The Cat Hides Its Claws - Chapter 33

It was hard to know what O Shin was thinking. As he had never been so active before, it was difficult to understand what he was doing. The group ran into Jagyeom, Sajun, Myo Cheong and Jino, so they all headed to Myohan’s home. Sinsul kept bouncing up and down excitedly. The finals were over, he now knew O Shin was not mad at him, and it was like he had nothing more to worry about.

“But why are you here?”

“The finals are over, we should have some fun.”

Myohan asked as they went in, a little annoyed. He didn’t like to have so many people in his home. Sajun tried to hug him as he answered, but he easily got out of his arms.

The kitten came out to the living room to welcome Myohan. It rubbed its face on his legs. Jino moaned and stretched out a hand, but Myo Cheong quickly kicked his leg. The kitten just ignored Jino and jumped up to Myohan.

“This cat is…”

Sinsul frowned and sniffed. The kitten’s yellow eyes stared at him. He gulped, and then he spoke quite seriously.

“Super cute.”

“I know right?”

Jino couldn’t agree with him more. Myo Cheong sighed to have two weirdos in the room. The kitten left Myohan’s arms, waving its tail. Jagyeom tutted.

“See? It hates you too, that’s why it’s going in.”

Of course, Myohan couldn’t care less about the question. He went into his room to take off his school uniform and wear something more comfortable. His kitten was licking itself on the bed, and it purred to see him. He gave it a pat and took off his shirt. It watched him. And when he put his hands on his pants, the door was opened and Sinsul came in.

“Myohan! Can we eat your snacks?”

“Yes.”

“Great! I’m going to have chocolate.”

He didn’t knock and Myohan was getting changed, but none of them cared about it. Myohan tried to take his pants off again, but Sinsul came back in and took out the cat.

“Ouch! Ouch!”

Myohan could hear Sinsul paying for dragging the cat out. He wondered why the dog liked the kitten so much. He couldn’t link the fact that he was also a cat to it.

When he went out again, the boys had brought all the snacks in the pantry. Myohan wondered how they had found it all, but Sinsul said, “I sniffed to find them!”

Myohan gave him a pat as a compliment.

“But where’s that box of chocolate?”

Sajun looked at the pile of snacks and asked, having a jelly. Sinsul flinched, and Myohan went to the kitchen to bring it.

“Why did you leave this alone?”

“Chocolates are poisonous to dogs,” Sinsul said grimly. Myohan told him to get rid of that nonsense as he wasn’t a real dog. Then he put one in Sinsul’s mouth. He wanted to say he wasn’t talking nonsense, but then his eyes widened. O Shin’s lips curled up.

“You just said you wanted to have chocolate.”

But Myohan couldn’t feed him another one. All the boys looked right next to him in great shock. Myohan turned with a frown, and then he had to drop the chocolate in his hand.

“Germany is famous for its whisky bonbons.”

O Shin added an explanation. He wasn’t surprised at all. He showed them the chocolate box, and it said ‘Jägermeister’. Myohan blinked and looked down again at a huge dog with curly fur. He couldn’t say a word for some time, but then he laughed.

“…Sinsul?”

Sinsul-dog looked at him with shame. It woofed, and then it covered its face with its front paws to whimper. Myohan grabbed his snout to stop him.

“Just be quiet.”

He had to take off Sinsul’s now tight school uniform first. While he undid the buttons, Sinsul kept whimpering. Everyone was quiet, but then Jino snapped out of shock and put out a shaking hand.

“So cute…!”

He looked really happy. He buried his face in the dog’s fur. Sinsul gave up fighting and just lay down with sad eyes. Myohan pitied him, so he let go of his snout and brought the chocolate box.

“Shit.”

Myo Cheong blurted that out to wake everyone up. Jagyeom scolded Sajun.

“But you’re a minor!”

“My parents did the purchase, of course.”

Jägermeister, Absolut Peach, Jack Daniels, and Jose Cuervo. Each chocolate contained a different kind of liquor. Sinsul must have refused it because he had smelled the liquors. Myohan picked up the chocolate he had dropped and bit it with his teeth. It cracked and bitter liquid seeped out.

“Delicious, isn’t it?” Sajun asked with a smile. It wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t right for Myohan’s taste. He shook his head and Jagyeom said, “I thought you made him eat it because you knew.”

“No, I really didn’t…”

He hadn’t known at all that the chocolates contained liquor and having liquor made Sinsul become a dog. If Sajun hadn’t brought that special chocolate, he never would have found out. Then he realized something and gave Sinsul a smirk. He knew liquor made him transform. It meant he must have had it before.

“You’re a real gangster.”

“Whimper…”

He was half-joking. Sinsul’s parents or relatives could have him taste it while they drank. But Sinsul looked away sadly. Huh…

“Well, then it was a complete coincidence.”

Jagyeom said it as if he couldn’t believe it. Myohan turned to O Shin. He remembered how he had said he would let ‘Deus ex machina’ handle this one.

“What’s Deus ex machina?”

“God from the machine.”

He put a chocolate in his mouth. He liked the bitter taste and smiled with content.

“It’s a plot device. A god shows up in a dramatic situation to solve the problem.”

“Meow.”

The kitten came out to the living room, but it turned back after seeing the huge dog there. O Shin continued, “But this time, it was a snake, not a god.”

Germany was famous for whiskey bonbons, and Sajun had just come back from a trip. As for the possibility of Sajun buying whiskey bonbons and Sinsul eating one of them, the chance couldn’t have been smaller. Myohan couldn’t know what to think.

“Choi Jino, stop it, will you?”

“I’ve never seen a dog that doesn’t run away from me.”

“Of course dogs run away from your crazy enthusiasm!”

Jino was still patting Sinsul. He must have given up completely. He just lay down and wagged his tail. Others had behaved not so naturally in their animal forms, but Sinsul was just like a real dog. Well, they say drinking too much will turn you into a dog, and here was proof of it. Sajun made a joke.

It took a whole hour for Sinsul to return to his human form. While he got dressed, muttering complaints, Jino looked at the last remaining chocolate. Sinsul could see what he was thinking, so he quickly put it in Myohan’s mouth. He had no choice but to chew and swallow it. He grabbed Sinsul angrily.

“I’m going to kill you.”

“But you force-fed me one first!”

“You said you wanted to eat chocolate.”

They exchanged fierce gazes, but of course Myohan won in the end. Sinsul sadly looked away and hugged his knees.

“This is unfair. How could a minor buy liquor?”

“I told you, my parents did the purchase.”

Sajun asserted his innocence once more. But Jagyeom pointed out another obvious problem.

“But why did you give it to Myohan as a present?”

“Actually…”

Sajun smiled slyly as he pointed at the now empty chocolate box.

“I brought it because I wanted to see him get drunk…”

His finger moved to point at Myo Cheong.

“But it looks like I got another boy drunk.”

“Hey, rabbit.”

Myohan tried calling him, but he wouldn’t react to it. He frowned and counted the chocolates. There had been ten chocolates in the box in total. Sinsul had one, Myohan had two, O Shin had one, so there had to be six left, but the box was empty.

He went to Myo Cheong and shook his shoulder. He looked up at Myohan with hazy eyes. His eyes were usually sharp, but now they couldn’t focus. His white cheeks were now red. His temperature was also a lot higher. All of these made Myohan conclude that this little rabbit had gotten drunk after eating six chocolates.