The Cat hides its Claws

Myohan was once again wandering the forest in his cat form since he still had a fever. The god, O Shin, seemed to be quite busy. He kept yelling at his eleven subjects. Myohan knew he would leave his work and come if he found out he was sick, so he had to hide his illness and wander around. It was only possible because he immediately got to feel well when he transformed into a cat.

He didn’t think he was lost. He found out the entire area belonged to O Shin, and only other powerful gods and mortals owned by him could enter. That was why he was startled the moment he got out of a bush.

“Huh?”

Myohan had never seen him before. The man had black hair and black eyes. He was watching leaves floating down a river. Then, he saw Myohan and frowned.

“It’s a cat.”

Myohan was afraid, although he couldn’t know why. He couldn’t run, however. He was overwhelmed by the darkness in those black eyes. He froze there, and the man approached him.

“…What the…”

He was quite good-looking. He had pale-white skin, a sharp nose, and cold, hard lips. He couldn’t be compared to O Shin, of course, but still, he was handsome. Still frowning, he crouched down.

“You’re a person.”

Myohan flinched again. The man smiled at him and picked him up.

“Are you lost?”

There was a small kitten reflected in those eyes. Instead of saying something, Myohan just shook his head. But the man didn’t put him down.

“Then, are you running away from the god?”

“Meow—.”

The thing he couldn’t get used to the most was the meowing sound that came out of his mouth whenever he tried to say something. He wanted to explain, but he could do nothing more than meow. The man smiled when he saw Myohan wave his tail. And then he laughed confidently; with dignity, like O Shin did.

“I’ll take you to him.”

Myohan relaxed in his hands. He had no reason not to go back, and it was even better if he didn’t have to walk all the way there. The man started to walk, with the kitten in one hand. But he only took one step.

“I’ve brought your cat.”

O Shin looked down with a frown. His face was angry, but it disappeared the moment he saw Myohan.

“Why…”

He looked at the man, then at Myohan, and then waved a hand to his subject to dismiss them.

“You must be sick.”

Myohan could lie down comfortably only when he was in O Shin’s hands. He rubbed his face on him to show affection.

He asked sadly, “Why didn’t you come to me?”

Myohan blinked. The god’s eyes were full of love as he looked down at him. He almost looked as if he were crying. Then he stroked his body and rubbed a finger across his cheek. Myohan just closed his eyes, not refusing the loving hand. He wrapped him in the lower ends of his clothes.

“Thank you for bringing him to me.”

“Well…”

The man examined them. He looked like he found watching O Shin’s change of expression amusing. He rubbed his chin and grinned.

“Bringing a lost good to its owner isn’t that hard.”

Myohan began to wonder about the man only then. He had entered the forest where almost no one could walk into, just to watch a river. He could move to a distant place in a second. He wasn’t afraid of O Shin. Was he a god, too? Myohan looked at O Shin. He noticed his questioning gaze and smiled.

“This is…”

“A subject.”

O Shin stopped. His yellow eyes looked at the man, but the man just shrugged and pointed at himself.

“I’m a subject too.”

“Hmm.”

This time, O Shin was the one to smile mysteriously. He narrowed his eyes, with Myohan still in his arms then he smiled brightly and nodded. His eyes sparkled with amusement.

“Yes, you are my subject.”

Anyone could have seen the two were lying, and Myohan was especially clever. He yawned and closed his eyes, cataloging the man as someone he didn’t have to know.

“Well, as we’re all here.”

O Shin’s lips touched Myohan’s forehead, making him become a boy again. The god waved a hand and Myohan found himself dressed in fresh clothes.

“I’ll distribute time to you.”

The eleven subjects came again. Myohan recalled how O Shin had made all the trees stop at once while dancing in the wind, so many years ago.

“I will give each of you two out of 24 hours.”

The yellow eyes looked at the men on their knees then he stopped while looking at them.

“But there are 13 of you…”

The man looked bored as if he wasn’t interested at all. He just watched O Shin do his thing with his arms crossed. Myohan thought he should at least try to look like a subject.

“I don’t need time,” Myohan said.

The man’s eyes sparkled as he looked at him. Myohan yawned and stretched his back. His body felt sore after recovering from sickness.

“I’m not your subject, after all.”

“Even if I give you both the sun and the moon?”

He didn’t hesitate to nod. He wasn’t interested in getting time. He was grateful that he was alive and didn’t want a bothersome job. Plus, he wasn’t the god’s subject.

“Then…”

O Shin smiled as if he had known the boy would say that. He looked at him with affection.

“To you, I will give the power to control all of my subjects.”

“Including me?”

The man asked, clearly not liking it. The god smiled playfully; he lifted Myohan’s chin, kissed his cheek, and looked at the man.

“Let me ask…”

This time, Myohan couldn’t dare to say he didn’t need it. The man still looked irritated about it, and his wavering eyes were deadly.

But the god looked at them and said, “You can’t not like…”

The man frowned, but the god didn’t mind. He just went on teasingly.

“Being managed by another human, when you’re a human yourself, right?”

***

To jump to the conclusion, O Shin gave Myohan control over the twelve. Well, the job didn’t require much. He listened to coward Ja’s advice, woke up Chook as he was almost always sleeping, talked to scary In, and tried to soothe Myo and his bad mouth. He made Sa, who hated the cold, do his job, verified the truth out of many lies that O said, and made Mi, who cried every day, stop crying.

At least it was fine with a smart Yu and the mild Hae. Drunkard Sul and trickster Sin were the problematic ones.

Well, actually, none of the subjects were easy to deal with. They all hated Myohan. They were jealous of him as he was loved by the god and often bullied him. When he fell ill and became a cat, they said he was half-animal. They seemed to think it was wrong that he was the favored one when they had been serving the god for so many years. But the one with black eyes was an exception. The only exception.

“You’re putting up with it well.”

The man was always an onlooker. When Myohan was fooled by O and wandered in the forest, when Sin tricked him and locked him up in a cave, when Hae took his food, he was just watching all of that from afar.

“Putting up with what?”

“Your anger. You are very patient, for a human.”

His eyes seemed to be wondering when Myohan would finally snap.

“You can tell on them, the god will take care of it for you.”

“I’m not mad.”

However, Myohan was not going to give him what he wanted. He didn’t feel bad about it; he wasn’t thinking of letting out his anger on the gods, and he wasn’t going to tell the god about it. It would be foolish, and the god was already busy enough.

“It’s only right for them to do it.”

Myohan didn’t deserve to be mad. At least he thought so. He was still alive only because the god had helped him, and the subjects were just doing their job. They were working diligently (actually, not that diligently), and Myohan could understand how they were feeling about him.

“Although it’s a little bothersome…”

He was just a little bothered because his days weren’t as peaceful as they used to be, but that was all. He said so and stretched his back.

The man looked at him and said, “Funny.”

That was all. He went away without saying more, and the days that followed weren’t that much different.