Chapter 22

Jino was leaving the tracks now, clearly tired. Myohan closed the window and asked, not interested at all, to Sajun, who was still rubbing his chin.

“Then what, you have double things?”

Male snakes had two pouch-shaped genitals, which they learned in science class.

Sajun’s pain didn’t last long enough and he went close to Myohan again, telling him he could check if he was curious. Myohan looked in between his legs.

“No, I smashed one the other day, so there must be only one remaining now.”

Sajun shuddered and stepped back, feeling somehow ashamed. The bored gaze seemed to be looking right through his pants.

“It wasn’t broken!”

Sajun tried to deny it, but of course, Myohan wasn’t listening.

“But…”

Jagyeom, who had been watching them, ventured to speak. Myohan, who was growling at Sajun, turned to him, feeling suddenly stupid.

“I don’t think this is going to ever work.”

Well, Myohan had to agree to it. They could keep watching Jino and come up with hypotheses, but that wasn’t progress. Jino just kept practicing, and they were just wasting time on theirs.

So what? Were they supposed to give up on Jino and go after another animal? But it was even less appealing.

Myohan’s gut feeling, which was scarcely wrong, was saying yes, and he needed to listen to his instincts.

He narrowed his eyes. What would O Shin would have done? He would have said, ‘Trust your gut, cat,’ yet again. Maybe he would have given a hint, like he had done about the rabbit. More than anything, where on earth was he at this critical time?

Thoughts kept spinning in his mind and came back to where they had started. He didn’t realize when he started depending on O Shin so much. He really needed his help, even without his advice.

“Why is it so complicated for you?” Myo Cheong blurted out with a frown. He crossed his arms and stomped a foot, so he must’ve really disliked what Myohan was doing.

“You kept dropping me into trouble when you were catching me, so why are you being so nice to Jino?”

Myohan jumped to his feet as soon as he heard that. Myo Cheong flinched and his nose moved.

“Shit, you startled me…”

“Hey, rabbit.”

Myohan gave him a serious look. Then he put a hand on his head. Myo Cheong’s eyes widened in surprise when the hand patted his head. But Myohan just smiled.

“Good point.”

He realized it after hearing what the rabbit said. He wasn’t the type of person who thought before moving. O Shin was the one who gathered opinions through meetings. Myohan just acted spontaneously to solve everything. None of them had any information. Sitting around and thinking wasn’t going to give them a solution.

“I’m going.”

Just face it. It was always the way he preferred.

***

A pair of serious eyes looked at Myohan. The absorbing black eyes were similar to O Shin’s, but they didn’t have O Shin’s ease. Jino, who was looking at Myohan, frowned.

“What do you think?”

Jino looked troubled. He was on his way back inside after running on the track field as usual, but then a boy he had never seen before blocked his path. No, to be exact, he had seen him before.

The student who grabbed him and dragged him to the garden was the boy who had been looking for Myo Cheong. Jino glanced to the other side of the wall. He felt like crying. He wished he could leave, but Myohan looked too serious to try it.

“I’m just saying,” he said calmly. He didn’t sound surprised, nor did he look suspicious. He just talked as if asking how he had been.

“I’ve seen you turn into a horse.”

Actually, he just said that. Getting it right would be good, or it would just make him think of him as a maniac. If O Shin had heard it, he would have laughed at the stupid cat. Jino frowned even harder.

“You’re lying.”

Myohan narrowed his eyes at that answer. Jino glanced at Myohan, and then he went on, his frown still deep.

“I don’t know what this is about, but continuously harassing good students like me is not going to…”

“You two…” Myohan grinned, “…are just too clumsy.”

It immediately made Jino shut up. Myohan took a step closer and asked, “What makes you think I’m lying?”

“It’s impossible for a person to turn into a horse…”

“Yes, and you should have said that first.”

Myohan looked at the window on the other side of the wall. He could easily guess where Jino had just glanced too. It was a little far, but it was not for animals with good hearing.

“And why did you say ‘continuously’?”

What he had been doubting gathered to form a single truth. Myo Cheong was close enough to Jino to ask him to tell him was being bullied, but he had boldly lied. It almost fooled Myohan. Almost.

“I never talked to you before.”

Jino’s eyes widened. At least he was more honest than the lying rabbit.

“You should have prepared more thoroughly to lie to someone who’ve busted one of you already.”

Myo Cheong had talked with the premise that Jino was the horse. He looked like a horse and was good at running. He even explained those things to make Myohan think he might be the horse. He sounded like cooperating. Raising opinions, deducing possibilities, and saying what he knew.

“I said you were ‘one of the twelve zodiac animals,’ but I never said you were the horse.”

But while doing so, Myo Cheong had made a critical mistake of concluding Jino’s true identity before Myohan confirmed his suspicions.

“As for the rabbit, it was kissing.”

Myohan grabbed Jino’s collar to pull him down. Jino gave up and looked away. Myohan didn’t have to look back to know Myo Cheong, who had to be listening to them near the window, was feeling the same way. Myohan smiled brightly and added.

“So, since you are the horse, is it stamina?”

His pupils narrowed. Jino flinched at the predator’s fierce gaze and tried to shake him off.

“Hey, shit. That’s not it!”

A familiar voice pushed them apart. Myo Cheong came running, grabbed Myohan’s arm and frowned, panting. Myohan hadn’t known he would come himself, so he backed off, a little startled. Myo Cheong looked away, not knowing what to feel.

“Why are you so crazy about finding the twelve animals? Okay, let’s say sex does transform Jino, and then what? Oh, shit, you are really out of your mind?”

Myo Cheong looked really bewildered. He kept moving around, not knowing where to look, but his gaze eventually stopped on Myohan. He sighed deeply, and then he yelled, “You shouldn’t sleep around with anyone like that!”

Silence. Myohan, who had an arm seized by the rabbit, Jino, who was shocked by what was happening, and Myo Cheong, who was still huffing and puffing, they all shut up.

Myohan gave him a puzzled look.

“But why are you mad about it?”

Myo Cheong blushed hard. Being busted while spying was nothing compared to worrying out loud about Myohan. It was so embarrassing. He wished he could find a rat’s hole and hide inside. He backed off, but he fell only after a few steps. He could feel pain in his ankle.

“Cheong!”

“You…”

Jino caught him by his arm as he fell. Myo Cheong gritted his teeth. He had forgotten all about it, but— “I think you’ll be wearing a cast again.”

“Ugh!”

He sprained his ankle by jumping over a gate, so of course he couldn’t survive a fall from the first floor without any injuries. He had been too shocked, thinking if Myohan could kiss him without hesitation, he could do anything to Jino. He had been so worried about Jino, so he had jumped without thinking.

“Let’s go.”

….But why had he spoken, worrying about Myohan?

“No shit.”

Myohan offered to carry him, but Myo Cheong ignored him and stood on one leg. He shook free the arm Jino was holding. Myohan looked up at him, and he could see a face burning red with embarrassment.

He said nothing. He didn’t press the rabbit to ride on his back, and he didn’t give up or get up, either. He just kept staring at Myo Cheong. In the end, he had to get onto his back. Myohan leaned forward as if to measure the weight on his back, and then he stood up.