I Can Understand You
The iron cages were so eaten with rust that a single touch looked liable to give you tetanus. They were floating cages, of course—raised crates of wire mesh, the floors punched full of holes so that waste would drop straight through.
Inside sat a few battered brown basins, their rims chewed full of gaps. Whatever filled them was almost certainly garbage. That refuse, together with the filth heaped beneath the cages, threw off a stench so vicious it felt as if a single breath would rot the inside of your nose.
And yet, inside cages this wretched, friendship had taken root. In conditions so miserable they defied description.
The dog who had stammered his way into volunteering—who had found the courage to say that he would go—was none other than a Boston Terrier. A small, adorable dog with a round face and pointed ears, his black-and-white coat giving the uncanny impression that he was wearing a tuxedo. That was the dog who had stepped forward to the cage door with a resolute look in his eyes, standing among the massive Tosa dogs.
Then one of the Tosas moved to completely block him from view, planting himself in front of the cage door like a living shield. To take the next turn in place of the dog trembling before their owner—the landowner. Knowing that the moment he stepped out of the cage, he would be struck with that club, just as his friend had been. Knowing that, in the end, death was waiting.
"Hhh…!"
Lee Jun's fists clenched of their own accord. His molars locked.
Tight.
Just as his face twisted into something ugly, the landowner's voice—the same man who had been stammering about farm sheds a moment ago—turned sharp.
"Get out! I said get out! Whether I put up a shed on my land or raise dogs, what business is it of yours? Get out!"
"We ain't leavin'!" Go Gi-jin bellowed.
The landowner took a step back and shouted.
"You son of a—! You gonna get out or not? If you don't, I'll report you for trespassing!"
"Go on, then! Perfect. Report us. Do it already!" Go Gi-jin answered with his huge eyes blazing. At some point he had shrugged off his coat; his thick, crossed arms looked terrifying.
"Y-you think I won't?"
"That's why I'm tellin' you to hurry up and do it! Perfect, even. When the cops get here, they'll haul you in for animal cruelty."
"What? Animal cruelty? When have I ever abused an animal?"
"Lockin' these poor things up in a cramped, filthy hole like this and not even feedin' 'em—if that ain't abuse, what is?"
"Abuse? Do you have any idea how carefully I've been raising these dogs?"
At the landowner's words, Go Gi-jin's eyes looked ready to pop out of his head. Lee Jun, standing beside him, was no different.
"Carefully? Don't you dare say something so ridiculous."
Lee Jun spat the words while glaring at the landowner with eyes burning with rage, then continued without a pause.
"Give up the farm."
The landowner's eyes went sharp.
"Wh-who the hell are you to tell me to give up my farm? This is my private property!"
"I know. That's why I'm asking so politely. Will you give it up? Or would you rather be reported?"
The Lee Jun facing the landowner now showed no trace of the fury from a moment ago.
"You're nothing but thieves, aren't you? What era is this, telling someone to hand over their property?"
The landowner's voice, which had faltered under Go Gi-jin's terrifying presence, came back to life. Because, as the man said, the dogs in front of them did belong to him.
Lee Jun turned his gaze to the floating cages, then to the dogs inside them. They had retreated a few steps from where they'd been—probably because the humans in front of them were scowling and shouting. But the faces of the dogs huddled in the corner of the cage had less fear in them than before.
To these dogs, the landowner was more terrifying than the reaper himself—and here were people raising their voices at him, veins standing out in their necks. It was strange, and it was frightening, but they seemed to know by instinct that it could not be more frightening than what they already lived with.
"Because this is a violation of the Animal Protection Act. I'm sure you're aware."
Lee Jun glared at the owner in warning. The owner glared right back and shouted.
"Animal abuse? Do you know how much I dote on these dogs? I should be getting praised, and you're saying what?"
"What did you just say? That somethin' a man with a conscience would say? A human bein' couldn't treat 'em like this!" Go Gi-jin sucked in a harsh, hissing breath, then shouted.
"Conscience? Do you have any idea how much I care for these dogs? Do you? I'd skip my own meals before I'd let them go hungry! I feed them every day. I give them water. You think there are other owners who do as much as I do?"
"Excuse me? You got eyes, use 'em. You call that food? That's garbage. And the water's all gone rotten, too."
"What?"
"Then drink it yourself. You couldn't, could you?"
While Go Gi-jin and the landowner hurled words at each other, Lee Jun thought. There was a reason the owner could shout so confidently. He held the dogs' legal ownership. Which meant that unless the owner surrendered that ownership, Lee Jun could not take the dogs with him. They were this man's private property.
If we stir all this up and just leave, these dogs will be dead before long.
To cover up what he had done.
That's not an option.
Then there was only one way.
What if I just offer him a lot of money and buy them all?
He had absolutely no desire to put money in that man's hands. But looking at the pitiful dogs in front of him, there was no other way. In this situation, the one in the weaker position was not the owner—it was Lee Jun himself. His group wanted the dogs, and the person holding their lives in his grip was the man standing in front of them.
But Lee Jun knew. A man like that never let an opportunity slip by. He would absolutely gouge them for an absurd price, using the dogs' lives as leverage.
And on top of that, he'll claim a few of them are beloved pets he could never part with.
To drive the price even higher. Or because those particular dogs were already spoken for.
Lee Jun's teeth ground together.
That's out of the question.
The dogs were already looking at him with something like hope in their eyes. Which of them could he possibly leave behind? These were dogs who would sacrifice their own lives for a friend.
Thinking that, Lee Jun looked toward the outbuilding. There was something expectant in his gaze.
I hope they found evidence.
If they had, this would get a little easier.
As he looked toward the outbuilding with that thought, a familiar face came into view. It was Maknae PD, the one who'd been behind the wheel. Maknae PD raised a hand and drew a circle in the air.
Evidence secured. Lee Jun didn't know what they'd found, but it meant they had uncovered something worth reporting. The corner of his mouth lifted, just slightly. No one else noticed—they were all watching the owner and Go Gi-jin go at each other.
Lee Jun turned his head back to the owner, then spoke in a low voice.
"If you don't give up this farm right now, you'll be investigated for violations of the Animal Protection Act, the Veterinarians Act, and more."
"Do whatever you want. Report me, sue me, I don't care! I've never abused an animal. Did I starve them? Did I let them die?"
"Can you stand behind those words?"
Lee Jun growled the question at the owner, and the man took a step back.
"F-fine. Dogs other people dumped, dogs they said they couldn't raise—I brought them here and fed them, and this is the thanks I get."
The owner's voice had lost some of its steam.
"Then why did you hit this one?"
"What? Hit who? I didn't hit anyone."
"You hit him with that club!"
At Go Gi-jin's words, the owner quietly set down the club in his hand and answered.
"Th-this one bit that one, so I just disciplined him for a second. Wh-whether I scold my own dogs or not, what's it to you? Anyway, get out! I said get out!"
While the owner was bellowing at the top of his lungs, another shout rang out, loud enough to shake the air.
"What are you all doing? Get over here! Hurry! Lee Jun!"
The voice belonged to Kwak Suho, who had slipped off to the outbuilding a moment ago to stay out of the owner's sight. The sound came before the shout had even finished.
BANG!
Something was breaking. Lee Jun sprinted toward the sound at once. Go Gi-jin and Park PD pounded after him. The panicked owner came shouting after them.
"N-no! You can't go that way! Th-this is my land!"
The outbuilding the shout had come from was a short distance from where they'd been standing, but Lee Jun's group reached Kwak Suho in an instant. The door had already been torn off. That bang they'd heard a moment ago must have been the door coming off its hinges.
Through the open doorway, the interior was laid bare. In a corner: several collars, tools whose purpose was sickeningly easy to guess, and fire-blackened remains. And against that backdrop stood a man and a dog.
The dog was a Tosa, trembling so hard he couldn't even manage a whimper.
And… Kwak Suho was standing there. A long electrical cord in one hand. At the end of the cord hung a long metal spike. Until a moment ago, it had almost certainly been plugged into the outlet on that wall.
A sharp crackle snapped through the air.
Lee Jun's group moved before they spoke. Lee Jun ran to the Tosa. Go Gi-jin went for the man holding the metal spike.
"What'd I just see? That's an electric prod!"
Hss. Hss. Hss. Hot steam seemed to rise off Go Gi-jin's body as he snorted through his nose. It was early December—the dead of winter—and still.
"Hand that over!"
While Go Gi-jin intimidated the man, Lee Jun spoke to the Tosa.
"It's okay. It's okay. We're going to save you. So it's okay."
He spoke in the gentlest voice he could, afraid the trembling Tosa might startle. The dog, who had been hanging his head and doing nothing but shake, lifted his face a fraction. His neck was still drawn in tight. When the Tosa's eyes finally met Lee Jun's, they were still swallowed by terror. The terror of a death that was coming any second.
For the briefest moment, Lee Jun regretted that the three of them weren't here. In a situation like this, a word from Hoesaegi, Gkamnyangi, or Sapsaree would have been far more reassuring than anything a human could say. To the dog in front of him, Lee Jun was a source of fear as well.
But he had no intention of giving up. He spoke in a voice even gentler than before.
"It's all right. We're going to save you."
The dog had never seen Lee Jun before, so of course he couldn't know that this human understood him. But he seemed to sense, from the atmosphere, that something had changed. The Tosa whimpered, a small, broken murmur.
I'm so scared. I don't want to die.
A dog who, until a moment ago, had given up on living—who hadn't even been able to whimper—was laying his heart bare. He had found the courage.
"That's right. You're not going to die. So it's okay."
In that instant, the dog's eyes went wide.
Lee Jun's hand reached toward the Tosa. The Tosa's head lowered… and Lee Jun's palm came to rest on that broad forehead. Lee Jun's heart reached him. Warmth bloomed against Lee Jun's palm. He let a little more strength into the touch.
If they had been even a little later, this dog might never have felt that warmth.
"Hey there…"
Lee Jun started to say, then corrected himself.
"What's your name?"
Hoesaegi had a name. Gkamnyangi had a name. Haennim-i had a name. Everyone did. So the dog trembling in front of him would have one too. A name his friends called him by.
The dog answered in a tiny, adorable sound that didn't match his size at all.
Ggung-ggung.
"Ggungggung-i…"
When Lee Jun spoke his name, Ggungggung-i's face brightened, just a little. Lee Jun's eyes, still on that face, found Kwak Suho—filled with gratitude that he had gotten there in time.
Catching Lee Jun's look, Kwak Suho spoke with a grim expression.
"Lee Jun. I got it all."
To crack down on an illegal dog farm, tips and evidence were everything. You needed concrete proof to make a case—and Kwak Suho was saying he had secured footage worth reporting.
"Good. Thank you."
A short while later, Lee Jun walked out of the outbuilding. Go Gi-jin followed behind him, casually carrying the rescued Tosa in his arms. Kwak Suho and Maknae PD filmed them. A moment ago they had been hiding the cameras. There was no need for that now.
Lee Jun's group walked up without hesitation and stood in front of the landowner. The landowner's eyes went round as he stared at Go Gi-jin.
"H-how did you… that dog…"
Even if the dog in Go Gi-jin's arms wasn't a purebred Tosa, he had to weigh fifty kilos at a minimum. And Go Gi-jin was holding him as easily as if he were a little lapdog. No wonder the man was stunned. It wasn't even worth answering.
Lee Jun spoke to the owner.
"Wait here. We'll be back after we file the report."
"Wh-what?"
The startled owner reached for the phone in Lee Jun's hand.
"Give me that. Who said you could film?"
"Taking this won't do you any good. There's no evidence on it. And seizing anyone else's won't help either. The footage has already been sent."
"Technology these days is pretty great, you know!" Kwak Suho said it while glaring at the landowner. Then he turned to Park PD.
"Shall we go, Park PD?"
"Let's."
"We'll be back. Look after the kids for us."
"Yeah, go. Take care, PD."
"Don't you worry! I'll make sure he can't do a thing."