The Cat hides its Claws - Chapter 94

“I should leave before dawn.”

The god stood up. Shihuang knew this was really the end.

“Thank you,” he looked up and said what he hadn’t said in all those years. “For everything.”

The god looked relieved to hear this. Shihuang closed his eyes and said what he had wanted to say for a long time, “I never thought of you as bad.”

He heard a laughter. The god’s white hair flew in the wind. Shihuang didn’t apologize. It was for the god, not for himself. He didn’t open his eyes, and O Shin said his final goodbye to him.

“I cared a lot about you as well, so I have no regrets. Therefore, I will let you go now.”

Shihuang couldn’t open his eyes for some time, as he couldn’t accept his friend’s departure. He could still remember everything, from the moment they first met to what had happened only a minutes ago.

He felt somewhat sad, but then he felt someone coming to him and opened his eyes slowly.

“I wondered where you were going so late in night.”

Moonlight sat on his smooth cheeks. Shihuang had always thought he was a person of sunlight, but he didn’t look that bad under moonlight either. His long eyelashes had even longer shadows. Myohan crouched down and shrugged.

“Well, I had my guess.”

Instead of asking how much he had heard, Shihuang pulled him close. Myohan let him and kissed him softly. Their lips parted only after a long and deep kiss.

Myohan whispered, “One is a god and the other is a dragon, but you’re both so clumsy in my eyes.”

Then they kissed again. Myohan kept caressing him as if he wanted to comfort him. From his cheek, to his ear, to his neck, and to his black hair. His hand moved softly like touching a small animal. The longer it lasted, the more he calmed down.

Just like that, with the sky full of stars and the moon brighter than ever, Shihuang let go of his old friend.

It was spring and the campus was full of flowers. New couples were all holding hands and smiling happily.

Myohan was sitting on a bench. He yawned and looked up at the sky. It was clear without a single cloud.

“Hey, can I have your number?”

He was wondering if he should go and find a place to sleep then someone spoke to him. When he looked, there was a tall man who was wearing a jacket that looked just like Myohan’s.

“No,” He said bluntly. Then he got up with a huge yawn. He stretched his arms and back. The man watched him do it and asked again with a grin.

“Why?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“But you’ll regret it.”

“I don’t think so.”

He still sounded cold, but the man wasn’t offended at all. He chuckled and threw an arm around Myohan’s shoulder.

“You were supposed to say you are in a relationship.”

The man was Shihuang. He and Myohan had come to the same university. Myohan got quite high grades, but Shihuang managed to do as good as him. Myohan wondered how he managed to do it as he had never studied in Korea’s educational system, but when he asked him about it, he just smiled.

“Who taught you that?”

He entered the university for one reason only. He wanted to be with Myohan.

After he became a human, they lived together in Myohan’s apartment. They were always together in the same house, same school, and in the same class. Shihuang didn’t want to leave his side, so they ended up going to the same university.

“Because so many are trying to get my cat.”

“You’re the only one who’s trying to get me.”

“Know thyself, don’t you know that quote?”

After O Shin left, Myohan worried about money for a while, but it turned out he didn’t have to. Shihuang told him it was him who had been sending his living expenses. Myohan was relieved to know he didn’t have to work and earn money.

“You’re the one who should learn from that quote.”

As they walked around the campus, almost everyone on their way looked at them, both men and women. Myohan thought they were looking at Shihuang, but Shihuang thought they were all looking at Myohan.

“Oh! The two jewels of this department!”

The student representative of their department spoke to them. He was nice to everyone and wasn’t easily offended. Myohan thought of him as ‘Sinsul who was good at studying’.

“You’re coming to the department meeting today, right?”

“No.”

He really liked Myohan and Shihuang. He was always saying that although each of them was good-looking, they looked even better as they were always together. He thought having two such good-looking men in his department was something to be really proud of, so he wanted them to participate in every meeting, but they never went to any meetings.

“Hey, you two are freshmen. Being an outsider is a bad way to start your college life.”

He tried threatening them, but Myohan just crossed his arms and snorted. When he looked at Shihuang, he was looking away, not caring at all.

“Hey, you can’t say things like that these days.”

“I was just saying! Shihuang, say something! You are coming, right?”

He was just like Sinsul in many ways, including moving on to Shihuang when convincing Myohan was impossible. But the problem was that neither of them knew that convincing Shihuang was even harder than convincing Myohan.

“No.”

“…I really hate you both, but I’m asking just to be polite. Why?”

The two looked at each other and chuckled, thinking of the other kids. Myohan took out his cellphone. It was buzzing and the name showed on it was ‘Yuja’. He explained with a smile.

“We have a high school reunion this evening.”

They had turned eighteen, and they were going to gather for the first time after graduation.

“Well, cheers!”

“Cheers!”

“Hey, don’t let Sinsul have his way.”

“Hey, Chandeul, do you think this gochujang is of that brand that bears your name?”

“…How am I supposed to know that?”

“Hey, shit, shut up and sit down.”

“Cheong, are you sure you can drink?”

“Sadeol! Let’s drink ’til one of us passes out!”

“Challenge accepted! You’re going down!”

“What are they talking about?”

“…You’d better not know, Miho.”

They were sitting in a bar. As there were fourteen of them, Yuja had made a reservation for a table big enough for all of them. They each got a pitcher of beer to celebrate reaching drinking age. Sinsul was already too excited about it. Myo Cheong frowned.

“Oh, I think it was better when he couldn’t drink.”

“Hey, I would drink in Sul Time then!”

Myohan smiled to see them all. It had been only a few months, but as they had met every day back in high school, that time had felt like quite a long time ago. He was glad to see them all again and smiled at Shihuang.

“You would have regretted your choice, right?”

“Well, I guess so.”

They had gathered again by a series of miracles. Myohan asked the god to let them forget everything and live normal lives, but it was in vain.

Seonhan was the only one who couldn’t remember until the end, but when the twelve of them told him the same story, he finally surrendered. Myohan thought he shouldn’t have made that wish as it didn’t work anyway.

“Well, as we are all now in the universities we wanted, I think we should have a toast.”

Jagyeom proposed, with huge beer glasses in both hands. Sinsul nodded hard. Sajun also raised his glass with a smile.

“I’d like a toast.”

“But shouldn’t someone say something for a toast?”

“It’s not like it’s a wedding, we don’t need that.”

But then, Shihuang raised his glass, his eyes shining playfully.

“We should toast for the person who’s achieved the most.”

Everyone looked at Yuja. He was now wearing contact lenses instead of his usual glasses, but he tried to raise his glasses out of habit. Sinsul jumped to his feet and yelled.

“For Yuja!”

“For Yuja!”

They had been admitted to universities all thanks to Yuja. As soon as he got back his memories, he started teaching them every day at Myohan’s place.

“Can we order more food?”

“Do as you want, piggy.”

“….I think being called a rat is better than being called a piggy.”

Of course, most of the boys hadn’t had a problem. Chookjae, Sajun, Seonhan, and Myohan had always gotten good grades, and Shihuang somehow managed to do it by himself. As Jagyeom got good grades in most subjects except for math and Miho could learn fast with Yuja’s help, it wasn’t hard for them as well. And Jino was going to be an athlete, so he was fine too.

“Wow, shit. Honestly, I never thought I’d come to college.”

“I was surprised to see Sadeol admitted.”

But the problem was Sinsul, Myo Cheong, Chandeul, and Sadeol. When they were taught something new, they forgot what they’d been taught the day before. Even after they understood a concept, they said they’d never heard it before when asked about it the next day. It was Yuja who didn’t give up on them and taught (brainwashed) them.

“All human beings have the ability to learn.”

“But Yuja, I wasn’t a human.”

“Yes, you were a dog.”

“Yes!”

“…You really want to admit it yourself?”

But in the end, they all got to their dream universities. Sinsul was put on a waiting list and had to wait in agony, but as many of the admitted students gave up their places to go to other universities, his turn eventually came and he got admitted at the last moment.

“So, what do you learn in medical school?”

“Oh, all of the books are in English.”

“Yuck!”

And as for Yuja, he went to a medical school as he had wanted. He went to the top medical school of the country, and as soon as it was announced, a huge placard with his name on it was put in their high school. Soon Chookjae, Sajun, and Seonhan’s names were put under it. Myohan was quite impressed to see it. He hadn’t thought Sajun and Seonhan would do so well.

“Jino, you can’t drink, right?”

“Yeah, tryouts for the national team is soon.”

Jino had failed to stay in good condition for tryouts for college teams, but he eventually managed to go to the college he wanted, with the help of Myo Cheong’s affectionate cussing.

“Drink a little. I can’t turn you into a rabbit anymore.”

“Hey, I’m asking only because it’s all in the past now, but what happened on that day?”

“Well, another toast!”

“Hey, don’t change the subject!”

“Cheong, it’s all for you!”

How Sajun had made Cheong turn into a rabbit was still a secret to him. He forgot Jino could lie now and kept drilling him, but he didn’t tell the truth.

The funny thing is, he just kept saying, ‘Cheong, I can’t tell you,’ instead of making a story. He didn’t turn into a horse anymore, but that hadn’t taken his innocence away.