The Office Kitten and the Work Totem
I looked at the little kitten dangling from my pants hem. I didn’t know what kind it was, but it was a silver-grey kitten with a grey face.
Startled, I shook my leg.
**Nyaa!**
The kitten stayed attached, swinging back and forth as it clung.
“I have to go to work. Could you let go?”
“…”
I sighed while staring at the kitten blinking its big eyes as if it didn’t understand what I was saying.
‘It looked like a cat someone had raised.’
It wasn’t the ordinary long-haired stray type, so I squatted down and inspected the kitten clinging to my leg. I’d expected a collar or something, but there was nothing.
I wondered where it had escaped from and glanced around, and then my eyes caught sight of a box.
“Please take care of me. I’m sorry.”
I frowned at the careless message written in magic.
‘So this was an abandoned kitten.’
They called it “grafting” or something. It was both adorable and pitiful, but my nose was as long as a stone. I barely managed to keep myself alive in this harsh world; I didn’t have the leisure to take responsibility for another living creature.
I gently grabbed the kitten’s nape and lifted it off my leg.
“Nyaaaa!”
“Go meet a better person.”
I carefully set it down in the box it had been in and stepped away.
**Thunk, thunk.**
**Clop, clop.**
**Thunk, thunk.**
**Clop, clop.**
‘It’s following me…’
Even without looking back, I could feel the kitten chasing me with its short legs. I picked up the pace to outrun it, but the kitten kept meowing insistently as if begging me to take it.
Soon we left the alley and reached a busy area. It was still early morning, but the people hurrying to work—I worried whether they would even see the kitten or if it would get stepped on.
“Haa…”
“Nyaa!”
When I stopped, the kitten that had been following me immediately hung onto my leg again.
“You said to find a better owner.”
“…”
It was a kitten with no relation to me, yet I felt reluctant to simply ignore it while it chased me. I thought of taking it to a pet hospital—maybe the vet would know how to handle it.
‘Are animal hospitals even open at this hour?’
Hospitals wouldn’t be open from the crack of dawn, so I had no choice but to bring the little one along for now.
“Kitten. You must understand. I’m not taking you—I’m temporarily protecting you.”
“Nyaa.”
“Yes. Listen well. If the company people get in the way, I’ll throw you out immediately. Behave.”
I’d hold it for a little while, then toss it at the animal hospital around lunchtime.
I pulled the bag I was carrying in front and stuffed the kitten inside. I stroked the kitten’s head, which was poking out like a sprout, and headed for the subway.
“Excuse me. No animals allowed.”
“Ah. Really? Even in the bag?”
“Yes. You need a cage to enter.”
I scratched my head at the subway attendant’s regulation.
‘I guess I’ve seen people come in like this…’
The professional attendant knew best, so I turned around and left the station.
“You’re the reason we have to take a taxi now.”
“Nyaa.”
I probably couldn’t even take the bus, so I hailed a taxi waiting near the station.
“Driver. There’s a kitten. Is that okay?”
“Yeah~ Just make sure it doesn’t come out.”
“Thank you. Take me to Guro Digital Complex.”
The trip to the company was quick.
Before going up to the office, I stopped by the nearby convenience store.
“Do you like this?”
“Nyaa!”
“You don’t know anything. Have you ever tried it?”
“Nyaa!”
I stroked the kitten, which seemed to understand every word, and bought cat snacks and food before heading back to the office.
“Hey. Yihan. What’s up.”
“What? You came early?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t sleep because my eyes were open too early. But…. What’s in the bag? A doll? It doesn’t suit you.”
“Nyaa!”
The kitten jumped when I thought it was a doll.
“Oh my god. A real cat? Did you raise a kitten? Since when?”
“By chance I picked it up. I’m not raising it—I’m temporarily protecting it. I’m planning to drop it off at the hospital at lunchtime.”
The kitten showed no interest in my answer and started playing with it. Being a kitten, it didn’t bark even though Daniel petted it vigorously.
“Good morning!”
“Good morning.”
Mr. Seok-joo and Ms. Min-ji had come to work. They walked toward their desks, spotted Daniel playing with the kitten, and froze.
“Oh! Team Leader Daniel. What’s this cat? Is it Team Leader Daniel’s cat?”
“No. It’s Yihan’s cat.”
“Wow! It’s so cute.”
Unlike Mr. Seok-joo, who was only briefly interested, Ms. Min-ji approached the kitten with a creak, her steps careful.
“May, may I touch it?”
“Sure. It’s not my cat, though.”
“Uwaaaa…!”
Ms. Min-ji, who was usually as cold as a machine and rarely changed her expression, reached out with a completely relaxed face.
**Whoosh.**
“Uwaaaa…! My, my hand….”
But the kitten that had always allowed easy petting suddenly avoided Ms. Min-ji’s touch as if she didn’t like it.
“You’re too cute…”
Even so, Ms. Min-ji gave her one step back and just stared at the kitten endlessly.
“What kind of cat is this?”
“Cat! A creature that looks like a cat…. I feel like… I feel like an idea is coming…!”
Before long, other employees who had also come to work began to show interest in the kitten. If anyone had a cat allergy, I would have rushed them to the 24-hour animal hospital to drop it off and come back, but it seemed everyone was fine.
“This kitten isn’t something to worry about. It followed me from the roadside, so I brought it. I’m planning to leave it at the animal hospital at lunchtime.”
“Uwaaaa…! Are you saying you’re going to send it to the shelter?! Director, don’t you have a heart? Sending such a small life to the shelter…!”
Ms. Min-ji glared at me as if I were garbage, her face full of shock.
‘Ms. Min-ji isn’t this kind of character…’
As a subordinate, it was impossible to see me as human. I pitied the one abandoned on the street and kept bringing it along for a short while, but I had no intention of raising it.
“Then will Ms. Min-ji take it?”
“I, I… I live with my parents, so it might be tough for me… Kuuu! I should have started living alone.”
“Oh dear.”
Even though everyone thought the kitten was cute, they seemed reluctant to raise it and avoided my gaze awkwardly.
“Okay. Everyone, let’s stop talking about the kitten now and get to work.”
“Yes!”
“I’ve been thinking of making this game with the unique engine…. Programming team? Have you touched the unique engine?”
Both nodded.
“Oh? Mr. Seok-ho also touched it?”
“Yes! I touched it at the academy!”
“Ah…”
It seemed I was the only one who had actually touched it.
“What about Mr. Jae-min?”
“I, I also touched it a little at the club during university. Not well, though…. Sorry.”
“No. It’s fine. Just learning is enough.”
Like last time, if I stayed overtime, the programming team would get familiar with the engine in a few days.
“The programming team will spend time getting used to the engine with me…. Art team?”
“Yes!”
Ms. Cha Ju-hee, who had already picked up the kitten, answered vigorously.
“We’ll work on strange creatures together with me. Not just creatures, but objects or strange phenomena as well.”
“Will we be doing it together this time?”
“Yes. Our next project, tentatively titled ‘Management Bureau,’ is full of diversity, so brainstorming together is better than doing it alone.”
“I’m confident! Leave it to me, Director!”
Mr. Sung-bae looked at me with shining eyes as if he wanted the meeting to start right away. When preparing the Dot Hero update, I had felt a passion I hadn’t seen before and let out a chuckle.
“We won’t start the meeting right now. Each of you make at least two strange creature concepts and bring them in. From today, the art team’s daily goal is to create three or more strange creatures.”
“I, I think you mean creating three together, not individually, right?”
“Yes.”
“Huuu…”
Ms. Cha Ju-hee sighed in relief, but it wouldn’t be as easy as she thought. At first, ideas would flow freely and creation would be simple, but once ideas ran out, it would surely be hard to create even one a day.
“Sound team leader.”
“Yes, boss.”
“You can leave it to me for now. Any inspiration from the plan?”
“Of course. I’ll just make whatever comes to mind and check later.”
Once again, she had read my style well because she had tried it once before.
“Then let’s all get to work!”
*
“Nyaa~”
**Bump.**
The kitten that had come to rub its head on Mr. Seok-ho’s leg after getting stuck while studying the engine.
“Are you telling me to cheer up?”
“Nyaa.”
“Hahaha. Thank you. I’ll cheer up!”
Mr. Seok-ho, burning with renewed enthusiasm.
This didn’t happen only to Mr. Seok-ho.
**Poke.** **Poke.**
“Don’t, don’t interrupt and go away.”
**Poke.**
“P, please don’t…. Huh?”
Mr. Jae-min, who was about to get annoyed by the kitten poking his hand, accidentally hit the keys while trying to get rid of it, and that accident turned out to be helpful.
“W, was this how you were supposed to code it?”
“Nyaa?”
“There’s no way… Still, thank you. Go play over there.”
The kitten that had helped with coding also helped Mr. Daniel, who was wearing a headset.
The kitten jumped onto Mr. Daniel’s shoulder.
“Nyaaaat.”
“…”
“Nyaaat. Nyaaat? Haaaccck!”
“What? Kitty, when did you get up here.”
“Haaaccck!”
“Where’s the barking? I’m going to get scolded… barking?”
The kitten had climbed up my shoulder but couldn’t come down, so it was barking in fear. But that barking seemed to give Mr. Daniel some kind of inspiration.
Mr. Daniel put the kitten down on the floor and started clicking his mouse as if possessed by something.
He hadn’t come close to Ms. Min-ji, but just by walking around the office, he seemed to have already boosted his morale.
Mr. Sung-bae carefully inspected the kitten and wrote something.
Ms. Cha Ju-hee used the kitten as a stress ball, fidgeting with it and drawing quickly with her free hand.
“Hmm…”
I had worried the kitten would disturb my work, but instead of disturbing, it felt helpful. It seemed that having a cute creature around could lift morale emotionally.
Lunchtime came, and I put the kitten back in my backpack.
“Director. Where are you going? Why are you putting Som-mungchi away?”
“Som-mungchi?”
“It’s grey, so we named it Som-mungchi. Is that okay?”
“Don’t give it a name. Anyway, you won’t see it anymore.”
“Really?! You’re not changing your mind, are you? You said you were going to raise it!”
I never said that.
I just stroked it when it came over asking to be petted while I was working.
“Eat lunch without me.”
“Ah, nooo…”
After leaving the employees who were regretting it behind, I looked for an animal hospital nearby.
“Shelter?”
“Yes. It kept following me from the street, so I brought it for a while… I thought someone had abandoned it.”
“There are a lot of people like that lately. Adopt it and then abandon it…. I’ll contact the protection center.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
The vet who finished the call came back with a sad face.
“There’s no space at the center.”
“Really? What do I do then?”
“I was thinking of finding a temporary guardian, but… it didn’t work out…”
“What happens if I can’t find one?”
“It would probably be euthanized.”
My heart felt uneasy at the thought of it dying without finding a guardian or space at the shelter.
“Um…”
“If you’re okay with it, how about temporarily protecting it for a while? There might be a space at the shelter in a few days.”
“How many days do I need to keep it?”
“I don’t know that either.”
I scratched my head and made a decision.
“I’ll keep it until there’s space at the shelter.”
“You’ve thought it through very well!”
In the end, I paid for the kitten’s health check and vaccinations and left the animal hospital.
“Haa. What should I do with you.”
“Nyaa!”
Back at the office with the kitten, the employees greeted me.
“Som-mungchi!”
“You, you’re back…!”
I did greet you, right…?
Ignoring the feeling that they were only looking at the kitten in my arms, I sat at my desk.
“I’m taking it temporarily. Since it’s a kitten, I can’t just leave it at home, so I’ll be coming to work with it for a few days. Sorry if it’s inconvenient.”
“Y, yes!”
I shook my head at Ms. Min-ji’s face, which was brimming with excitement. It was the most enthusiastic face I had seen since she joined.
“Let’s give it our all in the afternoon too.”
After the scheduled lunch break ended, we started working.
One hour.
Three hours.
Five hours.
As regular quitting time approached and I had to decide whether to stay overtime or leave on time, I checked the employees’ work.
‘Of course overtime… What the hell happened?’
The programming team familiarized themselves with the engine faster than I expected, the art team created more strange creatures than their original goal, and even Daniel produced more songs than I thought.
It wasn’t that their skills had improved.
I knew that better than anyone because I had been stuck with them only a few days ago.
The only change was this.
I glared at the kitten licking its paw on my desk.
“You… you’re the work totem.”
The power of that little kitten.