A Matter of Pride
When the family at Mongmong Animal Hospital heard that the missing cat Tan had been found, they came out to the lobby to wait for Lee Jun and his companions. The moment the heroes arrived, the family welcomed them with a generous, thumping round of fist applause.
"I knew Sapsaree was smart, but I never imagined he'd find a cat that had run away from home. Sapsaree, you did so well. You really did."
"Our Sapsaree is so clever. How did he ever manage something that hard?"
"I knew our Sapsaree would find Tan. Aigoo, our adorable Sapsaree."
"He did real good, he surely did. Our Sapsaree did just real good."
The hospital family welcomed Sapsaree as if he were a knight-commander riding home from the battlefield with news of victory. Sapsaree beamed at their welcome.
"Hehe, Teachers! I saved Tan, I did!"
Sapsaree was simply happy that the family was glad he had brought trembling little Tan home. He was smiling because they had smiled at him, and because they had praised him, and that was enough.
But as Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi watched the hospital family fuss over Sapsaree, the corners of their mouths sank lower and lower. Their tails drooped.
That Sapsaree had found Tan after they themselves had failed was a tremendous shock to the two cats. On top of that came Hyung-nim's fervent praise, poured out on Sapsaree alone. Their pride was left in tatters. And when even the family they had trusted until moments ago heaped their applause on Sapsaree and Sapsaree only, that pride shattered completely.
"Hyung-nim told me I worked hard too, ong."
"Sapsaree said we had a hard time of it too."
In a thoroughly foul mood, the two cats slipped from Lee Jun's arms with a swish and trotted off, muttering as they went.
"But everyone's only saying Sapsaree did well, ong."
"Petting Teacher petted Sapsaree. He said he was cool."
"Kind Teacher said Sapsaree was amazing and cool too."
"I believed in Petting Teacher and Kind Teacher, ong."
"That's right. But I won't believe them anymore."
Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi felt a deep sense of betrayal toward Yeo Un-hyeok and Yoo Mu-hwan, who had always told them they were cool and handsome whenever they saw them.
The two cats who had been trotting along were, before they knew it, trudging. They had no destination. The only thought in their heads was that they needed to get away from the family making such a fuss over Sapsaree. They slowed a little more and went on muttering.
"Come to think of it, I was the one who gave the order, ong."
"That's right. You gave the order, Hoesaegi, and that's why we charged in."
"Mangchi and Geondal-i saw you, Gkamnyangi, and shook like leaves, ong."
"And when they saw you, Hoesaegi, they fainted dead away."
Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi sang their own praises. In a situation where everyone was cooing over Sapsaree alone, they had to do at least that much, or their soaring pride would be wounded beyond bearing.
That said, they did not ignore Sapsaree's success. They acknowledged it.
This time Sapsaree did very well, ong. But I'm still the better one, ong.
This time Sapsaree was excellent. Next time, I'll show them what I can really do.
Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi clenched their tiny front paws, already eyeing the next opportunity.
Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi's days were much the same, every morning to every night.
They woke, went out into the yard, and made a circuit of it. Then they climbed a tree and surveyed the surroundings, confirming that Golmokjib had passed the night unharmed. After that they ate breakfast and reported for duty at the hospital. They went to the inpatient ward to see whether their sick friends had slept well, delivered their report to Lee Jun, and cadged a treat from Jang Sora. Then they stretched out on the cat tower and let the hours drift by. When friends arrived they exchanged greetings; when closer friends arrived they played. If they heard a presence approaching, they alerted Hyung-nim. Sometimes they spent the day on the second-floor playground. That was how most of their days went.
After Sapsaree's rescue of Tan, however, Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi no longer loafed on the cat tower. Their eyes gleamed. Their ears stood at attention. The two of them bustled around the hospital, hunting for a chance to restore their honor.
And at last, the chance arrived.
Scramble, scramble. Kakkong-i was rushing about the lobby. He hopped up onto a waiting-room chair and sniffed and sniffed; he dropped onto his belly and pawed under the seats with his stubby little front feet; he craned his neck behind the water bowl; he even went around behind the potty pad to look.
Hoesaegi, who had been watching since the moment Kakkong-i started inspecting the chairs, asked,
"Kakkong-i, why are you doing that, ong?"
"It's gone, ain't it?"
"What's gone, ong?"
"The cookie Nunim gave me done vanished. I was savin' it to eat at home."
He had lost the welcome treat he'd been given. In that instant, Hoesaegi's eyes flashed. Beside him, Gkamnyangi's eyes lit up just as bright. At last, a chance to show what they could do.
"I'll find it for you, ong."
"I'm good at finding that kind of thing."
The two of them called out with total confidence and came bounding toward Kakkong-i.
"Fer real? You hyungs're gonna find it for me?"
Kakkong-i's dark eyes shone, and he broke into a bright smile.
"That's right, ong. Kakkong-i, I'll find it for you, ong."
"I said I'll find it."
"Nunim gave Kakkong-i a cookie, ong. I saw it, ong. You carried it off that way in your mouth, ong."
As Hoesaegi recited Kakkong-i's movements, Gkamnyangi refused to be outdone and picked up the thread.
"You had a drink of water. That's when you set the cookie down beside you."
"Ah, that's right, I did—I think I picked the cookie back up after I drank… wait, did I?"
"That's right, ong. You carried it off that way, ong."
Hoesaegi declared it with utter certainty.
"I saw it too. You took it to the playground in your mouth."
"I carried it all the way over there? I didn't leave it here?"
"No, ong. I saw it, ong. You ran with it in your mouth just like this, ong."
Hoesaegi gave a demonstration, then set off walking, sniffing as he went. Gkamnyangi and Kakkong-i followed.
"He must have dropped it on the way to the playground, ong. It'll be around here, ong."
Hoesaegi paced in front of the playground with his nose to the floor, sniffing.
"I think he took it inside. Kakkong-i's teeth are so big and strong—there's no way he'd drop a cookie!"
Gkamnyangi deployed his powers of deduction and headed into the playground.
Kakkong-i looked at the cats and tilted his head.
"But I don't remember carryin' no cookie this far. It's gotta be over yonder somewhere."
He stood there tipping his head one way and then the other, then went back to the chair where he thought he had left the cookie, and looked around again.
That was when Sapsaree gave a small bark.
"Cookie's right here, it is! Kakkong-i, you lookin' for this?"
Sapsaree pointed with one long front paw at the hiding cubby on the very bottom of the cat tower.
"The cookie's in there?"
Kakkong-i bounced over to where Sapsaree stood as if he were a ball let loose, then gave a low, delighted bark.
"Wow, that's it! Hyung, how'd you know?"
"It's there? Where?"
"Where is it, ong?"
Hearing Kakkong-i's bark, Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi came hurrying over to the cat tower, asking as they came.
"Hehe, I was dead wrong. I thought I left it here, but I went and hid it in you hyungs' hiding cubby."
Gkamnyangi stretched a wide smile across his face as Kakkong-i went on.
"Sapsaree hyung! You're amazin'! No wonder you found Tan too, if you can do this!"
With that, Kakkong-i took the cookie in his mouth and trotted briskly away.
Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi's pupils trembled.
"It was under the spot where I'd been sitting, ong."
"I-it was there?"
Their second defeat at Sapsaree's paws.
Sapsaree, who could not have cared less, simply lay back down in his usual spot. Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi, however, had taken a wound of considerable size. As if they had agreed on it beforehand, the two of them walked in identical steps to the hiding cubby at the very bottom of the cat tower and squeezed themselves inside—the same hiding cubby where Kakkong-i had stashed his cookie. Packed in together, the cats started to squabble.
"Gkamnyangi, get out, ong. I can't breathe, ong."
"Hoesaegi, you get out. It's cramped."
A few days later, Kakkong-i came to the hospital again. Ttangkhongi, Jamong, and Mongi happened to be there as well, and Kakkong-i launched into the story of the other day.
"Ain't Sapsaree hyung just the best? I done lost my cookie and nearly ate the loss, but hyung found it for me, didn't he?"
"Young Sapsaree is a clever lad. Strong, too. A most splendid young fellow."
"Heehee, that's right. Even Kkotnimi, Juhongi, and Jageun Hoesaegi can't do a thing against Sapsaree hyung. And this time he found Tan too!"
"Tha's right. Sapsaree hyung is suuuper 'mazing."
"Sapsaree hyung, how did you find Tan? I heard even Hoesaegi hyung and Gkamnyangi hyung couldn't find him."
When Jamong asked, his eyes sparkling, the fur on Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi's brows bristled where they sat nearby. Nobody paid them any attention. Everyone was fixed on Sapsaree, waiting to hear what would come out of his mouth.
"Hehe, you just keep the smell in your head and search, that's all. Benji hyung-nim said so, he did."
"You remember it?"
"That's right, you do. You hide somethin' like this and then you find it."
Sapsaree fetched his own toy in his mouth and went on.
"Wow, if it's findin' things, I'm real confident, I am!"
"I can f-find things good too."
When the dogs chimed in, Sapsaree picked the toy up again, trotted a little farther off, set it down, and continued.
"First you find the toy you left close by, you do. Then you find one that's farther. Then one that's even farther. And later you find the ones they buried deep in the dirt, thunk-thunk-thunk!"
As Sapsaree explained, the dogs stamped their front paws in excitement.
"Wow, wow, that sounds so, so fun."
"I-I wanna try too! I'm real good at findin' things, ain't I!"
"I can f-find things good too."
"I want to, I want to try too."
"Ahem, ahem. I'm rather good at finding things myself. Young Sapsaree, shall we try it in the playground?"
"Heehee, okay! I'll teach you what I learned from Benji hyung-nim, I will!"
"Hurry, let's go!"
Watching the dogs pour off toward the playground in a rush, Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi's faces crumpled.
"Everyone seems to think Sapsaree is the number-one searcher, ong."
"That cannot be allowed."
The cats wanted their honor back. They wanted everyone to know that they were better at searching than Sapsaree. They wanted to restore the pride, and the reputation, that had been dragged through the dirt.
And so the two of them watched their surroundings even more fiercely than before. They kept their nerves strung so tight that by the time they returned to Golmokjib they were wrung out with exhaustion. And so, after they had crunched through their dinner, lapped their water, and done their business, they fell straight to sleep.
The cats snored loud enough to rattle Golmokjib—a rumbling, rattling chorus of snores. Lee Jun watched them and smiled.
"They sure sleep well."
"That's what they say, yu. Sleepin' this peaceful-like means they feel safe and sound, don't it?"
"That's what I've heard."
Lee Jun answered with a fond look at the two cats, who had gone under as if someone had switched them off. They had not even gone into the other room; they were asleep on a cushion in the living room, bellies in the air. Go Gi-jin draped a thin blanket over them and smiled softly.
Whether the two hyung-nims watched them or not, the cats were still watching for their chance.
And at last, the chance arrived.
Out at Neulpureun Park for exercise and a bit of play, Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi witnessed the park cats running about in a great bustle. Norangi happened to be right beside them, so they asked.
"Norangi, why are they doing that, ong?"
"Ah, it is nothing, sir."
Norangi answered quickly, with an awkward look on his face, and then added,
"The children are merely playing among themselves. Please pay it no mind."
At Norangi's words, Hoesaegi's eyes flashed.
Norangi's ears folded back just a little, ong. He's lying, ong.
Hoesaegi said,
"Norangi, I'll help too, ong. What's going on, ong?"
Norangi stared at Hoesaegi, his eyes rolling. Then his head drooped.
"As expected, nothing can be hidden from you, Boss. Sogeum-i has lost a precious toy."
"Sogeum-i's toy is gone, ong?"
"Yes. The toy she received from Meongmeong Teacher has gone missing."
He meant the toy that had been tucked inside the sleeping-bag blanket they had been given as a gift last winter.
"Sogeum-i is terribly sad. Everyone is turning the park upside down, saying they must find it."
"Tell me how it went missing, ong."
"I'll find it too."
Gkamnyangi put in from the side. Norangi started to explain, then called Sogeum-i over.
"The way it happened was…"
Sogeum-i, Ddoddo, and a few other cats had brought their own toys to the wooden platform to show them off, each insisting theirs was the finest and most splendid. After they had played together, they had each picked up their toys and gone back to their rooms—and after that, it had vanished.
"I brought my fish toy and my mouse toy and my sparkly paper to show off. Then I took the toys to my hiding cubby. I put the fish toy Meongmeong Teacher gave me in the hiding cubby first."
Because it was the most precious one. Then she had put away the mouse toy, and last of all the sparkly paper—and the fish toy was gone.
"Hing… if something else had gone missing, it would have been all right, but the one Meongmeong Teacher gave me is gone…"
Park cats, who did not have many toys to begin with, treasured every single one. And among those, the toys they had received from Lee Jun were the most precious of all. Having lost that, Sogeum-i was beside herself.
Hoesaegi understood exactly how she felt.
When the Cotton Balls wrecked the fish toy Hyung-nim had given me, I was furious, ong.
Even having it broken had hurt. How much worse must Sogeum-i feel, now that it was gone entirely?
Hoesaegi set a front paw gently on Sogeum-i's shoulder.
"Sogeum-i! I'll find it for you, ong!"
He brought his nose to her back and sniffed and sniffed. It was Sogeum-i's toy, so it would carry Sogeum-i's scent. Then Hoesaegi set his mouth in a hard line and began to search the area.
"Let's start from the platform again, ong."
"I'll help too."
At Gkamnyangi's words, Hoesaegi gave a small shake of his head.
"Gkamnyangi, it's all right, ong. I can do this alone, ong."
Wanting his honor back, Hoesaegi wished to search by himself.
"Fine. Then I'll search on my own. But Hoesaegi—you search from the place it was lost."
Gkamnyangi offered the advice, then ran for Sogeum-i's home.
"She must have dropped it on the way out."
Reasoning as he went, Gkamnyangi searched around Sogeum-i's hiding cubby.
"Gkamnyangi's right too, ong. But I'll track Sogeum-i's path, ong."
Hoesaegi followed the route Sogeum-i had walked, step by careful step.
After about an hour of searching, the two of them had nothing to show for it. They gathered on the platform to compare what they had gathered.
"Someone must have taken it, don't you think?"
At Gkamnyangi's words, Hoesaegi's eyes went wide, and he shook his head hard.
"No, ong. Nobody took it, ong."
Hoesaegi, who trusted his comrades without a crack. Gkamnyangi tilted his head.
"Then it was an outside job? Any intruders?"
"There were dogs and cats walking along that way, but none of the cats who came through here were wandering about this place."
It was a park, so dogs and cats passed along the surrounding paths—but no animals had actually entered Cat Town.
"Hmm. Then who took it?"
Just then, a cat came ambling up. He was a plump, generously built fellow with a thick coat of fluffy brown fur.
"Who are you, ong?"
"I am Solbangwool."
"What are you doing here?"
This time Gkamnyangi asked.
"Me? I'm out for a walk."
Solbangwool was telling the truth. Like Sapsaree, he was walking with a long leash fastened to his body.
"I quite like smelling things. So I'm walking along, smelling. What are you two doing?"
"We're looking for a lost toy, ong."
Hoesaegi answered plainly.
"A toy?"
"That's right, ong. A fish toy has gone missing, ong."
"Is that so? Where did it disappear from?"
"From that hiding cubby over there, ong."
"Hmm. Is it yours?"
"No, ong. It's Sogeum-i's, ong."
"It's mine."
"That so? If it's finding things, I'm very good at it. I'll help you."
"It's all right, ong. We couldn't find it either. It'll be hard for you, ong."
Even veterans like themselves hadn't found it—what chance did a newcomer have? Still, a cat they had only just met had offered to help, so they owed him a greeting at least.
"Solbangwool, thank you for the thought, ong. Enjoy the rest of your walk, ong."
"That's right. Thanks. Go on and walk."
"What are you talking about! I'll help. Just watch!"
Sniff, sniff, sniff. Solbangwool took in Sogeum-i's scent, then looked up at his person. Then he scratched and scratched at his person's leg with his front paws.
"You want to look around here? Let's go."
Solbangwool's leash lengthened, and his range widened. He kept moving forward, smelling as he went—somewhere completely different from the ground Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi had already covered.
The cats watched him. They were sure he was only putting on airs.
He's going somewhere weird, ong.
He'll just wander off like that.
Just as Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi expected, Solbangwool only kept advancing. Then, all of a sudden, he started digging at the dirt with his front paws.
"Solbangwool, you don't have to do that, ong. You've worked hard, ong."
"Yes, you don't have to strain yourself."
Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi encouraged him, as if to say that much was quite enough. But Solbangwool kept digging, and a fin poked up out of the earth.
"Isn't this it?"
"Huh…?"
Sogeum-i dashed over—and froze in astonishment.
"Th-that's it!"
With Sogeum-i and the other cats helping, the fish toy at last came fully into view. Sogeum-i bowed her head low.
"Solbangwool-nim, thank you so much for finding it."
"Hmph. This much is nothing."
Solbangwool turned away as if it were hardly worth mentioning, and Hoesaegi asked,
"Solbangwool, how did you find it, ong?"
"That? Near Sogeum-i's hiding cubby I smelled dog chew. And there were dog pawprints on the ground. That fellow must have carried it off and buried it."
Solbangwool delivered his deduction as if it were nothing at all, then walked off at a leisurely pace. Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi stared after his back, their jaws hanging open.