Chapter 68 (2/2)

“He doesn’t smell like a human.”

His eyes looked sharp. Myohan blinked, and then he slowly looked up. The sky had been cloudy since morning.

“Why aren’t you also saying I smell like a cat?”

“…You do smell like a cat.”

Chandeul was pointing at a strand of cat fur on Myohan’s cat. Myohan flinched for a second, but he regained his smile.

“Let me ask you one thing.”

Chandeul wasn’t afraid as he talked about O Shin. He remained calm even when he said he didn’t smell like a human. But he flinched when he met eyes with Myohan, which meant Myohan was the one who scared him.

“Why are you afraid of me?”

Chandeul was clearly startled by the question. He backed off with wide eyes. Myohan just shrugged instead of trying to hold him. Chandeul grabbed the pastry in his pocket tightly and sighed.

“Don’t be offended, but…”

“You should have said that earlier.”

“What?”

“Before you told me to distance myself from him.”

Chandeul realized his mistake and rubbed on his cheek. The cold was making his cheeks even redder. He looked away and said,

“…You’re not a child of Grandmother Samsin.”

“Grandmother Samsin?”

“Your fate, you shouldn’t have lived more than 11 years.”

11 years? It strangely sounded familiar. He had heard some kind of change had happened to him at that age, but he couldn’t recall more. Chandeul nervously glanced at him.

“I think you’re a good person, but I’m afraid of what’s behind you.”

He was flinching, so he probably meant it. Myohan looked back, even though he knew Chandeul wasn’t talking about what was literally behind him. Then he stood up and brushed the dust off his pants. He looked somewhat dissatisfied.

“I’m sorry if I’ve made you feel…”

“Hey, pig.”

Myohan took a step forward.

“Is that all you’ve got to say to me? I should be careful because he doesn’t smell like a human?”

Chandeul slowly nodded. Looking at his confused, wide eyes, Myohan placed a hand on his shoulder. Then he said with pity.

“I thought you were going to say you’re the pig.”

“…How did you?”

“Why are you pretending not to know?”

Chandeul tried to back off, and he would have, if Myohan’s hand hadn’t been holding him. Myohan smiled and looked into his eyes.

“You’ve smelled each and every boy around me.”

He had said O Shin didn’t ‘smell’ like a human, which meant he had smelled all of them. He had probably smelled all the animals near Myohan, just like Sinsul did.

“Why do you think they’re all with me?”

It was similar to how Sadeol had thought Myohan was a tiger. Chandeul smelled only the twelve zodiac animals, so he must have thought Myohan smelled like a cat just because he had a pet cat. As he had just pointed at the cat fur on his pants, he didn’t know Myohan was the tiger.

“I’m collecting the twelve zodiac animals.”

He was offended in no time, by what Chandeul said about O Shin when he knew nothing about him.

“Rat, cow, tiger, rabbit, snake, horse, sheep, rooster, and dog.”

If Chandeul’s fear wasn’t due to a trauma he had about transforming into an animal, Myohan had no reason to care about it.

“And with you, I’ll just have to find two more.”

Myohan grinned. He was tired of waiting.

“…Why are you collecting them?”

“Why?”

That wasn’t Myohan. The familiar voice startled him and he turned, forgetting what he had meant to say.

“You said I don’t smell like a human.”

It was O Shin. He went close to them, wearing only his school uniform, with Myohan’s coat in his hand. Raindrops started to fall one by one from the cloudy sky.

*mudang: shaman

*Grandmother Samsin: a deity that is believed to bless mothers with babies. No child can be conceived and born without her help.