CDCN Chapter 2

Before being transmigrated into the novel, Yang-hwi had been working at a publishing company. Specifically, he was the head of their BL (Boys’ Love) label.

That night, he’d been up late reviewing the synopsis and manuscript of a new work, giving feedback to Author K.

“Drawn to Your Scent” was a BL novel set in a beastman world, featuring a dynamic with multiple tops and one bottom. Among them, the main bottom, Cha Jin-geon, was a human with an alluring pheromone. This made even ordinary humans feel drawn to him, while the beastman tops became obsessed, yearning to possess him.

The main plot revolved around Cha Jin-geon being dosed with an aphrodisiac by a villainous sub-bottom, causing his pheromones to intensify. The story unfolded as he became entangled with the Gong candidates, who succumbed to his irresistible allure.

“‘Human catnip,’ huh?”

That was the first phrase that popped into his head after reading the synopsis.

[“Pardon?”]

“Cha Jin-geon, I mean. The way the feline beastmen go wild over him, unable to control themselves, reminds me of cats high on catnip.”

[“Oh, is that so?”]

Author K let out an awkward laugh over the phone.

“But Author, while it’s interesting overall, don’t you think five Gong candidates are a bit much? It might be better to cut the ones without much weight.”

[“They’re all important. I can’t drop a single one.”]

A timid voice quietly protested, but Yang-hwi ignored it.

“The cat beastman who follows Cha Jin-geon around like a stalker—he doesn’t have much appeal as a Gong candidate. Wouldn’t it be fine to remove him?”

[“Are you talking about Go Yang-i?”]

“Yes, the cat beastman Go Yang-i.”

A cat beastman with the straightforward name “Go Yang-i (literally “cat” in Korean)”. Unlike the other Gong candidates, his name alone screamed a lack of effort. Plus, his role and presence as a sub-top were too vague.

[“That’s true, but the cat helps the bottom during a major crisis later—“]

“Couldn’t one of the other Gong candidates handle that? I think it’d be better if the main top, the wolf beastman Min Ki-hyeok, took on that role. If he saves him from a crisis, it’d convince readers he’s the main top. What do you think, Author?”

He cut off Author K before they could ramble on about unnecessary details. Too many lackluster Gong candidates would overcomplicate the story and make it hard for readers to keep up. Ambiguous characters were better off gone from the start.

“How about this: keep the stalker role from high school as is, but instead of a new villain dosing the aphrodisiac, have the cat do it? He’s been passively watching the bottom all this time, but when he sees the other tops making bold moves in college, he gets impatient and uses the aphrodisiac. Then, he gets killed off by the tops and exits the story. What do you think?”

[“Still, I’d like the cat to stay by Cha Jin-geon’s side until the end…”]

‘Listen, that’ll drive readers away.’

He nearly snapped but pressed his lips shut. If he said that, Author K’s fragile mentality—weaker than a cookie—would crumble to dust.

He softened his tone as much as possible.

“Author, too many characters make it harder for you to write, too. You struggled with deadlines last time because of that, remember? This work has a great synopsis and solid world-building, so even without one character, it’ll still turn out well.”

[“…If that’s really what you think, PD, then fine. I’ll revise it and send it back.”]

“Oh, and how about changing the name from ‘Go Yang-i’ to something else?”

[“Then, how about Yang-hwi?”]

“What?”

[“Never mind. I’ll think about that too.”]

After sending some encouraging words, the call ended. But a sigh escaped him as he contemplated the daunting road ahead.

“Well, at least it’s somewhat sorted out?”

Though timid and mentally fragile, Author K worked at an astonishing pace. Revising one character’s setup would likely be a quick task for him.

An hour later, the revised synopsis arrived from Author K. He smiled with satisfaction as he reviewed the properly adjusted settings, but his brow furrowed when he saw the name of the cat beastman, now repurposed as a villain.

“…Go, Yang-hwi?”

The still-lackluster name irked him a bit, but since the character was no longer a Gong candidate and was now just a villain who’d be killed off early and exit the story, he figured it didn’t matter much.

He filed the completed synopsis into Author K’s personal folder. Then, before moving on to check another writer’s work, he leaned back in his chair to rest his eyes for a moment.

—-//

“Ugh, is he still asleep? Min-young, can you go wake your brother up?”

His mind felt hazy, as if he were floating in a fog. Beyond it, he heard his mom’s voice, tinged with a sigh. It had been well over ten years since he’d moved out, so there was no reason he’d hear her voice at home—yet it was unmistakably her.

‘Did Mom come over early this morning?’

Just then, a clattering sound came from somewhere. No, “clatter” wasn’t quite right—more like a rapid *pitter-patter*.

As the sound grew closer, something soft began pressing down on the crown of his head, kneading it firmly. He’d never raised an animal in his life, yet he instantly recognized this as a cat’s pawing. Still, he didn’t want to wake up. Mornings were already tough with his low blood pressure, and the insistent pawing only sparked a surge of irritation.

“Ugh, just a little longer.”

Grumbling familiarly toward someone, he pulled the blanket up over his head. The pawing grew rougher in response. What started as a gentle *tap, tap* turned into a heavy *thump-thump-thump-thump*, the dull impacts reverberating through his skull.

“Hey, you—ugh!”

He threw off the blanket in a fit of irritation, ready to yell, when something warm slipped into his mouth. At the same time, a soft pressure pushed against his forehead, jolting his eyes open.

The moment his gaze met a pair of round, black eyes, a *meow* rang out. Realizing it was a cat, he shot upright.

Grabbing the cat’s body, he spat out whatever was in his mouth. The warm, soft thing turned out to be a cat’s paw. His mouth was full of fur, leaving an unpleasant sensation. After spitting a few times to get rid of the hair, he turned his triangular glare toward the cat, which was now staring back at him.

“…What’s this?”

“Are you bullying Min-young again?”

A voice laced with exasperation sounded just then, and the cat smacked his forehead hard before leaping lightly to the floor. It rubbed its face against the approaching person’s legs, meowing pitifully—“nya, nya”. Clearly, he was the one being harassed, yet the sight somehow made him feel unjustly accused.

“How can you sleep in so carelessly even on a day like this?”

A woman approached and tidied his messy hair. Raising his eyes at the familiar touch, he blinked a few times.

The middle-aged woman was unfamiliar yet familiar. She wasn’t his mom, yet she was.

“…Mom?”

“Yang-hwi, are you still half-asleep?”

The name she called him felt oddly foreign. Yang-hwi, Yang-hwi. That isn’t his name. But he couldn’t recall what his real name was either.

He distinctly remembered reviewing manuscripts at the office and dozing off just a moment ago.

Trying to recall something made his head throb. It felt like if he pushed just a little harder, it might come back to him.

—…How about Yang-hwi?

“But you don’t have time to laze around in bed like this. Hurry up and wash your face. Quick, quick. You’re late.”

His mom’s hand yanked his arm, cutting off any further thoughts. Pushed into the bathroom in a daze, he washed his face to clear his mind and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He seemed strangely younger, but it was definitely his face.

His mom’s urgent knocking and calls to hurry up snapped him out of it. He hastily wiped off the water, changed into the clothes she thrust at him—saying there was no time—and was dragged into a car by her hand. They arrived somewhere.

“Just do it like you’ve been doing.”

Smiling brightly, his mom handed him a bag and a lunchbox. Yang-hwi, still a bit dazed, rolled his eyes around his surroundings until they landed on a banner fluttering above his head: “2*** University Scholastic Ability Test.”

He’d been thinking something was off, and now it was clear—this was a dream. A nightmare, even. Coming back to retake the college entrance exam, which he’d finished over a decade ago, made no sense.

As he let out an awkward laugh, escaping reality, his mom smacked his back, telling him to snap out of it. Despite her small frame, her hand stung so much that tears welled up, and only then did he realize this wasn’t a dream.

“Get it together! I’ll come pick you up when it’s over, so do well, son.”

“…Yes.”

Clinging to a faint hope that it might still be a dream, he entered the testing center. But with growing anxiety that this could be real, Yang-hwi steeled himself and focused. He didn’t know exactly what was happening, but for now, he had to ace the exam and figure things out later.

The exam questions flowed more smoothly than expected. After finishing the test in a daze, Yang-hwi rode home in his mom’s car, which had come to pick him up. He went to bed early and closed his eyes.

—Then, how about Yang-hwi?

—Right! Go, Yang-hwi!

The sudden realization hit him, and Yang-hwi shot up from his spot.

As his conversation with Author K flooded back, fragments of this body’s memories surfaced too. Everything that had felt unfamiliar now hit him with a stark sense of reality. His mom became clearer in his mind, along with his dad, who was away on a business trip overseas, and the cats, spanning three generations of their kind in this family home.

And the fact that this was a world where beastmen and humans coexisted.

“Then what’s with the memories of being a PD? Did I recall a past life or something?”

“Did the stress from the college entrance exam temporarily mess with my head?”

Now that recent memories were coming back too, he didn’t feel as anxious as before. Even this body, which had felt slightly off, now felt comfortably like his own.

“…Did I reincarnate or something?”

The memories of being a PD felt more real to him at the moment than this world with beastmen, but aside from the conversation with the author, nothing else came to mind.

Even that conversation wasn’t fully clear—just the character Go Yang-hwi stood out.

The brief thought of reincarnation seemed so absurd that Yang-hwi let out a dry laugh. For that to be true, he’d have to be the cat beastman from the novel Author K was writing.

But his entire family was human.

“It was just a crazy dream after all.”

With that thought, he relaxed and drifted off to sleep.

The next day, however, when Yang-hwi leisurely arrived at school and opened the classroom door, he froze on the spot. Standing inside the classroom was Cha Jin-geon, the main bottom from “Drawn to Your Scent”—someone who shouldn’t exist here.