The Cat hides its Claws

“But how can you smell cat on Myohan? Just because he has a cat? That shouldn’t be possible.”

The lead at the tip of Jagyeom’s mechanical pencil broke with a small snap. O Shin got up again, clearly interested.

Sinsul looked down, biting his pen, and then he opened his mouth.

“Because I have a good sense of smell?”

No one bought that. No, only Jino nodded. Sinsul smiled sheepishly to see the other’s doubtful faces. Myo Cheong smacked innocent Jino’s head hard.

“What? Shit, that makes no sense?”

No one had a sense of smell good enough to smell someone’s pet kitten on him. Only some animals could do that. It was similar to Myo Cheong overhearing their conversation while standing outside the sickbay. Jagyeom tried saying Sinsul’s name a few times, and then he frowned. He had the best instincts among them, not counting Myohan.

“You’re the dog, aren’t you?”

Myohan’s senses had rubbed off on him, and after watching and learning from Myohan for some months, now he could put the two and two.

“That’s why Myohan brought you here.”

What should I do…. Myohan tapped on the table. He hadn’t excepted any of what was happening now.

Sinsul noticing their animal smell, and calling him ‘the dog’ before he could figure out what to do. But what surprised him the most was Sinsul who wasn’t shocked to be called ‘the dog’.

He pleadingly looked at O Shin, but he just shrugged. Sinsul glanced at Myohan and frowned sadly.

“I bought that you keep a horse! Shouldn’t you trust me in return? You are so merciless.”

“Then you didn’t think I had a horse?”

Jino asked with a gasp. He really looked shocked.

“But I believed every word you said?”

“Oh, please shut up.”

Myo Cheong finally covered Jino’s mouth. Jagyeom also sighed and shook his head. Choi Jino really was a weirdo.

Sinsul moaned and fell on the table. He looked up at Myohan as he hadn’t said a word so far. His expression was quite…complicated. He guessed Sinsul might be the dog, but he hadn’t known he would admit it so soon. One of the twelve zodiac animals had been right next to him all along. He had known the boy for more than a year now, so it just didn’t feel like real.

“I told you before, I’m a dog.”

Sinsul sounded quite calm. Myohan recalled what Sinsul had said.

‘Oh, will you just go away? You’re like a crazy dog!’

Myohan thought he was just too nice. He always smiled even when he was called a dog, so Myohan just concluded he didn’t mind curse words. Why hadn’t he noticed it before?

“Anyway, it would be much easier this way.”

Myohan tried to think so. Sinsul was the dog, and he knew what they were. All for the better.

“Help us find the twelve zodiac animals.”

“I can’t do that.”

Myohan narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what he meant by that. But Sinsul didn’t seem to be lying. He really couldn’t. When asked why, he tilted to one side and said, “Smells are not permanent.”

Then he tilted to the other side.

“A smell can be erased by a different smell. Or your asshole will always smell like shit.”

“Oh, shit. Did you have to use that as an example?”

Myo Cheong was disgusted by the dirty example. Sinsul smiled and said he was sorry. Then he pointed at Jino.

“I’ve seen him at school quite often, but I smelled horse on him for the first time a few days ago. And that smell has become a lot weaker.”

He counted the days and added, “It was… about… the next day after the sports competition?” Jino had transformed into a horse at Myohan’s home after the sports competition. Sinsul leaned toward Jagyeom and sniffed.

“You’re Lee Jagyeom, right? You now almost don’t smell like a rat.”

Myohan frowned. He could make only one deduction out of what Sinsul was saying. One had to transform into his animal form to smell like the animal, and that smell faded in time. Of course. Everyone got various smells in daily life. Of course, a smell couldn’t last forever. Sinsul scratched his chin.

“Plus, I can’t tell without something to compare to.”

“Something to compare to?” Jagyeom asked with wide eyes. O Shin, who was now sitting properly on the sofa, explained.

“For instance, if he has never seen a tiger, he can’t know if what he’s smelling is a tiger, even if it is.”

“Exactly!”

Sinsul clapped loudly at the right answer. It made Myohan wonder if it was really something to be glad about, but he didn’t ask out loud.

“And I’ve never been to a zoo. I didn’t want to be tortured by all those smells.”

That wasn’t good. It meant he couldn’t recognize any animal that was seen easily in their city. Jino asked, a little confused, “Then how do you know a horse’s smell?”

“We did horseback riding during that field trip last year. Myohan, you weren’t there because you were sick.”

Myohan thought about it and then nodded. They had gone on a field trip last year. Sinsul must have learned horse smell while he did horseback riding. Then, Jagyeom asked, “Then what about the snake smell?”

“Oh, snakes sometimes show up at my grandmother’s house in the countryside!”

He smiled so innocently that it drained the energy out of Myohan. It was a lot harder and more complicated than he had expected.

He thought he would be able to find the remaining seven in no time if Sinsul helped, but it wasn’t going to be that easy. If Sinsul was saying the truth, he could only find animals who had transformed recently and he had to have experienced that smell before. For example, it would be just impossible for him to find the dragon. Myohan wondered if he should take him to the zoo or something.

“Then at least show me your dog form.”

“Oh, about that… I don’t want to.”

“….What?”

Sinsul pouted. Myohan frowned at the immediate refusal. Sinsul kept insisting, saying no, no, no. Then he jumped to his feet.

“If you want something from me, you must give something in return!”

“What do you want?”

Myohan didn’t like where this was going. He could recognize the sparkles in Sinsul’s eyes. He angrily closed his book as he could guess what he was about to hear. Sinsul grabbed his wrist and looked at him with shining eyes.

“Play soccer with me at lunch time, every day.”

O Shin looked at Myohan. He seemed to be wondering what his answer would be.

On the other hand, Jino tried imagining ‘Myohan playing soccer’ and excitedly smiled, for a very different reason. Myo Cheong scolded him a lot of ‘shit’, of course. Myohan slapped the hand away, organized the books, and then gave Sinsul his schoolbag.

“Byeon Sinsul, listen carefully.”

Sinsul nodded. He looked very excited about getting to play soccer every day, starting tomorrow. But what Myohan said next immediately made him frown sadly.

“Forget what happened here today.”

“….Why?”

Sinsul wailed in despair, but Myohan just ignored him. He looked at O Shin, who was trying really hard not to laugh, and then there was the confused Jagyeom who couldn’t understand what he was going. Then he turned his back on Sinsul.

“Well, let the emergency meeting begin.”

O Shin’s effort failed and he burst into laughter. Myohan could kiss a boy to capture the rabbit, but he couldn’t play soccer every day.

After Sinsul left whining a lot about soccer, Jagyeom, Myo Cheong, and Jino left as well. Sinsul tried to threaten them by saying if they made him leave now, he wouldn’t say a word to them until Myohan played soccer with him, but of course, no one cared.

After the four left, the large living room felt so empty. Myohan forced himself to take a shower, and then he lay down on the sofa and covered his eyes with one arm. O Shin came to him.

“Are you going to be alright?”

He sat down on the floor and looked at Myohan. He could see the sharp nose and red lips, but not the eyes. Myohan moaned faintly. That meant yes.

“Actually, I don’t have much thoughts.”

Really, he wasn’t getting any thoughts. He could make no guesses, and he had no will either. He even wondered if he was supposed to go after other animals first. The anxiety he felt earlier was now gone.

“Well, sometimes…”

Myohan thought O Shin would scold him for ‘not doing his best to help’, but he just stroked Myohan’s cheek. His warm hand made him feel much better.

“It is good to be without any thoughts.”

The hand went down to the lips. He traced his fingers on them, and then he kissed them. Instead of resisting, Myohan lowered his arms to look at him. He blinked.

“Cat is, the gift from God, after all.”

“Meow.”

The kitten was now on Myohan’s foot. It wrapped its tail around his ankle and glared at O Shin, but that didn’t stop him from kissing Myohan’s forehead. He frowned and looked at his lips. The red lips curved gently.

“Maybe we should let ‘Deus ex machina’ handle it.”

Myohan narrowed his eyes. He didn’t know what O Shin was talking about. His lips curled up and he muttered, “The snake’s in Germany, isn’t he?”

And, to Myohan’s knowledge, it had nothing to do with what they were currently discussing.