Undine's Gentle Grasp
".. This whole incident is entirely my fault for poor management.. I hope you won't hate the kid too much because of it..."
"... That.. I can't promise anything until I hear a proper apology from him."
The small creature slowly lifted its heavy eyelids at the sound of voices drifting in a gentle murmur. Their words echoed as if submerged underwater.
".. No one can match his work ethic, but when it comes to this kind of problem, it always ends up like this... Ah, how troublesome."
"Still.. if the President is saying that much, there must be a reason."
"... Ahaha.."
One voice was unfamiliar, but the other was clearly recognizable. Feeling puzzled by the absence of the expected throbbing pain throughout its body, the creature tried to raise its head, only for something smooth..? and strangely gelatinous to part gently on either side with faint resistance.
The blue expanse that spread before its eyes was.. blue..? What was this?
It flailed its limbs with effort, but the movements felt meaningless, as if it were suspended somewhere. Just then, a familiar silhouette—still blurry—called out its name from beyond.
"Nero..?!"
The voice in its mind, startled awake and stripped of its usual calm, must have leaked out. It regretted not staying quiet to observe longer, but right now its attention was fixed on the unfamiliar silhouette beside him.
Pretending it hadn't fully regained consciousness, it let its limbs hang limply, yet the flowing sensation brushing beneath its belly carried clear intent. It was trying to push it out of here.
Plop..!
The small body spat out from the unknown liquid mass tumbled onto the floor with a pathetic sound.
"Keck, keck. Kehek.."
The feeling of blue, viscous fluid forcing its way out through mouth and nose ranked among the top five most unpleasant sensations it had ever experienced since birth. And right around this timing, as expected..
"Nero!"
Whoosh..!
The familiar warmth that wrapped around its entire body—strong yet gentle—threatened to crumble its mental defenses. It was a relief that what followed the nightmare it never wanted to face again wasn't an even worse one, but this situation still held plenty of potential to become one, so it couldn't afford to let its guard down completely.
"Keck.."
That aside, why was he wearing only a coat over bare skin and pants? The tight embrace felt slightly suffocating, and through its wavering vision appeared the woman who had been part of the earlier conversation.
Her tailored pants and shoes were unremarkable, but why was her upper body so inadequately dressed? Still, that shameless attire provided some useful information. The scar-covered, well-trained physique, the ash-gray hair flowing like a mane, and the silvery eyes were new, yet the natural aura of a wild beast she exuded reminded it strongly of that fox woman.
Notably, despite her overwhelming presence, there was no restraint collar around her neck or anywhere else. That alone was enough to roughly understand where this place was and what situation it was in now.
So.. sorry, but—
"Huh? Sorry for what.."
Slash..!
"Ugh, Nero?!"
Thud.
The black cat sank its claws deep into the arm of the one holding it, tearing through fabric and flesh as it escaped the embrace. It landed unsteadily on the floor and backed away warily.
The man stood frozen, staring at the cat while blood streamed down his arm, completely ignoring his own injury.
"Where did you take me? You beat me half to death, then bring me here and heal me—what kind of grand change of heart is this?"
The words were sharp, yet delivered in that naturally sweet voice that made even harsh tones sound melodic. It was a voice the man knew well—painfully well. The voice he had always thought too precious to hear alone was now speaking directly to him, using the same language he did.
"Nero?! You can talk?!"
"Who's this? Hey, gray-hair, answer me. Where is this?"
But something was wrong. The man spoke and acted as if he knew this cat well, while the cat responded as though it had never met him.
"Pfft.."
"...?"
The tall woman burst into laughter, unable to hold it in.
"Puhaha.. You two are really cute."
"..."
"Alright, that settles it."
"I still have no idea what you're talking about..!"
Squeeze...!
It realized this was a monster even worse than that foul-tempered fox woman.
"President, since when?"
It didn't know why this monster was being called President, but it could guess its own current state. Its arms and legs were each gripped in one of her hands, stretched like an accordion with no hope of escape.
"Ugh.. Let go."
Whatever monstrous grip strength she possessed, even struggling with all its might produced no movement. In that case—
"President! Nero's tail..?"
"Huh? Ow, that stings."
The black cat's tail split into two as if dividing, and five red lines suddenly appeared across the woman's face like claw marks. Tiny beads of blood welled up along them. It should have been surprising that wounds appeared on her face without direct contact, but the one more shocked was the cat itself.
This wasn't something that could be brushed off with a simple "that stings." Its skin wasn't elephant hide, after all! An attack sharp enough to scratch solid stone walls had only left paper-cut level wounds even in this restrained state. That was ridiculous.
"Why are all the women around me so feisty..? If you keep this up, I'll flip the switch, so behave, little cat lady."
"..."
"Stop that clumsy acting and look at your master's face. He looks like he's lost the whole world."
".. I still don't understand what you're saying."
At those words, the cat at least stopped resisting and lifted its head to stare at the gentle-faced man gazing at it blankly. His sleeve was soaked with blood, and more dripped steadily from his arm, yet he hadn't even thought to stop the bleeding. It felt its resolve weaken, but the thought that it must never get involved with him again held firm, refusing to let it approach.
If that fox woman hadn't abandoned it midway, this place was undoubtedly her headquarters—or something similar. Though it had tried to ignore it until now.. this was probably, no, definitely the workplace of that foolish master. The stories of these heretical types, known even among prisoners as a gathering of oddballs, were quite famous. It understood its own ambiguous position and circumstances all too well. If it didn't want to cause him any more harm in this captured state, it had to keep its mouth shut no matter what.
Because it remembered how he had jumped so high his head nearly touched the ceiling of that cramped studio apartment, overjoyed like a child at finally getting a job.
Its usual clueless reaction made it wonder if this effort was even meaningful, but if it kept denying everything, they wouldn't have any way to confirm it either. Staying silent alone would be far more peaceful.
"Right, the codename Nero should be fine as is."
"Hyat..?"
"Good kid. I quite like you."
The restraints that had felt like they would tear its limbs off loosened. The cat twisted mid-fall, landing gracefully before immediately putting distance between them and pressing against the wall, refusing to expose its back.
"What exactly are you trying to do..?"
Yet the gray-haired woman simply brushed off her hands as if she had no further intentions, wiping the blood droplets from her cheek with the back of her hand.
"Honestly, I waited personally until you woke up partly to see your reaction."
"...?"
"If you had some talent for charming people, or if you were particularly good at lying convincingly, I would've had to leave some possibility open, right?"
It shot her a sullen look, but she continued.
"Well, seeing that you didn't immediately cling to someone to save your life, it seems that's not the case. Lucky for you. Either way, for Woong's sake I would've let you return home alive, but in that scenario I would've leaked your information to the other side as bait and quietly dealt with you later. Haha, really lucky."
Both the black cat and the man beside it could only stare at her in silence as she casually laughed while saying such chilling things right in front of them. Her confident tone made it all too easy to believe she truly would have done it.
"But look at this—such a commendable sight, trying to shoulder everything alone and leave. Still, I regret not controlling my strength a bit more. Look at that, just tearing the clothes would've been enough to show, but you must've been in so much pain that Undine over there is drooling."
"..."
Only then did the cat notice the enormous woman casting a faint blue shadow over its head.
