I Want to See That Cheerful, Lively Himchan-i
He wanted to see her again — the cheerful, bright-spirited Himchan-i. The Himchan-i who lived as vigorously as her name. But that was nothing more than Lee Jun's wish. He had to look reality in the eye.
Lee Jun wrestled with the question. Would it be better to press ahead with the corrective procedure despite the risks, or to keep her on heart medication and let her live out a numbered life? Which path would be better for Himchan-i?
If I were Himchan-i, what would I do? If I were her guardian, what decision would I make? If Kongdol-i were in Himchan-i's place right now, what would I have done?
If that were the case, Lee Jun would have wanted the surgery without a second thought. But that was only Lee Jun's thinking. He was neither Himchan-i nor her guardian. And so, in the end, this was the only answer he could give.
"I don't know. I think it would be best to ask the one it actually concerns."
Wanting to hear what Himchan-i thought, Lee Jun rose from his seat.
"Right. Himchan-i's guardian's opinion is what matters most."
No, it isn't. Himchan-i's own thoughts are what matter.
Lee Jun swallowed those last words and walked toward the waiting room, where the guardian and Himchan-i were waiting.
"I'll send Himchan-i to the inpatient ward first, then bring it up."
Once she heard the test results, the guardian would surely be devastated. Companion animals were acutely sensitive to their people's emotions, and Himchan-i would be no exception.
That kid. She'll be so busy comforting her owner that she won't be able to speak her own mind.
Regardless of whatever decision the guardian made, Lee Jun wanted to hear Himchan-i's honest feelings. He entered the waiting room intending to persuade the guardian that Himchan-i ought to rest — but the guardian was already thinking the same thing.
"I'd like our Himchan-i to rest a little."
Once again, Himchan-i wrapped herself around her guardian's arm, soothing her. The guardian spoke gently to the little dog in her arms.
"It's okay. The doctors will be watching over you, so you don't have to be scared. So Himchan-ah, don't be afraid, and get some good rest, okay?"
After sending Himchan-i to the inpatient ward, Lee Jun explained her condition to the guardian in the consultation room.
The guardian kept her gaze locked on the monitor throughout the explanation, saying nothing for a while. On the screen, an echocardiogram played — the heart beating in an irregular rhythm — and through the speakers came a heartbeat anyone could tell was not normal. It was the sight of Himchan-i's heart beating. It was the sound of Himchan-i's heartbeat.
"Our Himchan-i..."
The guardian let out a long sigh and bowed her head. A single tear fell onto the back of her hand where it rested on the table. She rubbed the wet spot with her other hand and went on.
"It's far more serious than I thought."
Lee Jun could only nod. He had no words. Watching him, the guardian asked,
"It would have been better if we'd known sooner, wouldn't it?"
Once again, Lee Jun nodded in place of an answer.
"I see. To have let our Himchan-i get this far... What a careless guardian I am. An irresponsible one."
Lee Jun hadn't explained Himchan-i's condition so that the guardian would blame herself for the past. He had explained it hoping she would make the right decision about what to do going forward. Holding that intention, he spoke.
"That's not true. Himchan-i is a special case. She's one of those kids whose heart murmur is very hard to hear. So you wouldn't have known until it got this severe."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
The guardian fell silent again. Knowing she was gathering her thoughts, Lee Jun waited quietly. After a fairly long silence in the consultation room, she spoke.
"Doctor, may I ask just one thing?"
"Of course."
"If — and I really do mean if — Hoesaegi or Gkamnyangi or Sapsaree were like Himchan-i, what would you do?"
"If you're asking what I would think, I would go through with the correction. Of course, I might never see them again. But I wouldn't want to live on edge, wondering when something might go wrong. If the procedure goes well, they could easily live another ten years — no, even fifteen."
"Ah!"
At Lee Jun's words, the guardian's eyes lit up. She had seen hope.
"That's my thinking, though. I would ask them. I'd ask what they wanted to do."
"I want to ask, too. What our Himchan-i wants to do. I want to do whatever she wants."
"And what would you like to do, ma'am?"
"I feel the same way you do, Doctor."
Having heard the guardian's thoughts, Lee Jun went to Himchan-i to hear her answer as well. And Himchan-i answered without a moment's hesitation.
"All right. Let's get you strong, and live a long time."
Lee Jun stroked Himchan-i as she coughed between her words.
"Himchan-i's such a good girl."
Himchan-i folded her clear, bright eyes halfway shut and smiled.
"It'll be a little hard. Will you be all right?"
Even through the coughing, Himchan-i never once said that it hurt.
One week later, Himchan-i's procedure began.
The operating theater where Lee Jun would perform the procedure had an observation gallery, so others could watch. Veterinarians who had time gathered there. Kang In-hyeok, who doubted Lee Jun's skill, was among them.
"I heard it's Type C. Can they even close it with an ACDO?"
"Well, it's not a complete Type C, so they should be able to. And it's not like Dr. Lee has only done this procedure once or twice."
"That's true. He'll succeed."
Hearing them predict Lee Jun's success, Kang In-hyeok smiled. Another veterinarian who saw it said,
"See, Dr. Kang believes Dr. Lee will succeed too."
No, I don't. I'm smirking because I think he'll fail.
Kang In-hyeok hid what he was really thinking and gave a clumsy nod.
"Ah, well..."
"Eh, I'm a bit pessimistic. The difficulty is just too high."
"I feel the same. This case is right on the verge of reverse PDA. I think Dr. Lee is overconfident."
"Right. Even the big-name doctors have a low success rate with cases like this."
As opinions on the upcoming procedure flew back and forth, a gravelly voice rang out through the observation gallery.
"If y'all are that nervous, why don'tcha go do it yourselves instead of flappin' your mouths? This ain't some ritual to bring Namgoong Animal Medical Center to ruin. Ain't that right?"
At Go Gi-jin's single remark, the observation gallery fell silent in an instant. He had come because he wanted to watch Lee Jun's procedure in person, and at first he had tried to hold his tongue at the criticism. After all, he was a visitor, and they were the ones who belonged here. But he couldn't stand the endless stream of negativity, and so he had spoken up.
"If you came in here, ain't it 'cause you wanted to watch our hyung-nim's procedure? Then watch first. If you don't like it, you can leave!"
There wasn't a single thing wrong with what Go Gi-jin had said, so everyone clamped their mouths shut and looked toward the operating room. While Go Gi-jin was bringing the observation gallery to order, the preparations for the procedure were completed.
"If this procedure goes well, this is a kid who can live another fifteen years. Let's give it everything we have."
With a solemn expression, Lee Jun announced the start of the procedure. Then he briefed the operating room staff on the precautions.
"Anesthesia is normal for now, but if the heart rate drops below 120, notify me. And anything like using atropine — this is a cardiac patient, so please be sure to ask me first."
The procedure Lee Jun was performing on Himchan-i involved threading a slender catheter through the femoral vessel in the thigh, advancing it all the way to the heart, and deploying a duct occluder. Compared to an open-chest surgery, there was less bleeding, less risk of vessel rupture, and less pain. The patient could be discharged within a day and return to normal life, making it a far lighter burden on both the animal and the guardian.
At last the procedure began in earnest, and from the observation gallery that had been quiet until now, one veterinarian let out a gasp of amazement.
"Whoa — he just placed the introducer a second ago, and in the time it takes to blink a few times the delivery catheter is already going into the PDA duct."
"So that's why he has the reputation he does."
Stirred up by the speed of Lee Jun's work, the veterinarians turned their eyes to the monitors installed in the gallery for a closer look. On the screen, Lee Jun had already seated the ACDO and was checking the occluder's position with the C-arm. And before the other veterinarians could even finish gasping in admiration, the procedure was over.
"Whoa!"
A burst of applause erupted from the observation gallery.
"Wow! Th-that's incredible."
"Th-thirty minutes. He finished in thirty minutes."
"Thirty minutes? That's insane. That's practically a record, isn't it?"
"Wouldn't you say? And Himchan-i isn't even an ordinary case."
"The reputation is real. Living up to the name. Not a single wasted motion."
"Doesn't this procedure usually take an hour?"
"It takes me even longer..."
When someone muttered it in a tone of lament, everyone piled on.
"Same here. I should study the recording of this."
"Yeah. And next time I have to ask Dr. Lee to let me assist. I want to watch from right beside him."
"Then I should ask too."
"So who was it that said he was overconfident and that he'd fail?"
"Ahem."
They were all ambitious people. And they were all filled with the desire to operate well and save animals' lives. That was why they walked the path of surgery even knowing how hard it was. To people like that, skill was power — and an idol. And Lee Jun, who had just proven his skill before their eyes, was more than worthy of becoming that idol.
But not everyone felt that way. Kang In-hyeok was displeased by how quickly the atmosphere had flipped. That didn't mean he was being willfully blind about it, though.
Well. He's not bad.
Offering the highest praise he was capable of, Kang In-hyeok looked at Lee Jun.
In a single stroke, Lee Jun had won the veterinarians of Namgoong Animal Medical Center over to his side. In truth, he had no idea they had been envious of him and talking him down, and he had no idea they had decided to make him their idol after Himchan-i's procedure. All Lee Jun knew was that Himchan-i was back to normal, and that fact alone filled him with joy.
"Hyung-nim, you headin' over to get that little one checked today?"
"Yeah. We ran the tests last week and everything came back normal. So I figured we'd start physical therapy today."
"Have a good trip. Sapsaree, you be careful too."
Woof! Sapsaree answered that he understood and followed Lee Jun out the hospital door.
Unlike last week, Lee Jun was not alone on the way to Namgoong Animal Medical Center. Sapsaree was in the car with him.
"Sapsaree, if it gets hard, don't just endure it — tell me. If it's too much, you don't have to do the shoot."
Sapsaree was scheduled to be photographed as the model dog for Namgoong Animal Medical Center's rehabilitation center. They would also be shooting promotional video for visiting guardians. Since Lee Jun was headed to the medical center anyway, he had brought Sapsaree along.
Before long, Lee Jun's car glided to a stop in front of the hospital. The moment he walked into Namgoong Animal Medical Center with Sapsaree, a little brown puffball came bouncing across the lobby toward them.
"Himchan-i's here."
Lee Jun bent his knees and lowered himself, and Himchan-i, still running, leaped straight up onto his lap.
"Very good."
When Lee Jun stroked her, Himchan-i grinned up at him, heh-heh. Beside them, Sapsaree — who had heard all about Himchan-i — smiled softly, watching the two of them with warm satisfaction.
Just then, a man in the distance looked back and forth between Lee Jun and Sapsaree. Beside the man stood a dog of the same breed as Sapsaree, differing only in coat color.
Is that Lee Jun's dog?
The man took in the leash in Lee Jun's hand, connected to Sapsaree's harness. Sapsaree was a Sapsali who didn't so much as twitch even when his owner was petting another dog. He was even smiling, as if he liked it.
Socialization: pass. No aggression... and since Lee Jun is a veterinarian, of course he'll be healthy.
Having looked Sapsaree over carefully, the man walked toward Lee Jun.
"Dr. Lee. It's been a while."
"Oh? Kim sunbae."
"Yeah. You're doing well?"
"Of course. How about you, sunbae?"
"Same as always. Clinic, lectures, elementary school classes. Today I brought this one — our Bangwool-i — for rehab. Well, they call it rehab, but I really just wanted to let him swim a bit."
"I see."
The man talking with Lee Jun was Kim Kang-hoon, his senior by five years. These days, Kim Kang-hoon was also working as a companion-animal behavior specialist.
"So is this one yours?"
"Yes. He's a Sapsali. His name is Sapsaree."
"Is that so? The name is... pretty straightforward. Hey, you wouldn't happen to be interested in something like psychotherapy, would you?"
"Psychotherapy?"
"I mean animal-assisted therapy."
"Ah, you're talking about therapy assistant dogs?"
"That's right. Don't you want to try it? No — don't you want to try Sapsaree at it?"
Lee Jun hesitated at Kim Kang-hoon's proposal. Even with two bodies, the work he was already doing would have been too much. And now he was supposed to take on more?
"I'm interested, but given my situation right now, I can't give you a positive answer."
"Well, you are pretty busy, aren't you? Honestly, I only brought it up because this one — Sapsaree — looks like he has the aptitude."
"Sapsaree does?"
"Yeah. I think Sapsaree would do wonderfully as a therapy assistant. Oh, but is he any good at agility?"
"Well... he's never done it formally, but if you throw a frisbee at the park, he catches it just fine."
Why agility, all of a sudden, in the middle of talking about assistant dogs? Lee Jun looked at him, puzzled.
"Among therapy assistant dogs, the lively ones like him also do agility."
"There's that too?"
"Yeah. They help seniors whose activity has dropped off, or people who need exercise for other reasons — they help them get moving, go for walks, that kind of thing."
At his sunbae's words, Lee Jun found himself deliberating once more. It was clearly a good thing. But was it a good thing for Sapsaree?
He's much better now, but originally he didn't even like being touched by people...
Lee Jun remembered the time when Sapsaree had roamed the mountains, avoiding human hands.
And even when he first came to the animal hospital, he bared his teeth and growled at anyone who wasn't me.
Of course, that hadn't worked on Go Gi-jin. But what if that old temperament suddenly surfaced? With a worried heart, Lee Jun looked at Sapsaree.
But Sapsaree's expression was thoroughly delighted.
"Sapsaree. Is something good going on?"
At Lee Jun's question, Sapsaree nodded his head in a big, enthusiastic yes.