@catsalad When I was in high school, I had a cat who would sleep in my room. In the morning, she would wake me up to open the door to let her out. So I started sleeping with the door open. She never figured out that it was open -- she would wake me up, and I would walk her to the door to "let" her out.
@catsalad I wonder if the cat wanted the human to follow it into the gated area. Once the human opened the gate, it figured the human was following and led the way.