The black cat crawled out of a trash heap, a grimy half-eaten fish clamped in its jaws.
It was bringing food back for its younger siblings.
Life as a stray was hard—but huddled together, licking each other clean, those kittens found joy and comfort in their tiny world.
After all, what did a kitten know of hardship? All they wanted was to live another happy day.
“Meow! Meow meow!”
“Meow meow meow—mii~!”
Hearing their big brother’s voice, the little ones stumbled out from hiding, tumbling into view.
They leapt on him excitedly and shared the little fish.
“Meow.” The black cat licked them affectionately, then turned and headed back out to scavenge again.
A cat’s territory was earned through battle. The black cat walked the streets with elegant steps, eyes flicking left and right, until it spotted an untouched trash bin.
Just as it was about to approach, it heard a human voice: “Meow~ Mii-mii, come here~”
Sometimes… humans gave food.
The black cat remembered this. It saw that the voice belonged to a female human, so it rubbed against her a couple of times—humans were more likely to give food if you acted cute.
Sure enough, the woman was delighted. She immediately pulled out a sausage.
“Aww, what a sweet little thing! Here, eat up! Wanna come home with big sis?”
She peeled off the wrapper and held the sausage out.
The black cat took a bite—salty, but filling—then allowed her a single pet in return.
And then… it grabbed the sausage and bolted.
The human behind her gave a helpless laugh. “What, just one pet? You heartless little thing!”
The black cat couldn’t care less. It darted through the bushes and landscaping, racing home.
“Meow meow meow meow!”
Come out! Look what big brother brought you to eat!
Normally, its little siblings would come tumbling out at the first sound of its voice, scrambling to fight over food. But today, no matter how much it called, not a single kitten came to greet it.
Confused, it padded over to the space beneath the bridge—only to find a tiny, blood-soaked feline corpse.
The sausage in the black cat’s mouth fell to the ground with a dull thud.
“Meow—”
It let out a heart-wrenching cry, leapt over to the kitten, and frantically nudged it, licked it, even bit it gently.
But the body was already cold. No matter how hard the black cat tried to make it move, there was no response.
It tried again and again, until finally… it had to stop. It rushed into the shadows under the bridge, searching for the others—but all it found were more bodies.
All dead. Every one of them.
The black cat understood death. Its mother had died when it was just eight months old, not long after giving birth to its siblings.
It had protected them for three months—and now, they had all left it too.
“Meow… meooow…”
Its cries of grief rang out through the night.
The next morning, just as it was dragging its weary body to its feet, a net dropped down and caught it.
A male human.
His eyes gleamed with malice as he chuckled. “Missed one, huh? Well, now it’s a clean sweep. Don’t be sad, little kitty…”
“I’ll send you to join your family!”
He took it to a basement, where countless cat corpses already lay.
He burned it. Scalded it. Cut off one of its ears. Then finally—smashed it to death with his bare hands.
The last thing it saw before it died… was the man’s crazed, twisted laughter.
That’s when the black cat understood.
It wasn’t tortured because it had done something wrong. Not because it had let its guard down around humans.
It suffered simply because it was a cat.
It was a cat—and that was its original sin.
***
When the black cat regained consciousness, it was no longer a body, but a cloud of dark mist—its form reborn from the fury of countless dead cats.
It wandered the villa for ages, slowly realizing this place was a “game.”
Those humans were players. Their goal was to find a [Ghost]. The one who had tortured them… was that [Ghost].
When they caught the scent of their enemy, they couldn’t wait to kill him.
But… they were wrong.
The black cat was furious. For a brief moment, it even considered killing all the players—wipe them out, and the [Ghost] would die too. That would be justice. But then… one player appeared.
He smelled like one of them. Like a good person. Like that girl who had once fed it sausage—maybe even one of her descendants.
Because of that scent, the black cat chose to trust him. And it worked.
The [Ghost] was exposed, and after a brutal fight, the players managed to pin it down. The cat spirits, filled with fury, pounced on him.
They bit. They clawed. They let their hatred erupt, burning with the rage of both life and death. The [Ghost] was soon ripped beyond recognition. But as the game ended and the villa began to collapse, the black cat heard voices—faint and familiar—echoing in its ears.
“Big Brother, follow that human out of here!”
“Live for us, Big Brother!”
“Goodbye…”
They pushed him toward the player. And he scooped it into his arms.
It returned… to the real world.
