“Meowwww.”
Go Hoon lit up, his eyes sparkling with anticipation. But Bae Jung-yoon, who had just brought up the subject, looked oddly indifferent. Locking eyes with Go Hoon in his usual drowsy manner, he let out a low hum from his throat and spoke offhandedly.
“No way. You’re a cat. Right, Kkongddeok-i?”
‘No. You’re wrong. I understood what you said!’
“Mraaaaooow─!”
“How could a cat possibly understand human speech?”
Go Hoon frantically sent out signals, but Bae Jung-yoon had already reached a solid conclusion: it was all just his imagination. With his preconceived notions firmly in place, he muttered nonchalantly and dropped the look of suspicion from his face.
Go Hoon was practically fuming on the inside. This was beyond frustrating. If they couldn’t even communicate, how was this guy supposed to take proper care of him?
“Myaaang.”
But no matter how much he raised his voice, it was pointless now—Bae Jung-yoon’s attention had already shifted. He straightened up after picking up the food bowl.
“Just wait a sec. It needs to cool down a little.”
Go Hoon ran up beside him and craned his neck back, looking up at Bae Jung-yoon with his head tilted as far as it could go.
“Waaaaaoooong.”
“Yeah, yeah. Got it. I’ll give it to you soon.”
No, that’s not what I meant… He felt all the energy drain out of him. ‘Ugh, why do I even bother expecting anything from you?’
Giving up on trying to redirect the man’s attention, Go Hoon shifted his gaze to the chicken, eyeing it with raw, unfiltered hunger. His eyes then caught the large bandage plastered across the back of Bae Jung-yoon’s hand.
Come to think of it, even after getting scratched up like that, the first thing this guy did when he got home was take care of the cat. It hit Go Hoon anew just how much Bae Jung-yoon really loved cats.
But that realization lasted all of two seconds. The moment the food bowl hit the floor, Go Hoon’s focus was instantly hijacked by the sight of the chicken.
“Okay, it’s cooled down enough. You can eat now.”
As soon as permission was granted, Go Hoon’s eyes lit up and he pounced on the food. His gray tail shot straight up and trembled with excitement, a visible display of his sheer delight.
“Mmmraang, myang.”
As he tore into the chicken with noisy cries and frenzied chomps, the little beast devoured it like a wild animal. Watching him, Bae Jung-yoon rested his chin in his palm and stifled a slow, contented smile.
***
Time passed without mercy.
A week had gone by since the vet’s visit, and Go Hoon had returned to the animal hospital for his first round of multi-vaccine shots. He was anxious—after all, this was a vaccine meant for cats, not humans. What if something went wrong? But thankfully, he came out of it perfectly healthy with no side effects.
Another week passed. It had now been a full two weeks since he’d been living at Bae Jung-yoon’s house. Which also meant—it had been two weeks since he’d turned into a cat.
Honestly, Go Hoon had hoped that after a few days, he’d just naturally revert back to being human. After all, he was originally human. He figured this bizarre situation was just a temporary glitch in life, something that would resolve itself without much fuss.
But clearly, that was nothing more than wishful thinking. Days kept piling up, and there wasn’t the slightest sign of him returning to his original body.
The more time he spent in a cat’s body, the more suffocating the future began to feel. He needed to return to his human self—fast. But how? No matter how much he worried, the world around him remained disconcertingly peaceful.
A cat’s life was absurdly comfortable. There was no fixed schedule, no responsibilities. You just lived each day as you pleased. It was an existence free of all pressure.
No loan interest, no utility bills, no rent collectors. Naturally, as a cat, he didn’t have to study or work either. His whole day revolved around eating, pooping, playing a little, then sleeping.
These days, Go Hoon’s daily routine looked like this: he’d wake up around 6 a.m. and immediately start trying to wake Bae Jung-yoon. The reason was simple—he was hungry.
Slipping out of the man’s warm embrace, he’d gently tap Bae Jung-yoon’s face with his paw. Eventually, Jung-yoon would groggily flutter his eyes open and glance at the furry little intruder who had disturbed his slumber.
“Did you sleep well?”
With a drowsy smile and a husky voice, Bae Jung-yoon would greet him good morning, then drag himself up to prepare Go Hoon’s breakfast—usually boiled chicken breast or salmon. Then he’d collapse back into bed like a man felled by tranquilizer.
After licking his bowl completely clean, Go Hoon would spend some quiet time alone in the living room before Jung-yoon fully woke up. He’d perch on the hammock attached to the window, watching the peaceful scenery or the occasional bird flitting by.
Sometimes, he’d even use the remote to turn on the TV and watch variety shows or dramas. And whenever that happened, Bae Jung-yoon would walk out into the living room with a dazed look on his face, staring at him like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
At first, Jung-yoon seemed convinced the TV was malfunctioning. But after it happened a few more times, he just started accepting it like it was normal.
Looking back on it, Go Hoon often thought that Bae Jung-yoon was oddly good at rationalizing the irrational. How could he see a cat watching TV and not find anything suspicious about it? Honestly, it made Go Hoon wonder if Jung-yoon was all there in the head.
In any case, once Bae Jung-yoon was fully awake, the two of them would squeeze in some hunting play together. Jung-yoon went out a lot because of school and his daily workouts, but he never once slacked off on his playtime with Go Hoon.
At first, reacting to the “prey” felt so foreign that Go Hoon made a conscious effort to ignore Bae Jung-yoon’s wildly waving pheasant-feather toy. But in the end, reason crumbled before instinct.
Before he realized it, Go Hoon was chasing after the prey with eyes gleaming in excitement. The target changed from day to day because Bae Jung-yoon switched out the toys daily.
As a result, Go Hoon found himself running around like mad every day, nose flushed bright pink, paw pads slick with sweat from the sheer excitement.
Of course, since Bae Jung-yoon had the superior stamina, the one to give out first was always Go Hoon. The man’s endurance could honestly rival that of a wild animal.
Once his urge to hunt was sufficiently satisfied, Go Hoon would flop down on the floor and stretch out lazily. That was the universal sign that playtime was officially over.
After dinner at 6 p.m., he’d lounge on the couch with Bae Jung-yoon before heading into the bedroom around 11 to sleep.
There were times when Go Hoon was genuinely at a loss because Bae Jung-yoon treated him like he wasn’t a person but just a cat—like this moment, for example.
“Kkongddeok, come here. Time to sleep.”
Lifting the blanket, Bae Jung-yoon patted the spot next to him invitingly. There was one small problem here: Bae Jung-yoon didn’t wear anything to bed.
Put plainly, he slept stark naked.
On his first night at Bae Jung-yoon’s place, Go Hoon had fallen asleep first and hadn’t noticed. But the very next night, when the man casually stripped off every last piece of clothing and climbed into bed without a shred of hesitation, Go Hoon had been horrified.
Well, to be fair, Go Hoon himself usually slept in nothing but roomy boxer shorts when he was home alone. But being completely naked? That was a whole different vibe.
What made it worse was that Bae Jung-yoon treated him as just a cat and had zero qualms about any of it—except Go Hoon was still a man, just like him. Even though it was another man’s body, it was impossible not to be at least a little conscious of it.
Especially since Bae Jung-yoon had a fucking massive dick. It looked like he had a goddamn tree branch dangling between his legs. What the hell was that guy thinking, walking around like that with that kind of equipment?
Then again, with something that big, it probably was uncomfortable to keep it stuffed inside a pair of pants. Even underwear must feel tight. The more Go Hoon thought about it, the more he could actually kind of understand why the guy slept naked.
No one was watching him, and with a size like that, if it were him, he’d probably do the same. As Go Hoon nodded along in reluctant agreement, his eyes drifted down to his own lower half. What he saw was… underwhelming.
It’s just because the fur’s too long right now. Besides, he was in a cat’s body. That’s why it wasn’t visible. Back when he was human, he had nothing to be ashamed of—he could hold his own just fine.
Still, all that aside, from his current perspective, sleeping in the same bed with a naked man—with the same equipment—wasn’t exactly comfortable. He’d have preferred to keep some distance between them, but with the weather getting chillier, the floor was just too damn cold.
Even with all the fur on his body, a warm mattress with a heating pad was way better than a cold, hard floor.
“Kkongddeok-ah.”
So every time Bae Jung-yoon called out to him like that, Go Hoon would inevitably give in and climb up onto the bed. Then Jung-yoon would pull him into his arms and fall asleep with Go Hoon held close.
On the first night he saw Jung-yoon fully naked, Go Hoon had tried everything to escape his embrace. But the guy clung to him like a barnacle, and eventually, Go Hoon had no choice but to give up and spend the night wide awake.
But over time, it became a habit—falling asleep in that warm, solid chest.
Gradually, Go Hoon was growing more accustomed to this life.
Day by day, he lived lazily, letting his routine settle into a pattern. The rest, Bae Jung-yoon took care of. From meals to trimming his claws, cleaning his ears, wiping his eyes, brushing his fur, even brushing his teeth—everything was handled with care.
‘Is this what paradise is like?’ Go Hoon sometimes wondered that as he purred under the gentle touch of Bae Jung-yoon’s affectionate hands.
And yet, it was that very comfort that stirred his growing sense of unease.
