One late night, a sleeping cat was suddenly awakened by a noise outside the room.
“What’s that noise?”
Half-asleep and wobbling, the cat staggered out of the room. When cat reached the living room, cat saw the Meal Maker stepping out the door in a large cloak.
“!”
Hiding quietly in the shadows, the cat's mind buzzed with questions.
"At this hour? Why? Where is he going? This is suspicious, very suspicious."
Cat's eyes sparkled with determination.
"I have to follow Meal maker-eow!"
The cat carefully slipped through the door and crept after the Meal Maker. It followed on silent paws, a real 'Catwalk,' staying just out of sight as the Meal Maker moved swiftly and quietly.
Suddenly, Meal Maker turned around.
"……."
Meal maker slowly turned his head back.
"Hmm... Did I get it wrong?"
With a quiet mutter, the Meal Maker turned and walked on.
As the Meal Maker picked up speed again, the cat emerged from a nearby bush, eyes shining with curiosity.
Eventually, the cat saw the Meal Maker enter a secluded building.
"!"
Hiding behind a shrub beside the building, the cat hesitated.
"Should I go in… or not?"
Carefully, the cat approached the dark entrance of the building and sat in front of it. The inside was pitch black, even to the cat’s eyes.
After a brief pause, the cat made up its mind.
“I’ll be brave-ow!”
It stepped into the darkness, following faint traces left by the Meal Maker.
The cat padded along a long hallway with bits of light leaking through dusty windows. It climbed a few stairs, then walked down another long corridor.
After a while, the cat noticed a door slightly ajar, light spilling out through the crack. The Meal Maker seemed to be inside.
Quietly, the cat stood next to the door and peeked in.
"What are they doing?"
Inside, the Meal Maker was chatting with a few others, passing around what looked like an old book.
"!"
Suddenly, the cat felt a chill of instinctive fear. Its fur stood on end and it trembled slightly.
"Something’s not right… I need to get out of here—"
Whoosh
Meal Maker suddenly turned to look toward the door.
All eyes in the room shifted to the cat.
“Ki-A-wooo!”
Startled, the cat bolted.
FLASH!
The hallway lights snapped on all at once. Then—
Clatter clatter clatter
A loud, eerie noise echoed as doors and windows along the corridor began to creak open. From behind each one, pairs of eyes emerged, staring at the fleeing cat.
“KYAA-OW!!”
The cat screamed and ran. Hands and fingers reached out to grab cat. Cat ran and ran, dodging fingers and hands - never stopping, running and running…
Thump!
"Meow?"
The cat let out a shaky sound as its body was suddenly lifted off the ground. Among the many hands, one pair had grabbed it.
'They’re going to kill me…'
Tears welled up in the cat’s eyes.
A strange-smelling cloth covered its nose. The cat struggled fiercely, digging its claws into the hand holding the cloth. But soon, its mind began to fog.
Cat's eyes closed, vision blurred. In the midst of it, a familiar, expressionless face flashed before its eyes.
"Wake up, Cat!"
The cat’s eyes snapped open at the sound of the Meal Maker’s voice.
"Time to eat."
The door opened, and a hand wrapped in thick bandages placed down a bowl of food.
The cat was back in a familiar but slightly strange room—familiar because it was home, yet unfamiliar because of all the strange objects around. It was curled up in the Meal Maker’s cozy bedding, lying on the pillow.
"Why am I here? Why am I… not dead? Was it all a dream? But then… where is this? It looks like home… is this the Meal Maker’s room? Why am I here? What time is it? How long have I been asleep? Wait—was I really asleep? Didn’t someone knock me out? Did anything bad happen to me while I was out? And that place—what even was that? It was definitely suspicious…"
Cat’s head swirled with questions.
Then it suddenly remembered the Meal Maker’s bandaged hand.
"Aha!"
The corners of the cat’s mouth lifted, and its drooping tail perked up.
"Well then, Time for a meal-eow~"
Happily, the cat began munching away.
The Meal Maker walked over with a ladle and crouched beside the cat. Watching it eat, Meal maker asked.
“Want some more?”
Several old books sat beside the Meal Maker - ones the cat hadn’t noticed earlier, lost in thought. One looked like the very book the Meal Maker had received the night before. Another was one he’d been reading a lot recently.
"…What are those books-eow?"
"…Those?"
Meal Maker reached out with his bandaged hand and gently touched the top book.
"Want me to tell you? It’s a diary from far away- From the last day of the year 4332, on a planet called Matamaini, written by an old man who died in a hospital…"
* * *
“I’m here~”
Outside the hospital room, snow had begun to fall—quietly piling up in soft heaps. The cold was sharp enough to sting the skin, but she came, just as she always did, walking the snowy path.
Inside, the old one lay in bed, unmoving. Beside them, on a worn bedside table, several old diaries were stacked—battered with time, but gently kept.
Behind story - The Pursuit
Late at night-
The Meal Maker was digging through every corner of their home.
Meal Maker even opened the kitchen cupboards before finally muttering.
"…Not here."
Meal Maker made a call.
"Hello? Hey, the diary, you…”
Before Meal Maker could finish speaking, the voice on the other end cut in.
"Yeah. Of course it was you. …Wait, what? School? Why would it be at school?"
Not quite getting why it was left there, Meal Maker headed for the nearby high school.
A nearby high school-
Creak-
Meal Maker arrived at the school, where only the third-years, still in night self-study, remained so late into the evening. Meal Maker arrived at the school library, where the lights were still on.
Meal maker walked in and immediately started complaining.
"Why’d you bring it to the school library? You’re even a library director. Why’d you leave it here?"
"Sorry."
The woman who answered wore glasses, had her hair tied up, and was wearing long earrings. She looked like she worked at a different library, somewhere else.
"C'mon, dude. Why act like it’s the end of the world?"
Arms crossed, he smirked and spoke to Meal Maker. Next to her stood a man with multiple ear piercings, oversized black sunglasses, and a black mask pulled down to his chin so he could speak. If the mask had been up, his whole face would’ve been covered.
"What if someone had taken it?"
Meal Maker said.
"Then we’d have had ourselves a incident, I guess."
The masked man replied with a grin.
"Did you seriously just say…"
"Huh? Wasn’t that a cat?"
The librarian suddenly cut in, startled.
Meal Maker turned around.
"…Huh?"
"Cat is running!"
The man with the mask called out, pointing.
"Wait. You did NOT realize cat followed you here?”
The librarian director said, sounding shocked
A sudden shadow fell over Meal Maker’s face.
"Damn it. So that’s what that weird feeling was about. Help me."
"Sure."
"Of course"
The guy pulled his mask back up, and the library director gave a firm nod.
Inside a quiet third-year classroom—
Beep-
A faint notification went off from a phone hidden deep inside a student’s backpack.
It was a message from a friend in a different class, the kind who always texted in consonants asking to hit up a PC bang.
[Cat came into the hallway. Help catch]
"…Cat?"
The student blinked at the message and muttered. The student's seatmate had ditched studying and was using a pile of books as a pillow, already fast asleep—so he turned to the guy behind him. The name ‘Jo Jin-woo’ was neatly written on the top book in the stack.
"Hey, there’s a cat in the hallway and need help catching it."
"A cat?"
The seatmate mumbled, waking up.
"What the hell are you talking about…"
Even the seatmate who’d been dozing next to them cracked an eye open.
The student who received the message stood up and opened the classroom door.
Usually, the hallway lights were off during night study.
But now, one by one, they started flickering on. And sure enough—a cat was sprinting down the far end of the hallway, racing toward the stairs.
"Yo, no way. It’s real."
"Seriously?"
"Wait, why’s there a cat at school?"
The seatmate who had been asleep shot up in surprise.
The others nearby started getting out of their seats too, crowding around the hallway door and windows.
"It’s so cute."
"Holy crap, it’s actually a cat."
"We’re supposed to catch that?"
"It’s gray!"
"Yo, lemme see!"
Before long, the students rushed over, spilling into the hallway and reaching out with their hands to try to catch the cat.
"Wait, I heard it has an owner."
"Did it escape or something?"
"Yo, the first- and second-years already went home. If it goes downstairs, we’re screwed."
"Damn, it’s fast."
"What the…"
As they watched, they started murmuring to each other—some swapping random info, others just amazed by the cat’s speed.
But things started getting a little too chaotic.
"Hey Hey!"
"Dude, we’re gonna end up hurting someone at this rate."
"Should we herd it with like… a mop or something?"
"No way, man! A stick’s too dangerous!"
In the middle of the frenzy, after some clumsy chasing and help from the students, Meal Maker finally managed to catch the cat.
"Thanks for the help, every student."
Meal maker said.
The students just shrugged it off like it was no big deal.
The student, who received text message, asked.
"You okay?"
Meal Maker didn’t answer.
Instead, Meal maker hid bleeding hand—raked by the cat’s claws—beneath the collar of their cloak, eyes on the now-sleeping cat in their arms.
Just then, the library director and the masked man came up.
"Got it, huh. It's a relief."
Said the masked man.
"You doing okay now?"
"…What is this? Why is it like this? Where’d you even get this?"
Meal Maker demanded, voice sharp, hugging the cat tightly.
The masked man raised both hands in mock surrender.
"Whoa, calm down. It was legally prescribed."
He started rattling off excuses, clearly feeling no guilt whatsoever.
"Miro gave it to me, said it was just in case. Said it was safe. See? Look! No injuries—well, besides maybe yours—and the cat’s just sleeping. Everything’s fine, right?"
"The problem is that YOU had it. And YOU used it."
Meal Maker spoke like there wasn’t even a sliver of trust left.
"Well… hey, at least we stopped something worse from happening…"
The man’s voice trailed off, sheepishly.
Sensing another long scolding coming, the library director stepped in. The library director handed over a paper bag stuffed with the Diaries.
“I’ll take care of the rest. Just take those and go home already.”
Meal Maker took the bag with a injured hand—still oozing blood in thin trails along the scratch marks—while holding the cat securely in the other arm.
"…Thanks. I owe you."
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This chapter was translated gently, with ChatGPT.
