Chapter 40

Myohan got up to see the clock, but suddenly it felt like too much wor. So, he plopped down on the floor and counted every second by tapping with his finger.

“Well?” O Shin whispered. Myohan put a finger on his lips, lest Chookjae might wake up. He nodded.

Chookjae was never allowed to do sleepovers. He had never been on a school trip. He always reeked of cow that even Sinsul could notice it. Most of all, he transformed even without knowing it himself.

Myohan grinned to see a huge mammal appear in front of him. It was 3 in the morning.

“Well, he better not doze off at school.”

O Shin liked Myohan’s bright smile. He kissed his forehead.

“Cows are all hard-working. It will never happen.”

As always, he had lacked proof. If Sinsul hadn’t dragged them all here for a sleepover, if he hadn’t talked about how Chookjae’s grandmother never let him sleep outside home, Myohan wouldn’t have been able to figure it out so easily. O Shin helped him get up and asked again.

“It’s a piece of cake, right?”

“It’s like riding a sleeping cow.”

They went out and closed the door behind them as if nothing had happened. Chookjae was going to transform back in the morning when he woke up. Myohan thought he was really a great man. If sleeping had been what made him transform, he would have been becoming a cat at least a dozen times a day.

But Chookjae didn’t know what changed him. It meant he had never fallen asleep at school.

“What a great grandmother.”

She had been hiding the fact that her grandson became a cow every night for 18 years, and Chookjae had been obeying her rules without even knowing the reason. Really, they were both great.

***

Chookjae woke up earlier than anyone else, before the sun came up. He blinked to see an unfamiliar ceiling, and then he quickly got up. A blanket that he didn’t recall putting over himself fell off him. He had slept in a vacant room because of his habit of wearing only underwear when going to sleep. (Well, Myohan had told them to sleep on the floor ‘or something.’) But someone must have put a blanket over him.

He scratched his head, got dressed, and went out.

The boys were sleeping in various positions, and Myohan and O Shin were leaning on each other on the sofa. All the other boys each had a blanket, but only those two didn’t. Chookjae brought the blanket from the room and put it on them. He didn’t have to ask to know who had put it on him overnight.

“I must go.”

He had to go home before his grandmother returned. They were all sleeping, so they couldn’t hear him, but he said his goodbye before he left.

He had never done a sleepover before. His grandmother always said he had to sleep at home, so he always went home, even late at night. He studied hard for her. She had raised him on her own. Sinsul always said she was so strict, but Chookjae had never thought so, not even once.

“Chookjae!”

When he went home, his grandmother came out running. But she had said she would be going somewhere.

“Where were you? I was so worried!”

Chookjae smiled sheepishly. He had planned to return home before she did and not tell her about it. He had known she would never let him sleep at Myohan’s place, so he wanted to do it in secret. But now, he was busted.

“I slept at a friend’s place.”

“You slept at your friend’s place?”

His grandmother looked at him with shock. She came to him and groped his arm. He took her hands, but then he was surprised to find out they were shaking.

“Granny, what’s wrong?”

“You slept? At your friend’s place?”

“Yes, we all slept there.”

Chookjae took his trembling grandmother inside and brought her a cup of cold water. She took it with shaking hands, drank it, and yelled.

“I told you to sleep only at home!”

Chookjae just knelt down. Yes, he hadn’t told her and he deserved to be scolded. Still, he thought it wasn’t a thing to be so worried about.

“Granny, I’m already 18. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Your age doesn’t matter!”

“But I came home safe and sound.”

Neither of them said a word for some time. She tried to calm down, breathing heavily, and then she let out a heavy sigh. She looked at Chookjae closely. She wanted to ask something, but she couldn’t. After a long time, she asked with a sigh.

“Nothing happened?”

“Of course nothing happened. We were just doing homework and it got late, so I slept there.”

Chookjae butted near her, now that she wasn’t so angry. She yelled at him not to come closer, but he didn’t care. He took her wrinkled hand and explained.

“Granny, you know I sleep wearing only my underwear.”

“I do, and that’s what this is about!”

Chookjae was quiet only at school. At home, he was quite talkative. He smiled.

“The other boys slept in the living room, and I slept in a different room. Then a friend came in and put a blanket over me while I was sleeping.”

“While you were sleeping?”

“Yes, I found it when I woke up.”

She shut her mouth again. She looked away, not knowing what to think. She sighed and held her grandson’s hand.

“Just buy that friend some snacks later.”

Chookjae nodded and smiled brightly. He knew she wasn’t going to be mad anymore.

“I won’t worry you anymore.”

“Oh, we both know you will.”

I should buy Myohan a bag of crisps or something. Chookjae thought so, but he didn’t know Myohan had already canceled his application for extra classes. He wasn’t going to see Myohan during the entire summer vacation, and when they met again after that, Myohan was no longer going to talk about the twelve zodiac animals to him.

Scorching sun, hot air, chirping cicadas, and trees full of green leaves. Summer had come. Now it was vacation time and Myohan had nothing to do, so he decided to take lots of naps, but…

“Achoo!”

Then he caught a cold.

“Dumb cat.”

O Shin scolded him after seeing him sniffle. He sneezed once more. With another achoo! his red eyes became teary. O Shin wiped those tears with a tender hand.

“You got cold because you slept without a blanket.”

“If you are so smart, you could have put a blanket on me.”

Myohan had a cold in the middle of summer. He had wrapped himself in clothes and blankets during winter, but he had forgotten to be careful because of the hot weather. O Shin was right. He shouldn’t have slept without a blanket while the air conditioner was on.

O Shin kept arguing that although he had put a blanket on Myohan, he kept kicking it away. As he had been sound asleep then, he couldn’t possibly know the truth. Of course, O Shin wasn’t the type of person who lied, so it had to be Myohan’s fault.

“Achoo!”

At any rate, he now had a cold. It was a simple kind of cold that came with a running nose and sneezing. He had no fever and his neck was fine. He didn’t know if he should be grateful or angry about it. He sighed as he covered his mouth with a mask.

“Mr. O Myohan? Please come in.”

When he found out his cold had gotten serious, he headed to the hospital right away. It was Sunday, so all of the local hospitals near his home were closed. Therefore, he had to go to a general hospital a little away from home.

It was a little funny that he had come to such a huge hospital with a number of patient rooms upstairs, but he had no choice. He feared a severe cold more than anything.

The young doctor who examined him told him some obvious things, like he shouldn’t use air conditioner too much. Myohan nodded and went out after saying thank you. He felt it every time he visited a hospital, but doctors only said the obvious. It was like asking for a way to get good grades and get ‘study hard every day’ as an answer.

“Sneezing cat.”

O Shin scolded him again. He seemed to be particularly sensitive today. Myohan stared at him, but he sneezed again. O Shin took care of his messy back hair by patting it down.