Lives That Save Each Other
“Cleaning is real work, you know.”
Choi Yu-ri squatted on the bathroom floor, scrubbing hard with a brush and grumbling the whole time. No one in the world actually liked cleaning. It was nothing but a nuisance, and it took forever.
“Ugh.”
Anyone who claimed to enjoy it was probably just someone who made money off it.
Swish, swish.
“Gotta finish quick so I can play with Mungchi.”
The thought of Mungchi playing alone kept nagging at her. Leaving early and coming home late was her everyday routine. Days off like today were precious—rare chances to stay glued to Mungchi the whole day.
Choi Yu-ri hurriedly rinsed the soap suds from the tiles. The end of the cleaning was finally in sight. She was just about to empty the last trash can when—
Kyaaeng! Kyeng!!
Mungchi’s scream tore through the air from outside. Startled, she flung the hose aside and bolted out.
“M-Mungchi!”
The sound of Mungchi in agony came from the wide-open veranda. She always kept that door shut because the floor was slippery and cold; she never wanted Mungchi to get hurt.
But today, rushing to finish the cleaning, she had forgotten to close it.
“Mungchi!”
She raced to the veranda and found Mungchi collapsed, choking and gasping. White foam frothed at the corners of his mouth.
“W-What is this…?”
Panicked, she checked him carefully. A few sticky drops of blue liquid lay on the floor right in front of him.
“No way.”
Tears welled in Choi Yu-ri’s eyes. It was the laundry pod she had tossed carelessly into the washing machine only moments earlier.
Hoping against hope, she sniffed the foam on Mungchi’s muzzle. The sharp, acrid scent of detergent stabbed her nostrils.
How had Mungchi gotten to the detergent she kept in the cupboard? She must have dropped one earlier while starting the laundry without noticing.
Kyaaeng…
“Hospital. We have to get to the hospital right now. Mungchi.”
Only minutes ago he had been happily playing with his ball. She had never dreamed something like this could happen the second she looked away.
She felt not the slightest anger toward Mungchi for swallowing the laundry pod. It was something he had never seen before; of course he would think it was a toy. He had always been such a curious little thing.
Tears streaming down her face, Choi Yu-ri’s hands trembled as she carefully lifted him into her arms.
“Hurry, hurry.”
Kkiing, kkiing.
“Yeah, yeah. Unnie’s so sorry. Let’s go right now.”
It had already been seven years with Mungchi. He wasn’t young anymore; she should have been more careful. No—she had been careful, or so she thought. She never expected anything like this.
Fortunately the animal hospital wasn’t far. If she ran right now, they would make it in time for treatment.
“Hic… sob…”
She could feel every faint tremor of Mungchi’s body against her chest. That only twisted the knife deeper.
She jammed her wallet into her pocket and was about to rush out when the voice of that strange man she had met a few days ago suddenly surfaced in her mind.
You’ll be in a traffic accident then. While rushing your sick dog to the hospital.
She had dismissed it as the ravings of a madman. Only moments ago she had been cursing him for spouting such nonsense.
There was no reason for healthy Mungchi to suddenly fall ill, and no reason for her—planning to stay home all day—to get into a car accident. Of course she had scoffed and ignored it.
“That’s right. Come to think of it…”
Keep a closer eye on Mungchi than usual, Choi Yu-ri.
“He knew my name. I never told him.”
Then… was he really not some cultist? Was he actually a shaman?
Kkiik, kkiing.
“Mungchi.”
Choi Yu-ri looked down at him through a flood of tears. If she had known, she would have listened instead of ignoring him.
Regret that she had brushed off the man’s warning burned through her like fire. She clenched her teeth and muttered,
“So I’m supposed to get into a traffic accident? Trying to save Mungchi?”
Fine. She admitted it now. The man had not been wrong.
But one part of it still had not happened.
“Bullshit. Pure bullshit.”
As long as she kept her wits about her, she would be fine.
Choi Yu-ri shoved her feet into whatever shoes she could reach—one slipper, one sandal—and tore down the stairs in tears.
Faster. As fast as possible.
In that moment the only thought in her head was getting Mungchi to the hospital.
“Mungchi… stay with me…”
She flew down the hillside faster than anyone. People she passed stared at the mismatched shoes and the crying woman sprinting past them.
None of those stares registered. Mungchi’s condition was plummeting. His pink tongue had turned purple. He looked ready to stop breathing at any second.
Her favorite T-shirt was soaked and ruined with his drool and foam. She could not have cared less.
Even for a human, swallowing detergent was dangerous. For an animal—especially a small, elderly one—it was a death sentence.
“Mungchi…”
Everything was her fault. If she had closed the veranda door properly, if she had noticed the fallen detergent sooner, if she had simply heeded the warning that stranger had given her, none of this horror would have happened.
“Hic… sob…”
Choi Yu-ri stopped at the crosswalk. Through tear-blurred vision the animal hospital sign wavered in the distance.
Just cross here. If she ran straight after that, she might still save him.
Why won’t it change already?!
The light showed no sign of turning. Today of all days the wait felt endless. She stamped her feet in agitation.
Hurry up, hurry up and change!
“Just a little longer. Hang on a little longer, Mungchi.”
He used to answer whenever she called his name. Now he no longer had the strength. That truth cut even deeper.
“Finally!”
The light turned green. She lit up and stepped out quickly—
BAAAAAAAAANG!!!
“Ah!”
A car roared toward her at terrifying speed, horn shredding her eardrums. At the same instant a sharp, foreign pain flared in her arm.
“Hmm… how’s this? Look a little more natural?”
Kang!
“You think I did well? Yeah, I think so too.”
Park Su-hwan asked Baekya, who was gazing up at him from around his feet. Right now he was painting over the flaking paint on the Grandmother Deity’s fan.
He had tried his best to make it look seamless, but the colors still didn’t match. Anyone looking closely would know it had been touched up.
“I don’t get why this keeps happening.”
It was strange. The Jade Emperor’s statue he had used for years remained pristine. Yet the newly acquired General God and Grandmother Deity statues kept cracking and peeling. The General God’s black hair paint had even flaked off, leaving him looking bald.
“Do you know how much these cost…?”
He had spent a fortune on new statues only for problems to keep cropping up. His mood was thoroughly sour.
“That old man didn’t pawn off cheap junk on me, did he?”
If careful maintenance still couldn’t fix it, that was the only remaining explanation.
Park Su-hwan stepped back and studied the Grandmother Deity’s fan.
“Luckily it doesn’t show too badly yet.”
He closed the paint lid with a reasonably satisfied smile and tidied up. Then he glanced at the clock on the wall.
It was almost time. The moment that would decide whether Choi Yu-ri’s name appeared in the ledger was drawing near.
If she had heeded Park Su-hwan’s words, the future would have changed, and the rewritten fate would show itself in the ledger.
He pulled out the ledger he had hidden deep under the fortune table and opened it. Baekya sidled closer.
Kang!
“No.”
He quickly blocked the ledger with his body, half-afraid the puppy might try to chew it. Now that he was no longer living alone, he really needed to find a better hiding place.
He stared alternately at the blank white pages and the clock, holding his breath in mounting tension.
Three minutes. Two. One…
The time when she had originally been scheduled to meet with the accident passed. The ledger remained silent.
“….”
That meant Choi Yu-ri had ultimately failed to escape her fate. Park Su-hwan’s ledger only recorded those whose destinies he had twisted by intervening.
“In the end…”
He had half-expected this. She had never believed a single word he said from the beginning.
He felt no guilt for failing to prevent the accident—only a faint regret. Fate only changed when a person moved to change it themselves.
He let out a long sigh and was about to close the ledger when—
“Huh!!”
Suddenly black ink bloomed across the pure white page. Elegant, weighty Chinese characters whirled into existence.
Park Su-hwan’s eyes flew wide at the impossible sight.
“No way!”
Never once had a record appeared late—after the originally appointed hour of death had already passed.
“Does this even make sense?”
He stared, stunned, at Choi Yu-ri’s fate rewriting itself before his eyes.
Bang bang bang!!!
He had been catching a short nap—right next to Baekya, no less—when someone pounded on the shrine door like a bolt from the blue.
“Who is it…?”
“Excuse me!”
“Haaah…”
“Open the door!! I know you’re in there!”
Bang bang bang bang!!
Park Su-hwan heaved a deep sigh and forced himself up. The wall clock showed it was already past midnight. No one should be visiting him at this hour.
“…Who is it?”
“Open the door!!”
He unlocked it and pulled it open. A familiar face stood outside.
“Huh?”
It was Choi Yu-ri, soaked by the rain and weeping. He had never imagined she would come looking for him this late.
“I…”
“….”
“…This happened because I didn’t pay the bokchae, right? I’ll pay it now. Okay? People say if you ignore a shaman’s words and don’t pay the fee, you get cursed with bad luck.”
Tears rolled down Choi Yu-ri’s cheeks as she spoke in a voice that sounded ready to break at any second.
“I’m really, really sorry. Hic… sob…”
“….”
“My Mungchi… I brought him home from the shelter. Right before he was going to be put down. I thought it was fate, so I took him right away.”
Standing there under the pouring rain, Choi Yu-ri began to tell him about Mungchi in a trembling, tear-choked voice.