Kongdol-i's Birthday
Rip, riiip. Rrrrip—!
Half-asleep, Lee Jun heard something tearing and mumbled into his pillow.
"Aigoo, there goes the house. Meeting its maker. I only bought it yesterday…"
He let out a shallow sigh at his own ridiculous commentary, then called toward the noise.
"Kongdol-i, that's your birthday present! You're supposed to play with it for at least a month. That thing was expensive."
I splurged on the good one because it's your birthday, you know. Picturing the puppy house currently being dismantled, he added a threat.
"I'm not buying you another house until next month!"
The instant his shout died, silence rushed in to fill the space. The ripping had stopped.
Lee Jun smiled to himself and murmured, "So the 'I'm not buying you one' line actually scares him. Not that it'll last an hour."
Satisfied that Kongdol-i had heard him and called off the mischief, he closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep. It was a rare Sunday. On a day like this, you were supposed to sleep until the sun sat high in the sky.
But then—
The bed lurched. Something warm pressed against his face.
A wet slurp.
Lee Jun rolled onto his side with a groan.
"Kongdol-i, Hyung's tired. Let's sleep a little more."
That, unfortunately, was only a wish.
The second attack arrived at once. Not a lick this time — a rapid, soaking slap-slap-slap-slap. His entire cheek went damp. He endured the saliva barrage for a while, and then the next phase began.
Thump.
The body-slam assault was underway. Something kept bumping against Lee Jun's back — Kongdol-i's warm, solid back. The little dog had flopped down against him, full-length, while Lee Jun lay on his side.
Thump. Thump.
The back attacks did not let up. You might think a dog who didn't even weigh ten kilos couldn't accomplish much. You would be wrong.
Whenever Kongdol-i settled against Lee Jun's back, Lee Jun's body inched forward. Kongdol-i would then repeat the maneuver: lie down, press his back flush against Lee Jun's, scent-rub, and shove with his rump. Lee Jun would slide a little farther. Repeat that enough times and there was only one destination — the edge of the mattress. Side-on, kissing the wall, with Kongdol-i's stubborn weight still pushing from behind.
At that point, you had no choice but to get up.
Which was exactly the point they had reached.
Lee Jun surrendered.
"Alright, alright. Kongdol-i, Hyung's up."
He cracked his eyes open and rolled the other way, and Kongdol-i let out a tiny, adorable woof! and burrowed straight into his arms. Then came the scent-rubbing — the same busy nuzzling as before. When they'd been back-to-back, Lee Jun had kept scooting away, still hoping for more sleep.
Now, though—
He scooped Kongdol-i into a fierce hug and rubbed his own head against the little dog's.
"Kongdol-i~~ my little cutie Kongdol-i!"
Woof-woof-woof. Kongdol-i answered with the kind of bark a tiny Maltese might make, wriggling with delight. The warm weight of him in Lee Jun's arms made Lee Jun's eyes curve into crescents. Held close, Kongdol-i wore the same expression and grinned, a neat row of white teeth on display.
"Kongdol-i, hungry? Want breakfast?"
The words had barely left his mouth before Kongdol-i, who had been sprawled in his arms, sprang upright — and whoosh, leaped off the bed onto the floor.
"K-Kongdol-i, I told you not to jump off the bed like that."
Lee Jun sat up and delivered the warning with a reasonably serious face, but it did not appear to reach Kongdol-i's ears. Short tail fluttering, the dog scrambled for the living room.
"This kid. Is the word 'breakfast' really that exciting?"
Lee Jun followed the already-vanished Kongdol-i out — and laughed the moment he saw the living room. Colorful scraps of fabric and yellowish chunks of sponge had claimed the entire floor.
He'd more or less guessed from the sounds in his sleep. Ah, Kongdol-i's tearing up his cushion again. Something like that. He had not, however, expected it to be shredded this thoroughly. The ripping had stopped the instant he'd said he wouldn't buy a replacement, after all.
That had been a misunderstanding.
"Figures. As if you'd ever listen to me that well."
When Lee Jun had sleepily threatened not to buy another one if it got destroyed, Kongdol-i had simply been finishing the job. And "the job," in Kongdol-i's case, meant dismantling a puppy house.
A Schnauzer's sturdy teeth. Compact legs packed with muscle. Kongdol-i had put that solid little body to work on his cushion, and this time — as always — he had reduced the puppy house Lee Jun had bought the day before, a round, roofed cushion that looked like a hiding cubby, to absolute tatters. That was when he'd heard Lee Jun's voice and trotted into the bedroom.
Lee Jun let out a short sigh.
"Aigoo. Who am I going to blame? Grandpa and I are the ones who made you like this."
If you're going to blame someone, blame me and Grandpa.
He shuffled the piled wreckage aside with his foot and headed for the kitchen. The moment he saw Kongdol-i waiting there — tail wagging so hard his whole rump was swinging — the corners of Lee Jun's mouth lifted on their own. Sparkling round black eyes. A glossy jet-black nose. A pink tongue peeking between a grinning mouth. Anyone could see at a glance how healthy he looked.
"Yeah. As long as you're healthy, that's what matters. Right, Kongdol-i? What's a little mess compared to that?"
The wreckage could be cleaned up, and he could always buy another. What deserved praise was that Kongdol-i hadn't eaten any of those fabric scraps or bits of sponge.
And one more thing.
"You had fun playing. So that's that."
Kongdol-i had clearly been having a blast since morning, shredding that big cushion to pieces. Some people might look at a dog like that and say his personality was off. That the kid seemed full of grievances. Or that he had separation anxiety.
They might say that. In fact, the first time Kwak Suho had witnessed Kongdol-i's handiwork, he'd said exactly that.
That had been all the way back in elementary school. Kwak Suho had been stunned watching Kongdol-i, still a puppy, methodically dismantle his own cushion. He'd said Kongdol-i was weird. That he must have a lot of complaints.
Lee Jun had bragged about him instead. Our Kongdol-i only tears up his own things. He never, ever chews anything else. He doesn't even scratch doorframes like Geumdal-i. He's so good, and so cool.
Back then, Kwak Suho's house had been in tatters. The sofa, the chairs — every piece of furniture was covered in scratches. All of it the work of Geumdal-i, Kwak Suho's cat. Kongdol-i, by contrast, never touched anything except his own cushion and toys.
Lee Jun had boasted to his friends about how smart Kongdol-i was, and Kwak Suho, jealous, had gone home and thrown a tantrum. Kongdol-i only tore up his own stuff, so why did Geumdal-i chew and scratch everything in the house? He'd begged his father to make Geumdal-i do the same.
Lee Jun smiled fondly at the old memory.
"Grandpa told Kwak Suho's dad to build him a cat tower."
Back then, most people didn't even know what a cat tower was, but Lee Jun's grandfather — a veterinarian — had shown Kwak Suho's father a foreign magazine and introduced him to the idea. He'd even told him to wrap the posts with sisal rope. After that, Geumdal-i's rampages hadn't vanished completely, but they had eased.
That was when Lee Jun's body lurched. Kongdol-i, who had been standing still staring up at him, charged over and hit Lee Jun's legs with both front paws.
"Ah — sorry. Kongdol-i, I'll get your food."
Lee Jun hurried to prepare breakfast.
"It's Kongdol-i's birthday today, so…"
He pulled a can from the cupboard. A complete-meal wet food he only served as a special treat on rare occasions.
A soft click. The moment the lid came off, Kongdol-i caught the scent and started bouncing in place — pong, pong, pong. He was in an excellent mood.
Watching him bounce like a little foal, Lee Jun asked, "Kongdol-i, is it really that tasty?"
Woof-woof! Kongdol-i kept bouncing as he answered at the top of his lungs.
"Okay, okay. It's coming."
A moment later, the only sound in the living room was Kongdol-i eating. Scrape, scrape, scrape. He'd barely started, and already it was the sound of licking the floor clean.
"Kongdol-i, eat a little slower. Who's going to steal it from you, that you have to gulp it down like that?"
Lee Jun felt a pang watching him inhale his food. If he'd just slow down and actually taste it… eating that fast, he'll want more the second he's done.
Before the thought even finished, a new sound arrived: lap, lap, lap. Having vacuumed up the kibble, Kongdol-i was drinking water. The corners of Lee Jun's mouth stretched wide. He'd remembered Grandpa's words — that a dog who drank well was a healthy dog.
"Our Kongdol-i drinks his water so well, too."
At the praise, Kongdol-i drank even more enthusiastically.
Just as the lapping was growing quieter, the doorbell rang.
Ding-dong. A classic chime.
Kongdol-i shot outside even faster than Lee Jun could move, wriggling through the Kongdol-i-sized dog door set in the kitchen door to the yard.
Kwak Suho and Choi Woo-jin had arrived.
Lee Jun stepped out and opened the front gate, and the two of them spoke almost in unison.
"Kongdol-i, happy birthday."
"Kongdol-i, happy birthday."
Closing the gate behind them, Lee Jun greeted his friends.
"You two are something else. Nobody else to hang out with this time of year?"
It was a greeting born of gratitude. They'd come first thing in the morning because they knew he'd be spending the last Sunday of the year alone.
"What about you, then? Got anyone?"
"Nope."
"We're in the same boat, so quit yapping and let's eat. You haven't had breakfast, right?"
Both of them had their hands full. In one hand, something Lee Jun could already guess at; in the other, a large market bag. Inside those cloth totes would be food Choi Woo-jin's and Kwak Suho's mothers had packed for him to eat.
The two of them crossed the yard and came inside without so much as a change of expression. Even looking at a living room buried in fabric scraps and sponge wreckage, they weren't the least bit surprised.
On the contrary.
"Ohh! Our Kongdol-i's been having fun since morning, huh?"
"Our Kongdol-i, such a hard worker. Already taken one down? Here — your present."
"This one's from Uncle Cha-cha. Tear it up for a nice long time."
The gifts they had brought were puppy houses. Receiving his favorite toy in the world, Kongdol-i was so delighted he rubbed himself against both of their legs.
"That's right, that's right. Our Kongdol-i likes that, doesn't he? I'll get you something good next year, too."
"Shred it to pieces. You've got to tear things up while you're healthy, right? When else are you gonna do it?"
Watching the two of them offer Kongdol-i their well-wishes, Lee Jun found himself thinking, That Woo-jin kid really did give him a huge house the year after. Kongdol-i played with it for so long. And Suho — that guy gave him a stuffed animal way bigger than Kongdol-i himself. Kongdol-i loved that thing so much…
Then Lee Jun froze.
Wait. Wait? How do I know that? How do I know what they're going to give Kongdol-i next year?
And on the heels of that thought came another.
If I'd known those were the last presents. I should've gotten him something even better. I should've given him so much more— wait.
A chill ran straight down his spine.
Why was he suddenly thinking something so absurd? Kongdol-i was right there, grinning. Have I been run-down lately? He looked at Kongdol-i with that thought still hanging in the air.
Then, all at once, Kongdol-i's body grew bright.
Wha—?!
Even as Lee Jun stared, it kept getting brighter. His face twisted. He turned to the other two.
"Hey. Doesn't our Kongdol-i look a little weird?"
He asked it in a trembling voice, swinging his gaze toward them.
But the two of them were gone.
And that wasn't all. The fabric scraps scattered across the floor were gone too. The presents they had given Kongdol-i had vanished as well.
"Wha…"
This is too weird. What if Kongdol-i disappears too?
His heart hammering, Lee Jun ran toward him. But he couldn't run. His own movements had become impossibly slow.
"Kongdol-i! C-come to Hyung."
He spoke quickly, but the voice that came out dragged slower than half-speed. Kongdol-i, still bouncing in place, did not come to his side.
It was so frustrating. This was a kid who usually loved sticking to him like glue — why wouldn't he come now, even when he was being called?
Thinking that, Lee Jun walked toward him with everything he had, looking only at Kongdol-i. Even as he approached, Kongdol-i kept growing brighter. He almost looked as if he were turning transparent.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Lee Jun's heart pounded harder.
No. No.
He didn't know what this was, but it couldn't happen. If Kongdol-i kept getting brighter and more transparent like that, he might never see him again.
He dragged his unmoving body forward, trying to reach him — and that was when Kongdol-i stood up on his hind legs.
"Kongdol-i, don't stand — your back will hurt!"
Even as he said it, another thought surfaced. Wait? Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi stand like that just fine… hold on. Hoesaegi? Gkamnyangi?
Who are they?
And in that instant, Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi flashed through Lee Jun's mind. The cats who called him Hyungnim. And the big one who was always with them — Sapsaree.
As the three of them surfaced in his thoughts, Lee Jun's body lurched.
"Wha— I'm falling!"
Ah. I'm about to hit the floor. That was what he thought — and then everything went dark.
So Lee Jun didn't see Kongdol-i spread his wings wide and fly toward him.
But he heard this:
Hearing that voice, Lee Jun wanted to open his eyes. Instead, his consciousness flickered, and faded.