SLC 80

I nodded. Following that, the young master left the mansion at dawn with Kim Jinkyung, who still looked half-asleep.

Contact was lost until late the next day, which caused me some worry. I figured they were holed up somewhere in a hotel finishing what they started. He said he needed three or four days, so I expected it to take at least another day or two.

Then the phone rang.

My heart lurched the moment I saw an unfamiliar number with a local area code. It felt like a revelation. The sound of impending misfortune echoed in my ears.

“Hello.”

I picked up. The person on the other end identified themselves and stated the purpose of the call. I wrote the address down on a piece of paper. My hands slipped despite my efforts to stay calm. I drove down immediately after the call ended. Kim Jinkyung was still unreachable. It was the same no matter how many times I called.

“Shit!”

I threw my phone onto the passenger seat. The device cracked after it hit the window and fell. The passenger side glass suffered the same fate.

‘Should I give you a ride?’

I should have just taken him instead of asking. That was the right move. That was all I could have done.

I drove to the hospital with my foot heavy on the accelerator, hardly in my right mind. I parked the car and went to the reception desk to give the patient’s name.

“Go to the fourth floor. Surgical Ward, Room 413…”

I ran like a madman. I reached the fourth floor and found Room 413. My fingertips trembled. I swallowed dryly and threw the door open.

“Uh…”

My eyes met Kim Jinkyung’s, whose hand was in a cast.

“Secretary Kang, how did you…”

“Where is the young master?”

“Huh? Oh, Seongha-ssi just…”

I didn’t even wait for his answer. I flung the bathroom door open. I worried he might be huddled in a corner somewhere, transformed into a panther.

“Seongha-ssi isn’t there. He just stepped out…”

“Where is he!? Young master, where on earth did he go!?”

I shouted without realizing it. A startled Kim Jinkyung blinked and pointed behind me.

Mok Seongha was there with a plastic bag in his hand.

“I went to the administration office.”

He walked over to the bedside.

“I paid with the teacher’s card for now, so handle the expenses later,” Mok Seongha said as he set the bag down.

“…Are you… alright? Are you hurt… Did you transform?”

“I did.”

Mok Seongha answered.

“I transformed and then changed back. Here, teacher. I thought you’d be thirsty.”

Mok Seongha pulled a water bottle from the bag and handed it to Kim Jinkyung.

“Thank you.”

“Ah, wait a second.”

Mok Seongha opened the cap, tucked a straw inside, and held it out to Kim Jinkyung.

“I need to talk to Secretary Kang for a moment.”

Mok Seongha tapped my shoulder. Kim Jinkyung nodded.

“Let’s go.”

Mok Seongha led the way. He entered the emergency staircase and sat on a step.

“What happened?”

The hospital told me the vehicle they were in had an accident. They said he was brought in and was currently in surgery.

“A truck hit the car. Apparently, the driver fell asleep.”

“Then you two…”

“The car broke down, so we were standing outside. The teacher was closer to the car.”

The moment the truck approached, the only thought in Mok Seongha’s head was to save Kim Jinkyung. When he came to his senses, he was rolling on the ground with Kim Jinkyung’s collar in his mouth.

“I’ll give you the truck’s license plate, so check the black box. I don’t think the truck driver saw anything anyway, but verify it regardless.”

“Ah, yes. Understood. I will also check the black box of the car you were driving…”

“No need for that.”

Mok Seongha pulled an SD card from his pocket and held it out. Secretary Kang stared at him, as he hadn’t expected him to remember such a thing in the chaos.

“What?”

“…Are you okay?”

“Can’t you tell by looking?”

No injuries were visible except for a scratch on his cheek. Secretary Kang saw that.

“I’m not hurt. I’m fine,” Mok Seongha said as he looked at Secretary Kang.

“You said you transformed earlier…”

He lost his parents in a car accident and lost his memories from the shock. A man who had seizures just by sitting in a car on rainy days had just experienced an actual accident on the road. The conditions were more than enough to trigger a massive episode.

“Yeah. I transformed. But…”

Mok Seongha was not in his right mind when he bit the back of Kim Jinkyung’s collar and rolled on the ground. His nerves were on edge, and his body shook every time he breathed. Every sound around him pierced his ears like a blade, and the smell of burning and oil poked at his nose. A sense of danger dominated his entire body.

Instinct awakened his wariness. His breathing grew heavy. He had only one thought: eliminate the danger in front of him.

But something happened then.

‘Ugh…’

A small groan came from beneath him. A familiar scent. A voice. A touch. Their eyes met. Before he could even realize who it was, the man spoke.

‘…I was right.’

‘……’

‘I told you… you aren’t that dangerous.’

Kim Jinkyung definitely knew. He knew that for a very brief moment, the young master was about to lose control.

“The teacher said that I’m not that dangerous.”

Mok Seongha repeated the words.

“…He told me I’m not that dangerous.”

“…….”

Secretary Kang couldn’t say a word. He cared for the young master, but he believed they must keep their distance when the seizures happened.

Even if he was small as a child, the young master had grown into a massive black panther weighing nearly 100kg. He knew how those beastly claws could tear human skin and how that jaw could crush human bone. He considered him dangerous because he knew these things. Every circumstance pointed to that. The situation was too grim to believe in his innocence.

“He’s a crazy bastard.”

Mok Seongha muttered as if he found it absurd.

“Don’t you think he’s a total lunatic?”

“…Yes. A little.”

“What? Why are you swearing at someone else’s teacher?”

“…….”

Pick a side, you jerk.

“Anyway, he saw that and still thinks I’m not dangerous.”

He sounded a little happy as he spoke.

Secretary Kang remembered Chairman Choi’s voice when he looked into his eyes and asked. He asked for the justification of innocence that no one else wondered about or looked for.

‘Are you… feeling wronged?’

In that moment, he realized what Kim Jinkyung meant to Mok Seongha.

“…I’m glad it didn’t escalate further.”

“Glad, my ass. He broke his finger and had surgery. They did a simple procedure here for now, but move him to another hospital and get him admitted. Find a hand specialist, too.”

“Yes. I will look for one. What should we do about the truck driver?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? Kil… put him in prison.”

“Understood.”

Secretary Kang organized the tasks in his head. Mok Seongha paused, thinking of something and spoke up.

“Do you know about Schrödinger’s cat experiment?”

“Schrö… who?”

“There’s a guy like that. He conducted an experiment where he put a cat in a box with poison. The poison might go off after an hour, or it might not.”

“What kind of total son of a bitch does that?”

“Anyway, the point is no one knows the state of the cat until they open the box. It might be dead…”

“Maybe the cat never knew. What do you think would have happened to you?”

“I am not sure.”

Secretary Kang gave an honest answer to the sudden, incomprehensible question.

“I hope the cat lived. And I hope that Western bastard died.”

People who tormented small animals deserved to be struck down. Especially if the animal was a cat.

“Honestly, I used to think it didn’t matter if the cat was alive or dead.”

“Why?”

“Because even if it was alive, it would have eventually died inside the box.”

Secretary Kang fell silent at the terrifying response.

They had built a vast garden and connected it to the mansion under the guise of protecting him. Everyone knew that place was a giant box, yet they remained silent. Mok Seongha would have lived a peaceful, harmless life inside if he had never met Kim Jinkyung. He would have avoided external dangers and ensured he remained no threat to others.

“I plan to take the driver’s license exam, so find me an academy. I originally wanted to learn from the teacher, but his hand is in that state, so it won’t work.”

“Understood. …I will find a driving instructor whose features don’t hurt the eyes and whose scent is…”

“Forget it. Shit. I am not going to date the driving instructor, so why care about the requirements?”

“…….”

So that means you chose the tutor because you wanted to date him.

“Anyway, find a hospital first. The single rooms here are so cramped that there is nowhere to lie down.”

“There was a bed.”

“A place for me to lie down.”

“…I understand.”

He really has no intention of leaving his side.

“I am going back to the room.”

Mok Seongha started to walk away but turned back as he remembered something. “Ah, right.”

“You don’t need to worry. I won’t die.”

“Excuse me?”

“Weren’t you worried?”

Secretary Kang, who had kept his head down in silence for a moment, looked up.

“I wasn’t.”

“Good for you then. Regardless, I need to live a long time. If I die, some other bastard will definitely snatch the teacher away.”

Mok Seongha cursed, seemingly disgusted by the mere thought.

“Don’t worry. I will bury the teacher with you.”

“Thanks. And since you are at it, can I ask one more favor?”

“Go ahead.”

“If I ever happen to kill him, shoot me with a gun.”

“What? What on earth does that…”

“He trusts me, but… no one knows what might happen.”

Mok Seongha’s eyes turned dark as he spoke.

“Use live ammunition.”

Mok Seongha stared at Secretary Kang.

“Secretary Kang, you are the only person I can ask for this. So… please.”

Mok Seongha bowed his head.

Secretary Kang clenched his fists. He couldn’t understand why every single one of them gave him such difficult tasks.

“Why me?”

“What?”

“Why must you ask me? Other people can fire a gun too.”

Choi Suhyeon asked him to look after her father before leaving, and Choi Dojung asked him to look after his grandson before closing his eyes. ..And now, that grandson was asking him to kill him.

“What do you mean ‘why’? It is because you are the most trustworthy.”

His tone suggested it was an obvious question. Then Mok Seongha asked, “You’ll shoot me, right?”

That damn cat.

“Can I just shoot you now?”

“No.”

Mok Seongha replied with a straight face.

“I told you. I am going to live a long time. I can’t stand the thought of him meeting another guy after I’m gone.”

Mok Seongha gritted his teeth and left for the room, saying he had to get back before the ugly male nurse arrived.

Secretary Kang sat on the stairs, wiped his cheeks with his palms, and sighed. His head hurt. However, he immediately stood up.

By the time he finished his tasks and returned to the room, the two people he didn’t want to see were stuck together, bickering.

“How can you manage with that hand? I told you I’ll do it for you.”

“I said I’m fine. I… I can do it myself.”

“So what? I’ve seen everything anyway. It is not like the world will end if I see it one more time.”

Kim Jinkyung’s face turned bright red, and he covered Mok Seongha’s mouth with his uncasted hand.

At that moment, Mok Seongha looked delighted to see Secretary Kang standing at the door with a grim expression.

“Let’s ask Secretary Kang. He says he’s going to go pee alone with that hand, but that is obviously impossible, right? A guardian should help.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

Secretary Kang’s eyes met Kim Jinkyung’s at that moment. He could tell what those big, innocent eyes were saying.

Please help me.

He wanted to help, but he also didn’t want to.

Secretary Kang walked into the room, pulled out the urinal from under the bed, and slammed it onto the table.

“Pee in this. That solves it.”

It was an unhappy solution for both of them. Mok Seongha started to make a fuss about how dirty the urinal was. In the meantime, Kim Jinkyung jumped out of bed, rushed into the bathroom, and locked the door.

“Hey! Why did you go in alone!? Open the door!”

Mok Seongha shouted while pounding on the door. Then he noticed Secretary Kang standing there expressionless and narrowed his eyes.

“Whose side are you on?”

“Whose side do you think?”

Secretary Kang smiled and continued.

“I am on the Chairman’s side.”

“Why weren’t you buried with him?!”

“I wonder the same. I should have been.”

“Get out!”

The bathroom door opened then, and Kim Jinkyung came out with a stiff face after finishing his business and washing his hand.

“You shouldn’t do that. I told you before. When you speak to someone older than you…”

“I used polite speech, but Secretary Kang said he didn’t like it. It’s true. Right? Huh? Where did he go? Hey! You should answer before you leave!”

Fierce shouts followed Secretary Kang, but he continued walking down the hospital hallway.

“It’s true. Why don’t you believe me?”

A sullen voice claimed its innocence. Just then, a male nurse entered the room with a blood pressure monitor.

“I said I’ll do it.”

He heard the young master’s voice.

“Give it to me. I even measured my grandfather’s blood pressure. Give it here.”

That crazy cat.

He considered going back in to say something, but he turned around instead.

After all, his only remaining duties were to bury Kim Jinkyung if Mok Seongha died first, and to shoot Mok Seongha if he killed Kim Jinkyung.

They could figure out the rest themselves.

“Seongha-ssi! Please!”

His mood improved slightly when he heard Kim Jinkyung’s troubled voice.

It was only natural for the person who opened the box to take responsibility for the cat. Even if that cat was a fierce, rude, giant, arrogant, and disrespectful little shit.

The sound of a live cat running wild echoed from the room. Secretary Kang’s footsteps felt lighter as he walked down the hallway.

Raindrops began to patter against the hospital windows, but it was fine. Tomorrow would be a clear day.

‎

‎

‎

How many people in the world have experienced waking up in a hospital room at dawn to find a giant black panther sleeping in their arms?

Kim Jinkyung thought about this as he looked down at the panther breathing softly in his embrace.

As soon as they moved to the hospital in Seoul, Mok Seongha demanded that no nurse or doctor enter the room at dawn. Since the hospital foundation belonged to him, no one argued.

Thanks to that, Kim Jinkyung was experiencing many things in the room that he shouldn’t. Sleeping while hugging a man transformed into a panther was one of them.

Why does he change every night?

Kim Jinkyung tried to think of a reason but gave up. Whatever form he took, it didn’t change the fact that he was Mok Seongha.

Kim Jinkyung gently shifted his casted hand to the side and used his other hand to softly stroke the panther lying face down in his arms. A purring vibration hummed against his chest. The panther adjusted his posture as if something felt uncomfortable, shifting his weight toward Kim Jinkyung’s right side. Kim Jinkyung let out an ‘ugh’.

Two of his finger bones broke during the fall, and he suffered bruises all over his body. It was only natural that his body ached with every movement.

But he was immensely lucky that it ended like this.

Every detail of the accident replayed through his mind in slow motion. He remembered Mok Seongha rushing toward him, the roar approaching from behind, the smell of burning tires tearing through the asphalt, …and in an instant, the powerful force that grabbed and pulled him by the collar.

When he regained consciousness, he was rolling down the side of the road with Mok Seongha, who had transformed into a black panther.

He didn’t even realize where it hurt when they hit the ground. He only worried about whether Mok Seongha was injured or if he was okay. However, once he realized the breathing of the beast holding him was unusual, he had to worry about something else.

Kim Jinkyung regretted his choice that day when he remained in the room with Mok Seongha during his seizure. He stayed because he worried about Mok Seongha, but he could not help the instinctive fear.

‘Should I leave now? Can I even pass him to open the door? …What if I die?’

His whole body shook with fear, and tears even fell. The beast, baring his sharp teeth, approached him as he trembled, not knowing what to do.

A savage roar tore through the air.

He was terrified. He was so scared that he could hardly breathe. If anyone asked if it was okay because it was a panther he knew, he wanted to tell them to stick their head into a predator’s mouth and try to endure it for ten seconds. He wanted to see if they would be okay.

This wasn’t an emotion he could control with logic. It was a consequential fear of a prey animal, etched into his DNA. It was a defense mechanism necessary for survival.

The big, bright red mouth gaped open and approached him. Kim Jinkyung closed his eyes. However, the teeth did not sink into his skin. The black panther bit his own front paw. Kim Jinkyung stared at the panther while tears streamed down his face, unable to understand the reason.

Red blood covered the teeth sunk into the skin.

‘Go away.’

In that moment, he felt like he understood what the panther demanded of him. He growled and threatened Kim Jinkyung again.

‘I said go.’

Kim Jinkyung hid himself as far away as possible. Then he watched the seizing panther.

Tears continued falling and his body shook because he was scared. Yet he couldn’t leave. He simply could not leave him alone. He did not want to leave him to suffer by himself.

‘I don’t want anyone but you. I don’t need anyone else.’

He remembered the man with the youthful face who said those words last night.

Kim Jinkyung wiped his tears and wrapped his arms with the motel curtains he tore down. He slowly approached the black panther after wrapping both arms. The beast, struggling in pain, sensed the approach and alertly took a defensive stance. His front paws, which lost several claws from scratching the floor, were covered in blood. Kim Jinkyung took a sheet and threw his arms around his body. The beast began to struggle. Kim Jinkyung kept his eyes closed and shouted, ‘It’s okay.’

‘It’s okay, …it will be okay. It’s not dangerous here, you’re safe, …it’s okay.’

He wasn’t sure who he was talking to. His whole body shook with fear, but he hugged the panther with all his might. His face was scratched and his arms were bitten several times. However, the beast’s strength began to fade as time passed. The roars subsided. Only the sound of painful breathing remained.

‘It will be fine. …Seongha-ssi….It’s okay. Seongha.’

At the end, he whispered in a voice so small it was barely audible. He endured for over an hour. Eventually, his whole body was soaked in sweat and he uncontrollably trembled.

Then he felt the texture inside the sheet change. He returned to human form. Mok Seongha trembled then.

‘Seongha-ssi!’

His eyelids slowly moved, and the revealed golden eyes looked up at him. Tears fell. He felt apologetic before the thought of relief. Because of his greed, he brought him here, gave him unsolicited advice, and even encouraged him to eat….

Everything was his fault. Because he liked him, because he liked him so much…. His selfish heart put him in danger.

‘I’m so glad…. I thought something happened…. I’m sorry. Because of me, …I’m so sorry.’

‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have liked you. Because of me…’

Mok Seongha grabbed him while he cried and lunged in to kiss him. Back then, he thought he was being eaten in a different sense.

Kim Jinkyung quietly stroked the back of the sleeping panther that made purring sounds.

It was dangerous this time too. He noticed that his breathing changed in a split second. That was a change only someone who experienced it could recognize.

Kim Jinkyung quickly made eye contact with Mok Seongha. He spoke while facing eyes that were on the verge of losing reason.

He said it wasn’t dangerous.

They had overcome the danger, so it would be okay.

Then the scattered breathing returned to a steady rhythm. Kim Jinkyung hugged the panther’s neck and whispered.

‘You must change back quickly. Before people arrive.’

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, Mok Seongha rose above him in his changed form. After that, it was a bit scary when he went on a rampage upon discovering two of his fingers were twisted in an odd shape.

Kim Jinkyung sighed.

But Mok Seongha was noticeably relieved once they came up to Seoul and he was admitted to his family’s foundation hospital.

He wasn’t completely relieved.

Kim Jinkyung wore a complicated expression while looking down at Mok Seongha.

Mok Seongha frequently made absurd demands. On the rare occasion a male nurse came to give an injection or measure blood pressure, he insisted on doing it himself; he tried to follow him into the bathroom to help; and he claimed he must be the one to wash his body. Kim Jinkyung refused every time and had to calm Mok Seongha down. However, he was eventually washed by Mok Seongha twice.

‘Hey.‘

Mok Seongha called out to him while he laid Kim Jinkyung down in the bathroom to wash his hair.

‘Yes?‘

‘Do you want to be my son?’

Kim Jinkyung sat up so suddenly in surprise that shampoo bubbles streamed down his face.

‘Ugh, it stings.’

Mok Seongha quickly used the showerhead to rinse the foam off Kim Jinkyung’s face. Kim Jinkyung managed to open his eyes and asked what on earth he meant by that.

‘They say men can’t get married in Korea. So people adopt them as sons instead.’

‘…Why would I be the son?’

‘Then do you want to be my dad? Are you okay with being topped by your son?’

‘No. I hate that.’

Kim Jinkyung snatched the showerhead, rinsed the remaining bubbles from his hair, and stood up. From that moment on, Mok Seongha began to ask persistently whether he would rather be topped by his son or his father, demanding he choose one.

He even asked Secretary Kang which option was better when he came to visit. Secretary Kang’s face hardened, he murmured ‘What the fuck’ and walked out of the room.

He suddenly remembered Chairman Choi’s words. He mentioned that even though it was his grandson, there would be many unlovable traits about him.

…You were right, Chairman. He has many lovely sides, but his hateful side is really something else….

The purring panther changed his posture and rubbed against his body. Kim Jinkyung propped his legs up to support the panther’s weight, worried he might fall.

At that moment.

“……!”

Kim Jinkyung realized what the hard mass pressing between his legs was and reflexively rolled the panther off the bed.

The panther opened his eyes in the darkness and bared his teeth with a growl. Then he jumped back onto the bed and looked down at Kim Jinkyung with fierce growls. It was a protest against the lover who just threw him away.

A long tail tapped Kim Jinkyung’s thigh. When he didn’t react, the tail persistently tapped him a few more times.

“You shouldn’t do that.”

“…….”

What did I do?

Those shameless, beautiful eyes seemed to say just that.

“That… doing that… thing.”

Kim Jinkyung glanced at the panther’s lower body as he spoke. The panther huffed and turned his head away, feigning ignorance.

‘It won’t be easy. There will be times you’ll want to throw him away.’

It really isn’t easy, Chairman…. And I can’t exactly throw this away either.

Kim Jinkyung repeated those prophetic words in his heart and opened both arms wide.

“Go to sleep. Behave yourself.”

The panther then snuggled obediently into his arms. Kim Jinkyung tightened his grip, holding the big and beautiful cat close.

The purring vibration reached his chest. Ever since he learned that this sound meant the creature was happy, he found it cute.

“…Have sweet dreams.”

The panther rubbed his nose against Kim Jinkyung’s neck, responding to the quiet greeting. Kim Jinkyung closed his eyes while holding the most difficult and lovely problem he chose for his life. Soon, the sound of soft breathing filled the room.

Raindrops pattered against the window, but both of them fell into a sound, sweet sleep without a single worry.

It was a long and peaceful night.

[Schrödinger’s Living Cat]

End