CK Chapter 1.3

As was to be expected, if a guy can adapt to something, he really can adapt to anything.[footnote]역시 되는 놈은 뭘 해도 된다니까.: (literally) As expected, a guy, who becomes/is fine with (anything), really becomes/is fine with (anything), regardless of what (he) does.[/footnote]

K yawned in a relaxed fashion and imperceptibly moved his head back and forth.[footnote]고개를 주억거리다: (literally) to shake/nod/slightly move the head slowly back and forth[/footnote] His body swayed with a regular rhythm, but it was not uncomfortable. On the contrary, it was even cozy and warm. There was a slight, barely perceptible feeling of suffocation, but apart from that, it was a perfect score of 100 out of 100 points.

K was perching on top of Crown Prince Calix’ belly. To be more accurate, he was lying in the space between the crown prince’s clothes and the flesh of his naked belly. K couldn’t see it with his own eyes, but the horse stick[footnote]채 말: (chae mal) literally, “stick horse.” [T/N: I translated this literally, as the Side Story 2 title is “This crown prince. Horse cock.” It is therefore likely that this instance is meant as literally as that title.][/footnote] hanging at the lower abdomen was currently bulging out for sure. At the thought of the expressionless crown prince’s horse stick bulging out from his lower abdomen, K giggled.[footnote]키잉키잉: (keeing keeing) Onomatopoeia representing a laughing sound, similar to ㅋㅋ.[/footnote] And then, the crown prince must have felt the laughter. While K was wondering what was at the lower end of the crown prince’s clothes, someone was rousing and roughly stroked K’s back. It was for sure the crown prince who was stroking his back.

‘Boy,[footnote]짜씩: (jjasshik) Slang term for “bro”, “man”, “boy”[/footnote] so there are also good guys like this in the world,[footnote]착한 녀석: (chakhan nyeoseok) from 착하다 (to be good) 녀석 ((informal) guy, fellow). [T/N: This is probably meant more sarcastically and not necessarily as a compliment.][/footnote] huh.’

In response to being touched, K put his well-padded forepaws on top of the crown prince’s naked belly and started pawing him in a rubbing motion.

The hanging horse’s shape moved quite quickly. The voice he heard at the edge of his ears vibrated heavily. For K, who was perching on top of the crown prince’s belly, it was absolutely no issue.

For quite some time, K had been looking for a human to look after him, and he already had his eye on this crown prince. Regardless of which side he looked at, it was most assuredly challenging to find a human who fit K’s tastes as much as or better than this one. He didn’t know which star or country this human was a crown prince of, but wasn’t he a crown prince anyway? He would definitely offer him the finest food in the large palace he was living in. Not only that, but he might even give him a more luxurious cat house than the one Paris Hilton’s pet dog was living in.

Of course, he wasn’t basing his decision only on such an aspect. The most important thing was also the human’s character. In this aspect, the crown prince was perfect. Wasn’t it proof enough that the crown prince, while deep in the woods, offered with his own hands food to a cat, which had lost its way? Moreover, this morning, when K was picking pieces off the cold boar meat and got irritated at the difficulty of it, the crown prince even patiently separated the meat for him. He even took care of the fat that K hated. The crown prince’s thoughtfulness reminded K of his mother. K’s mother always picked out the fat from fish and meat with a spoon. Looking back at how he was pampered and raised like this, wouldn’t this human also take care of him to a similar degree?

While perching quietly like this, such a splendid castle life was spreading out in front of K’s imagination when he suddenly pricked up his ears. He suddenly wanted to drink water. Without hesitation, K scratched the crown prince’s chest with his forepaws.

After scratching a couple of times at the chest, he stopped moving.

“Is something the matter, your Royal Highness?”

K heard a mellow voice beyond the clothes. It was not difficult for K to recognize this voice as Simon’s, who was constantly at the crown prince’s side. K stepped on the crown prince’s chest and stood up. He stuck out his head in the direction of the crown prince’s nape and rushed out into the air. Emerging from the crown prince’s clothes, K took a look at his face and then looked around at the strange expression on the surrounding people’s faces. Everyone looked as if they had eaten poop.[footnote]모두 똥 씹은 얼굴을 하고 있다.: (literally) Everyone made faces as if they were chewing poop.[/footnote] But K paid no attention and cried coquettishly: “Meow….”

A big hand grabbed his scruff and immediately lifted him up. As K was dangling in the air, he faced the crown prince. The whole time, the crown prince stared at K with an expressionless face. When K looked into the crown prince’s marvelous golden eyes, he cried: “Meow….” And then, he stared at the water canteen hanging from the horse saddle and cried again: “Meow….”

‘I am thirsty. Water.’

His dangling body was put down on the saddle. K looked up at the crown prince with satisfaction in his eyes. The crown prince immediately understood his words and grabbed the water canteen. Whether he knew the meaning of K’s attention or not, the crown prince cupped his hand and poured water into it. K stared blankly at this impromptu water bowl pushed in front of him and lifted his head.

‘What is that? Is he now really pushing this in front of me to make me drink from it?’

After staring at the crown prince, who calmly stared back at him, K turned his head away. He glanced at the unsanitary reins the crown prince had grabbed just a moment ago and looked again at the hand, which was pushed out in front of him. A chill went down his spine. He was convinced that there were assuredly about 200,000 pathogenic bacteria in there.

K was seriously agonizing over this. For about 3 seconds.

Seeing his sincerity, he really wanted to drink, even if it was just a drop, but he just couldn’t bear to do it. He didn’t even know whether he might develop a stomachache after drinking such unsanitary water. K raised his forepaw and heartlessly pushed the hand in front of him away. However, this messed up the shape of the cupped hand, and the water flowed to the ground. Even though the knights at the side cried out in vain, K ignored them. ‘After all, I’m worth it.’[footnote]난 소중하니까.: (literally) “Because I am precious.” An idiom conveying arrogance and a sassy attitude.[/footnote]

Sitting there with an elegant posture and stiffly raised head, K met the crown prince’s golden eyes. K looked up at the crown prince and vehemently protested.

“Meow…”

‘It’s dirty. Wash your hands.’

After staring at K blankly, the crown prince suddenly stared at his own hand. He then washed his hand with the water from the water canteen. He rinsed his hands until there was no more water in the canteen. Then, he cupped his hand again with the remaining water in it and pushed it out in front of K. K scrutinized the hand, rippling with water with complete relief and wetting his throat.

When K, who was wetting his throat as much as he pleased, was still feeling that intense gaze, which had made his face hot since before, he turned his head towards the owner of that gaze. It was the knight named Simon who glared at him impolitely. Licking the water droplets hanging at the corner of his mouth away, K turned to him and squinted his eyes at him as if laughing.

“Meow… meow…”

K roughly scratched at the crown prince’s chest with his forepaws, and the crown prince picked him up lightly and put him back in his clothes. With a satisfied mind, K tossed and turned until he found a comfortable position.

In fact, it was not that right now his throat was so thirsty that he had to drink water. This was just a paving stone for later. It was for human relations. No…, at the moment, it should be called human-cat[footnote]인묘: (人猫) Hanja compound word consisting of 인간/사람 인 (人間) (“in” from “ingan/saram” (human)) and 고양이 묘 (猫) (“myo” from “goyangi” (cat)). [T/N: Explanation: The hanja pronunciation for the Traditional Chinese spelling of “cat” is in Korean “myo,” hence the mismatch between “goyangi” (Korean word for cat) and “myo” (Korean pronunciation of the Traditional Chinese word for cat). See Namu wiki pages for “in” 人 https://namu.wiki/w/%E4%BA%BA and “myo” 猫 https://namu.wiki/w/%E7%8C%AB (both in Korean).

Note: The Korean text does not mention the hanja (Traditional Chinese spelling), but only the Korean without the Chinese. It took a while to figure this out, but as the word before spoke of “human relations,” it was clear that it should be a hanja compound word, with the first part deriving from “human.” My educated guess was that it must be some kind of human-animal relationship, so I started from there.

*Begin ranting* I wished the author would just clearly state the Traditional Chinese spelling. That would make searching for the right translation a lot easier… *stop ranting*][/footnote] relations anyway. Essentially, it should be easier later on if he domesticated the crown prince step by step at such an early stage. Isn’t it said that the one, who takes the lead at the early stage, will live a relaxed life?

‘Boy, now you are mine.[footnote]자씩. 너는 이제 내 밥이다: (literally) Boy. Now you are my rice.[/footnote].’

K tapped the crown prince’s sturdy chest with his forepaws and smiled secretly.

T/N: Sorry for the slight delay. =.= My migraines are lately quite severe… In my defense, it’s just about past midnight over where I live, so it’s just barely not Monday. ^^’ I will try to publish sooner next week, though.

Note: I also added the Google Play links to the Cat K books to the list in the Prologue. (Thank you, Shishax!)

~ Souricelle

Edit from 20 Nov. 2022: Changed first footnote and updated translation slightly to make it more readable (even if it is less literal).