Life, Once Again!

re object.
It was some kind of item packed in a plastic bag with a picture of a cat on it.

“If you give it that snack, you can touch it once.”

Maru followed the man’s words.
He ripped open the packaging and took out the snack.
It was some kind of squishy jelly, and it smelled pretty good.
It was similar to a strawberry smell.
He put it on his palm and approached the spotty cat.
The one that peeked out from the corner raised its tail and ran towards him.
Maru flinched at first since he thought he was going to get attacked again, but the cat just quickly snatched away the snack from his hand.

“Now you can touch it.”

Hearing the man’s words, Maru reached out.
He couldn’t believe that this was the same cat as the one that scratched him.

“They’re pretty sneaky.”

“It won’t attack me again, right?”

“It’s fine while he’s still eating.
Well, after that, you’ll become a stranger to him again, so watch out.”

Maru stroked the cat’s hair and turned around to see the man.
The round silver glasses entered his eyes first, and after that, he saw the rough-looking beard.
As for his age, he seemed to be in his late thirties.
Unlike his messy beard, his hair was quite neat.
As for his stature, he was neither big nor small.
He seemed to be around the Korean average.

“Han Maru, right? I told Geunsoo to bring you here because I wanted to see you once.”

The man reached out to him.
Maru shook hands with him.

“Han Maru, sir.”

“Have you heard about my name?”

“I heard that you were director Lee Jincheol.”

Geunsoo, who was listening from the side, blinked his eyes in confusion.

“Did I tell you that?”

“Sungjae-hyung did.”

Geunsoo smiled in understanding.

“Now that I look at you like this, you look like a normal man.
I thought you’d have some more… mad elements in you.”

“I’m an ordinary student.”

He sat down when Lee Jincheol offered him a seat.
Just then, Jincheol’s wife, who was watching the counter on the first floor, came up with some drinks.

“Thanks.”

“The three of you aren’t going out or anything, right?”

“My wife, I’ll obediently stay at home today so don’t worry.”

“You always say that.”

The married couple lightly kissed after that.
Maru was rather taken aback by the events that unfolded out in front of him as he was drinking.

“We’re still newlyweds,” Jincheol said.

“Hyung-nim.
I never knew you could be a newlywed when you have three kids.”

Geunsoo shook his head in resignation.

He was definitely peculiar, alright.
Maru put down his cup on the table.

“Well then.
Shall I hear your opinion about this store?”

“It’s an interesting store.”

“In what sense?”

“That there are cats mixed amongst the people.”

“Looks like this is your first time at a cat café, huh.”

“Yes.
It is.”

“Good, then one more thing.
Do you like cats or dogs better?”

“I don’t particularly like either of them.”

“Then try to like cats.
Cats are definitely better than dogs.”

Just then, he was reminded of Junmin, who was a dog-lover.
He thought about what would happen if he put those two together.

“The president of your company would be a better man if he raised some cats.”

Maru felt like this man knew what he was thinking.
Maru smiled awkwardly before drinking a sip.

“Honey, come here for a moment.”

He heard a voice from downstairs.
Jincheol told them to wait before going down the stairs.

“Is he acquainted with the president?”

“Yeah.
Though, Junmin-seonbae is trying to avoid him since he tells him to raise cats every time they meet.”

“So even the almighty president has someone who he has a hard time dealing with.”

“I told you he was peculiar.”

“Does he direct films on top of managing this store?”

Hearing that question, Geunsoo shook his head.

“He doesn’t manage the store.
This building belongs to him.
So ‘manage’ doesn’t really fit the situation.
He doesn’t care whether it’s profitable or not.”

“…The building belongs to the director?”

“Why? You thought the director of an indie movie would be poor?”

Maru subconsciously nodded.
A director of an indie film that Geunsoo had known for a long time.
Since indie movies were called such because of their independence from capital, the profits would be low, so he thought that the director wouldn’t be that wealthy.
But it turned out that he owned a building.

“Director Lee… sorry, I’m kinda used to calling him that.
Anyway, that hyung-nim’s passion for film is not ordinary.
He never took it as a hobby.
He’s always serious as though his life is on the line.
It’s just that his wallet is pretty thick.”

“I’m starting to get confused by the definition of indie films.”

“It can be called an indie film in the sense that one hundred percent of the creator’s wishes are reflected in it.
Also, that hyung-nim always uses the budget tightly.
Just because he has a lot of money doesn’t mean that the shooting environment is good.
He’s quite meticulous when it comes to things like that.”

“For now, I get that he’s not shooting a film because he’s short on money.
Oh, but I heard that this film was a commercial one.”

“Because we got investors.
Both that hyung-nim and I are charmed by indie films, but that doesn’t mean we despise commercial movies.
Who would hate movies with lots of airing cinemas?”

Geunsoo smiled and picked up his cup.

Maru turned around to look at the café.
Arts activities when he was well-off, huh.
Considering that art historically used to be something unique to the high-class, it wasn’t so strange that the director was wealthy.
Perhaps he had a bias towards indie films for being ‘minor’.

“Why would he want to see me?”

“I don’t know.
There might not be a big reason for it, so don’t think about it so deeply.”

Just then, the spotty cat walked over from the corner and sat down on Maru’s thighs.
Maru laughed in vain when he saw the cat boldly claim his thighs as his.

“Ooh, Picky approached you first, how rare.
Looks like he’s taken a liking to you.”

Jincheol said those words when he returned.

“So his name is Picky, huh.”

Maru reached out and tried to touch the cat.
However, just as his hand was about to touch its head, Maru had to pull his hand back quickly.
The cat was glaring at him and was clearly telling him that it would scratch him if he tried to do what he was about to do.

“Congratulations on becoming his exclusive chair,” Jincheol said while laughing.

“Have you two eaten yet? I haven’t had my lunch yet.
Why don’t we eat some lunch/dinner?”

“I’m good with that.”

“I’m hungry, so let’s eat.”

Jincheol made a circle with his fingers.

“Good.
I’ll go buy some things to eat, so play around with the others here.”

Maru looked at Jincehol who went off before looking at the cat on his thighs while sighing.
The cat was yawning.

“You have it good.”

Meow – the cat meowed in a low voice.