The Cat hides its Claws

“Well, it’s all superstition…”

“But you said your grandmother was a mudang.”

“Apart from that, I don’t really like that kind of shamanism.”

Chandeul looked like he was sick of it, despite having claimed he had certain vibes. Sajun tried to explain it with logic.

“It’s similar to how the son of a fried chicken place family wouldn’t like fried chicken so much.”

“Grandmother Samsin is the deity who protects children. You know, kids don’t get hurt easily even when they fall from high places, until they’re 11. They say it’s all thanks to Grandmother Samsin’s protection. That’s why they give offerings to her until the child turns 11.”

“11…”

Myohan couldn’t recall when he had heard about it. He frowned, but then Jagyeom gave answer to his question. He moaned deeply and said,

“…That’s when I started changing into a rat.”

“Oh.”

Myohan could then remember what Jagyeom had said. He had started changing into a rat around his 11th birthday.

“Oh, right. I didn’t transform even when I was a baby, even if I cried.”

“I was 11? 12? When I first became a snake. My family took a trip to Sapporo, Japan. It snowed back then.”

“I first transformed when I lied about not peeing on my blanket.”

“…Jino, you peed on your blanket when you were 11?”

“Cheong, I really couldn’t help it.”

They all started to talk about it. The cat got up, rubbed its face on Myohan’s back, and left the living room. It went into one of the rooms. Myohan watched its tail as it went away, but then he realized something and looked at Yuja.

“You started as a chick?”

“…Yes.”

Jino’s eyes sparkled when he heard that. He must have been imagining a little chick with yellow fur, as he looked so happy. Of course, Myo Cheong slapped the back of his head and told him to snap out of it.

“Anyway, you’re not a child of Grandmother Samsin. I would have to know the date and time of your birth to find out more, but according to your fate, you should have died as a child.”

Chandeul hesitated as he spoke, but he got to the end of it. Myohan turned to look at O Shin. He had been looking at the back of Myohan’s head. He smiled, just like he always did when he met eyes with Myohan.

“Then what? Myohan’s a ghost?”

Yuja asked halfheartedly, and Chandeul quickly waved his hands, saying he couldn’t be a ghost as he was alive. He moaned and frowned, and then he came up with a different kind of possibility.

“Maybe it wasn’t Grandmother Samsin but another…”

“Another?”

That was the end. Chandeul rubbed on his belly with a troubled look, and then his stomach growled so loudly that everyone could hear it. Next second, Chandeul disappeared.

It was silent. In place of Chandeul there were his clothes and a little piggy. Now I wonder why he’s so small. Myohan thought so.

“Another what? I’m curious.”

“Let it go, pigs can’t talk.”

“Aagh!”

Sinsul pulled his hair, but there was no one to give him the answer. There was only a mini pig looking down in a pile of clothes.

The winter became colder really fast. After roping Chandeul in, the finals were right in front of them. Again, they studied at Myohan’g place. Myohan was able to get even better grades, thanks to Yuja’s teaching, but he folded his test papers without taking a proper look at them. They were full of circles, after all.

‘Even if I give you both the sun and the moon?’

He recalled the voice he had heard in his dream the night before. The sun and the moon were up in the sky. How could anyone give them to someone? O Shin asked, turning to where Myohan was looking.

“What are you looking at?”

“Nothing.”

He said so as he got up with his bag. There was nothing but clear sky where he had been gazing. O Shin got up with him.

They could feel the cold the moment they stepped out of the building. They had said it would be a warm winter, but apparently, the weather forecast was wrong again. It was below zero, and their clothes weren’t enough to keep them warm. Myohan looked up at the sky as his breath became a fog.

“Myohan, wait for me!”

They were about to cross the school yard and leave, but then Jagyeom called out to them. He was with all the current familiar faces, including Chandeul. Myohan had hoped it would be a quiet day, but it looked like it wasn’t going to be an exceptional day to his then crowded and noisy life. Myohan scowled, but he waited for them to get there. O Shin thought it was cute. The cat was too nice, after all.

“Shit, it’s really cold today. Let’s go.”

“Cheong, that’s my scarf.”

“…You can’t take your friend’s scarf.”

“It’s going to snow today, will you be okay?”

“Yeah, as long as it doesn’t touch my bare skin.”

Myo Cheong kept cussing, stomping and frowning. Around his neck was a grey scarf that probably belonged to Jino. Miho worriedly looked at Jino’s bare neck, so Myohan patted him and told him not to worry. He coughed again. Chandeul, who was eating a candy, tilted his head.

“Are you sick?”

“It’s just cold.”

Myohan had thought Jagyeom was the most quick-witted of the boys, but Chandeul was even better. He could feel his face heating up, so he pulled up his scarf to his mouth. O Shin placed a hand on his forehead.

“No fever, that’s good.”

Myohan had been feeling worse and worse since the day Chandeul got scared by O Shin. It was probably because he got out in the rain. It wasn’t as if a part of him was particularly wrong, but he knew he would get extremely sick if he wasn’t careful. That was why O Shin was making sure he wore more than enough clothes when heading to school. He was also checking his temperature regularly.

“I’ll take care of you if you get sick.”

Again, Sajun did his usual gig to Myohan, but he didn’t get the usual reaction. Myohan just blinked and smiled.

“Okay.”

He wondered if someone had ever taken care of him. He was always trying so hard because there was no one to take care of him, but maybe getting sick wasn’t that bad if he had someone.

“…I think he’s really, really sick.”

“Hey, are you okay? You haven’t gone mad, right?”

Of course, what he got in return made him kick Sajun’s thigh.

“Will you take care of me if I get sick?”

Myohan asked O Shin on their way home. Despite the weather, he was wearing only a thin coat over his school uniform. His dark eyes looked at Myohan. His clear, beady eyes had hopes.

“I will get sick and suffer instead of you.”

“Stop it! Are you filming a melodrama or something? Seriously, what is wrong with you?”

Myo Cheong angrily complained from behind. As the others couldn’t hear the conversation, they just asked themselves what he was talking about. Myohan could see O Shin scowl, so he had to swallow a laugh.

Snow started to fall when they arrived at Myohan’s home. Snowflakes fell one by one, but they didn’t get thicker. They just fluttered in the wind like cherry blossom flowers.

“Let’s have fried chicken delivered!”

“Do as you want.”

Myohan’s apartment had become a sort of base for them. They settled down in their favorite spots. Myohan went into his room to get changed. His cat tried to follow him, but he handed it to the shiny-eyed Jino.

The monkey and the dragon. Only two more to go, but he had so little time. The semester would be over in a week, and the year would end in ten days. He undid his necktie and frowned. There was an even bigger problem; that strange dream he kept having.

‘I am…’

The man sounded lonely as he talked to Myohan. He gently stroked his hair and said sadly.

‘Extremely lonely.’

When he woke up in the morning after having that dream, his cat and O Shin were always looking at him, O Shin looking quite annoyed.

When he went to the living room, trying to look fine, what he saw first was Myo Cheong and Sinsul kneeling down. He got close to see what it was about. Yuja was holding their test papers. His sharp eyes behind the glasses started to through those papers that had both circles and X’s. Myohan concluded the scene as ‘elementary school kids showing their report cards to their parents.’