene from an old drama popped into his head, sending a chill down his spine.
No matter what, that couldn’t happen. No way. Absolutely not. Go Hoon trembled with revulsion at the thought of the cruel world of animal neutering, a world where beasts were robbed of their manhood without consent.
As he replayed the humiliation of the vet visit, he began plotting how to repay Bae Jung-yoon for the disgrace he’d suffered. Sure, maybe he was aiming at the wrong target—but the one who’d taken him to that cursed place was Bae Jung-yoon, wasn’t it?
‘One day, I’ll make him pay for this shame.’
Gripping his resolve like a sharpened blade, he was yanked from his thoughts by a familiar smell wafting through the air.
“Myaang?”
The moment his nose picked up the scent, his pink nostrils began twitching uncontrollably. Quickly springing to his feet, Go Hoon poked his head out from his cozy hideaway. He spotted Bae Jung-yoon moving busily in the kitchen.
With curious eyes, Go Hoon crept up beside him. The smell was definitely coming from there. What was that? He sniffed the air intensely, just as Bae Jung-yoon noticed him.
“You always know when it’s your food, don’t you?”
‘Is it really mine? What are you doing?’
Go Hoon stood on his hind legs and pressed up close to the counter.
“Smells good, huh?”
With a little smirk, Bae Jung-yoon used tongs to lift something out and blew on it softly to cool it down. The delicious aroma intensified.
But Go Hoon knew better than to trust it just yet. Even some cat food could smell good. He couldn’t afford to place blind faith in his sense of smell anymore.
He scratched at the counter with a front paw, silently demanding answers. Stretching his body long, he stared intently up at Bae Jung-yoon. In response, the man’s hands moved even faster.
“Still hot. Just wait a little, I’ll cool it down for you.”
A short moment later, Bae Jung-yoon set down a ceramic food dish in front of him. Inside was shredded chicken breast, carefully pulled apart into bite-sized pieces.
Go Hoon’s eyes sparkled as he brought his nose close, investigating the meal with enthusiasm. It was edible for him. Chicken breast—high-protein and beloved by dieting humans alike.
‘He didn’t mix in anything weird, right?’
He cautiously stuck out his tongue and gave it a taste. No seasoning—bland, but familiar. It was exactly what he remembered.
Without hesitation, Go Hoon devoured the little shreds of chicken breast.
“Wa-ong, wa-ang.”
‘Delicious.’
A funny little mewl escaped his mouth as he chewed, but he was too busy scarfing down the food to even notice. He hadn’t eaten all day yesterday. This was his first real meal. Of course it was going to taste like heaven.
He polished off the dish in record time, but still wasn’t satisfied.
‘That’s it? That tiny bit of chicken’s not nearly enough to fill me up.’
It hadn’t even touched the sides of his stomach. He licked his lips and looked up at Bae Jung-yoon with pleading eyes.
“Want some more?”
Thankfully, this time Bae Jung-yoon understood him perfectly. Go Hoon nodded enthusiastically. ‘Yes, please! Give it to me. My chicken breast.’ He looked up at him with a bright, hopeful face—and scored an unexpected reaction.
“Did you just nod?”
A surprised question came from Bae Jung-yoon. Go Hoon’s eyes sparkled as he nodded again, even harder.
‘Yes. I understood what you said. You finally get it, don’t you?’
