Just Like Bori
Hoesaegi, Gkamnyangi, and Sapsaree put Yeo Un-hyeok under close surveillance.
It was hardly the first day the three of them had been watching him. The whole operation had started with Sapsaree's completely unhinged hypothesis that Petting Teacher was plotting to switch places with their Hyungnim — so if anything, they were simply staying the course.
In any event, the three of them observed Yeo Un-hyeok's every move.
Yeo Un-hyeok, now the unwitting subject of their round-the-clock attention, hadn't the faintest idea. He was simply delighted that the three of them had taken to trailing after him wherever he went.
Just like Senior Yoo said. They've finally opened up to me.
Yoo Mu-hwan had told him the three of them liked him, but Yeo Un-hyeok's own reading of the situation was a little different. In his mind, they had only just begun to think of him as a friend — and the proof was that precious snack they had given him.
Receiving food from the animals themselves... it's like something out of a fairy tale.
He had occasionally heard guardians mention that their pets had brought them a toy as a gift. But food? I've almost never heard of that. I've heard of animals sharing food with each other, and I've seen it on Myetube, but... It was rare enough among fellow animals. For them to offer food to a human...
It means you're someone truly precious to them.
Food was that important to an animal. The thought that they had given him something so precious, so essential, made the three of them — sitting there with their eyes round as saucers, staring straight at him — look almost unbearably dear.
"My little cuties. Are you following Teacher around?"
The fur between Hoesaegi's brows bristled on the spot.
"I am not a cutie-ong. I am magnificent-ong!"
Gkamnyangi, walking beside him, stopped in his tracks and declared,
"I'm a splendid Gkamnyangi!"
"That's right-ong, a magnificent Hoesaegi-ong!"
The two of them answered with a pair of sharp mrowls, and Yeo Un-hyeok's face went awkward.
"Ah, that's right. You like being called magnificent, don't you? Teacher's sorry. Our Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi are magnificent cats. Sapsaree too. Right?"
A flicker of puzzlement crossed the cats' faces.
"Petting Teacher's face looks like Hyungnim's face-ong. He looks like a good person-ong."
Gkamnyangi conceded the point. Hoesaegi had said he was looking at them with an expression just like Lee Jun's.
"Seems that way. He caught on right away that we're not cute — we're magnificent."
"That's right-ayo. He doesn't look suspicious right now-ayo."
Sapsaree chimed in, sweeping his tail back and forth.
Surveillance aside, being praised felt good, and the three of them were in fine spirits.
Yeo Un-hyeok went upstairs and stepped into the ward. The three of them trotted in after him. On an ordinary day, at least one of them would have stayed downstairs to keep watch over the hospital. But the sound of someone calling them magnificent had them trailing after Yeo Un-hyeok as if bewitched — like children following the Pied Piper.
"Aigoo, you left your kibble. I know you don't feel like eating yet, but you still have to. Eat up and get your strength back. That's how you get to go home sooner."
Yeo Un-hyeok spoke gently to the puppy huddled inside the kennel. Then he moved to the dog in the next kennel and said, his voice full of worry,
"Oh, you poor thing. You're in so much pain you can't even lie down. Tomorrow it'll hurt a little less, so hang in there just a bit longer."
The three of them watched him with peculiar eyes as he spoke in that thoroughly worried voice, studying each hospitalized animal with painstaking care. As it kept happening, the puzzlement on their faces only deepened.
"Petting Teacher doesn't look at our friends like this-ong."
Hoesaegi said, rolling his eyes sideways.
"Yeah. He looked just like that."
Gkamnyangi let the corners of his eyes droop and pushed his mouth forward a little, mimicking Yeo Un-hyeok's face. Sapsaree added from beside them,
"He did-ayo. That's the face Benefactor Hyungnim and Strong Hyungnim make when they look at sick friends-ayo."
Silence settled over the three of them. Their expressions grew complicated, each of them turning the thought over.
After a brief pause, Hoesaegi spoke.
"...Petting Teacher is a good one-ong."
"Seems that way?"
The two cats tilted their heads, putting what they had felt into words — and Sapsaree stamped a front paw on the floor with a thunk.
Both pairs of eyes turned to him at once.
"Sapsaree-ong, what is it-nyaong?"
"You hungry?"
That morning Jang Sora had tied up the hair over his eyes, so Sapsaree's face was fully visible. His eyes shone as he said,
"I know now-ayo."
"Know what, nyaong?"
"Know what?"
"The good Petting Teacher and the bad Petting Teacher keep switching places-ayo. We have to drive out the bad Petting Teacher! The bad Petting Teacher is after Benefactor Hyungnim-ayo!"
Sapsaree spoke with absolute conviction. The cats, by contrast, looked thoroughly unimpressed.
"That so-ong?"
"Yeah?"
"That's right-ayo! The bad one has already taken over Petting Teacher-ayo! We have to tell Benefactor Hyungnim and drive the bad one out-ayo. Otherwise Petting Teacher will get captured. Then Benefactor Hyungnim will get captured too-ayo."
Sapsaree delivered this with a grave face, then clip-clip-clipped away at a near-run. Even in this moment, he was still observing the hospital's no-running rule.
"Hey. You're not actually going to Hyungnim, are you?"
Hoesaegi sighed at Sapsaree's retreating figure, already well down the hall.
"He's going to tell Hyungnim-ong."
The cats, who were not taking any of this seriously in the slightest, ambled after him.
Meanwhile, Yeo Un-hyeok — the man shouldering the full weight of their suspicion — left the ward and came back downstairs.
That was when a guardian heading into a consult room with Yoo Mu-hwan caught his eye in the lobby. It wasn't the guardian who snagged his attention. It was the brown poodle in the guardian's arms.
Hm?
Yeo Un-hyeok's eyes went wide. The moment he saw the poodle nestled there, he thought of Bori, the dog he had grown up with as a child.
He almost laughed at himself. They don't look alike at all. Why would I suddenly...
To people who didn't keep animals, a poodle was just a dog with a curly coat. White poodles, brown poodles, chocolate poodles, gray poodles — they only looked different by coat color and grooming style. The faces were all more or less the same. But anyone who had actually lived with a poodle knew that every last one of them looked distinct.
The poodle in the guardian's arms was brown, so of course she would seem to resemble his Bori — but the dog in front of him and Bori didn't share a single feature. Not the eyes, not the nose, not the mouth.
Even the coat color is different...
Bori had been café-au-lait, with a light brown nose. The dog in front of him was a red poodle, her coat a deep brown with a reddish cast, and her nose was black. She and Bori were nothing alike.
So why had Yeo Un-hyeok thought of Bori?
It was the expression. The moment he took in the red poodle's whole demeanor, Bori had risen in his mind.
He asked Yoo Mu-hwan at once.
"Is the little one refusing food?"
A gleam of interest lit Yoo Mu-hwan's eyes.
"Yes — they said she hasn't taken a bite in days. We were about to run some tests. That's impressive, Dr. Yeo. You read the symptom the moment you looked at her."
It wasn't only Yoo Mu-hwan. The guardian holding the red poodle was startled too. He had only glanced at the dog, and he had already caught the symptom.
They said he had a good eye. I'm glad I came. The guardian had traveled a bit of a distance, but the thought that it had been the right decision settled his heart.
"Ah, no. I just had a feeling."
"Well, she does look completely drained. I suppose that would do it."
Ordinarily, as the senior, Yoo Mu-hwan would have spoken more casually between the two of them — but a guardian was present. He answered Yeo Un-hyeok in formal speech and headed into the consult room. The guardian followed, and Yeo Un-hyeok turned toward his own.
He had appointments booked.
After finishing three consults in a row and seeing the last guardian out, Yeo Un-hyeok asked Go Gi-jin, who was standing in the lobby,
"Senior Go — I mean, Doctor. Is that little one from earlier all right?"
"Who're ya talkin' about?"
"The red poodle."
"Ah, Bokshil? That little fella's in the ICU gettin' fluids right now."
"Fluids?"
"That's right. Hasn't eaten in three days, they say. Tiny little thing. You wouldn't believe how dehydrated she is. Dr. Yoo had a devil of a time gettin' a line in."
"Is everything else all right?"
"Liver values are up a bit, but otherwise she's fine. Though Dr. Yoo said if this keeps up, the kidneys are what he'll be worried about."
The same words Yeo Un-hyeok had heard every time Bori was admitted to a hospital. His face darkened.
"Aigoo, look at that soft heart of yours, Dr. Yeo. Don't you worry too much. Hyungnim'll get that little one eatin'."
"Hyungnim... ah, you mean Director Lee?"
"That's right. Ah, wait — might be you'll be the one takin' this case, actually."
"Me?"
"Mm. Turns out that little one's a repeat offender."
"You mean... the not eating?"
"Yep, that's it. Little Bokshil loves her daddy so much, she only eats when he's around, they say."
Yeo Un-hyeok's eyes went wide. The same case as Bori... So that was why Bokshil had caught his eye at a glance.
His mouth felt as if he had been chewing sand.
"Anyway, see if you can get that little one to eat, would ya? I'm headed up to the second-floor ward."
Go Gi-jin gave Yeo Un-hyeok's shoulder a couple of pats by way of asking the favor, and walked off.
"Yes. Hang in there."
Caring for a dog that weighed over ninety pounds was exhausting work. From bandaging to feeding to cleaning up after them — for the dogs that couldn't move, Go Gi-jin's hands were indispensable. The large breeds do so well here because of Senior Go. The reason large-breed dogs had such good outcomes at Mongmong Animal Hospital was Go Gi-jin.
What Yeo Un-hyeok didn't know was that it was also possible because Lee Jun explained the situation to every hospitalized animal and walked them through what to watch for. Unaware of that, he watched Go Gi-jin head upstairs with a look of genuine respect, thinking of him as the man who solved large-breed treatment single-handedly.
Yeo Un-hyeok went straight to the ICU.
He opened the door and found Yoo Mu-hwan inside.
"Dr. Yoo."
"Dr. Yeo. You're here."
"Yes. I heard Bokshil is sick because she isn't eating."
"Mm. Hasn't taken a single thing for three days, apparently. Once her condition improves, I'm thinking of doing an endoscopy. The gastritis looks pretty severe. She's a child who starves herself habitually."
"Senior Go told me. That she only eats when her father is there..."
"That's right. So the guardian wants to do counseling this time as well. Said they're going to end up killing the poor thing at this rate."
The exact same case as Bori. Yeo Un-hyeok's mother had said those same words, and it had tormented her.
He sat down beside Yoo Mu-hwan and watched Bokshil for about ten minutes. In all that time, she never once looked his way. Her eyes were closed, or else she was simply staring blankly ahead. There wasn't a scrap of will in her.
"She'll need to be hospitalized for a few days, then."
"Well. I'm not so sure."
"Pardon? You said the dehydration was severe."
"It is. But they haven't been able to hospitalize her until now. They'd just come in the morning for fluids and take her home in the evening. I'll need to talk it over with the director."
This, too, was exactly like Bori.
"She must hate being in the kennel. She's staying still now because you're here, Senior, but..."
"Oh! Leave it to the animal behaviorist. That's right. Her nails even ripped out once."
Yeo Un-hyeok had nothing to say. He managed only a bitter smile.
"Anyway, once Bokshil's doing a little better, I'd like you to do some counseling. She's only four, and with the pancreas, and the kidneys... well. You know."
Meaning she wouldn't live long if this continued. Yeo Un-hyeok answered in a voice gone completely still.
"Yes."
He thought as he left the ward.
He had entered this profession to treat children just like her. But could his own skills really treat Bokshil — this child who called Bori so vividly to mind?
Could they, really?
I can calm her down, at least. He could keep her from getting agitated. And I could even spark her appetite for a little while. He had treated cases like Bokshil's even back in school. But a fundamental cure had been impossible. No matter how many medications you poured in, she would eat for a day or two and that was the end of it.
Could Director Lee get Bokshil to eat? Wouldn't she at least take one of those mysterious cookies everyone loved?
Wondering what solution Lee Jun would come up with for Bokshil, Yeo Un-hyeok found himself genuinely curious.
After he had finished all his appointments, Lee Jun came to the ICU.
"Bokshil, are you going to eat when your dad comes?"
A small whimper. Bokshil answered him.
Lee Jun kept going.
"I know you love eating with your dad. But because you're not eating, your mom is sad. Your big brother isn't eating either."
A string of earnest whines. Bokshil answered him diligently.
It was a different face from the one she had worn minutes ago, when Yeo Un-hyeok and Yoo Mu-hwan had been the ones in the room. Her eyes were bright and alive. Every word Yeo Un-hyeok himself had once said to Bori came out of Director Lee's mouth, and each time, Bokshil answered with everything she had.
About an hour passed.
Smack, smack, smack.
The sound of eating rose from the ICU. Bokshil was happily working her way through a prescription canned diet the consistency of porridge.
She... she ate.
It wasn't even those suspicious cookies. It wasn't food with the cookies ground into it, either. Yeo Un-hyeok looked back and forth between Lee Jun and Bokshil, who was eating the very prescription diet he himself had opened and scooped into a bowl.
At first there was only astonishment in his eyes. Then, slowly, gratitude seeped in. Gratitude toward Bokshil, for eating. And gratitude toward Lee Jun, for getting her to eat.