Chapter 9

Myohan’s cat-like eyes were closed. His long eyelashes were of a light color, just like his hair. Was it because of his clear skin that showed his veins? His closed eyelids looked so thin. The man knew how the eyes underneath them glittered like gems. He traced Myohan’s face with his gaze, and then he stopped at the lips. The delicate lips quivered.

“I’m glad you’re alive.”

That was all the man could say, literally. He pressed his hoarse neck and smiled bitterly, just like he had done when he told Myohan about the twelve zodiac animals.

Down at the school yard, Sinsul was playing soccer with some friends. There was a student running along the running track around the field, another student eating chips on the stairs. One student was coming only now, and there was another leaving early, limping.

The man looked around to see all of it. Then he stood up, looking back.

“There you are.”

He was looking at the back door of the classroom. The boy who had been standing there without making a sound looked surprised, but only for a split second.

Narrow eyes, small pupils, and hissing sound. Sajun went inside and smiled.

“Nice…”

But he couldn’t finish his greetings. The man was standing in front of him in no time and looked down at him.

“They say what you say might bring your doom.”

Sajun couldn’t move at all because of the pressure he could feel. The man’s glistening, angry eyes made him forget how to breathe. He was clearly enraged. His eyes had rage and the will to kill.

But why was that? Sajun tried moistening his lips, but he couldn’t calm down.

After looking into each other’s eyes like that for some time, Myohan woke up. He looked at the two, still half asleep, but then he realized the visitor was Sajun and jumped to his feet. The heavy sound of his chair falling down let Sajun get away from the man. The man also took a step away from him.

“Why are you here?”

The moment Myohan yelled so, they could hear collective footsteps in the hallway. Students were coming back after having lunch. Sajun looked at Myohan, and then at the man, and he frowned. So that was what this was about.

“There will be no mercy the second time.”

The man warned in tiny voice so that Myohan wouldn’t be able to hear. He was standing in front of Myohan protectively, and his nametag read ‘O Shin’. That name really doesn’t match him, Sajun thought.

“You don’t look so childish, but your words are.”

Now that he knew what was going on, regaining his confidence was easy. He put up a sly smile and returned to his usual self.

However, what the man said right afterwards made him freeze once again.

“I’ll make snake wine with you.”

The man smiled softly, a lot like what Myohan had done before he kicked Sajun’s balls.

“After freezing you hard.”

The battle of gazes lasted for a long time, but Sajun left as soon as the students came back.

On the other hand, Myohan was angry to see Sajun again, and then he felt despair as he realized that he had to see ‘that bastard’ turn into a snake. Really, it was driving him crazy.

***

“Well, then.”

There were only but a few people in the library. It was located in a desolate place, and since the afterschool independent study sessions were banned for safety reasons, few students stayed at school after classes.

Except for the cat who was sentenced to cleaning punishment for playing with water at the taps, and the rat whose hobby was reading, although it didn’t match him at all, no one would go there.

“Let’s start the meeting for finding solutions.”

As usual, Jagyeom was reading alone in the library. Then Myohan came in to clean. Jagyeom looked up, wondering if it was already time for Myohan to start cleaning, but Myohan wasn’t alone.

He looked extremely bothered, and behind him stood an extremely familiar man. Jagyeom was surprised to see the familiar face wearing their school uniform, but the man just ignored his shock and sat down on his table.

“First, as about the snake…”

“Be quiet in the library,” Myohan warned as he grabbed a handful of books. Jagyeom glanced at them, getting a little afraid.

“We must find out how to capture him.”

“Oh, who removed this book’s cover?”

“Anyone have a good opinion?”

The man folded his hands on the desk. He was quite serious, but unfortunately, he was joined by no one.

“And why is the first book of this series is missing?”

Awkward silence fell. It looked like Myohan wasn’t going to talk to him at all. And as Jagyeom didn’t even know who the snake was, he had nothing to say. So he just gulped hard and decided to ask what he was curious about.

“Hey…”

The man looked at him. Jagyeom asked, looking at those calm, mysterious eyes.

“…You’re a high school student?”

It felt like Myohan glanced at their direction while organizing the books. But when Jagyeom looked at him, he was absorbed in his work. The man tutted.

“I was hoping for something more creative.”

Being asked that question once was enough. He didn’t forget to add so.

Idiots. Myohan gulped back a laugh and hid behind a bookshelf. He almost laughed out loud, hearing Jagyeom asking the same question he had asked earlier.

But what was even funnier than the question was the man frowning at it. Well, just as Myohan had said, school uniform didn’t match him.

He moved from a shelf to a shelf to see if all the books were in their right places, but then he stopped in front of the window he had broken a few days ago.

He touched its broken chink, and he looked out. But then…

“You.”

Sajun was on the other side again. He leaned on the window, just like he had when he provoking Myohan. He smiled and waved his hand.

“I knew you would look.”

Myohan grabbed the windowsill and glared at him. He was going to cross over again, if Sajun said anything wrong.

However, Sajun didn’t seem to be up to enraging him once more. He just kept his smile.

“I’ll wait at the bridge behind school.”

“What?”

“Come alone.”

Myohan wanted to ask what he could possibly mean by that, but then familiar presence hugged him front behind. Or, more accurately, put his hands on the windowsill with Myohan between them.

Myohan looked back to look up at his face.

“What?”

Their eyes met. The man looked somewhat irritated, but that faded away the moment they met their eyes. He studied Myohan’s face and spoke.

“…I heard talking.”

When Myohan looked at again, Sajun wasn’t their anymore. Myohan looked at the empty hallway of the other building, and then at the man’s hand on the windowsill.

Then he put a hand on it. He could feel the man flinch. Myohan said as he got away from his arms.

“I was talking to myself. Let’s go home.”

Myohan hadn’t meant to do as Sajun wanted. Not at all. To start with, he felt no need to go to see him, and he went, he wasn’t going to go alone.

“I’ve been waiting for you, cat.”

It was just simple whim. Simple change of mind that would have made the man sigh and say cats are extremely whimsical. That was all.

“What do you want?”

“I didn’t know you would really come alone.”

When Myohan arrived at the bridge after making an excuse about leaving something behind at school, Sajun was sitting at the end of it, looking at the river that flew beneath.

Sajun’s hair that flew in wind and the leaves that flowed away on the water made Myohan feel some kind of déjà vu. He frowned.

“I warned you. If you talk shit again, I’ll make sure you lose your masculinity forever.”

“Shit? As I’ve told you many times, I like cats.”

“Say what you have to say, then.”

Sajun smiled slyly and stood up. Myohan put down his bag so that he would be able to counterattack anytime. He followed Sajun’s every move with a frown. Sajun wanted to laugh to see how his tension was making his hair stand up.

“I told you, I am not going to blackmail you.”

“Get rid of that bullshit. What you’ve been doing till now is blackmailing.”

“I just wanted to ask…”

Myohan’s eyes turned fierce. His pupils narrowed, showing hostility. Sajun shrugged.

“Okay, I want to negotiate.”

“About what?”

“Let me kiss you, just once.”