The Cat hides its Claws

Sinsul was mad at Myohan for a few days. Myohan offered to help him prepare for the finals, but that didn’t work. There was only one thing he wanted, and that was soccer. Of course, Myohan couldn’t find out what made him transform into a dog. Eventually, he gave up, and now he was almost ignoring the dog-boy.

He was about to use his lunch time on studying again, but then Yuja called him.

“Hey, do something about him.”

Yes, Sinsul was mad, and he wouldn’t say a word.

“He keeps looking at you.”

He just kept staring at Myohan with his sad puppy eyes.

“He wouldn’t play with me.”

The bell rang to announce lunch time. Yuja looked at Sinsul. He had flopped over his desk after he heard Myohan’s cold reply. Yuja frowned and asked, “What have you done?”

He was sure Sinsul was the one who had done something wrong, but Sinsul didn’t say anything. He just looked up, thinking it wasn’t fair and pouted. He looked really, really sad. What had he done after following Myohan to get his help? Yuja sighed, and then he called Myohan again.

“Hey, just be nice to him this once, okay? I can’t endure his whining anymore.”

“I wasn’t whining!”

O Shin touched Myohan’s hand. Myohan, who was reading his schoolbook while shaking a pen with one hand, had no choice but to look up. Sinsul was now looking at him. He clearly wanted his attention, but when Myohan actually looked at him, he looked away. Then he started to glance at him. Myohan didn’t like to be bothered, but the dog-boy was somewhat cute, so he called him.

“Hey, Sinsul.”

It made him almost jump out of his chair, but he said nothing. Well, it didn’t matter. Myohan stretched his back and yawned. Chookjae poked Sinsul and told him to grab the chance, but he just huffed and looked away. Myohan called him again.

“Sinsul.”

He looked at Myohan only then. He was clearly thinking, ‘Maybe?’ Myohan smirked. Sinsul looked away again, muttering about being fooled. Myohan chuckled and called him again.

“Hey, dog.”

“Yes, I’m a dog, so don’t call me.”

There were only a few students in the classroom, but Myohan was too open about it. It was good that their classmates knew how they usually were and didn’t give any attention. Myohan could see he was really mad, so he stood up.

“Follow me out.”

“Yes, you should go out and have your butt kicked.”

Myohan sounded like he was picking a fight, but Yuja was glad to hear it. He even waved his hand at Sinsul, telling him to shoo off quickly.

O Shin was looking at Myohan now. He pressed Sinsul again.

“You’re really not coming?”

“Unless you play soccer with me…”

Myohan slowly walked to the back. Sinsul was surprised to hear a creaking sound and looked back. Myohan opened Sinsul’s locker and took out his ball. Sinsul immediately jumped to his feet.

His expression changed from depressed to excited in no time. O Shin laughed to see his shining eyes. Myohan walked as slowly as he could. Then he stood at the back door and looked back. Sinsul gulped hard.

“Let’s go.”

Of course, the dog-boy ran out. Yuja sighed and Chookjae shook his head. When Jagyeom came to get Myohan’s help with a math problem a few minutes later, he asked, “What the? Where’s Myohan?”

And O Shin replied, “Talking to the doggy.”

Well, he wasn’t completely wrong.

Sinsul ran around excitedly. Myohan wondered how the two of them were supposed to play soccer, but there were boys from Class 2 in the schoolyard. They didn’t seem to care about the finals, which were only a few days away. Even Jino, who was a pro runner, wasn’t running the tracks to study inside, but to these boys, soccer was way more important than exams.

Sinsul forgot all about Myohan and ran around with Sin Seonhan, trying to take the ball from him. Myohan yawned, thinking there was no need for him to come out with him after all.

It was already July, and the weather was hot. And since it was noon, it felt even hotter. Myohan started to stretch a little. He wasn’t going to play soccer every day, of course, but he thought just one day would be fine. That was why he had taken Sinsu outl. Leaving him alone to be mad for too long wasn’t good, and he was starting to get tired of ignoring his puppy gaze. Well, now he was making Sinsul feel much better without even running around with him, so it couldn’t have been better.

“Hey! Sinsul, where are you kicking at?”

Myohan was wondering if he should sit down on the bleachers or go back to his classroom, as the sun was scorching. He thought he just wanted to take a nap next to O Shin, but then someone yelled. He frowned and stood up. The ball came flying, but not to him. It went to right next to him.

“Hey, be careful!”

But there was an innocent student standing there. He was in his gym suit, and he was surprised to see the ball coming to him. He couldn’t dodge, nor could he block it. He just froze on the spot with wide eyes. The ball was about to hit him right in his face, so Myohan put a hand in front of him.

The ball hit his hand and bounced off. The boy came back to his senses and looked at him.

“Myohan!”

He could see Sinsul coming to him. He watched the ball as it rolled away, and then he looked at the boy who had been almost hit.

“You’re…”

He recognized him. He had been picking up trash at the bleachers during the sports competition. He was still in a daze, his eyes still wide, but then he was startled and jumped to his feet. He was looking at Myohan’s right hand which had blocked the ball for him. Sinsul came and asked, panting, “Are you alright?”

“You shouldn’t kick the ball in this direction just because I won’t play soccer with you.”

“I’m sorry…”

His hand felt quite sore, but Myohan just shook it and nodded. It did hurt, but not that much. It was good that his wrist hadn’t snapped. Myohan pitied Sinsul’s sad puppy eyes and told him he was okay. He soon came back to his usual self and asked the boy behind Myohan, “What about you? Are you alright?”

“Huh?” he asked back in surprise. He was really pale and looked sick. Myohan wondered if the heat was making him feel ill and waved a hand in front of his face. He soon nodded and managed to murmur, “…Thank you.”

“You’re okay. That’s good.”

His kind eyes looked at Myohan. He looked like he wasn’t capable of saying something bad. Myohan got a strange feeling and looked at his nametag, but his name had none of the twelve zodiac animals’ letters. He sighed. He’d been thinking about the twelve so much, and now he was linking an ordinary student to the matter.

He said nothing more. Sinsul noticed Myohan’s hand and whimpered. It was now red and swollen. Myohan frowned, but he put a hand on Sinsul’s shoulder.

“I’m fine, just go back to the game.”

He really looked like he wanted to. He hesitated, but Myohan told him to go again, and he ran back to the yard. Myohan decided to use the injury as an excuse to go inside, but the student stopped him.

“I will!”

Sinsul was already running around and kicking the ball. Myohan looked back, and the student murmured, “I will repay you for your help later.”

Myohan hadn’t done it to get something in return. He just thought it would be better to block the ball with his hand than to let the boy get hit in the face, and he wasn’t cold-blooded enough to not help when he could help. His hand hadn’t been hurt badly, and he had received his thank-you.

It wasn’t like they were going to see each other again. He opened his mouth to say it was fine, but when their eyes met, he said something completely different.

“…Okay.”

The boy nodded and said, ‘See you later.’ Myohan looked down at his right hand, and then he started to walk again. He had this strong feeling that he was going to see that boy again.