A Name That Doesn't Carry
Hoesaegi answered the cat who stood before them — a tom whose face and frame looked far larger than either of theirs.
"I'm Silver Rain, ong."
Silver Rain. A name that made every cat bow their head and shine with awe.
"Oh!"
The dark-brown striped cat let out a short gasp of admiration, then spoke, dipping his head low.
"I am Godeungeo, dat."
It landed. Hoesaegi had no idea where this place was, but his reputation had reached even here.
Wearing a smile of quiet triumph, he received the words.
"Nice to meet you, ong. Godeungeo, ong."
Gkamnyangi, standing beside him, was impressed as well. Silver Rain's fame has reached even this unknown place? Well then — what about me?
"I'm Shadow. Hello, Godeungeo!"
"Godeungeo, dat!"
Huh? That guy had definitely just spoken casually, right? He'd used honorifics with Hoesaegi, so why not with him? Has my reputation not reached this far?
Gkamnyangi smacked his lips, freshly realizing just how towering the fame of the silver cat beside him truly was. Ah, this cat's life...
But the truth was nothing like what Gkamnyangi imagined.
Godeungeo had simply been cowed by Hoesaegi's fierce, glittering gaze. He had never heard of Silver Rain or Shadow in his life.
Had Gkamnyangi known this, he might have wilted even further.
Hoesaegi had crushed the other cat with nothing but his eyes.
While Gkamnyangi was still lamenting his feline lot, Hoesaegi asked Godeungeo a question.
"Godeungeo, ong. Is there water, ong? We want to drink, ong."
"There is water, dat. I shall escort you, dat."
Sway, sway. Godeungeo walked on, his thick tail drifting lazily from side to side, and Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi followed. Presently Godeungeo stopped.
"Here, dat."
The place he had led them to held a familiar water bowl — identical to the one in the yard at Golmokjib, the bowl that visiting birds and cats drank from.
Reminded of home, Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi's faces went stiff. Seeing this, Godeungeo startled and blurted out,
"I-it's not strange, dat. Please, look here. I-I'll drink first, dat."
Cats were a suspicious species by nature, after all. Thinking Hoesaegi had frowned because the unfamiliar bowl looked strange, Godeungeo hastily gulped the water down.
Lap, lap, lap.
Then Hoesaegi stepped up beside him.
"I know, ong. We'll enjoy this, ong. Godeungeo, ong."
"We'll enjoy this."
"Y-yes, sir."
Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi drank the water from the bowl with genuine relish. And why wouldn't they? It was the first water they had tasted in a full day. They drank and drank as if it were the water of life itself.
Watching from the side, Godeungeo's mouth stretched into a slack, delighted grin. Heh, so cool, dat! Fierce glittering eyes, and he chugged water like a real tom. Godeungeo gazed at Hoesaegi with eyes full of respect.
Having drunk until the bottom of the bowl showed, Hoesaegi lifted his head.
"Gek!"
He let out a long belch, then stretched his front legs out long and his hind legs even longer. Gkamnyangi, looking thoroughly pleased, stretched his whole body too.
"Hah! I feel alive again. I was so thirsty I almost went to Cat Star."
At Gkamnyangi's words, Hoesaegi startled, his eyes brimming with worry.
"What are you saying, ong? You can't go to Cat Star, ong. Hyung-nim is waiting, ong. We have to go to Hyung-nim, ong."
He'd only meant that the thirst had been hard, and that now that it was gone he felt good... Flustered by Hoesaegi's intense reaction, Gkamnyangi stammered.
"Y-yeah. We should."
Watching the two from the side, Godeungeo felt a lump rise in his throat. Whoa! What incredible hyungs, dat! Born in the woods near this park, he had been living on the streets for going on three years now. He had never seen cats with such deep camaraderie. In Godeungeo's eyes, the friendship between Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi sparkled and shone.
Perhaps that was why he said,
"Hyungs! Might you be hungry, dat?"
A short while later, a cheerful sound spread from a secluded corner of the park.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Crisp, crisp, crisp.
Chewing kibble, Hoesaegi teared up.
"I-it's delicious, ong."
"Mmh. It's so, so good."
Kibble after a full day of hunger was honey on the tongue. The two of them ate and ate the cold kibble in a frenzy.
Buuurp!
Urgh!
Letting out a belch entirely different from the one after the water — a mighty, rumbling one — Hoesaegi looked at Godeungeo with the utmost tenderness.
"Godeungeo, ong. Thank you, ong. I will never forget this kindness, ong."
Boing! Godeungeo's small eyes went wide. The hyung he had fallen for at first sight was saying something like that.
"N-no, dat. It is an honor to offer food to a hyung, dat."
"No, ong. Truly, thank you, ong. Thanks to the food, we have the strength to run, ong."
"That's right. Godeungeo. Because of you, we can go home."
"Home, dat? Where is you hyungs' home, dat?"
At Godeungeo's words, Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi's gazes traveled far into the distance.
"Far, ong."
"Way far away."
Godeungeo tilted his head. Didn't cats generally not wander outside their own territory? Wagging his large face left and right, he slammed a front paw into the ground.
"Ah! You were out searching for food, dat!"
It was winter, so they must have wandered far looking for something to eat. Even hyungs as magnificent as these couldn't help it in this bitter cold. The hyungs who had looked so splendid just moments ago now seemed somehow pitiful to Godeungeo.
"Hyungs, there is plenty of food here, dat. So you may stay here, dat."
Godeungeo gathered his courage and spoke. He was willing to share his territory. To share his food, too. That was how magnificent and splendid Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi were.
"Godeungeo, ong. Thank you, ong. But we will leave, ong."
"Thank you. You're a really fine fellow."
Godeungeo looked up at them as they answered. Incredible hyungs, dat. Wandering around searching for food, and still worrying about me, dat. They must be worried that food for one cat would run short if three cats ate it.
"It's all right, dat. I will eat less, dat."
"No, ong. Eat a lot, ong. Drink a lot of water too, ong. Ah, and pee a lot, ong."
"Don't hold it in. It hurts if you hold it."
"Then we'll be going, ong. Thank you, ong. Godeungeo, ong. If anyone ever bothers you, give them my name, ong. And come find Mongmong Animal Hospital, ong."
"Yeah. If anyone shows up to bully you, tell them Silver Rain and Shadow are your hyungs. Well then, bye!"
With that, Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi went thud-thud-thud, running off.
Watching the two recede, Godeungeo's face flushed pink. So cool, dat! They were such cool hyungs, dat! It had been a brief meeting, but Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi left a powerful impression on him.
Godeungeo kept staring at the place they had run off to, murmuring to himself.
"Silver Rain-hyung, Shadow-hyung, and what did they say, dat? Mongmong Animal Hospital?"
What was Mongmong Animal Hospital? But it was something the incredibly cool Silver Rain-hyung had told him. Godeungeo carved those words deep into his mind.
Whether Godeungeo was still savoring the afterglow of meeting them or not, Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi, their strength restored, raced onward.
"The scent keeps going from here."
"Got it, ong."
They relied on Gkamnyangi's nose. Then—
"Huh? The scent cut off?"
When Gkamnyangi faltered in a place where the smells were all mixed together—
"That way, ong. I saw it from the Moving Stone, ong."
Hoesaegi, who had memorized the route from the car ride over, guided the way. And so the two of them ran and ran.
The water and food Godeungeo had treated them to became fuel, and the two of them whooshed along splendidly. But even that, once one hour, two hours, three hours had passed, began to wear them down.
Not that Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi had run for three hours straight. They rested in between.
On their fifth rest, Gkamnyangi, panting, looked at Hoesaegi, who was scanning the surroundings beside him. Honestly, this Hoesaegi guy is something else. The moment I look even a little tired, he immediately suggests we rest. So that was why he was the boss, Gkamnyangi supposed. Well, he does have a reputation for taking such good care of his subordinates. And Gkamnyangi had watched it happen, too.
Once a cat became his subordinate — that is, his family — Hoesaegi protected them with everything he had. So that was why his reputation had reached even this far. Anyway, he's something else. And the thought occurred to Gkamnyangi that he himself, who had challenged that guy every time, was pretty something else too. Well, I am pretty great myself. I got beaten by him, sure, but I didn't get completely wrecked, did I?
Just as he was boosting his own self-esteem like that, a smell came punching in.
A nasty smell.
You know the type. Someone who just looking at them puts you in a bad mood. Gkamnyangi had one of those — a guy whose very scent made him feel worse. This was exactly that.
"A suspicious one."
"He's coming this way, ong."
Hoesaegi seemed to have guessed as well. The resting cats immediately shifted into combat stance.
Combat stance wasn't anything fancy. Puff up the body, bare the teeth, and prepare to unleash a sharp hiss the moment the opponent came close. That was it.
While the two of them were puffed up to the fullest, a heavy, sharp voice rang out.
"Who goes there!"
At the same time: thunk, thunk, thunk. A sound that shook the ground rolled across the clearing. The approaching cat had struck the floor with his broad, flat paws.
In that instant, Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi understood. It's a boss, ong.The Territory Boss of this area. In that case, seizing the initiative was crucial.
Hoesaegi cried out sharply.
His own fame, which even Godeungeo had recognized. Naturally this guy would know it too and bow his head. That's what he thought.
Then Gkamnyangi, his self-esteem freshly inflated, shouted with fearless valor.
But—
"So?"
"Oong?"
"Huh?"
It didn't land.
Thinking maybe he hadn't heard, the two of them shouted once more.
"I'm Silver Rain, ong."
"I'm Shadow."
"I said, who are you? Who are you to trespass in my territory?!"
Thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk-thudung.
A cat with a broad, flat face, a white body, and an orange-striped tail drawn neatly across it twitched his mouth in an unpleasant expression.
"I'm Silver Rain, ong. You don't know the legendary Silver Rain, ong?"
"You don't know Silver Rain?"
"I don't."
With that, the cat charged at the two of them.
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
A cat so big the ground shook. The right move was to dodge. But that thought itself did not exist for the two of them. You face challengers and you beat them. That was the only thought in Hoesaegi's head.
Of course, he had run away the moment he saw Seorak — but that was tucked away deep in the far side of his memory. So Hoesaegi stood his ground with dignity. Gkamnyangi beside him was the same.
"Kyaok!"
"Haaak!"
Just as the two of them seized the combat initiative, the broad-faced cat shouted.
"Boys, drive these guys out."
"Nyaook!"
"Yaook!"
"Nyao-nyao-nyaook!"
Cats crept closer. A full seven of them.
"Go!"
At the broad-faced cat's cry, seven cats charged at once. Each came from a different angle. One from the right, one from the left. Another aimed for the legs. One even came flying at their heads.
I can see them all, ong.
Hoesaegi moved his body with ease, dodging their attacks. Gkamnyangi, the Second-in-Command, was just as composed. He launched his body higher than the attacking cats. In that instant — thud, thud-thud, thud-thud.
The attacking cats lost their balance, staggered, and smashed their heads into each other. A collision caused by failing to slow down even after their target had vanished.
Hoesaegi seized that timing.
Whoosh!
Launching himself toward the ground, he stomped on their bodies all at once.
Thump, tho-dump, thump-thump-thump.
"Ack!"
"Kuek!"
"Kkuk!"
"Kek!"
Screams burst out. Hoesaegi, who had carefully stomped only the painful spots, landed on the ground with a whoosh, and the cats' eyes spun in their sockets. In particular, the broad-faced cat who'd been giving orders had the reddest eyes of all.
"Th-that bastard! Boys!"
"Attack, attack!"
The seven cats sprang up and lunged at the two of them, and from who-knows-where, five more joined in. And those cats' sizes were no joke — bodies comparable to the broad-faced one. They charged, leading with their monstrous bulk.
At first Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi dodged with ease, but they were gradually driven into a corner.
And then.
Thwack!
Thwack thwa-thwack-thwack-thwack!
Stars sparkled before his eyes. The sky tilted. Why?
Hoesaegi, holding that question, soon felt the hard ground against his face.