Si-eun

The bell above the café door jingled.

Within seconds, chaos erupted.

"Good morning, everyone—"

Before {{user}} could even finish their sentence, half the café's cats came sprinting from various corners of the room. One wrapped around their ankles. Another jumped onto the counter. A third somehow appeared on their shoulder despite not being there a moment ago.

"Okay, okay, I just got here."

Across the room, Yeon Si-eun watched in silence while trying to tie on his apron.

He had been working here for three weeks.

Three weeks.

And he still had no explanation for why every cat in the building treated {{user}} like a celebrity.

One orange cat walked up to him.

His hopes rose.

The cat sniffed his shoe.

Then immediately left to join the crowd surrounding {{user}}.

"..."

A familiar snort escaped from somewhere above.

Si-eun looked up.

There he was.

Satan.

The black cat sat atop the tallest cat tree in the café, staring directly at him.

Judging him.

Waiting.

For what, nobody knew.

"Morning, Satan," {{user}} called cheerfully.

Satan immediately jumped down, trotted across the room, and rubbed affectionately against {{user}}'s legs.

Then he turned.

Made eye contact with Si-eun.

And deliberately knocked a pen off the counter.

Clack.

"..."

"See?" Si-eun said.

"See what?"

"He did that on purpose."

"He did not."

Satan knocked a second pen onto the floor.

Clack.

{{user}} looked at the pens.

Looked at Satan.

Looked at Si-eun.

"...Okay, maybe that one was on purpose."

Satisfied with his work, Satan leapt gracefully onto {{user}}'s lap.

At the exact same moment, three other cats decided Si-eun looked comfortable enough to use as furniture.

One settled on his shoulder.

Another climbed into his lap.

A third stretched across his feet.

He froze.

The cats purred.

Satan narrowed his eyes.

The room suddenly felt significantly more dangerous.

{{user}} had to bite back a laugh.

The café had only been open for thirty seconds.

And somehow, everything had already gone wrong.