The Cat hides its Claws

“And now, class presidents, please come up!”

Yuja cursed under his breath and he didn’t try to hide his detest as he went up the stage. The host made them introduce themselves and demanded that they entertain their audience, but Yuja just stood there with crossed arms and did nothing. He was persistent that way.

Sin Seonhan won another award, the Greatest Star of The Night. He came up with what he had worn for the talent show, did everything he hadn’t had time to do earlier, and went down only after making the host himself laugh.

He looked so confident, like he was walking down a red carpet.

“Of course, he’s Sinsul’s friend.”

Myohan couldn’t agree more with Yuja’s comment. He’d been wondering how Seonhan could be so bold, but it turned out he was just like Sinsul. Sinsul couldn’t even guess what they were talking about and was having the most fun, sitting in front.

“This time, the most good-looking fellow of each class! But not the class presidents again!”

Seonhan jumped to his feet and then sat down again after hearing what the host added. He got lots of boos, but he didn’t care.

“Who will go out?”

“Myohan?”

Yuja raised his glasses and pointed at Myohan, making his face harden immediately. Their classmates started to say, ‘Yes, O Myohan would,’ but then they saw the deadly look on his face and turned, saying, ‘…never go up, of course.’

“Oh, you came up first! What’s your name?”

“Kim Sajun.”

Look at him, he went up himself! They heard a familiar voice. It was Myo Cheong’s. Jino was not far away, desperately trying to get him to lower his voice.

“Hey, it’s time to use our secret weapon.”

Jino, who was pushed up to the stage by Myo Cheong, and Miho, who didn’t really want to be there. Yuja looked at them all and grinned.

“Oh, look! This one’s really good-looking!”

Soon someone went up the stage from Class 1. Myohan managed not to laugh at the host, but then someone yelled, “Class 1’s Snow White!” and he had to cover his mouth.

“What’s your name?”

It was O Shin. He looked like his mouth was full of shit. Yuja told him to be the handsome guy as he had done the princess without a problem, and no one dared to stop him. He eyed Myohan, looking troubled, but he immediately got up when Myohan told him to hurry. He did warn Myohan, ‘You’ll pay for this later, cat.’ But Myohan wasn’t scared at all.

“I am…”

And to their surprise, he won the round without doing anything at all. He just dryly said one sentence.

“Class 1’s Snow White.”

“Way to go, Princess,” Jagyeom said that when he ran into him on their way to their rooms. Miho, who was hiding quietly behind him, looked at O Shin with admiration. O Shin looked really, really displeased about it, but he said nothing to them. He just pushed Myohan’s head as he snickered.

“What? You should have called yourself a self-made princess.”

“You should be grateful that I didn’t call for my prince.”

Still, ‘Class 1’s Snow White’ thing had been too funny, especially since he said it seriously as if he were reading a book out loud. Myohan had to grab his belly again when he recalled how much it had confused the host. Really, he felt like he had laughed a month’s worth of laughs in just one day.

On their way, boys kept making comments when they saw them. (“Cheong, look. It’s Snow White.” “Shit, that’s disgusting. Shut up.” “It was nice to see you again, Snow White.”) So by the time they got to their room, O Shin looked really angry, more so he knew it was something to be embarrassed about and couldn’t scold them for it.

“Oh, Snow White!”

That’s why he didn’t hesitate to throw a bag of chips in Sinsul’s face when he opened the door. He had gotten it as a prize for winning the handsome guy round. Sinsul easily caught it, but he complained.

“Why are you mad at only me?”

“You did it last, and that makes you the worst.”

Yuja tutted and took the chips from Sinsul. And then he threw it back to O Shin.

“It isn’t right for a princess to throw food like that.”

Ha! Myohan laughed again. O Shin still looked irritated, but now even that was funny.

Thankfully, the Snow White thing ended there. They all instinctively knew saying one more word could actually get them killed. They took turns taking showers and spread out their blankets, but then Sinsul started to pull Myohan’s duvet again.

“Don’t go to sleep, let’s play!”

“Play what?”

Myohan just let him take the duvet and got another one. He wrapped himself in it so that it wouldn’t be taken from him again. O Shin poked him and called him a sausage roll, but he couldn’t feel anything because of the thick duvet.

Sinsul thought for a long time and suggested card game and soccer (yes, he really had brought his ball), but Myohan said no to both. Eventually, Yuja, who was reading again, told him to be quiet. He got to his feet and looked like he was ready to run out, so Myohan warned him.

“Don’t you dare bring the kids again.”

“…But why?”

Sinsul almost looked like he was about to cry. You are so predictable. Thinking so, Myohan snorted and turned.

“Just think about it!”

However, Sinsul just wouldn’t get tired. He rolled Myohan on the floor to make him look at him.

“It’s the second night of our trip!”

“You said the first night was important yesterday.”

“We should gather around and hear ghost stories!”

“There’s no such thing as ghosts.”

“We should have snacks!”

“They all belong to the princess.”

“And we should drink soda!”

“Go to someone else’s room and do it.”

“But I like our room!”

“Then keep our room’s rules.”

“But I want to play!”

“Oh, whatever.”

Myohan put out an arm and pushed Sinsul’s face away. He didn’t like being too close to it. At the same time, O Shin rolled him again to make it so that he would only look at him. Myohan just closed his eyes.

“Myohan…”

Sinsul called him again when he was almost asleep. O Shin, who was stroking his still little wet hair, glanced at him. He tried to speak carefully.

“Wouldn’t this be Miho’s first time being on a trip with friends?”

Myohan blinked. Yuja also put down his book and listened to Sinsul. Myohan looked at O Shin’s eyes and replied, “Well, I don’t know.”

“And he must have some uncomfortable boys in his room….”

“He’s got Jagyeom.”

“But…”

O Shin smiled, although none of them knew what it meant. Myohan frowned to see his lips curl up.

“He needs to get closer to his own classmates.”

“What kind of person is he?” Yuja asked as he took off his glasses. He tried cleaning them with his sleeve.

“There are really bad rumors about him. I don’t believe them, of course, but I know at least he did beat up someone lately. You got hit the other day because of him, didn’t you?”

Myohan moaned and wondered what to say. He freed himself from his duvet and got up. He frowned and ruffled his hair angrily. O Shin just shrugged and turned. A heavy sigh came out between Myohan’s lips.

“…Just Miho only.”

“Okay!”

Sinsul immediately ran out, but of course he wasn’t going to bring just Miho only. He was definitely going to bring all the five. The cat and his empathy. O Shin muttered so, but only Myohan heard him. He looked at Yuja and explained.

“His parents are gone, and he just lost his sister too.”

“So you feel for him?”

“No.”

He looked like he meant it. Yuja frowned, a bit confused.

“It just bothers me.”

Then he lay down again, covering himself with the duvet. Feel for him? No way. He muttered, and Yuja laughed. Then he put his book back into his bag. Yuja lightly kicked him, and said coldly, “You’re worried about him.”

That was why he hadn’t believed Myohan was worried about him. O Myohan he knew wasn’t someone who worried about others, and even if he ever did, he would never realize that was worrying.

Yuja scratched his back and went into the bathroom, telling them to at least put the duvets away before the boys came.