The Cat hides its Claws

“Hey.”

Myohan felt a lot of pain in his neck. The voice that came out was too low and hoarse.

The man’s eyes widened as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Myohan stretched out a hand to grab him and he slowly got up.

“What did I tell you?”

He gulped hard. Every muscle of his was screaming, but he endured the pain and got up.

Thank god, I’ve transformed back, he thought.

“I’m terrible at coming up with names.”

The man held Myohan’s arm with a shaking hand. Myohan cleared his throat and looked up to meet eyes with him.

No way. No way. His black eyes said.

Myohan grinned. He winked as he combed back his sweat-slick hair.

“Hey, Jin.”

“….How?”

Myohan looked at him in contentment. He liked that crack in his expressionless face. Then he opened his mouth to say what his lover had been waiting for so long.

“Jin Shi Huang.”

He closed his eyes and buried his face in Myohan’s hand. Myohan placed his other hand in his soft hair and laughed.

“See?”

Their lips met. Shihuang kissed him repeatedly and hugged him tightly. He was grateful that Myohan had woken up and happy that he now knew who he was. He still loved him, even after all these years.

Feeling all that, Myohan said, “I told you I’d get them all.”

Boredom. Tedium. Ennui. No word was enough to describe the days. He had nothing he wanted to do, nothing he wanted to achieve, and nothing he wanted to have. He didn’t even know when he had been existing in that space and how he had been born.

The dragon just laid down in a coil and looked down at his own reflection on the lake. He had collected rain for years to make the glittering lake.

“It’s a wonderful lake.”

Then, he got a visitor. The man with long hair complimented the dragon’s lake and spoke to him softly.

“And you are even more wonderful.”

His camel head was mysterious; his deer antlers were beautiful; his snake-like neck was admirable, and his fish scales were like masterpieces. The man kept complimenting the dragon with awe. He didn’t sound like he was flattering the dragon, but it wasn’t enough to grab the dragon’s attention, either.

“You’re bored, having to live for all eternity, aren’t you?” The dragon was only interested in the man when he said that. “I am an immortal as well.”

The dragon’s black eyes looked at the man. The man removed his veil and smiled.

“I’ve been quite lonely.”

The moment the dragon saw his face, he could tell he was no mortal. Power, boredom, and strength that were very much like his own were in his face.

He’s not a human, he thought then the man offered a hand.

“Would you be my friend?”

It was quite an impulsive decision. The man was right; the dragon was extremely bored and every day he had to live was without any amusement, so he made a ridiculous demand, partly to mock that confident man.

“Only if you’ll make a human.”

The man’s eyes widened as the dragon’s loud voice made the land tremble. Then he smiled, his yellow eyes twinkling. He put a hand on the dragon’s tiger-like paw and looked up.

“Is that what you really want?”

He wasn’t waiting for an answer, and the dragon wasn’t thinking of giving him one. The man nodded to himself and smiled. The dragon tried to get up, not knowing what he was about to do then he felt himself becoming smaller.

His antlers and tail disappeared. His hands got smaller. His scales turned into skin. He widened his eyes, looking down at his palm then he saw his reflection on the lake. He turned to the man in shock.

“I am the god of five things.”

“God?”

“And you must be the dragon who controls the weather.”

With his black hair, black eyes, straight arms, and legs, he looked like a human. The moment he became a ‘man’ for the first time in his eternal life, the god made an offer.

“I will make you a human. But, in return, will you be my friend?”

The dragon didn’t hesitate to take the god’s hand.

“I will be your friend. I will give you everything I have, this lake and the forest.”

The god smiled contentedly to hear that. It was the moment the two immortals became friends.

***

The god had one condition. The dragon had to spend a century with him. Although he was a man only in shape at the moment, he promised to make him a real man after a hundred years. He hadn’t been lying when he said he was lonely.

The man also didn’t hate being the god’s friend. The god brought in subjects, one by one, and named them after his favorite animals: the rat, cow, tiger, rabbit, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. Watching them was the man’s only entertainment.

“I can’t see why you like them so much; they’re terrible at their jobs.”

In his eyes, the subjects were bad. They failed to do their work and were constantly scolded by the god. Even worse, they didn’t hesitate to speak ill of each other to stand out.

“They’re greedy, jealous, and selfish.”

In spite of all that, the god genuinely cared about them. He pointed out their flaws, but he couldn’t throw them away. He just yelled at them and confessed to the dragon how sad he was about it. It was his only way of dealing with his anger.

“Humans are beautiful because they’re flawed.”

“You don’t know what beauty is, then,” the man remarked.

The god asked, “But you want to become a human, too. Don’t you?”

The man looked into his yellow eyes. Then, he snorted and looked away. Pretending to be ignorant while knowing everything was the god’s favorite thing.

“I,” the dragon looked up at the clear sky. He hadn’t brought rain for a while, watching the subjects. He stretched his hand and looked at his own five fingers. “I was just bored with eternity.”

He was partly lying. He envied humans, as they lived limited lives and had relationships with each other. Still, he didn’t want to get their selfishness and ugliness. He looked bored again, and the god advised him.

“To understand humans, you must love one of them first.”

The god stopped going to visit a little after that. The dragon felt someone approaching his lake, so he hid. The god brought the boy who had dared to enter.

‘That boy can’t be different from the others.’ He thought and didn’t care.

But then…

“Jin Shi Huang, with the character ‘Jin’ for dragon.”

He looked into those sparkling eyes. They were light brown and sparkled beautifully in the sunlight. His soft cheek, his lively lips, and his not-matured-yet appearance: everything about the cat made him fall for him immediately.

“How is that?” Myohan smiled.

The man, who was now Jin Shihuang, stroked his hair, “It’s a name that sounds as if I should found a great nation.”

“So you like it? Good.”

Why the god loved humans and loved Myohan the most, and everything the dragon hadn’t been able to understand, then made perfect sense thanks to Myohan. The cat with mysterious eyes was in his heart from then on, and he couldn’t let him go, even though he knew the boy belonged to the god.

“The boy needs me,” O Shin often said.

At first, it had been curiosity. The god had always liked humans, but who was the boy he talked about with such affection in his eyes? Who was it that made the god always go to him, leaving all his subjects behind?

“I made you a human, and I let the child live on.”

It didn’t take long for that curiosity to become interest then affection then love. The boredom of the boy who had lived for only about a decade looked different even to the ancient dragon.

Everything he did out of his great indifference was charming, and it was marvelous to see how he always kept his promises, despite his hatred for bothersome things.

“I’m the only one who can do all that.”

O Shin realized Shihuang’s feelings in no time. But he trusted the dragon would never betray him, so he gave him careful warnings again and again.

“…I know.”

Shihuang also knew it. Although Myohan was called a half-animal, he was a human. It was within O Shin’s power to save human lives. As for himself, he was nothing more than a beast who couldn’t even stay in human form without the god’s help.

Those facts kept torturing his last bit of conscience.