A Kitten's Guide Home
“Huff… huff…”
Jungwoo had searched every corner of the neighborhood, but Seia was nowhere to be found.
It hadn’t even been long.
Just a moment. Really, just a brief moment.
Maybe a minute? Two at most?
In that short span of time, Seia had vanished completely.
The CCTV installed in the restaurant, unfortunately, didn’t cover the street outside.
If only he’d known. He should have set up cameras that reached farther out.
“Should I… file a missing person report first? What am I supposed to do?”
His mind had gone completely blank.
He didn’t know what to do, or where to even begin.
There was something he absolutely had to do, but he couldn’t grasp what it was.
He’d already checked the entire area, and she wasn’t there. Did that mean Seia had wandered far away?
First, stay calm.
In a situation like this, if he lost his composure, he wouldn’t be able to do anything at all.
“Should I… file the report first?”
With trembling hands, Jungwoo dialed the police station, only to hang up immediately.
“If she disappeared completely in such a short time, then maybe…”
Left alone with his thoughts, his mind kept drifting toward the worst possibilities.
He told himself not to think that way and tried to recall the most reliable and fastest way to handle the situation.
There were two options.
One was to report it to the Hunter-exclusive police station that handled the pursuit and arrest of Hunters.
The other was to request assistance directly from a guild.
Regular police stations existed, of course, but when the suspect was a Hunter, their response was painfully slow.
They would first determine whether the perpetrator was a Hunter, and only then forward the case to the Hunter police if necessary.
Comparing the two methods, each had its pros and cons.
Reporting to the Hunter police meant they could conduct a search without restrictions. That was the advantage. They could operate independently without needing special permits.
But their speed was relatively slow.
With Hunter-related crimes increasing every day, there were already too many unresolved cases piling up.
The second option—requesting help directly from a guild—was the fastest, but came with a steep price tag to match that speed.
‘Money doesn’t matter at all.’
He could run the entire restaurant like a slave for the rest of his life if it meant finding Seia.
Of course, there was always the possibility they wouldn’t find her.
Maybe their paths had simply crossed, and she’d gone somewhere else.
But what if that wasn’t the case?
What if he decided to wait a little longer, only to regret it for the rest of his life?
He couldn’t bear that possibility.
One mistake was enough.
“The guild. I’ll contact the guild.”
Fortunately, there were many guild offices in the area, including several large ones.
Among them, his eyes landed on the Sajeol Guild, which had recently grown in size and enjoyed a strong reputation.
They would be fine.
Pouring all his desperation into the call, Jungwoo dialed the Sajeol Guild directly.
After a short wait, the line connected, and a calm female employee answered.
– Hello, this is the Sajeol Guild.
– Ah, hello. I’d like to make a request as quickly as possible.
– What kind of request is it?
– My daughter has suddenly disappeared. I only stepped away for a moment to feed the cat, so…
– Please speak slowly and calmly. If you explain the situation clearly, we’ll be able to respond faster. Could you tell me when she disappeared, what the circumstances were, and her location?
The employee seemed to have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Crimes involving children were unforgivable, after all.
Jungwoo answered every question they asked—when Seia had disappeared, what he had been doing, what she had been doing, and where it had happened.
Once he’d finished, the employee asked one final question.
– The base fee is one million won. The cost varies depending on the details and the speed of the request.
– I’ll transfer the money right away. Please hurry.
– Understood. Please wait a moment.
– …Thank you.
The request was complete.
He still had the money he’d received as compensation last time, so the fee wouldn’t be a problem.
Even if it was, he could pay it off later.
All he could do now was pray that nothing had happened to her.
Jungwoo’s request was forwarded to every member of the Sajeol Guild.
Because something that should never happen might have occurred, the message went out to everyone except the guild leader and vice-leader.
And among those members were people Jungwoo knew well.
Seong Ye-eun and Yuhyeon.
“What… is this supposed to mean?”
Seong Ye-eun had stopped by Provan Restaurant and returned home, looking forward to a peaceful day.
She’d planned to grab dinner at Seona’s Restaurant after the food stall closed at eight.
But now Seia had gone missing?
There was no way Seia would disappear on her own. That left only one possibility.
“…Who could it be?”
She had just finished showering, changed into comfortable pajamas, and thrown herself onto her bed.
Yet her eyes now burned with killing intent.
There was no time to waste.
She had to go. Now.
Should she contact Guild Leader Park Geon-su as well?
She hesitated for a moment, but decided it was better to inform him.
He would find out about the request anyway.
And since Seong Ye-eun knew about it, Yuhyeon had almost certainly been notified too.
“Let’s move.”
Finding Seia came first.
Nothing else mattered more.
Yuhyeon’s reaction was no different.
“…How unpleasant.”
Leaving those words behind, he stepped out of the guild’s bar where he’d been passing time.
All to find Seia.
“Why’d you come here?”
Meanwhile, unaware of the chaos unfolding, Seia crouched down to the kitten’s eye level and gently stroked its fur as she asked the question.
Of course, the only answer she received was a soft meow, but the cat’s subsequent movements made its intentions clear.
The kitten padded over to a cardboard box tucked in the corner of the alley and tapped it with its paw.
“What’s this?”
What could be inside?
Seia’s curiosity, which had been growing since she left the restaurant and followed the cat down the alley, was finally about to be satisfied. She approached carefully and lifted the box.
“Ah…!”
Inside was another kitten.
A newborn, barely days old.
There were no other kittens in sight. Just this one, left alone.
“Baby kitty. Where did your mom go?”
Whether it was sleeping or simply too weak to move, its tiny belly rose and fell in a steady rhythm. It didn’t seem to be in immediate danger.
What should she do with this small, precious life?
Seia knew all too well what her father had said—that raising a pet required a level of responsibility she couldn’t even imagine. She couldn’t bring herself to make a rash decision.
But watching the tiny creature tremble in the chilly air, she couldn’t just walk away either.
Even if she couldn’t keep it, she could at least keep it warm for now.
So what could provide warmth?
Seona’s Restaurant would naturally be warm from the cooking, but it was too far to help the kitten right now.
“Are you cold, kitty?”
Instead, she simply picked it up and held it close.
It didn’t feel freezing, but it was nothing like the warmth of the cheese-colored cat she’d been petting earlier.
This one was much colder, and trembled far more violently.
“I’ll hold you.”
For now, this was all she could do.
To keep it from getting colder. To keep it from shaking.
She cradled it in her arms, but what came next?
Should she take it back to Seona’s Restaurant?
Seia remembered her father’s words clearly—that keeping an animal required a firm resolve, even if she didn’t fully understand what that meant.
“Kitty, what should I do?”
The only one she could ask for advice was the cheese-colored cat, but of course, they couldn’t have a proper conversation.
Based on the meows she heard, Seia simply imagined the answer she wanted to hear.
“Then… can I keep you warm for just a little while?”
She would need her father’s permission to keep it, but surely warming it up for a short time—at the restaurant or in her arms—would be okay?
First, she’d take it to the restaurant.
Then she’d ask her father if she could keep it. If he said no, she’d nurse it back to health and bring it back here.
Having reached that conclusion, Seia carefully lifted the kitten, making sure it stayed warm, and headed back toward the restaurant.
Or at least, she tried to.
“How do I get back…?”
She didn’t know the way.
She’d been so focused on following the cat that she hadn’t thought about how to return.
“Ah!”
Seia’s first real crisis in life.
Without her father, anxiety began to creep in, but thankfully, the cheese-colored cat was still by her side.
It had guided her this far. Maybe it could guide her back, too?
“Kitty, Seia wants to go home now.”
Any ordinary cat might have ignored her, but this one was no ordinary cat.
Just like before, the cheese-colored cat strode confidently out of the alley, tail and hips swaying with each step.
Following the cat for a short while, Seia soon found herself back at Seona’s Restaurant.
“I’m going to see Daddy now! Thank you, kitty!”
After thanking the cat, Seia hurried inside.
“Daddy…?”
But her father wasn’t there.
She’d been separated from him before, but this was the first time he wasn’t where he was supposed to be.
“K-kitty. Daddy’s not here…”
Whether the newborn kitten’s trembling had transferred to her or not, Seia looked around anxiously.
There was no sign of her father.
Still, there was one thing he had taught her clearly.
If she ever got lost, she should stay exactly where she was and wait instead of wandering around.
She wondered if she should stay in the alley, but after thinking it over, she decided the restaurant was the better place to wait.
Going back to the alley would be difficult anyway.
“If I stay at Seona’s Restaurant, Daddy will come…”
He always did.
When she was struggling, he became her strength. When she was cold, he became her warm stove.
Right now, she missed him, so he would appear soon.
Earlier, Seia had been the stove for the motherless kitten.
Now, they were each other’s warmth.