A Home of Their Own
A deep rumble rolled down the road as the cage-laden truck bore on toward its destination. At that same hour, the staff at Mongmong Animal Hospital were rushing about in a flurry of last-minute work.
"They've left," Jang Sora called out, loud enough for the whole basement to hear, the phone from Lee Jun still in her hand. Color rose at once in the faces of everyone working alongside her.
"Wow! They're finally coming!"
"Whew. Here they come."
The staff broke into bright, overlapping voices, each of them saying their own version of the same joy. Jung Seung-jin glanced around the room as he spoke.
"I hope the kids like it here."
At that, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up — then looked around, just as he had.
A few walls divided the wide space into rooms, and inside those rooms were smaller ones still, tucked in like the cats' hiding cubbies. Five rooms of little dens. Counted all together, there were more than enough for thirty-five dogs to have one each, with space to spare. At the center lay a broad open area, wide mats spread across the floor and big cushions scattered here and there. Lee Jun had wanted something like the central platform of Cat Town, the place the park cats used as a living room, and the staff had put their heads together to make it snug and warm.
Just looking at it seemed to lift the heart. Jang Sora's mouth curled at the corners.
"They'll like it. Honestly, when I lay down in one of those hiding cubbies, I wanted to fall asleep right there."
"I did too. The mattress was so plush — so cozy. It felt like a capsule hotel."
"The kids'll have to grow a bit first. It actually fit us pretty well, though, didn't it? Wait — have you ever even been to a capsule hotel?"
Jang Sora turned the question on the staff member who had mentioned it.
"No, never. It just seemed like that's what it would feel like."
A round of laughter went up from all of them.
"I hope they like it as much as we think they will. Anyway — did you check all the name tags?"
"Of course."
Another staff member answered, giving a small box a shake. Inside were collars in every color — green, yellow, red, blue. Not metal chains, and not the wide, heavy kind either, but slender ones of faux leather. In cute lettering they read Ggungggung-i, Challang-i, Dangdang-i, and the rest, with Mongmong Animal Hospital's phone number engraved alongside.
"Making that many in a single day is incredible. Tell your friend I said thank you."
Lee Jun had called the hospital to say the dogs had been rescued, and he had mentioned name tags when he did. Tags would make the dogs easier to keep track of, and he had a feeling they would love hearing their names spoken once the Mongmong family could read them off. Ordering online, though, was a physical impossibility if they wanted them by the next day. So the plan had been to pick out pretty ones and order them later, and for now to engrave whatever name tags the hospital already had on hand.
Jang Sora had started stamping the names Lee Jun had given her into thin stainless plates with a metal engraver. She had finished one and was on the second when a staff member came over. A friend of theirs made custom name tags to order — what if they put in a request there? They wanted to give the dogs, who were about to start new lives, pretty name tags as a gift, and they would cover the cost themselves. Jang Sora, moved, joined in. So did the others. That was how ninety name tags had come to be made.
"No, no. If anything, that friend was grateful. For the huge order… Oh, and they said to tell them when the registration numbers come out. They'll make another set of tags with those engraved and send them along."
"All right. We'll settle up for those later, then."
"N-no, that friend wants to do it for free."
"Really? That's kind of them. And they already gave us a discount on these."
"They just want to do something good, same as us. The ones for Uriteul Shelter have probably arrived by now too."
"Yes, I got word they arrived. All right — let's lay down the pee pads and fill the water bowls. The kids will be thirsty. And get the treats ready, too."
"Yes!"
Every face was bright as they finished preparing to welcome their new family.
It was not only the basement that was busy.
"As the director said, we'll let the kids rest well today and start the exams tomorrow. I'll come in early to help him with the bloodwork, and…"
Yoo Mu-hwan had not even finished before Yeo Un-hyeok cut in.
"I'll join as well."
"You will, Dr. Yeo?"
"Yes. The dogs are large, and one more pair of hands will get it done faster, won't it? The director is already worn out as it is."
"That's true. From what I know, our director hasn't taken a single day off since last September."
"He hasn't rested a day since he came back from America, has he?"
"And before that he was going back and forth to Donghae, working himself to the bone. He really needs to rest."
"Tell me about it. Thank goodness Chef Joo is here, so he at least eats properly. Without that, he'd have been carried off to a hospital himself by now."
"That's right. Our director really needs to rest."
A deep crease formed between Cha Da-jeong's brows as she went on.
"Even my brother doesn't work like that…"
Cha Wuk was known in the industry as a workaholic, and even he did not work the way Lee Jun did. At Cha Da-jeong's words, the same look settled on every face. Kim Jaeyeon wore it too as he opened his mouth.
"That's why we should have everything prepared. So the director has less to do."
"Right. What if we stayed late for the time being?"
Yoo Mu-hwan offered the idea, and heads nodded all around. Yeo Un-hyeok was the first to speak.
"I'll do that. It's not as if I have anything waiting for me after work anyway."
"Same here."
"Me too. Then let's set up a rotation to go downstairs. Three times a day should be enough, right?"
"The tech staff will be going down several times as well, so that should be fine."
Kim Jaeyeon said it, Yoo Mu-hwan agreed, and Cha Da-jeong and Yeo Un-hyeok did too.
"I think that'll work."
"Yes."
And so, while the staff of Mongmong Animal Hospital gathered their hearts around the rescued dogs, the great truck ran on hard toward its destination.
The truck hummed and swayed. Even a vibration-dampened vehicle was not perfectly still. In the slight rocking of the closed-up hold, small barks passed back and forth — little woofs, little arfs.
"Th-this is weird. My belly doesn't hurt."
One of them said it, rubbing his stomach against the floor. Until a moment ago, lying down had meant flesh poking down through the gaps. It was fine at first, but stay like that long enough and a heavy ache would settle in.
"Yeah. Even on my back, even on my side — it doesn't hurt. Hehe."
In the next cage, long-eared Challang-i answered, scrubbing against the flat floor.
The friend beside them flared their nose, sniff-sniff-sniff.
"And it smells nice."
No smell of waste. At that, every dog in the truck flared their noses, the corners of their mouths curling up in awkward little smiles.
Dangdang-i, standing on all four legs in his cage, did the same. When his small nose twitched, the drooping flesh of his cheeks moved with it. Smaller than his friends, he had chosen to stand. He could have lain down. He stood anyway. The reason was simple.
"Hehe. I-I, my feet don't fall through."
On the floating cages, you had to splay your toes wide just to stand. Even then, they slipped through the bars at every wobble. Now he could pad along, he could bounce, bounce, bounce, and it was all right.
"Bouncing makes my paw pads hurt a little, but it feels so good!"
The sting was from the swelling of his pododermatitis. But Dangdang-i loved the running itself so much that this much pain was nothing he could not bear.
"That's wonderful, Dangdang-i."
"It really is."
His friends celebrated it with their whole hearts. Of course they did. They had watched him all this time — this dog whose feet were so much smaller than theirs, who could never stand on the floating cages, who had spent his days lying down. Perhaps that was why they had always looked after him. Because he was smaller than even one of their own legs, and they had felt sorry for him.
If Lee Jun had heard that, he would have let out a long sigh. Who, exactly, was feeling sorry for whom?
Still, that was how these friends had lived: taking care of one another with that kind of heart.
After Dangdang-i's words, a moved silence filled the truck. Then a happy bark rang out.
"But where are we going?"
"Our Benefactor said we're going somewhere good. So it must be somewhere good."
"So where's this good place? Here is already really nice."
"I hope my belly doesn't hurt, just like now."
"For me, the smell. I hope it smells this nice."
That from the one whose nose was especially keen. Another friend picked it up.
"A place where your feet don't fall through and it doesn't stink — that'd be amazing, right?"
"Is there a place like that?"
"There's gotta be, right? Here is already so nice."
"Hehe. I wanna stay here. I love it here."
"Mm-hm. Me too. But hey. I… I want to eat what we had this morning again."
"M-me too! It was so delicious. The water was so, so tasty too. I wanted to keep eating and eating."
"I didn't know food could taste like that."
"It really was delicious, wasn't it?"
Just thinking of what they had eaten the day before, and again that morning, they swallowed, gulp after gulp, their eyes going hazy. It had been ordinary kibble with a few dried-meat treats. That was all.
"Hehe. I like this."
"Me too! It feels so good."
"I-I like it so much too!"
There was a wetness in the voices of the dogs who laughed and said how good it was. At first it had only been that their feet did not fall through, that the food tasted good. But thinking about it, the really good thing was something else.
They had not worried about who would be dragged away. Not yesterday. Not today.
That was the best thing of all. Being able to laugh — hehe — and stay beside their friends with their hearts at ease.
So the dogs kept laughing.
Even when the truck stopped, even when the doors opened and a flood of bright light poured into the hold, the laughter went on.
"We're here, kids."
"That's right — you kids had a long journey, huh."
Lee Jun and Go Gi-jin, swinging open the truck's rear doors, found the smiles rising to their faces of their own accord. Every last dog was wearing a bright one. The corners of the rescue workers' mouths, waiting to unload the cages, lifted the same way.
"It's really remarkable," the Rescue Team Leader said, walking over.
"Pardon?"
"They usually freeze up. Locked in some strange box, brought to a place they've never seen. But these ones aren't tense at all."
He glanced at Lee Jun as he went on.
"Well, I suppose that's because Director Lee is here. You said the basement?"
"Yes. We go in over there. Shall we take the elevator?"
"It's fine. Walking down will be faster."
"I reckon so. Let's just walk on down."
The cages were carried one by one into the basement. Lee Jun, who had gone ahead with one of them and was already waiting, opened the door. He called each name as he did, one after another.
"Ggungggung-i… this is yours. A collar with your name on it."
Mine. For the first time in his life, Ggungggung-i had something that belonged to him. His eyes flew wide. They had always been large, but now they shone huge and black as a calf's. Lee Jun fastened the collar around his neck and smoothed a hand down his back.
"Welcome, our Ggungggung-i."
"Welcome, Ggungggung-i."
Jang Sora, who had handed Lee Jun the collar, offered her own greeting. And the welcomes kept coming after that.
Thirty-five dogs had come to Mongmong Animal Hospital. Lee Jun called every name without missing a single one, and fastened a collar on every neck. The thirty-five of them stood there in their colorful collars, laughing their little hehe laughs.
An unfamiliar place was still a frightening place, though. So they all clustered around Lee Jun. Quite a few had their tails clamped tight against their rumps. Still tense. The staff murmured, each of them, looking on.
"Oh my…"
"I know. These are kids who ought to be running around like mad."
"They'll come around bit by bit."
"I reckon they will. Anyhow — welcome, you kids."
Go Gi-jin said it loud, and Lee Jun picked up after him.
"This is your home, kids. You'll go to an even better one later. You'll all live together with your friends in that house. Until then, let's take it easy here."
Ggungggung-i, pressed fast against Go Gi-jin's side, tilted his head. He did not know what your home was supposed to mean.
"It means you can do whatever you want here. If you want to go over there and lie down, you lie down. Oh — want to look inside there? Everything here is yours."
Ggungggung-i kept tilting his head this way and that. But Dangdang-i, far too delighted by the simple fact of walking, took one step, then another — and before long he was off at a toddling run, and slipped straight into one of the rooms.
Seeing him, the others seemed to find their courage. They began to walk about, little by little. Some put their noses to the floor and sniffed. Some stretched their necks out long and looked around.
Then a small bark rang out. Dangdang-i, saying, There's something weird in here. It's really nice.
The dogs rushed over in a pack. And from here and there the voices started up: Whoa! This is so cool.What is this?It's so weird. I love it so, so much.
A moment later they came rushing back, crowding in front of Lee Jun all over again. Each of them with a toy in their mouth. The corners of their mouths were pulled up as far as they would go, their eyes squeezed into crescents, their tails whirring like propellers — tail-copters spinning at full speed.
Then, one after another, they dropped the toys. Plop, plop, plop, onto the floor.
And then they howled. All of them, together. Short cries and long ones, braided into one voice.
And just as quickly, they snatched the toys back up off the floor.
The first toys they had ever owned were wonderful — but saying thank you had mattered more. That feeling came through so clearly that Lee Jun's smile deepened.
"Feels good, doesn't it?"
I'll make sure you keep smiling like this. Heartworm, all of it — I'll fix every last bit. So live with that smile. All thirty-five of you. Not a single one left behind.
The dogs' smiles had already begun to look natural on their faces. Lee Jun took in all thirty-five of them, one by one, and wished it so.