The Cat hides its Claws

“What if we pour water on him? Wouldn’t it work on him as well?”

“I don’t know…”

Myohan had the same thought, but as O Shin had said before, the twelve turned into animals when certain phenomena occurred. Whether the thing that transformed them was all the same or not, they didn’t know. Even Myohan was…

“I think he’ll really eat me next time.”

That was what Myohan worried about the most. Yes, Sajun was rude to him first, but Myohan had kicked his most important organ. It was highly likely that Sajun would really eat up Myohan for revenge if they ever met again.

Myohan got the chills just imagining the scene and shuddered. Then O Shin quietly spoke.

“I can’t let him eat you of course.”

“What?”

“That snake has dared to mess up with the animal that god presented to humankind.”

Myohan wondered what he was talking about, but he couldn’t ask more. O Shin sounded more serious than ever.

“Maybe he’ll regret it if I throw him in a fire.”

His eyes were furious enough to scare even Jagyeom who didn’t know what was going on.

“You said he looks like a snake, right?”

I must see his face. O Shin stood up as he said so. But Myohan thought he just said that. O Shin never came to Myohan’s home again during the weekend, and he had no method to see Sajun’s face.

Well, at least Myohan thought so.

“I’m O Shin.”

On Monday, he came to Myohan’s classroom as an exchange student.

“Nice to meet you all.”

Looking so natural.

As always, the moment Myohan arrived at school, he fell on his desk and went to sleep. He had to capture that snake, but he was sleepy, so he slept. He had an extremely simple way of thinking.

“We don’t have any extra desks, so someone must bring it…”

“Teacher! O Myohan is sleeping again!”

And Sinsul told off Myohan with a smile. Actually, Myohan wasn’t asleep. If he had been asleep, he would have woken up the moment he heard his name. But he couldn’t look up. The transfer student’s voice sounded way too familiar. No, it couldn’t be. He tried to deny reality and closed his eyes.

“Myohan, you need to wake up. Go and get a desk from the study room.”

Byeon Sinsul, I’m going to kill you someday.

Myohan reluctantly got up and glanced at the front. Why were his senses never wrong? The student next to the teacher was the man who hadn’t come to Myohan during the weekend. It was O Shin, the man who called Myohan a cat and enjoyed ordering him around.

Now he was standing in the same classroom with Myohan, wearing the same school uniform.

“I will go with him.”

“Good, then bring a desk and a chair and sit next to Myohan. Well, as for the rest of you, do independent study. And Yuja and Chookjae, come with me.”

Myohan and O Shin left the room quietly. Myohan walked first toward the study room at the end of the hallway, but then he stopped at turned back.

He was frowning really hard, and he looked somewhat irritated. His closed lips were also twitched to show his irritation. O Shin nodded slightly to invite him to talk.

“You…”

Myohan had many questions to ask, like what he was doing at school, and how he had managed to come to Myohan’s homeroom among so many classrooms. But what he wanted to know the most was…

“Are you 16?”

“Hah!”

Myohan frowned even harder. The man laughed and looked away.

“Why are you laughing?”

He had asked seriously. Since the moment they first met and while he stayed at Myohan’s home, Myohan had never thought them to be of same age. It wasn’t about O Shin’s appearance. Every matured gesture he made, his serious eyes, his way of talking… He couldn’t have been a teenager.

“I was wondering what you would ask…”

The man laughed for some time with his mouth covered with a hand, and then he muttered. Myohan had frowned like he was ready to blow up, and what he said was so…trivial.

“I think my age matters.”

“That school uniform doesn’t suit you.”

“Thank you.”

Boring bastard. Myohan started to walk again. Actually, he lied. The school uniform suited the man extremely well. He was tall, had long legs, and was handsome. Really, any kind of clothes would have suited him.

“I told you, I must see the snake.”

But he became a student just to see the snake’s face. Myohan muttered quietly about how there wasn’t a single sane person around him.

After they brought a desk and the chair, Myohan gave his textbook to O Shin and fell down to sleep again, saying textbook for the next class was in his locker.

When he finally woke up, it was lunchtime. What woke him was Sinsul talking to O Shin. As most of the boys had gone to the cafeteria, there were but a few students left in the room.

“You’re O Shin, right? Let’s go play soccer!”

Myohan was feeling really peaceful and sleepy, but now that Sinsul had come, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep.

Sinsul was constantly pestering to play soccer whenever he got time. He was clearly going to cling onto Myohan after asking O Shin once.

Myohan turned to look up at O Shin, his head on his arm. O Shin glanced at him and then asked Sinsul, “Do you like to play with balls?”

Play with balls… He sounded like he was asking a dog. Well, it did sound right for Sinsul. Myohan had always thought so. Sinsul just laughed heartily, not caring about the subtle difference of description. Then he nodded, patting O Shin’s back.

“I like playing with balls! Join me! We should practice hard to win the sports competitions!”

“But you are always playing soccer even without that sports competitions.”

Yuja, who was sorting the printed materials their teacher had given him, coldly made a remark. Myohan couldn’t agree with him more.

“Oh, why is everyone so cold to me?”

Sinsul became sad and cuddled his ball. He looked quite pitiful, but no one cared. They all knew he would regain his usual excitement in no time. And they were right, he soon recovered and started to convince Myohan to play soccer. He pressed on, saying practice was necessary to win over other classes at the sports competitions in June, and then he started insisting like a little boy.

Myohan found him noisy and bothering, so he just waved a hand at him and yawned.

“Go away.”

“But this is serious!”

“I get it, so just go down to eat lunch.”

“There’s no time to eat! O Myohan, we must practice!”

“I refuse.”

Myohan thought Sinsul was only half right. Yes, there was no time to eat when there wasn’t enough time to sleep.

“But the losing team has to buy ice cream today. I’ve already made the bet. Please help.”

“No, I don’t want to.”

Myohan was not going to go out to play soccer at all. He was skipping lunch just because he found eating too much work, so there was no way he was going to run around in dusty yard. And O Shin seemed to be thinking the same. They just wished Sinsul would give up and leave.

“Well, I guess I have no choice. Park Chookjae, let’s go!”

Eventually, Sinsul changed his target to the vice class president who was doing work the teacher had entrusted to them with the class president. Chookjae stood up, but Yuja’s cold voice immediately stopped them.

“Can’t you see Chookjae is sorting these with me?”

In the end, Sinsul ran out with teary eyes, still cuddling his ball.

“I hate you all!”

Looking like the tragic heroine of a soap opera.

“He’s crazy.”

Yuja muttered so, and none of them tried to argue with it. Finally, some peace and quiet. Myohan let out a sigh and closed his eyes to go back to sleep.

The sunlight was warm. The wind was still cool, but the weather had gotten a lot warmer. Myohan thought it was perfect weather for sleeping.

The other students went down for lunch one by one, until Myohan and O Shin were left alone.

O Shin stared at Myohan, and then he carefully stretched a hand out to tidy his hair that had been scattered by the wind. He touched Myohan’s forehead, and he fell on his desk, just like Myohan.

“Hey, cat.”

But Myohan was already deep in sleep. He had been losing sleep recently because of Sajun’s gaze, and he was sleeping well for the first time in days.