Chapter 31: Instincts and Play

As I stared at the closed cabinet in disappointment, I realized that Jinhyang had approached me without my noticing.

She rummaged through the bag and flipped it inside out.

With a rustle, cat supplies poured out onto the table.

Looking at them, Jinhyang lifted her gaze to me and said, “You bought well.”

“Ah, yes…”

“What do you want to try first?”

“What do you mean?”

In response to my question, Jinhyang pointed at the items.

“This one, of course.”

“Why would I do that? It’s meant for the cat you’re raising…”

I couldn’t finish my sentence and just stared at Jinhyang blankly.

The cat she was raising, perhaps that could be me.

‘It’s true that I’m being taken care of…’

She feeds me, gives me treats, and lets me sleep.

Still, such a blatant treatment made my heart ache a bit.

“You’re thinking something weird again, aren’t you?”

“Ah, no, I’m not!”

“Really?”

“…….”

The truth is, I had nothing to say since she was right.

Jinhyang, who had been observing me for a while, let out a sigh.

“Do you have any awareness that you act like a cat?”

“A little, I guess. But it’s not like I want to act this way.”

“I know. People with conversion syndrome tend to do that.”

“Really?”

Other patients with similar syndromes behave this way too?

Realizing that it wasn’t an issue with my body but rather a natural phenomenon eased my mind.

“Patients with this syndrome exhibit strong characteristics of the base animal.”

“So, I’m…?”

“Yeah. I was unsure at first, but you definitely seem like a cat.”

“Ah.”

That explains why I felt something was off about my condition.

It felt like I was uncovering a secret about my body.

“To know how far your instincts manifest, you also need to learn how to control them.”

“Ah.”

So that’s why she suggested buying cat supplies.

I felt relieved to know she wasn’t just trying to torment me.

“Is that enough?”

“Yes, if that’s the case.”

“So, what should we start with?”

“Um…”

This was an act not just for fun, but for me.

I couldn’t treat it casually.

I looked at the item that appealed to me the most among those laid out before me.

The scent from this one keeps growing…

The aroma wafting out of the packaging seemed to awaken primal instincts within me.

It was a fragrance that seeped into my entire body, conveying happiness.

Earlier, the pet shop staff, as well as Jinhyang and Yoon Bora, seemed fine, so it felt like I was the only one experiencing this.

Unconsciously, I reached out for the catnip, but Jinhyang snatched it away first.

“Do you want to do this first?”

“Yes, yes!”

Jinhyang waved the catnip in front of me.

I shook my head in sync with its swaying path.

“…This looks dangerous, so we’ll do it later.”

“Eh.”

Jinhyang stood up and put the catnip away in the cabinet.

It was the same place where she had just put the brush.

I felt a little—no, quite a bit—disappointed, but I understood.

If I were to get addicted to catnip, that would be a big problem.

‘They say catnip isn’t addictive, but…’

As a person, I wouldn’t know, so it didn’t hurt to be cautious.

“So, what should we—”

“Let’s do this one first!”

Yoon Bora interrupted my words, presenting a box.

‘What’s wrong with the condition of that box…?’

It was torn, ripped, and had holes all over it.

Fragments of the box were scattered on the floor.

I was surprised to see Yoon Bora folding the box silently; I didn’t expect her to make a mess like this.

“It seems you’ve got something you can’t do after all, Bora.”

“Yes, unni.”

After responding to Jinhyang, Yoon Bora placed the box on the floor and looked at me.

As if urging me to get inside.

To be honest, I didn’t really want to get in.

It seemed I didn’t have the instinct to like boxes.

It might also be because the condition of the box wasn’t great.

‘…Should I just try it?’

I felt pressured under the gaze of Jinhyang and Yoon Bora, who were watching me closely.

But since the two of them were taking the time for me, I decided to give it a shot.

Swoosh—

I slipped into the box and sat down.

“Hmm…”

Being in the box for a while made me feel somewhat at peace.

‘Should I lie down?’

I curled up and lay on my side.

I managed to fit my whole body inside.

The box size seemed perfectly picked by the pet shop staff.

“How is it, Harang?”

“It’s nice and cozy.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Bora. Can I take this home?”

If I placed it on my bed, I felt like I would drift off to sleep in no time.

“Sure! If Harang likes it—”

“No.”

Jinhyang cut in, interrupting Yoon Bora.

I had no choice but to question Jinhyang in disappointment.

“Why, why? I think it’s nice…”

“You’re shedding. I’ll get you a better one later.”

“Ah…”

That was certainly true.

Even now, pieces of the box were falling apart in real time.

“So, do you like the box?”

Jinhyang asked me.

“Yes. It’s more comfortable than I expected.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but if the box were bigger or smaller, I don’t think I’d like it as much…”

It was just the perfect size for a person to fit in.

“So size matters, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Got it.”

Jinhyang nodded and jotted something down in her notebook.

“Then, let’s move on to the next thing. Come out.”

“No.”

I only poked my head out from the box to respond.

With the box, I felt invincible.

Jinhyang didn’t scare me at all.

“L…”

Sigh.

With a big sigh, Jinhyang squatted down beside me.

She seemed to be trying to match my eye level, but since I was all curled up, her eyes were much higher than mine.

“…Can’t I stay just a little longer?”

“Do you even know who’s making you do this right now?”

Jinhyang pulled at my cheeks.

“Ah!”

As I felt the pain from my stretching cheeks, I realized that the box wasn’t as safe as I thought.

After all, it was just a box.

I had to get out before it became more painful.

Just as I was about to get up from my spot,

Yoon Bora stood in front of me and said,

“Unni! Then I’ll make Harang come out!”

In her confident hands was a toy fishing rod.

She began to wave it around in front of me proudly.

“Bora, I don’t really do this kind of thing…”

The fish at the end of the rod swayed back and forth.

Trying to catch something that was moving in front of my eyes was an instinct of living creatures.

It wasn’t because I had animal instincts.

I reached out toward the fish floating in the air, but whoosh~!

I missed the fish with Yoon Bora’s flashy wrist snap.

“Try to catch it!”

Yoon Bora teased with a grin, shaking the fishing rod from side to side.

The speed was so fast that I wouldn’t have been able to see it in its original state, but with my current vision, I could definitely perceive it.

“…Her dynamic visual acuity is better than I thought.”

Jinhyang muttered as she watched from the side.

I wanted to respond that it wasn’t usually like this, but I couldn’t answer since I was too focused on the fish.

Left, right, left, right.

I envisioned the fish’s movement patterns and contracted my muscles,

like an athlete ready to leap.

I swallowed and waited for the right moment,

the moment to catch the fish, the moment to jump.

And then.

Now!

I jumped and reached for the fish.

“I caught it…!”

But the fish was not caught.

Yoon Bora quickly whisked the fish away and caught me instead.

“I caught Harang!”

“Uh?”

Yoon Bora grinned down at me.

“Harang has better jumping ability than I expected, huh?”

“Jumping ability?”

I turned to look back at Yoon Bora while she held me in her arms.

It was impressive that I had jumped this far from where the fishing rod was swaying behind her.

Is my body weak, but my agility has improved?

At least my vision and reflexes were significantly better than those of an ordinary person.

But that wasn’t what mattered to me right now.

“Bora.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you shake the fish a bit faster?”

“Ah, okay…”

Yoon Bora held the fishing rod and shook it in front of my eyes,

but at a slower pace than before.

This was fast enough for me to catch it.

Snap—!

As I grasped the fish in my hands, a sense of satisfaction washed over me.

It was a superiority that only a successful predator could feel after a hunt.

That feeling of conquest could only be experienced by someone at the top of the food chain.

“This is really bad…”

Jinhyang, who was standing next to me, sighed as she looked at me.

“Why, what’s wrong…?”

“You’re not supposed to have such strong instincts.”

“…This isn’t instinct, you know?”

“What?”

Jinhyang furrowed her brow, but her expression was subtly different from when she was angry.

She looked confused, as if she couldn’t understand what I was saying.

“It’s like, um, I’m a fisherman.”

“A fisherman?”

“Why do fishermen fish? For the thrill and satisfaction. I’m similar. It’s different from a cat’s instinct.”

“…You can talk pretty well.”

Hehe. I smiled at Jinhyang and immediately stuffed the toy fish into my mouth.

Jinhyang couldn’t cover my mouth with her hand to stop me from eating it.

“Eh?”

Looking at her in disappointment, she picked up some churu from the table.

“How about this?”

“…Are you underestimating me too much?”

I wasn’t joking.

Did she think I would go crazy over churu?

It wasn’t even catnip; it was just some cat treat.

Goodness.