A Call from Africa
Kwak Suho answered the startled Lee Jun.
"Yeah. Africa."
Lee Jun, who had been staring at him with his eyes wide open, let out a short, incredulous laugh.
"Oh, come on. You say 'Africa' the way other people say 'let's run down to the corner store.'"
"You get on a plane and you're there. What's the big surprise?"
"How am I not supposed to be surprised? You drop 'let's go to Africa' out of nowhere. And this isn't a vacation, I'm guessing."
"See? That's our Lee Jun for you — sharp as ever!"
Watching Kwak Suho say it with that smile playing at the corners of his mouth, Lee Jun pulled a look of pure distaste.
"'Our' Lee Jun? What's that supposed to mean? And I'm not 'sharp.' I just have a feeling about these things."
"Sharp, a feeling — same difference."
"Anyway, what is it? Spit it out. It's freezing, and if you keep talking like this I'm locking you in a room and making you paint."
"Whoa, whoa. That's not fair, Lee Jun. You really think I'm that much of a scatterbrain?"
"Aren't you?"
Kwak Suho snorted a laugh at him. Lee Jun laughed back. That was as far as the teasing would go.
Kwak Suho opened his mouth again.
"I actually got a call yesterday."
The real conversation was about to begin. Lee Jun watched him in silence, waiting for what came next.
"A friend of mine — Jerome Fritz. He reached out in a hurry."
Lee Jun folded his arms and let out a long breath.
"Hmm. So what's hurting, and where? Wait — before that. Dog? Cat?"
He had assumed Jerome had called because his own companion animal was sick. A friend of Kwak Suho's would almost certainly be a subscriber to his channel, which meant he would have seen Lee Jun in the videos. It was the sort of thing people did — if you knew a doctor, you asked them first when something went wrong. Lee Jun figured this was much the same. When a pet fell ill, you wanted to know at least a little before you walked into a clinic; you wanted to be ready. Or maybe they had already gotten a diagnosis, and they wanted a second opinion, a better treatment plan. Lee Jun was betting on the latter.
The answer that came back from Kwak Suho was not what he expected.
"It's an elephant."
"What? An elephant?"
Lee Jun pressed on, still looking stunned.
"An elephant's sick? Where, and how? Wait — before that. Why would anyone call you about a sick elephant?"
"Why would they call me? Because of you, obviously."
"Me?"
Lee Jun looked even more startled than before. He pointed at himself.
"I don't know the first thing about elephants."
"Word's gotten around among the zoo people — about you treating Seorak and Beongae. Apparently everyone's blown away."
"Park I-chan mentioned that, actually. Said every time he runs into those people they ask if it's really true."
Lee Jun took Kwak Suho's words in stride, remembering what his classmate had told him.
Kwak Suho's mouth tugged a little higher.
"Aigoo. This guy spends all day in the clinic and has no idea what's going on in the world. You're famous, you know. Not just here — overseas, too. Hugely."
"Well, everyone just knows me as Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi's butler, anyway."
Lee Jun answered as if it were nothing, and Kwak Suho clicked his tongue.
"Unbelievable. How can you be this clueless about your own reputation? If it were Hoesaegi, he'd be lining people up and loving every second of it."
Kwak Suho looked over at Hoesaegi, who was nestled in Lee Seongwoo's arms, proudly holding out a front paw as if bestowing a great honor.
"Lee Jun, you see their faces? Looks like they're handing out some grand prize, doesn't it?"
Lee Jun looked where Kwak Suho was looking, then smiled.
Kwak Suho, it doesn't just look that way. That's exactly what they think they're doing.
He watched Hoesaegi and Gkamnyangi for a moment, both of them grinning with delight, then steered them back to the point.
"Fine, let's say that's true. But why are they looking for me? I genuinely don't know a thing about elephants."
"Beats me. I don't know that part either. Oh — and I think I forgot to mention. Jerome's a vet. He treats elephants, rhinos, giraffes, animals like that…"
"What?"
Lee Jun echoed, startled all over again.
"Why would someone like that be calling me?"
"Probably because he wants you to get them to listen, the way you did with Seorak and Beongae. Jerome asked if he could talk to you."
"Sure. Why not."
A phone call was nothing.
"Let's take it in my room. Is it okay to call now, though?"
"Yeah, it's fine. They're only six hours behind us."
"Really?"
Which African country sat six hours off from Korea? Lee Jun ran through the handful of African nations that came to mind as he watched Kwak Suho place the call.
No idea.
He had never been to Africa, and he had certainly never given the time difference any thought. He let the question go.
He thought about elephants instead.
If they're calling someone who doesn't know the first thing about elephants, then Kwak Suho's right — they want me to communicate. So what's wrong? The foot pads?
Inflammation in the pads would be serious.
Elephants weigh around five tons, don't they? Asian elephants a little less. The big African ones can hit eight.
Even without knowing elephants, Lee Jun could guess what it meant if the feet carrying that kind of weight were in trouble.
While he was thinking, Kwak Suho seemed to get through. English spilled from his mouth; he said he was putting a friend on, and handed the phone to Lee Jun.
And so Lee Jun found himself on the line with Jerome, Kwak Suho's friend. They exchanged names, then went straight to the point.
"So the tusk is broken, and the pulp cavity is exposed?"
"Yes. There's that one, and there are others limping from inflammation in the foot pads."
"That must be hard."
"It is. They're carrying enormous weight, so we treat them as best we can, but the tissue keeps necrotizing. It would help if they could stay off the feet, but that's hardly possible."
Jerome's lament continued.
"At least with the ones whose pads hurt, we can disinfect and medicate. The bigger problem is the one with the broken tusk."
"Is it critical?"
"It will be, if we can't treat him. He refuses treatment."
"He refuses treatment?"
"Yes. Ever since he came into the sanctuary, he's been extremely averse to people. That's when I saw your videos, Dr. Lee. I know you must be busy, but I called holding onto a sliver of hope."
Jerome did not even need to finish. Lee Jun had already made up his mind.
Poachers.
They had cut the tusks, and the elephant had miraculously survived. The poachers would have assumed it was dead and left. Or they would not have cared either way. They had gotten what they came for — the ivory.
Lee Jun's jaw tightened. Rage at poachers he had never met flashed through him, and the answer was out of his mouth before he could think.
"Y-you will? Really?"
The answer had come without a second's hesitation. Jerome, on the other end of the line, was stunned. So was Kwak Suho, standing right there.
"You're serious?"
Lee Jun nodded at Kwak Suho as he answered Jerome.
"I'll look up flights and come as soon as I can."
"In that case, we'll arrange the flights from our end. Thank you so much, Dr. Lee."
Kwak Suho, who had been listening in, suddenly cut in. He shaped the words with his mouth, barely a sound coming out.
"Hey. Did you get the yellow fever vaccine?"
Lee Jun held the phone away for a moment.
"Yellow fever? Yellow fever… Oh! Right. I got that four years ago? Five?"
Back then, Lee Jun and Choi Woo-jin had gotten the shots on a whim, thinking they would visit Kwak Suho in Africa — see him, see the wildlife, see the national parks. In the end, they never went. The Africa vacation had suddenly become Laos: a veterinary medical mission. Simple as that. But they had gotten the yellow fever vaccine, and a yellow fever vaccine is a once-in-a-lifetime shot. Lee Jun would not need another.
"Whew. That's a relief. Then we're good."
Kwak Suho took the phone back and continued with Jerome. While he talked, a thought struck Lee Jun.
Ah. Gi-jin.
Go Gi-jin, who loved elephants. Lee Jun thought it would be wonderful to bring him along.
He said he wanted to volunteer at an elephant sanctuary.
The thought was out of his mouth in an instant.
"Kwak Suho, tell them we'll handle the flights. I think we should bring Gi-jin along."
"Oh, that's perfect. That kid loves elephants. He should come, see a lot, learn a lot."
Kwak Suho, who doted on Go Gi-jin every bit as much as Lee Jun did, was thinking the same thing.
"So tell them we'll look into it as fast as we can and come."
They had asked for him, so they could probably cover his own expenses. But Lee Jun was not about to let them cover Go Gi-jin's too. And from the sound of it, this was not even a zoo — it was a sanctuary. People volunteering. He did not want to put that on them.
I ought to be the one sending them a donation.
Apparently they did not see it that way.
"What? Don't worry about it? They'll take care of everything?"
Kwak Suho said a few more words and hung up.
"Hey, Kwak Suho. From the sound of it that's a wildlife sanctuary. How would a place like that have money to cover our travel? We'll just go ourselves. Wait — did they say they need any meds or supplies?"
Lee Jun asked it the way he always did before a veterinary mission. Kwak Suho answered him.
"What are you, a bottomless well? You just keep giving."
"I'm not a bottomless well, but it's not like I don't have money coming in."
Lee Jun's hand pointed at Kwak Suho.
"Your videos. The money our little cuties bring in."
"Hey, that's the kids' money, not yours. Okay, fine — you're in a lot of the videos, so I guess you earned some of it too. Still."
"If I asked our kids, they'd tell us to help. They might even say they want to come."
"True. Angels, every one of them. Anyway, you don't need to worry. They've got serious sponsors backing them. That's how they were able to ask for you. They said they never would have dreamed of it otherwise."
"Sponsors?"
"A lot of them, and some are heavyweight tycoons. Without donors like that, the sanctuary would have to shut its doors. Anyway, one of them mentioned you by name."
"Then fine. We'll save that money and put it toward our own goal."
"Right. We're going to need to make a ton of money going forward. An Animal Sanctuary isn't something you build on pocket change."
"True. I just hope I get to turn a single shovelful of dirt before I die."
He meant he hoped he would at least make the groundbreaking. Kwak Suho snorted.
"Listen to you, talking weak. If it comes to that, we'll just ask your grandfather to donate."
Kwak Suho brought up that mountain of his grandfather's — Gyeryongsan, or wherever it was — and a smile touched Lee Jun's mouth.
"Oh, so I'll live long enough to turn the dirt and hang the sign, then die."
"What are you talking about? You have to live to see them running free across a wide-open plain."
"That's true. So you just keep painting without a break, Kwak Suho."
"Hey! You do one more surgery than I paint a painting. That's faster."
"Please, Master Painter Kwak! How can you say such a thing? Clients are lining up for your work!"
They were laughing over this nonsense when Go Gi-jin walked in.
"I heard Suho hyungnim was here?"
"Yeah. Long time no see."
"Sure has been. You been well, hyungnim?"
"Yeah, really well. Listen, Go Gi-jin — you're going on a business trip."
"A business trip, y'say? Well I'll be — so that's why hyungnim came. So where's the poor thing hurtin'?"
Go Gi-jin said it as he walked back toward the door he had come through. He kept talking as he went.
"But hyungnim, it's snowed this much — did you bring a car? If you didn't, I can run home and fetch one."
"Huh? A car?"
"The poor thing's a big one, ain't it? If it's close by I could even carry it in myself."
Go Gi-jin had assumed a large-breed dog was sick. Watching him, Kwak Suho's mouth curled into a grin.
"It's huge. You couldn't lift it. You couldn't even bring it in a car."
"Good heavens — a cow, then? One of hyungnim's ranch friends?"
"No. Way bigger than a cow."
At Kwak Suho's words, Go Gi-jin's head tilted to one side, trying to think of an animal bigger than a cow. Lee Jun smiled and gave him the answer.
"Gi-jin. You and I need to take a trip to Africa. An elephant's sick."
Go Gi-jin blinked his big eyes at Lee Jun's words. He looked for all the world like a cow blinking. But only for a moment. Then that wide mouth of his fell open.
"S-so you mean… A-Africa? Wait. An elephant?"