We'll Grow Your Forest Back
Yom-yom-i was moved to the recovery room.
"We need to stay sharp until he's fully out of the anesthesia. Honestly, we shouldn't let our guard down until tomorrow, either."
Choi Woo-jin said this as he looked at Yom-yom-i, who had yet to wake in the ICU.
The surgery had gone well, but they still couldn't rest easy until the anesthesia wore off.
Lee Jun, Choi Woo-jin, and Kim Jaeyeon stood unmoving in front of the ICU until Yoo Mu-hwan spoke up.
"I'll keep an eye on Yom-yom-i."
In other words: you three, go do what you need to do.
"It's already noon. Yoo, you should be heading home. Keeping someone who pulled night duty until this hour isn't right, either... Go eat lunch and clock out. You too, Kim."
When you'd been on call overnight, if nothing unusual had happened, you reported on the night's events at the morning meeting and then went home. But Kim Jaeyeon and Yoo Mu-hwan had taken part in Yom-yom-i's surgery, and their clock-out time had long since come and gone.
"I'm fine. Everyone else is busy. I'll just stay until I see Yom-yom-i come out of the anesthesia."
"I'll stay and help Senior Choi with the squirrels' leg surgeries as well."
Looking at Yoo Mu-hwan and Kim Jaeyeon refusing to leave, it was obvious they wouldn't listen even if they were told to go. In cases like this, it was better to just count it as overtime.
"Alright, then. We'll take you up on that."
"Not at all. Are we the only ones working hard here?"
"Exactly."
Lee Jun smiled faintly at their words. It reminded him of what the Go father and son had said on the phone the day before.
When Go Gi-jin had thanked his father for rolling up his sleeves and offering to help, Veterinarian Go Panseok had told him not to say such things — did he think he was the only one putting in the effort?
Go Panseok, and the juniors standing in front of him now. They were all people he was grateful for.
At times like this, simply saying thank you was the best thing you could do.
"Thank you. The next week or so is going to be pretty chaotic."
"Yes, sir."
"Leave it to us. We'll make sure these little ones can smile again."
"That's a good way to put it. Yes. That's exactly what we should do."
Choi Woo-jin chuckled, though his eyes were still on Yom-yom-i.
Looking at his reliable colleagues, Lee Jun felt strength returning to him.
"Alright. Let's do that. Let's make sure we save these kids and send them home."
The moment the words left his mouth, a thought struck him.
Send them where? Back there?
To that mountain with nothing left on it? Send them back to that mountain, blackened and burned to a crisp? Then where would they hibernate? What would they eat?
Food, people could provide. But with their fur all burned off and their bodies in that condition...
Could they even survive the winter there?
Once the thought surfaced, it pulled others along behind it.
It's not just them I should be worrying about. The ones we rescued are a tiny fraction. Most of the animals that survived that fire must have gone into hiding somewhere.
If they were lucky, they might make it through the winter and greet a warm spring next year.
But could those animals really weather the winter? On a mountain with nothing to eat and nowhere left to rest?
If only they'd fled to another mountain...
His thoughts were still unspooling when Choi Woo-jin spoke.
"Alright. Let's grab something to eat and then get back to it. I want a strong cup of coffee."
"Same here. Director, you should come too."
"Come on, Lee Jun. Let's go."
Kim Jaeyeon and Choi Woo-jin stood and asked Lee Jun to join them, but no answer came. He hadn't even gotten up from his seat.
To the two of them, it looked as though he was simply too worried about Yom-yom-i to move.
"Lee Jun. Yoo's watching him. Let's go."
"Huh— oh. Right."
Choi Woo-jin watched Lee Jun scramble to his feet and asked,
"You're really worried about Yom-yom-i, huh. Can't blame you. He seems like the emotional pillar for the rest of them. Once he recovers, the others will settle too."
"Yeah."
"What else is on your mind?"
They had known each other a long time. Choi Woo-jin could see that Lee Jun was carrying something beyond that one concern.
"I was thinking about where we're supposed to send them..."
"Well, that's wherever they used to live... ah. That won't work, will it. They can't winter in a place like that. We didn't save them just to send them back to that."
"It's gone black and yellow. The acrid smell was still everywhere."
"Hmm. They say it takes at least thirty years for a mountain to recover to what it was..."
"That said, we can't just keep them all here, either. I'm not an animal hoarder. And besides, these are animals that lived in the wild."
"I think the Director's right. Animals that lived in nature ought to go on living in nature."
"That's true."
Lee Jun agreed. You couldn't take them all in just because they looked pitiful, just because it tugged at your heart.
They look pitiful to us, but we don't know what they're actually thinking.
Treatment had come first, so there hadn't been time to ask them anything like that.
If they said they wanted to live with us, keeping them wouldn't be that hard, but...
They would have their own way of living, too.
Whether they wanted to stay here or go back to the land they'd come from, the fact remained the same. Their home had burned.
"The best thing would be for the mountain to recover, but that's not realistic right now, so..."
No. That didn't mean they could just sit on their hands.
"We should keep doing Santa Dog."
"Didn't Animal Praise say they were already prepping for that? You said they were struggling because there were too many places to go."
Following Lee Jun's suggestion, PD Park Joo-hwan had been planning to expand Santa Dog nationwide. He had said there were so many regions hit by wildfires that deciding where to go was the hard part. Lee Jun had passed that along to Choi Woo-jin.
"Yeah, I think it starts in about two weeks. But that's not what I mean. I mean we keep going to one place."
"One place?"
"Yeah. Once I actually went, I realized how naive I'd been. What difference is one day going to make? Those Chilean border collies spent three months running the mountains spreading seeds."
"That makes sense. Yesterday you said so yourself, Director — that there must be so many injured, starving animals, and that you were sorry you couldn't search any farther."
"I was sorry. Sorry I hadn't gone sooner, and sorry I couldn't cover more ground. Not enough people, not enough time — that was the whole of it."
"Then this time we go a lot. Go a lot, rescue a lot of them. Spread seeds, too. There were quite a few crops you can sow in autumn, weren't there? Once those seeds germinate and grow, the herbivores will have something to eat. And if they don't sprout? There'll be animals that'll eat the seeds themselves."
"Right? Going once and going two or three times are different things."
"Let's go, Lee Jun. Whenever we can spare the time, we go and we sow. Grain, seeds, all of it. I'm coming this time too."
"I'll go as well. I want to at least take them some food."
"Let's tell Woori Hamkke, too. They'll come running, I bet. Plenty of the seniors love hiking. We're going up a mountain anyway — might as well make it Hongseong."
Lee Jun's plan came together smoothly.
The whole Mongmong Animal Hospital family wanted in, of course, and just as Choi Woo-jin had said, Woori Hamkke was more than willing — eager, even, to take part.
The dogs who had gone to Hongseong with them wanted to go again, too. So did their guardians.
Hoesaegi, Gkamnyangi, and Sapsaree were delighted, naturally.
A week later, the members would head for Hongseong.
"So everyone had been thinking the same thing."
That was why the replies had come back so fast. Lee Jun was deeply grateful to everyone who had signaled their intent to join, whether by phone or by text.
Giving up a rare day off to go all the way to Hongseong was no small thing, and yet every single person who had gone before said they would go again.
That day Lee Jun operated and saw patients late into the evening, and he wasn't tired in the slightest.
And what made it even better was this: Yom-yom-i had come out of the anesthesia, and was looking at him with bright, wide-awake eyes.
And better still—
"Yom-yom-i's urine is lighter."
The urine that had been so dark you couldn't tell if it was brown or blood had turned orange. It would grow paler still from here.
Thanks to that, when Lee Jun went home to Golmokjib that evening, he slept deeply.
The fatigue of running the mountain the day before, piled on top of operating and seeing patients from morning until night, sent him under so thoroughly he didn't wake once until the following morning.
Hoesaegi, Gkamnyangi, and Sapsaree must have been worn out too; they didn't stir until Lee Jun woke them.
He went to work in high spirits, body light, and headed straight for the wards. He checked on every animal that had been operated on the day before, and the last place he stopped was the squirrels' room.
"Hyungnim of Hyungnims, hello!"
Everyone greeted him brightly, and Yom-yom-i welcomed him from where he lay.
"Still hurting a lot, Yom-yom-i?"
"I'm okay."
To Yom-yom-i, putting on a brave face and saying he was fine when he had to be in pain, Lee Jun said,
"Yom-yom-i, hurting is normal right now. If it hurts, tell me it hurts. Alright? And the reason I'm not picking you up is because I want to hold you, but I'm afraid it'll hurt you."
From the moment Lee Jun had stepped into the room, Yom-yom-i had been looking at his hands — because being scooped up and held the day before had felt so good.
Knowing that, Lee Jun had told him the truth.
"Okay. Please hold me once it doesn't hurt anymore."
"Of course I will. I'll hold you until Yom-yom-i says, 'You can put me down now.' How about that?"
"Hehehe."
Yom-yom-i laughed, weakly.
"Does it hurt? Are you hungry? Starting today, you're going to eat. What does Yom-yom-i want?"
At Lee Jun's question, Yom-yom-i only went on giggling.
Look at him. He's in a good mood.
If that was the case, he'd eat well too.
But contrary to Lee Jun's guess, Yom-yom-i only shook his head, and didn't so much as touch the food.
"Yom-yom-i, aren't you hungry?"
"Hehehe. I don't want to eat right now."
Yom-yom-i said this from where he lay.
"You have to eat. That's how you get your strength back."
"Hehehe."
Yom-yom-i smiled, and closed his eyes.
Whether he was tired, or in pain, or so hungry he had no strength left — watching him, Lee Jun's heart ached.
This little one. On that black, acrid mountain he was hopping around all over the place. He even ate those acorns like they were delicious.
For a brief moment, Lee Jun regretted the surgery. Had it been too much for this tiny body?
Should I have just left it?
If he had, would Yom-yom-i still have refused food today?
No. He collapsed. It was a rupture. If I'd left it, peritonitis would have killed him.
So the surgery had been the right call. Lee Jun turned his heart back around and thought it through again.
And to Yom-yom-i, who had his eyes closed — whether he was asleep or simply too drained to keep them open — Lee Jun said, quietly,
"Yom-yom-i. Get strong. So you can climb trees again, and go back into your den. Eat as much delicious food as you want. We'll help your home grow lush again, too."
So please, recover.
Lee Jun stroked Yom-yom-i's head, then stood.
"I'll come back later."
Yom-yom-i opened his eyes weakly and watched Lee Jun walk toward the door.
And when the door clicked shut, Yom-yom-i murmured,
In a voice far too small for Lee Jun — or any of his friends — to hear.
That day, Yom-yom-i put nothing in his mouth.
The next day, after a night's sleep, Yom-yom-i still couldn't eat a thing.
"Yom-yom-i, if you don't eat, you won't have any strength. You have to eat to get strong."
"...I'll eat."
But contrary to his words, Yom-yom-i couldn't swallow the liquid diet Lee Jun placed in his mouth.
It wasn't that he didn't want to eat. He couldn't.
This is worrying. Should I tube-feed him? Put in a feeding tube? No. Let's watch him one more day. It was major surgery — of course he wouldn't have an appetite yet.
Lee Jun started Yom-yom-i on fluids and waited.
But watching him one more day turned out to mean nothing.
The following day, the moment Lee Jun appeared with food, Yom-yom-i cried.
"Kiiing... I, I want to eat. I don't want to eat."
Lee Jun grew urgent. A squirrel this small couldn't store much nutrition, which was why they needed to eat often.
And yet nothing was going in. The surgery had gone well, but this could still turn into a case with a poor prognosis, and the thought made Lee Jun's stomach twist.
You little thing. You survived that nightmare. You have to live a long, long time. You struggled so hard to find food for your friends.
So I am going to save you.
Looking at Yom-yom-i, who didn't even have the strength to lift his head, Lee Jun made that vow.
And then—
Wait. Could it be?
Yom-yom-i had been living on a knife's edge ever since the fire.
He would have thrown everything he had into keeping his friends fed.
And now he no longer needed to go out looking for their food — so had all that tension simply snapped? Was that why he looked like this?
The thought came to Lee Jun all at once.
Then what if hope returned? What if they could live snug and happy in a lush forest with their friends again?
If he saw trees, it might give him strength.
When the day's work was done, Lee Jun settled Yom-yom-i into a carrier that was transparent on all sides and took him to Evergreen Park. The floor was padded soft, and he tucked a blanket over him so he wouldn't be cold.
"Yom-yom-i. Trees."
Because the carrier was clear, the landscape was visible even lying down. The smell of trees and grass would be drifting in through the air holes punched along the sides.
A rustle.
A tiny sound. Yom-yom-i had moved. Not that he had gotten up.
"Yom-yom-i, the mountain you lived on is going to look like this too. Don't you want to run around there with your friends? Dig dens, sleep all cozy in them, climb the trees."
"...Yes. But Yom-yom-i doesn't have a home. It disappeared. I need my den to sleep in, but I can't. Yom-yom-i can't sleep... and my friends can't sleep either."
Where the strength had come from, Lee Jun didn't know, but Yom-yom-i said a great many words. Even though it was obvious how hard it was for him.
Hearing him, Lee Jun's heart hurt.
This little one...
It wasn't that Yom-yom-i had gone limp because he no longer needed to find food for his friends.
Well — that was part of it, a little. But more than that, the road ahead was a blank wall.
How were they supposed to live from now on. On that bare mountain.
"It's cold, and when it's cold you have to gather lots of food, but there isn't any. I went so, so far, but there was nothing. I couldn't gather any."
"Gather what?"
You little thing. You starved yourself into malnutrition, and you're still talking about gathering food.
A single tear rolled down Lee Jun's cheek.
A tear he hadn't registered at all.
He didn't even know he was crying. Startled, he pulled off the jacket he'd been wearing and draped it over the carrier.
Yom-yom-i was already so sick — if he got rained on on top of that, it would be a disaster.
But something was strange. It wasn't raining.
Ah. I was crying.
Only then did he understand. Lee Jun drew a long breath.
This little one — this creature smaller than the palm of his hand — was so big.
His heart was so large it was almost too much to bear.
"Ahem."
He cleared his throat and looked at Yom-yom-i.
"Yom-yom-i, that's the kind of thing you leave to this Hyungnim of Hyungnims. I'll gather it all. What do you like? Just say the word. I'll gather every last thing you all want to eat."
He said it in a bright, confident voice. Yom-yom-i stared at him, then his mouth began to work.
Lee Jun didn't miss the moment.
Is his appetite coming back?
But he didn't want to rush and fail.
"Just say the word. Who am I? The Hyungnim of Hyungnims, aren't I! I can do anything. Don't worry about your food, and don't worry about where you'll sleep. Just trust this Hyungnim."
"Hehehehe."
Yom-yom-i beamed. Not a weak little laugh — a bright one.
"Shall we go, then? Let's go eat something tasty. That's how you'll climb trees and go see the sleeping spots this Hyungnim of Hyungnims has secured for you, right?"
"Hehehe. There's this, too?"
He meant the blanket.
"It's so soft and warm..."
"Of course there is. There's even softer, even warmer ones. Don't you want to see those too?"
"I want to see."
"Let's go. Let's go eat."
"Yes!"
Back at Mongmong Animal Hospital, Yom-yom-i began to eat as if by miracle.
"I-it's delicious."
Nibble-nibble-nibble-nibble-nibble!
Yom-yom-i laughed, delighted, and Lee Jun's mouth spread wide to match. He grinned at Yom-yom-i with his whole face.
Hah. Thank goodness.
Once Yom-yom-i's appetite fully returned, his body recovered at a startling pace.
The squirrel who had done nothing but lie down was sitting up before anyone quite noticed, and now and then he even walked around.
Time passed that way, and at last the day came to go to Hongseong.
"Yom-yom-i, I'm going to dump a whole mountain of seeds at your home."
"Hehehe. Yes!"
"Thank you."
Yom-yom-i and the squirrels all thanked Lee Jun.
And a few days after that, Yom-yom-i had fully recovered.
Hopping around the way he used to was still too much, but walking, talking, and eating he could do without any trouble at all.
Lee Jun was just coming out from looking over the squirrels when Jang Sora approached.
"Director, President Namgoong is here."
"Is he? Where is he? Third floor?"
Namgoong Hyun, who loved Ju Mi-seon's cooking, usually went to the third floor whenever he visited Mongmong Animal Hospital. If it wasn't mealtime, he at least had a coffee.
Sure enough, when Lee Jun went up to the third floor, Namgoong Hyun was drinking coffee.
"President, it's been a while. Have you been well?"
"Well enough, though I do have a small complaint."
"A complaint?"
"You might have told me. I would have gone, you know."
Namgoong Hyun looked at Lee Jun with genuine disappointment.
"Told you about... ah. Santa Dog?"
"Yes."
"That's why I didn't mention it. You're so busy — I didn't want to put it on your mind for no reason."
"Even so, that's the sort of thing one ought to go to. It's a good cause. I heard you went again a few days ago, but I happened to have a business trip that day, so I couldn't make it. And I hear you're going next week as well? I don't think I'll be able to make that one either, hmph."
He really did want to take part; the disappointment sat plainly on his face.
"Then come along next time you're free. Haeng-un-i will love it. Though once he's run around a little, you'll have to carry him, of course."
"Hahaha. I will most certainly participate. That aside, I've brought a piece of news I think you'll like."
"What is it?"
"Take a look at this. I'm thinking of spreading these over the entire mountain."
On Namgoong Hyun's phone screen was a drone.
"With drones?"
"Yes. The results have been better than expected."
"I knew drones were being used for forest restoration, but they must be terribly expensive."
Namgoong Hyun neatly sidestepped the matter of cost and steered the conversation back to the drones.
"Making the seed balls took some time, it seems. They're basing them on the crops, flowers, and trees that originally grew on the Hongseong mountains... Once they're finished, we'll start work immediately."
Mixing loess and seeds into round balls — those were called seed balls.
"Th-that's..."
"I heard they can spread forty thousand in a single day, though I don't know if that number is exact."
"Wow!"
"If we drop seed balls together with food for the animals, that should work well, don't you think?"
"Th-that's wonderful. I was already worrying about what to do with the places that are hard to reach."
"Hahaha. I'm glad I could be of help. By the way, Chef Joo."
Namgoong Hyun lifted the coffee cup from the table and called to Ju Mi-seon.
"Yes."
"It's delicious. The acidity is rich — it suits my palate perfectly. And this pound cake as well."
"Thank you. Would you like more?"
"I would. Another coffee, and another slice of cake, please."
The mountain might turn green again even faster than expected. Watching Namgoong Hyun enjoy his coffee, Lee Jun smiled, bright and wide.
"I heard you performed a gallbladder removal on a squirrel?"
"Ah, yes."
"Director Han said that from now on, if they need surgery on small animals, they'll be asking you for help."
So that was how he knew — Han Na-hyeok had told him. And Han Na-hyeok would have heard it from Choi Woo-jin, or from the director of Life Love Animal Hospital.
"I hear the little one has a good prognosis?"
When he asked after Yom-yom-i's condition, a gray pallor crossed Lee Jun's face.
"Yes. He had a hard time at first, but he's doing very well now."
"That's a relief. As expected of you, Director Lee."
As Namgoong Hyun praised him, those four dangerous days flashed before Lee Jun's eyes.
It really was touch-and-go.
But now it seemed he would be able to live a long, long life, just as Lee Jun had hoped.
Yom-yom-i, and all his friends besides.
If I tell them this news, they'll be so happy.
Once Namgoong Hyun had gone, Lee Jun went to the squirrels' room and passed the news along.
Every last one of them threw their front paws in the air and cheered.
"A home, a home!"
"Hehehe. Trees. I'm going to climb up in the trees."
The squirrels rejoiced with their faces wide open in delight.
Lee Jun was smiling, warm and content, watching them, when—
A little flutter. Someone caught the hem of his pants.
It was Yom-yom-i.
His tail, twice as full as it had been when he first arrived, swished and swished, and he threw both front paws high in the air.
It meant: pick me up.
Lee Jun gathered Yom-yom-i into his arms, and Yom-yom-i looked up at him and beamed.
He even winked with one eye. It was a face Lee Jun had never seen before.
Several times brighter, and several times cuter, than any of the beaming smiles he had seen until now.
Ah. So this was his real face.
Lee Jun hugged the brightly smiling Yom-yom-i tight. Then he sat down on the floor.
The moment he sat, the squirrels came pit-pat-pit-pat-pat, bounding over in a cheerful rush.
All twenty-one of them, every one except Yom-yom-i in his arms.