The Cat hides its Claws

“Miho is always late for school. And he’s often absent.”

“So he has problems.”

“But Cheong, you often leave school early too.”

“Hey, that’s because I have to go to the hospital to have my leg treated!”

“But how do you know him?”

Jagyeom pretended he couldn’t hear Myo Cheong and Jino’s quarrel. He knew if he took account of all of them, he was never going to hear the rest of the story. Myohan frowned and said, “I saved him once from a soccer ball, and I ran into him at a hospital a few days ago.”

“Oh, is it him?” Sinsul asked. But Jagyeom was confused.

“What hospital?”

“Jino, I’ve been too nice to you these days, haven’t I?”

“Cheong, I was just telling the truth…”

“I had a cold and he was there to meet someone, so we ran into each other there.”

O Shin went a little away. He looked at Myo Cheong and Jino with pity and muttered they were about to be scolded.

“Stop making excuses!”

“Cheong, please calm down.”

Myo Cheong ended up grabbing Jino. Sajun went to them to stop Myo Cheong, and Sinsul jumped to his feet and yelled at them not to fight. Myohan raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, it’s just a rumor, but…”

“Hey, just calm down.”

“Jino!”

“Don’t fight!”

“They say his sister is sick…”

Bam!”

“….a lot.”

Jagyeom shut his mouth after that. Jino covered his mouth and hiccupped. Myo Cheong was surprised and his nose was trembling. Sajun and Sinsul also froze. Myohan gave all of them a cold gaze as he took his hand off the table.

“Shut up.”

He looked at Myo Cheong, and then Jino, and then the others. His lips curled up. Sinsul shuddered to see he was satisfied. Myohan relaxed only after it got deadly quiet.

“Keep talking.”

O Shin covered his mouth and laughed.

According to Jagyeom, Gu Miho was often absent, had almost no friends, and he didn’t think of fitting in at all. There were all kinds of rumors about him, like he had no parents and had been doing a lot of bad things since middle school because of it, and his sister was very sick and he tried hard to take good care of her. But that was all. Myohan found it hard to believe such gentle-looking boy could do bad things, so he decided to trust only half of those rumors. Jagyeom didn’t seem to be believe all of that, either.

The other boys stayed deadly quiet until Jagyeom and Myohan finished their conversation, but they got noisy again the second Myohan said, ‘Now you may have fun.’ They chatted, drank, ate, and rolled around, but Myohan just lay down on his sofa and didn’t move. Sinsul came and poke him once to make him join them, but he gave him a fierce gaze and he had to go away whimpering.

Anyway, that wasn’t much information. Myohan couldn’t just find the boy and tell him he knew he was the sheep. He had no solid proof. He thought it was going to be a little difficult.

He looked up the characteristics of a sheep on the Internet and tried to find out which of his schoolmates had ‘Mi’ in his name. Some days passed by while he was doing it. Sinsul and other boys came to visit a couple of times, but nothing important happened.

School started again soon, and he got to get his chance much sooner than he had expected.

“Hey, have you heard that?”

“What?”

“You know, Gu Miho of Class 5. He beat up one of his schoolmates and got suspended.”

“Wow… He’s a real bully.”

Myohan was walking down the hallway to find Jagyeom, and he could hear other boys muttering among themselves. Maybe the rumor was right and Miho had been doing bad things. Myohan thought of his eyes. Those clear eyes did lack energy, but they didn’t look like he was capable of beating up someone. He had looked like he would burst into tears any second, and Myohan just couldn’t forget it.

“Actually, the sheep is quite a fierce animal.”

O Shin made a remark. Myohan looked down at his arm that was on his shoulder now and just nodded. O Shin smiled and added, “Of course, it is normally quite gentle.”

“Gu Miho?” Jagyeom asked back in surprise, and it made all the boys in the classroom look at them. Some of them glared at them with anger. Jagyeom got afraid and looked away, but Myohan frowned and looked at them back. He just looked at their eyes without saying anything, and they just grumbled and looked away.

“He’s absent today.”

Myohan had planned to pretend to see Jagyeom and look at Miho, but his plan wasn’t going to work. Miho wasn’t at school. Jagyeom looked around and whispered to his ear.

“He got into a fight, but he got punished alone. Even I wouldn’t come to school after that.”

“But why did he fight?”

“Oh, um…”

Jagyeom looked a lot troubled. He looked around again and dragged Myohan out of the room. He closed the door behind him and whispered.

“Miho didn’t start it. The other boy said really bad things to him first, but all the other boys in our class took his side.”

Jagyeom said he couldn’t say what kind of insults he had heard. Myohan couldn’t guess what it was about and frowned. Soon the bell rang to announce the end of breaktime and he had to leave.

The semester had just started, and Miho already had gotten into a fight. Myohan recalled the boys looking at them angrily after hearing Miho’s name. So two boys got into a fight and the other boy started it, but their classmates didn’t help Miho…

“He’s being bullied.”

It was the only guess he could make. He couldn’t help thinking of how painful Miho had looked, sitting on the bleachers.

***

Patients were going around in gowns, caretakers were helping the patients, and nurses were rushing around in a hurry. Myohan looked around, and then he frowned. He recalled what O Shin had said just before he left home.

‘Reckless cat.’

A few days passed, and Miho was still not coming to school. Myohan worried he might be expelled for it, but there was an even more serious matter. Jagyeom kept saying he couldn’t tell him more with an awkward smile, and after some more visits to Class 5 to find Miho, Myohan became the common enemy of the class. It was so different from Myohan’s class, in which they were all nice to each other under Yuja’s charismatic command. Myohan sighed.

Anyway, so he went to the hospital where he had seen Miho and his sister. As O Shin had said, he was looking for them recklessly.

He was now on the floor for female patients, but he didn’t know where to go. To think about it, he knew nothing except for Gu Miho’s name.

“If she’s his sister, they must have the same family name.”

Myohan started by looking at nametags of all the patient rooms. Gu Miho’s sister’s name had to start with Gu. It was a simple guess. He looked at all 4-patient and 7-patient rooms, but none of them had a patient with the family name Gu. He decided to go and see 2-patient rooms and went to the elevator to go upstairs.

But when the elevator door opened with a ding, he saw a familiar face there. A white and hollow face.

“…Gu Miho?”

It was Miho.

He looked at Myohan with surprise. It was surprising that Myohan was there, and it was also surprising that he knew his name. Myohan got in the elevator. Miho was still looking at him with wide eyes.

“Are you visiting someone?”

His voice was always mild and quiet. It was hard to believe he had beaten up someone enough to get suspended. Myohan just nodded and asked him.

“What about you?”

“I’m…”

Miho looked down. He wondered if he should tell Myohan, but soon he said his sister was sick. Myohan just said what came first into his mind.

“You’re a good brother.”

Miho looked down. He looked like he was crying, but he there weren’t any tears. Which was better: the hollow face from earlier, or the gloomy face? Myohan really didn’t know.

It took a short time for the elevators to take them two floors up, but Myohan felt like it was a really long time. That was because Miho said nothing after his remark. Plus, Miho’s sad face made Myohan get some kind of strange emotion. His heart wavered.