We'll Talk to the Tiger
Seorak's upper lip curled. He growled low in his throat, promising that if they came any closer he would bite down and shake them to pieces.
Lee Jun spoke to him anyway.
"Seorak, we're not trying to hurt you. We're trying to heal you—"
He never got to finish. Seorak opened his jaws as wide as they would go and roared again.
"Auh-huh-huh-hung!"
"Ack!"
Beside him, Park I-chan let out a startled shriek, then reached over and tapped Lee Jun on the shoulder.
"Let's get out of here first."
"You're right. We should leave. If we stay any longer, Seorak's only going to get more worked up."
Lee Jun had been turning over every possible way to get the eye drops in. Even so, he nodded. Anyone could see this was a moment that called for a retreat.
He looked back at Seorak.
"Seorak, I'll come back tomorr—"
"Auh-hung!"
Seorak locked eyes with him and opened his mouth wide. The warning was unmistakable: bother me one more time and I will bite you and shake you.
Lee Jun never even finished saying he would come tomorrow. He left the carnivore house.
Outside, Park I-chan bent at the waist, planted both hands on his thighs, and let out a long, shaking breath.
"Auuugh! My legs are still trembling."
Kwak Suho, who had been waiting outside the animal house, came forward to meet the three of them.
"Did it work?"
"Work? Didn't you hear that thing roaring like the end of the world?"
"I heard it."
Heard it, and gotten so frightened he had fled into the distance. The moment Seorak's roar had thundered through the air, Choi Woo-jin had backed away on instinct.
Kwak Suho glanced at Choi Woo-jin, who was now shuffling toward them from far off, and went on.
"I still thought you'd gotten the drops in, though."
"Couldn't. He was insanely fast."
Lee Jun let out a thin sigh.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. It has to hurt so much. Honestly, I'm worried about the prognosis — but just thinking about the pain he's in right now doesn't sit right with me."
Choi Woo-jin, who had caught the last of that as he walked up, asked with a worried look.
"Worse than you expected? Is that why the tiger fought back so hard?"
"Aigoo, I've been doing this for years, and I have never shaken like that. What about you, Keeper Ji?"
"We do get excited animals from time to time, but Seorak today seemed extremely agitated. I'm worried, though. Judging by how worked up he is, tomorrow is not going to be easy."
"That's the thing. If we don't treat him, it's only going to hurt more and more… Ahh! This is driving me crazy."
Park I-chan straightened up, clutching his head, and lamented.
"I wish it were something we could just fix with one surgery. Ugh, this is so frustrating. So frustrating."
He kept sighing, one breath after another. Ji Hyun-woo was no different. The same look sat on his face as he let out a sigh of his own.
"I want to do something for him, but it's so hard. He doesn't understand that we're trying to treat him. I wish Seorak were a small animal. A fennec fox, or a monkey, or even a leopard cat… No. I wouldn't even ask for that. If only Seorak had been trained like Halla…"
Ji Hyun-woo trailed off and sighed again.
"This is my fault."
He seemed to blame himself for all of it — that Seorak was in this much pain, that the tiger had never been trained. He felt sorry toward Seorak. His face had gone rigid.
Park I-chan spoke to him.
"What are you talking about? Everyone knows how well you've been taking care of that guy. Has he ever been sick before? He hasn't, has he? So don't say things like that."
"Still, if I'd taken a little better care of him…"
It was a simple question. Everything was inside it — every hour of devotion Ji Hyun-woo had ever given Seorak.
"…That's strangely comforting."
"So don't go blaming yourself. Since today didn't work out, I'll mix up some medicine tomorrow morning. Please try to get him to take that, at least."
"Yes. I'll have to think about what to give him so he won't refuse it."
At some point, the five of them had fallen into step together. They walked across the empty grounds with the January wind cutting through them — not the wind of afternoon, but the wind of a night already gone dark.
Choi Woo-jin kept glancing at Lee Jun as they walked. His face doesn't look good. His friend was probably turning over Seorak's prognosis in his mind.
The prognosis, in the end, was losing his sight.
He was a zoo tiger, so he didn't have to worry about hunting. But there would be far more constraints on how he lived from now on. Even in a zoo. He loves water, so they can't just get rid of the pool. Tigers loved playing in the water. I heard they even do their business in it…
But if he couldn't see?
Even a shallow pool — if he stepped in without thinking, he could lose his footing. Even in a place he walked every single day. If he broke a leg doing that, it would be a disaster. Even if they operated, rehab would be hard, and he might never try to walk again.
So what if they got rid of the pool, took out the trees, and just laid down grass?
This was a tiger who loved to play. Hanging tires, setting up logs — all of that was for Behavioral Enrichment. If he couldn't do those things, he might lose interest in living itself. He might fall into despair, and it could even cut into his lifespan.
Aigoo, you stubborn thing. Just be a sport about it and hold your eye still so I can put the drops in.
Choi Woo-jin was thinking all of this as he looked at Lee Jun when Park I-chan shuddered hard.
"Augh, it's cold."
He pulled his ankle-length puffer tighter around himself and turned to Lee Jun.
"Jun, thank you."
They hadn't accomplished what they'd come for. But the moment Park I-chan had called, this friend had come running without a second thought. That alone was more than enough to be grateful for.
"I'll come again tomorrow."
"Huh?"
Park I-chan stared at him, startled.
"I think it was because he was seeing me for the first time today. And he's in pain. If he sees me again tomorrow, he'll get a little more used to me."
"You're coming again tomorrow?"
"Yeah. I have to treat him."
"Him?"
"Yeah."
"He growled at you telling you never to come back."
"That's because he's hurting."
If he weren't in pain, they would have understood each other. Lee Jun was sure of it.
"He's in pain, sure, but… if he sees you again I think he's going to try to eat you…"
"Anyway, I'll go into work tomorrow morning and call you about what time I can get here."
"There's no point in you coming, though."
Park I-chan's words never reached him. Choi Woo-jin was already making a fuss, throwing his whole weight behind the idea.
"That's right! Yeah. Exactly. Jun. Animals are always wary of people they meet for the first time. So if he sees you again tomorrow, he'll recognize you."
"You think so?"
Watching Lee Jun answer, Park I-chan and Ji Hyun-woo thought the same thing.
That didn't seem to be the case.
He seemed to see him as an enemy coming to attack.
Late that night, when Lee Jun came home, three animals were waiting at the front door, tails waving in greeting.
"You're still up?"
"They've been sittin' right here ever since they got back from the hospital, they have."
At Go Gi-jin's words, Lee Jun looked down at the three of them rubbing against his legs, and something fond and proud moved through his face.
"You guys… you must be sleepy…"
"That's not it-ong. I don't want to sleep-ong."
"That's right. I'm sleeping with Hyungnim."
"That's right-ayo. Hyungnim-ayo. Let's sleep-ayo."
Sleep sat heavy in their eyes, but the way they smiled up at him never changed — faces packed tight with trust. Looking at them, Lee Jun thought of Seorak, hurting in his enclosure at the zoo. A sigh came out of him on its own.
As if on cue, Go Gi-jin asked.
"Did ya manage to get the drops in?"
"Hah. That guy… he was too strong. I couldn't get them in."
"I see. Must've been real rough on you, Hyungnim."
"What did I have to suffer through? It's that guy I'm worried about."
"Aye, that's so. He's gotta be hurtin'… so what's the plan, then?"
"I'll go try again tomorrow."
"Well, he wouldn't exactly hold his eye still for a stranger to put drops in, now would he? Can't the keeper do it? He'd be the one Seorak's closest to, wouldn't he?"
"If that had worked, they wouldn't have called me."
"That's true enough. But Hyungnim."
"Hm?"
"I've seen a tiger that loved catnip before."
"That's why I was thinking of bringing catnip and Feliway tomorrow."
"That oughta help, I reckon."
The next day, Lee Jun packed up every bit of catnip and Feliway in the hospital and went to the zoo.
"If only for these, he should greet me better than yesterday."
But.
"Auh-huh-hung, grr, grrrrr!"
Seorak came at him with a look far more savage than the day before.
"Aigoo, Jun. I cannot tell you how grateful I am that those bars are solid."
"That's true. But… don't his eyes look more swollen than yesterday?"
To Lee Jun, Seorak was no longer the king of beasts — the kind of creature that would leave nothing but bones if he ever got his teeth in you. He was a patient who needed treatment. So no matter how sharply those fangs showed, no matter how he growled, Lee Jun did not feel particularly afraid.
What sat wrong in his chest was that the eyes looked like they hurt even more.
There's got to be a way… a way to get through to him.
He didn't even need a full conversation. He wasn't asking for that. If Seorak could just understand that what they were trying to do was help him — that would be enough. All Lee Jun wanted was to find that way.
"Just give me a few days. I'll find a way."
He made Park I-chan promise, over and over, not to try anything else, and then he went home.
That night, after work, Lee Jun sank onto the sofa and ran a hand through his hair.
"I was sure it would work. It didn't."
Go Gi-jin sat down across from him and picked up the thought.
"Maybe you just need a whole lot more of it?"
"I think so too. Seorak definitely reacted. He flared his nostrils, and I saw him paw at what I threw into the enclosure."
Before Lee Jun had left the carnivore house, he had looked back one more time. Seorak had been kneading the catnip with his front paws — pressing, pressing. The growling hadn't stopped. But still.
"How much would we need for it to actually work? How much do we even have at the hospital? Gi-jin, you know when the supply shipment's coming?"
He meant the vendor that delivered cat products to Mongmong Animal Hospital.
"Pretty sure they came by yesterday?"
"Yeah? Hmm. We can't wait until next week… No choice, then. I'll have to go around to the nearby clinics and scrape together everything they've got."
At that, Go Gi-jin opened the Myeotube app on his phone, found a video, and held it out.
"Hyungnim, take a look at this."
"Huh? That's a tiger."
"Yessir, and what he's huggin' is catnip. Lookit the size of that bundle — it's this big, see? Don'tcha think we'd need at least that much?"
"You're right. We'll have to bring a ton of it. That aside, that guy looks like he's in a great mood."
On the screen, the tiger was rubbing its back against the floor, making happy little ang-ang-ang sounds. It even let out an Aaong~!
Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi, who had been listening with their heads tilted, suddenly lit up. Hoesaegi hopped over and shoved his face right into the video Lee Jun was watching.
"Hyungnim-ong, what is that-ong?"
Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi were always watching videos. The moment Hoesaegi saw the tiger on the screen, his eyes went round as coins.
"It's huge-ong!"
Lee Jun huffed a quiet laugh.
"You can tell it's a tiger just from that, huh?"
"A tiger-ong? It's enormous-ong."
"It's big? Let me see."
Gkamnyangi poked his head in, stared at the screen, and his eyes went just as wide. He even put out a front paw.
"It's huge. This guy looks pretty strong, doesn't he?"
He turned to Hoesaegi.
"Hoesaegi, you know what territory this guy's from?"
"I don't know-ong. I've never even heard the name 'tiger'-ong."
"Hmph! If you don't know him, he's not from anywhere near our territory…"
"That's right-ong. I've never seen one with a head that big and eyes that big-ong."
The two of them sat with their paws crossed and sank into thought.
Watching them, Lee Jun's mind caught on something. Oh no. They think the tiger is a cat. Well — they've never seen a tiger, so of course… wait. What if they could talk to Seorak? They talked with the sea lions and the seals back then. And they chatted just fine with the cows, too.
Hope rose in him so fast it pulled a smile onto his mouth. Go Gi-jin saw it and asked.
"Hyungnim, you're smilin' 'cause you're thinkin' about fixin' him up tomorrow, ain'tcha?"
"Well, that too — but also because these guys seem to think the tiger is a cat."
"Tigers are felines, after all. Heh heh. Thinkin' about these little ones bein' friends with Seorak puts a smile on my face too. It's like a real-life animal kingdom, y'know?"
"You're telling me."
They talked a while longer, said goodnight, and went to their rooms.
Once he was inside, Lee Jun turned to the three of them.
"Hey, guys. I've got something I'm worried about."
The moment he said he was worried, all three of them sprang up.
"Hyungnim-ong! What are you worried about-ong?"
"Hyungnim, leave it to me!"
"Hyungnim-ayo! I'm here-ayo!"
"It's not anything else — a kid named Seorak is hurting."
"Who's Seorak-ong? Where does it hurt-ong?"
"The tiger you just saw? That's Seorak."
"Does a tiger have two names like me-ong?"
Like Silver Rain and Hoesaegi. Two names.
"That's not it. A tiger is an animal bigger than you guys."
Three heads tilted. Lee Jun explained.
"Sapsaree's a dog, right? And you two are cats."
"And Yom-yom-i's a chipmunk-ayo!"
"Right. And in the same way, Seorak is a tiger."
"So he's the one with the big face and the big eyes."
Gkamnyangi answered as if he had it all figured out. Not quite — but Lee Jun nodded anyway.
"Yeah. Close enough. Anyway, Seorak's eyes hurt, the way Gkamnyangi's used to hurt a long time ago."
Gkamnyangi's eyes went huge. Then worry filled his whole face.
"No. Eyes can't hurt. Hyungnim, you have to heal him."
"Hyungnim-ong! Heal him-ong."
"You can't-ayo. You can't be hurting-ayo!"
"I know. But he won't listen to me. I need to drip some water into his eyes, but he hates it."
"I'll talk to him. Hyungnim, I'll go talk to him. If you go drip-drip in the eyes, the eyes stop hurting."
"That's right-ong. Gkamnyangi can see now-ong."
All three of them were terribly worried about Seorak — Gkamnyangi most of all. And then they spent the whole night stamping their feet in front of the bedroom door, determined to go to the tiger.