Song-i's Solo Walk
For the past five years, the two of them had not known a single day of peace. They were convinced that their own misguided choice had stolen both of Song-i's eyes.
Whenever Song-i lifted her head and swept it from side to side, searching for something, their hearts would plummet. If only she could see, she wouldn't have to do that, they would think, blaming themselves all over again.
Song-i had always loved her walks. And so the two of them had wandered in search of wide, level places where they could take their sightless dog out — somewhere without a single obstacle in her path. There, they would clip on her leash and let her walk.
At home, they had put up fences so she wouldn't bump into things and hurt herself, and they had padded those fences with soft cloth. That was how they had lived — constantly on edge, terrified that their blind Song-i might injure herself.
Naturally, they had never once gone near the animal hospital that had taken Song-i's eyes. Not until the day she screamed in agony.
And now those same two people loved going to the animal hospital. They were excited about it.
Two days had passed since Song-i had started going on walks in the pet stroller, and on the third day — a Saturday — they set out early.
Early, of course, being one in the afternoon. The hospital was busy with morning rounds and treatments, so visiting hours started after one.
"Let's go see Song-i."
"Yeah."
Their faces were bright as they got in the car. They would get to see Song-i growing healthier by the day, and they were thrilled at the thought of taking her for a walk.
That wasn't all.
"Our Song-i seems even prettier these days."
"I thought so too. You noticed?"
"Yes. The way she smiles so wide is just adorable. It's like looking at her when she was a puppy."
When they hit a red light, Kim Dong-wook's wife, sitting in the passenger seat, pulled up a photo of Song-i she had treasured on her phone and showed it to him.
In the picture, a little white puffball of a puppy was beaming. It was Song-i.
"......Yeah. She really is."
She really had smiled that brightly back then. Kim Dong-wook ran his fingers over his wife's phone. Looking at the screen, a flood of emotions washed over him. That's right. Our Song-i used to smile like this.
After that day, Song-i had lost her smile. No — she had still smiled, but never with that kind of unclouded brightness.
And now, at Mongmong Animal Hospital, Song-i was smiling like that again.
"Lee Jun... thank you."
Thank you for saving Song-i's life. Thank you for giving her back her smile. He was grateful for all of it. And I said such terrible things to him.
Surely, as Lee Jun and Choi Woo-jin had said, not everyone in the profession was good, and not everyone was bad. Kim Dong-wook had already apologized to Lee Jun, but he couldn't shake the feeling that it hadn't been a real apology.
Beside him, his wife spoke.
"The doctors at Mongmong Animal Hospital are really something. They know every single animal's name, of course, but they also never take their eyes off them. All the inpatients are clean and bright, and none of the animals seem scared of the hospital."
After Song-i had been moved from the ICU to the general ward, Kim Dong-wook and his wife had seen quite a few of the other dogs staying at Mongmong Animal Hospital. A dog with a bandaged leg. A dog with its chest wrapped in bandages, like Song-i. A dog simply lying there with an IV. Every animal in those kennels was resting so comfortably — just like dogs resting at home.
"Yeah. You're right."
How envious Kim Dong-wook had been, looking at those dogs. If Song-i had undergone her leg surgery and recovered in a place this comfortable, she would still have her eyes. She would have looked at him — at everything in the world — with those dark, sparkling pupils, and she would have been so happy. That was what he had thought.
"We're so lucky. That our Song-i could be admitted to a hospital this good."
"......Yeah."
"She'll take her medicine well, won't she? Let's not do anything we'll regret anymore."
She meant they should come to the hospital regularly, without fail. Kim Dong-wook nodded firmly.
"Yeah. Of course."
While they talked, they arrived at the hospital. The couple stepped out of the car, full of anticipation.
"I hope we can walk her a little longer today."
"We stayed longer yesterday than the day before, so maybe we can stay even longer today?"
"You think so? The weather's so nice. She could get some sun, too."
"Yeah."
They looked up at the bright sky, then stepped into the hospital.
Ding-a-ling. The clear chime of the bell seemed to match the brightness on their faces. Jang Sora, seated at the reception desk, greeted them.
"Song-i's family, welcome."
"I hope we haven't come too early and gotten in the way."
Kim Dong-wook greeted Jang Sora with such courtesy it was hard to believe this was the same man who used to shudder at the mere mention of an animal hospital.
"Not at all. Perfect timing, actually — it's Song-i's afternoon walk. She's on the walking path right now. Would you like to go see her?"
"Oh my, the director is going to so much trouble. We could have done it ourselves..."
"A walk when the sun is out always lifts their spirits. So after the director finishes lunch, he takes Song-i out himself."
This was the first they were hearing of it.
"Goodness, he doesn't have to go that far..."
"We feel so terrible. What are we supposed to do?"
The words of wonder spilled from both of them at once. Jang Sora smiled.
"It's not just Song-i. All the other kids are probably on the walking path too. After lunch, if the vets aren't too busy, they always take the animals out for ten or twenty minutes to get some sun."
"They're such wonderful people."
"Y-yeah. They really are."
Just looking at the animals in the kennels, you could tell how much care Mongmong Animal Hospital put into them — but they hadn't expected it to go this far. Moved, Kim Dong-wook said to Jang Sora,
"This really is a good place."
"Of course. Our director is a truly good person."
She picked up his praise of the hospital and turned it into praise for the director. Kim Dong-wook understood the meaning immediately: that the staff were of one heart, following the director's lead, cherishing every sick animal.
"Thank you. We'll head upstairs, then."
"We'll go up."
As the couple climbed to the second floor, Kim Dong-wook's wife spoke first.
"Director Lee seems like such a good person. Honestly, I never imagined he'd do this much for the animals."
"I know. I never thought he'd go this far."
Answering her, Kim Dong-wook thought he finally understood why Choi Woo-jin had gotten so angry defending Lee Jun. And why, even after Kim Dong-wook had said such harsh things, Lee Jun had quietly gone ahead and performed that difficult surgery. He's pouring everything he has into treating sick animals.
Gratitude for Lee Jun was welling up, overflowing — and that was when his wife spoke.
"Oh my, it's true. The doctors and the dogs are sitting on the benches."
"They are."
Kim Dong-wook could see the staff sitting on two benches along the walking path.
"Where's our Song-i?"
His wife stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, turning her head this way and that. And then—
"Oh my, look at them. They're standing in a line."
Standing before the great window, she brought both hands to her mouth in wonder.
"What is it...? Wait—"
Kim Dong-wook's eyes went round with surprise. He blinked several times, wondering if he was seeing things.
"Th-those dogs aren't stuffed animals, are they?"
"They're not stuffed animals. And there are cats, too. Oh my, that's a Sapsaree!"
Where his wife was pointing, Sapsaree was standing.
"Hoesaegi and Kkamnyangi are there too..."
That was when a little white dog caught Kim Dong-wook's eye.
"Song-i?"
"Song-i! That's Song-i! Song-i is walking!"
Their eyes went even wider. They cried out in alarm.
"She's going to bump into something!"
"There's no leash. No Angel Ring, either..."
An Angel Ring was a circular bumper harness worn around the head of a blind dog or cat, to keep them from painfully colliding with obstacles.
"Let's go in. Quickly."
"Yes, let's hurry."
Just as the two of them were about to rush onto the walking path, a gravelly voice called from behind.
"Aigoo, hold on a minute before you go in. Song-i's having herself a real grand time right now."
"Dr. Go?"
"Well hello there. Came early, I see."
"Ah, yes. It's Saturday. But our Song-i is walking."
"She sure is. Can't have her lyin' around all day or her muscles'll waste right away, y'know."
"But she can't see — what if she bumps into something..."
"Don't you worry none. Look over yonder — her friends are leadin' her along. What's there to fret about?"
"Leading her?"
"That's right. Take a look over there. The kids are all lined up in a row, see? Even if Song-i bumps into 'em, it won't hurt — her friends are makin' themselves a shield for her."
Looking more closely, just as Go Gi-jin said, the dogs and cats weren't simply standing around. They were lined up along both sides of the walking path. And down the center, Song-i was walking slowly, her head held high with pride.
"S-Song-i is walking."
Walking on her own, without anyone leading her by a leash.
"Y-you're right."
Kim Dong-wook was overwhelmed. Go Gi-jin said to them,
"Y'all go on in once she's done a full lap."
"We will."
Watching Song-i walk, the couple's eyes grew wet.
A little later, they stepped onto the walking path.
At once, a chorus of meows and barks rose up — aeong, nyaong, woof woof, ruff ruff — and Song-i turned her body toward them.
This was the Song-i who had found her bright smile again at Mongmong Animal Hospital. And now she was smiling even more brightly, her tail wagging furiously.
Lee Jun, standing near Song-i, turned his gaze to the couple.
"Song-i says she's going to walk over to Mom and Dad. So sit right there and wait."
Without even asking what that meant, the two of them sat down on the spot.
Song-i came walking toward them, sniffing as she went — but she didn't sweep her head around the way she usually did, searching, and she didn't stare into empty air as if looking for something. She simply looked straight ahead, and walked toward them.
The dogs and cats standing beside her kept up a constant stream of woofs and meows.
"It's like they're showing her the way."
"It really is."
Not once did Song-i bump into the friends standing like a wall in a row, and not once did she veer off onto a wrong path. She walked straight to the couple.
She stopped right in front of where they stood and let out a big, bright bark — woof! Smiling as radiantly as the sunlight pouring down.
"Song-i!"
"Song-i, our Song-i!"
And then the cats reared up on their hind legs and pumped their little fists in applause, and the dogs bounced in place with joy.
The couple wanted to scoop Song-i up in a tight hug, but afraid of hurting the surgical site, they held her gingerly — and then they turned to thank the dogs and cats who had guarded her.
"Thank you. Thank you, you guys."
"Thank you so much. Really, thank you."
Then they turned to Lee Jun.
"Lee Jun, thank you. Thank you so much."
"Director, thank you so much. This is the first time we've seen our Song-i smile this wide since that day."
Lee Jun looked at the two of them and smiled gently.
"Song-i says she's so happy. She says she's so happy because Mom and Dad are smiling."
The couple's eyes went wide, and Lee Jun continued.
"Song-i must have been anxious all the time, with the two of you so constantly worried. Companion animals read their guardians' hearts very quickly, you know."
"Ah..."
"Oh my..."
"Song-i loves you both. She says she loves you so much. But it seems she was feeling down because you were sad on her account."
"That's because..."
Kim Dong-wook swallowed, then went on.
"If I had just been a little more careful — if I hadn't taken her to that hospital — our Song-i wouldn't have had to live with this kind of hardship."
"That's right. We're the reason she has to live like this. That's why we're so sorry..."
"It is a hardship, I'm sure. But Song-i has her nose, and she has her ears. That's more than enough. It would be hard if she were alone — but she has guardians who cherish her like this."
Just then, a long meow rang out. Kkamnyangi was tapping Song-i's shoulder with a soft nyaa~.
He was thinking of the time when he himself couldn't see — and of the love he received now, living at Golmokjib — and he was encouraging Song-i.
"Song-i's stronger than you think. So don't wrap her up in cotton wool anymore. Learn to meet each other halfway."
"......"
"I'll help. And so will the friends here."
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
Afraid tears would spill from his eyes, Kim Dong-wook tipped his head back as he answered.
And so the fairy-tale hour of Song-i's solo walk came to an end, and Kim Dong-wook, his wife, and Lee Jun sat facing one another in the director's office.
"If things keep going like this, she should be able to go home next Tuesday or Wednesday. I think she could even be discharged today, but it might be better if she stays a little longer."
"We'll do whatever you say. But aren't you charging too little? We just got the interim bill, and... don't give me a discount just because we're old classmates. Charge the full amount."
"That's right. You've taken such good care of her..."
When the couple told Lee Jun the medical fees were too low, he gave a small laugh.
"I did use the friend discount, but I didn't cut that much. Just about twenty percent."
"Just charge us the full amount. And I'm really sorry for the awful things I said to you. Please forgive me. From what I can see, running an animal hospital must cost a fortune. The rent alone can't be a joke..."
"It's fine. It's enough."
"No. A hospital this good can't be allowed to go under. You have to take care of our Song-i all the way to the end."
"That's right, Director. Please take the full amount. You could even charge more."
"Hahaha, it's all right. Then from now on, come in regularly for her medication. And don't skip the checkups."
"Of course. We'll come until you tell us to stop."
"Please take good care of our Song-i from now on, Director."
"I will."
The same smile settled on all three faces in the director's office.