The Cat hides its Claws

“Let me get ready.”

Jino said so, then he started to take off his clothes. Myohan didn’t know what he was doing, but then he explained he had only one school uniform. Transforming into a horse while wearing it would rip it apart.

“But why did he easily admit being the horse?”

A strip show in front of five men was embarrassing enough. It was too much for Jagyeom and he asked, looking away. The answer came from Myo Cheong.

“Because he’s a complete weirdo.”

“He’s a weirdo?”

Myohan couldn’t believe him. Jino, who was now wearing nothing but his underwear, nodded with a bright smile. Then he didn’t wait to take off his underwear. Myohan recalled what Sajun had said, about how horses were famous for their stamina and size, and he looked at Jino with a bit of curiosity, but he couldn’t see him naked as O Shin covered his eyes from behind. Sajun whistled at the same time.

“I-”

Jino opened his mouth. Myohan wriggled his way out of O Shin’s hands. He didn’t like being blinded.

“…don’t know what makes me transform.”

When Myohan could see again, what was in front of him was a horse. Jagyeom was surprised to see the brown, silky horse. Myohan looked at the crumpled school uniform on the floor, and then the horse, then he nodded.

“Just as I thought.”

“Shit, you weirdo.”

Myo Cheong stomped his feet. He started to explain, although quite reluctantly. Jino had been wanting to befriend Myohan for some time, but he hid Jino as he couldn’t trust Myohan and others, and he had been having a really hard time trying to stop him from talking to Myohan.

“You knew he couldn’t lie from the beginning, didn’t you?”

Fierce eyes looked at Myohan. He nodded. He had his guesses since Myo Cheong said with confidence that Choi Jino couldn’t lie. More accurately, he reacted too much to be called a lair rabbit. He had been lying about something, and Myohan only hadn’t been sure if it was about ‘not knowing what transformed Jino’ or ‘Jino not lying at all’.

“I told you being his friend wouldn’t work. Shit, I will soon get to tell you, ‘I told you so!'”

“But why did he want to be my friend?”

Myo Cheong looked back at him, looking like he really didn’t know why he was asking. Then he showed him the stuffed rabbit. Jino carried it and entrusted him with it.

“Choi Jino likes cute things.”

The horse who had been waving its tail this whole time, shined its eyes and put a hoof forward. O Shin grabbed Myohan’s shoulder and pulled him back. He was clearly not liking the horse’s twinkling eyes. Jagyeom glanced at the horse. Myohan frowned.

“Then, what he’s been trying to tell me is…”

“That you’re cute.”

That answer came with a sneer. Myohan thought of Jino’s twinkling eyes and how glad he had been to see him. Maybe he had been feeling what most people felt like when seeing pets. Myohan didn’t know how to feel about it. So, he just asked what he couldn’t understand the most.

“Why would he think I’m cute?”

“I told you, he’s a weirdo.”

Myo Cheong still sounded cold. Then he looked away and muttered, ‘You’re more…..than cute.’, but Myohan didn’t care. He just sighed and looked at the horse. Jino’s eyes were still sparkling.

Myo Cheong held his rein, but after the race ended, it had been freed. Myohan looked at O Shin’s hand on his shoulder, then at Sajun’s playful eyes. Then he said, “Let’s just say you won the bet.”

Jino jumped up high, but Myohan ignored him. Myo Cheong laughed at Jino, saying, ‘I told you so.’ Jagyeom also sighed about having two maniacs near him. Myohan had caught only four, but he was already feeling too exhausted.

The classroom was quiet. Only the sound of pens writing on paper was in the air. Even the old fans sounded too noisy. Yuja must have thought so, because he turned off the fans. Thanks to the air conditioner, they didn’t need the fans to stay cool. Myohan, who was wearing his school shirt and his gym suit over it, looked out the window. The sun was burning hot, and it was summer.

Someone angrily put down his pencil, making a thud. Yuja’s fierce eyes were immediately on him. It was Sinsul. He leafed through his schoolbook, then he fell on his desk, looking like he was about to die. He started to throw a huge tantrum.

“Soccer! I want to play soccer!”

“Byeon Sinsul will be cleaning the hallway today.”

Yuja had no mercy on him. He didn’t seem to pity Sinsul at all. While he wrote down Sinsul’s name on the blackboard, Chookjae patted Sinsul’s back. Sinsul twitched on the desk, and just before he was about to go back, breaktime began.

“Soccer, soccer, soccer, soccer!”

“Just study.”

Yuja put a stop to Sinsul’s rebellion again. He grabbed his books on the teacher’s table and took them back to his own desk. Finals were coming. Most classes had been replaced by independent study. The classroom was so quiet and full of tension because all the boys were studying for the finals. Once again, Sinsul had no one to play soccer with, so it was understandable that he was going out of his mind.

Myohan, who had been working on a math problem, placed his pen down and put his chin on a hand. Normally, he would have been sleeping soundly, but today, he was wide awake. He seemed to be thinking of something. Maybe he was studying for finals too, but not sleeping even during break time was just too strange for him.

“What are you thinking?”

The question came from O Shin who was looking at Myohan. He looked at what Myohan had scribbled on his book. Ja, Chook, In, Myo, Jin, Sa, O, Mi, Shin, Yu, Sul, Hae. Four of them had been covered with ‘x’, but Sul had been circled. Myohan blinked slowly and then replied, “About dogs.”

Sinsul, who was still waving his arms madly, jumped to his feet. He went to the back of the classroom and took out his soccer ball from his locker. His schoolmates wondered what he was about to do with it, but he just held it dearly, went back to his seat, and sat down again. He was really about to cry.

“Dogs like to play with balls,” O Shin said, his eyes still on Myohan. Yes, right? Myohan thought and narrowed his eyes.

“Let me play soccer!”

Myohan had started to wonder about him right after the sports competition. After catching four out of the twelve zodiac animals, rat, snake, rabbit, and horse, he couldn’t help but think of Sinsul. An idea came to his mind, and it kept spinning around in his head. It started when Jagyeom blurted out thoughtlessly.

‘I was thinking maybe with Myo Cheong, but Choi Jino is really the horse? Wow.’

When asked what he was talking about, he said,

‘Our names. Each of us has the Chinese character for the animal in the name.’

Why Myohan hadn’t realized it at first? Lee Jagyeom, Kim Sajun, Myo Cheong, Choi Jino. They each had a Chinese character for the animal in their name. Before he could blame himself for being too stupid to notice that simple rule, he thought of ‘Sul’, the letter for dog.

“Byeon Sinsul…”

As far as he knew, Sinsul was the only student in his school who had ‘Sul’ in his name. Thinking of him, both his appearance and his character did remind him of a dog.

It’s just that he had known Sinsul for more than a year now, and he hadn’t been able to doubt him.

As Sinsul had been pleading to play soccer since they were freshmen, Myohan hadn’t even thought of including him in his list of potential animals.

“Yeah? Why?”

Sinsul heard Myohan’s mutter and looked back. Myohan looked at him, and then offered him something he couldn’t refuse.

“Do you want to play soccer?”

“Yeah!”

Yuja looked at Myohan with great shock. Chookjae was also looking out the window to check if the sun had come up in the west today. But Sinsul was glad to hear it, so he quickly came to Myohan.

Myohan thought if the boy had a tail, it wouldn’t been shaking hard like a propeller.

“You’re playing soccer, right? You asked first! There’s no backing out, right?”

Should I say I will play soccer with him if lets me see him turn into a dog? No, if I say that, I might end up playing soccer with him every day. While Myohan was wondering what to do, Yuja made a cold comment.

“Hey, Myohan, if you have enough will to play soccer, teach him a thing or two.”

“Yuja, don’t ruin the fun!”

“Your marks are ruining our class, idiot.”

But after speaking so harshly, Yuja handed Sinsul his notes, telling him to memorize a certain part as it would most certainly be on the test. So, was he taking care of the boy or scolding him? It was hard to know.