Chapter 40 (1/2)

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.”