Chapter 92: Chapter 92

“Don’t you think it’s strange?”

Yuja was thinking everything was strange, but he was accepting it all without a problem. He even felt the cat in front of him looked quite familiar, even though he’d never seen it before, so maybe he was seriously crazy.

This time, the cat waved its tail slowly instead of meowing. Its yellow eyes flashed.

“Anyway, you’re a lot like Myohan’s cat…”

But after he said that, he realized Myohan had no cat. He had said nothing about having a cat. Then, why was he thinking this strange cat resembled Myohan’s pet cat?’

‘Yuja, you didn’t go on last year’s school trip, were you?’

His head ached. He suddenly remembered what Myohan had asked him that during the school trip last year. He had also asked, ‘But then, why have you come this time?’

Even now, that sounded like a stupid question. Anyone else would have asked why he had missed the last trip. He pressed on his aching head then he frowned hard as another piece of memory flashed through his head.

‘So even Myohan gets into a relationship.’

He himself had said that once. Myohan hadn’t been able to say anything to it.

‘I guess he must be really great.’

Then memories started to flood out. Sinsul bringing in a bunch of boys he didn’t know, hanging out with them, and falling asleep all in the same room. The Snow White of Class 1 and the broken lock…

“…Okay, I get Myohan,”

Still frowning, he asked himself.

“But what the hell is with that princess?”

The cafeteria was full of boys as usual. Sadeol bit his lips and stared hard down on his tray full of meat. There was cooked rice, some kimchi, and lots of meat. The menu wasn’t special, but it was good enough.

Seonhan, who was already stuffing his mouth with food, asked him, “Why aren’t you eating?”

“I…”

Sadeol sobbed, choked by emotion. Then, he looked at Seonhan with teary eyes.

“I love meat…”

He got a few frowns from his friend in return, all asking, ‘So what?’

“I’m never going back to being a vegan, ever.”

After he said that, he put a huge piece of meat in his mouth and chewed happily.

“But why did you become a vegan in the first place?” Seonhan asked when they were almost done eating, their trays almost empty. Sadeol’s eyes widened.

“I…”

He had avoided meat for years. No one forced him to, but he just did it. He had given his meat to Seonhan everyday until today. He crossed his arms and thought about it. Then he asked back.

“…Why did I do that?”

Really, he couldn’t know.

He never had thought much about why he’d become vegan, but the moment he realized it, he couldn’t get rid of it from his head. He loved meat. Well, most people did, but he was a serious meat-lover, but he had lived as a vegan for almost a decade. He had meat a few times in that period, but mostly he had oppressed his urge.

But then, why had he tried so hard? He tried to find out the reason all day why he had become a vegan and why he had started eating meat again. Of course, he didn’t know.

In science class, the teacher showed them a documentary film about panthers. The animal’s nimble body and sharp, feline eyes were quite impressive.

‘It resembles someone I know.’

He thought for a second. Of course, he spent most of the time thinking about his past life as a vegan.

“Hey, Sadeol, how about we play soccer with Sinsul?”

“Great! Let’s go!”

He was still thinking about it when Seonhan asked him to play soccer together. Sinsul was Seonhan’s friend from middle school. Sadeol knew him well as they often played soccer. Plus, Sinsul was nice and could be friends with anybody.

“Pass me the ball!”

“No! Stop him!”

Sadeol’s worry left his mind while he was running around on the field. After moving around and rolling on the ground a few times, he felt a lot better. He got so excited that he kicked the ball hard.

“Hey! What are you doing?”

Sadly, the ball flew over the goalpost and the fence behind it.

“Sorry, sorry!”

Sadeol quickly apologized and ran to get the ball. He jumped over the fence and saw the ball still rolling away. It rolled and rolled until it stopped in front of a sitting cat.

“I’m sorry, but that’s my ball. I must take it.”

The cat with yellow eyes sat still as it looked at Sadeol. If it hadn’t been blinking, he would have thought it wasn’t alive. It looked somehow familiar. Sadeol thought about it and clapped.

“You look just like the panther I saw in that documentary earlier!”

The two animals really resembled each other. Sadeol grinned and went to his soccer ball. He leaned down to pick it up, and then…

“…Sadeol?”

He looked up and turned back, his ball in his hands. A boy was standing there. Sadeol knew him to be Sinsul’s friend, but he somehow knew his name.

“Do you know me?”

The boy faltered and shut his mouth, obviously regretting his mistake. Sadeol studied his feline face and turned back to where the cat had been a second ago, but now, it was gone.

“Of course I know you, you’re Sinsul’s friend?”

The boy soon found the right answer to his question. Sadeol looked at his nametag and found out his name was ‘O Myohan’. He looked up a little, and the moment he saw those light-brown eyes, he felt a thrill.

“I called you because you were blocking my path. Bye.”

He had felt that thrill before. But when? He quickly went to Myohan. He gulped hard and grabbed his arm. He could see him frown. He looked troubled.

Sadeol took a deep breath. He knew those eyes. They were exactly like his own. His nimble but relaxed moves, his smooth body line, he recognized them. What he was feeling now was similar to what he had felt when he realized the friend he had thought of as a tiger was actually a panther. He gulped hard again and spoke.

“Friend, you are a cat.”

Really, it took him a long time to figure that out.

“If you keep avoiding it because you are scared, you will have to run away forever.”

That was what Chandeul’s grandmother said to him as he left home for school. Maybe it was a warning. Maybe it was advice. Maybe she was scolding him for being a coward. He just grabbed his bag’s strap hard and said nothing. His tender eyes looked sad.

What his grandmother was saying reminded him of someone. He was neither buff nor ugly, but his mere sight made Chandeul shudder. He couldn’t feel what he felt like every child of Grandmother Samshin felt. He just felt like he should have died long ago.

“Hey, have you finished your homework?”

But the problem was, now he had two scary boys like that.

“….Yes.”

Chandeul was in the same homeroom with Sajun this year. He never cared about other classmates, but for some reason, he kept talking to Chandeul as if they had known each other for some time.

“Oh, hey.”

And he was friends with the two boys Chandeul was afraid of.

“Sajun, you’re close with that new boy in Class 1, aren’t you?”

“Nope.”

Sajun shrugged, but Chandeul had seen him with him only yesterday. He frowned, but Sajun only grinned.

“I’m close to Myohan.”

“….Anyway,”

The new transfer student of Class 1 was the person Chandeul was newly afraid of. It was strange to transfer to a new school in one’s senior year, and he had befriended ‘that’ Myohan in like, five seconds, which was even stranger. Plus, his name was really strange: ‘Jin Shihuang’. Chandeul had heard it only once, but he just couldn’t forget it.

“What kind of kid is he?”

The moment Chandeul saw him, he felt a different kind of fear than he had felt towards Myohan. He was a human. He was clearly a human, but for some reason, he looked like he was carrying an enormous beast on his back. His power and confidence made Chandeul feel like what his grandmother felt when she saw a really powerful ghost.

“Hmm…”

Instead of answering his question, Sajun moaned. He rubbed his chin and licked his lips. Then, he grinned and spoke.

“I didn’t know you were interested in him.”

Well, that was who Kim Sajun was. Chandeul shouldn’t have expected a serious answer from him. He just waved his hand and told him to forget about it, but then Sajun made a serious remark, which wasn’t like him.

“It’s not good to judge someone without really getting to know him.”

Chandeul said nothing. The bell rang and ended the conversation, but he just couldn’t forget it. He felt guilty for his cowardice.