The Benefactor Dog

In the end, it was thanks to Hoesaegi's wise judgment that Tan had come through unharmed.

Sapsaree said we had to wait for Hyung-nim to get here, ong.

Lee Jun had told Sapsaree that even if he found Tan, he was not to go near him. Tan might startle and bolt, he'd explained.

Sapsaree, insisting he had to obey his Benefactor Hyung-nim's orders, had waited by the door with the tiniest of woofs.

Hoesaegi, however, had argued that if they didn't charge in that instant, Tan would be attacked. Gkamnyangi had sided with him, and the cats had announced they were going to save Tan whether Sapsaree waited or not.

Sapsaree had reluctantly followed them inside — and that was how they had come to witness the hoodlum cats threatening Tan.

Sapsaree sent those punks flying, ong. But the reason they keeled over cold is because they were terrified of me, ong.

So why was Tan calling only Sapsaree his savior?

The second Mangchi and Geondal-i laid eyes on me, they started shaking like leaves. So why is that guy calling Sapsaree his savior?!

The cats narrowed their eyes into angry little triangles, looking back and forth between Tan and Sapsaree.

Sapsaree, utterly unbothered, simply gazed at Tan with a gentle smile.

He had tracked Tan's scent with painstaking care, following every lesson Benji the former search dog had taught him. Concentrate well enough, and you can find even the faintest trail. Holding Benji's teachings close, Sapsaree had searched and searched. And in the end, he had found him.

"Hyung-nim Benji was right, he was! He said if you don't give up and just keep following the scent, you'll find your target, he did!"

Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi wrinkled their noses at the sight of Sapsaree beaming with the joy of a job well done. To the cats, that smile looked an awful lot like showing off.

I could have found him too, ong.

If I'd known Tan's scent from the start, of course I would have found him.

A short while later, Lee Jun arrived on the scene, and his eyes went wide.

"You... you really found him."

"That's right, I did! I found Tan, I did!"

Sapsaree barked it out at the top of his lungs.

"Well done. Sapsaree really found him."

Lee Jun could hardly believe it. Sapsaree had sounded so sure of himself that Lee Jun hadn't wanted to crush his enthusiasm, so he'd told him to go ahead and search. And he had actually found Tan.

He was so proud of Sapsaree for showing a talent far beyond anything he had imagined. Honestly, it had never even occurred to him that Sapsaree might possess a search dog's abilities.

His hand reached out of its own accord, and he ruffled Sapsaree's head.

"Sapsaree, you did something truly amazing. I'm so proud of you."

"Heehee."

Sapsaree wagged his tail in delight.

Lee Jun crouched in front of him and came face to face with Tan.

Animals are extraordinarily sensitive to the atmosphere around them. Survival depends on it — they have to decide, instinctively and at once, whether someone is friend or foe. And so, instead of hiding from the stranger, Tan met Lee Jun's eyes with a bright, sparkling gaze.

"Are you Tan?"

Heehee. Tan smiled up at him.

"You've been through so much."

It was only a single sentence, but Tan swallowed hard. His throat had gone tight and prickly.

"You must have been scared, and lonely, and hungry. You held on so well."

"Hngh..."

Tan tightened his grip on the leg he was already hugging and nodded.

"I was so scared!"

"I know. Let's go now."

Lee Jun stroked Tan as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he immediately called the guardian.

The voice on the other end was utterly drained of strength. Lee Jun skipped every preamble and delivered the news in a single stroke.

"We found him."

"Yes. We found Tan. I'll switch to a video call."

Listening to the guardian tumble over her own answers, Lee Jun switched to video and immediately turned the camera on Tan.

A very brief silence settled.

The guardian's voice broke out of her in a raw, sobbing cry.

The overwhelmed guardian kept calling his name again and again.

When the voice saying his name came out of the little box, Tan's head tilted. He batted a little black puff of a paw toward the phone — but his other three feet stayed locked around Sapsaree's leg, as if he would never, ever let go.

Lee Jun saw the tears welling in Tan's eyes as that small black paw waved, and he spoke.

"Ma'am, I think Tan heard your voice. His eyes are all shiny — he looks like he misses you terribly."

The guardian's thanks poured out without end.

"I think Sapsaree is the one who deserves your thanks, not me. I didn't find him. Sapsaree did."

"Sapsaree tracked him by Tan's scent."

Lee Jun gave her the short version of how Sapsaree had found him.

"We'll bring Tan over now."

"Ah — that's right."

Lee Jun remembered. That morning, when he had gone to pick up Tan's toy, the guardian had said she needed to leave for work.

"Then I'll keep Tan with me for now. Please come to the animal hospital after you get off."

"Of course."

Lee Jun ended the call and turned to Tan.

"Tan. How about we go to our animal hospital for now? If you wait there, Mom will come pick you up later."

At that, Tan clutched Sapsaree's leg even tighter.

"I want to stay with the Benefactor Dog."

"Sure. You can stay together. Sapsaree's coming with us."

"Tan, let's go to our Mongmong Animal Hospital, let's! It's a really wonderful place, it is!"

"Yes!"

Tan answered at the top of his lungs the moment Sapsaree invited him.

"Tan seems happy. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Do you like Sapsaree that much?"

"Yes! He saved me! The Benefactor Dog is such a wonderful person."

"You little guy. That's a relief. I was worried he'd be terrified."

Lee Jun said it, then turned to Sapsaree.

"Sapsaree. You did something truly remarkable. You really did."

"Heehee. I'll find them next time too, I will!"

Lee Jun's praise made Sapsaree so happy he raised his voice.

"Yes, yes. If anything like this ever happens again, we'll come straight to our Sapsaree for help. All right, everyone — let's go."

"Tan, climb up on my back, you should."

"Heehee, Benefactor Dog, really?"

"That's right, it is. You're too hungry to walk, you are. Lie down on my back."

"Thank you so much."

"Sapsaree, let's put your leash on now."

Lee Jun clipped the lead to Sapsaree's collar, scooped Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi into his arms, and started walking toward the animal hospital.

The two cats in his arms stuck their lips out in a sulky pout.

Tch. I went looking for that Tan too.

He had searched so hard — and Hyung-nim didn't even know it. Gkamnyangi felt distinctly unappreciated, listening to Lee Jun praise only Sapsaree.

I wandered all over looking for Tan too, ong. But Hyung-nim only said Sapsaree did well, ong.

Hoesaegi felt just as slighted. He had spent the whole night turning the neighborhood upside down for Tan.

Sway, sway.

The cats in Lee Jun's arms kept their mouths stuck out and stared at Sapsaree walking beside them. His face was tipped up with perfect self-assurance, and his footsteps clicked along with the same unshakable confidence.

Sapsaree was walking exactly the way he always walked. To the cats, though, it looked like he was swaggering over a single successful search.

If I'd just had Tan's toy, I could have found him too.

If I could have gotten a proper lock on Tan's scent, I would have found him faster than Sapsaree, ong.

Sway, sway.

The cats in Lee Jun's arms pouted and grumbled inwardly the whole way. In the middle of all that muttering, Hoesaegi suddenly wondered how Tan had gotten over that high wall.

"Tan, ong, how did you get over the wall, ong?"

"Tan, you any good at climbing high places?"

Gkamnyangi, who could never leave a curiosity alone, jumped in. A wall happened to be in sight, so he added to the question.

"That thing. How'd you get over that?"

"I was hiding under the wall, and then those scary hyungs showed up a little while ago... I climbed up something big. But they just kept appearing there too... I was so scared."

The warehouse had not been Tan's first encounter with Mangchi and Geondal-i.

After he had bolted from home, he had fled in a blind panic and stumbled onto a scene by accident. Mangchi and Geondal-i had been tormenting some other cat. Terrified, Tan had run for his life — and a truck had been parked right under the wall. He had climbed it and gone over in a single leap.

The warehouse was what he had found after running from them. He had hidden there without moving an inch — and then he had run straight into the two of them again.

He had been saved at the single most terrifying moment. Of course Sapsaree, who had sent those monstrous cats flying like sheets of paper, seemed impossibly great and impossibly kind.

Remembering it all over again, Tan's chest tightened. Goosebumps prickled over him at the same time. If the Benefactor Dog carrying him now — if Sapsaree — had not appeared, those two would have beaten him. The way they had beaten that cat in the alley.

Tan hugged Sapsaree tight.

"Benefactor Dog, thank you so, so much. Thank you so much for saving me."

The moment Tan said it, Hoesaegi's and Gkamnyangi's faces lit up.

"Ah, so that's what happened, ong?"

"I see, I see. Tan, your judgment's really good."

"That's right, ong. Your reflexes were excellent, ong."

True to the nature of cats who could never stand an unsolved puzzle, Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi praised Tan the instant their curiosity was satisfied.

"Heehee. Thank you."

That was when Sapsaree put in a word.

"Tan, our hyung-nims searched all over for you too, they did. They turned this whole neighborhood upside down all day yesterday, they did."

Sapsaree said it, then looked back at Lee Jun.

"Benefactor Hyung-nim, that's right, isn't it?"

"That's right. Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi worked very hard."

"That's right, they did. Our hyung-nims were so, so tired that Hoesaegi Hyung-nim slept going kuh-uhk, kuh-uhk, really loud, he did. And Gkamnyangi Hyung-nim slept going korong-korong-kororong, he did."

In other words: they had been so exhausted they had snored at full volume.

At the praise from Sapsaree and Lee Jun, the pouty mouths that had been stuck out until now drew back in a little.

"...Really? The cat hyung-nims searched for me too?"

"We did, ong. But we couldn't find you, ong."

"Yeah. You just weren't there. We thought you'd be near the house."

"I thought you were the terrifying hyung-nims who make even the bad cats tremble... and you searched for me... thank you so, so much."

Tan bowed his head in a proper little greeting.

Hoesaegi spoke to him.

"Tan, ong, I'm not scary, ong. I'm cool, ong."

"That's right. We're not scary cats. We're cool and handsome."

Their mouths had gone all the way back in now. Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi looked down at Tan on Sapsaree's back with thoroughly pleased smiles.

"That's right, it is. Hoesaegi Hyung-nim is incredibly cool, he is. Gkamnyangi Hyung-nim is cool too, he is."

Sapsaree said it with pride. Tan looked up at the cats, his head tilting, then dropped his gaze again and looked at Sapsaree.

"But the Benefactor Dog is way cooler, though?"

"Gack!"

"Ugh!"

The cats were speechless.

"Tan, ong. Look carefully, ong. I'm way cooler, ong."

"That's right. I'm way, way better looking than those two."

"No, ong. I'm better looking and cooler, ong."

"Don't make me laugh! I said I'm the coolest!"

As the two cats went at each other, Sapsaree murmured quietly to Tan.

"Tan, please understand. Our hyung-nims are a little like that, they are."

"Heehee, it's okay. I only need my wonderful Benefactor Dog."

"Is that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so, is it?"

"Yes. Heehee."

"But Tan. I'm Sapsaree, I am."

"Yes, Sapsaree Benefactor Dog!"

"No, I'm not. Just Sapsaree, I am. Call me that, please."

Sapsaree liked the name his Benefactor Hyung-nim, Lee Jun, called him. Sapsaree.

"But you're the Benefactor Dog?"

"I like Sapsaree, I do."

"Yes. Sapsaree Hyung-nim."

Tan said it, then gently rested his body against Sapsaree's back.

Feeling Tan's warmth, Sapsaree thought of Kkotnimi and Donggeuli.

Donggeuli calls Kkotnimi Oppa, she does. Kkotnimi Oppa!

Sapsaree had envied how freely Donggeuli followed Kkotnimi around. He followed Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi himself, and he called them Hyung-nim too. Even so, he had envied it.

But now he had a little cat brother of his own.

A smile curled the corners of his mouth.

Up ahead was Mongmong Animal Hospital, the place he loved more than anywhere. Right beside him was the Benefactor Hyung-nim he loved most of all. The cats in that Hyung-nim's arms were the hyung-nims he loved next after him. And on his own back was a cute little cat who called him Hyung-nim.

Sapsaree wagged his tail and walked on.