Chapter 22 (2/2)
“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.