A Head That Would Not Bow
The voice carried a tension it never usually held — and the ragged breathing to match.
"Jjaek-ong..."
Hoesaegi called the name and then could not go on. His gaze slid, just slightly, toward Jjaek's subordinates.
This Hoesaegi was deeply unfamiliar to Jjaek. And yet he thought he understood the hesitation.
He simply... knew.
He swallowed, and answered.
"...Yes. Please speak."
"Well. I think you ought to have a word with your boys, ong. This place feels a bit cramped for them, ong."
To call a place this vast cramped was a softened way of saying Jjaek's subordinates had no end of complaints.
Jjaek's tightly coiled heart dropped like a stone.
Ah. I knew it...
Why was this kind of uneasy hunch never wrong?
Just hold on a little longer. Why did it have to be on a day this cold...
Beyond approaching Hoesaegi, his boys came into view — murmuring among themselves as they ate.
Didn't they say they liked how warm it was?
The same boys who had come scampering the instant they saw him, faces bright. Who had greeted him giggling, saying it had been so long, that they were so, so happy to see the boss. Who had rubbed themselves against Lee Jun's legs and said it was so warm and wonderful, thank you.
But Jjaek knew. Those boys were not normally that affectionate. Cats who had weathered such brutal storms were clumsy, almost helpless, when it came to showing how they felt.
And yet they were welcoming him like that.
It had made him uneasy. And during the feast, the expressions that caught his eye told him why. The looks they gave Jjaek, One-eye, and Lee Jun were pillowy-soft — but whenever their eyes landed on the Neulpureun bunch, the corners of their mouths twitched. Their whiskers jerked up and down with the same discontent.
So Jjaek had meant to talk with them once they had enjoyed the feast a little.
In truth, he had been a bundle of worry from the moment the move to the Neulpureun Park Cat Town was decided. They were such rough-edged brutes he had been afraid they would come right out and say sponging off the Neulpureun territory felt like crap. And his fears had been right.
For a while it had seemed they were settling in. But apparently those rough boys really could not stand living under someone else.
Haa. You guys. If you'd just toned it down a little.
Then they would not be getting driven out on a day this cold.
No — should I just flatten myself to the ground, apologize, and surrender?
If he, their boss, bowed his head first, maybe those guys would swallow their tempers too.
The thought of bowing made all four of Jjaek's legs go stiff. And no wonder. Casually calling Hoesaegi King Boss and Gkamnyangi Black Boss, sliding into a boss-and-underling vibe the way he did now, was a completely different thing from actually lowering his head and submitting.
To formally bow and declare surrender would mean the Song-i Park faction going under the Neulpureun territory.
Jjaek looked at Hoesaegi and sank into thought.
Surrender, huh...
In that tangle of feeling, another thought surfaced.
What was so terrible about surrendering?
If he just bowed his head, a comfortable place to sleep and food in abundance were right there in front of him. If his boys could live through this cold without a single worry, he could bow that damn head.
Of course he could bow his head.
Surrender...
But unlike his thoughts, his body would not move. His mouth would not open. His head understood. His heart would not follow.
That was when he saw them again, still there beyond Hoesaegi's back. His burly boys, faces and backs and ears mapped with scratches — laughing a little ways off from the smaller-built cats of the Neulpureun territory.
They look like they're having a good time.
Sharing a space with the Neulpureun bunch was one thing. Enjoying this moment, it seemed, was another. When had he last seen his boys laugh so purely, without a single worry on them?
They laughed like that when they came to see me in the hospital.
More precisely — the instant they heard Jjaek had been admitted to Mongmong Animal Hospital, they had come running and shed tears in fat, helpless droplets, saying they had been so, so worried. And then they had laughed. Said they were so happy to see their boss again. That time, his boys had laughed that purely.
Well. Anyway. Seeing them laugh did feel good.
So... he would declare surrender. Then the unrest unfolding now would end, and the boys' comfortable lives would go on. What the hell. Surrender the way a cat should — clean, bold, no fuss. And protect those smiling faces.
Just as he thought that, the past unfurled before Jjaek's eyes like a panorama.
That subordinate wearing yellow stripes from the crown of his head to the tip of his tail had five long claw-slash scars running down his back — not knife scars. Claw scars. The cat already had short fur, and where the marks were, there was no fur at all. The wounds had gone so deep the skin holding the follicles was ruined, and it had never grown back.
Jjaek's gaze drifted to Kkori, giggling beside the claw-scarred one. Kkori was a cat whose tail was half as long as anyone else's.
He'd been lying there soaked in blood.
One day a stranger had appeared in Song-i Park. Jjaek had found him collapsed, face and back and tail painted in blood. Remembering the time One-eye had shown up with blood streaming down his face, Jjaek had taken the blood-soaked Kkori in. He later learned the blood on the face had only been from licking the stump where the tail had been severed. Still, Kkori had been sick for days after that — and somehow, he had lived. That was how he had become one of them.
And the subordinate next to him. Almost none of Jjaek's boys were without a story. The early ones, especially — every last one of them had a story. And those stories were all the same: beaten, and driven out. Like One-eye.
Later they had earned a reputation among the neighboring territories as a gang of thugs. But the starting point had been a desperate struggle to survive. A scream for the right to live.
That was it. Jjaek's subordinates had fought, and fought again, to stay alive. Just as he, once weak, had become the boss of Song-i Park, his boys had become cats who would bow their heads to no one. The same boys who had once been driven out for having no power at all.
Hmph.
Could boys like that bow their heads and live like that now?
The neighborhood had disliked them and mocked them as thugs — but to Jjaek, each and every one was precious. They would probably be shunned as thugs here too. That was why the boys were on the verge of being driven out again.
But even for the sake of their comfort — was surrendering the right call? Was that truly for the boys? Or was it a surrender just so Jjaek himself could feel at ease?
If everything had truly been fine, they wouldn't have shown any discontent at all.
That was it. What they needed was not Jjaek's surrender, and not a permanent place in the Neulpureun territory. What they truly needed was Jjaek.
But if I go back to the kids in this situation, the problem only gets bigger.
The boss of the Neulpureun territory was Norangi. Him walking into that territory now would only spark new unrest. The alternative was Jjaek going under Norangi — and that would gouge an even deeper scratch into the boys' pride.
Jjaek let out a long breath.
...Then should I just take them all and go back to Song-i Park? We've survived just fine until now, haven't we?
They had been a group that lived well enough. They had endured cold winter days just fine. If it was cold, they endured the cold. If they were hungry, they lived with the hunger. Had they not lived on nothing but spite and grit all this time?
Whether it was better to throw that pride away and bow, or to burst out, run back to their own territory, and hold out — Jjaek could not decide. He did not want to lose this comfortable life either. But he also hated the thought of his boys bowing their heads and living all meek and wilted.
He sighed again, and reached a conclusion.
Right. Put it on hold. This isn't something I should decide alone. It's not too late once I know what the boys are thinking.
He had just arrived at that lukewarm conclusion when Hoesaegi, now standing in front of him, opened his mouth.
"Jjaek-ong. Let's go over there and talk first, ong. Milo says he has something to say too, ong."
Huh?
Milo?
Hoesaegi and Norangi wanting to talk, he understood. But why Milo?
The gravity drained out of Jjaek's face, leaving it blank.
"M-Milo, you say?"
"That's right, ong. Come this way, ong."
Hoesaegi said it and padded back the way he had come. Jjaek followed.
His paws dragged. Strangely, there was no strength in him. Even so, his mind would not stop turning.
But he could say this much with certainty: this had never been in his head. He had never once thought of it.
When Jjaek walked over, every face was grave — but Milo wore the most restless expression of them all.
Hmph. What's with him? He doesn't even have any connection to our kids.
Friction with the Neulpureun bunch was, in a way, only natural. But Jjaek honestly could not understand why the Bluebird boss — who had no point of contact with them at all — was acting like that.
What was more...
The moment their eyes met, Milo smoothly looked away.
Jjaek asked him,
"I heard you have something to tell me."
Calmly — but with an expression that yielded not an inch. Song-i Park might be tiny next to Bluebird Park, but they were both bosses, were they not? That feeling sat in his tone.
"Milo. Just say it. It's something Jjaek needs to know."
"That's right, ong. Jjaek is the boss of Songi District, ong. He needs to know, ong."
After Gkamnyangi, and then Hoesaegi, spoke that way, Jjaek thought: so it's come.
And on the other hand, another thought.
The King Boss and the Black Boss are both treating me as a boss.
Then he should stand tall for his boys too.
And then, hard on the heels of that:
Shouldn't I bring up our kids' problem first? Or has something more urgent than their discord come up?
What could it be?
A strange chill swept through him from nose to tail. His shoulders gave a little shudder at the unease that something very wrong might have happened — and that was when Milo opened his mouth.
"Ah. I understand. Then I'll speak."
After answering the two bosses that way, he turned his gaze on Jjaek and told him.
That a guy had shown up playing boss at Song-i Park.
The instant Jjaek heard it, he nearly leapt out of his skin.
"What did you say?"
He was shocked — but the voice that burst out of him was small. He had apparently gotten into the habit of speaking quietly at Mongmong Animal Hospital. Thanks to that, he did not draw the other cats' attention.
Except for one. One-eye.
One-eye read his boss's mood far too well. It might have been because he had refined the handicap of a missing eye into a kind of sixth sense. Or it might have been because he liked and respected Jjaek so, so much. Either way, he saw straight through Jjaek's heart.
The boss is furious.
One-eye crept toward where the bosses were gathered, a little at a time — so gradually no one would notice. And he learned the truth.
But the five-cat meeting soon broke up, and the boss said nothing until the feast was over.
When the lively feast ended and they were wrapping up, Jjaek trudged over to Lee Jun.
"Meongmeong Teacher!"
"Yeah, Jjaek. Want to stay with your friends a little longer? You want to stay with them tonight?"
Jjaek had been planning to go to Song-i Park, drive those guys — the invaders — out, and discuss the matter of where they would live from here. Had Lee Jun seen right through him?
He looked dumbfounded at the suggestion, and asked back,
"I-is that all right?"
"Of course. From what I could see, you looked like you were in a really good mood. One-eye too. Seeing you two so happy made me happy. Those kids are having a blast."
Meongmeong Teacher had seen even that.
Separate from the news that some strange cats had set up camp in Song-i Park, he was truly grateful to Meongmeong Teacher for laying out such delicious food.
"Ah. Yes. Meongmeong Teacher, thank you. My boys ate so well."
"You. What are you thanking me for over something like this? Let's eat together again sometime. So — what do you want to do? Stay here, or go? If you stay, I'll come pick you up tomorrow."
"Yes."
"What about One-eye?"
At some point, One-eye was beside him too.
"I'll stay with the boss too, sir!"
"All right. Even if the weather's eased up a bit today, it's still cold. Have fun inside the Hiding Cubbies."
And so Jjaek and One-eye stayed at Cat Town.
"One-eye. You stay here. I'm going to take a quick look around our territory and come back."
"I'll go with you, sir!"
"No. It's cold. You stay and play with the boys."
One-eye was already taking a step as he answered.
"If the boss is going, then I have to go too. I'm going."
"You don't have to come."
"No, sir. Boss. I absolutely will go."
"..."
Jjaek could not stop the stubborn One-eye any longer.
And so the two of them slipped quietly out of Cat Town.
One-eye had tagged along, but nothing had really changed from the original plan.
He was the boss of Songi District. So he should bear all the hard parts himself. The boys should stay comfortable, knowing nothing.
Except for One-eye.