“You should get a pet. You are becoming too much of a loner.”

“I like being alone.”

Especially in moments like this, when the alternative meant that Hakyeon would be pestering him with his new favourite subject, while repeatedly poking him with his chopsticks. Taekwoon swatted the offending sticks away before they could make contact with his sensitive side again, but it didn’t deter Hakyeon.

“No, you don’t. You like the quiet, but not being alone. I know you, Taekwoonie!”

Then why was he constantly chattering and being everything but quiet?

Taekwoon didn’t voice his thoughts, though, continuing to focus on his food.

“I don’t get to spend enough time at home to take proper care of a pet. It wouldn’t be fair.” He voiced his most repeated argument, and just like always, Hakyeon had the answer right there.

“Maybe not for a puppy, but you could always get a cat.”

Taekwoon sighed.

“And then what? I’ll be nothing more than a can-opener for it. Cats need a lot of love and attention, too, if you want them to become friends with you. I don’t have the time for that!”

It was always that same circle the conversation went in, and Taekwoon wished Hakyeon would just give up. All the older’s talk about getting a pet led to was Taekwoon spending more time thinking about it than he wanted and could afford.

The thoughts crept up on him in the most unsuspecting moments; when he opened the door to his apartment after a long day at work, while comfortably laying on the couch and watching TV, during dinner, when he lay awake at night before falling asleep, when he was out shopping, while composing a new song. Out of nowhere, bam! There they were!

He found himself thinking how nice it would be to not come home to an empty apartment; how nice it would be to cuddle on the couch; to share his food; to not be the only source of warmth in the bed; to have someone else but himself to buy nice things for; someone who’d give an unsuspecting and completely honest reaction to his compositions.

Every time, Taekwoon found himself shaking his head when he caught himself, repeating the same reasons he liked to repeat to Hakyeon to himself. And the more often he repeated them, the less convincing they sounded to him.

“The only reason why you aren’t home that much is because you do all your work in the office and don’t take any home. You could very well compose at home instead of here! But you know what, I know why you don’t do that: because you don’t like being alone, and here you always have someone around you! At home you don’t!”

Taekwoon froze when Hakyeon’s argument filtered into his brain; he so didn’t want to go there!

Without another glance at Hakyeon, he put down his chopsticks and stood up. He didn’t say anything when he picked up his tray and pushed it into the respective cart, ignoring Hakyeon as he called out for him to wait. It didn’t matter to him that he still had half an hour of his lunch break left, he just left the cafeteria and returned to his office; thankfully, he had an office to himself, not needing to share it with anyone. It was a small room, but big enough for him and his needs. And best of all: he could lock the door! It was Hakyeon-safe.

*#*#*#*

It was a week later, and thankfully Hakyeon hadn’t brought up the subject of pets again… much. He didn’t need to, either, since ever since he’d called Taekwoon out on his reasons for not being home much, it was all Taekwoon was thinking about in almost every free minute, anyway. He didn’t want to think about it, though, didn’t want to face the possibility that that was what he was doing, didn’t want to admit to himself that that was it when it became obvious that was the real reason.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by an enraged outcry from Hakyeon next to him. The older had tried to keep his voice down as he voiced his anger, but he still attracted a couple of weird glances. It didn’t seem to bother him too much, though, as he turned up the volume on the TV hanging over their heads in the lounge they usually spent the rest of their lunchtimes in after eating.

The local news reported about yet another incident involving cruelty against hybrids; creatures that scientists had been experimenting with for years, blending human genes with those from different animal species in an attempt to create humans with animal traits, who were supposed to be as intelligent as humans, but with the natural sensory advantages the blended-in animal species provided. The plan had been to create some sort of super spies and soldiers, but it turned out that one of the animal traits all of the individuals had in common was the reluctance to fight unless necessary; and the human traits of petty jealousy and coveting of riches was something most never deemed a good enough reason to put their health on the line for.

The experiment had been deemed a failure a good fifteen years ago, and after massive and quite violent protests against the killing and disposing of creatures who were after all on the same cognitive level as humans, the government had allowed the hybrids to be adopted by people willing to help integrate them into society.

At first, the plan had sounded like a good one; later on, it turned out to be a rushed decision that led to more problems than solutions.

The opinions on hybrids in general were split to begin with; some believed they should never have been created, they were aberrations that had no right to even live. Then there were those that didn’t care. They weren’t against them nor in favour of them. They just didn’t care. Others were fascinated by them, seeing them as a curiosity, sometimes a collectible; most of those who had originally agreed to take in hybrids belonged to this group. Then there were those that genuinely accepted them as fully righteous members of the society, equal to humans; sadly, that was the smallest group. And finally, there were those who didn’t see them as equals at all, but were quite happy with their existence to exploit them for the traits they had been born with.

One of the traits that was quickly discovered and most exploited was their -compared to humans- way higher drive. It didn’t take long for an almost mafia-like business to develop around that, and many were the unfortunate hybrids that got caught up in it, unsuspecting as they were after being released into a world they had no experience in.

Over the years, many of those who’d seen the hybrids as a curiosity grew bored of them, weary, and started to see them mostly as a nuisance. Many hybrids lost their homes when those who’d taken them in grew bored and made them leave. For most of them, it was hard to find jobs, since the only thing they’d been trained in in the government facilities was to be spies or soldiers, and the demand for spies and soldiers with no will to spy or fight was understandably fairly low. They ended up in low paying jobs or on the streets, many got involved in the hybrid-mafia, others banded together in attempts to protect themselves against that mafia and got prosecuted like criminals.

Actual criminals found an easy target in them to blame their own crimes on, and the will to believe them grew with every crime that could be pinned on a hybrid. Their status in the society lowered with every day that passed, and more and more all of them were seen as low-lives, criminals, mere animals. Those that didn’t live with humans or didn’t have a stable job and living conditions were prosecuted by new governmental institutions and rounded up to be kept in shelters, sometimes in conditions that weren’t even seen fit for regular animals.

Of course, those shelters weren’t well seen, either; at first, the government had funded them, but soon stopped those funds as it caused a massive outcry by all those groups in the population that weren’t keen on seeing their taxes used in the shelters when there were so many other, more important things they could be used for. And, as a logical conclusion, those very same people could also not be bothered to help fund the shelters with donations.

At this point in time, the only thing that distinguished a hybrid on the streets from a regular alley cat, was that the alley cat got ignored when spotted, and a hybrid got spat on, if not called the authorities on to be caught and locked away in a shelter.

The scene on the TV screen proved just that, once again. The images showing must have been recorded by traffic cameras, as there was no sound and the quality left a lot to be desired. Or not, actually. They were just clear enough to show a woman walking down the street with a bundle in her arms that was soon disclosed to be a baby. She tried to stay out of the way of passers-by, but it was visible that most gave her a wide berth anyway. One man shoved her as he passed, not even looking back as she stumbled and caught herself, wary of dropping her baby.

Then the scene turned hectic: a van stopped next to her, and she tried to disappear in an alley. Without success, as she was soon surrounded by a group of six enforcers that closed in on her. She held on to her baby tightly, trying to find a way to escape them. There was none.

One of the enforcers reached for the baby, and the woman jumped away from him. It brought her closer to another, who tried the same, and she lunged at him, cradling the infant close with her other hand. The enforcers started closing in more, trying to get a hold on her and/or the baby, and the woman started fighting earnestly. For a moment, she managed to drive them away a bit, but then they rushed her and managed to take the child from her.

With both hands free, she fought like only a wronged mother could fight to protect her child. In the fight, the enforcer holding the baby dropped it, and it was left on the ground. No one paid it any mind, and it was stepped on and kicked as the enforcers tried to get a hold on the mother.

Eventually, one brought out a taser, and the woman dropped to the ground. She already lay unmoving when a second enforcer brought out another taser and shot it at her, too, maybe out of revenge, maybe out of cruelty; definitely not out of necessity.

Finally, someone seemed to remember the baby, and picked it up from where it lay on the ground; not like one would pick up a baby, but with his hand around its neck. He dropped it carelessly in the back of the van, before his attention along with that of the other enforcers was caught by something off screen. One of the enforcers pulled out a firearm, and as soon as the person he was aiming it at became visible in the shot, they already dropped to the ground, a dark puddle forming where their head lay. There was no need for colours in the grainy footage to know what that meant.

Both the unconscious woman and the dead hybrid were thrown into the back of the van and it drove off. That was where the footage ended, and the coverage cut back to the reporter in the studio, who went on about how dangerous that woman had been for the enforcers and pointed out the horrors that could have happened if that other hybrid hadn’t been ‘taken care of’ as quickly as it had.

Taekwoon felt sick to his stomach. He had never understood why hybrids were seen as so different as they were. To him, they’d always just been people. People with pretty cool talents, and he’d specially admired the two cat hybrids that had been transferred to his class in high school: their skills in PE were nothing to be frowned upon, and he was forever in awe with their agility. They played a mad game of soccer, and he lived for the challenge.

Taekwoon shook his head, trying to dispel the images he had just seen from his mind, and reached over to take the remote control out of Hakyeon’s hand. He had to work to pry his fingers off from the device, and as soon as he managed it, he switched the TV off.

Hakyeon was seething.

“I am so ing sick of this. How can… how can people be like that? No, those aren’t even people! They are monsters! How…”

Taekwoon knew what was coming, and he wasn’t disappointed when Hakyeon sprung up from his seat, starting to pace.

“This is so ed up! First they have to play ing god in their labs and create a new life form that never asked to be created, and then they discard them and leave them on their own to fend for themselves in a world that hates them!! This makes me so mad! They have no right to do this; at least they should have no right!”

Hakyeon raged on, disregarding the looks he got from other co-workers as they passed by the open door, until he registered the faint sniffles coming from one of the armchairs a little to the side of the room.

All fight left him and he calmed down instantly as he rushed to the boy sitting there.

“I’m sorry, Sungjae! I didn’t mean to… You know I’m not mad at you or hybrids in general, right? I’m- I don’t mean to say you don’t have a right to be here; you have every right! I’m just mad that there are people who think it’s ok to do whatever they want with other life forms; hybrids as well as others! I’m mad that they think it’s ok to just experiment around in labs and then-… and then-…”

“…and then discard the results like just another petri-dish full of mutant cells, even if those cells happen to be a living, breathing, thinking, fully conscious organism.” The boy finished for Hakyeon.

“I know, hyung. I’m not upset because of you. I’m mad at the same things. I’m-… it’s just… very painful to see others like me treated like that every day… and knowing that if I went anywhere alone nowadays, I’d be treated the same way, no questions asked.”

Hakyeon wrapped his arms around the younger’s shoulders, holding him close.

“I’m so sorry, Sungjae… I wish I could do anything to change that… Just know that if you ever want to go anywhere and Eunkwang can’t go with you, you can always call me, ok? I know it’s not much, but…”

The younger smiled, leaning against Hakyeon in a very kittenish way.

“Thank you, hyung.”

Hakyeon sighed, lifting a hand to pet Sungjae behind one of the odd coloured cat-ears that peeked out of the dark brown hair on top of his head, until the younger started to purr.

Taekwoon took a deep breath. At least Hakyeon wasn’t raging anymore… He still felt uneasy though, and without Hakyeon or anyone else noticing, he got up and left the room to return to his office and spend the rest of the lunch break alone.

Sungjae was a lucky hybrid. Back when the government had first allowed hybrids to live with humans, he had been taken in by Eunkwang’s family. He’d been nothing but a child then, barely 5 years old and thus only half of Eunkwang’s age at the time, but the older had bonded quickly with the hybrid; in no time they were as close as brothers, and Sungjae had become a member of the family that was no different from anyone else.

When Eunkwang had become the junior-CEO of the company they all worked at, he’d moved out from home and had taken Sungjae with him. He’d found him a job in the company, but it was by his own work and talent that Sungjae climbed the career-ladder and ranks in the company, often only informing Eunkwang of his promotions after they happened.

He wasn’t the only hybrid working with them anymore, and it was needless to say that the company didn’t employ anyone who was hybrid-unfriendly. Still, it was a drop of water on a hot stone compared to how things worked outside the company’s walls.

The images from the coverage on the news wouldn’t leave Taekwoon’s mind. That hybrid that’d been killed… It looked like a young boy, a teenager. The woman couldn’t have been much older. And the baby… It was just a baby, for heaven’s sake! How could anyone treat a baby like that? Any baby!

Taekwoon raked his hands through his hair.

Just how many babies were taken away from their mothers, thrown to the dirty ground, stepped on, kicked, carelessly carried by their necks, every single day, just because they were born hybrids? How many hybrids were electrocuted into unconsciousness to be dragged to shelters where… who really knew what happened to them there? And how many were killed every day, just because they were deemed a threat for some reason?

Taekwoon bit his lip until he tasted blood. It was so unfair. They didn’t deserve this treatment; no one did. If only… if only there were more people like Eunkwang. People who gave hybrids a chance. People who gave them jobs, and a home. Who treated them like people, too.

*#*#*#*

“Taekwoonie, please! I never ask you for favours! Just this once!”

Taekwoon gave Hakyeon a look that called bull on his claim. He was forever asking him for favours. But this was one he wouldn’t do for him.

“I have things to do.”

“But Taekwoon! This is important! Life changing important!”

“Then why don’t you go with him?”

“I told you, I can’t, I have to be at home to let the technician in! Please, I promised Raul I’d go with him, but if I cancel now and don’t go, he won’t go alone! And it could be the once in a lifetime opportunity for someone!”

Taekwoon hated Hakyeon in that moment. He really hated him. That guilt tripping… He’d get him back for that one day. And badly so.

He couldn’t just back out now. He’d feel like a jerk if he did.

And that was how Taekwoon found himself in front of a run-down shelter (which was still rumored to be one of the best in town; he didn’t want to know what the bad ones looked like!) after work, with a co-worker he barely knew to accompany him and help him choose a hybrid to ‘adopt’.

Taekwoon found himself wishing pestilence on Hakyeon once more; or at least a leaking toilet to ruin his evening. Why did he always let himself get talked into situations he never wanted to be in?

With a silent sigh, he followed the other man as he led the way.

They entered a foyer that –compared to the outside look of the building- appeared rather clean and well kept, and were greeted by a middle aged, grumpy looking woman behind a desk.

“Uhm, hi. We have an appointment. I want to adopt a hybrid…” Taekwoon’s co-worker, Raul, introduced them.

The woman looked something up on her computer, and nodded.

“Just wait a moment; someone will come in a minute to show you around.”

A minute turned into 20, until finally someone showed up. It was a feisty man with a hard look on his face even when he smiled. Taekwoon didn’t like him from the start. Raul didn’t seem to have the same problem; he chatted animatedly with the man, describing more or less what kind of hybrid he was looking for.

The man didn’t seem too perturbed by it, and insisted on showing them around all the areas. The first one they passed resembled a nursery. There were children of all ages there, from babies to even young teens. It was loud and messy, as the children played with each other in the groups they were put in, each in their room that resembled a cage, but Taekwoon could also hear some crying; no one seemed to care though.

Raul quickly established he didn’t want a child, under no circumstances, and they left the nursery. Taekwoon wouldn’t have minded going home already. He was more than just a bit put off at how careless they seemed to be with the children, leaving them to tend to themselves at such young ages, with no one attending them when they were crying. If they were like that with small children, he didn’t want to know how they treated adults.

He had no choice but to find out, though. Teenagers and adults alike were divided into four categories. The first one they passed, their guide explained to be ‘willing to work’. As he explained further, they were basically advertised as cheap household help. Taekwoon felt even sicker as he looked around there. They weren’t in groups anymore, like the children had been. Every one of the individuals had their own… cage, for lack of a better word. They were tiny rooms, rows and rows of them, and almost every single one held a hybrid; hybrids of all species were mixed together, there was no system that separated cat hybrids from dog hybrids, bunny hybrids, bird or monkey hybrids.

While mostly clean, the hybrids themselves looked as rundown as you’d imagine them after a fight with enforcers on the streets. They all came forward, trying to convince them in some way to pick them above the others and take them home, but most of them held an utterly defeated look in their eyes, ready to be disappointed as they walked past without stopping to choose them.

At the end of the section, Raul decided a household help wasn’t exactly what he was looking for. And that led them to the next section. Without a second look, Taekwoon knew what specialty was advertised for the hybrids in this section; he trained his eyes on the floor, determined to not look back up until they were out of there after he’d seen the first pair of uncovered s pressed to the metal grades, followed immediately by the male equivalent in the next cage.

Apparently, this wasn’t what Raul was looking for, either, and they passed the section rather quickly, much to Taekwoon’s relief.

In turn, they spent what felt like forever in the next section. Their guide proclaimed the occupants there as pretty useless, but probably good if you were just looking for a companion with no skills. Taekwoon cringed as the guide made no effort to lower his voice, talking in a way that all the surrounding hybrids could hear him. He wanted to tell the man exactly what he thought about his own usefulness, especially as a supposedly sentient being, but refrained. He just hoped Raul would be able to choose one of the poor souls that sat locked up here, with even less hope remaining in their eyes than the ones in the sections before.

Raul took his time, talking to some of the hybrids, while their guide stood to the side and waited. They reached the end of the section, with a pensive Raul as he no doubt pondered over which of the hybrids he’d talked to he wanted to take home.

Still, the guide insisted on showing them the next section as well, and Taekwoon felt like he’d been dumped into hell. The smell alone was breathtaking, and not in a pleasant way. The sight of the hybrids in the cages nothing short of shocked him. Most of them were wounded, bruised. All of them were dirty, looked unkempt and abandoned. Some looked unconscious, and Taekwoon was pretty sure one male rabbit hybrid was dead. The cages were even smaller than the ones in the other sections, barely allowing the occupants to lay down completely, and only a few of them had even so much as a blanket.

The repulse was clear on Raul’s face, and they crossed the section quickly. At the very end of it, they stopped, and the guide asked Raul if he’d been able to make a choice. Raul pondered, mentioning a few of the hybrids in the third section, and Taekwoon busied himself with looking anywhere but at the hopeless hybrids in the cages.

His gaze found a semi open door not far from where they were standing, and he approached it carefully, with an unexplainable curiosity about what might be behind it.

His eyes widened at what he found when he got closer. It looked like some sort of medical room, only it was dirtier than anywhere where any kind of medical practices were performed should ever be. That wasn’t what had him gasping, though. In the middle of the room stood a cage. And it really was just a cage, a small one at that. And it held a cat hybrid. A young male that was way too big for the cage. He wasn’t able to lay down in the cage, nor to sit up properly without having to bend his head. On top of that, his wrists and ankles were circled by chains and secured to the bars of the cage, allowing for barely any movement.

Taekwoon was unable to tear his eyes away from the hybrid, and his heart bled. How could anyone do something like this to another creature?!

His thoughts were interrupted all of a sudden when the guide and Raul approached him.

“Oh, that one doesn’t count. He’s not up for adoption; he’s a feral. We’re just waiting for the vet, he was supposed to get taken down yesterday, but the vet didn’t have time to stop by.”

Taekwoon gasped.

“Taken down?”

“Yeah. No one’s going to adopt him anyway, violent as he is. And we can’t very well let him back out there. Nor can we afford to keep him around. It’s the best for everyone.”

How was that the best for everyone?! Taekwoon caught the gaze of the catboy, and the panic in his eyes was evident. How could it not?! They were just casually discussing his death within his hearing range, while he was unable to do anything to stop it!

“I’ll take him.”

Taekwoon heard himself say the words before he knew they had formed.

“What?!” Raul’s exclamation startled him, but his resolve settled as he saw the momentary flash of hope in the catboy’s eyes, before he masked it under a probably well-practiced expression of indifference.

“I’ll adopt him.”

“Taekwoon-ssi! You can’t just adopt a feral catboy!”

Taekwoon narrowed his eyes on his co-worker.

“And why not?!”

The guide cleared his throat.

“Your friend is right, sir. Feral hybrids aren’t just up for adoption…”

“Then don’t just let me adopt him! Tell me what it takes to let me adopt him, and I’ll do it. But I want him!”

“Taekwoon-ssi… This isn’t a good idea…” Raul spoke up, and Taekwoon glared at him.

“But just killing him is?!”

“… but if he’s feral…”

Nothing but disdain for the other man overcame Taekwoon.

“You go and adopt whoever you want. I’m not leaving without him!”

The guide raked his hand through his hair, very obviously unwilling to deal with this situation, while Raul shrunk away from Taekwoon under the other’s glare.

“Sir, I told you, you can’t adopt the feral…”

Taekwoon crossed his arms in front of his chest and leveled his glare on the man.

“I wish to talk to the director of this facility. Here. Now.”

His words were final, and his stance indicated as much.

“Taekwoon-ssi… We can’t wait here all day…”

Taekwoon didn’t look at Raul as he shot his answer.

“You do whatever you want. I’ll wait.”

Raul shook his head, defeated, and the guide leveled an annoyed glare on Taekwoon.

“I’ll go ask if the director is in. You better don’t do anything stupid.”

There went all of his put-up front of friendliness, but Taekwoon didn’t care. He wasn’t here to make friends with the guide.

The man left, and with an apologetic shrug of his shoulders, Raul followed him outside. Taekwoon couldn’t care less where he went.

He was ready to wait, and for long if he had to. He couldn’t leave knowing that if he didn’t do anything, the hybrid in the way too small cage would never see the light of another day. He looked so young, too… What had to happen in a person’s life to alter their personality so much they were classified as feral and their death ordered? He couldn’t fathom it. All he knew was that he wasn’t going to let that last step happen to the young catboy in the other room.

While he waited, his gaze found the hybrid again.

He looked younger the longer Taekwoon looked, but his condition made a guess of his age impossible. From what Taekwoon could see, he was definitely malnourished. He looked strong, but also as if he’d been held in a way too small cage for way too long. The chains around his wrists were stained with blood; Taekwoon couldn’t tell if his own of someone else’s, but judging by the way he held his hands, he was willing to bet at least some of it was his.

Not once did the boy look at Taekwoon while he observed him. He continued to stare at a point on the wall opposite of him, out of Taekwoon’s line of sight. He kept his jaw locked tight the whole time, making it appear even sharper than Taekwoon was sure it already looked when he relaxed it. Despite the matted hair covering half of his face and hanging all the way down to his shoulders in the back, the dirt covering his skin and torn clothes, and the bruises and cuts miscoloring his skin, Taekwoon could tell that the boy was handsome by most people’s standards; once he had him out of here, cleaned up, his wounds treated and fully recovered, he’d probably be outright stunning…

His train of thought was halted when he heard a door open, and a corpulent man, probably in his late fifties to early sixties, dressed in what surely was a most expensive suit, entered the room. And he looked none too pleased to be there. Good.

He approached Taekwoon with sure steps, his face showing his disgust for the smell that permeated the air.

“Good evening, Sir. I’m the director of this shelter. It came to my understanding that you wanted to adopt a hybrid.” He greeted Taekwoon.

Taekwoon nodded.

“Yes. That one.” He indicated the boy in the cage with a nod of his head.

“Hmm. I take it you were informed that it is a feral and not up for adoption.” The director repeated what the guide earlier had said, boring Taekwoon.

“Yes. And as I also already informed your employee, I want him anyway.”

“Good Sir, I’m sure if you take a look around you will find another catboy that will satisfy your-“

“No. It’s this one. Only this one.”

The director fumbled in his front pocket, taking out a linen tissue and pressing it in front of his mouth and nose, and Taekwoon could tell the stench of the place was getting to him. Taekwoon had no sympathy for him; it might be bad for him -he himself wasn’t relishing it, either- but he couldn’t even imagine just how bad it must be for the hybrids that were kept here, with their heightened senses.

“The laws regarding feral hybrids are pretty harsh…”

“That’s what I’ve come to understand. And it changes nothing.”

“There would be a long list of rules and restrictions to follow, both for you and for the hybrid.”

“The sooner you start listing them, the sooner I can sign and stop causing you trouble.”

The director coughed into his tissue, his eyes watering.

“Fine. Let’s go to my office, I can explain everything there. If by then you still want to take the responsibility-“

“I will take the responsibility. And I don’t trust you and your staff with the hybrid. I’d rather stay close.” Taekwoon interrupted him again and didn’t care in the slightest about the offended look that passed the director’s face.

“The vet’s office is on the other side of the practice. There is a one way window from the office to the practice.”

Taekwoon nodded in approval, stepping back to let the director lead the way, following him afterwards. The hybrid in the cage recoiled as they passed by him, trying to put as much distance between him and the two men as he could, despite being chained. Taekwoon flinched inwardly; he hoped he wasn’t the reason for the boy’s reaction. He would never want to hurt him, never even want him to feel threatened by him!

He didn’t pause, though, following the director into the vet office, where the first thing he did was abuse a so called air purifier. Taekwoon would rather go back out there to the putrid smell of death, decay and feces than be swamped by the chemically intensified nausea inducing sweet smell of what was supposed to be water roses, but if this meant he could finally get the stupid paperwork done and leave this place for good, with the hybrid, he would gladly suffer through it.

An hour later, his head throbbing and stomach churning, he was about ready to regret his decision. But then, finally, after what felt like eons, he held the adoption papers in his hands, declaring him owner of hybrid number #93929-5. Disgust washed over him as he thought of himself as the owner of another living being; even more so one that was on the same cognitive level as his own. But it didn’t matter.

The hybrid’s life would not end that day. He would get out of that terribly cramped cage. He’d go home with Taekwoon, and Taekwoon would do everything he possibly could to give the boy a life worth living.

With precise movements, he signed the stack of papers handed to him, declaring he’d been informed about the laws and rules to follow as owner of a hybrid declared feral, but his focus was drawn to a scuffle in the room on the other side of the window.

Three people surrounded the cage, and through the gaps between them, he could see the hybrid struggling against the chains, tearing at them, fighting like mad.

Without a second thought, Taekwoon burst out of the office, towards the small group.

“What are you doing to him?!” He shouted, badly concealed panic in his voice as he pushed one of the workers out of the way, just in time to see the catboy give up the fight, going limp in the cage, hanging from his chains, and finally his eyes half closing as his head rolled forwards, chin hitting his chest.

“What did you do to him?!” Taekwoon demanded to know again, not daring to take his eyes off the slowly rising and falling chest of the boy, lest it stopped its telltale movements.

“We tranquilized him. We wouldn’t be able to take him out of the cage otherwise. Nor would you be able to transport him. He’ll wake up in a couple of hours.” One of the workers deadpanned as he worked on the locks that held the cage closed. Once open, the back of the cage clattered to the floor, taking away the support from the boy’s back, who slumped limply in his chains now.

“Hey! You could be a little more careful with him!” Taekwoon protested the rough treatment, but he only got a shrug of shoulders in response.

“It’s not like he’s feeling it.”

Taekwoon had to clench his teeth, hard, to keep himself from lunging at the other man.

“Mr Jung! We weren’t quite finished here yet!” The director called Taekwoon from the office, and it was only with great reluctance that he left the boy’s side. He didn’t trust the workers, not one bit.

He did return to the office quickly though; the sooner he was done there, the sooner he would be able to get the hybrid out of here.

He signed the documents in record time, paid the adoption fee, and all but flew back to the unconscious hybrid’s side.

He’d been freed of the cage in the meantime, the chains around his wrists and ankles replaced by simple duct tape, causing Taekwoon’s anger to rise again. Was that really necessary? The boy was so unconscious, he was barely breathing, and still they felt the need to tie him up like that?!

He refrained from voicing his anger, though. ‘The sooner we’re out of here, the sooner I can free him of that!’ he kept repeating to himself.

“Can I take him home with me now?” he bit through clenched teeth instead.

The last remaining worker shrugged.

“He’s yours to do with as you please. Have fun with that!”

‘Just take him and be gone. That scum isn’t worth the trouble!’ Taekwoon had to remind himself again to refrain from doing something he might regret later… Never in his life had he wanted to hurt another living being, and today he found it hard to keep himself from doing just that… It was a twisted world.

As gently as he could, he picked up the unconscious catboy, shocked by how light he was. He weighed almost nothing, definitely not more than a small child! The poor boy… Taekwoon swallowed hard as tears threatened to spring to his eyes. Just what had they done to this boy?!

He carried him to his waiting car, extremely glad he’d insisted he and Raul took different cars to the shelter earlier that day.

He struggled a bit, but was able to get the hybrid into the backseat, arranging him to lay as comfortably as possible across the seats.

During the whole ride home, Taekwoon was sure he’d never driven this carefully. Never braked this gently, took the curves and corners as precisely; everything to avoid jostling the boy in the backseat.

Finally, he reached his apartment complex and gathered the still unconscious catboy out of the car. Once again, his almost non-existent weight startled him, but he couldn’t help but think of it as a blessing at least for the next couple of minutes, as he carried him all the way into his apartment on the 3^rd floor. Granted, there was an elevator, but still.

Taekwoon had no doubt what his first course of action would be as he closed his door behind him, carrying the hybrid to the spare bedroom and depositing him on the bed.

How long might it have been since the boy got to sleep in a bed?

Taekwoon shook his head, forcing himself to focus on something else, something less tragic… It was hard, given he found himself busy cutting through the duct tape that tied the hybrid’s hands and feet together.

When he finally managed to remove it, he uncovered the bruises the chains had left. They looked fresh; some of them must have stemmed from that last struggle in the cage before he’d succumbed to the tranquilizer…

Again, Taekwoon flinched.

Forcing his mind into a blank state, he left the room to get a first aid kit to at least tend to the most visible wounds on the boy’s wrists and ankles, and the one vicious cut on his face… For everything else, he would wait until the catboy woke up and gave his consent.

Once done, he gathered the utensils and trash and stood back up, observing the unconscious hybrid. At least he was breathing easier now than earlier…

Taekwoon shook his head, letting the situation sink in.

He had really adopted a hybrid. He, who didn’t even want to have a pet; a regular pet. Never mind a hybrid to live with him!

But no, it wasn’t just any hybrid. It was a catboy, and a feral one at that.

He shook his head at himself.

What had he done?!