Chapter 16 (2/2)

“…Great!”

Applause. Yuja smiled and patted Myohan’s back. He had never smiled so broadly before.

“You nailed it! Now let’s go home!”

Now the festival was only a few days away. They were almost done practicing. Actually, as the play was only about 10 minutes long, they didn’t have to practice so much.

They all had learned their lines, and a short practice wasn’t going to turn them into actors. It just that Yuja had insisted on practicing because of Myohan’s uncooperative attitude. But now he was satisfied, so they didn’t need more practicing.

“What’s the problem, then?” Sajun said as he clung onto Myohan who easily dodged and put a foot between Sajun’s legs, making him stick to a wall. He turned pale, recalling the pain.

“Can’t you put your foot down?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Do all snakes like to be kicked?”

Jagyeom shook his head. Myohan gave Sajun a fierce gaze.

“He wants us to show him proof that he turns into a rabbit.”

Myohan had gone to find Myo Cheong many times after that day. At first, the rabbit shuddered in fear, but then he realized Myohan would do nothing to him and started to regain his confidence. And then, a few days ago—

‘You don’t know, do you?’

He said that boldly with a confident smile.

‘Shit, I was afraid for nothing. You don’t know what makes me turn into a rabbit, do you?’

Well, he had a point. Myohan had managed to keep his face straight, but actually, he had panicked a lot. Myo Cheong added, ‘No, even if you knew, you wouldn’t be able to do anything.’

Really, what had he meant by that? Did he really turn into a rabbit when he died? No, if it was the case, he wouldn’t have even known he was a rabbit.

“The moment the soul leaves the body…”

What O Shin had said and what Myo Cheong had said kept swirling inside Myohan’s head. He narrowed his eyes to think, but then Sajun offered him a hand.

“It’s time to go, prince.”

At the same time, O Shin covered Myohan’s eyes and pulled him toward himself. Myohan, who had been standing on one leg to threaten Sajun, was easily dragged to him. He could see Sajun click his tongue.

O Shin’s cold eyes turned to the snake, his eyes full of hatred and anger that surprised Jagyeom. But Myohan couldn’t see it as O Shin’s hand was covering his eyes. He pushed the hand away angrily.

“Get rid of that prince thing, will you?”

“But Yuja said if we go late, he’d kill us.”

Myohan was really sick of it all, but he could remember Yuja telling them to come back soon as they had to measure their sizes for their costumes.

Myohan patted Jagyeom’s head, said bye, and started to walk away. O Shin followed him. When the other two boys were left alone, they awkwardly exchanged glances. Jagyeom sighed to see how disappointed Sajun was.

“You really should stop with your pranks. You might actually be killed.”

“No way. A snake cannot be killed by a cat.”

“Cat?”

Sajun laughed. He doesn’t know. He realized it immediately and shrugged with a smirk.

“Well, O Myohan does resemble a cat.”

“But I wasn’t talking about him…”

O Shin’s eyes looked like he would devour Sajun at any moment. Jagyeom shuddered.

He had become quite close to Myohan and even to Sajun, but he hadn’t had much of a conversation with O Shin. And he was nowhere to be seen when Myohan wasn’t there.

“I just wanted to let him know.”

Let him know what? Jagyeom asked with his eyes. Sajun crouched down next to him, looked into his eyes, and grinned.

“You know, that.”

His long fingers pointed at his lips. Jagyeom realized what he meant by that and made a gagging sound. He could recall what he had learned during a class a while ago.

“That’s what Plato said.”

Sajun sighed and smacked. You enjoy pain. Jagyeom gulped down what he couldn’t dare to speak out loud. If O Shin hadn’t pulled Myohan away from him, either Myohan or O Shin would have killed him.