Cat Mania

45. Come With Us

"Meow!"

The cats, or rather, the children, greeted Cale as he entered his room. They quickly turned back into their human forms.

"Dad! What happened while you were gone!?"

The kids panicked when they saw Cale covered in small scars.

Jiwoo, who was also there, smiled softly. "The kids must be worried about you."

"What happened to father, mr. Jiwoo." Hong asked, almost crying.

"Human. I'll heal you quickly!" Raon rushed to Cale.

"It's fine. I'll heal by myself." Cale rejected his help.

"But you're hurt!" The cat tribe siblings shouted. "You're in pain!"

"It doesn't hurt that much." Cale averted his gaze awkwardly. "Kartein taught me a healing ability. I want to keep practicing it."

Kartein smirked pridefully. 'Heh. You see that, Kayden?'

"..." Kayden glared at Kartein.

The kids' imaginary ears went down, upset.

Cale sighed, patting them on the head.

"Let's bandage your wounds first, mr. Cale." Jiwoo suggested, bringing out the first aid kit.

"We'll help!"

The kids eagerly offered their help.

Jiwoo nodded.

Tap tap

Cale walked around the academy, alone. He stared at his arm, bandaged sloppily. It was tight, but there were a fee strings coming out randomly. The kids really tried their best, he sighed while smiling softly.

Tap tap

Those weren't his footsteps. It sounded like it came from three.

Cale turned around.

There was someone walking towards him, he had long blackish-brown hair, heavy golden eyeliner, and a black panther walking next to them. He was wearing the WAA uniform, but Cale hadn't seen him before.

"What are you supposed to be?" The guy asked, stopping in front of him.

He was talking about Cale's cat ears and tail.

Cale sweated, he was clearly a human, how else could he say it? But his appearance clearly didn't say that, he looked more like a cat tribesmen than human.

"That's interesting." The guy observed him up and down. "You look like both a human and a fox. Is that supposed to be your awakened power? I've never heard of that before."

"...Yes..." Cale answered anxiously. Was that the correct choice?

"Well, since you're technically both," the guy grinned, "why don't you become my awakened animal?" He extended his hand pridefully.

"...what?" There was a (large) hint of annoyance in Cale's voice.

"I'm offering you a chance to become my, Gahin Luterain, the heir to the great Luterain family's, pet." Gahin spoke pridefully as if it were an honor.

'I'm not asking you to rephrase that.' Cale groaned. "No thank you."

His eyes widened. "What- what do you mean!?" Gahin seemed to have never received rejection before. "This is a chance of a lifetime!"

'Yeah, one like eternal hell.' Cale mocked. "First of all, I'm not a pet, I'm a human." 'Even with these ears and tail.' "Second of all, you can't just own someone."