Chapter 017: Suspicion (6)
Yoo Seok-in was considered an essential figure within the National Republican Party.
The party had repeatedly asked him to run for office himself.
However, he always answered that he had committed too many sins to become a politician.
He was an unusual man.
Everyone wanted him as an aide.
Yet he had personally chosen to work for Assemblywoman Kim Ga-eul.
Kim Ga-eul was only twenty-seven years old.
She had entered the National Assembly for the first time as a proportional representative.
Only two years had passed since then, but she had already achieved remarkable results as a member of the Public Administration and Security Committee.
Inside the party, people called Kim Ga-eul and Yoo Seok-in the perfect pair.
News of Assemblywoman Kim Ga-eul's summons was immediately passed to Hee-soo through Chief Jang.
Hee-soo had just finished a night shift.
The previous night, he had personally descended a cliff using ropes to rescue someone stranded halfway down a mountain.
Someone else could have gone.
However, Hee-soo had volunteered and descended himself.
Even someone with Hee-soo's exceptional stamina couldn't survive forever on three or four hours of sleep while constantly performing physically demanding rescues through the night.
Still, that particular night had been unusually peaceful.
Other than the stranded person, there hadn't been a single additional rescue victim.
Hee-soo later learned that nobody in Seoul had died that night.
When he heard that a summons had arrived from the National Assembly, he asked irritably,
"Why me?"
"They'll send the questions later."
"You've been requested as a witness for the Public Administration and Security Committee's national audit in two weeks."
Anger surged through Hee-soo.
However, the person responsible wasn't in front of him, so there was nowhere to direct it.
That only made him feel more helpless.
"I'm too exhausted right now."
"I think I need to rest."
"My head is killing me."
"All right."
"Are you going home?"
"No."
"I'm going to the apartment today."
"What for?"
"You haven't gone there in a long time."
"There are some things I need to pick up."
"And some things I need to check."
"Understood."
"I'll prepare the car."
"Please do."
After finishing the shift change, Hee-soo headed toward his apartment.
During the drive, he fell asleep as though he had fainted.
Chief Jang wanted to let him sleep longer.
However, he decided it would be better for Hee-soo to rest somewhere comfortable, even if only briefly.
"We're here."
Still half-asleep, Hee-soo got out of the car.
He walked toward the apartment in a daze.
The moment he opened the door and stepped inside, a chilling sensation ran through him.
His sleepiness vanished completely.
"Haah."
"I'm back here again."
It was impossible for him to feel comfortable in this place.
Every time he died, this was where he started again.
The bathroom was especially unpleasant.
Haah.
It's not like I'll die just because I go inside there.
So why is it so difficult to enter?
He didn't need to use the bathroom.
And there would be no real problem if he simply avoided going inside while staying here.
However, Hee-soo couldn't accept allowing himself to be controlled by nothing more than his brain's warning signals.
He approached the bathroom and opened the door.
"Meow."
The sudden sound of a cat startled him so badly that he shouted and stepped backward.
His legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the floor.
"AAAAH!"
The cat casually shook out its legs and approached him.
It was a strange-looking calico Korean shorthair.
"What the hell is this?"
"Why is there a cat in my apartment?"
"Meooow."
"You always call me 'this,' don't yooooou."
"This?"
"Angel?"
"That's right."
"I'm the angel."
Hee-soo stared.
"You're telling me the cat in front of me is the angel, and it's talking?"
"Meooow. Correct."
"If I appeared in my normal angelic form, I would attract too much attention."
"That isn't what I want, meooow."
"Ah, damn it."
"Why does this cat sound keep coming out automatically?"
"What kind of software did they install in this body...?"
"Even an angel can't overcome a cat's instincts?"
"More importantly, your speech has become much more casual."
"Is that because I look like a cat?"
"What?"
"Angels care about honorific speech too? Sir?"
"Of course."
"I'm much older than you."
"Older?"
"So you were born at some point?"
"Are angels actually born?"
"No, wait."
"Is that how it works, sir?"
"It would be better if you didn't try to learn such private details."
"Anyway, take me with you."
"Huh?"
Hee-soo looked inside the bathroom.
Cat hair was scattered everywhere.
"I can't take you anywhere if you're going to shed this much."
"My family hates loose animal hair."
"We don't even raise dogs because of it."
"Understood."
"I'll stop shedding."
"So take me with you."
"But why do you even want to stay with me?"
"Because this is a newly implemented system, I've been ordered to remain beside you and observe yooooou."
The involuntary cat sounds clearly annoyed the angel.
Hee-soo wasn't particularly happy about taking him either.
"Couldn't you just monitor me through my phone?"
"Or you're an angel."
"Couldn't you become invisible and watch me?"
"Or use some kind of divine long-distance vision?"
"We considered that."
"However, by majority vote, the cat, no, direct observation from beside you was chosen."
"In the past, we often monitored people remotely."
"But it wasted too much energy."
"It also caused various problems and kept creating unnecessary bugs in this world."
"Eventually, He banned it."
"What?"
"Majority vote?"
"You vote over there too?"
"Of course."
"You humans only use majority voting because you remember our system."
"How else would humans have invented it, meooow?"
The angel, still in cat form, carefully brushed his whiskers with one paw.
Then he began licking that paw.
Hee-soo could only stare at the impossible sight.
After watching blankly for a while, he finally snapped out of it.
"Wait."
"Do I actually have a choice?"
"I mean, can I refuse to take you with me?"
"Good question."
"No."
"Then why did you ask me?"
