The Cat hides its Claws

Chapter 91: Chapter 91

“…I’m sorry.”

It really shocked Miho.

“About what?”

He asked because he really couldn’t know what he was apologizing about. He saw how shocked he was and said, embarrassed, “About bullying and tormenting you.”

“….But why?”

Really, he couldn’t understand. It had already been half a year since his bullying stopped. Half a year wasn’t that long, but to Miho, it felt like so long ago, despite the fact that the bullying had lasted for more than three years.

“Shit, I know it’s too late, but…”

He couldn’t look into Miho’s eyes. He had been confident to the very last moment, but now he was bowing like a sinner.

“At first, I just found you creepy.”

It reminded Miho of what he had forgotten. Himself looking down at the funeral and the way his relatives had looked at him.

“Then, I got angry.”

What he had felt as he wrote a fake name on his gym suit, what he had felt as he became an outcast of their class, and the ray of hope that suddenly came to him one day.

‘I don’t have parents either.’

“And later, I just got used to it.”

It felt so sad. His heart ached, telling him he had forgotten what he shouldn’t have. It wasn’t Jagyeom. It wasn’t the bully.

“I’ve been thinking a lot after that day.”

The moment Miho blinked, a tear ran down his cheek. He looked away instead of wiping it and saw a small cat. More tears came out.

“And I realized… I just used it as an excuse to be hard on you.”

As the bully looked down in shame, he couldn’t see Miho’s tears. His head ached even more.

“I’m sorry.”

‘What does it have to do with you?’

He hadn’t heard that voice before. It wasn’t Jagyeom, and it wasn’t the bully. But the unfamiliar voice somehow made him cry.

‘Whether he weeps over his sister’s death or not, what does it have to do with you?’

“…You…”

The cat stared at him, its tail moving gently. The bully looked up as Miho spoke.

“You said I wouldn’t shed a single tear even if my sister died.”

The bully looked surprised to see him cry for the first time. Tears were running down his face now, but he spoke calmly.

“Apologize about that too.”

“Why– Why are you…”

He faltered. He raised a hand to grab Miho’s shoulder and ask why he was crying, but then someone stopped his arm. The cat was gone. What Miho saw first with teary eyes was light-brown hair.

“…What the…”

His eyes were flashing.

“Who are you? What are you doing?”

The boy said nothing. He looked back in surprise at Miho and frowned. He let go of the bully’s arm and let out a sigh. He muttered.

“I thought… No, I was wrong.”

Jagyeom came running with a boy Miho had never seen before.

“Myohan’s mad again…”

Jagyeom whispered.

“Hey, I asked you a question. Who the hell are…”

“Me?”

The boy looked determined. He looked at Miho and grinned. It was a familiar smile and familiar voice. Familiar words came from his mouth.

“I’m his friend.”

From that flying soccer ball, then at that sickening hospital, then from the bully, then just before he was about to use his fist as he couldn’t take it anymore, and then when he had to say goodbye to his sister.

“Are you still bullying him?”

He felt like he’d been saved. The person who had dragged him out of that darkness. He couldn’t believe he had forgotten him. Still in tears, he called the name of the friend who had saved him.

“…Myohan.”

In Yuja’s class, there was a strange student who almost never studied but somehow managed to get good grades. He just slept through every day and was too cold, but he was nice at some weird points.

Yuja looked at him as he looked out the window. Then he called him.

“Myohan.”

He got a bored gaze in return. Myohan’s eyes were full of sleepiness. Yuja looked at them and frowned.

“Since when have you had so many friends?”

It was lunchtime. Yuja was studying his workbook while he was waiting for his friend Chookjae who had been called by a teacher. But then the back door opened, and he looked back.

“Myohan! I’ve brought them!”

The loud voice was Sinsul’s, of course. Yuja had thought it was weird for him to leave their homeroom without his soccer ball, but it turned out it was to come back with a bunch of boys.

Yuja recognized only two of the five. One of them was famous as a pro runner and the other had all kinds of bad rumors about him. The five had nothing in common, but they all went to Myohan and had a chat as if they had known each other for a long time. They mentioned ‘class president’ from time to time, but Yuja tried to think they weren’t talking about him.

“Why, you jealous?” Myohan asked with a grin, but Yuja frowned and shook his head. He looked at the group.

‘One, two, three, four… Six, Byeon Sinsul, in total.’

He had known Myohan for three years, and as far as he knew, he wasn’t the type of person who went around in a large group like that. He didn’t try to hide how bothered he was whenever someone tried to approach him, and only Sinsul had managed to overcome that barrier and befriend him.

Yuja had thought it was weird that he got close to the new transfer student so quickly, but now he had a bunch of friends. He really didn’t know how it was possible.

“Yuja, you should join us and study at Myohan’s place.”

Yuja was thinking about it when Sinsul made the offer with a smile. As he didn’t know most of the boys there, he opened his mouth to refuse, but then he saw their eyes twinkling with excitement.

Sinsul asked again, “You’re coming, right?”

It was dark on his way home. Yuja was thinking about what Myohan had told him as he walked.

But then, he spotted a cat. It was sitting on a wall with its tail drooping down like a rope. It looked at him. He stopped and started to look back at him.

After he said yes to Sinsul’s offer, he had found himself teaching the boys for the midterms. Sinsul and Myo Cheong, who always got really bad grades, were his main students. Jagyeom and Miho also paid attention to his lecture. As Jino was going to be an athlete and Sajun was good at studying, they were excluded from the class.

To be honest, it wasn’t that bad. Teaching the boys and watching them listening with excitement had been nice. It felt so good that he thought about being a teacher for a second, although he had been studying hard for years to get into a medical school. Plus, it all felt strangely natural.

‘I know Sinsul’s always like that, but as for the others…’

The cat’s twinkling eyes made him feel like he could tell it everything, so he started to talk, although he knew it looked a little crazy.

“Why did they all speak like they’ve learned from me before?”

He had never spoken to them before. It was possible they had seen each other in hallways, but they hadn’t talked. Still, they all talked like they had learned from Yuja a few times before.

‘Yuja, you’re the best teacher ever!’

‘Wow, you’re even better than the last time.’

‘As I told you before, I think you’d make a great teacher.’

‘I can’t agree more.’

Myohan frowned harder and harder each time one of them spoke with awe. The pen he’d been spinning fell to the table. Yuja felt a strange sense of déjà vu, but he didn’t show it. He just raised his glasses and frowned.

“I’ve been thinking it’s weird for some time.”

The cat looked at Yuja. He saw it wasn’t running away and pressed on his forehead.

“He suddenly became friends with that new kid, went to Chookjae’s place for a visit, and he doesn’t find five boys around him bothering at all!”

“Meow.”

He could have just dismissed it as Myohan’s unique whim and Sinsul and other kids mistakes, but he couldn’t do it because something was stopping him from doing it.