The Cat hides its Claws

The sun was blazing. Normally, Myohan would have hidden in O Shin’s shadow with much irritation, but today, he looked just fine like the other boys. His gaze was fixed on Jino who was running along the race tracks. O Shin watched with him, his chin on Myohan’s head.

Myohan had told only him about the bet he had made with Jino. Instead of going into details, he just summarized it and said he and the horse were now on a bet about winning the relay race.

O Shin said nothing to it and just smiled. He seldom smiled only a while ago, but now he smiled at almost anything Myohan said. Anyway, he was quite optimistic about the plan. He seemed to find the fact that Myohan had wagered a bet amusing, even more than the fact that he had singlehandedly caught the horse.

“Today, we are going to play dodgeball with another class to practice.”

They heard a calm voice. Myohan took his eyes off Jino and looked at Yuja. Sinsul, who was holding a dodgeball instead of his usual soccer ball, excitedly jumped up and down. He didn’t forget to mention that they had to win, as it had been agreed that the losing team would buy ice cream for the winning team.

Myohan didn’t try to hide his dislike for the sudden dodgeball match. He had to do either soccer or dodgeball for his class, and he had chosen the latter as he would be able to rest after being hit by the ball early. But now he was really regretting his choice.

“Getting hit by the ball would hurt a lot.”

That was O Shin. He had been put in the soccer team while he was absent just because he had muscles and looked athletic.

“Do you think you’ll be okay?”

But he didn’t sound worried. Myohan nodded and snorted.

“I’ll choose and take a weaker throw.”

With such good reflexes, getting hit by the ball was rather hard for him. He was planning to play a little, get hit quickly when there came a weak throw, and leave the game soon. He didn’t care even a bit about winning. O Shin saw what he had in mind and shrugged.

“But you know, you can’t always get your way.”

Myohan couldn’t help feeling nervous whenever O Shin talked like that. Myohan tried to dismiss the feeling and walked onto the court.

“Sin Sonhan, go get him!”

“O Myohan, we can’t lose!”

Well, it turned out O Shin was right. Myohan frowned hard at all those yells.

“Sadol, throw! Knock him out!”

How on earth had he ended up in this situation? Myohan wondered as he looked at a huge boy holding the ball. There were many good throwers on the opposite team, a lot more than he had expected, and he had failed to get knocked out in time. The opposite team attacked him mainly as he looked the least enthusiastic, but when they saw he was really good at not getting hit, they changed their plan and decided to ignore him until he was the last one alive.

“Seonhan, here!”

Sadol yelled to his class president who was now holding the ball. Myohan gulped hard. He had been thinking so for some time, but he could throw with really great speed. Seonhan got the ball and once again threw it to Myohan.

“Yes, Myohan!”

But yet again, Myohan twisted lightly to dodge it. Now he really wanted to say he would let them win the game, if only they would throw him a weak throw. But that thought went away quickly after hearing Yuja cheering on top of his voice.

Should he lose now and get his classmates’ blame? Or should he go on with this tiresome game? The latter’s price was pain, but the former’s price was being bothered even more. The ball went past him again with a whoosh.

“…O Myohan?”

Then he heard a familiar voice. He glanced there, but then he had to duck and dodge the ball again. He had been distracted and was almost hit. It was Jagyeom who had come out to practice with his class. Myohan could see him asking O Shin, ‘He actually likes getting attention, doesn’t he?’ Shit, that wasn’t it.

“What the?”

Now even Jino and Myo Cheong were there, watching with frowns.

“Seonhan, give me the ball again!”

Seonhan raised the ball high. He laughed mischievously and it was really annoying. Myohan wasn’t tired. The game wasn’t enough to tire him. Moving around in a small square was simple. Still, he needed a breakthrough. Myohan sighed and backed off.

He wondered for a second if he should step on the line and lose the game, but he knew Yuja would murder him for it.

“Catch!”

It was good that Seonhan was speedy but not powerful. As Myohan had no other choice, he crouched in front of the strikers and then jumped up right on time.

“Yes!”

“O Myohan, go!”

The ball landed right into his hands. The boy who was supposed to take it looked at him with wide eyes. As Myohan had been avoiding the ball, he hadn’t thought to try to catch it.

Myohan stood in front of the line with the ball, hearing the loud cheers. He thought it was weird that he was the only one being attacked. As there were no throwing mistakes and now the defender had blocked and gotten the ball, running around wasn’t going to end it. He should have done it much earlier.

“Hey, catch!” Myohan yelled, looking at a boy in the middle. There were a few decent throwers in his class as well, but none of them were good enough to hit Seonhan. He could see Seonhan smiling and getting ready, thinking to do what Myohan had just done.

“Pass!”

Sinsul yelled at the top of his voice. Myohan bent his arm as if he was about to throw high, but then he looked at Seonhan and dropped the arm. And then, he threw it under. It wasn’t hard to throw it in the right direction. It flew in a straight line and hit Seonhan’s thigh.

“Wow, shit.”

Myohan could hear Myo Cheong half-aweing and half-moaning. O Shin covered his mouth to laugh. Seonhan, whose hands were still high in the air to catch the ball, couldn’t understand what had just happened. The ball rolled and stopped at Myohan’s feet.

He wiped off the sweat on his forehead and smiled, feeling quite good.

“We won.”

His classmates came running. It was only a practice match, but they looked like they had just won a cup or something. Well, it had been intense enough for other classes to come and watch.

And then there was that bet about ice cream. Snacks were always more than enough to make high school boys move, they were always hungry. Jagyeom went away, shaking his head and saying Myohan did enjoy attention, and Myohan pushed his classmates away as they tried to cling onto him. If there was one thing he hated more than being tired, it was being hot.

When he made his way out of the crowd, he saw O Shin standing with his hands in his pocket. He looked like a tall model. Myo Cheong and Jino were standing a little far behind him. O Shin said playfully, “You lying cat.”

“No, that was a fair sport technique.”

Yes, he did say that with a straight face. Anyone who heard only that would have thought he had done his best to win. O Shin put Myohan’s sweaty bangs back and glanced back.

Myo Cheong was urging to leave, but Jino wouldn’t move, his twinkling eyes looking at Myohan. He waved a hand to him and said hi, but it only made him run after Myo Cheong.

“But,”

O Shin spoke while Myohan was still looking at Jino’s back. He seemed quite sad, like a horse returning to its stable after a race. O Shin put a hand on Myohan’s shoulder.

“You won’t be able to win a race by fooling others.”

He had won dodgeball, even though it had been only a practice run. O Shin’s black eyes were asking a question. What are you going to do about the relay race?

“I don’t know.”

Myohan pulled his hair back with a smile. Funnily enough, looking at Choi Jino’s back had given him confidence. He walked for some time without talking, but then he laughed out loud to hear O Shin’s next question.

“Do you know why they put blinkers on horses?”

Yes, he was thinking what Myohan was thinking.