IJEBPSCLB 31

chapter 31

‘Is this even proper training?’

Weren’t we supposed to be learning how to handle pheromones?

It had already been a week since I started receiving lessons from Louise.

Yet here I was, still unable to achieve even a hint of humanization, panting through the training grounds in my cat body.

“Come on, you can run more, Ariel.”

‘No, I absolutely can’t. I can’t do it. I can’t, teacher.’

I shook my head in refusal. I tried to stop my feet, but running seemed engraved into my legs, and they refused to obey.

I wondered how ridiculous I must look, trembling and running like this.

If I kept staggering through the training grounds like a drunken cat, it was only a matter of time before my legs gave out and I collapsed as usual.

Jumping down safely from the air, 30 times.

Frog jumps, high as I could, 100 times.

Panting, circling the training ground four times like a drunken cat.

And finally, practicing how to handle pheromones.

This had become my brutally demanding daily schedule lately.

It was even more punishing than the <My Daily Schedule> I had made in elementary school during vacation, breaking down every minute with extreme passion.

Every part of my body ached. It felt as though my entire body was screaming.

For someone whose usual “day” consisted of just eating dessert and doing nothing, this harsh, packed schedule made life exhausting. But after training and taking a bath, I would inevitably fall into sweet, blissful sleep.

And when I woke up the next day, my body felt refreshed.

The problem, of course, was that aside from that one advantage, everything else was a disadvantage.

Since starting training with Louise, I hadn’t seen Ian’s face for quite a while.

I always lost the battle with sleep before Ian even entered the room and collapsed, so defenseless against the tidal wave of drowsiness.

No matter what, a fierce struggle with sleep like mine would surely lose even if Admiral Yi Sun-shin himself were called to fight.

Why did I even accept Louise’s offer?

I liked the days of just playing and eating.

‘Ah… Tigers are insane. I shouldn’t have trusted them.’

Right. The start of this disaster was that very first sentence Louise said to me on the first day.

“Healthy bodies promote humanization. Therefore, physical exercise is essential.”

“And naturally, it’s needed to endure the process of becoming human.”

Physical exercise? Just hearing that made the ground feel like it was collapsing beneath me.

Or maybe the problem started the moment I met Louise in the library? No, it began the moment I accepted her offer.

“Do you want to be my disciple?”

Yes. That graceful phrase from her beautiful face was the real problem.

A disciple…

is, in short, someone who will… ruin your life.

I had certainly sprawled on the floor in protest during training more than once, unable to continue.

“Ariel, just one more lap.”

But in the midst of my desperate fight for survival, she encouraged me in that uniquely gentle and elegant voice, making me complete my quota.

So it had been a week of unwillingly receiving her encouragement while exercising.

Come to think of it, meeting Louise in the first place was the problem.

Or perhaps my entire life had been a problem.

Everything had gone wrong.

Running laps at the training grounds always prompted sudden moral introspection.

But not in a way that felt like personal growth.

More like endless whining.

At this rate, I might reach enlightenment and become the second Buddha.

Ariel and Buddha.

‘Then would I be “Agamoni”?’

It sounded oddly like a pun for “Aga, what is this?”

“Stop thinking useless thoughts. Keep running. This is the fourth lap.”

I heard the gentle voice of the anthropomorphic beast beside me, who showed no signs of fatigue.

Yes, that refined, aristocratic tone was the problem. Smooth, gentle words.

She ran alongside me, watching me carefully. While I ran one lap, it felt like she ran more than five.

‘An energizer. A battery that never tires…’

Even with all this physical training, my skill at handling pheromones had not improved at all.

No matter how many punches I threw, not a single bookshelf toppled, nor a single leaf stirred.

Perhaps my pheromones’ only function was to maintain the status quo.

Yet I continued punching daily without giving up.

“Ah. So this is an evolved version of the Nyang Nyang Punch.”

“The evolved version indeed has more force than the basic version used on dolls.”

“The wrist is fully extended, unlike the basic form which angles slightly downwards.”

“Every motion is precise. Look at that wrist snap.”

“Try with your other hand.”

“Nyaaong!”

By coincidence, Ian and Allen saw this and teased me all day, making me punch relentlessly, ignoring their work.

Thanks to my daily punching, everyone in the mansion assumed I was inventing a martial art.

‘No, how could a cat possibly invent martial arts? That makes no sense.’

After finishing the run, I continued punching as usual.

‘…Taekwondo existed in my past life, but not in this world, so maybe I am creating a new martial art.’

I tilted my head in thought and readjusted my stance.

Gathering the foreign energy from my lower abdomen, I…

“Shoot.”

Suddenly, the air around me grew eerie, and a chill spread.

‘Winter has passed, and summer is approaching…’

I looked at Louise running and sweating beside everyone else as usual.

Was I the only one cold, even after all this running?

If she noticed, she’d probably make me run more to warm up.

‘Must be a sudden chill.’

I dismissed it casually.

I aimed at a single leaf and tried again.

This is the last attempt.

One.

Two.

Three.

‘…No change.’

Disappointed, I nudged Louise, who was exercising, to go on.

But Ariel did not notice.

The moment I threw my punch, the tip of a single leaf had subtly changed color from the foreign energy.

Had the brutal physical training finally paid off?

Maybe this strange exercise wasn’t entirely useless.

“Practicing pheromones already?”

Louise’s eyes widened in surprise.

Ah. The beginning of a new hell.

Ariel, resigned, was dragged along by Louise.

Rustle, rustle.

In the office, only the sound of a fountain pen signing documents could be heard.

The assistants in the office felt suffocated from morning.

‘Someone stop my lord.’

A newly arrived assistant shot a look at Allen.

‘Impossible,’ Allen replied regretfully.

Being tormented by the same lord must have given them an unspoken understanding through glances alone.

‘Really?’

Yet the newbie gave Allen a desperate look, seeing him as the only salvation. Allen ignored it firmly.

‘Yes, trying to stop him could cost me my life.’

‘It’s fortunate the office hasn’t been destroyed yet.’

Despite the firm reply, the newbie (though they had been around for several months, not yet a year) looked frustrated.

Allen glanced at the newbie with pity, then turned his gaze to his lord.

The abnormal man laughed lightly with his chin in his hand while signing documents energetically with a mix of irritation.

‘He’s not right in the head.’

One by one, documents filled with irritable signatures piled up at a terrifying pace.

‘At this rate, early leave…’

Allen momentarily glimpsed his long-dreamed early leave, only to realize a pile of documents still awaited the wrath of his lord.

‘…But if anyone disturbs my lord in that state, it won’t end well.’

He thought again.

As Allen predicted, Ian was currently in a low-spirited state.

His mind was unknowingly preoccupied with thoughts of the kitten.

‘Is Ariel avoiding me?’

Ariel had never chased Ian, but Ian, unaware of that, smirked to himself.

Of course, Ariel was now in hellish training with Louise.

‘Whenever I go, she’s always asleep.’

Because the training surpassed the level of a normal cat,

‘In the past, I used to wait…’

During training, struggling with sleep, Ariel would collapse while waiting for Ian, who had no idea.

She was always asleep when he entered.

‘She doesn’t even come to the office.’

This was because Louise didn’t release Ariel until she completed her quota, and Ariel’s resistance caused delays.

Swish. Scratch, scratch.

After some elegant penwork, Ian spoke aloud.

“Is Ariel avoiding me?”

‘Who is Ariel?’

The newbie, unaware that the cat always brought to the office was Ariel, answered first.

“No!”

“Yes.”

Two opposing answers came out simultaneously.

One from the disciplined newbie, one from the experienced assistant whose life depended on experience.

Of course, Ian hadn’t asked for an answer.

Continuing his private thoughts, he said,

‘Yes. I must deal with Louise.’

“I’ll just leave her moderately incapacitated.”

If Ariel wasn’t seeking him, he could seek her.

The moment Ian rose with a sword, Allen sensed something unusual and carefully spoke.

“Ian, a telegraph from Lady Marie has arrived.”

Perfect timing.

Truly, the experienced assistants were a cut above the rest.