Chapter 29 (1/2)

“But how can you smell cat on Myohan? Just because he has a cat? That shouldn’t be possible.”

The lead at the tip of Jagyeom’s mechanical pencil broke with a small snap. O Shin got up again, clearly interested.

Sinsul looked down, biting his pen, and then he opened his mouth.

“Because I have a good sense of smell?”

No one bought that. No, only Jino nodded. Sinsul smiled sheepishly to see the other’s doubtful faces. Myo Cheong smacked innocent Jino’s head hard.

“What? Shit, that makes no sense?”

No one had a sense of smell good enough to smell someone’s pet kitten on him. Only some animals could do that. It was similar to Myo Cheong overhearing their conversation while standing outside the sickbay. Jagyeom tried saying Sinsul’s name a few times, and then he frowned. He had the best instincts among them, not counting Myohan.

“You’re the dog, aren’t you?”

Myohan’s senses had rubbed off on him, and after watching and learning from Myohan for some months, now he could put the two and two.

“That’s why Myohan brought you here.”

What should I do…. Myohan tapped on the table. He hadn’t excepted any of what was happening now.

Sinsul noticing their animal smell, and calling him ‘the dog’ before he could figure out what to do. But what surprised him the most was Sinsul who wasn’t shocked to be called ‘the dog’.

He pleadingly looked at O Shin, but he just shrugged. Sinsul glanced at Myohan and frowned sadly.

“I bought that you keep a horse! Shouldn’t you trust me in return? You are so merciless.”

“Then you didn’t think I had a horse?”

Jino asked with a gasp. He really looked shocked.

“But I believed every word you said?”

“Oh, please shut up.”

Myo Cheong finally covered Jino’s mouth. Jagyeom also sighed and shook his head. Choi Jino really was a weirdo.

Sinsul moaned and fell on the table. He looked up at Myohan as he hadn’t said a word so far. His expression was quite…complicated. He guessed Sinsul might be the dog, but he hadn’t known he would admit it so soon. One of the twelve zodiac animals had been right next to him all along. He had known the boy for more than a year now, so it just didn’t feel like real.

“I told you before, I’m a dog.”

Sinsul sounded quite calm. Myohan recalled what Sinsul had said.

‘Oh, will you just go away? You’re like a crazy dog!’

Myohan thought he was just too nice. He always smiled even when he was called a dog, so Myohan just concluded he didn’t mind curse words. Why hadn’t he noticed it before?

“Anyway, it would be much easier this way.”

Myohan tried to think so. Sinsul was the dog, and he knew what they were. All for the better.

“Help us find the twelve zodiac animals.”

“I can’t do that.”

Myohan narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what he meant by that. But Sinsul didn’t seem to be lying. He really couldn’t. When asked why, he tilted to one side and said, “Smells are not permanent.”

Then he tilted to the other side.

“A smell can be erased by a different smell. Or your asshole will always smell like shit.”

“Oh, shit. Did you have to use that as an example?”

Myo Cheong was disgusted by the dirty example. Sinsul smiled and said he was sorry. Then he pointed at Jino.

“I’ve seen him at school quite often, but I smelled horse on him for the first time a few days ago. And that smell has become a lot weaker.”

He counted the days and added, “It was… about… the next day after the sports competition?” Jino had transformed into a horse at Myohan’s home after the sports competition. Sinsul leaned toward Jagyeom and sniffed.

“You’re Lee Jagyeom, right? You now almost don’t smell like a rat.”

Myohan frowned. He could make only one deduction out of what Sinsul was saying. One had to transform into his animal form to smell like the animal, and that smell faded in time. Of course. Everyone got various smells in daily life. Of course, a smell couldn’t last forever. Sinsul scratched his chin.

“Plus, I can’t tell without something to compare to.”

“Something to compare to?” Jagyeom asked with wide eyes. O Shin, who was now sitting properly on the sofa, explained.

“For instance, if he has never seen a tiger, he can’t know if what he’s smelling is a tiger, even if it is.”

“Exactly!”