What Happened to You Guys?
A week after the war with the stray cats, peace returned to Sekki House as if nothing had ever happened.
Bo-ri got hurt a little, and the kittens were startled, but I suppose this counts as peaceful.
Fortunately, Bo-ri's condition wasn't bad.
Everyone had worried when she returned covered in blood after the battle with the stray cats, but her injuries weren't actually that severe.
"She has quite a few skin tears, but it shouldn't be a major issue. If we disinfect the wounds and take good care of them, she'll heal in no time."
At the words of the Good Doctor clinic director, Seung-wan and the rest of the group let out a sigh of relief.
"Still, I recommend hospitalizing her for a few days to monitor her. Since she fought with strays, there's a high risk of bacterial infection."
"Yes, let's do that. Today is Wednesday, so would discharging her next Monday be alright?"
"That should be plenty. If she stays any longer, she might start feeling cooped up."
"Yes, please take good care of her."
Having been hospitalized like that, Bo-ri had been discharged three days ago and was now lying in the playroom in her signature pose.
"Meow."
"Mew..."
Perhaps it was because they had witnessed such a fierce battle firsthand. Even though she had returned in good health, Samsaek-i and his siblings hadn't left Bo-ri's side for days.
Far from leaving her alone, they clung to her, kneading their paws against her back, belly, head, and even her tail.
"Pfft, look at her face. That's priceless."
It was incredibly cute to see Bo-ri unable to bring herself to reject Samsaek-i's kneading, even as her face was being squished.
Just then, Do-hee, who was watching Bo-ri alongside him, asked a question.
"Oppa, shouldn't you be heading out soon?"
"Huh? Ah, you're right. I only meant to check on Bo-ri for a second, but I stayed too long."
Checking his watch, Do-jin hurriedly left the playroom.
Near the main building's entrance, he ran into Eun-seop.
"Hello, Representative."
"Ah, Team Leader. Hello. Have you eaten?"
"Yes, I ate as soon as lunchtime started. But where are you headed?"
"Ah, to the side gate."
"The side gate... Ah, are you going to look after the kids again today?"
"Yes, well. Hahaha..."
Do-jin replied with an awkward laugh. He found his current situation rather absurd himself.
Fortunately, Eun-seop didn't tease him any further.
"Hurry on. The parents must be waiting."
"Ah, yes. Well, keep up the good work today!"
After saying goodbye, Do-jin ran toward the annex. He wanted to escape the awkward situation as quickly as possible, but more than anything, he was running quite late.
Before hiring Chanarshanhu, Do-jin's daily routine had been simple.
After breakfast, he would walk Ttorang-i around the grounds of Sekki House. Afterward, he would spend his time pulling weeds or repairing areas that needed maintenance.
After lunch, he would hold a brief meeting regarding the channel, finish up any morning tasks, or head to the playroom.
Finally, after dinner, he would chat with Do-hee and Seung-wan to wind down for the day. That was his usual routine.
But ever since Chanarshanhu and his family joined, he hadn't been able to maintain this routine.
Because Chanarshanhu's family takes care of almost everything.
With Sun-jam even taking over walking Ttorang-i, Do-jin, frankly speaking, had nothing to do.
Thanks to this, he was suffering from a lack of content for the first time since launching the channel.
I probably can't upload this incident to YouTube, right?
He had more than enough video footage. However, uploading it was problematic in many ways.
It's not even certain if that stray cat is Samsaek-i's father, but even if it were, uploading it would be a bit...
He wasn't such a slave to views that he would expose Bo-ri's scandalous love life to the public.
Of course, that wasn't the only reason.
Anyway, using Ttorang-i to attack a stray cat is bound to cause controversy.
There were always people who crossed the line when it came to animals. In particular, many would react with murderous rage if a stray cat got even slightly hurt, so he had to handle it carefully.
To those people, the fact that Bo-ri was attacked first, or that the one riding Ttorang-i was only a five-year-old child, wouldn't mean a thing.
Thinking about it that way, his newly added schedule was actually perfect material for content.
"I'm here."
After running past the annex for a while longer, a small side gate appeared before Do-jin's eyes.
Normally, there should have been a wall enclosing Sekki House, but Do-jin had built this gate to easily move back and forth to the newly acquired land.
"Squeak! Squeak!"
"Oh dear, someone's in a bad mood."
Feeling a bit guilty at the sound coming from behind the gate, Do-jin quickly opened it.
*Clack!*
*Pitter-patter!*
As the heavy iron gate swung open, the sound of footsteps running toward Do-jin echoed, as if they had been waiting.
The owner of the footsteps, arriving in front of Do-jin in an instant, stood on its hind legs and glared at him.
"Sorry, did you wait long?"
"Squeak, squeak!"
At Do-jin's words, the otter whipped its head away.
Seeing how upset it was, Do-jin held out the loaches he had prepared in advance.
He had specially asked Mrs. Heo for them; they were originally ingredients for the loach soup scheduled for lunch.
"...Squeak."
Seeing the loaches Do-jin offered, the otter hesitated for a moment before subtly taking them in its mouth as if it had no choice.
Then, as if it had never been angry, it began moving toward the nest.
"Squeak~"
"Alright, alright, I get it. Stop nagging me."
Do-jin chuckled as he watched the otter repeatedly glance back at him while walking.
It looked exactly as if it were saying, What are you doing? Why aren't you coming?
Following the otter to the nest, Do-jin saw the baby otters, which had grown quite a bit by now.
"They were only the size of my finger when I first saw them."
Now, they were just slightly smaller than the palm of his hand.
"Squeak, squeak!"
"Chirp, squeak!"
Did they notice Do-jin approaching? The little wriggly pups rushed toward him all at once.
"Whoa, slow down. You'll get hurt."
Despite Do-jin's warning, the pups didn't slow down. If anything, they ran even faster, as if competing with one another.
"Come here."
When Do-jin held out his hands, the pups climbed onto his palms as if they had been waiting for this very moment.
"Squeak."
"Squeak, squeak."
Watching the little things wriggle on his palms, Do-jin spoke.
"You wanted me to do this, didn't you? Geez, let's go!"
Moving carefully to avoid dropping them, Do-jin carried them to the nest and gently set them down inside.
However, one otter that should have been there was missing.
"Huh? Where's Mom?"
Normally, the mother otter would greet Do-jin when he approached. But for some reason, there was no reaction today.
"Squeak!"
Just then, the father otter, who had guided him here, approached Do-jin, tapped his shoe, and walked straight back into the nest.
Having experienced this several times already, Do-jin knew this was a form of encouragement. If translated into human terms, it would be something like, "Take care of them for me."
At first, he had been flustered by the otter leaving the pups with him and retreating into the nest, but now he just accepted it.
"Ah, she was inside."
Turning his head to follow the father otter, Do-jin spotted the mother otter sleeping inside the nest and nodded.
"Did she fall asleep while waiting?"
Otters were naturally nocturnal, so it made sense for her to sleep at this hour. If anything, it was more unusual that she waited for him to arrive every day before going to sleep.
"I guess she fell asleep first because I was so late today."
Now he understood why the father otter had been so grumpy. His wife had delayed her sleep just to wait, so it was only natural for him to feel anxious as a husband.
"Alright, you guys should get some sleep now too, right?"
At Do-jin's words, the baby otters went back to their spots. However, as always, they didn't seem ready to fall asleep immediately.
"Squeak."
"Squeak, squeak."
"Kids staying up and chatting instead of sleeping is the same whether they're humans or otters."
Resigned, Do-jin pulled out the item he had brought along. It was a container filled with grasshoppers and crickets he had caught in the vegetable garden.
"I think I caught eight or nine of them. Anyway, you'll each get at least two."
As soon as Do-jin opened the lid, the baby otters rushed forward and snatched the food.
The largest of the bunch managed to secure three crickets in total—one in each paw and one in its mouth.
"Oh, you're fast. Is this the power of the eldest?"
"Squeak!"
Pleased by Do-jin's praise, the eldest rolled over once in place and quickly devoured two of the crickets. Then, it gave the last cricket to the smallest pup.
"Squeak!"
"Squeak?"
The youngest, who had only managed to get two tiny grasshoppers because it was the slowest, seemed deeply touched. It hugged the eldest and began rolling around with it.
"Save the emotional moment for later and eat quickly. It might get away."
Snapping back to reality at Do-jin's warning, the youngest hastily stuffed the cricket into its mouth.
*Crunch, crunch.*
Do-jin tried his best not to grimace at the crunching sound coming from the otter's mouth. Even though those insects were pests to him, they were wonderful snacks for the baby otters.
"Alright, it's really bedtime now. You know it's late, right? Go to sleep."
"Squeak..."
At Do-jin's words, the pups obediently went to their spots and lay down. With full bellies at their usual sleeping time, they could no longer resist the urge to sleep.
"Good night."
With Do-jin's parting words, the four baby otters drifted off to dreamland.
"Oppa, it's lunchtime."
"Already? Alright, I'm coming."
Hearing Do-hee's voice, Do-jin, who had been guarding the nest, stood up and stretched.
*Crack!*
Perhaps because he had been sitting for hours, the sound of his joints popping echoed from various parts of his body.
*Twitch!*
"Oops."
When the otters stirred, threatened to wake up by the noise he made, Do-jin quickly slipped away. It would be afternoon soon anyway, so it wouldn't be long before the otter parents woke up.
"You've been spending all your mornings at the otter nest lately, haven't you?"
"Yeah, somehow it turned out that way. They wait by the gate every single day, so I can't just ignore them."
"I'm satisfied since we got new content out of it, but Ttorang-i and Bo-ri might get jealous."
"Exactly. Technically speaking, that's cheating, you know?"
Do-jin, who was eating loach soup, laughed incredulously at Do-hee and Seung-wan's remarks. He already knew that the animals of Sekki House didn't mind the otters at all.
"Once I warned Hwindung-i and Cheongdung-i, the other animals didn't really pay them any mind."
From Do-jin's perspective, he had simply stopped the two predators from attacking the otters, but the other animals seemed to view it differently. Since then, they had been looking out for each other like family.
This was the very reason why the otters had grown plump, even though the fish farm had closed down and all the eels were gone.
Because Hwindung-i and the others bring them prey every single day.
Normally, this would be absurd. A bird of prey feeding an otter, which could easily be its target. They had no reason to do so, and even if they had spare food, they would usually fill their own bellies first.
Well, I suppose it's fine since there's plenty of food around here.
Being near the Imjin River, and with many nearby villages not farming recently, food was relatively abundant.
Among the available prey, the hawk trio's favorite targets were bullfrogs and nutria.
Unlike near big cities, their populations were overflowing in this area, and the hawk trio actually used them as their staple diet.
The bullfrogs are one thing, but the nutria population really needs to be controlled.
Although both were labeled as invasive species that disrupted the ecosystem, from a human perspective, the nutria were far more troublesome.
Contrary to the scary rumors, they were actually quite gentle creatures, but wherever they settled, not a single fish would be left.
Especially for otters, who survived by hunting fish, nutria were rivals that threatened their food supply.
"So, what are you doing this afternoon?"
"Nothing in particular, but I think I might go to the hospital with Chanarshanhu's family."
"The hospital? Ah, are the results out already?"
"Not the DNA test yet, but the psychological evaluation results should be ready by now. I think the hospital told us to visit around this time."
Do-hee and Seung-wan nodded at Do-jin's words.
Having spent time with Sun-jam, the two had grown quite attached to her. Though they didn't say it out loud, they couldn't help but be very curious about her condition.
However, Do-jin was unable to go to the hospital with Chanarshanhu.
"Representative, I've been hearing noises from the side gate for a while now. I think you should go check it out."
"From the side gate?"
Do-jin tilted his head at Eun-seop's words. It was still too early for the otters to start moving around actively.
"Go quickly for now."
"Yeah, you never know if something happened."
Nodding at their words, Do-jin hurried toward the side gate.
And as he drew near the side gate, he could hear the sound Eun-seop had mentioned.
*Thump, thump, thump.*
"What is that?"
Normally, he would have heard squeaks. He had never heard a knocking sound like this before.
Sensing something was wrong, Do-jin quickly opened the iron gate.
*Clank!*
With a heavy sound, the side gate swung open. Do-jin naturally cast his gaze downward, only to freeze instantly.
"Squeak..."
"Squeak, squeak..."
Creatures smaller than the palm of his hand. The very baby otters that had been playing in his hands and whom he had personally put to sleep just a short while ago were huddled beneath the gate.
"Y-you guys... What happened to you?"
Every single one of them was bleeding from the head.