Just Wait a Little Longer
Watching the two of them leave to file the report, Lee Jun turned and looked at the floating cages—the raised wire mesh pens suspended off the ground.
There were dogs watching Lee Jun's group, dogs edging slowly backward, dogs simply hanging their heads.
At a glance they looked startled by the strangeness of it all. But every last one of them had their ears pricked—even the ones with their heads dropped low.
Can't blame them for being curious.
The dogs wanted to know what was happening. Why their friend had been dragged off to that terrifying place and come back unharmed. Why their owner—more frightening than the grim reaper himself—was cowering like this.
But that curiosity was nothing beside their joy.
Their friend, the friend they had thought they would never see again, had appeared. And the dogs were glad.
Woof-woof-woof-woof. Ruff-ruff-ruff-ruff. Arf-arf-arf-arf. Unlike the screaming barks they had heard when they first arrived, these were the sounds of pure, unfiltered joy.
Just as the corner of Lee Jun's mouth began to lift, the landowner shouted.
"What the hell are these dogs barking for? Shut up!"
"Livin' dogs bark, that's just how it is! Why're you hollerin'? You're louder than they are, mister!"
Go Gi-jin couldn't hold it in. He shouted back at the landowner, and the Tosa in his arms—Ggungggung-i—flinched.
"Aww, I ain't talkin' to you. Don't you startle now~"
As he was saying it, Lee Jun spoke to the Tosa.
"Ggungggung-i, can you tell your friends? These men are going to save you and your friends. And they'll give you something good to eat."
Ggungggung-i lifted his head and let out a long, rising howl.
Awoooo~~~!
And from all across the floating cages, voices like his rose to meet it.
Awoong~~! Wong-wooooouuu~~. Ooooh~~.
Lee Jun walked up to the cages.
"Kids. Just wait a little. Let's have some good food, and some water too."
"Don't you talk nonsense. These are my dogs. Don't you even think about doin' anything to my dogs. I'll report you on the spot if you do."
Until a moment ago, the owner of this place had been running his mouth in the crudest speech. Now his tone had shifted, just a fraction. Not that anyone could have called it polite.
Sensing the change in the man's atmosphere, Lee Jun tested him.
"Sir. You still have no intention of handing them over?"
"...... W-well. No."
So he's thinking about it now.
Lee Jun felt a quiet relief.
Of course, they had already filed a report. If they waited, the police would come, and the man in front of them would be hauled off to the station.
"Very well. You're also aware that animal abuse carries three years in prison, or a fine of thirty million won?"
It was actually up to three years, or a fine of up to thirty million won—but Lee Jun left the "up to" unsaid.
"I-I never abused anyone."
"The investigators will make that determination themselves. But there's something you should know."
"W-what?"
Until the man in front of him raised the white flag.
He did not say that last part out loud. But it reached the farm owner's ears all the same.
That was how terrifying Lee Jun's expression was. He was not scowling the way he had at first, and he was not shouting.
"Ah—and don't get any other ideas. We'll be around this area every day. Looking at it, that prefab building isn't even on your land, is it? So don't start talking about illegal trespassing or whatever else. We will be circling this neighborhood every single day."
"That's right! So don't you even think about layin' a hand on these kids!"
This had not been Lee Jun's plan.
He had intended to negotiate amicably with the farm owner and buy the dogs. Purchasing dogs with money ran completely counter to Lee Jun's principles—but in this situation, it had seemed an unavoidable choice.
The man would claim they were his personal property and assert ownership. If they wanted to pull those dogs out of this hell, they would have no choice but to spend the money and buy them.
That was how he had come here. But if the man was going to act like this, Lee Jun's thinking was different.
"Let's see this through to the end. We're people who specialize in collecting evidence of animal abuse."
And Lee Jun was confident. He had heard Ggungggung-i talking to his friends.
The dogs would trust him now.
If I tell them to bark loud whenever a friend gets dragged off, they will.
All they had to do was assign watches and guard this stretch of ground. And they had more than enough people willing to take those shifts.
That many people considered this that important.
But if it came to that, the dogs' welfare would be postponed to some later day.
He wanted to fill the bellies of these dogs with their sunken, clinging sides. He wanted to let them sleep somewhere comfortable. And that plan would have to wait.
He did not like that.
In the end, is persuading this man and taking over the farm the only way......?
Just as that thought crossed his mind, a welcome sound reached his ears.
Wee-woo wee-woo wee-woo~~!
The police siren, impossibly cheerful.
"Oh! Faster than I expected."
"Ain't that the truth."
Still holding Ggungggung-i in his arms, Go Gi-jin brightened and looked toward the sound of the siren.
The remaining members of Lee Jun's group lit up—while the landowner's face curdled.
"Why so fast? No, wait...... they weren't supposed to come......"
When you reported animal abuse to the relevant local government, it was rare for anyone to come out and investigate that same day.
Whether it was because they had too much work piled up, who could say—but that was how it went. They would schedule a date for an on-site inspection, and by then the basin that had held food waste would be filled with kibble, and the water bowls would be brimming with clean water.
Even the floors of the floating cages would have been cleaned, at least somewhat.
That was how they slipped through the net of the law.
And if you reported it to the police, you were told they needed solid evidence before they would dispatch.
That was why the owner had not been too worried even when Lee Jun's group threatened to report him. Plenty of other people had come before and screamed that they were going to file a report.
So even though the crowd in front of him was more aggressive than the occasional visitors who talked about reporting, he had figured it would come to nothing.
For that reason, once these people left, he had planned to dispose of the dogs in the cages quickly. The big dogs, the usual way. The puppies, sold off cheap.
Cover it up, then move somewhere else.
It was not as if this was his only piece of land.
But the police were coming.
The officers approached.
"Are you the owner of this place?"
"N-no......"
"We received a report of an animal abuse site. Gyeonggi Provincial Special Judicial Police Unit. I'll need to see some identification."
"S-Special Judicial Police?"
The farm owner startled at the mention of the agency that cracked down on illegal dog farms.
After confirming the owner's identity, the officer said,
"We're booking you on charges of animal cruelty."
"Th-that's unfair. How can you just take these people's word for it? You've never even seen me abuse any animals, have you?"
That was when the officer who had come along shouted.
"That's a feeding trough, right? There are clam shells and wooden chopsticks in the feeding trough—how is that not abuse? For crying out loud, there's even a wet wipe in there."
"What? Wooden chopsticks? Wet wipes? Ain't that just too much?"
Go Gi-jin flared up. But catching Lee Jun's look, his face crumpled, and he muttered, mosquito-small,
"That's just cruel, ain't it? What happens if they go eatin' that stuff?"
"N-no, those just happened to fall in. I-I raise these dogs with the utmost care, you know? Even in this bitter cold, I come out every single day to feed them and give them water."
That was when Writer Yeom approached and spoke quietly to Lee Jun.
"Director, I think you need to come take a look."
If she was calling him with the police already here, there was definitely a problem.
Lee Jun quietly slipped away.
Behind the cages in front of them, more floating cages stretched on in a row. Writer Yeom walked between them and stopped at one.
"Look at these ones."
Inside a large basin of the kind used for making kimchi, a Tosa lay wasted and withered to skin and bone. That alone was enough to make rage boil up—but beside where the Tosa lay, puppies were wriggling.
Even at a rough glance, there were at least ten of them.
They had probably put the mother and her pups in the big basin so the puppies would not fall through the cage floor.
But there was food waste in the basin, too.
Lee Jun's anger surged.
A mother who had just given birth should have been fed well, and instead they had given her this to eat. On top of that, the newborn puppies, cold, were trying to crawl into their mother's embrace.
Into the embrace of a mother wasted to nothing, her fur fallen out in patches. A mother who was panting for breath.
"Director, she looks like she's in so much pain."
That was why she had called him.
"What do we do about her?"
Writer Yeom looked at Lee Jun with a pained expression. But she did not get an answer.
Lee Jun was already sprinting.
He shouted as he ran.
"Gi-jin! Hypocalcemia!"
"What's that now? Hypocalcemia, you say?"
Go Gi-jin set Ggungggung-i down and spoke to Park PD.
"PD-nim, watch this one for me, would you?"
Then he pounded toward the car, shouting as he ran.
"Grab the bag!"
"Wait—you need the key......"
Lee Jun had been about to tell him to get the key from the owner, but he stopped. With the police here, the man would not refuse to hand it over.
"R-right."
Lee Jun spoke to the officer.
"I need the key to the kennel in the back, where a Tosa who just gave birth is being held. The mother is currently seizing from hypocalcemia."
"W-why would you—those are my dogs."
Ignoring the owner, who was flustered and asserting ownership of the mother dog, Lee Jun continued speaking to the officer.
"It's eclampsia—puerperal tetany. If we leave her like this, she could die. Leaving a seizing animal like that is clear-cut abuse, Officer."
The officer followed Lee Jun at once, and saw the seizing mother dog with his own two eyes.
He immediately hounded the owner for the key, and the cage opened.
Lee Jun stepped inside, and Go Gi-jin came running with the emergency bag.
"Calcium Gluconate."
"Got it."
Go Gi-jin filled a large syringe with the medication Lee Jun had indicated, then helped him find a vein in the seizing dog's front leg. The drug had to be given intravenously.
With Go Gi-jin's help, Lee Jun found the vein of the convulsing dog and began injecting the solution.
Slowly.
As time passed, the seizures gradually stopped.
The officers who had been watching, holding their breath, exhaled in relief and asked,
"Hah—is she all right now?"
"It can recur, so we'll need to monitor her for a while."
"Then what should we......?"
One of the officers looked around.
"If you'll surrender her, I'll take her and treat her."
The officer had seen the wretched conditions. He had confirmed the slaughterhouse. And he had watched a mother dog come within a breath of dying.
There was only one thing the owner could say to an officer like that.
"...... I surrender her."
"Give up the others too!"
Go Gi-jin glared at the owner with eyes burning, and the owner quietly averted his gaze.
"They're my property......"
"I can't say for certain, but the fine is going to be substantial. Or you'll do time."
When the officer said that, the owner spoke in a very small voice.
"I-if you just go easy on the price......"
"We can't do that!"
"Didn't I tell you a moment ago? After you get out this time, we'll report you again. That's allowed, isn't it, Officer?"
"We'll be here in a heartbeat."
"Kh!"
"We'll be on our way, then."
Park PD went along with the police as a witness. Lee Jun had planned to go too, but decided to stay and care for the dogs in the cages.
"Park PD, I'm counting on you."
"Yes. I'll make sure he surrenders those kids."
The landowner, and the man who had tried to kill Ggungggung-i in the illegal structure. Both of them were loaded into the police car, and Park PD and Maknae PD followed behind.
Snack and kibble boxes had already been unloaded onto the ground—Go Gi-jin and Lee Jun had quickly set them down before the car left.
"All right. Let's give them these first."
That was when Ggungggung-i came toddling over on unsteady legs and rubbed his body against Lee Jun's. Then he went to Go Gi-jin and did the same.
"Aigoo, how long was this poor thing stuffed in there that he can barely even walk!"
Go Gi-jin glared toward the police car that had already vanished, then spoke to Ggungggung-i.
"That's right, that's right. Just wait a bit~ I'll give you somethin' tasty."
Lee Jun watched Go Gi-jin and the Tosa with warm eyes, then spoke to Writer Yeom and the two other writers standing beside him.
"Shall we?"
To go feed them.
"Yes."
Lee Jun, Go Gi-jin, and the writers picked up the boxes of snacks and walked toward the floating cages.
The dogs grew restless at the sight of them.
The first reaction came from a cage crowded with puppies. Not the newborns who had been with the mother a moment ago, but puppies three or four months old.
The puppies scurried to the front of the cage and poked their muzzles through the bars.
Then they whimpered.
Some of them licked their tongues, lapping the air.
The writers' faces crumpled at the sight.
"Oh no......"
"Kids, wait. We'll give it to you right away."
The writers worried. What if all those dogs went crazy trying to eat at once?
But that did not happen.
Lee Jun had already finished communicating with them.
The dogs all waited quietly.
But the rich, savory smell seemed hard to bear.
They stood still, sniffing—sniff, sniff, sniff—and they were smiling. They had never eaten anything like this even once, but just the smell was wonderful.
Looking at those dogs, Lee Jun let out a quiet sigh.
Kids, just wait a little longer. I promise I'll rescue every last one of you.