Here's A Binge Purr-fect Channel: How A Korean Man And His 7 Rescue Cats Broke YouTube

On a Korean YouTuber Maetalnam‘s channel exists a video with 2.8 million views. This video, uploaded to what used to be his fishing channel at the time, broke the internet as it documented him responding to a stray cat’s desperate call for help.

The very first cat video, uploaded on June 10, 2019 but filmed previously, starts off with Maetalnam following a cheese tabby down the street in the middle of the night, past 12AM. He explains in the video that the cat — which he named Nuri and fed from time to time at his house in rural Korea — seemed to be leading him somewhere, so he decided to follow.

She’s not scared of me. I’m not sure what’s going on… Where am I going? I’m getting goosebumps. I can’t explain what’s happening… but I feel like the cat is asking me to come with it.

— Maetalnam

The 8+ minute video captures him following the cat for over a mile (2 kilometers) into an unknown part of town. Throughout this video, he can be heard questioning what is happening to him.

We’re so far from home now… This is driving me crazy. I don’t know what it’s doing, but Nuri wants me to follow for sure.

— Maetalnam

After the most suspenseful walk through the empty streets in the dark, the cat and Maetalnam arrive at a construction site. He then finds out this is “home” for the stray, after spotting another cheese tabby waiting by the entrance.

Once Maetalnam walks up to the fence, the cat meows and approaches him. The caption in the video mentions how this has never happened before, which made Maetalnam question her sudden change in behavior. The first video ends here — but the mystery was more than enough to keep the viewers hooked for more!

We’re at a dead end and… Oh wait, what’s that? There is another cat! Another cheese tabby… They look identical! Oh my goodness, is this home? Nuri, is this your home? I’m so out of breath. Wow, you mean you come all this way to my place?

— Maetalnam

The second part of the video, with 1.4 million views, shows Maetalnam trespassing in good heart to find out what the cat wanted him to see. Inside the construction site, he finds old, abandoned metal pipes. He becomes intimidated by the eerie vibe of it all, but he claims he couldn’t stop following the cat! As he stands dumfounded in front of a 20-yard (20 meters) pipe, he then hears the sound:

As soon as he hears the kittens’ cry, he stops hesitating and climbs on to the tunnel to crawl his way in…

… to find the cat’s six babies! After spending over 30 minutes in the pipe with the mama cat and her kittens, he has earned their trust:

By the end of this video, Maetalnam makes the choice that would change his life forever. He decides to take the kittens home! He struggles to take his parka off, in which he then wraps the kittens one by one, so he can drag them all out of the pipe.

Since then, his YouTube channel has gone from fishing to nursing. Following this most dramatic rescue mission of 2019, Maetalnam has been uploading videos of Nuri and her kittens finding shelter at his house. The channel now boasts over 170K subscribers, all rooting for Maetalnam and his newly-embarked cat-dad kind of life!