Something Even Better
Creeeak. Clunk.
The rusty iron door groaned open, and Lee Jun and Go Gi-jin squeezed out through that cramped little hatch as if they were crawling free of it.
Clink.
The barred door swung shut again. Inside the cage, Haennim-i grinned, a soft hehe slipping from her.
Looking at her, Jun felt his heart grow heavy. It was not the same weight he had carried on the way to Donghae, though. This heaviness came from how much there was still to do for these pitiful children — the Somang-is. Wishes had stacked themselves up inside him, layer upon layer, and the weight of all that wanting felt so good that he found himself smiling back at her.
"Haennim-i, sleep well tonight. I'll see you in the morning."
Woong-woong!
Haennim-i hoisted her front leg high and waved it, her two black eyes sparkling.
Kang Han-ul's pupils shook as if an earthquake had gone off behind them. He looked from Haennim-i to Jun and back again. However sick she was, however stunted from poor nutrition, she was still a bear. And yet Jun and Gi-jin treated her as easily, as unselfconsciously, as if she were a companion animal living in their own home.
"I don't even know what I just saw."
Watching Han-ul stand there in a daze, Gi-jin spoke up.
"I was real shocked myself at first. But you get used to it, stayin' next to Hyungnim."
He gave a warm, rumbling laugh and went on.
"Still, those little ones sure are precious when they smile."
Han-ul's eyes were still unsteady, but when Gi-jin praised the Somang-is, he answered with a look of quiet pride.
"Y-yeah. Our kids are all pretty cute."
"That's just it. They oughta be runnin' free already."
"They will. It'll happen."
Jun added his voice to theirs.
"We have to let them run as much as they want in a grassy field."
"Yeah. Let's do that."
The three of them started toward the office. Mid-step, Han-ul cocked his head and glanced back toward the cages where the bears were kept. He cocked it again.
"I must still be in shock from watching you treat Haennim-i. Why does their woong-woong crying sound like they're saying thank you?"
They were, in fact, saying exactly that. Thank you for healing Haennim-i.
"They saw Haennim-i smilin', didn't they? They know."
They knew Jun was the one who had made her well. Han-ul nodded at Gi-jin's words.
"You're probably right. Our kids are pretty smart."
"That's right. They're sayin' thank you right about now."
Jun listened to the two of them and smiled to himself. These two can clearly understand them too. That aside — those guys sound awfully envious.
Along with the thanks for taking Haennim-i's pain away, something else reached his ears. We want to sleep on that too, like Haennim-i.
Jun turned his head toward the bears.
"Just wait a few days."
He would lay down mats that were wonderfully soft — and cool, besides. He finished the rest of the promise inwardly, and smiled. Buying this kind of thing is Manager Jang's specialty.
He was going to have to stay in Donghae a full extra day anyway. Figuring he could ask her to look after the three at Golmokjib while he was at it, Jun called Jang Sora.
The moment she picked up, she rushed straight to Haennim-i.
Her voice came through thick with feeling — and in the same breath, a huge cheer burst out of the phone.
Waaah!
He could feel the whole staff rejoicing over Haennim-i's recovery, and the warmth of it settled into his own chest.
She was the kind of person who always stepped forward and took care of things before anyone even had to ask. That was Jang Sora.
She would have to leave at least an hour early to do that, and she still said it like that. Jun was grateful for the consideration.
Jun asked her for mats for the Somang-is here — the cool, cloud-soft kind he had pictured.
He gave her a rough sense of the cage sizes, and Jang Sora's voice went thick.
She put her whole will into it, and the call ended.
Han-ul, who had been listening from the side, rounded his eyes.
"You... you really think that's possible?"
"You saw it too, sunbae. The way the kids stared at Haennim-i's mat. They were so envious."
The three of them were already inside the office. Han-ul thought back to the looks he had felt only a little while ago, and answered as he more or less threw himself onto the sofa.
"W-well, they did, but—"
"Anyway, sunbae. Tomorrow you're joining in."
"Joining in on what?"
"Haennim-i's dressing change."
"What?"
Han-ul, who had sunk so deep into the sofa he was practically lying down, bolted upright.
"You know Sugar Therapy doesn't wrap up in a single day. Why are you acting like this?"
"W-well, that's true, but—"
"It needs at least two weeks. I can't stay here the whole time."
"Th-that's true too. Still..."
"And if we put some kind of shade over their cages, wouldn't that help? They looked so hot."
"They did. But these kids are heading to the Animal Sanctuary soon, so..."
"Then when they leave, we put it up for the others."
Having said that, Jun sent a text at once — to the one person he could ask something like this without hesitation.
A call came back almost immediately.
Namgoong Hyun — who had come by Mongmong Animal Hospital only a few days ago and happily eaten the lunch Ju Mi-seon had made — sounded thoroughly startled.
Jun handed the phone to Han-ul beside him. As Han-ul listened, his expression changed by the second. At last he bent at the waist in a deep bow.
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
The moment the call ended, Han-ul seized Jun by the shoulders and shook him for all he was worth.
"Jun-ah, Jun-ah! Lucky Guy Jun-aaaah!"
"Ah— ah, s-sunbae. Wh-why are you doing this?"
"Kahahaha! You really are something. You really are a lucky guy. Haennim-i was at death's door and now she's smiling, the kids are getting a roof..."
This was the same man who, minutes ago, had been trembling at the news that he would have to take over Haennim-i's dressings. His energy now looked ready to punch a hole in the sky. Caught in that grip, Jun had no choice but to let himself be shaken.
Early the next morning, Jun went to Haennim-i's cage.
The moment she saw him, her face broke into a wide, radiant smile.
"Oppa-ya! Banana Oppa!"
"Did you sleep well?"
"Mhm! It's so, so good! It doesn't hurt at all!"
He could tell just by looking at her face that she was not in pain, but hearing her say it herself let something in him unclench.
"I'm glad."
At that, Haennim-i smiled even wider and patted the mat with her front paw, thump, thump.
"Mhm, mhm! It's really nice. Oppa! Banana Oppa, you lie down here too!"
That open little face, wanting to share the thing she loved with the one she loved. Looking at her, Jun felt his throat tighten.
What was it even? How could a worn-out mat make her this happy?
His eyes stung. He tipped his face toward the sky for no good reason.
Pat, pat, pat.
Haennim-i was still tapping the mat, wearing the look of someone who only wanted her beloved Banana Oppa to know this same soft, cloudlike feeling.
"All right, Haennim-i."
Clunk. Jun stepped into the cage and sat down beside her.
"Hehe. Oppa. Banana Oppa. It's squishy, right? Banana Oppa should sleep here now too. It's so, so squishy and nice."
Why was she so good?
She had gotten the best, most precious thing of her whole life — and she wanted to share it with him.
Jun answered her with a bright smile.
"Our Haennim-i is happy, huh. But it's going to get even better from here."
"Even better?"
She tilted her head, then went on.
"But it's already so, so good. Ah!"
"What is it?"
"Hehe. I wanna eat that. I'm hungry."
She flared her black nose and pointed at the bowl Jun had brought. Her appetite was coming back. Jun's smile deepened a shade.
"All right. Let's eat."
Inside the bowl was a nourishing porridge — prescription canned food of the kind given to dogs with no strength left, mashed banana folded in, and honey stirred through, made especially for a malnourished Haennim-i.
She flicked out her long tongue and took a taste.
Her eyes flew wide.
"Wow, wow! Oppa! Banana Oppa!"
She stared at him as if she could not believe it.
"Oppa! Oppa-ya, you eat too. It's so, so good!"
Once again, she wanted to eat it together. Jun shook his head gently.
"This is Haennim-i's. Oppa will eat later."
"You have to eat it!"
Having said so, she set to lapping the porridge up, as if she could hardly bear to see it disappear. Jun spoke softly.
"Haennim-i, I'll bring more in a little while. Eat as much as you want."
Her eyes lit up, bright and glittering, and she looked at him.
"Oppa-ya! In a little while, give it to my friends. They want to eat the tasty thing too."
She wanted to share the delicious porridge with her friends. And then the voices that followed left Jun with nothing to say.
"No, Haennim-i, you eat and get strong!"
"We can eat this other stuff."
"You eat a lot and get strong!"
The bears — the Somang-is — who had been watching this way with their noses twitching, half-bewitched by the smell, poured out the same words as if they had agreed on them in advance. Why are these kids all so kind as a group? Children locked up in a place like this!
Jun spoke to them.
"Kids. Do you want some?"
"Ah— no. It's good if Haennim-i eats and gets strong."
"Just wait a moment. This morning, everyone eats this porridge. Sound good?"
"W-we get to eat it too?"
"H-Haennim-i should eat it."
Excited voices tumbled over one another — but the bear who cried out loudest, and happiest, was Haennim-i herself.
"Wow, wow! We're all eating together!"
And having said that, she stopped her dainty little nibbling and drank the porridge down in eager, happy gulps.
Jun watched her eat, thoroughly content.
A short while later he left the cage, and then he came back — with a trembling Kang Han-ul in tow.
"Am I... am I really going in?"
"Of course. Sunbae, how far do you think this skinny little Haennim-i is going to get if she charges you? You're bigger than she is, and you're the one fussing."
"Th-that's true, but still, I-I don't have sharp claws like her, and I don't have thick legs either."
"What are you talking about. She's lived her whole life in here. She doesn't even have muscle."
"R-right."
Jun had joked on purpose, hoping it would take the edge off Han-ul's fear. And it seemed to work — before long the two of them had fallen into an easy rhythm, dressing the wound in practiced tandem. They even went on into a proper exam.
"Mm. The discharge has definitely gone down since yesterday. The wound itself looks a little smaller too. If we keep on like this, she should recover."
Han-ul was even smiling by the end. I don't think I need to worry anymore. Jun smiled too, his heart a little lighter than it had been.
The morning wore on that way.
Around ten, a line of trucks came rumbling in from far off, kicking up a trail of dust — three of them, with a small passenger car bringing up the rear. Two trucks to build a ceiling that would keep off the burning sun. One loaded with the mats Jang Sora had ordered. And the last to arrive was Kwak Suho.
Jun greeted the trucks with a wide, unguarded grin. Greeting Suho went without saying.
For a good while after that, the sounds of a construction site rang through the whole farm.
Clang, clang, clang.
Tap, tap. Hammer and board.
Whiiirrr.
Every kind of racket you could name — and the bears were quiet. They even looked as if they were enjoying the noise. Jun had already explained it to them, and they truly did savor it. They watched the people climbing onto the roofs and wore thoroughly pleased expressions.
The volunteers watched the work with faces full of emotion. One of them spoke.
"I... I think the rumors about Dr. Lee Jun are true."
"The ones about how good he is with animals?"
"Yeah. Just now I saw him tell them not to be startled. And they really nodded, like they understood every word."
"I saw that too. It's amazing."
The ceiling went up in no time. The moment the blazing sun was cut away, the bears burst into excitement.
Kuwang, kuwang!
Kuoooooh!
They were all laughing, all calling out how good it was — and Jun smiled a small, knowing smile and spoke to them.