The Cat hides its Claws

“What are you doing?”

Myohan went through the calendar in a frenzy. December, November, October, September. And then to March. He laughed.

“The day Chandeul became a pig.”

His finger pointed at a smaller number written right next to Dec. 16th; Nov. 3rd.

“The day Jino transformed.”

Apr. 31st written next to Jun. 22nd.

“When we were on the school trip.”

September 16th to the 18th. And on the next square, what was written next to Sep. 19th was Aug. 1st.

‘This is the last day of July, something unexpected might happen.’

Myohan had dismissed it as nonsense as it had been October, but just then… He asked to be sure.

“What month is this?”

December. That was what most people would answer when asked that question. But O Shin didn’t. He grinned, glanced at the cat, and said,

“It’s November.”

All the pieces fell into place. What O Shin had said about him being the lucky cat, and about time wasn’t the only thing the god had given out as a gift. Time wasn’t the only thing the twelve zodiac animals had. The sun and the moon. It must have been what Jagyeom tried to say when they were talking about Ja Time. And right then, it was the 11th month of the Lunar Calendar year.

“…The Month of the Rat.”

It was the Ja Month, in which Jagyeom didn’t become a rat.

“Ha…”

It all had been a coincidence. It wasn’t the 5th month when he caught Jino, and he had been able to catch Yuja only a day before the Month of the Rooster started.

And the Month of the Snake had been so near when he got Sajun. He fell on the sofa. O Shin went to him.

“You look like you’ve realized something, so let me make you a proposal.”

“What?”

He caressed Myohan’s cheek, his hand so careful as if it were touching something delicate. It went up to his neck, and then to his ear.

“I’ll tell you who the monkey is.”

Myohan’s eyes widened. The cat rubbed on its face with a paw. O Shin continued with a faint smile.

“So find me the dragon while I’m gone.”

***

The snow wouldn’t stop, even after it filled the entire school yard. Sajun was absent due to sickness, but his friends all knew he wasn’t sick at all.

“Let’s go to Sajun’s today!”

“Sinsul, have you finished making your wrong answer notes?”

“Hey, we don’t know what Myohan will have to suffer if we take him to that pervert’s place.”

“We should be worrying about Sajun being killed by Myohan after he does his thing.”

“I’m with Jagyeom on that.”

“But Cheong, isn’t he sick?”

“…You really bought that?”

Myohan was again wearing layers of clothes. He pulled his scarf to right under his eyes. He placed a hand on his forehead, but his glove was too thick and he couldn’t feel his temperature. He looked down at his hands and feet, and then he told his friends.

“I think I’ll pass.”

“Why?”

Sinsul asked with a sad face. Myohan frowned and pointed at two boys far away.

“I have something to do.”

O Shin was gone when he woke up in the morning. He didn’t show up while he got ready and went to school, and he wasn’t at school either. He was nowhere to be seen after school was over. The wind was too cold and Myohan crouched down as he walked. The snow on the ground was going to freeze and turn slippery in a few days, which he didn’t like as he hated falling.

The two boys he had pointed at were Sadeol and Seonhan. They were having a snowball fight, and they were both happy to see Myohan.

“Hi, Myohan!”

“What’s up?!”

They probably couldn’t feel the cold as their hands were bare and red. As Myohan was extremely weak to cold, he couldn’t even imagine doing that.

“We should have a talk.”

“Of course, I’m always willing to have a talk with my friends!”

“No.”

Sadeol got up, but Myohan took a hand out of his pocket and pointed at Seonhan. He pointed at himself with wide eyes.

“Me?”

School was already over, and they weren’t close enough to go to a café together. Myohan had no choice but to take him to the bridge behind school, where he had found his cat. It was a good place with no one to hear them. Of course, it was quite cold there.

“Why do you want to talk to me?”

“Nothing much.”

Myohan wasn’t feeling that good. He kept shuddering and he got to think he’d better go to a warm place and get some rest. He covered his ears with both hands and frowned. His ears felt like they were about to fall out from the cold.

“You know, don’t you? About what I am.”

“Huh?”

Seonhan looked at him with a smile. Myohan still had a bad feeling about being with him, but he tried to ignore it and sound confident.

“Don’t play fool with me. I know that you know.”

‘Well, isn’t that a nice offer?’

O Shin had asked about it the night before. He would tell him who the monkey was if he agreed to find the dragon while he was gone. Although he didn’t say more; Myohan knew he would disappear again after giving him the information, only to come back a few days later and say he had been sick. Still, he looked fine as he made the offer.

‘You have nothing to lose.’

“Heh, what makes you think so?”

“You’ve been interested in me ever since you saw me.”

Myohan wanted to laugh, but he managed not to. Between O Shin’s serious eyes and the cat watching them and waving its tail, he had to make a choice.

“There can be only one reason for that.”

Seonhan smiled. Myohan didn’t like that smile. He pulled down his scarf a little and breathed. Frosty breath came out from his mouth.

“Wow, Myohan, you’re really smart.”

I knew it. Myohan swallowed a sigh and looked away.

‘No, I don’t like that offer.’

O Shin looked surprised for a second to hear that. The cat lost all interest in their conversation and walked away. Myohan gently grabbed his hand, grinned, and kissed him.

‘It’s a genuine offer, but I don’t like it.’

O Shin’s black eyes were full of questions. Why? Why? Still grinning, Myohan whispered to him.

‘I’m sure I can get both of you.’

“How did you know? That I know what you are?”

“I just did.”

At first, it was just a feeling of unrest. Interest and curiosity toward him, with shining but somehow ominous eyes. When had he felt that before? On whom had he felt it before?

“With my gut.”

He had felt that instinctive unpleasant feeling before; in April full of cherry blossom flowers, while he was cleaning the library. Snake-like beady eyes that looked at Myohan from across the window. What Myohan felt as he looked at Seonhan was similar to what he felt when Sajun tried to flirt with him.

“You should give part of that gut feeling to Sadeol. He thinks you’re a panther!”

Myohan really didn’t want to acknowledge that feeling. That was why he put it deep under his mind and didn’t take it out. At the time, he was really being stressed by Sajun, and he was sure Seonhan’s curiosity was as big as Sajun’s, if not bigger. Even then, as he was approaching Myohan, his eyes were shining way too much.

‘What? Panther?’

Myohan scowled as he thought of the too-naive Sadeol. He told him he wasn’t a tiger, and he ended up thinking he was a panther? Idiot. Myohan asked with a frown,

“Does he know what you are?”

“Huh? No, he’s an idiot, he doesn’t know.”

“Really?”

Myohan smiled. Seonhan gaped to see that pretty smile, but then Myohan took a step forward and grabbed his arm.

“He doesn’t know what you are?”

He asked again, his smile still on his face. Seonhan couldn’t take his eyes off that smile, on the face blushing in the cold. Myohan’s twinkling eyes dazed him.

“Yeah, I’m telling you. But Myohan, you’re really…”

“What are you?”

What? Seonhan stopped and frowned. Myohan liked that his grin disappeared. He narrowed his eyes.

“What are you?”

He was angry, although only a little. O Shin had said he believed that he would never forget such sadness, but he was eventually feeling nervous. He said cats actually got lonely often, but that didn’t stop him from saying he would leave Myohan again.

“Answer me. What are you?”

That was why he had said no. He didn’t want to know what would happen if he failed to find all the twelve in time, because it wouldn’t matter if he succeeded. He was sure he could succeed.