The Stones That Moved
Six enormous, gleaming eyes locked onto it, and the squirrel trembled so hard its whole body shook. Naturally, its voice shook too.
"I-I-I, well, that is..."
The squirrel couldn't get the words out. It fidgeted, kneading its two front paws together over and over.
Watching this, Hoesaegi sank into thought.
That's how the subordinates act when they can't get the words out, ong.
Even when they had something to say — because they were too afraid of him.
Hoesaegi had seen plenty of underlings behave just like the squirrel standing there. He opened his mouth, his voice gentle.
"Little friend-ong. If you've got something to say, say it-ong."
"Yeah. Don't go pounding the dirt later wishing you'd spoken up."
Gkamnyangi, who had once been the boss of Bluebird Park, understood exactly how the squirrel felt. So he spoke kindly too, just as Hoesaegi had.
Yeah. He'd definitely beat the ground and regret it.
So come on. Be brave.
The squirrel clutched its belly, thought of its companions who were crying even now, and squeezed strength into its trembling paws.
The strength of responsibility.
Then it opened its mouth.
"I want to eat the food together with my friends. But there's too much of it and I can't carry it all. So I was hoping the big friends would go over there and do this for me... hup! ...yo."
The squirrel had been pouring the words out smoothly when it suddenly realized it had been speaking informally. It tacked a feeble "yo" onto the end and ducked its head.
But the three animals had already latched onto the part about wanting to share food with its friends. The squirrel's manners were the last thing on their minds.
"Squirrel friend-ong. You're a good one-ong. Let's go to your friends-ong."
"You little guy, you're a real stand-up fellow, aren't you? Let's go."
"Hehe, sharing food with friends is the best-dayo."
The three of them spoke cheerfully as they let the squirrel lead the way.
Watching them, the squirrel's heart went thump-thump, racing. Not from fear. It was just... its mouth kept curling up at the corners, and as it walked, its little rump kept twitching from side to side.
For the first time in its life, the squirrel was being looked after. Joy and gratitude radiated from every inch of its body — though its mind hadn't quite caught up enough to recognize it yet.
The squirrel had been fluttering along when, at some point, its footsteps grew careful and quiet.
Behind it, Gkamnyangi's eyes narrowed. Hoesaegi's did the same, of course.
The cats conversed with their eyes.
There's something there, ong.
The footsteps got quieter. The friends must be nearby.
The cats gave a slight nod, then spoke to Sapsaree in the smallest of voices.
"Sapsaree-ong. Let's walk real quiet-ong."
"Yeah. We'll hang back a little and follow."
Clever Sapsaree understood at once. The squirrel's friends were up ahead, so they needed to be careful. If a big Sapsali made noise, the little ones would be terrified.
"Got it-dayo. The little friends would get scared-dayo."
The three of them dropped back, putting distance between themselves and the squirrel. But only for a moment — then all three heads tilted, first to the right, then to the left.
"But I don't see the little friend's friends-ong."
Hoesaegi whispered.
"Right? There's nothing but pitch-black rocks. Think the friends went out to play?"
"Seems like it-dayo."
Sapsaree, who was farthest back, agreed with Gkamnyangi.
All they could see were black and yellowish stones scattered among the dark trees. Some of the rocks, large and small, were yellowish. Others were pitch-black. And now that they thought about it, they had seen something like this before.
Hoesaegi remembered where he'd seen stones that dingy-yellow and black. The roasted sweet potatoes he'd eaten in the yard at Strong Hyungnim's house in Hongseong had looked just like that.
They turned out like that inside something way, way too hot, ong. But they were so delicious, ong.
When Hyungnim peeled those black, rock-looking things, they turned into yellow, nutty, sweet food.
But the black things in front of them were not that. They were something entirely different from those delicious treats.
It wasn't the smell that gave it away. The moment they looked, they just knew. From those black lumps in front of them...
Strange, ong.
Strangely, they gave off the aura of living creatures.
Just as Hoesaegi was thinking this, a black stone moved.
And then it looked rather like the little friend standing before them. Some of the stones were even looking right at them — with black, glossy little eyes.
"Th-the stones are moving-ong!"
"The sweet ones—no, anyway, they moved!"
Gkamnyangi had been thinking the same thing.
"What is that-dayo? Super hot-dayo? But it's moving-dayo?"
While the three of them were still reeling, the black and yellowish moving lumps let out a chorus of tiny, piercing screams.
The three animals' eyes went wide enough to pop.
"Th-th-th... oooong."
Hoesaegi started to speak, pointing somewhere with a front paw, then snapped his mouth shut. Beside him, Gkamnyangi had jammed a front paw into his own gaping mouth. Sapsaree stared ahead in horror, huffing krr-krr-krr through his nose.
The three of them simply knew. The things writhing in front of them were this little friend's companions.
The scene reflected in their six eyes was too shocking for words. As if they had made a pact, all three crumpled to the ground. And not a single word came out.
Creatures that looked exactly like the squirrel they had followed were huddled together — and the sight of them was too horrific.
Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi had weathered plenty of storms living in the park. Sweltering heat that cooked you in your own fur. Rain that poured down as if it meant to sweep everything away. Winters so cold it felt like your flesh would peel off. Friends who had suddenly keeled over, one after another, and gone off to Cat Star as a group.
But a scene like this — a sight like the one before their eyes — they could say with certainty they had never heard of, never seen. The spectacle so far surpassed mere horror that both cats' limbs began to tremble.
The great Silver Rain, who held dominion over Eunpyeong-gu. And the Second-in-Command, Shadow.
Sapsaree's shock ran even deeper than the two cats'. He had certainly spent hard times in the mountains, but they couldn't compare to the years the two cats had survived on the streets. And that was precisely why the shock hit him harder.
They sat like that for a long while, until the squirrel's bright voice rang out.
"Hey, everyone~ We got a mountain of food!"
The squirrel sang it out — orororol! — then turned back to the three of them.
"Hehe, food please."
This was not the stiff, old-fashioned speech of a moment ago. The squirrel sounded like a child on Christmas Eve, giddy with anticipation for Santa Claus. Voice and expression both.
The three of them sprang up at the same time.
"R-right-ong."
"Y-yeah."
"J-just wait a second-dayo."
The three of them gave themselves a vigorous full-body shake. It just felt like the thing to do.
Watching grain and fruit and seeds rain down, the squirrel bounced — boing, boing, boing. It was just so, so happy. Then it immediately scooped food off the ground and carried it to its friends.
After shaking themselves out, the three of them sank back down and looked at the cluster of squirrels. And soon, all six eyes grew wet. Their mouths went slack, too.
Everyone looked like they were in so much pain.
Things they hadn't been able to register a moment ago, too stunned by the scene itself, now came into focus one by one. They could hear the palm-sized little ones groaning. And the smell...
Hyungnim said that when this smell comes, it means it hurts.
Gkamnyangi sniffed — sniff, sniff, sniff — and remembered what Lee Jun had told him. And among the friends who came to Mongmong Animal Hospital, when this smell was present, they were in pain.
Hah-hah. If the breathing sounds like that, it means it hurts, ong.
Hoesaegi, with his sharp ears, heard the squirrels' breathing and realized they were in pain. And that wasn't all. It was terribly faint, but he could also hear a keening, whimpering sound.
Sapsaree heard it too. Like the cat hyungs, he felt such pity for the tiny lives before them — from the smell of festering wounds, the labored breathing, the sounds of suffering.
The shock of the cruel scene lasted only a moment. The three of them looked at one another. And they spoke as one.
"Let's go to Hyungnim-ong."
"That's right. Let's tell Hyungnim. Let's ask him to make the little friends better."
"That's right-dayo. Hyungnim will make it so they don't hurt-dayo. I'll go to Hyungnim-dayo."
Sapsaree spun around and took off, and the squirrel startled. It had caught a suspicious note in the three animals' conversation.
"Wh-where are you going?"
"Little friend-ong. Those friends are hurting-ong. Hyungnim will make it so they don't hurt-ong."
"N-no... yo. Scary... yo."
The squirrel cried out in alarm at the mention of another animal coming, and Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi soothed it.
Soothing it was simple. They emptied the remaining contents of the pouches on their clothes in a great heap of food in front of the squirrel. Then they added:
"Hyungnim will bring a whole lot of food-ong."
For a wild animal, the important things were food and safety. They had already confirmed that these three wouldn't harm them — and now there was even more food?
The squirrel folded its front paws politely and bowed its head.
"Ah... thank you."
The squirrel grinned and, just as it had been doing, stuffed food into its mouth, gathered more in its fern-frond-tiny front paws, and waddled off toward its friends.
The cats wanted to help the squirrel as it grunted and strained to carry the food, but they had a feeling they shouldn't approach those tiny lives. So they simply watched. Eyes drooping at the corners, mouths pushed out in a pout.
Sapsaree ran with everything he had. Far faster than when he'd first come to the mountain and gone pounding along. He shot forward like an arrow and appeared before Lee Jun in an instant.
With a panicked expression, Sapsaree said:
"Hyungnim-ayo. They're hurting-dayo. Let's go quick-dayo!"
There were hurt friends, so Hyungnim needed to go fix them. If you weren't paying attention, you might think Hoesaegi or Gkamnyangi had been injured. But Lee Jun understood at once.
"Did you find a hurt friend?"
"That's right-dayo. The teeny-tiny friends are hurting-dayo. Hyungnim-ayo. They couldn't even eat-dayo. There was a smell-dayo. Their breathing goes like this-dayo. They're whimpering-dayo."
Sapsaree spilled the words out in a jumble, but once again Lee Jun understood perfectly.
"Aigoo, those poor things must be hurting a lot. Come on, Sapsaree. Let's go."
Lee Jun slung on the emergency backpack, grabbed a bag stuffed with food pouches in both hands, and set off after Sapsaree.
Go Gi-jin stood up too.
"Hyung-nim, that one found a sick critter, did he-yu? Let's go-yu."
"No, you stay here. If an emergency comes in, you'll need to treat it."
"Ah, that makes sense-yu. If ya need me, just give a call-yu."
"Yeah."
As Lee Jun ran off, Go Gi-jin called after him.
"If the cell don't get signal, use the radio-yu~."
While Lee Jun was on his way with Sapsaree to where the squirrels were, Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi were talking with the squirrel.
"Little friend-ong. So you've been going around finding food for all these friends-ong?"
"Mmph-mmph... Yes. Hyungnims."
Nod, nod. The squirrel answered while chewing an acorn with its tiny mouth.
These were benefactors who radiated not a shred of killing intent — and who had even given it food. Of course they were Hyungnims. The word came out of the squirrel's mouth as naturally as breathing.
The squirrel who, mere moments ago, had considered having to speak formally a humiliation — that squirrel was no more.
At the squirrel's answer, Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi looked into the cave. They were small, yes, but their numbers were by no means small.
"Incredible-ong."
The word slipped out of Hoesaegi's mouth on its own. Even managing healthy subordinates was tremendously hard work. And this one had been looking after sick subordinates, one by one, every last one of them.
Gkamnyangi was thinking the same thing.
"You're a really amazing little guy, you know that?"
"No, Hyungnim. My friends are hurting and there's nothing I can do for them. I only feel sorry."
The squirrel looked at its companions. Some were chewing the food it had brought them. Others could not. Looking at the companions who couldn't even eat, keening in pain, its heart ached so badly.
"If they could just eat the food... no, even just water..."
The squirrel wanted, more than anything, to get water into its friends. But whenever it scooped water up in its front paws and tried to bring it, none of it was left by the time it arrived.
"I hold it tight like this, but the water keeps disappearing. Even if I put it in my mouth and come, it vanishes..."
Food, at least, could be stored in its cheeks. But water was hard to hold much of, and strangely, by the time it walked back, the water it had carried in its mouth was gone. The squirrel felt so sorry toward its friends. For the ones who couldn't eat, it at least wanted to give them water...
"I even looked for food that goes squish-squish with water inside, but I couldn't find that either..."
It meant juicy tree fruit. Berries.
"After it got so, so hot, there's nothing left. My son and my daughter both went to Squirrel Star, and my friends are hurting..."
The squirrel had set down the acorn it had been eating, its face gone hollow.
Then Hoesaegi's front paw reached toward the squirrel.
Thirty-odd minutes ago, it would have fled on the spot or fainted right there. But the squirrel stayed put, silent and still.
And then Hoesaegi's small, plump, cotton-pad paw came to rest on the squirrel's back.
Tap, tap, tap.
Hoesaegi patted the squirrel, pouring comfort into the gesture. Then Gkamnyangi's white front paw patted the squirrel's back as well.
In that moment, the squirrel's black, glossy eyes welled up.
And then...
Plip.
A single teardrop fell onto the squirrel's tiny paw.
A little ways off, Lee Jun was watching — wearing an expression that was neither quite crying nor quite smiling.