Cat Therapy Chapter 2.6

For some reason, since Haedong was watching the movie well, Seo Yongwoo offered him a snack.

“Baby, eat some tuna too.”

Nyaa.

Haedong, who had been watching the movie, naturally tried to accept it and eat, but since it hurt his pride that Seo Yongwoo was feeding him, he first transformed into human form. As Haedong got up naked beside him, Seo Yongwoo stared intently at that body and then casually took off the T-shirt he was wearing and gave it to him.

“···Why is your waist so slim when you’re a guy.”

“This is fat···.”

Haedong grumbled in dissatisfaction but still put on the single T-shirt. Throughout that, Seo Yongwoo’s sticky gaze lingered on his waist, but he did not pay more attention to it.

With just Seo Yongwoo’s T-shirt, everything that needed to be covered on his body was covered. Haedong, who had even put on underwear, wondered if he should put on pants too, but since he really hated clothes, he stopped at that and settled on the sofa to eat the tuna feast.

At that moment, coincidentally, a grooming scene came up in the movie. It was a scene where the killer licked his lover’s hand as if craving something.

[Why do you keep licking the back of my hand?]

[Why, do you hate it?]

[Honestly··· it’s dirty.]

[‘Dirty,’ huh···.]

It was a scene where a cat beastman was grooming the arm of his lover from a different species, leading to conflict, but in fact, it was right before killing the cheating lover, so a heavy tension hung in the air.

At that time, Seo Yongwoo suddenly asked.

“But why do you hate kissing so much.”

Flinch.

At the question, Haedong inadvertently looked to the side and flinched in surprise. Because the one speaking from beside him looked exactly like the killer in the movie. Looking again, it was a face with indifferent eyes and rough lines that suited the role so well.

Seo Yongwoo wrapped his arm around the surprised one’s shoulder and soothed him. Haedong barely calmed his pounding chest and said.

“I am not used to that kind of thing originally.”

“Then you just need to get used to it.”

Does that even make sense. It was the same as saying to get beaten until you get used to being hit. To that extent, for a cat, getting used to something disliked was close to impossible.

Haedong, knowing his own tendencies, decided to explain the reason as honestly as possible. If he did not, he felt like the tiger would really persist with kissing until the end.

“I was originally the eldest son··· so I was the one doing the grooming.”

“Is kissing grooming?”

“It’s similar.”

“······.”

It was so absurd that Seo Yongwoo could not continue speaking. Not being used to receiving grooming because he was the eldest son. Suddenly, he recalled how Haedong, when he was a cat, would occasionally groom him.

Originally, grooming is done by the higher rank to the lower one. Like parents to children. In that case, the reason Haedong did not want to kiss was clear.

“···That means you see me as lower rank than you.”

“······.”

“Really, like a can opener level.”

Since it was the correct answer, Haedong slightly averted his gaze and fiddled with the tip of his own tail. Seo Yongwoo looked at that with a look of utter bewilderment and laughed. Then, Haedong said it as if it was not an excuse but as if there was no choice.

“I am a male too.”

“Oh··· you were a male?”

“······.”

When he asked it as if teasing something cute, Haedong glared to the side. The black and fluffy tail pulled out above his hips also flapped around. It meant he was displeased, so Seo Yongwoo obediently lowered his eyes. In fact, he had no choice because he kept wanting to snicker and laugh.

He never thought he would meet a beastman who saw a tiger as lower rank in the hierarchy while living, but it turned out to be his own cat. No wonder he always guarded in front of the bathroom and such; it must have been protecting him as a lower rank.

‘Well. I hated receiving kisses too.’

Thinking about it, Seo Yongwoo also, when dating someone, would turn his head away and refuse whenever he was about to receive a kiss. Since kisses were naturally something he gave first, he understood Haedong’s aversion to it.

The only thing he could not understand was his own reaction.

‘He looks down on me, but why doesn’t it bother me.’

Was it because he had lived in resignation thinking he was just a caretaker all this time. Or even though Haedong was male, because he was insignificant and pretty.

Seo Yongwoo had grown up receiving harsh education from his strict father in childhood that a tiger must live as a tiger, so he was sensitive to hierarchy, but Haedong seeing him as lower did not bother him at all.

Rather, a simple solution that came to mind made him want to implement it right away.

“Then from now on, you can kiss me.”

“Yes···?”

“Like grooming.”

He could feel Haedong looking at him like he was crazy. Then, he blankly opened his mouth alone and stared at some point in the air. He seemed to be imagining that situation in his head.

Then, belatedly, with a reluctant face, he asked.

“Mister··· would that be okay with you?”

“My lover kissing me. Why wouldn’t it?”

“······.”

What Haedong meant was probably that he had no pride, but Seo Yongwoo really did not mind at all. As long as he could receive a kiss from Haedong, he would be fine even showing his most comfortable true form.

Seo Yongwoo looked at the clock pointing to midnight and said nonchalantly.

“It’s nap time now. I’ll transform into my true form, so groom me.”

“Ti, tiger? For sleep,”

Even as Haedong panicked, Seo Yongwoo immediately returned to his true form.

Soon, he transformed into a massive tiger form that filled the three-person sofa. Transforming into his true form after a long time felt as comfortable as throwing off tight clothes.

Growl···.

The tiger growled pleasantly, clenching his fangs with a crunch, and lightly shook his body. The glossy golden fur and black stripes rippled uncommonly over the full muscle contours.

Seeing that, Haedong also transformed into a small cat with a flap.

Kyaa!

Haedong, startled out of his wits, jumped up as if ignoring gravity, then ran across the slippery floor with a skid like drifting, and whooshed away. Then, he hid by flattening himself tightly on the highest part of the cat tower.

‘He does that every time.’

Having anticipated that reaction, the tiger deliberately pretended to be uninterested and yawned widely. He had shown his true form a few times even when raising him as a cat, but each time Haedong got scared and did not approach, so he stopped.

But now they knew each other were beastmen. Far from being awkward, he even anticipated that his cat would groom him. The tiger sprawled sideways on the sofa entirely. It was also a good idea because he was really sleepy, so Haedong could get used to it on his own.

“······.”

As expected, before long, he felt the presence of the cat slowly approaching.

It was approaching so slowly that it took a while before the cat arrived and peeked around his head. Seo Yongwoo deliberately pretended to be asleep with his eyes closed and growled.

Then, really thinking he was asleep, the cat took action.

Smack!

It started with suddenly hitting his head like with a cotton swab. Whether he was angry that he occupied the whole sofa, or if the tiger who startled him was outrageous. He could not know the exact reason, but since it did not hurt, the tiger just flicked his round ear and that was it. He had to keep pretending to sleep for Haedong to truly relax.

Hmph···.

Soon, a small sighing sound from the cat was heard. He could feel it stepping on his body with kneads, and then it seemed to settle its small body next to his front paw.

Soon, an unfamiliar sensation was felt on one front paw. No, he knew what it was, but it was a texture he had only felt when very young.

Lick, lick. Lick.

‘He really does it.’

Haedong was grooming him. Rubbing his tongue with a scratch to groom like kissing the back of the hand, and since it was amusing and pleasant, the tiger quietly lifted the corner of his mouth and smiled.

Growl.

When the tiger made a rumbling sound of satisfaction, the cat bounced away like a spring in surprise, but soon smacked the tiger’s head a few times and started grooming the tiger’s front paw again, which was as big as his body. After some time passed, it even became so enthusiastic that it felt like a tiny grooming machine.

However, his frail stamina did not last long.

Nyaa···.

“······?”

How much time had passed; suddenly the kid became quiet, so he slightly opened his eyes to see, and the small cat had already fallen asleep before he knew it.

He must have been extremely tired, as he slept next to his large front paw with his eyes half-rolled back and his pink tongue sticking out, and finding that amusing, the tiger could not hold back his laughter.

‘I really want to eat him up.’

Amused by the cuteness, the tiger smiled slowly while looking at his cat, then could not hold back and gave him a thorough grooming once. As he licked with his huge tongue, the cat’s body was pushed away as if being swept, but even so, Haedong slept soundly without waking.

Seo Yongwoo sniffed to get used to his scent, then groomed him thoroughly again, and placed his chin on the cat’s belly and lay down. Since the tiger’s size was so large, the cat fit perfectly in the space under his neck.

Perhaps liking the warm body temperature, intermittent purring sounds came from Haedong even in his sleep. It was an endlessly satisfying and peaceful moment for Seo Yongwoo. Even more than the times when he was immersed in movies.

‘Why isn’t he hateable.’

He was clearly a thief. Moreover, one who saw him as lower rank and pretended to like him forcibly. The more he kept Haedong by his side, the more Seo Yongwoo found each day enjoyable and comfortable.

Sometimes the haughty Haedong was outrageous, and he got tired from the cat hair, but those were parts of daily life with Haedong. He was amazed that he, who used to care about people’s gazes and cling only to acting and achievements, could forget all that and focus on just one other person. It was the first time he felt truly at rest.

‘I just want to live like this together···.’

The tiger let out a long sigh and closed his eyes. Even as he fell into a nap like that, one worry suddenly came to mind. Whether he still liked Haedong as a cat, or if he had come to like Do Haedong himself as well, he was very confused.

But one thing was certain. That he was happy because Haedong was by his side.

Seo Yongwoo did not go out often, considering Haedong’s territorial animal tendencies.

Still, he occasionally went on dates with Haedong, and each time he took him to splendid places so that he would not regret going out.

Today, the place Seo Yongwoo brought him to was a villa that also served as a horseback riding ranch located on the southern sea. While driving there, looking at various villas visible at distant intervals, Haedong suddenly thought.

‘What kind of people are the owners of those villas.’

Since it was a place where rich people came to vacation, there seemed to be dedicated staff managing it, as he occasionally saw people repairing the buildings. Haedong was unfamiliar with such places but quietly entrusted his body to the car while holding Seo Yongwoo’s hand.

“Wow···.”

And then, upon arriving at the destination, Haedong encountered a world he had never seen before.

He had thought Seo Yongwoo was simply bringing him to a nice villa, but he rode a separate cart and went even deeper beyond the ranch.