The Cat Cries Meow - 4
"Sorry. I've got work today, so I don't think I can make it."
"Wh-what are you even talking about?!"
"Because you're saying something completely ridiculous! Anyway, I'm hanging up. I'm busy right now."
Lee Naye had an unnecessarily sharp intuition. I was meeting a woman, that much was true—but it wasn't the kind of situation anyone needed to misunderstand. Ever since that day on the subway, I had been showing up at Jeong Hana's studio without missing a single day, and today made three.
"Well? How is it?"
"I just hung up."
"Then hurry up and read it!"
"……"
For some reason, ever since the subway incident, Jeong Hana had started having me sign off on her scripts. Future Studio had plenty of other writers and more than a few capable directors, but she insisted that because I was the first person who had recognized her work, she wanted my confirmation no matter what…
In short, she was making a complete nuisance of herself during this honey-sweet vacation. Of course, Jeong Hana wasn't the only reason I was coming into the office.
Knock knock knock—
A light knock, followed by President Won Chaeyoung's voice, made me set the script down.
"Yes, President."
"May I come in?"
"Of course. Did you come to look at the script?"
"What would I know about scripts~ I'm working hard at developing an eye for these things, but I'm nowhere near the level where I can actually judge them yet."
"Then is it lunchtime?"
"No. I came to give you this."
President Won Chaeyoung held out a small wooden case. She wasn't about to propose to me, so the cards must already have been finished.
"They came out clean."
"Congratulations on becoming the official CEO."
"Thank you."
Inside the little wooden case were my business cards. A clean matte black card with a white fountain-pen flourish of DW across the center and MEDIA written small beneath it—Dawon Media's card. Something was printed on the back as well.
CEO Cha Sunwoo
Not much information. Just the title, the name, and a work phone number.
"They're pretty different from yours, President. No company number or address or anything."
"A CEO's card is supposed to be made that way. It makes it feel more special."
"Is that so? Now that you mention it, I suppose it does."
I had only intended to remain the faceless owner of the company, yet this was how it had ended up. Of course, me sitting in the CEO's chair at Dawon Media didn't change anything. Going forward, most of the actual work would still be handled by the presidents of each company. I had simply taken the seat as the head of Dawon Media, the parent company that now held Lime Entertainment, Future Studio, and Witch as subsidiaries.
"So? How is it?"
"Nothing particularly special. Just… oh, the cards are out."
"Not that! My script!"
"Ah…"
After President Won Chaeyoung left and I was turning the card over in my hands, Jeong Hana shoved her face in again. This was always her posture whenever she was about to receive an evaluation of her work. If I gave a harsh review, she looked ready to spit on me.
I pushed my chair back with my foot, putting some distance between us, then delivered a thoroughly cold-blooded critique.
"You're overthinking it. In a word, it's messy."
"……"
"Just write it simple and intuitive. Don't try to develop something extra here or pile on complicated incidents for the sake of interest. Stay more faithful to the script you already have. The realistic descriptions, the emotions, the atmosphere, the background—those things."
"For example?"
"Meaning this friend's intervention isn't necessary in this scene. In the first draft I saw, the male and female leads were just sitting on the bus-stop bench. Doing nothing."
"And so?"
"What do you mean 'and so'? That suffocating atmosphere, the awkwardness, the subtle exchange of feelings—that alone makes a perfectly good scene. Maybe the sunset turns the sky they're looking at red, or a light breeze makes the male lead turn his head and he catches the female lead brushing her hair back and falls for her all over again."
None of that was my idea. I was simply putting into words a scene I had seen in a web drama after the original series had finished airing. Apparently it helped a great deal.
Jeong Hana pinched the thin frames of her glasses, lifted them slightly, then pulled the chair I had pushed away back in front of the computer and began hammering the keyboard like a madwoman.
That, however, had also been my mistake.
"Next?! Give me ideas, hurry!"
"Did I leave them with you or something?"
She wouldn't let me go. She was holding me hostage and wringing ideas out of me.
"Please! They're already casting the actors one by one! That means this script has to be tweaked a little to fit those actors, and there's no way I can finish it alone in the time we have left!!"
"……The female lead secretly tails the male lead. The background is a shabby hillside-village staircase completely different from the clean apartment complex she lives in."
"Orange streetlamp light… and maybe some trash bags a cat has torn open nearby… she flinches at the sound of a couple fighting… and in that moment the male lead climbing the stairs stops. Then he turns toward her and looks down with an indifferent gaze. 'You don't belong here. This place. Or me.' Kyaaah!!!! Yes! That's it!!!"
Throw her one idea and she spun out ten on her own. That settled it. It wasn't the director who had made the original so good—it was the script. The only reason it was unfinished now was because I had pulled forward a work that wouldn't have appeared until 2024 by a full six years. Counting the shooting period, that meant a TV drama that would have aired in 2025 had been completed in half a year?
"Mmm…!"
What? When did I fall asleep? No—what time is it even?
"……"
"……"
At some point I had drifted off. I tried to lift my heavy eyelids to check the time, but what filled my vision wasn't the clock on the wall—it was Jeong Hana's face right in front of mine. Damp skin and hair, a fragrant scent. She must have washed up. And she had taken off those glasses that had seemed glued to her face.
I had thought it from the first time I saw her: those bright, sparkling eyes were truly captivating. Without the glasses she was even prettier than I had imagined.
"Is this the first time you've ever seen someone sleep?"
"No."
"Then why are you staring like that?"
"Because it's fascinating."
"What is?"
"It feels like you've stepped inside my head. The shape of the work I imagined is becoming clear thanks to your help, Sunwoo. Ah! Don't get up! This is an important scene right now."
"……"
She pressed a hand down so I couldn't even lift my cheek from the table, then slipped her own hand underneath the one that had been propping my face. With both hands flat on the table and her cheek resting on the backs of them, Jeong Hana simply stared at my face for a long while after that.
"How long do I have to stay like this?"
"Just a little longer."
"Then at least tell me why. Why I have to stay like this."
"I want to write something that thrills. Later I want to write lots of other things too, but right now I like the thrilling kind."
"And so?"
"But I don't actually know what 'thrilling' feels like. The whole time I was writing and revising I felt stuck. Looking at you like this, though… I think I might understand."
"Understand what?"
"What thrilling is."
"…What?"
I was flustered. I wasn't so dense that I failed to grasp what she meant. But still—why?
"What kind of person are you, Sunwoo?"
"Well… isn't that the sort of thing you leave to other people's evaluation rather than saying it yourself? It's more objective that way."
"Then you're a pervert."
"Excuse me??"
"I didn't think you'd actually touch me on the subway."
"You told me to…!"
"I did. But I still didn't think you'd really do it."
"That was…!"
"And you're a kind person. Forceful, too."
"……"
"I've already felt the thrill three times."
"In what situations…?"
"When you asked me to do it with you."
"That was a contract…!"
"And on the subway."
"Both misunderstandings…"
"And right now."
I had already known she wasn't ordinary—ever since she had gone looking for a molester just to feel the emotions of a passing extra. But I had never imagined she would steal my lips like this.
"Hana…"
Jeong Hana pulled her lips away from mine, smiled sweetly, and very carefully stroked my cheek.
"Hee~ How is it?"
"H-how is what…?"
"The feeling of taking my first kiss."
"First kiss…"
"I washed up."
"…What?"
Jeong Hana rose from her seat and walked toward the corner of the studio with her back to me.
Click—
The door to the private rest area reserved for writers working here opened. She went inside. She didn't close the door, and then she vanished from sight.
And then—
"Meow~"
"……"
She poked only half her face out through the open doorway and made a cat sound. That meow was the medium that connected the male and female leads. At their first meeting, when they pushed each other away, and when they reunited after graduation in that same place—whenever you followed a cat's cry, the other person was always there.
Which meant Jeong Hana was calling me right now.
"Meow~"
"……"
I stood up. And I walked.
Click—
I shut the door and stepped into the space that belonged only to Jeong Hana.
"I knew you'd come. See? Forceful, just like I said."
"How am I supposed to not come when you seduce me like that?"
"So what are you going to do with me now?"
"This."
"Mmph…!!"
I pulled her in by the arm around her waist and kissed her. I brushed back the damp strands of hair clinging to her face with my fingers. I roughly sucked on the lips that had simply been pressed against mine, forced an opening, and slid my tongue between them.
Clench!!
The two hands resting between my shoulder and chest balled up the fabric of my T-shirt and gripped it hard. I enjoyed that reaction a little longer, tangled our tongues, then slowly drew my lips away.
"Haaah… haaah…"
"How is it? The feeling of a real first kiss?"
"Haa… haa… That was the fourth… thrill…"
"Then I guess you'll have to feel the fifth one too."
"Haup!!"
Instead of a scream, Jeong Hana sucked in a sharp breath, hurriedly threw her arms around my neck, and clung to my descending upper body as she fell back onto the bed. Before she let go of the arms around my neck, she whispered in a tiny voice:
"The title of this episode is… The Heroine Conquered by Her First Experience…"
"I'll conquer you properly."
"Haah…!!!"