There's a Mass
A round shape pressed into Lee Jun's palm. There's a mass. It was unmistakably a tumor.
Hmm. Feels like it's over fifteen millimeters, at least. If it felt this large just by touch, the thing would easily measure twenty millimeters or more once they got it out. Ttochi had only just come out of the carrier and hadn't stepped onto the scale yet, but he was probably around five hundred grams. A mass that size in a body this small would have been an enormous burden — it even occurred to Lee Jun that the lump might be pressing on a nerve, which would explain why Ttochi couldn't use his hind legs. But jumping to a diagnosis would be a mistake.
"Ttochi's guardian, did you know there was a lump here?"
When Lee Jun had mentioned the word tumor a moment ago, the guardian had been so startled he'd stammered. So this time Lee Jun said "lump" instead.
"A-a lump? No?"
The guardian stared at Lee Jun, wide-eyed.
"There's something round between the hip and the hind leg. Would you like to feel it?"
The guardian reached toward the spot Lee Jun indicated, and his eyes went even wider.
"Th-that's real."
The startled guardian added, as if blaming himself,
"Why... why didn't I notice?"
As he sighed in self-reproach, Yoo Mu-hwan, seated beside Lee Jun, picked up the thread.
"Hedgehogs tend to retain more of their wild instincts than other companion animals."
When the guardian's gaze shifted to him, Yoo Mu-hwan went on.
"So they try not to show when they're in pain. Ttochi would have eaten well and pretended to be full of energy so no one would catch on that he was hurting. That's why you wouldn't have known he was sick."
"But he was hurting this badly..."
"That's just how they are. They're hardwired with the fear that if others find out they're injured, they might get attacked."
"Ah... our Ttochi is so timid and sensitive that he curls into a ball at the slightest thing. I tried not to handle him much so I wouldn't stress him out... I should have examined him more carefully."
Ttochi's guardian sighed again and asked,
"Could this be why Ttochi couldn't walk? Then it isn't WHS?"
Self-reproach and hope sat together on his face. Once WHS set in, the entire body would gradually paralyze, leaving the animal to lie in agony, and survival time was only about fifteen months. Rather than an incurable disease of unknown cause, he wanted to cling to the hope that removing a tumor would be enough to make Ttochi well. Lee Jun couldn't give that guardian a hasty answer.
"We can only hope so. We'll take him for tests now."
"...Please take good care of our Ttochi, Director."
As Lee Jun stood with Ttochi resting on his palm, the guardian gazed at the little hedgehog in wonder.
"This is the first time Ttochi hasn't raised his quills at an animal hospital."
Only moments ago Ttochi had bristled like a chestnut burr; now his quills lay neatly flat, as if that had never happened.
"It's a first for me, too. I always put on these gloves to handle him, but I don't need them now."
Yoo Mu-hwan held up the protective gloves used for examining and treating hedgehogs, smiling awkwardly.
"I guess every animal really does like our director."
"Ttochi's just a good boy."
Lee Jun answered briefly, then said to the guardian,
"Please wait just a moment."
A short while later, Lee Jun and Yoo Mu-hwan returned to the exam room carrying Ttochi, the basic tests complete. They placed him in the waiting guardian's arms, and Lee Jun spoke.
"It looks like the lump was making it hard for him to walk. Once we remove it, he should be all right."
"So it isn't WHS?"
"I think the important thing right now is to remove this first. As you know, there's no way to definitively confirm WHS under the present circumstances."
A definitive diagnosis of WHS could only be made through autopsy. You had to examine lesions in the brain, spinal cord, and other nerves — which was out of the question right now.
"It's a disease we diagnose based on clinical signs. And a mass this large needs to come out either way."
"I... I suppose so?"
The guardian answered with a worried look, then tilted his head.
"Huh. Ttochi seems really sharp today? Last year he was out of it for a long time after the tests. He was so groggy I was on edge until he fully woke from the anesthesia..."
Hedgehogs were typically anesthetized for examinations — that was what he meant.
"Ttochi was so good and calm that we didn't need anesthesia."
"Ttochi is a good boy, that's true... Wait. You didn't use anesthesia? Then these are...?"
Looking at the ultrasound images and X-rays up on the monitor, the guardian's eyes widened. Yoo Mu-hwan answered in Lee Jun's place.
"These little ones tend to listen pretty well to our director."
Yoo Mu-hwan squared his shoulders as he spoke, pride warming his voice.
"We'll start him on some fluids, then go into surgery."
"...Y-yes. Please take good care of our Ttochi."
The guardian was stunned, but strangely, even hearing the word surgery didn't worry him at all. He simply had a feeling that everything would go perfectly.
The next day, the three animals arrived at the hospital and headed straight up to the second-floor ward. The first room they entered was the one where the dogs were hospitalized. After checking on their friends, they moved on to the cat ward, finished their usual rounds there as well, and headed last to the large-dog ward. As it happened, no large dogs were admitted, so Ttochi had the room to himself.
"Wonder if Ttochi slept well-ong."
"It's his first night, so he probably slept okay."
"Hyungnims-ayo. Benefactor Hyungnim said Ttochi's super scaredy, he did-ayo. What if he's crying 'cause he's scared-ayo?"
The day before, after finishing Ttochi's surgery, Lee Jun had called the three of them over and asked them to be careful, since Ttochi was timid and sensitive. When Sapsaree brought that up, the two cats picked up their pace.
"Let's go."
They set off at a trot — thump-thump, patter-patter, then a burst of running paws, with Sapsaree's heavier clomp-clomp bringing up the rear. The three of them entered the ward — and then, all at once, they froze. Standing like statues, they shook their heads.
"...He's not here-ong."
Gkamnyangi, still shaking his head, started sniffing the air.
"I think he is here... but where? I can smell him..."
"That's right-ayo. Can't see him-ayo. But it smells like Ttochi-ayo."
Sapsaree tilted his head too. Softly, softly, he crept forward, nose pressed almost to the floor as he sniffed. Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi did the same. Their gazes settled on a far corner of the room. There, a round ball bristling with sharp quills sat on the floor.
"Strange-ong. The smell's coming from here-ong. But he's not here-ong."
"Right? It definitely smells like him here..."
Gkamnyangi tilted his head, then put on a decisive look.
"The same smell from the sparkly room goes all the way over there."
He meant the smell from the operating room. Gkamnyangi, with his keen nose, reached that conclusion and strode over with great dignity. He reached the giant chestnut burr and sniffed.
"This smells just like the sparkly room?"
Gkamnyangi tapped the chestnut burr with a front paw.
Tap. The tiniest sound.
And then — a twitch. The tightly curled chestnut burr flinched, and the raised quills moved with it.
"Ong?"
"What is that-ayo?"
The other two leaned in, curious. Gkamnyangi was just as fascinated, so he tapped it again.
Clack-tick-tick-tick. This time the sharp quills crossed over one another. And then — whoooom. The quills stood up. And they attacked Gkamnyangi.
Thuk! A quill stabbed him. Completely unguarded, Gkamnyangi took the attack head-on.
Aaaargh!
It hurt. It hurt so, so much. The quills had sunk into his front paw and his side, and it hurt so badly tears nearly sprang to his eyes. But he was a tough guy, Gkamnyangi! He couldn't cry. And he absolutely, positively could not scream.
Nngh!
Gkamnyangi clenched his teeth. If his mouth so much as opened — if a scream slipped out — No. No way. Those two would never let him live it down.
Huff, huff, huff. He barely swallowed the scream trying to burst out, then eased back a step. As the pain of the quills punching into his flesh subsided, Gkamnyangi tried to calm his startled heart. And then he startled all over again.
"Nn...gh!"
This time, just a little, a scream leaked out. He couldn't help it — a pair of black eyes was staring right at him. Eyes he hadn't expected at all. And they belonged to a creature with quills stuck all over its body.
"Wh-wha...?"
So shocked and flustered was Gkamnyangi that the scream vanished right back down his throat.
"Y-you... Ttochi?"
Nod, nod. The tiny creature nodded with the most pitiful expression in the world, quills stuck all over him. Gkamnyangi, who knew better than anyone how much a quill sting hurt, thought the grimacing little thing in front of him looked terribly pitiful.
I-I have to pull them out, quick.
But unlike his thoughts, his body wouldn't move. The memory of just being stabbed — and, with it, the old memory of tumbling through a thorn thicket in agony — had flooded his head and filled it to the brim. Gkamnyangi jerked like a toy with dying batteries, then snapped back to himself.
"Q-quick, Hyungni— Hyungnim..."
He had to tell him, so Hyungnim could pull out the quills tormenting that little guy. Gkamnyangi bolted for the door.
And then — bang. The ward door opened and Lee Jun walked in. Gkamnyangi beamed. Hyungnim really does show up whenever I need him, he thought, and opened his mouth.
"Hyungnim! Ttochi's quills—"
"You three, don't pick on Ttochi too much."
Lee Jun spoke at the exact same time as Gkamnyangi. Gkamnyangi tried again.
"Hyungnim, Ttochi's hurting a lot. So hurry and pull the quills—"
He hadn't even finished saying pull them out when Hyungnim started talking again.
"That's right, Ttochi's hurting a lot, so you need to take good care of him. Though I guess if Ttochi curls up, you three won't be able to do a thing."
"Hyungnim! Hurry and get the quills stuck all over poor Ttochi's— huh?"
Gkamnyangi, who'd been hopping in frustration as he spoke, went wide-eyed. If he curls up, what? And they won't be able to do a thing? He stopped hopping and looked back and forth between Lee Jun and Ttochi. Then Hoesaegi spoke.
"Hyungnim-ong. What's curling up-ong?"
"Ah, that — hang on. I'll have Ttochi show you."
A moment later Ttochi's body whooshed into a perfect sphere, and all they could see were quills shooting up. The three of them stared so hard their eyes nearly popped out.
"Th-that's the same thing we saw at first-ayo."
"Y-yeah."
As Gkamnyangi blinked, Sapsaree asked,
"Hyungnim-ayo, doesn't Ttochi hurt-ayo? It hurt me a whole lot-ayo."
He meant it had hurt when the quills stabbed him.
"Ttochi's fine. Those aren't quills stuck in him."
The three of them still tilted their heads. Gkamnyangi asked on behalf of them all.
"Hyungnim, if they're not stuck in him, then it doesn't hurt?"
"That's right. It doesn't hurt. Those are, hmm, how do I put this so you'll understand? Hmm... those quills are like your fur."
"Hoong, that's amazing-ong! His fur is quills-ong!"
Hoesaegi's golden eyes sparkled as he gazed at Ttochi.
"Wow wow, Ttochi has such cool fur-ayo. I'm jealous-ayo!"
Sapsaree's eyes shone too as he stamped his paws. Meanwhile, Gkamnyangi — who'd nearly teared up from those same quills — gave a little shudder.
Th-those pointy things are fur? No way!
Whether he knew what Gkamnyangi was thinking or not, Sapsaree asked from beside him,
"Hyungnim-ayo, what were Ttochi's quill-fur like-ayo? Were they all soft and fluffy-ayo?"
No. They hurt so, so much. But he couldn't bring himself to say that out loud, so he hemmed and hawed — and Hoesaegi answered for him.
"Sapsaree-ong, you saw just now-ong? Gkamnyangi pet Ttochi-ong. And he just sat there-ong."
"Oh, that's right-ayo! Hehe, Ttochi's quill-fur is all soft and fluffy like ours-ayo!"
Remembering how composed Gkamnyangi had looked a moment ago, the two of them reached that conclusion.
"Hmm, Ttochi's quills are pretty sharp, actually... I guess Ttochi must like you, Gkamnyangi. Anyway, everyone be careful. Getting poked by a quill hurts, so especially watch your eyes."
"Got it-ong. A quill in the eye would be really bad-ong."
"That's right. If you're unlucky, you could even lose your sight."
A flinch. Gkamnyangi's body trembled once more. He never wanted to go through the agony of not being able to see again.
"All right, Ttochi, let's just get you disinfected."
Lee Jun scooped Ttochi up, checked the surgical site, and headed out. On his way, he reminded the three of them once more.
"You know, right? Don't startle Ttochi."
"Got it-ong."
"Got it-ayo."
Hoesaegi and Sapsaree answered, but Gkamnyangi couldn't get a word out. He just stood a little farther back and slowly nodded. Seeing that, Lee Jun praised him.
"See that? Be like Gkamnyangi — stay a little farther back and just watch quietly. And if anything happens with Ttochi, tell me right away."
Lee Jun said this as he walked toward the door. Gkamnyangi followed after him.
"What a good boy, Gkamnyangi, seeing me off."
Lee Jun ruffled Gkamnyangi's head and left the room. The four of them were left alone. Watching Lee Jun's receding back, Gkamnyangi's eyes held a faint, unidentifiable resentment.
T-take me with you too.
He hadn't been seeing Lee Jun off. He'd wanted to leave himself.