The day at Garam Bookstore didn't begin until a little after four in the afternoon.
To be precise, it wasn't the bookstore's day.
The old brown shop sign still had “Garam Bookstore” written across it in large letters, but inside the glass door, a much smaller sheet of paper was posted.
Crooked, uneven handwriting.
And in one corner, a cat paw print had been roughly drawn.
Cat Detective Agency We find lost or treasured belongings.
A strip of yellowed transparent tape held the edges of the paper in place.
Jingle.
The little bell above the door rang.
“I’m back.”
Han Garam, still in his school uniform, walked into the store.
There was no answer.
Of course not.
There wasn’t a single person inside.
Instead, a pair of black ears moved by the window.
“You’re late.”
“I had supplementary class.”
“Excuses.”
Kkami was stretched out by the window, where the sunlight was strongest.
His black fur gleamed.
Beneath his neck, white fur descended neatly like a white shirt, and all four paws were pure white, as if he were wearing socks.
As Garam set his bag down behind the counter, he said, “You slept all day.”
Kkami opened one eye.
“Got any proof I slept?”
“You were there when I left this morning.”
“That was morning.”
“And you’re still there now.”
Kkami thought about it for a moment.
Then he closed his eyes again.
“What a coincidence.”
Garam didn't bother arguing further.
There wasn't much to gain from arguing with Kkami.
Most of the time, it only hurt Kkami's feelings.
The problem was that Kkami was never the one who lost.
“Garam!”
Something yellow shot out from beneath the counter.
“You’re here? You’re here? I was waiting for you!”
It was Chichi.
The young ginger female cat circled Garam’s calf once, then planted both front paws against him.
“All right. Get down.”
“No.”
“You’re getting fur on my school uniform.”
“It was already covered.”
“You proud of that?”
Instead of answering, Chichi squeezed between Garam’s legs.
Garam let out a short sigh.
He took about three steps before stopping.
“Chichi.”
“Yeah?”
“Get out from under my feet.”
“I like it here.”
“I’m going to trip.”
“Then just walk without tripping.”
Garam looked down at Chichi for a moment.
Chichi looked back up at him.
It was obvious who would win.
Garam stepped to the side.
Chichi raised her tail in satisfaction.
“Good girl.”
“Who are you saying that to?”
A low, laugh-like sound came from deeper inside the store.
“Watching you get dragged around by that rascal, I see you’re still a kid after all.”
A calico cat slowly opened one eye atop an old armchair.
It was Gramps.
No one knew how old he was.
He had looked old when Garam was little, and he still looked old now.
His fur was dry and scraggly in places, and his movements were a beat slower than those of the younger cats.
Still, for some reason, the neighborhood cats never acted carelessly in front of Gramps.
Garam immediately frowned.
“Don’t call me a kid.”
“Why not?”
“I’m nineteen.”
“Sure.”
“I’m a high school senior.”
“Sure.”
“I’m all grown up, you know.”
Gramps yawned.
“Height-wise?”
Kkami turned his head from the window.
Garam glared at Gramps without saying a word.
“Gramps, can I cut your food starting today?”
“That’s abuse.”
“Glad you know.”
“You should know how to respect your elders.”
“You’re a cat. What do you mean, elders?”
“By age, you’re way below me.”
Garam was just about to answer when a small sound came from the top of the bookshelf.
Plop.
Garam looked up.
A black face emerged from among the shadows between the books.
Golden eyes appeared first.
“Goro.”
“You’re here?”
“How long have you been there?”
“For a while.”
“You could at least say hi.”
“Weren’t you going to study?”
“Well, yeah.”
That was all Goro said before resting his chin on his paws again.
He was a pitch-black cat without a single white hair, so when he was tucked inside the bookshelf, he really did look like nothing but two eyes floating in the dark.
Whenever Garam saw Goro, he always thought the same thing.
When it came to finding that rascal at night, it was probably best to give up.
“Where’s Boss?”
At Garam’s question, Gramps jerked his chin toward the door.
“Outside.”
“Again?”
“Wandering around is his job.”
“Who assigned him that job?”
Just then—
Jingle.
The bell above the door rang again.
A short-tailed mackerel tabby slipped through the open doorway.
It was Boss.
Garam asked out of habit, “Where have you been?”
“Nearby.”
“What were you doing?”
“Looking around.”
“Looking around at what?”
Boss looked up at Garam once.
“Nearby.”
Garam didn't ask anything else.
Conversations with Boss were always like this.
Garam sat in the chair behind the counter.
He brought his loosely tied hair over one shoulder and took his glasses out of his bag.
Then he pulled another hair tie from his school uniform pocket and retied his loosened hair.
After that, he opened his workbook.
Gramps asked, “What is it today?”
“Math.”
“You’re doing that again.”
“I’m a student preparing for the exam.”
“You said you weren’t particularly interested in college.”
“Not being interested and not taking the exam are two different things.”
Garam pushed his glasses up.
Gramps didn’t ask anything else.
Garam didn’t explain further, either.
It wasn’t that he desperately wanted to go to college.
But that wasn’t a reason not to take the CSAT.
He went to school, became a high school senior, and everyone around him was preparing for the exam.
So Garam studied, too.
That was all there was to it.
The tip of his pencil moved across the workbook.
One line.
Two lines.
Three lines.
Then it stopped.
An orange front paw had landed in the middle of the workbook.
“Chichi.”
“Yeah?”
“Your paw.”
“Yeah.”
“Move it.”
“Why?”
“I can’t see the problem.”
Chichi looked down at the paw beneath her.
“I’m not covering much.”
“The answer is right there.”
“The answer?”
Chichi’s ears perked up.
“Want me to find it?”
“Please don’t find anything.”
Kkami snorted.
“Studying is such a struggle for you.”
Garam gently lifted Chichi’s paw and moved it to the side.
This time, Chichi flopped down beside the workbook.
Then, thirty seconds later, she placed her tail across it.
Garam closed his eyes.
“Chichi.”
“Yeah?”
“Why are you doing that?”
“Doing what?”
“…Never mind.”
At that moment, a savory smell drifted in from next door.
The scent of butter and sugar.
The smell of freshly baked bread from the bakery.
Chichi sprang to her feet.
“Bread!”
“It’s not yours.”
“You won’t know unless you go check!”
“No.”
Chichi was already racing toward the door.
Garam bent down and barely managed to catch her around the middle.
All four paws waved busily in the air.
“Let me go! I just want to check!”
“What would a cat do with bread?”
“I can at least smell it!”
“You can smell it from here.”
“It’s different up close!”
“No.”
Just then, a person’s shadow appeared beyond the glass door.
Garam looked up while holding Chichi in his arms.
Someone was standing outside.
A little girl.
She looked about elementary-school age.
The girl had been staring up at the paper posted on the entrance for quite some time.
Cat Detective Agency.
Garam’s gaze naturally followed hers.
Chichi stopped squirming, too.
“A client?”
“Looks like it.”
Kkami rose to his feet.
It was hard to believe this was the same cat who had been lying there with a look of utter annoyance at the world moments ago; his posture had become perfectly straight.
“She’s a kid.”
Boss stared toward the door without saying a word.
Goro also lifted himself slightly on top of the bookshelf.
Only Gramps remained at ease.
“She’ll come in.”
And sure enough, the door opened.
Jingle.
The girl stepped inside carefully.
She was gripping both backpack straps tightly.
“Excuse me.”
Garam took off his glasses and set them on top of the workbook.
“Yeah?”
“Is this… the place that finds lost things?”
Garam glanced at the paper on the door.
“What did you lose?”
The girl hesitated for a moment.
Then she took a phone out of her backpack.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
A rabbit plush made of yellow cloth.
One ear was slightly folded, and a red ribbon was tied around its neck.
It was a little too worn to be called new.
Loose threads showed here and there.
“This.”
The girl said, “My rabbit plush?”
Kkami quietly came closer to look at the picture.
Chichi stretched herself long in Garam’s arms.
“Cute.”
It was a tiny voice only Garam could hear.
The girl said anxiously, “I lost it yesterday.”
“Where?”
“On my way home after school. I know it was in my backpack, but… when I got home, it was gone.”
“Do you remember where you went?”
The girl nodded.
“I stopped by a stationery store after school, then went to the playground, and after that I went to the market with my mom.”
Garam pulled over a small notebook from beside the counter.
He picked up a ballpoint pen.
“School, stationery store, playground, market.”
“Yes.”
“Was it hanging outside your backpack?”
“Yes. Here.”
The girl showed him a small ring attached to the side of her backpack.
The ring was empty.
“When was the last time you saw it?”
The girl thought.
She thought for quite a while.
“I think… at the playground.”
“Are you sure?”
“I don’t know.”
Her voice grew a little quieter.
Garam looked at her face.
The corners of her eyes were already red.
“Is the plush important to you?”
At the question, the girl gripped her backpack straps even tighter.
“My grandma made it.”
“She made it by hand, but now…”
The girl bit her lip.
She couldn’t finish the sentence.
That was enough.
Garam didn’t ask any more questions.
Instead, he closed the notebook.
“Let’s look for it.”
The girl raised her head.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Can you find it?”
Garam didn’t answer right away.
Promising to find something and saying he would look for it were two different things.
Garam knew the difference.
“I can’t promise we’ll find it.”
The girl’s expression fell a little.
“But I’ll look as far as I can.”
The girl stared at Garam for a long moment after hearing that.
Then she gave a small nod.
“Okay.”
Beneath the counter, Chichi waved her tail vigorously.
“Let’s go!”
Garam looked down at her.
“You don’t even know anything yet.”
“We’ll know when we go look!”
“She’s always like that.”
Gramps muttered.
Kkami sat with his front paws neatly together and said, “If it’s somewhere crowded, you’ll need me.”
Goro asked quietly, “Which will we check first, the playground or the market?”
Boss was already walking toward the door.
Garam asked, “Boss.”
Boss turned around.
“Where are you going?”
“The playground.”
“Why?”
“She said that was the last place she saw it.”
“We haven’t finished hearing the whole case yet.”
Boss stopped for a moment.
“Then go hear it.”
And he sat down beside the door.
Garam let out a small sigh.
Watching this, the girl wore a slightly puzzled expression.
There was nothing ordinary about five cats gathering around her one by one.
“There are a lot of cats here.”
“A few.”
Kkami said, “A few?”
Chichi said, “There are five!”
Gramps said, “You’re noisy.”
Garam opened his pen as if nothing unusual was happening.
“Can you send me the picture of the rabbit plush?”
“Yes.”
“And tell me slowly, from the beginning, what time you got home yesterday.”
The girl picked up her phone.
Garam opened the notebook again.
Spring sunlight stretched in through the window.
The little bell above the door swayed.
Cat Detective Agency. We find lost or treasured belongings.
And so.
The first case of spring at Garam Bookstore began.
Fifteen minutes later.
After sending the girl home, Garam sat in the middle of the store and showed the cats the image on his phone.
A yellow rabbit plush.
A red ribbon.
Its right ear folded over.
“All right,” Garam said.
“The last place she remembers it is the playground.”
Boss got to his feet first.
“Let’s go.”
“Wait.”
“Why?”
“She also went to the market.”
“We can check the playground first.”
“Based on what?”
Boss looked at Garam.
A brief silence.
“…She said that was the last place she saw it.”
“I heard that, too.”
Chichi stamped her feet.
“Why don’t we just go to both? I’ll go check the market!”
“By yourself?”
“Yeah!”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if you go to the market, you’ll never come back from the fish market.”
Chichi’s mouth snapped shut.
Kkami said, “Accurate.”
Goro nodded, too.
“Highly likely.”
“You guys have no faith in me!”
Gramps opened one eye.
“Live in a way that makes you trustworthy.”
Chichi stared at Gramps with a shocked expression.
Garam stood up.
“Let’s start with the playground.”
Boss went to the door first.
Chichi eagerly followed close behind.
Kkami stretched long before climbing down from the windowsill.
Goro had already disappeared from the bookshelf.
Garam looked around.
“Goro?”
His voice came from outside the door.
“I’m going ahead.”
“When did you leave?”
There was no answer.
Garam stared at the door for a moment, then put on his sneakers.
Only Gramps remained on the armchair.
Garam asked, “What about you, Gramps?”
“I’ll stay here.”
“Why?”
“Five young ones are going. Does an old cat have to run around, too?”
“I’m a person.”
“Close enough.”
“How?”
“You’re a kid.”
Garam’s eyebrow twitched.
“I’m leaving.”
“Sure. Have a good time, kid.”
Garam closed the door.
Jingle.
Only then did Gramps close his eyes.
Then he muttered as if to himself,
“I hope that rabbit stayed put in one place.”
Somehow,
that didn’t seem likely.
Episode 1: Please Find the Yellow Rabbit — End.