K was lying on a branch high up in the trees. His ears were twitching. His black tail seemed to follow his ears’ movements and gently swayed. However, in the darkness of the pitch-black forest, this movement was invisible to anyone’s eyes.
Underneath the tree, a group of humans ignited a campfire. As the number of humans was pretty significant, multiple campfires were kindled in the small clearing. K was quietly observing the scene underneath his tree branch.
In fact, K had already been watching the group for a quarter of the day.
Since escaping from the witch’s hut, K had been wandering through the forest for three days and three nights. For this reason, K was utterly exhausted. It may have been hard on his body1힘든 몸도 몸이지만: literally, “the difficult body was indeed a body”; 힘든 > 힘들다 (to be hard, difficult, tough), but his hungry belly was why he was collapsing on the brink of starvation. He had considered hunting, but this was entirely unreasonable. He would rather starve and die than catch and eat wild animals, which were all swarming with germs and insects. Anyway, when he found himself in such a state of despair, he discovered these humans. However, K didn’t approach the humans, but instead chose to shadow them without their knowledge. The reason was simple: They were hunting.
K looked down at the wild boar roasting on the campfire with a complicated gaze.
The sizzling wild boar was cooked, its meat was tender, and the smell was quite mouth-watering. In the past, if he had the opportunity to eat something like that, he wouldn’t have cared2앞뒤 가릴 것 없이: literally, “without distinguishing between back and front” and would have pounced on it. But the situation was different now. K wasn’t sure if these humans wouldn’t attack, catch, and eat him.
K agonized over this, drumming his tail against the tree branch.
It was not commonplace to consider cats as edible and cook them. But it was also not something to dismiss. K clearly remembered his maternal grandmother cooking and eating cats, claiming it was healthy for arthritis. And even though Koreans considered cats unpalatable, there was no guarantee that these people would think the same. Even if they didn’t eat cats, there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t desire K’s beautiful pelt. And as these lands looked similar to medieval Europe, he wasn’t sure that they wouldn’t catch and kill cats for bringing misfortune.
‘Ah. I will die of hunger.’
K stared at the crispy cooked meat and smacked his lips. The thought of climbing down to steal and eat some of it kept popping up in his head. In any case, nobody would probably notice if he treaded exceptionally silently. Even his fur was black. But…
K glanced at the swords and shields as well as the bows and arrows the humans were carrying. What is the use of this roasting wild boar being a boar, if he stole and ate this meal in vain3괜히 음식을 훔쳐 먹으려다 지금 굽는 멧돼지 꼴이 되지 말란 법은 없다.: Literally, “To steal and eat a meal in vain, there is no law that the currently roasting wild boar’s state should not be a boar.” Considering the context, possibly in the sense of: “So what if it’s meat, if I get caught?”? Alternatingly facing the delicious aroma of the meat and the group of humans, K finally gave up on stealing and eating some of the meat. Of course, doing so didn’t mean he would give up on the meat. He was only giving up on stealing it. There was another way to eat meat than by stealing it.
K first examined the hierarchy of those humans underneath him.
Anyway, he was a cat now. It was out of the question for him to catch and eat mice, so he had no other choice but to become indebted to someone. Wasn’t there such a saying? That a dog’s fortune is a good fortune? He could live comfortably for the time being if he met an excellent human to look after him. Wouldn’t it be convenient to live a good life indebted to someone, so to speak, as long as he still had to break the curse and return to his original world, or find a way to live amongst humans?
But those spear-wielding dregs were out of the question. And none of those guys, who were busying themselves here and there near the campfires. Neither one of those sloppily dressed ones. Nor one of those ugly, rude-looking ones.
After choosing for a while, which human to impose himself on, K’s eyes glimmered sharply.
First, he eliminated several from the group, so there weren’t many left. Directly underneath the tree K was hiding on, several men were sitting at a campfire. Judging by their attire, their weapons, and their quietly sitting and unmoving posture, there was no doubt that these humans had the highest status amongst them.
K kept an eye on one of the men in particular, who was leaning with his back against the tree.
His attire was luxurious and glamorous, and his sitting posture indicated that he was undoubtedly at the very top of the hierarchy. K stared at the man with narrowed eyes, his tail slowly swaying. The man’s eyes were quietly closed. He looked relatively young. And the whole time, his face didn’t make any particular expression. K couldn’t guess the man’s thoughts because of his expressionless face.
‘Will he really feed me?’
K gently swayed his tail and tried to judge the man’s reactions.
He was pretty handsome and looked well-mannered without a dirty temper. He didn’t seem like someone who would kill K for being offensive if he went to him and pretended to be pitiful. Maybe…
K was agonizing over it for a while. Finally, he endured the possibility of danger and raised his body to try and attach himself to that man.
“Meow…”
In the darkness of the deep forest, a pitiful crying voice rang out. When hearing the crisp sound, the soldiers grabbed their weapons and tensed their shoulders, turning towards the sound. They didn’t relax their vigilance.
“Meow…”
As if it knew that it was coming closer, the feeble cry rang out again. And soon after, the softly treading figure of a small cat could be seen through the flickering flames of the campfire. After confirming the figure with their eyes, the soldiers smirked and dropped their hands from their weapons.
Stopping at the edge of the campfire, the black cat observed the humans’ reactions and waited quietly. Only after checking the softening atmosphere did it continue to approach with soft steps. The soldiers watched the approaching cat’s figure in a very relaxed manner and with amusement.
The cat moved gracefully and in a relaxed manner. It stepped without hesitation in a specific direction, as if that direction had been its target from the beginning.
“What should we do, Your Royal Highness4전하: (jeonha) literally, “your highness.”
[T/N: As all names are English, I will use the proper forms of address for British nobility and royalty. As a royal prince, the proper address for Calix would therefore be “Your Royal Highness.”]?”
Unlike the other soldiers, the knight Simon did not let go of his sword hilt and asked in a low voice. In response to the question, Calix, who was leaning against the tree, lifted his eyes.
The black cat with the glossy flowing fur walked slowly but without hesitation toward Calix. There was no sign of it shrinking away, even as it pushed through the gaps between the many soldiers.
“Your Royal Highness.”
Simon urged again.
In truth, he had sensed early on that the cat had been shadowing them. He merely let it be, as it was just a tiny animal, posing no real threat. But a small animal walking up to Calix in such a blunt fashion could not be left alone. Not even at a chance of one in ten thousand.
Simon’s eyes were alert, and he was prepared to draw his sword and cut down the cat at any moment. The cat’s steps suddenly halted. It stopped at about 3 meters away and watched Simon and his tight grip on his sword. Its eyes sluggishly flickered, and its tail gently swayed from side to side. Calix, who was watching this quietly, opened his lips slowly.
“Leave it be.”
At Calix’s words, Simon let go of his sword hilt without a second word. The cat resumed its approach.
Walking up straight in front of Calix, the cat sat down with its butt glued to the ground. The knights standing next to Calix observed the cat, half with interest, half with vigilance. Looking at the cat straight from close-up, its black pelt was without a single speck of dirt. It was marvelous that the elegantly sitting cat wasn’t even afraid of unfamiliar people and was staring at Calix in an obvious fashion.
The cat, which had been sitting quietly and watching Calix, suddenly moved its head. The cat’s attention lay on the well-cooked wild boar meat in front of Calix. After staring once at the still steaming meat, the cat looked again at Calix and cried in a pitiful, long voice. “Meow…”. It was begging for something to eat. When they saw this sight, the knights mentally clicked their tongues. This fellow acted pretty cutely, but it had chosen the wrong opponent. The cat was begging none other than Crown Prince Calix. Crown Prince Calix was famous for being cold and cold-hearted since childhood. He never betrayed any emotions and always sported an expressionless mien. But the cat didn’t know this and looked again at the meat. It cried again at the Crown Prince. “Meow…”.
Calix looked at the cat, who was feebly crying, and suddenly lifted one hand. As the cat saw the hand stretching toward it, it drummed its tail on the ground. To a small cat, Calix’s big hand, which had been holding swords since he was young, must have been thoroughly threatening.
The cat stared for a moment at the extended hand. It then stood up from where it had been sitting and sluggishly approached the extended hand. It put its paw on top of the hand and cried. “Meow…”.