The Worthless Butler
Meow...
I woke up from sleep. As a cat for only a few days, it felt as if an unbelievably long time had passed.
The room was still pitch dark. The light seeping through the gap in the blackout curtains showed that the sun had already been high in the sky for quite a while. Only that my owner, Yuyeon, had not yet woken up.
The commuting instinct branded into my body over the past few years was terrifying.
Upon waking, the morning habit of checking the clock first and then getting up. In Korea, if I became a salaryman working without shift work, it would be the natural mechanism of life to rise early and prepare for work.
I quietly looked at Yuyeon, curled up sleeping on the bed. No, more precisely, I stared at her in disbelief.
Was it because I had become a cat? Yuyeon had no caution, no shame whatsoever towards me. Even now. With her dolphin shorts barely covering anything and only a stretched-neck t-shirt on top.
If a man instead of a cat had been in this narrow studio apartment, would Yuyeon have been lying down like this in such vulnerable attire? Absolutely not. She would have dressed herself neatly from underwear to outer clothes. Showing such a bare figure to another man would be the sort of thing only perverts would do.
Hey, dude. The sun is at its zenith.
Thwack!
Unable to hold back any longer, I sent a cat punch straight at Yuyeon's fair cheek for no reason at all. It was proper human behavior to wake up in time and start moving in the morning!
"Ugh... Nabi... Naaaby...
She didn't open her eyes properly and instinctively swung her cotton-rod arms, pulling me in. I ended up completely trapped in her chest and arms.
"Meowth!
I cried out in a flailing manner, but Yuyeon just panted without moving. Luckily, she wasn't hugging me strongly enough to break my bones, so I twisted my body to finally escape from her embrace.
I had no choice but to lie listlessly on the floor until lunchtime. Yuyeon was sleeping like she was dead, and I was a cat, after all.
Without my lifelong companion, the phone, time felt stagnant and boring.
Why did I understand the feeling of those YouTube cats crying and demanding their butlers shake a toy at them? Spending the whole day locked inside this narrow space, the brain would naturally grow dry and shriveled from boredom.
It was only around lunchtime, when the clock hands overlapped, that Yuyeon finally sat up with a groan.
"Ugh...
"Meow.
"Nabi, you woke up already?
With a voice heavy with sleep, Yuyeon muttered while looking at me. As expected, my voice had no chance of being properly understood in conversation with Yuyeon. It only came out as the pitiful meowing of a cat that spat out disappointment.
Yuyeon, half-asleep, roughly petted my head, then shuffled off to the bathroom.
And a moment later, I had no choice but to lower my head to the floor in haste. Because... that human would open the door completely naked after showering!
Well, my prediction was spot on. As the bathroom door opened, Yuyeon walked out in her natural self.
"Ah, refreshing!
The sight of glistening, fair skin with water droplets spread before my eyes.
It was only natural, thinking about it. Would people who own pets feel ashamed when they see the look of a cat raised in their own home?
Absolutely not. No human would feel ashamed or hide in the steamy bathroom while trying to get dressed.
Moreover, it was even more embarrassing that Yuyeon had a good figure. I didn't know where to look, and my Confucian spirit within me screamed in protest.
I desperately turned my head, trying not to see Yuyeon's naked body. No matter how much of a cat's body I had, my mind was still human, and looking directly at a woman's naked form was not right.
But Yuyeon, completely oblivious, didn't leave my consideration alone.
"Nabi... Naaaby!
"Meow!
Yuyeon approached and picked me up from the floor. The bare skin and body heat of her thin-clothed self seeped fully into my cat's fur.
"Wow, fluffy Nabi~ So soft~
Having my mind tortured to the limit while held tightly against her, I lost all strength the moment Yuyeon placed me on the bed and collapsed flat on my back.
Thud.
To a virgin like me who had never properly dated in my life, it was a stimulus exceeding the lethal dose.
"Pffh!
It was fortunate that my nose didn't bleed. Until Yuyeon dressed herself properly, I absolutely could not lift my head, as that was the last shred of manners I could maintain in this situation.
Only after confirming that Yuyeon had put on her comfortable t-shirt and pants did I finally manage to lift my head.
"Hmm~
Humming a tune, Yuyeon plopped into the familiar computer chair.
Honestly, after observing Yuyeon's daily life for several days through the eyes of a cat... Yuyeon's life couldn't be called productive or excellent.
She sat in front of the computer all day playing games until the monitor exploded, and only when she felt a twinge of conscience about employment would she glance at job sites. That was her entire day.
As someone who had lived her entire life as a workaholic with my strict personality, it was a pitiful reality that simply didn't satisfy her at all.
At least if a person is born, they should pay their dues and hustle hard as a cog in society with their job. But Yuyeon showed no such intensity or passion. I could never find it, even if I looked with a magnifying glass.
Trrrring-
Yuyeon called someone somewhere.
Unfortunately, on speakerphone, the voice of her conversation partner echoed loudly throughout the narrow room.
"Um... umma...
The voice from the phone was Yuyeon's mother. From what I heard, Yuyeon seemed to be living alone after separating from her parents.
Honestly, it didn't make sense from my perspective. To save money and prepare for the future, it would have been the correct answer to live off her parents during her job-seeking days when every penny was precious.
Not to mention the monthly rent that kept breaking her, let alone food and other living expenses. That would have been a huge savings.
"I'm really going to succeed and return home proudly!
Yuyeon pouted her lips and glanced sideways, then immediately revealed her true colors in a groveling voice.
"Mom... I have a favor... can you give me this month's rent?
"It's... the contract got tangled and the money hasn't come in yet, really.
"Mom! I promised you I wouldn't tell Dad about it! Just lend me some money, okay? If I don't succeed in a year, I'll come home without a word!
With that, the call ended.
Shadows fell across Yuyeon's face as she lowered the phone. She always boasted about wanting to succeed and make a big splash, but looking at her pitiful daily behavior of just gaming in the room, it was obvious she wouldn't even make it to next month's rent without her parents' help.
Perhaps she sensed my gaze looking at her with a disappointed expression. Yuyeon turned her head and found me sitting on the bed. In her eyes, there was a wet light of longing and comfort.
"Nabi...
She reached out both hands and came closer creepily.
"Mew...
I instinctively raised my fur and backed into the corner of the bed. But originally, the space of this one-room studio apartment was far too narrow. As soon as I took a few steps back, my butt hit the wall, and I ended up being caught in Yuyeon's sticky hands and pulled back into her human embrace.
"Does Mom hate me? Naaaby! Is there no one in this world who likes me?
Yuyeon hugged me and spoke. She probably wanted comfort. I wanted to scold her for that.
"Meow.
However, my words were unfortunately not conveyed to Yuyeon. Seeing her like that, I had no choice but to let out a deep sigh.
Without a proper butler, it seemed I had ended up with a worthless butler.
"Hic... Is there anyone who gives money for free? Nabi...
"Mew.
If such a job existed, I would have wanted to say there wouldn't be beggars in this world.
I was curious about what Yuyeon actually wanted to do. She held me and swayed back and forth, then soon became engrossed in her game again.
Looking at Yuyeon like this, it seemed like she wouldn't improve even after a year passed.