The Cat hides its Claws

“You’re not coming?”

“I am.”

O Shin, who had been watching it all with crossed arms, said so as if it was nothing wrong. Myohan looked at him with confusion. He thought he would be mad at him and call him a reckless cat, but to his surprise, he followed them without saying a word.

“Shit, we should have knocked out at least three of his teeth!”

“Cheong, please calm down.”

“He’s so different from our class president.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he gets punished for this.”

“…Is your family really that rich?”

The boys got noisy in no time, making Myohan miss O Shin looking at the bully for the last time, his eyes gleaming coldly. Dark clouds were rolling over.

***

The bully got sentenced to 10 hours of volunteer work, thanks to the trust Myohan had built at school, Jagyeom’s testimony, and Sajun’s influence. The punishment was too light compared to what he had done to Miho, but Myohan thought that wasn’t a bad price for one punch.

But he didn’t come back to school. As he had pretended to be a nice student, his homeroom teacher wanted to deny his act of violence, but he continued to refuse to go to school, and the teacher had to give up eventually.

Myohan, Miho, and the bully finished talking and came out from the teachers’ office, but Jagyeom stayed a lot longer.

They couldn’t possibly know what he and the teacher talked about, but when the teacher came out later, she patted Miho’s shoulder and said, “Miho, please know that I’ll always be here for you. For all of you.’

When Miho looked at Jagyeom, he looked kind of embarrassed.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Hmm. Myohan nodded. He was sitting on the taps with a popsicle bar in his mouth. He then lightly jumped down. O Shin brushed the dust off his pants for him. Miho just looked at him.

“So, he stopped bullying you after that?”

“Oh, he…”

Miho seemed to think about it. A day after Myohan and his boys got revenge on him, he came to school with his body full of big and small wounds. One of his legs was in a cast. He looked really tired, and he was startled and left the room the moment Miho’s eyes met his. After that, he wouldn’t even look at Miho.

“I heard he fell on slippery road, it rained a lot that day.”

“But then why is he avoiding you?”

Myohan frowned and narrowed his eyes. He did give his final warning that day, but the bully had looked like he wasn’t going to stop bullying Miho at all. He had been terrified, but that couldn’t last long as he was supposed to forget all about it and resume his usual act.

“Well,”

O Shin put a hand on Myohan’s shoulder. Myohan got a huge bruise on his face after that and had to get around with a mask. Of course, now the bruise was nearly gone.

“I guess he had a change of heart.”

“….All for the better.”

Myohan gave him a suspicious look, but then he grinned. Whatever, it was all for the better. Miho looked away and scratched his cheek. Then he muttered, “Thank you.”

Instead of an answer, a hand gently stroked his hair. Myohan whispered to him.

“Let me tell you something good.”

Miho’s eyes widened. Myohan made him come closer and put his lips right on his ear. O Shin crossed his arms, but he didn’t try to stop it.

“Listen carefully.”

Myohan covered his mouth with a hand and whispered to Miho, slowly but clearly. Miho looked shocked. Myohan stroked his hair again. And then, he playfully bumped his shoulder and winked.

“Bye.”

Miho didn’t stop him. He just watched him blankly as he went away. O Shin, who followed Myohan, put an arm around his shoulders. He asked with a sweet voice, “Why did you tell him?”

“Because I trust what you said.”

The pair of light-colored eyes looked at O Shin. He just smiled.

“You said I would get the sheep.”

But I wish I didn’t. Myohan swallowed what he really wanted to say and stretched his back. October was near and it wasn’t so hot as before. Autumn was about to come.

And, Miho was absent from school for exactly one week.

***

“How could he not even blink an eye?”

“Tell me about it. He hasn’t changed at all.”

Miho could smell incense. He hadn’t slept for days and his eyes were so dry. Everyone around him was muttering, so his head kept buzzing and spinning. He blinked and looked up at the photo in front of him. The woman in it was looking back at him with a bright smile. Was it a dream?

“I heard….. Maybe that’s true.”

He clenched and unclenched a hand. It felt so real. When he clenched it into a tight fist, he could feel the stinging pain in his palm.

“I feel so sorry for him.”

It wasn’t a dream. The people all dressed in black, the room full of incense, and his sister surrounded by white flowers. Everyone looked at Miho with pity. His dry throat felt like it was sticking to itself and shrinking.

He could hear some of them tutting. Every sound came divided in pieces.

So young, so poor, no relatives, and nothing left, at least when his parents died.

“He doesn’t feel anything.”

He didn’t even look down. He just knelt there like a statue. He greeted the guests, returned their bows, and sat down again, just like how he had been taught. Sometimes the guests spoke to him, but he wouldn’t say a word. He knew how it looked to others by hearing what they said.

“How is he going to live on?”

“I wouldn’t worry, he’s inherited enough money.”

“Isn’t there a single person who would take him in?”

“Well, why don’t you do it?”

“Don’t say that. How am I supposed to live with him?”

He didn’t have to hear more to know what would come next. The man shook his head and covered his mouth to say, “He scares me too much.”

Miho just blinked. He felt nothing. He only had one thought. Yeah, that’s right.

The funeral proceeded quickly. Miho had half expected the death to come, and the company took care of every procedure. He just wore what had been prepared for him, signed some documents, and waited. He just waited for all of it to end with weary eyes. He couldn’t get even a wink of sleep.

‘Oh, Miho, what should I do?’

That was what his sister used to say all the time. Her disease only got worse, but she smiled as if it had been all fine in front of him. However, when he fell asleep, she stroked his hair and muttered with worries.

‘What should I do…’

They both knew her life of fire had been dying. She found the treatments too painful, and they weren’t effective at all. When he wasn’t around, she wished to die. She was losing the will to live.

Miho was feeling no different. He paid his sister’s bills, took care of her, and missed school. He was so sick of it all. He dreamed of her dying every night, and when he became alone, no one was left with him. No, he wished no one would be with him.

‘I don’t have any parents either.’

When he saw the ball flying in his direction, he wished the blow would kill him. He didn’t have time to duck, but he didn’t have any energy to avoid it either. That was why he felt like someone was roughly pulling him away from the edge of death when Myohan stretched out a hand. Of course he knew he couldn’t die by being hit by a ball.

‘I’m his friend.’

Humans are simple animals. It is natural for us to chase hope when we see it and hope for more. The moment of looking into those shining eyes and wanting was thrilling, but it was also painful.

No one was in the charnel house. It was a weekday and lunchtime, so except for the worker at the door, only Miho was there. He put out a hand slowly and it was met by hard glass. She was still smiling brightly. A flower and a nameplate. In that small urn was the woman who had taken care of him for years.