They arrived home.
The moment Se-ha opened the front door, Ruby leaped down from Da-hong’s arms.
Tap.
Ruby sniffed at the floor, then slowly padded around.
She seemed to be checking whether the ground beneath her was solid.
Then she made a quick lap around the living room.
Pitter-patter-patter.
“Doesn’t seem particularly scared.”
“I guess even a baby Behemoth is still a Behemoth.”
Ruby paid no attention to their murmuring and continued her investigation of the unfamiliar space.
Peering under the sofa.
Checking behind the curtains.
Sniffing beneath the dining table.
Finally, she settled in front of the balcony window and gazed outside.
Her golden eyes looked down.
It was high up.
Ruby’s ears flattened.
“Scared?”
Da-hong crouched down beside her and asked.
Ruby looked up at Da-hong.
Then looked back out the window.
Her ears slowly rose again.
Those golden eyes took in the city’s night skyline.
“You’re okay, right?”
“…”
Twitch.
Her ears moved.
The two of them sat in silence for a long while, staring out the window together.
Rustle.
Se-ha watched their backs and opened a bag of cat food.
A small sample set recommended by the pet shop employee.
Several different brands and flavors, one pouch each.
He portioned out a little of each and set them in separate spots around the floor.
He wanted to see which one she preferred.
“Ruby, come eat.”
Whether she understood the call or not, Ruby came over.
She pushed her nose into the first bowl of food.
Sniff sniff.
Sniff sniff sniff.
Then lifted her head.
“…Not a fan of this one?”
Se-ha moved the food away, and Ruby walked over to where the next portion was set.
Sniff sniff.
But again, she didn’t touch it.
She just batted at it a few times with her front paw.
“Hmm…”
Se-ha cleared away the second portion too.
Ruby didn’t even glance at the third or fourth.
Da-hong came over and asked.
“She’s not eating?”
“No… Maybe she’s not hungry?”
Just then.
Grrrumble.
“…?”
Se-ha and Da-hong both turned toward the sound at the same time.
Ruby was sitting there.
Grrrrrumble.
“She’s hungry!”
“Mreeeow—”
But Ruby only cried.
She still wouldn’t touch the food.
“Maybe she doesn’t recognize it as food?”
Se-ha muttered.
“Maybe she needs to eat something else. Since she’s a monster and all.”
“Something else?”
“Like a human.”
“…”
Se-ha said nothing.
Honestly, because he thought it was possible.
“A human would be a problem, though…”
Da-hong stared quietly at Se-ha.
More precisely, at his hand.
“Se-ha.”
“Yeah.”
“Can I borrow one of your fingers?”
“…What?”
“I’ll give it back later.”
“That’s a lie!”
Ruby looked back and forth between the two of them.
Grrrumble.
“Mreep—”
She seemed very hungry.
Da-hong slipped a hand under Ruby’s forelegs and lifted her up.
Ruby was lifted without any resistance.
“Mreek—”
The moment Ruby cried, the tiny rice-grain teeth inside her mouth came into view.
“She might just not be able to eat dry food yet.”
“Oh.”
Se-ha’s eyes went wide.
She was a bit large for a kitten, so he hadn’t thought about it, but Ruby wasn’t a cat—she was a Behemoth.
Even if she was a little bigger than expected, she was still a newborn.
Da-hong set Ruby against her chest.
Ruby sniffed around, then began kneading. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“W-wait a moment…”
Se-ha watched and felt his face go red.
Da-hong said it plainly.
“See? She wants milk.”
“…I’ll go buy some right now.”
Se-ha grabbed his jacket again and rushed out the door.
***
A short while later, Se-ha returned carrying kitten formula.
“You’re back?”
Da-hong was sitting on the sofa.
Ruby was still kneading at Da-hong’s chest.
“Luckily they had it.”
Se-ha pulled out the package and unfolded the instructions.
Water temperature.
Dilution ratio.
Feeding method…
A sound came from behind him.
Grrrumble.
“I know, just a little longer.”
Grrrrrumble.
Se-ha dashed to the kitchen and returned a moment later with formula mixed into a bottle-shaped feeder.
Se-ha sat down beside Da-hong.
Ruby looked at Se-ha.
Grrrumble.
“Open up.”
When the unfamiliar object approached, Ruby turned her head this way and that, dodging it.
Se-ha grabbed her head and forced the feeder in.
“Mreek!”
The moment Ruby cried out and resisted, the feeder slipped right into her mouth.
Ruby reflexively bit down on it.
And in that instant.
Her eyes went wide.
Ruby’s attitude did a complete one-eighty.
Suck.
Suck suck.
Suck suck suck.
“She’s eating.”
Da-hong said.
“She’s eating.”
Se-ha let out a breath of relief.
Ruby sucked eagerly at the bottle.
With every pull, her ears twitched and flicked.
“…She’s adorable. I can’t imagine this is the same terrifying Behemoth.”
“…”
Suck suck suck.
Ruby drained the bottle quickly.
But it wasn’t enough—she kept sucking at the empty bottle.
“Hold on… let me mix more.”
“Mreek—!”
Ruby wrapped her legs around the bottle, refusing to let Se-ha take it.
She lost the tug-of-war in the end.
Se-ha mixed another round of formula.
This time faster and more practiced than before.
“Let me feed her this time.”
“Here you go.”
Se-ha held the bottle out to Da-hong.
Ruby had apparently figured out that good things came from the bottle, because she immediately reached out with her front paws, pawing the air impatiently.
Suck suck suck suck.
Ruby drained three full bottles before she finally settled down.
“Look at that belly. It’s enormous.”
Da-hong stroked Ruby’s round, swollen stomach.
Ruby blinked her eyes slowly, opening and closing them, then began to nod off.
Da-hong watched without a word.
“Should we eat dinner too? It’s gotten pretty late.”
“Sure.”
Da-hong carefully set Ruby down on the sofa.
The two of them made do with the leftover side dishes for a simple dinner.
***
The next day.
“Mrow!”
Se-ha rubbed his sleepy eyes and shuffled out of his room.
“Ugh…”
In the living room, Da-hong was playing with Ruby using a fishing rod toy.
“Aren’t you tired?”
“Nope.”
Ruby had been crying all night, so neither of them had gotten much sleep.
Whether it was because she was a baby and needed to eat constantly, she’d cried for food almost every two hours.
It was lucky today was a day off after the practical training session.
If it had been an academy day, he might have fallen asleep in class without fail.
“How did that Lich manage to feed Ruby… I can’t even picture a Lich mixing formula.”
Se-ha muttered to himself as he started mixing formula again.
Da-hong called out to him.
“Come to think of it, Se-ha.”
“Yeah.”
“The cat tower arrived.”
“Already? That was fast.”
Se-ha looked up and saw a large box sitting in the corner of the living room.
“I’ll put it together in a bit.”
“Okay.”
The feather swayed, and Ruby launched herself into the air.
After breakfast, Se-ha sat down in front of the box.
He peeled off the tape and opened it to find it packed full of parts.
“…There’s a lot.”
Still, taking it one piece at a time made it manageable.
Time passed.
As the wooden pieces began to take the shape of a cat tower, Ruby and Da-hong drifted over.
“Almost done?”
“Mrow.”
“I think I’m about halfway.”
“Hmm.”
“Mreow.”
Se-ha thought the two of them looked exactly like a big white cat and a small black cat.
“Go sit somewhere else. You might step on the parts.”
“Funny. Are you saying I’m in the way?”
“Yes.”
“How could that be.”
Da-hong pretended to look wounded, but Se-ha didn’t even acknowledge it.
He’d grown somewhat used to Da-hong’s behavior by now.
Da-hong didn’t mind.
She scooped up Ruby and plopped down beside Se-ha.
Her white short-sleeved shirt and dolphin shorts made her look perfectly at ease.
“Ruby, attack!”
“Mrow?”
Ruby tilted her head.
Da-hong used Ruby’s front and back paws to tap Se-ha on the back of the head.
“Swoosh, Behemoth Punch. Behemoth Kick!”
“Could you please not interfere…”
“Mrow.”
“This is your chance to fight an S-rank monster. You should feel honored.”
“Baby Behemoths are classified as C-rank. Ruby’s young, so she’d be even lower.”
“Nyaa.”
“Tch. No fun.”
Da-hong pouted and set Ruby down.
Ruby landed softly, slipped free of Da-hong’s arms, and began batting at a screw rolling across the floor.
Se-ha took the screw away from Ruby and sighed.
“You’re the one who said we should bring her home… Please just bear with it a little.”
Da-hong said, as if she’d been wronged.
“What? Did I bring her home for my own sake? You got another summon out of it too. She’s basically a lottery ticket—guaranteed S-rank once enough time passes.”
“…Though nobody knows how long that’ll take.”
But it wasn’t entirely wrong.
“Did you know I’d succeed in forming the contract?”
“Who knows?”
Da-hong played coy.
“…Thank you for believing in me.”
Da-hong didn’t answer.
Se-ha didn’t say anything more either.
About thirty more minutes passed.
The cat tower was complete.
“Looks pretty sturdy.”
“Ruby isn’t an ordinary cat. I bought a good one.”
“Getting her into debt while she’s still young, huh. Smart move. Dirty and underhanded.”
“Please don’t put it that way…”
Se-ha lifted Ruby, who had been wrestling with a plastic bag, and placed her on top of the cat tower.
“Nyaa.”
Ruby stood about halfway up the tower and looked at Se-ha and Da-hong.
She showed no particular inclination to explore it.
“What do you think?”
“Hmm. She still seems unsure. Here, Ruby. Look at this.”
Se-ha used the fishing rod toy to try to coax Ruby up the tower.
But Ruby glanced at the feather once, then turned her head away as if she’d lost interest.
“Huh…? She liked it when you did it…”
“Your wrist snap is weak. No cat is going to be charmed by that kind of half-hearted movement.”
“…I thought you just waved it around randomly?”
Ruby looked around, then—thump—climbed down from the cat tower.
She walked over to the large box sitting in the corner and sniffed it.
Then hopped right inside.
“Ruby…?”
“Looks like she likes the box better than the cat tower.”
“No, that can’t be… this thing cost two hundred thousand won.”
“Just think of it as buying a two-hundred-thousand-won box.”
“…”
Se-ha’s expression went blank.
The box rattled.
Ruby was spinning around inside it.
She seemed to be finding a comfortable spot.
Da-hong peered into the box.
Ruby looked up.
Golden eyes glinted from within the pile of jet-black fur.
“You like it?”
“Nyaong.”
“Then that’s fine.”
“How is that fine…”
Se-ha sighed and sank down beside the box.
Two hours to assemble it.
Ten seconds for Ruby to climb into the cardboard box.
He felt hollow.
Purrrrr.
The sound of Ruby snoring drifted out from inside the box.
The afternoon sunlight filtered in through the gaps of the untouched cat tower.