Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Chapter 55 What I Can Change with My Hands

“What is this?”

There was something bulky and solid inside the old checkered shirt. 

It couldn’t be a person, could it?

I felt my breath quicken and my heart race without realizing it.

“Gasp…”

The youngest PD, who found the same thing as me, gasped for air. 

Could it be? 

Even though this place was so haunted that even YouTubers came here, there was still someone who took care of it.

Oh. I’m screwed.

In the distance, I faintly saw Kyunghwa’s calm smile. Don’t smile, you jerk. What did you do so well…

Rustle.

There was a sound of movement from where something was.

“Aaaah-!”

“Hey! What are you going to do if you run away alone!”

As Seong-won ran away with his tail between his legs, something jumped out of the bushes.

“Meow-!”

Huh?

“?”

With a puzzled expression on my face, I pushed aside the bushes and saw a ball of fur twitching between the shirt’s collar.

“Roar-!”

As I looked closely at the spot where the bushes were shaking, a sturdy cat was staring at me and guarding itself.

“Squeak-! Squeak-! Squeak-!”

The shirt was shaking, so what was underneath it…

“Kittens?”

It was none other than a cat family.

“Oh, don’t be scared… I really thought there was some kind of corpse or something…”

As I rubbed my chest, Seong-won came back and tackled me.

“I didn’t think it was that scary.”

“Then what was it?”

“Just… a ghost?”

“What’s the difference between a ghost and a corpse?”

“A ghost is just something you can ignore… but a corpse isn’t?”

“Isn’t a ghost harder to ignore? A corpse just stays there, but a ghost feels like it’s going to follow you…”

The youngest PD, who was amused by our bickering, shook his shoulders and held his breath.

Then, as if everything was annoying, the cat spat out another long roar.

“Rrrrr-.”

“I get it. But we have to clean up the field.”

I clenched my teeth. I looked at the cat family and the camera alternately with an awkward expression.

“What do we do with this?”

When I asked the youngest PD, he laughed as if he was asking why I was asking him.

“Oh, are you asking me?”

“Uh… can’t I ask? I really don’t know what to do.”

“No, it’s not that…”

Three adults huddled together and wondered what to do with the cat that was sitting in the middle of the field. It was honestly a funny sight.

“Should we move this nest? to a more cozy place?”

“How do we move it?”

“There’s a place like a warehouse that doesn’t seem to be used. How about putting it in a box and leaving it there?”

None of the people in the same place knew much about cats.

I should ask Oh Ye-jun about this. I thought to myself and said to the PD.

“Oh Ye-jun seems to know a lot about cats. I’ll ask him.”

It would be better than acting on my own judgment. I hesitated and gave up the eye contact with the cat and backed away.

“Then should we go back to the house?”

“That sounds good.”

Seong-won and I came to the same conclusion and went up with empty hands.

The house that was creepy was now quite tidy and neat. It was still old, but it looked like a house where people lived.

“What? Why did you come empty-handed?”

When did he get that? Kyunghwa, who was installing a mosquito net on the ceiling, asked with a pin in his mouth.

He had the image of an athlete, a genius producer, and a writer. He had all the attributes that fans would love. I looked at his abs under his rolled-up shirt and thought.

“…There’s a cat in the field.”

I added quickly to Seong-won’s too-abbreviated explanation.

“They’re with their kittens, and they seem to need to move them.”

“Oh, how many?”

As soon as he heard that, Kyunghwa quickly hammered the pins into the ceiling and hung the ring of the mosquito net. He jumped down from the chair.

His eyes sparkled in an instant. It was amazing that the guy who was like a dog liked cats so much.

Or not… Do dogs usually like cats? I would have to raise one to know.

Somewhere, woof-! A dog that I couldn’t see barked in a familiar tone, but I ignored it.

“Four or five? I didn’t see them well. They were too guarded.”

“It’s not a very good place in the middle of the field. I guess the bushes around here were pretty lush?”

“Yeah, they didn’t take care of it recently, so the weeds were as tall as a person.”

“Ah… Then they would have settled there.”

After saying that, Kyunghwa went to the kitchen and rummaged through the warehouse for a while.

“Kyunghwa, can we use everything here?”

Kyunghwa asked with a question.

“It doesn’t matter. Do you have anything to catch a cat?”

Kyunghwa jumped up and retorted.

“No, I’m not going to catch it!”

He came out of the kitchen warehouse with a large box, a towel, and a scoop covered in dust.

His face was as if he had written ‘cat!’ on it. He was full of anticipation.

“We’ll be cleaning up the house here, so hurry up and solve it and come back.”

Kyunghwa waved his hands lazily with Sunwoo and sent him off.

“Okay, I’ll be right back!”

With one more person joining us, the three of us headed to the field with a determined stride. 

The youngest PD followed us closely, making sure to capture every scene on camera.

“You seem to be good at handling cats, Mr. Ye-jun?”

Ye-jun waved his hand lightly in response to the PD’s question.

“I just like them. I’m not an expert or anything.”

“But you look so confident and strong with them on your shoulder.”

“Come on~. It’s not that big of a deal.”

Now Ye-jun’s versatile image would include being a cat lover, too.

As Ye-jun humbly answered, we arrived at the edge of the field. Ye’s cat was still hissing and growling with caution.

“What do we do? It’s still pissed… off.”

Seongwon backed away slowly. I followed him and retreated as well.

“Why are you running away, hyung?”

“I don’t think I can help much. I’ll just make it more angry.”

“Geez, you cowards.”

We had no choice but to listen to Ye-jun’s indifferent complaint.

We couldn’t do anything with the cat, so the best we could do was to quietly munch on some popcorn from behind.

“Good luck~.”

With the most unenthusiastic cheer ever, Ye-jun lowered his body slowly. Then he reached out his hand slowly towards the cat.

The cat, which had been hissing at me and Seongwon, slowly approached Ye-jun and sniffed his hand.

It was so careful that its small nostrils flared and its long whiskers tensed up with nervousness.

“See? I don’t smell bad, do I?”

After greeting the cat, Ye-jun took out a stick that I wondered when he had prepared. Maybe it was because of the delicious smell. The cat relaxed its guard and licked Ye-jun’s hand.

“Oh…”

Ye-jun didn’t miss the opportunity and gently guided the cat to go inside the box by itself.

“Wow, it’s so tame when you give it food.”

Seongwon clicked his tongue in disbelief. What’s so unbelievable about that? I’m also well-behaved when I eat. I didn’t have any self-hatred for my own kind.

“Come on, go inside and rest. I’ll move the kittens for you.”

Ye-jun put on a vinyl glove with skillful hands and wrapped the kittens in a blanket. Then he put them in the box as well.

That’s when the cat realized that it was trapped in the box because it was distracted by the food. It meowed angrily. But once the box was completely closed, it quieted down.

“What if it jumps out?”

“I’m holding it down with my strength, so let’s hurry and take it to the barn.”

That’s how the three big guys followed Ye-jun, who had successfully kidnapped the cat, back to the house.

“Is it okay to leave the cat in the barn?”

“I don’t think it matters. It’s not like we use it anyway. There might be some rats, so it would be nice to have a cat.”

Rats! I was used to the pests and the unsanitary back alleys of the city, but Seongwon wasn’t.

He looked disgusted by the idea of rats. He hated bugs, but he hated rats more.

“Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to catch rats.”

I wasn’t sure if Ye-jun’s words were comforting or not. Seongwon swallowed hard.

Ye-jun carefully placed the box in the dark barn. Soon the cat poked its head out of the gap.

“Isn’t this better than before?”

It looked a bit surprised, but maybe it was because the kittens were all safe and the blanket was still with them.

Its eyes were only wide, but it didn’t seem to be very scared.

“Hahaha, you’re acting so friendly when we just met.”

The barn had openings on the top and bottom, so the wind flowed well. It also had a thick roof, so it was a perfect place to raise the kittens away from the rain and sun.

Maybe it liked the new place, or maybe it wanted some other food. It showed affection to Ye-jun without much resistance. The camera diligently filmed the scene.

“Can you get some food from the field? We need to prepare lunch soon.”

Finally, when Gyeonghwa’s patience reached its limit, he nagged us to leave the barn.

***

“Ah, I’m so hungry after working.”

Ye-jun sprawled out on the wooden floor, flapping his arms and legs. He had changed all the lights in the house and did some minor repairs, so he was exhausted.

“It’s almost done, just wait.”

Since the theme of the show was to use the ingredients from the field as much as possible, lunch was zucchini soybean paste stew, zucchini pancakes, and zucchini wraps.

“Ah… there’s nothing but grass.”

It would have been better if there was some beef brisket in the soybean paste stew. But there was no place to get meat, so we had to stick to a natural diet.

“We’re going to the landlord’s house for dinner, so hang in there.”

While Seonwoo and I were busy preparing the meal, the one who was rolling around on the floor had a lot to say.

“I’m fine with grass!”

Seonwoo smiled brightly when our eyes met. Is that so… as long as you’re happy. I casually stroked Seonwoo’s head, and then, oops.

I was worried that I was treating him too much like a dog that we raised together in the neighborhood.

But the person himself didn’t seem to have any thoughts and looked happy. Well… then it’s fine.

“It’s done, let’s eat.”

Fortunately, the floor was spacious enough to fit a large table and five of us sat around it.

We finished the meal noisily and then felt drowsy.

As we leaned against the wooden pillars and enjoyed the breeze, the cats came out of the barn.

“Oh, the kittens are out.”

We couldn’t see them properly before because they were covered with the blanket. Now that I saw them, they were yellow, white, spotted, and tricolor. They had all kinds of colors.

Cats… they’re cute, right. I didn’t think much of it and closed my eyes again.

And not long after, Seongwon’s scream followed.

“Ahhhh!”

“What now?”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Seongwon, as if to ask what he was fussing about this time.