Chapter 27: The Fine Line Between Play and Reality

“Hey, wake up.”

Someone poked my cheek as they spoke.

“Hm?”

As I slowly opened my eyes, I saw Jinhyang’s neck.

Right, we slept together last night.

I yawned and remained still, only my eyes open.

“…If you’re awake, could you move off me?”

“Move off?”

It occurred to me that our position was odd.

I was lying on top of her.

‘Is that why she couldn’t get up?’

I could’ve just shifted to the side and gotten up.

But the drowsy fatigue from a deep sleep made me lazy.

“You’re strong enough; can’t you just push me off yourself?”

“…Is that so?”

Grab—

Jinhyang took hold of my body.

One hand gripped my waist, and the other grabbed the back of my neck.

I didn’t resist her touch and stayed still.

‘Hm?’

For some reason, I couldn’t move.

It wasn’t unpleasant—rather, it felt strangely comforting.

It was as if a soothing sense of peace washed over me, making me want to surrender my whole body.

‘What’s going on?’

I couldn’t lift a finger.

Or rather, I didn’t want to.

It wasn’t from fatigue.

It felt as though my instincts were telling me not to move, tightening around my body.

“Uh, Jinhyang?”

“What now?”

“I can’t move.”

“…Maybe it’s because you’re still sleepy?”

Jinhyang gently laid me down on the bed.

The feeling that had been restraining me suddenly disappeared.

“Oh, it’s gone.”

What on earth was that?

As I wiggled my fingers, Jinhyang looked down at me and spoke.

“Could it be that?”

“What?”

Without answering, Jinhyang walked over to a small storage cabinet in the room.

She opened it and pulled something out.

‘What is that?’

She held a belt-like choker in her hand—a fashion accessory meant to be worn around the neck.

“Hey, do you know something?”

“Know what?”

“They say cats can’t move when their scruff is grabbed.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that.”

I once had a pet cat at home.

“Wanna test if it’s true?”

“Huh?”

How would you even test that here?

Just as I started to question her, Jinhyang approached and began fastening the choker around my neck.

‘What is this?’

I let her do it without resisting.

I had no idea what she was trying to do.

‘Hmm.’

I thought chokers would feel tight, but this one was surprisingly comfortable.

Still, why was she putting it on me?

I looked up at Jinhyang in confusion as she reached toward the back of my neck.

Click. There was the sound of a button being pressed.

At the same time, I felt pressure at the nape of my neck.

“This thing tightens around the back…”

Thud—

Before I could even finish my sentence, I collapsed onto the bed.

It felt as though my instincts were telling me not to move, pressing down on my entire body.

“Huh?”

All I could do was blink in confusion as Jinhyang flashed an evil grin at me.

“You really can’t move, huh?”

Seeing her grin reminded me of what she said earlier—about how cats couldn’t move when grabbed by the scruff of their necks.

‘No way…’

Had I really turned into a cat or something?

But I’m a human with intelligence. How could instincts overpower reason?

There was no way any animalistic behavior was left in me.

I wanted to deny it, but I couldn’t ignore the reality of what was happening.

“P-please take it off.”

This felt weirder than when she touched my tail.

“Stay like that for thirty minutes.”

“Why…?”

“Do you have any idea how long I couldn’t move because of you?”

How long could it have been, really?

Lying down, I glanced up at Jinhyang, but she walked out of the room without another word, leaving me behind.

She’ll come back, right?

She definitely will.

With a desperate heart, I kept my eyes fixed on the door, but Jinhyang didn’t return.

‘Did she really leave?’

And so, all I could do was helplessly stare at the door.

Finally, after thirty minutes, Jinhyang returned.

“Did you behave?”

Of course I behaved—I couldn’t even move.

Feeling annoyed, I looked up at her and said:

“Meow.”

“…What are you doing?”

“I’m a cat, so I’m speaking in cat language.”

Meow.

I waved my tail, which was the only part of me that could move, mimicking a cat.

“…Are you rebelling right now?”

Jinhyang’s sharp eyes bore down on me. I wondered if I had gone too far, but I had an excuse.

“Why are you angry when a cat speaks its own language?”

I genuinely had cat-like instincts, after all.

It was a good enough explanation.

“Hmph…”

Jinhyang stood there for a moment, deep in thought, as if contemplating something.

After a few minutes, she finally approached and unfastened the choker.

With a click, I felt a sense of liberation, and my body became free again.

“Meow!”

I stretched like a cat for no reason.

I stretched out my front legs—or rather, arms—while lifting my hips and tail.

It was my way of subtly rebelling, just like Jinhyang had said.

Jinhyang silently watched my antics, as if challenging me to do as much as I could.

Her silent gaze was scarier than when she was angry, and I thought I should stop.

“I should…take a shower.”

I quickly passed by her and made my way toward the door, but her voice stopped me.

“So…a cat, huh…”

Her muttering gave me goosebumps for some reason.

It felt like she was plotting something.

My unease turned out to be right.

Jinhyang took me to the pet shop in the tower.

“Uh, um…”

“You said you can speak cat, right? Why?”

“Well, yeah…”

Jinhyang tapped on the acrylic cage in the shop, and the cat inside slowly approached her gesture.

“Myaah.”

A kitten’s distinctive cry.

Jinhyang turned to look at me after hearing it.

“What did it just say?”

“Well… uh…”

There was no way I could claim I didn’t understand, especially now that we’d come all the way here.

If I did, Jinhyang would definitely get angry, thinking I’d been messing with her.

I had no choice but to make an excuse.

“…I can’t understand baby babbling. Humans can’t either, right?”

“Is that so?”

“Y-yes.”

I nodded at Jinhyang. It was, even to me, a perfect excuse.

“So, you can only talk to adult cats?”

“Yes. But there aren’t any adults here, right?”

Since this was a famous pet shop in a well-known building, the cats usually got adopted before reaching adulthood.

‘Wait, did I just win?’

There was no way for Jinhyang to prove I was lying. In other words, this was a fight I was bound to win.

‘I actually beat Jinhyang.’

It might have been a first in human history, considering it seemed impossible for anyone to ever win against her.

Heh.

As my lips curled up, I raised my hand to cover them. That’s when Jinhyang spoke up.

“There is an adult cat here.”

“…What?”

“There’s a resident cat here, a fully grown one.”

Wait, really?

I looked up at her in shock as she grabbed my hand and dragged me deeper into the store.

And there it was—a truly massive cat.

“W-wait a second…!”

I tugged on Jinhyang’s hand in resistance, but my strength was no match for hers. I was dragged along like someone waterskiing behind a boat.

I was doomed.

This was bad.

I was going to get caught.

As these thoughts raced through my mind, Jinhyang suddenly stopped in her tracks.

“What am I even doing, picking on a kid?”

Sigh.

She let out a deep sigh and crouched down until her eyes were level with mine.

“Why are you being so stubborn today?”

“…”

“You’re not going to say anything?”

“Well… it’s just…”

Damn it.

Who was the one being mean first?

I felt frustrated, but I didn’t say it aloud.

Jinhyang would only get angrier if I did.

As I stayed silent, Jinhyang placed her hand gently on my head.

“Are you upset because I restrained you this morning?”

“I’m not really mad… just a little…”

I mumbled the last part, and Jinhyang spoke first.

“I’ve held you down like that plenty of times before. Did it bother you then too?”

“It’s different… that and this…”

“What’s the difference?”

“It’s fine being together, but today you left me alone…”

As I spoke, I cautiously observed Jinhyang’s reaction, worried I might have crossed a line.

But surprisingly, she didn’t seem angry at all.

“Do you hate being alone?”

“It’s not that…”

What I hated was the feeling of being abandoned, helpless, with nothing I could do. That was the ultimate destination of my trauma.

But I couldn’t tell her that—my personal past.

I doubted Jinhyang would understand or sympathize with it. And I wasn’t fond of unloading my emotions onto others either.

As I stood there silently, Jinhyang crouched down even further, lowering herself below my eye level.

“Well, alright. I’m sorry about today.”

“What?”

Jinhyang’s apology, something I never thought I’d hear in my entire life, left me wide-eyed in shock.

“I figured since you’d just end up lazing around for thirty minutes after waking up, I’d have a little fun with you. I didn’t realize you’d hate it that much.”

She wasn’t wrong. I had spent those thirty minutes doing nothing but loafing around.

But that wasn’t what had left me speechless.

It was the word “fun” coming from Jinhyang.

“…You know how to joke around?”

“What?”

“N-no, nothing.”

So she does joke around.

Come to think of it, Jinhyang isn’t a robot. It made sense she’d play pranks every now and then.

‘…Has she been playing pranks on me this whole time?’

As that puzzling thought stirred in my mind, I found myself curious—curious about the difference between Jinhyang’s jokes and her genuine actions.

How could I tell them apart?