Hoping for a Miracle

Hmm... I've got a bad feeling about this.

Anyone who has ever drawn blood knows the feeling. You can tell at a glance whether you are looking at the milky, fat-choked blood of hyperlipidemia or the telltale yellow of jaundice. Of course, a hunch like that only comes when the case is already severe.

Which meant Haennim-i's blood was not looking good.

Lee Jun hurried straight back to the office and spun Haennim-i's sample in the centrifuge first thing. The blood separated into cells and plasma, and the instant Lee Jun and Kang Han-ul saw that plasma, their faces went rigid.

"The plasma is way too yellow."

"That's a serious jaundice tint."

Plasma that should have been clear was a vivid, screaming yellow. Kang Han-ul and Lee Jun both let out a long sigh as they stared at the deep gold of it.

Lee Jun loaded Haennim-i's blood into the analyzer at once, hoping that even if the jaundice was visible to the eye, the numbers might at least come back low.

But...

"Total bilirubin is thirty."

Lee Jun sighed as he looked at the printout, and a long breath escaped Kang Han-ul as well. The total bilirubin value — the number people commonly call the jaundice count — is considered normal up to 1. Thirty was extraordinarily high.

They checked the other values next.

"ALT is 542 — normal is 17 to 78. AST is 63 — normal is 17 to 44. GGT is 45 — normal is 5 to 14."

"And ALP?"

"...Thirty-five hundred."

ALP, a liver enzyme whose normal range tops out at 254, had soared past three thousand.

"It's off the scale."

Meaning the reading had climbed past what the machine could even measure. On a more precise analyzer, the number might have come back even higher.

Every value they had named was liver-related. Which meant something was seriously wrong with Haennim-i's liver.

"Hahh... I thought she was finally starting to heal..."

Kang Han-ul was deeply dejected. "If she'd been eating less, I would have caught it right away... but she had energy, she was lively, and she was always smiling..." He muttered the lament under his breath, then added, "What's the point of saying it? I'm just pathetic for not noticing."

"Come on. Nobody would have noticed. Haennim-i isn't a white-coated animal, and her ear canals are packed with fur. Besides, we weren't running bloodwork every day."

When jaundice sets in, the skin turns a vivid yellow. The eyes, the hands, the ears, even the whites of the eyes — everything goes yellow. But Haennim-i's fur was all dark, and unlike a human, she barely showed any sclera at all. Lee Jun pointed out those clinical limitations.

"Still, it's this bad. If I'd just flipped her eyelid properly, I would have known, wouldn't I?"

That was nonsense. Kang Han-ul had barely managed the dressings, even knowing how good and obedient Haennim-i was. How was he supposed to have turned her eyelids inside out?

Lee Jun spoke to the self-reproaching Kang Han-ul.

"Just getting those dressings done for Haennim-i was already an incredible thing. Hey, sunbae — what meds do you have on hand?"

"R-right. Let's get treatment started. Though we don't have a lot of drugs here..."

Kang Han-ul pushed back his chair and walked to the medicine cabinet, Lee Jun following close behind.

"We'll hang fluids and start detox, and for meds... there's Tathione. Taurine too, and Beecom. Sunbae, let's mix these into the fluids first and hang them. I'll take care of the rest of the medications."

"You will?"

"Yes. It's not even four yet, so I'll call Seoul and get ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a courier... ah, right. We're in Donghae. Hold on. Let me make a call."

Lee Jun did not know the veterinary pharmaceutical distributor for Donghae, so he called his contact in Seoul. The call connected immediately, and Lee Jun explained the situation.

Once the order was placed, Lee Jun grabbed the medications Kang Han-ul had already pulled and ran to Haennim-i.

The moment he came running, Haennim-i beamed and clapped her paws. Looking at that smiling face, Lee Jun felt his chest go tight.

Why... why does such a pure, kind girl like Haennim-i have to...!

He could not understand why that short, stubby front leg stood out so sharply to him just then. Thinking that, he stroked the round head of the little bear who was so happy to see him.

Haennim-i liked it so much she pressed her head even harder against the bars, flesh and fur puffing out between the slats. Lee Jun spoke to her through them.

"Haennim-ah, you know this, right? The ouchy one."

"Wawah! After nose-sleep, it doesn't hurt!"

She had tucked those words of his away like a treasure. Lee Jun cleared his throat and answered.

"That's right. After nose-sleep, it doesn't hurt. And once you get this, your food will taste even better."

"Heeeh! Even tastier! Even even tastier!"

Haennim-i grinned from ear to ear. Lee Jun stroked her once more through the bars, then stepped inside the cage and hung the fluids.

Two hours later, the supplies Lee Jun had asked the Seoul distributor for arrived — not by courier, but carried in person by the Donghae City representative.

"Thank you so much. I know I asked on short notice, and you still brought it yourself."

"Not at all, Director. I'm just glad I could help even a little. And if you need anything else going forward, please call me."

"One moment."

Lee Jun wrote down everything else they still needed and handed the list over. The representative promised to gather it all first thing the next day, left his card, and headed out.

Lee Jun pulled the medications they needed immediately from the box.

"We can add the Onipural and Hepamelz right away."

"Yeah. Never thought I'd be using stuff like this. It's nice that we can afford these expensive meds, but... it'd be better if we didn't have to. Yeah. Better if we didn't."

"...Not being sick is always best."

Lee Jun said it quietly, then went on.

"Sunbae, I'll keep putting in the orders, so Haennim-i... please take care of her."

"Yeah. Thanks to you, we'll finally be able to use as much medicine as we need."

"The other kids too. If you need more meds or supplies, just tell the local rep."

"Yeah. Thank you."

Kang Han-ul was grateful — Lee Jun had thrown himself into this as if it were his own work. Lee Jun answered him.

"What are you talking about? You're the one who's been through so much, sunbae. I'm just standing here taking the credit."

"What are you talking about? Do you have any idea how much you've done?"

"It's nothing compared to you and everyone working so hard here. I'll come back next week, then."

Lee Jun told Haennim-i he would be back after just a few nights' sleep, then returned to Seoul.

Back in the city, he hoped a miracle would happen. Haennim-i already had a tumor in her liver, and her values had climbed high enough to produce jaundice. That was not a picture that invited a good prognosis. Without a miracle, there was no way to save her...

A week flew by.

Lee Jun rushed to Donghae, and with his own two eyes he saw that no miracle had come.

"W... wow! Ba... nana ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Oppa is here! Banana O... ppa is here... ah."

In a single week, Haennim-i's condition had plummeted. She smiled at him with that same sunny brightness, but she was too weak to even greet him properly.

"Haennim-ah, have you been well? Have you been eating tasty food?"

How could she have been eating well in a condition like this? He knew the answer and asked anyway, smiling on purpose — wearing the same smile as last week.

Haennim-i looked at the Lee Jun who was beaming at her and answered with the same expression.

"Hehe. Yeah."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

But her face dimmed a little. She fidgeted, then turned her head slightly and went on.

"...But it's tasty, it's not tasty! Oppa told me to eat well, but..."

Banana Oppa had told her to eat well, and she was blaming herself because she hadn't. Lee Jun stroked that little head.

"Then we'll just get you something even tastier. Right, Haennim-ah?"

"Yeah!"

Haennim-i wriggled her round ears and smiled.

Just last week she was bouncing her hips with joy...

Lee Jun's heart was heavy as he gently soothed the weakened little bear. Perhaps because he was there, Haennim-i ate her nutritional porridge with real relish that day. She took her medicine well, too.

When he had finished caring for her, Lee Jun came into the office and found Kang Han-ul waiting with a dark expression. Lee Jun already knew what he was going to say. And just as he expected...

"Lee Jun-ah... about Haennim-i. In that condition, I don't think she can get on a plane."

Why were hunches like this never wrong? Lee Jun bit his lower lip. Kang Han-ul let out a sigh of his own, as if saying the words cost him, and then the thoughts he had been holding spilled out in a mutter.

"That kid... even if she was going to be sick, she should've gotten sick over there. Then she could've set foot on real ground at least once. Played ball with her friends..."

Kang Han-ul groped for the words, picturing the bears' haven he had visited himself — the sanctuary.

"If she got tired, she could've just sprawled out on a wooden platform. Looked at a whole, unbroken sky. Looked at trees... That kid. Wouldn't she have loved that? And her friends — not just staring at each other through the bars, but sitting hip to hip, feeling each other's warmth... Lee Jun-ah, don't they deserve to have that?"

"Th... they do."

Lee Jun's voice was hoarse. He was just as frustrated.

If only she'd gotten sick a little later, like sunbae said. How wonderful would that have been?

Lee Jun knew Haennim-i would not live much longer. Kang Han-ul knew it too. They had gone through with the surgery and the treatment anyway because they had wanted her, before she left for the Bear Star, to set foot on the earth. To breathe clean air. To climb a tree. To roll in the grass.

So Lee Jun pushed back anyway.

"If we keep treating her, couldn't it still work? It might be all right."

"Yeah. I think so too."

Kang Han-ul backed him up.

"But other people don't see it that way. Even if she were fine when she got on the plane — if something went wrong after she arrived..."

"It's a liability issue."

"That's right. And there'd be plenty of people saying another kid should have gone in her place."

"That's true. But I don't think just giving up like this is right either."

"Then you try talking them into it. Let's be honest — say we keep her on fluids and hold her together until then. What do we do on the plane? We can't ride with her. She'd have to go in the animal hold... and more realistically, whether Haennim-i can even last that long... hahh. I don't know."

Everything Kang Han-ul said was right. There was no telling whether Haennim-i would last another month, and it was just as doubtful whether she could endure that long flight. And one more thing: there were so many other Somang-is who could go in her place.

Every word of it was true.

And still, Lee Jun wanted to let Haennim-i feel, even for a single day, the peaceful energy of open ground. He wanted to show her a whole sky, not one sliced into strips by black iron bars. He wanted her to know what it was to sleep in a real home. He wanted her to meet her friends somewhere that was not a cage.

And he did not want to steal the chance from the Somang-i who would go in her place, either. That one had suffered through hard times too.

"I'll find a way."

A way that could give hope to Haennim-i, and to the next Somang-i as well.

While Lee Jun was turning that problem over, Gong So-yeon, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠PR Director at Hols Korea, was on a call of her own.

Click. Gong So-yeon hung up and let out a short breath.

"Hah. They know what Director Lee is up to even better than we do."

The person she had just been speaking with was Sharon, the head of public relations at Hols Diet headquarters. Sharon had called after learning that Lee Jun was caring for the rescued bears scheduled for relocation to the United States — and she had called to say that headquarters wanted to sponsor those bears.

Gong So-yeon shook her head and dialed Lee Jun. A moment later, his voice came through.

As she greeted him, Gong So-yeon thought, He sounds exhausted. His voice is so heavy. Aloud, she asked,

Lee Jun laid out to Gong So-yeon both his hope and the plan he had been forming.