Translator: Oni
Editor: Crystal Crater
I scrabbled at the walls and wailed for Tae-il to let me out, but it was hopeless. He went straight to the veterinary clinic as if he came to the conclusion that it was a normal complaint for a cat. As I peered through the narrow slats of my plastic prison, I caught sight of the city and people"s legs moving about.
Was that the clinic there?! No!
My fur stood on end as Tae-il opened the door and went inside, and the smell of many different animals a.s.saulted my nose.
Tae-il set the carrier down on the counter, and the receptionist came into view. Any moment now they were going to restrain me and stab me with needles…
“Miyaaaak!” (Don"t wannaaaaa!)
“I"m Shin Tae-il. I made an appointment for a check-up and—”
Chalkang chalkang!
I tried to rock the carrier, but nothing worked. Instead, I was labeled as a fierce cat and taken to the doctor"s office in the carrier.
I blubbered and cried. They"d find out everything even if they took one x-ray. This body had no internal organs! I only had a heart! It was one of the things of angel of death had said. Beware of X-rays! When it said that, I snorted and replied ‘Why would there be a reason to take one?" but now…
“Kyaaak!” (Noooo!)
I never thought that one moment"s comfort would bring about such misery! G.o.d, Father, angel of death, I"d rather be on the roof! I gave a prayer that I was anywhere else but here, but it went unanswered. All I heard now was Tae-il"s conversation with the vet. Was I going to be marked as an alien and dissected?
“My what a tough girl,” the vet observed. “What breed is she?”
“She"s not my cat. She was always alone on the roof, so I brought her here. I think she might have an owner…Oh, and I searched the Internet, and she looks closest to something called the Bombay—large, black fur, gold eyes … …."
“Hmmm, I don"t think so. Bombays are uncommon in this country. There are many similar breeds, but let"s take a look at her first.”
Trembling like a patient that was about to be operated on, I pushed my body to the very back of the carrier. However, human hands could naturally reach further inside. As if I had a death wish, I used my claws to scratch at them, but my opponent was a professional. The vet restrained my claws with practiced ease and pulled me out of the carrier. No!
“Miyaaak, miyak!” (No, let go of me!)
“She"s very fierce.”
I was in the hands of someone who was not Tae-il. That blasted vet! I looked up at my new enemy. It was a young man with Beckham style bright hair and looked somewhere in his late 20s or early 30s. He was tall, had broad hands..and corners of his mouth were tipped upwards in a devilish smile. That might have been from the effect of fear.
I hissed and bared my teeth at him, and Tae-il looked taken aback. He had never seen me act so aggressively before.
“That"s strange. She"s usually a nice girl.”
“Animals are all like this at clinics. It would be strange if she wasn"t.”
“So it"s like that?”
“Yes, they can get sensitive. Hey!”
As soon as I saw my chance, I bit the vet"s hand. I was a natural reaction from fear.
“Kitty!” Tae-il cried out.
“I"m fine,” the vet said rea.s.suringly. “It would be best if you stayed outside for a moment. Fierce cats tend to have more aggression when their owners are around. It tends to die down when the things they trust in aren"t close.”
Tae-il looked uncertain. “…Will that be alright?”
“It"ll be over before you know it.”
Tae-il left the room. He had deserted me to the clutches of the vet in cold blood. It was done so naturally that I felt nervous. I looked at the roughened hands that set me down on the examination table, and I looked up with begging eyes.
“Miii…mi…mi.” (Let me go…Let go…Hate this.)
Because this man was experienced in subduing cats, he was my natural enemy. Was this how cattle felt when they were dragged to the slaughterhouse? This terrible fear?
My tail was my only free limb, and I hit the back of his hand. It was about as threatening as a cotton ball. It seemed more cute, even.
“Now, be good,” the vet chided.
“Mimimiming!” (Someone save me!)
“Hey! Stay still!”
I started crying for help, but I still sounded just like a cat. It was useless. Even a veterinarian couldn"t understand cat speech.
Various worries raced through my mind. Is that blood he"s drawing really the blood of a cat? Is that x-ray really capturing the bones of a cat? What"s that squeaky thing he"s pressing to my body? As I lay on the steel examination table, I lost all the ferocity I armed myself with. Stunned by anxiety, I simply trembled on top of the cold, steel examination table.
Well, ignoring how he was drawing blood…what was he doing now?
“Hyak…?!” (Huh…?!)
“It"s almost over, Miss Cat.”
He secured my body under his arm and lifted my tail. From the young vet"s standpoint, he was simply trying to put a test rod in my a.n.u.s for a stool test, but from my point of view, this was worse than death by lightning strike.
My eyes widened impossibly as as I watched the vet press something long and translucent into my b.u.t.t. A real cat wouldn"t know what was going on. I wish I were a real cat! Embarra.s.sment burned in me like wildfire.
“Hey, you perverted b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.
The vet"s eyes widened as large as mine.
The cat had talked like a person. It even swore.
“…”
We both stared at each other in shocked silence. I could tell by his frozen posture that he doubted what he had heard, and truth be told, I did as well. The vet looked wide-eyed around the examination room to confirm that it was only him and myself here.
I was still in his grasp with my jaw dropped open, and I despaired when realized two things—one, that I needed this level of desperation to speak like a human, and two, I"d rather not have known that.
“Did you just—?” the vet said as he looked down at me.
I had forgotten to breathe. There was only one choice left for me, and I furtively avoided his gaze.
“M-myaong?”
Cat Of The Day:
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