Cat Therapy Chapter 3.2

The photos were to be checked at the restaurant. Looking at the camera, there were quite a few photos that Seo Yongwoo also found to his liking.

However, the atmosphere was a bit peculiar. Perhaps because it was taken as the car passed a terminal, the surroundings where light and darkness intersected, and the fast-moving scenery outside the car window, Seo Yongwoo, holding the steering wheel with a fond smile, looked somewhat precarious.

“…Why did you take it like it’s the last image of a lover who died in an unfortunate accident?”

“That’s exactly what I was aiming for.”

“……?”

Is he aiming for my life insurance or something, Seo Yongwoo thought, looking at Haedong with a rather dumbfounded laugh. Regardless, Haedong’s cat-like eyes seemed to sparkle uniquely as he looked seriously only at the camera.

“I wanted to capture a side of you, mister, that no one else has.”

“……”

Seo Yongwoo began to see Haedong in a slightly different light. It wasn’t a side of him that no one could capture, but rather one that no one had captured, and he never imagined that Haedong would be the one to do it.

Since it was something he had always been waiting for, Seo Yongwoo even resorted to flattering his cat director.

“It’s a smile you only show to me anyway, so take as many pictures as you want.”

“Yes. The last image of a lover who died in an accident…”

“…Just a sweet daily life with a lover.”

“A sweet daily life with a lover…”

While Seo Yongwoo was instilling the concept into his director, he also personally fed his cat, who had forgotten to eat. While playing the role of a lover, he couldn’t neglect his duties as a cat butler.

After the meal, when they returned home, the manager had left the script for the variety show filming. Haedong couldn’t help but look at it with curiosity.

[My Sweet Home—Script]

“This variety show has a script too?”

“Of course. They all do.”

Seo Yongwoo answered as if it were obvious, but his expression was full of fatigue. Haedong sat next to him and stole a glance at the contents.

‘Cat butler Seo Yongwoo, struggling because he is raising a cat for the first time?’

It was a concept he didn’t like for some reason.

They had just been out on a date a moment ago, yet their relationship was defined as cat and butler. Quickly losing interest, Haedong flicked his tail and inspected his camera instead. The broadcast filming was already burdensome, and now the concept was grating on him too.

In the meantime, Seo Yongwoo had a short call with his agency, then sat down next to Haedong with the tablet PC.

“Haedong-ah. It’s the day to post a picture on social media.”

“……”

“Which picture should we post?”

It seemed he was choosing a photo to post on social media for promotional purposes before the broadcast. Seo Yongwoo showed the tablet PC screen to Haedong and flipped through the pictures one by one.

The photos were filled with pictures taken of Haedong in his cat form and Seo Yongwoo together. The memories he and Seo Yongwoo had made seemed so much like a butler and a cat that Haedong felt a strange mix of emotions.

‘He does usually treat me more like a cat than a lover…’

Was all of that just practice for the broadcast concept? But so what? That was what they had agreed on from the beginning. His thoughts becoming needlessly complicated, Haedong looked through the various pictures taken with him with a displeased expression.

Then, Haedong casually picked one photo.

“This one.”

“This one? It came out a bit affectionate.”

Seo Yongwoo seemed to be hesitating because it was different from the broadcast concept.

The photo Haedong chose was of Seo Yongwoo lying on his side, holding Haedong as a cat in his arms and playfully nibbling on one of his ears. It was filled with a warm atmosphere rather than that of a struggling butler, but at that moment, Haedong liked it.

“I want to go with that picture.”

“Then we’ll have to, I guess.”

Even though he didn’t bother to give a reason, Seo Yongwoo accepted it. Because his cat wanted it. After handling the matter as if it were a given, he brought a drink and read the script next to Haedong. He was planning to leisurely look over the script for a bit and then relax with Haedong.

In the meantime, Haedong was fiddling with the tablet PC on the sofa.

“Are you going to play a game?”

“……”

“I’ll back up the pictures we took today tomorrow.”

As he spoke, Seo Yongwoo only looked at the script while leisurely sipping his drink, but the kid was so quiet that something felt strange. On top of that, his cat tail would occasionally whip around like a lash, conveying all of his dissatisfaction.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

“……”

“Why is the tail whipping again. What are you unhappy with today?”

He asked casually, but there was no reply. Looking a bit more at the screen, Seo Yongwoo checked Haedong’s demeanor, wondering what was going on.

Haedong was staring intently at the tablet PC, just like when he played the bug-catching game. His cat ears were even pressed flat back, as if a sense of alarm had been raised.

‘His ears always do that when he’s concentrating.’

While observing the cute habit, Seo Yongwoo’s gaze inadvertently followed Haedong’s, and the moment he saw the screen, he felt goosebumps all over his body.

[Seo Yongwoo, Despite Denying Dating Rumors, Spotted on a Date Again… ‘Just a Simple Friendship?’]

“……”

It was an article from more than three years ago, and Haedong was looking at it.

Perhaps because the recent filming of ‘My Sweet Home’ had become an issue, all sorts of past histories were being unearthed, but in any case, it was not welcome news at all. It was a moment when Seo Yongwoo felt more than just resentful of his profession; he was thoroughly sick of it.

“……”

At that moment, Haedong looked to the side with a blank and merely gentle face. Seo Yongwoo turned his head, feigning nonchalance, but that very action was a crisis. For a feline to avoid eye contact was tantamount to expressing with their whole body that they didn’t want to fight and felt guilty.

Conversely, Haedong, who had been staring intently only at him, asked nonchalantly, as if asking about the lunch menu.

“Mister, how many times have you dated?”

“……”

Seo Yongwoo was momentarily unable to answer the question. Unlike his usual self, he glanced sideways as if checking Haedong’s mood, then cleared his throat and spoke while unnecessarily pouring a strong drink he had no intention of having into his glass again.

“You’re not supposed to ask things like that.”

“Why not…? Mister, you ask me all sorts of things.”

Haedong asked, his eyes wide and round. He just looked innocent, but Seo Yongwoo could feel a subtle offensive stance, so he slowly tilted his head to the opposite side. An instinctive sense of crisis made his words become jumbled.

“As for me, well, I asked this and that because I was curious.”

“I’m just curious about your past too, mister.”

“…Still, it’s better for us not to know about each other’s dating histories.”

“I see.”

“Yeah.”

Haedong nodded obediently as if he understood. Even so, he watched intently as Seo Yongwoo casually took the tablet PC and turned it off. Those cat-like eyes looked particularly sharp today, and even his monotonous words felt as extraordinary as a blade.

“You must have been good to her.”

“What?”

“The article says that to your lover, mister, you’re not a beast of prey but a cat.”

“……”

Suddenly feeling his throat burn, Seo Yongwoo downed the strong liquor in one gulp. Under the intense sense of crisis, his round tiger ears even popped out and flattened all the way back.

Just as he never knew a tiger could also do the airplane ears, Haedong discovered his weakness for the first time. He never knew he would be so affected by pokes at his past.

“Hmm. Baby, why are you so angry…”

“I’m not angry.”

If anything, those words properly provoked Haedong.

Angry? He was just excited to have found something to hold over him. He was just trying to tease him about catching him in a lie from their date. Was there any reason for him to be angry?

“You said it was a smile you only show to me, but I guess that wasn’t true after all.”

“That is, I…”

“From now on, I’m going to set a completely different concept and take pictures, not of a lover.”

Haedong, speaking as if unbothered, picked up his camera and flipped through the photos he took today one by one. He had been happy to capture his special side while taking them, but it felt like all that was going down the drain.

However, his dissatisfaction wasn’t just because of his ambition for his work.

‘So he smiled like this to other people too…’

Simply, the fact that Seo Yongwoo’s affectionately smiling face in the photo had also been directed at someone else was upsetting. Because to him, Seo Yongwoo was the only special person in his entire life.

Remembering even that, his emotions flared as if oil had been poured on a small flame. Haedong poured out all his unidentifiable frustrations at Seo Yongwoo incoherently.

“There were other dating rumors too. If you have this much dating experience… it’s a bit shameless, isn’t it.”

“……”

“Right. You and I have an eleven-year age gap, after all.”

“Right. I am, after all, older…”

“Older, so what?”

Haedong cut off what Seo Yongwoo was about to say and asked back. He even sat right next to him and stared up at him, but Seo Yongwoo avoided his gaze and blinked as if he had dust in his eye. It was clearly the behavior of someone of lower rank trying to avoid a fight at all costs.

“No. I’m just saying being old is a sin…”

In truth, beyond Haedong being 11 years younger, his face was so youthful that Seo Yongwoo felt more than just guilty; he felt a bit of remorse. Even in this situation, he was thinking that his lover was so fair-skinned and pretty.

He had to somehow hide those thoughts; soothing his angry lover was the priority. Seo Yongwoo casually swirled his glass, and unlike his usual self, he glanced around cautiously and spoke suggestively.

“But wouldn’t it be a bit… strange, to not have dated at all by the time you reach my age?”

“……”

“I only look at my cat now, don’t I.”

“…Cat.”

It seemed he had seriously provoked the wrong thing.

Haedong’s eyes became triangular, openly looking at a target of attack, and his cat ears flattened back tightly.

In response, Seo Yongwoo leaned his sturdy body heavily away from Haedong. He narrowed his eyes as if sleepy and only gently reached out a hand to wrap Haedong’s, expressing with his entire body that he was a weakling with no will to fight right now.

Even as a cat, when Haedong got angry, his temper was quite fierce, and now he seemed truly and thoroughly mad. With his cat eyes revealed, Haedong spoke passionately to himself.

“To think the excuse is that it’s natural to have experience when you’re older.”

“……”

“The mindset of trying to date someone eleven years younger after doing everything you wanted is a bit… I heard pure-blooded wolves are monogamous for life, but tiger beastmen…”

He huffed and puffed, even whipping his tail fiercely. He was clearly beyond dislike and was now angry, but strangely, Seo Yongwoo didn’t dislike the meddling. On the contrary, the more he heard, the more he found it hard to hold back his laughter.