Beep, Beep
The signal tone spilling from the monitor filled the operating room. Song-i's chest heaved, rising and falling in one great motion—the sign that the breath and heartbeat that had stopped had found their way home again.
Only then did a long, long sigh slip from Lee Jun's lips, his face slick with sweat. It was a sigh of relief, threaded through with the quiet pride of having pulled a life—Song-i's life—back from the edge.
Once she had stabilized, Song-i was moved to the intensive care unit. Inside the ICU, Yoo Mu-hwan spoke up.
"I'll keep watch over Song-i. Director, you and the others should go get some rest."
Lee Jun was already soaked through with sweat. He opened his mouth to say he would stay himself, then nodded. Kim Dong-wook would be outside, wrung out with waiting.
"Alright, Dr. Yoo. I'll leave her with you for a bit, then. I'm going to go tell Song-i's guardians how the surgery went."
"Yes, Director."
The moment Lee Jun stepped out, Kim Dong-wook and his wife came at him together.
"O-our Song-i?"
"D-did the surgery go well?"
Lee Jun looked at the two haggard faces turned up to his, and opened his mouth.
"Hah…"
"Haa…"
The couple let out a simultaneous breath of relief. Lee Jun added a little more.
"That said, Song-i was in such a critical state that we'll need to keep a close eye on her for the next few days."
"There can be aftereffects and complications, too, and there's no guarantee another clot won't form. You—you didn't even give her the medication, did you?"
Choi Woo-jin, standing beside them, put in, and Kim Dong-wook and his wife dropped their heads as if they were the ones on trial.
"Still, it's a good thing you brought her in as fast as you did."
At Lee Jun's words, Choi Woo-jin added his own.
"Well, that's true, but…"
He still sounded thoroughly unsatisfied.
"Come on, don't just stand here. Let's go to the consult room. I need to walk you through Song-i's postoperative prognosis."
The four of them filed into the director's office. Once inside, Lee Jun explained to the couple exactly what surgery Song-i had undergone.
"The thrombus was so large and extensive that I had to remove it directly."
He played them the recording of the procedure and walked them through it in careful detail, Choi Woo-jin helping from the side. The couple's faces shifted with every sentence—a sigh, then fists clenched tight with tension—until, at the news that her heart had stopped, the color drained from them entirely.
"S-so how is our Song-i now…"
"She's alright for the moment. There's warmth in both hind legs, and the pulse has come back. She's on thrombolytics as we speak… but we'll need to keep watching her until her heart settles."
Only then did Kim Dong-wook let out a long breath of relief. Choi Woo-jin shot him a look.
"Why the hell did you do that?"
Kim Dong-wook turned to him, and Choi Woo-jin pressed on, his voice thick with reproach.
"I'm asking why you didn't give her the meds until she got that bad. You idiot—if it hadn't been for Lee Jun, Song-i would have—hah…"
Choi Woo-jin had been glaring as if he meant to swallow Kim Dong-wook whole, the words tumbling out of him in a rush, when he finally let out a long sigh and went on.
"You ought to get down on your knees and thank Lee Jun properly. You think just anyone can pull off a surgery like that?"
At the edge in Choi Woo-jin's voice, Kim Dong-wook shot to his feet and bowed his head to Lee Jun.
"Y-yeah. Thank you. Lee Jun, thank you. Really—thank you."
"Thank you. Director Lee, thank you so much."
Kim Dong-wook's wife rose as well and bent at the waist, and Choi Woo-jin turned his face slightly away.
"And from now on, you give her the medication. I don't know what you've got against veterinarians, but if you want Song-i to live, you give it to her."
"That's… I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I've got nothing to say for myself, not even if I had ten mouths."
Beside him, his wife stared at Kim Dong-wook in shock, then hurried to apologize.
"I'm so sorry. Director, and you too, Dr. Choi."
"Alright, alright. Let's leave the past where it is. What matters now is what comes next."
Lee Jun laid out how they would treat Song-i going forward.
"The pre-op labs showed hyperlipidemia, and her kidney and liver values were elevated. We'll need to test the clot we removed, but it's probably a simple thrombus."
"Th-then what do we…?"
"As I said a moment ago, we'll need antithrombotic therapy to keep more clots from forming. And we'll have to bring those kidney and liver numbers down."
"This is going to take ongoing management."
"R-right. Of course."
"You listen, and you remember this. The heart, the kidneys, and the liver are one. What that means is, when the heart goes, the other organs follow."
"He's telling you to give her the heart medication properly."
"A-alright. I got it."
Under Lee Jun and Choi Woo-jin's explanations, Kim Dong-wook nodded again and again.
"Kim Dong-wook. You're going to see Song-i, aren't you?"
At Lee Jun's words, Kim Dong-wook's eyes went wide, a faint brightness touching his face.
"I-I can see her?"
"Yeah. She's probably asleep right now. You'll need to just look at her face and come right back out. And don't call her name. If she gets excited, she could go into shock again."
"A-alright."
The two of them followed Lee Jun into the ICU. The sight of Song-i—so small, lines running every which way across her body, lying so still she might have been dead—drew fresh tears from them both. But they had been warned, and they made not a sound. They could only run their hands over the ICU kennel where she slept, and cry without end.
From that day on, every hour for Kim Dong-wook and his wife was as precarious as walking on thin ice. The moment Kim Dong-wook got off work, he ran to Mongmong Animal Hospital to visit Song-i. His wife was already there ahead of him. At home, they slept in snatches, phones clutched tight, ready to bolt for the hospital at the first emergency call.
One day passed, then two, then three, and on the fourth, the words they had been waiting for finally left Lee Jun's mouth: they could rest easy now. Kim Dong-wook and his wife were so happy they could have taken flight.
"Th-thank you, Lee Jun. Thank you so much."
"Thank you."
They thanked him again and again, and Lee Jun answered with a small smile.
"Song-i's the one who went through it. I just stood beside her and helped. She never once refused that bitter medicine, and she took every painful shot without a fuss… you saw it yourself."
"Even so, it's thanks to you, Director."
"Song-i had a hard time of it."
At Lee Jun's words, Kim Dong-wook found he had nothing to say. I… I actually hurled abuse at an angel like him. His face burned. If it had been him on the receiving end of that kind of venom, could he have done what Lee Jun had done?
"Th-thank you, Lee Jun. And I'm sorry."
Kim Dong-wook apologized with his whole heart, and Lee Jun answered simply.
That was all he said, and then he looked at Song-i. The eyes he turned on her were infinitely gentle, infinitely kind. Lee Jun really is a bigger person than I am. Not a small man like me. He's remarkable. Kim Dong-wook found himself looking at Lee Jun with fresh awe.
"Starting tomorrow, I think we can move Song-i to a regular ward. We can start walks, too, little by little."
"Walks? Already?"
The sutures weren't even out yet—and after a surgery of that magnitude? Kim Dong-wook's eyes flew wide, and he looked from Lee Jun to Song-i and back again. Lee Jun smiled at him, then shifted his gaze to Song-i and answered.
"Walking on her own is still too much."
"R-right, of course."
Kim Dong-wook nodded, a little disappointed. The moment Lee Jun had mentioned a walk, he had wondered if it wasn't far too soon—and yet a sliver of hope had kindled in him all the same. Then Lee Jun went on, and Kim Dong-wook's face began, slowly, to brighten.
"We've got a walking path here at the hospital. I was thinking we'd take her along it in a pet stroller. You know as well as I do that Song-i's sense of smell is something else."
Perhaps because she could no longer see, Song-i's sense of smell and hearing had grown extraordinarily keen. Kim Dong-wook knew that better than anyone.
"Th-that's true."
"So if we sit her in the stroller and let her take in the scents, I think she'll love it. I don't know if you've been out on the path, but there's grass, and flowers—and dogs and cats out walking, too."
A place full of different smells, in other words. Having said as much to Kim Dong-wook, Lee Jun turned to Song-i.
"Song-i. You want to go for a walk too, don't you?"
Woof! Song-i barked, her whole face opening into a smile, and Kim Dong-wook and his wife lit up with her.
"S-Song-i smiled."
"I think she understood you were talking about a walk. She's smiling the way she does when we take her out."
It was true. Song-i had been delighted because Lee Jun had said they would stroll the walking path.
Hoesaegi, Gkamnyangi, and Sapsaree had been looking after Song-i since the day of her surgery. She had been in such terrible pain beforehand that it had torn at them—and the fact that she could not see had given the three of them all the more reason to stay close. They had kept a long vigil at her side, and in their company Song-i had naturally overheard them talking about the walking path. How wonderful could it possibly be, for her friends to praise it with one voice? She had wanted so badly to go and see for herself—and now they were taking her there. Song-i could hardly contain her joy.
"She's so happy. Why wait until tomorrow? Shall we go today?"
"W-will she be alright?"
"About ten minutes should be fine."
A short while later, Kim Dong-wook pushed the pet stroller while Lee Jun watched from the side, and Song-i made her way along the walking path. As they went, a tangle of feelings crossed the couple's hearts. It was a joy to be taking Song-i out for a walk—and a worry, too, that she might try to jump out. She had never once ridden in a pet stroller before.
"Song-i, if you jump out we're in real trouble. Just sit tight and we'll go nice and easy, okay?"
Kim Dong-wook spoke to her with a taut, anxious face, while his wife walked alongside, stroking Song-i and matching the stroller's pace. Lee Jun smiled at the two of them.
"Song-i isn't going to jump out, so don't worry. And you can just follow along at an easy pace."
"E-even so."
"They're all telling her. So there's really nothing to worry about."
Lee Jun pointed toward Hoesaegi, Gkamnyangi, Sapsaree, and a handful of other dogs and cats.
"Th-them? You mean Hoesaegi, Gkamnyangi, and Sapsaree?"
"Yeah. Can't you hear them talking?"
At Lee Jun's words, Kim Dong-wook and his wife listened. Woof, woof. Meow. Mrow! The barking of dogs and the cries of cats drifted over, small and close. And perhaps because Lee Jun had said they were talking, it sounded for all the world as if the dogs and cats on the path were speaking to Song-i. As if in answer, Song-i gave a small woof of her own.
"I-is that so?"
"Honey, I think the Director's right. She's just turning her head left and right. She's sitting so quietly."
After a walk of about twenty minutes, Song-i returned to her room still in high spirits. Watching that bright, open smile, Kim Dong-wook and his wife went home and, for the first time since Song-i had been admitted, sat down to a meal with easy hearts. The table was nothing more than sour kimchi from the fridge, seasoned seaweed, and a fried egg—but it tasted like honey.
Over the rice, Kim Dong-wook spoke. It was not worry in his voice. It was conviction.
"Our Song-i will be alright, won't she?"
"Of course she will. Director Lee is looking after her."
His wife answered just as brightly, and went on.
"And that's not all. With her friends cheering her on like that, of course she'll get better. Don't you think?"
"Th-that's true."
"I wondered what on earth the Director was talking about."
She meant Lee Jun saying that Hoesaegi, Gkamnyangi, and Sapsaree were speaking to Song-i.
"But it was real. People say Director Lee understands what animals are feeling, and I think it's true."
"Seems that way."
Kim Dong-wook and his wife had built a wall between themselves and animal hospitals, but they could not shut out every word that drifted their way. They knew Lee Jun's reputation.
"If only our Song-i had met Director Lee from the very beginning…"
Kim Dong-wook could not bring himself to answer. He only nodded. The rice he had been eating with such appetite suddenly tasted bitter, and before they knew it, both of them were eating more slowly.
Why did we decide on that surgery in such a rush? If we'd been more careful, our Song-i would still be able to see.
Even after the meal was over, the thought kept Kim Dong-wook from sleep. His wife was no different.
If I… if I hadn't made such a fuss, would it have been alright? Then our Song-i would be running around with both eyes shining.
She, too, lay awake the whole night through, her heart heavy with regret.