The Hero of the Day
That day, the hero at the volunteer treatment site was Gkamnyangi.
"Oh my, oh my, Gkamnyangi is just too adorable!"
"Gkamnyangi is so brave!"
"Aww, look at you. Gkamnyangi, come here, would you?"
Monopolizing the grandmothers' affection was a given.
"Ahem, ahem. Gkamnyangi is quite the handsome fellow. Doctor, would you mind taking a photograph of me with him?"
"I'd like one as well. My granddaughter would love this."
The dignified grandfathers called for Gkamnyangi too, and they took the click he so adored. Each time the shutter sounded, Gkamnyangi struck a magnificent pose and gathered the elders' love all to himself.
This is the best.
Being popular with the elders was wonderful — but what made him happiest of all was Lady Nana's reaction.
"You look magnificent."
Just a few simple words. And yet that single sentence sent Gkamnyangi soaring, as if he could fly. Until the day before, he hadn't even been able to sleep for thinking he wouldn't get to see her.
"L-Lady, you are beautiful as well."
Gkamnyangi spent a delightful afternoon with Lady Nana, whom he had come so close to missing, and was showered with affection from the dear grandmothers and grandfathers besides. Every time the elders praised him as cute, as magnificent, Hoesaegi and Sapsaree chimed in.
"Of course-ong. Gkamnyangi is magnificent-ong."
"Heehee, our Gkamnyangi hyungnim is so cool, right?"
Each time, Gkamnyangi's ears perked and twitched. The elders' praise was lovely, but nothing — nothing — made him happier than his brothers being proud of him.
No. Second happiest, after Lady Nana saying I look magnificent.
Having realized that together was better than alone, Gkamnyangi glanced back at his brothers whenever he had a moment. Hoesaegi and Sapsaree both gazed at him with pride. At the same time, they were a little envious. Hoesaegi kept his eyes fixed on Gkamnyangi's lion-mane wig and muttered,
"I want to wear one too-ong."
Sapsaree felt the same.
"I-I want to wear one too!"
Hoesaegi looked at him.
"Sapsaree-ong, it might be a bit tough for you-ong."
"I-is that so?"
Nod, nod. Hoesaegi dipped his head instead of answering. Wheeeeew~. Sapsaree let out a long sigh of agreement.
Their worry, however, was unfounded. The photograph Jang Sora had taken of Gkamnyangi as a wild lion spread across Gowi Cafe in an instant, and fans — demanding to know why Hoesaegi and Sapsaree weren't in it — sent lion hats fitted perfectly for the two of them.
"Alright, Hoesaegi, you try it on too."
"Sapsaree, come on over!"
The two of them obediently put on the wig-hats. Then they dashed straight up to the second floor, where a full-length mirror stood in the break room — and that was exactly where they were headed.
A broad, massive face was a symbol of power. Hoesaegi was thoroughly satisfied with his now-fluffier countenance.
"Kehehehong! I am Hoesaegi-ong!"
Sapsaree beside him felt the same. His fur was already plush, and now that it was even plushier, he felt as though he had grown stronger too.
"Euhehehe! I am Sapsaree!"
Gkamnyangi came and stood beside them.
"I am Gkamnyangi!"
The three of them beamed at the mirror. Still smiling at his reflection, Hoesaegi spoke.
"Gkamnyangi-ong, it's clean-ong."
"Huh? What is?"
"Your eye is clean-ong."
At Hoesaegi's words, Sapsaree stared hard at Gkamnyangi's face. One of Gkamnyangi's eyes was still covered by a glittering eyepatch. Sapsaree tilted his head.
"I don't get it. Hoesaegi hyungnim, how can you tell?"
Hoesaegi lifted the corner of his mouth in a grin.
"I just know when I look-ong."
And he was right. A little later, Hyungnim wiped Gkamnyangi's eye and said,
"Gkamnyangi, it healed up nice and clean."
"Hee, heeheehee. Then, Hyungnim, does that mean the weird stuff won't come anymore?"
He meant the eye gunk.
"That's right."
At Lee Jun's words, Hoesaegi threw his arms around Gkamnyangi. Sapsaree licked Gkamnyangi's face with his long tongue. Then they cried out,
"Hyungnim is the best-ong!"
"Hyungnim is the best! Hyungnim can fix anything!"
Gkamnyangi hopped up and down alongside Hoesaegi and shouted too, and Sapsaree joined the chorus.
"That's right! Benefactor Hyungnim is the best! He makes all the sick friends better!"
Kids who didn't know the meaning of exaggeration. Hearing the word best from such honest little mouths, Lee Jun felt his heart go warm and loose.
"Thank you, you guys!"
"No-ong. I'm the one who's grateful-ong."
"That's right. I'm the one who should thank you. Thank you, Hyungnim."
"Hyungnim, thank you!"
All three of them rushed at Lee Jun at once. He bent his knees and lowered himself, and Gkamnyangi and Hoesaegi leaped up to cling to his shoulders and arms. Sapsaree shoved his head in between Lee Jun's arm and his side. All three of them simply wanted to feel his warmth.
How am I supposed to stay home and rest when it's like this?
If he just kept moving a little, the kids would be more at ease. Lee Jun was thinking that, soaking in the warmth of the three of them, when Gkamnyangi muttered,
"Hyungnim, you have to sleep. You can't get sick."
It was a warning that wasn't quite a warning — advice that if he didn't sleep, he would fall ill again.
"That's right-ong. If Hyungnim gets sick, it's sad-ong."
Hoesaegi nuzzled his face against Lee Jun's neck and mumbled along, and Sapsaree added his piece.
"That's right. If Benefactor Hyungnim gets sick, it's sad. Strong Hyungnim was sad too."
"Cool Hyungnim was worried too-ong."
"Coward Hyungnim was sad too."
"Coward Hyungnim?"
"The hyungnim from Dalcomi's hospital-ong."
He must mean Life Love Animal Hospital, where Dalcomi — once a member of the Evergreen District family — went for treatment. Lee Jun thought of Choi Woo-jin, who worked there.
"Woo-jin did? Why?"
"That Coward Hyungnim did this and cried-ong."
Hoesaegi lifted a front paw and brought it to the corner of his eye. The result was a pair of naturally downturned, squinting eyes — the very picture of someone bawling.
Woo-jin cried? That guy? There's no way...
Lee Jun was still reeling from the unexpected news when Gkamnyangi continued.
"Hoesaegi cried too, like waaaaah."
"Gkamnyangi cried nyaaauk-nyaaauk too-ong!"
"Hoesaegi cried like this."
Gkamnyangi hopped down from Lee Jun's shoulder and went to the corner of the room. He pressed his head against the angle of the wall and thumped it with his cotton-ball front paws.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Hoesaegi leaped down too and flopped splat onto the floor. Then he flailed his paws and said,
"Gkamnyangi cried like this-ong. He said he was so sad because Hyungnim was hurting-ong."
"Hmph! It wasn't that bad."
"Yes it was-ong. Like this-ong. And Sapsaree just sat there staring at the door the whole time-ong. But Gkamnyangi rolled all the way over to Sapsaree's legs while he was crying-ong."
"Th-that's right. Gkamnyangi hyungnim flopped down next to my legs and cried."
"That's what happened-ong!"
"Tch!"
Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi teased each other about who had cried louder. The more they did, the wider Lee Jun's mouth stretched to the side.
Ah, these guys...
Why did these kids give him this much feeling? It was already more than enough to be grateful that the house was full of warmth — and yet they thought about him, and worried about him, this much. His mouth was smiling, but his heart had plunged into a tsunami of emotion and was weeping.
To think everyone around me worries about me like this.
He resolved that, for his own sake and for the sake of those who worried about him, he would have to create an environment where he could actually rest.
The next day, when Lee Jun stepped into the morning meeting room, every staff member was smiling brightly.
"Good morning. You all look like you're in a great mood, though?"
"We were looking at the kids. Director, why are our kids this cute?"
Cha Da-jeong held out her hand with a smiling face. What she showed him was her phone's home screen: the photograph Jang Sora had posted in the group chat the day before, of Hoesaegi, Gkamnyangi, and Sapsaree beaming in their lion wigs.
"Dr. Cha saved this as her home screen too, I see."
The day before, Jang Sora had posted the photo of the three of them in the group chat.
"Me too."
"Same here."
At the news that every staff member had the same home screen, Lee Jun smiled softly.
"I guess our kids really are popular."
"Of course they are. Obviously. My brother dotes on them so much."
"Senior Cha?"
"Of course. He may not look it, but my brother really, truly loves animals."
Cha Wuk's prickly personality was already something nobody in the industry didn't know. These days, Daehan Animal Medical Center was a place any veterinarian would want to work — but there had been a time when nobody wanted to go near that hospital.
I heard Senior Yoo had a really hard time.
Yoo Daehyun, who ran the hospital alongside him, was practically called a living bodhisattva.
Still, both of them are completely sincere when it comes to treating animals. That aside — how did Senior Yoo manage to hire that many staff?
The day before, Lee Jun had made up his mind to hire more people. The problem was exactly what kind of people to take on.
If it were up to me, I'd want to keep going just like this...
After they had switched to a five-day work week, the biggest complaint from guardians was that their attending veterinarian kept changing. It was only natural. When you worked eight hours a day, five days a week, you might not even see the veterinarian who had treated you three days ago. Add on-call duty into the mix, and it was, in a way, inevitable. But for the guardians and animals coming in for treatment, it was an unfamiliar situation. And if the staff kept changing on top of that, the whole meaning of being a regular would disappear.
I want to build an animal hospital that guardians can trust and come to...
Lee Jun wanted to make Mongmong Animal Hospital into that kind of place. A hospital where a guardian could walk in and say, "Give our kid their food," and you would hand it over immediately. A hospital where if someone asked, "Doctor, why is he like this?" you might not instantly know what was wrong — but you would at least be able to tell that something had changed. That was the kind of hospital he hoped for. And so far, it had been heading in that direction.
The reason was simple. It was the result of every doctor and staff member standing in front of him working so hard.
Gi-jin, Dr. Cha, Dr. Yoo, and Manager Jang...
Whenever they had a spare moment, they opened the charts and committed the recorded conditions of the animals to memory. Nobody had even asked them to. As a result, the Mongmong Animal Hospital family greeted the animals by name the moment they arrived.
No wonder the kids can't help but love our hospital.
Who would dislike being welcomed with that much attention?
I want to keep this atmosphere going...
That was why Lee Jun had been hesitating to hire new people. What if someone who didn't fit came in?
But if we keep going like this, these people might quit.
Because it was too hard.
You have to know how to rest if you want to work for a long time, he said.
Recalling veterinarian Go Panseok's advice, Lee Jun spoke his decision out loud.
"We've been getting more appointments and more surgeries lately. You're all tired, aren't you?"
"We're not the ones having a hard time — you are, Director. You take on all the surgeries yourself."
At Cha Da-jeong's words, Go Gi-jin lifted the mood.
"From here on out, I reckon the caseload's only gonna grow, not shrink."
"I think Dr. Go is right. Ever since I came here, the chart numbers have been climbing steadily. And the rate of increase is getting faster and faster."
Yoo Mu-hwan confirmed that more and more animals were coming in for treatment.
"That's what I'm sayin'. Hyungnim — I mean, Director — let's hire us another doctor, yeah? Then you can rest too, and we can, uh, ahahaha... did I just make that a little too obvious?"
Lee Jun was inwardly grateful to the sheepishly smiling Go Gi-jin.
He really does know how to soften a room.
If that was a talent, it was a talent. Thanks to that one line from Go Gi-jin, everyone started talking comfortably.
"Tired? Compared to my brother's hospital, this place is heaven. Heaven."
Cha Da-jeong went on with a bright smile.
"And Chef Joo's food is delicious, too."
"That's the truth. Chef Joo's food is love, I tell ya — love! Anyway, let's hire another doctor."
"Is everyone in favor?"
"Sounds good."
"I think it's a good idea too. Efficiency would go way up."
"Then does anyone have someone they'd like to recommend? If you do, please let me know. I'll put in a request with the school."
The moment the meeting ended, Lee Jun planned to call his junior from school, Eom Jin-han.
And I should call Senior Yoo and ask him, too.
Daehan Animal Medical Center had stabilized now, but it had once been a hospital where veterinarians came and went constantly. Which meant a great many veterinarians had passed through.
It would be good to know how to handle it if a doctor who doesn't fit comes in.
You never knew with people. They couldn't only get good people forever, the way they had so far. The same went for regular staff.
Some people said this: as long as they did the work well, what did it matter whether they liked animals or not? In other words, as long as they operated well and treated well, wasn't that enough?
That's not wrong, either. But still — I want to work with people who love animals.
For that reason, Lee Jun intended to ask Yoo Daehyun — a man who had seen a great many employees come and go — how it was done.