For Those Friends
When Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi played with abandon, they would — though only rarely — scramble up onto each other's backs. Sometimes Sapsaree went around with Hoesaegi or Gkamnyangi perched on his. And sometimes they simply pillowed their heads on one another's bodies and drifted off to sleep.
All of it was a sign of closeness. Of affection.
But the dogs in the video Lee Jun and the three of them were watching were nothing of the kind.
The five of them were stacked on top of one another because there was nowhere to set their feet — like cargo piled up, layer upon layer. Three occupied the floor: one lay spread like a rug, and two were pressed flush to the relatively wider faces of the cage, like bas-reliefs carved into a wall. And on top of those dogs, two more were crumpled like a wadded-up blanket. Which meant the dog on the floor was bearing the weight of two others.
The ones stuck to the cage like reliefs would have been under crushing pressure too. And the ones on top could hardly have been comfortable. The iron bars overhead were bearing down on them.
The video cut to another cage.
The dogs inside this one weren't crumpled the way the last group had been. This cage at least had room enough for them to stand on all four legs. Every dog in it had its head hanging low. And every one of them was trembling — head and body shuddering as if in a fit, as if in spasm.
They knew. They knew that if their eyes met those of the person watching them from outside, they would be dragged out. And that it would be the last moment of their lives.
Looking at the three of them standing rigid as stone before that footage of trembling dogs, Lee Jun felt a flicker of regret. Even for him — someone who already knew the reality of these places — the video made his fists clench on their own and locked his jaw tight. Maybe he shouldn't have shown them.
I put it on to tell them what they were going to spend the money they'd earned on, but should I have kept it off? Should I have just said there were dogs out there in the same kind of situation as Haennim-i, and asked how they'd feel about using the money to save them?
The three of them knew the Somang-is well enough. That much would have been all they needed to hear.
Just as the regretful Lee Jun reached to turn the video off, Hoesaegi — who had been frozen like a stone sentinel — crumpled to the floor and opened his mouth. Not in that cute, ringing voice of his. In one gone rough and hoarse.
"…… Hy- Hyung-nim-ong. Th- those friends are hurting-ong."
As if Hoesaegi's words had snapped him out of it, Gkamnyangi crumpled down too.
"Hh…… Hyung-nim. Did those friends lose their home like Yom-yom-i? Did all their friends go to the Dog Star? Are they hungry? Are they hurting?"
"That's right-yo. Are they hurting like Yom-yom-i's friends-yo? Are they hungry-yo? Why do their faces look like that-yo?"
Gkamnyangi's words, then Sapsaree's, brought Lee Jun back to the mountains of Hongseong — the first time he had seen the squirrels. The expressions on those squirrels sitting beside friends who had already stopped breathing, friends whose breaths were growing faint. And Yom-yom-i's lament, carrying that entire burden alone. It was as vivid as if it were being spoken right beside him.
The dogs in the video, forced to watch their friends being killed by human hands. The mountain animals who had lost friends and family to wildfire, whose very homes had vanished.
Ah, honestly — why is it always so much heartbreak!
And just as Lee Jun thought that, the three of them cried out at once.
"Hyung-nim-ong, those friends are just like the Somang-is-ong. They're so pitiful-ong."
"That's right! Take them somewhere wide open, like the Somang-is."
"Yes-yo! That's bad-yo! You can't do that-yo. Open them up right now-yo! And give them medicine so they don't hurt-yo."
"Th- they need water too-ong. Yom-yom-i said so-ong!"
"They're hungry too. Give them something tasty."
Every word of it was true. They had grasped the whole truth without being told a thing. Lee Jun was so proud of them that he looked at the three with warmth in his eyes — and then:
"That's right-ong, Hyung-nim-ong, where's Cool Hyung-nim-ong?"
"Hoesaegi's right. Cool Hyung-nim has to come."
Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi, who had been sitting collapsed on the floor, sprang up with their eyes flashing and started looking for Kwak Suho.
"Why Cool Hyung-nim, all of a sudden?"
"When Cool Hyung-nim goes click, food comes pouring in-ong."
"That's right. Our friends ate like this and then they lay down."
Gkamnyangi was already back on his hind legs, patting his belly with his front paws — thump, thump — the way the park cats did when they had eaten their fill of something delicious and were rolling around on the ground.
"I'll click too-yo. And I'll give it to those friends-yo."
"That's right-ong. Hyung-nim-ong, let's click-ong."
The other two nodded hard at Hoesaegi's words.
These kids. They won't even give me a gap to speak.
How had he ever been lucky enough to meet animals this good, this big-hearted?
I'm really a lucky guy. I am.
Gazing at the three of them, Lee Jun found Kongdol-i rising unbidden in his mind.
This is all thanks to you, Kongdol-i. Kongdol-i. It's thanks to you.
That Lee Jun could talk with animals at all — that he could even make a plan to rescue those caged dogs and treat them — was all because of Kongdol-i.
Grateful to him, Lee Jun turned to the three.
"All right. I'll tell Cool Hyung-nim. But kids — you can already give food to those friends."
Tilt, tilt. The three of them cocked their heads left and then right, sending Lee Jun looks of pure bewilderment. Then Hoesaegi, as if he had made up his mind, clenched his little cotton-puff of a front paw tight.
"Hyung-nim-ong. I understand-ong. I won't eat snacks from now on-ong. Give them to those friends-ong."
At Hoesaegi's words, Gkamnyangi brought his front paws together in a clap of agreement.
"That's right. I won't eat snacks either. And I'll cut my food in ha—"
He got that far, then shook his head.
"H- half is too hard. I'll eat this much less. And give it to those friends."
Sapsaree, who had been listening to the two of them, stamped his broad paw on the floor with a thud.
"I won't eat my chews either-yo. And I'll eat one mouthful less of food — no, three mouthfuls less-yo. I'll give it to those friends-yo."
No, kids…… he wasn't telling them to go hungry. He was saying they should use the money they had earned for those dogs. Why were they like this? Why were they so good?
Lee Jun looked at the three of them with shining eyes. Then he hurried to open his mouth, to clear up the misunderstanding.
"That's not what I meant. With all your clicking, you can already buy a huge amount of food. Ah — what I mean by 'buy' is…… Hoesaegi, Gkamnyangi, remember? When you got paper like this. Back when you rode one of those things and went up higher than the birds."
Lee Jun held up a sticky note, and the cats clapped their hands — no, their paws. A Paw Clap.
"I know-ong. Everyone fell for how handsome I am and lined up-ong."
"My line was longer."
"Was not-ong. Gkamnyangi-ong, I won that time-ong."
Honestly. Even at a moment this serious, they were still arguing over who was better-looking. Watching the cats bicker, Lee Jun went on.
"Right. And with that, you two received a whole lot of paper."
He rolled the video back and put on the footage of the three of them.
"We did-ong. That's why our friends weren't hungry-ong."
"Our subordinates too."
"Haeng-un-i's friends ate tasty things too-yo! Chaltteok and Injeolmi really loved it-yo."
"They did, that's right. So here's what I want to ask. Would it be okay if we used that paper for the friends you just saw?"
The three of them's eyes went round as coins.
"Hyung-nim-ong, there's still paper left-ong?"
Hoesaegi asked, eyes wide as full moons, and the other two nodded along as they looked at Lee Jun — with faces that hoped very hard that there was.
"Yeah. There is."
He didn't know how much, exactly, but there was sure to be a fair amount of paper — no, money — in there.
At Lee Jun's words, the three of them cheered, in voices small enough to be heard only inside the director's office.
"Wow, wow! There's more-ong."
"Heeheehee, we can give those friends tasty things!"
"Eheheh, they won't be hungry-yo! They won't hurt-yo!"
The three who had watched the video in shock and despair were beaming now. It was a laugh of pure joy, of being too happy to hold it in.
Lee Jun was looking at them with a full heart when his eyes met Hoesaegi's.
"Hyung-nim-ong. But when is Cool Hyung-nim coming-ong?"
They'd told him to call the man, and now they wanted to know when he would arrive.
"Why? You want to click, is that it?"
"That's right-ong."
Hoesaegi answered again, and the other two nodded in unison. Mm-hm.
"You've already got a lot of paper, though?"
"More is better-ong. We have to give those friends food, and make them not hurt, and we have to give them a wide home like Yom-yom-i-ong."
"Yeah, yeah. A home where they can run and play like the Jjokjjokis."
The three of them called the squirrels the Jjokjjokis.
"That's right-yo! They can't stay like that-yo. It's so bad-yo. They're so pitiful-yo!"
Sapsaree said it with his whole body hunched in on itself.
Looking at him, Lee Jun's face twisted.
You kids know this — so why don't those people? Why on earth don't they know?
Even these children understood that living all crouched up was painful and hard. So why didn't those humans!
Lee Jun wanted to ask them. Whether they felt no shame toward the animals.
No matter how hard I try to understand, I can't.
Understand? He didn't even want to think about it.
Just as a shudder ran through him—
He rocked. The body that had been sitting still lurched, because Sapsaree, who had been waiting for an answer, had set a paw on Lee Jun's knee.
"Ah, right. I'll call Cool Hyung-nim right now."
Lee Jun dialed Kwak Suho at once. The call connected almost immediately.
"Yeah, Jun. I'm on my way."
Thrown by a man who announced he was coming before he'd even been asked, Lee Jun looked up at the director's office ceiling.
Wh- what? Did this guy plant a hidden camera in here?
Scanning the ceiling, he answered.
"You're coming when you don't even know why I called? Did you and that Woojin guy plan to meet here today?"
"Woojin's coming too?"
"What are you even talking about? And how did you know? I'm the one who called to tell you to get over here."
"Ahaha, that's right, that's right. Grabbing the camera and heading over now. Wait for me!"
Sharp instincts, that guy. Uncanny, really. Lee Jun hung up with a quiet huff of a laugh. And then another thought crossed his mind.
If Park PD called right now too, that would be perfect. Those two really click.
While he was thinking that, Gkamnyangi asked,
"Is Cool Hyung-nim coming?"
"Yeah. He says he is."
That was all it took. The three of them burst into motion. Hoesaegi sprang up and scrambled for the door, calling out as he went.
"N- Noona-ong. I- I'm going to wear a huge hat-ong. Give me a hat that makes my face look enormous-ong."
"Me too, me too-ong. Noona, I want the big sparkly one with the shiny paper."
"I'm going to wear my dashing vest-yo. The vest Hyung-nim and I clicked in, hehe. Noona-yo. Give me the vest-yo."
The vest he wore when he worked as a therapy dog. At Sapsaree's words, Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi — who had been trotting out in a bouncy little gait — stopped dead. They exchanged a look in midair, then started walking again. A little faster.
"Noona-ong, I'm going to wear a hat and a vest-ong."
"M- me too. I need a hat and a vest too. You have to click how handsome I am."
"Hmph. I'm more handsome-ong."
Hmm. What should they film? Lee Jun was turning that over as he went to open the banking app on his phone — and the phone lit up.
He looked down at it and laughed.
"Oh, come on. What is it with you two?"
Still laughing, he picked up.
"Yes, Park PD."
"Director, you sound like you're in a good mood. Did something nice happen?"
"It's not that — I just called Kwak Suho a minute ago. And he said out of nowhere that he was coming over with a camera, so you happened to cross my mind."
"I'm sorry? Teacher Kwak is bringing a camera? I- I'll be right there. Please wait just one hour."
"Ah, no, it's nothing. I only mentioned that Kwak Suho was coming."
"Director, please don't leave me out. All right? I'm coming."
"No, it isn't like that."
"Then what is it? Ah, it's all right. I have something to discuss with you anyway."
"Discuss?"
"Yes. You know, don't you? The Animal Protection Act that was revised a year ago finally goes into effect as of today. So I was thinking of going out on a crackdown with you as our expert."
So he'd already been in talks with the relevant departments.
"That's wonderful news."
"I don't know how many we'll catch, but I think we'll be able to catch a lot this time. None of them will have justifiable grounds, after all."
"Most of them are illegal structures anyway, so they can be cited for that too."
"They will be. Which is why I called — I was hoping you might take a look at those kids' condition."
"Of course."
"And this is something I really feel bad even asking, but……"
"Go ahead."
"I know how busy you are, Director. But I don't think there's anyone who can rescue those kids as safely as you can. Getting them out is genuinely difficult. Some of them run because they're scared, but these are kids who know that if a human's hands catch them, they die, so……"
"You're saying they might attack."
"Well. There are a lot of Tosa dogs, a lot of Jindos too."
"A day or two is fine. As it happens, I've already been thinking about what I could do for those dogs."
"Is that true? Thank you. Then I'll fill you in on the rest when I see you."
With that, the call ended.
Only then did Lee Jun open the banking app. He pulled up the account where the three of them's earnings were shared.
"Huh? Why is there so much? How much is this?"
Lee Jun blinked several times before he found his voice again. The words came out with a gasp of wonder.
"Three hundred and fifty-seven million...? Whoa!"