Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Sapsari's Suspicion
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Around the time Gray and Shadow, those two cats, were deep into their diet.
There was a being watching them with strange eyes.
‘They look weird no matter how I look at them.’
Sapsari stared at the two cat brothers sitting on the cat tower, gazing outside.
[When do we eat? I'm hungry.]
[I don't know. I'm hungry too.]
Flop.
Shadow Brother, who had been sitting and looking out, flopped over onto his side.
Gray Brother soon lay down the same way and let out a mew.
The two cats kept whining about being hungry and begging for food nonstop.
[I want soft meat.]
[I want some too.]
Gray Brother wagged his tail a few times, then suddenly jumped up and shouted.
[Brother, I want soft meat.]
[Let's eat soft meat.]
Sapsari thought his brothers were really acting strange.
‘They're seriously weird.’
Just a little while ago, those two cat brothers had been such cool cats.
But ever since they gained weight, something was seriously off.
While Sapsari was tilting his head watching them, Benevolent Brother responded.
“Alright, you've been good and held out without Churu for a few days, so you deserve a reward. I'm feeling generous. Let's have soft meat.”
Meeeoow!
Nyaaaooow!
The cat brothers screeched wildly at Benevolent Brother's words and charged off with thud thud thud.
Thump thump.
Dong dang dong dang.
Watching Gray and Shadow Brothers run off, Sapsari thought of the rowdy three brothers he sometimes met in the park.
‘Those guys are weird too.’
They used to be so sleek, moving silently like birds taking flight.
Sapsari shook his head at the sight of the two hefty cats lumbering away.
‘They must've definitely been swapped out.’
There was no other explanation for why his two brothers had changed like this.
“Sapsari, you eat too.”
Chomp chomp chomp.
Nom nom nom.
Slurp slurp slurp.
Regardless of his suspicions, Sapsari was thrilled to have soft meat after so long.
To savor the feeling a bit longer, he licked at it bit by bit.
But then.
Slurp slurp.
Lick lick.
The sound of licking the empty food bowl came.
Sapsari glanced sideways at the cats' bowls.
The bowls were already empty.
Gray was licking it with his short tongue, while Shadow pawed at the bowl while licking.
[It's gone.]
[Already gone.]
The cats looked flustered as they licked the bowl way too aggressively.
They were searching for the soft meat they'd devoured in their frenzy.
Sapsari eyed them suspiciously as they licked not just the bowl but the actual floor.
‘Look at that. Real brothers don't eat like slobbering gluttons, slurp slurp lick lick!’
Just then, the cats suddenly butted heads and meowed at each other.
[It's mine.]
[I saw it first, so it's mine.]
[What nonsense. It fell from my bowl.]
[That's funny.]
Poke.
Gray poked Shadow's shoulder.
[Hey!]
Poke poke.
Now Shadow poked Gray.
Scuffle.
Pat pat pat.
The cats started swatting at each other wildly.
[It's mine, mine. I'm gonna eat it.]
[What? I saw it first, so I eat it.]
Kyaaaooow!
Graaawr nyaooowk!
The cats growled and bared their teeth in a fight.
‘These really aren't our brothers. Real brothers don't fight. Real brothers yield food to their underlings—they're noble cats.’
Sapsari remembered the day he followed them for the park cats' special treat time.
Gray and Shadow had carried their shares over to the kittens and told them to eat plenty.
The current Gray and Shadow had just been eating hard because they were starving.
But to Sapsari, it looked incredibly suspicious.
As their fight dragged on, Benevolent Brother approached.
Tap, tap.
Benevolent Brother bonked the cat brothers on the head.
The cats cradled their heads with their paws and looked up at Benevolent Brother.
Utterly displeased expressions.
‘Look at that. Our real brothers don't look at Benevolent Brother like that.’
All the evidence pointed to the cats in front of him being fakes.
Bonk!
Benevolent Brother bonked his own head.
“Sapsari, you should've stopped them from fighting. From now on, keep a close eye on those guys. If they fight again, you stop them, got it?”
Sapsari, who had already been watching, nodded vigorously.
Wag!
After that, Sapsari watched the cats whether awake or asleep. Even when lying down to rest, he never took his eyes off them.
Lying on the floor, watching the cats on the cat tower,
Whoosh. Swish.
The cats jumped down from the cat tower and came over to him.
Plop.
The cats leaned against him and lay down.
One on his right side, the other on his left.
[Sapsari's fur is so fluffy.]
[Cool and warm.]
Sapsari blinked.
‘Huh...?’
When he'd been hurt, he'd lain side by side with his brothers in that hospital room just like this.
‘How would fake cats know that?’
Sapsari's suspicions only grew.
[This makes me sleepy.]
[Me too... zzz yawwn!]
Grah.
Gur...
The cats soon flopped out, snoring away as they fell asleep.
Sapsari watched their sleeping forms intently.
‘Look at that! Even their sleeping posture is different from usual brothers. They don't flop down like that or fall asleep instantly.’
It was just that their fat made them look awkward, and since Meongmeong Animal Hospital was safe, they were sleeping soundly without a care.
They'd always slept like that when idle, but to Sapsari, now suspicious, everything seemed fishy.
They still bickered over food, but Gray and Shadow stuck to their diet.
[I'm hungry.]
[Me too.]
[Let's drink water.]
[I'll finish a whole bowl.]
Step step.
The cats went to the water bowl and dunked their heads in.
Slurp slurp slurp.
Gulp gulp gulp.
Urk!
Glug!
[Whew, I think I can hold out till mealtime.]
[We used to survive days on just water like this.]
[I did too.]
Sapsari narrowed his eyes watching Gray and Shadow stretch after downing a whole bowl of water.
‘Gray Brother drinks water like lap lap lap~ slooooorp!’
He stared meaningfully at Gray, who had gulped it down hastily to fill his empty belly and even burped.
‘Shadow Brother stretches with his left paw a bit more forward. But this guy's right paw is ahead!’
Day by day, Sapsari's suspicions grew stronger.
And with it, the glare he shot at the two cats grew fiercer.
At this point, even the cats couldn't ignore that stare.
Every morning, the cats went out to the yard and climbed trees.
It was their effort to regain even a bit of their former agility sooner.
Gray and Shadow leaned against tree branches.
Gray whispered.
[Sapsari's acting weird.]
[Yeah. His eyes are off lately.]
[That glare is like the ones eyeing my territory.]
[I thought so too.]
The cats suddenly went quiet. Then they looked down.
Sapsari was staring up at them.
Normally, he'd be sniffing around every corner of the yard or rolling stones.
But this guy wasn't moving an inch, just staring at them up in the tree.
[What if Sapsari too?]
Suddenly, Gray and Shadow's eyes met in midair.
[No way. Sapsari's a good little brother.]
[True. But his behavior is pure spy cat eyes.]
[Yeah.]
The two cats wanted to believe sweet Sapsari wouldn't, but the unease was unavoidable.
[Can't do this. Gotta ask him directly.]
In the end, the two cats asked Sapsari why he was glaring at them.
[Sapsari! Why are you glaring at us?]
[It's nothing! Woof.]
Nothing? When did I say that?
The cats' snorts grew heavy.
Their boss instincts screamed something was wrong.
Shadow asked again.
[Got something to ask us?]
[Don't worry about it! Woof.]
Sapsari said that and trotted off huffily.
[Huh! Suspicious answer.]
[Yeah. His tone was weird too.]
Not his usual polite speech, but curt and cold—and the content was shady as hell.
Watching Sapsari sit on his cushion and glare from afar, Gray said.
[Let's go to Brother.]
[Let's go.]
In the end, the cats had no choice but to seek help from Lee Jun.
***
Troto to.
Dada da.
Seeing Gray and Shadow run up, Lee Jun smiled warmly.
“Oh! You've definitely gotten nimbler.”
[Brother!]
[Brother!]
The cats mewed in front of Lee Jun.
But their expressions were gravely serious.
‘They ran here so fast—must be begging for something.’
Lee Jun grinned, thinking that.
“What, hungry?”
[Not the time to worry about that.]
“Huh?”
Then why the long faces?
Lee Jun looked at them puzzled, and Gray glanced outside before mewing in a tiny voice.
[Brother, Sapsari's weird.]
“Sapsari?”
[Yeah. He's been watching us nonstop lately.]
Shadow whispered tiny too.
“That's just 'cause I told him to watch if you guys fight.”
[No. We haven't fought.]
[Really.]
The cats shook their little heads side to side vigorously.
They hadn't fought once since that day.
Lee Jun racked his memory and nodded.
“Yeah, true.”
Lee Jun looked fondly at Sapsari.
‘That guy's loyal, alright.’
Lee Jun felt proud of Sapsari faithfully carrying out his order.
So he smiled at Sapsari sitting outside the exam room, watching him.
Then Gray and Shadow hurriedly continued.
[He must be bought off by someone eyeing our turf.]
[Sapsari's after Evergreen territory.]
Lee Jun let out a hollow laugh at the cats' words.
“What nonsense is that?”
[It's true. He's cold to us.]
[Yeah. He glares.]
“Really?”
The cats wouldn't make it up. Lee Jun called Sapsari.
“Sapsari, come here.”
Sapsari entered the exam room, glanced at the cats, and mouthed something.
Lee Jun couldn't hear, so he leaned his ear close to Sapsari's face.
[I want to talk where the cats aren't.]
Sapsari, who used to call them brothers, now said "the cats."
‘What the heck are these guys thinking?’
Lee Jun chuckled dryly and replied.
“Got it.”
A bit later, Lee Jun and Sapsari sat in the park cafe.
Sapsari had refused to go to the park, saying the park cats would hear him.
“Sapsari, why were you staring at your brothers like that? 'Cause I told you to watch them?”
[They're fakes.]
“What?”
[Fake cats made real Gray Brother and Shadow Brother disappear.]
Sapsari hadn't touched his share—the park cafe's signature handmade dog biscuits—and rattled off all the evidence he'd gathered that the cats were imposters.
Listening, Lee Jun couldn't help but laugh.
“Hahaha!”
Fakes had made his precious cat brothers vanish. They were surely plotting to make Benevolent Brother disappear too and take his place.
Yet here was Benevolent Brother, so carefree and laughing.
Sapsari cried out desperately.
[Benevolent Brother's been fooled too! If this goes on, fake'll swap you out too!]
Pant pant.
Excited, Sapsari's eyes welled with tears.
‘This guy's really convinced.’
No point denying it here—he'd keep suspecting. So Lee Jun played along.
“Got it. I'll switch 'em back to the real brothers.”
Lee Jun petted the serious-faced Sapsari a few times, then returned to the hospital.
He approached the cats.
Quietly, so Sapsari couldn't hear, Lee Jun told Gray and Shadow what Sapsari had said.
[What?]
[No way!]
“But Sapsari thinks you're fakes. And if you don't lose the weight, he'll keep suspecting.”
Gray had even been unrecognized by his own right-hand cat Norangi before.
Shocked, Gray's eyes bulged as he wailed meeeoow!
[Nooo!]
From that day, the cats never uttered that they were hungry.
They encouraged each other and endured the hunger.
No naps—they moved restlessly nonstop.
Time passed, and Lee Jun put the cats on the scale.
“Gray's 5.8, Shadow's 6 kilos! Success!”
Back to their sleek former weights.
But their legs were much sturdier now.
Meaning tougher than before.
“You guys worked hard!”
Meeeoow!
Nyaaaoow!
The cats raised front paws and danced jiggle jiggle.
Praising them, Lee Jun said.
“Now, time to show you're the real Gray and Shadow.”
[Got it!]
[Understood!]
“Kids, let's go for a park walk.”
At the park, the cats charged the playground with determined faces.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Swish, swish, swish.
Like paper in the wind, Gray and Shadow were already far away!
Lee Jun watched fondly, and Sapsari's eyes sparkled.
‘It's the brothers.’
Finally, they were the brothers he knew.
Sapsari grinned watching his dashing brothers.
After three laps like bullets, the cats strutted back proudly.
Gray and Shadow stood before Lee Jun and Sapsari.
[Thanks, Sapsari. Thanks to you, we chased the fakes and came back.]
[We're back!]
[Welcome back, brothers! I was worried!]
Lap lap.
Sapsari licked each cat's ear once.