The Vending Machine Uncle (2)
"Snacks... a vending machine?"
Sehee's father echoed me as if the words hadn't landed at all. Fair enough. Who could swallow, on the spot, being told that someone else regarded him as a vending machine? Even so, I had to make him understand.
"Sehee's father. When you first brought Sebok home, you gave him treats pretty often, didn't you?"
"Well, yes, I did, but..."
"At first Dad thought Sebok was so cute he kept tossing him a piece of kibble or two all the time!"
Sehee piled straight on, fleshing out what her father had said.
"That's what turned into the problem."
"...That turned into the problem?"
"Yes. Right now Sebok doesn't see you as his owner. He sees you as a vending machine. One that hands out snacks."
"Huh..."
Sehee's father looked thoroughly dumbfounded. Hearing that the dog he had raised thought of him as a vending machine, how could he not?
"But the fault isn't Sebok's alone. You carry a little of it yourself."
"My fault?"
"When he barked and it got noisy, you often gave him a treat, didn't you? Because the moment he starts eating, he goes quiet."
"...Yes. I believe I did."
"He learned it. Oh, if I bark, I get a treat! That human brings me snacks whenever I bark! That's the lesson he took. When Sebok looks at you and barks, the word he's barking is treat. He's just demanding a snack. He doesn't bark at Sehee, because she never does that."
"Surely not..."
What had begun as affection, what had been meant as training, had taught him exactly the wrong thing.
"Even so, a case like this ought to be simple to correct. Simple enough that if you just understand the reason, you could fix it without me."
"That's a relief, then."
"Wow! Then Dad won't hate Sebok anymore!"
Sehee and her father both sagged with relief. Watching them, I turned to Sehee.
"Sehee, could you bring Sebok over for me?"
"Okay!"
Maybe she thought she could finally set things right between her dad and Sebok. She lit up, scurried off, and came back with the dog.
"Treat! Treat! Treat!"
Coming out of Sehee's room, Sebok glanced around, spotted her father, and started barking treat. Her father's face stiffened a little, but whether because I was standing there or not, he didn't let it show. I decided to live up to that restraint.
'Stop!'(Meomchwo!)
The target freezes where it stands.
"Tre—!"
Sebok, halfway through barking treat, locked up under my guaranteed finisher— no, under my stop command. His whole body might as well have turned to stone. He didn't so much as twitch, only his eyes darting over to look at me.
"You can't just bark your head off demanding treats."
"Why not?!"
"Uh..."
The unblockable technique that had just come flying in — Why? — threw me for a second. I couldn't simply tell him no forever, though, so I gave him a light explanation, leaning hard on the fact that no matter how much he barked, treats would be hard to come by.
"Lately, no matter how much you've barked, you haven't really been getting treats, have you?"
"Yeah! But if I keep asking and asking, he does give them! How did you know?!"
"At first he handed them over right away because you were pretty and cute. It isn't like that anymore."
"Are you saying I'm not pretty or cute?!"
Sebok seemed remarkably confident in his own looks.
"That's not what I mean. Imagine your owner kept poking you. You sit down to rest and he pokes you. You go to eat and he pokes you from the side."
"Then I'd feel awful!"
"What you're doing right now is exactly that. You're only barking for a treat, but from your owner's side it's the same as you poking him nonstop. Could you think someone who keeps bothering you is pretty and cute?"
At that, Sebok's face went faintly startled. I had reached the point of reading even an animal's expressions.
"Is that really true?"
"Yeah. Honestly, you can't even talk to anyone but me, right? To you it's just asking for a treat, but to people it can be nothing but noise. Especially since you keep shouting until they give in."
"Ah..."
With that, Sebok realized everything he had been doing was wrong. To him it had been nothing more than nagging for a snack, but from the other side it had been closer to harassment. Fortunately he didn't seem to be a bad-hearted fellow to begin with. Wearing a sorry look, he went up to Sehee's father and rubbed against him.
"I'm sorry..."
He even clung to the man and apologized outright. To anyone else it would have been nothing but a whimpering whine, but with me there, it was a different story.
"Sebok says he's sorry."
At my translation, Sehee's father hesitated, then slowly gathered Sebok into his arms. Normally the dog would have barked like mad just from someone standing near him, let alone being held, and the quiet of him left her father looking genuinely moved.
"Waaah! I knew it! You really are the Divine Beast!"
Sehee, who had been watching, bounced in place for joy.
I bet this family lives in a detached house because of her...
Between the nonstop chatter and Sehee hopping around indoors, I felt I understood exactly why they had a standalone home. Whether she caught that thought or not, she scurried over to her dad and threw herself into his arms.
"Hehe, Dad! You're not gonna say you're getting rid of Sebok anymore, right?"
"Yeah. All right, all right."
He pushed her off as if she were heavy, yet a faint smile crossed his face, one hand still lightly stroking Sebok. The easy family warmth of it pulled a smile out of me too, and then something caught my eye.
"Oh? You bought that?"
"That? Oh! You mean the puppy buttons!"
Still tucked against her father, Sehee scrambled at my words and fetched the thing I had spotted. It was a button a little smaller than a fist, finished in two tones — a product that had gotten pretty famous after some YouTuber started using them with animals. You recorded lines like let's go for a walk, give me food, give me a treat, and the dog pressed the buttons to say what it wanted.
"Divine Beast! If it isn't too much trouble, could you train Sebok so he can use this?"
"Train him?"
"Yes! You said Sebok was barking at Dad because he wanted treats. So if he can ask for a treat on purpose, wouldn't that be good for Dad and good for Sebok?"
I considered it for a moment, then nodded readily. I had half a plan to charge for training and the like, but since I had come for the filming, this much felt easy enough to throw in.
It's not even that hard.
For someone who could talk to animals, Sehee's request was the sort of training I could finish just by tossing out a few words.
"Then could you record give me a treat on this?"
"Okay!"
She answered brightly and immediately pressed the recording spot on the back of the button.
"Tweat pwease!"
Whoa. Not a shred of embarrassment. Impressed, I took the button and waved it in front of Sebok's eyes.
"Sebok, from now on, if you press this, they'll give you a treat."
"For real?!"
He had been drooping a moment ago, guilt maybe, and now he brightened all at once, tail wagging like mad. I left Sehee's father behind — he was wearing the self-mocking smile of a man thinking, figures, the treats still outrank me — and set the button down near her room.
"Try pressing it once."
At that, Sebok pattered over to the button in front of Sehee's room.
"Tweat pwease!"
The moment he poked it, Sehee's recorded, lisping plea for a treat rang out. It wasn't a decent speaker, so her voice had warped into something that sounded like a stranger's, but a person could still understand it without any trouble. Sebok himself seemed startled, though, and he scurried away from the button.
"Here! A treat for Sebok!"
Even so, once Sehee offered the snack right beside the button, he had no choice but to come back.
"You get it? Pressing the button like that is the same as you saying you want a treat. But you know you can't press it too much either, right?"
"Yep! I get it!"
"Tweat pwease!"
He had answered that he understood, and then pressed the button without a moment's delay.
That guy... did he actually understand a word I said?
Doing the exact opposite of what I had just cautioned left me doubtful, but when he trotted off looking satisfied after a single little piece of kibble, it seemed he had understood in his own way.
"Divine Beeeeast! Thank you so, so much!"
Just as Sebok went back to Sehee's father, Sehee came up to me, her energy still sky-high. She grabbed my hand and shook it wildly while she thanked me. I couldn't tell whether it was a handshake or an attempt to tear my arm off, but I played along.
"It really wasn't anything difficult."
"But it's still amazing! I'm so glad I asked you! If you weren't someone as incredible as the Divine Beast, Sebok and I would've been separated forever! Just thinking about it makes me sad, but that won't happen now! It's all thanks to you! Thank you, thank you so much!"
Sebok's problem was solved, and Sehee was chattier than ever. If anything her energy had climbed, and she prattled on even harder.
"Ha, hahaha..."
Caught for a moment by a girl too talkative to keep up with, I quietly slid my gaze away and went over to her father.
"Sehee's father. It looks like Sebok's problem is settled, so we'll be heading out."
"Ah! Leaving already? There isn't much I can do for you, but... at least allow me to treat you to a proper meal nearby."
"We've got a few things to take care of ourselves. I'll just take the thought."
He looked at me as if he were terribly sorry.
"Then please contact me anytime you're in the area. I truly want to repay you."
"Oh, come on. It wasn't even difficult."
Even as I declined, he insisted he absolutely, positively wanted to repay me, and told me to call whenever I liked.
"All right. If I'm nearby, I'll get in touch. Oh, and once the video's finished, I'll show it to you before we upload it, so if there's anything you think might be a problem, just let me know."
I said a quick goodbye to Sehee's father, to Sehee, and to Sebok, and slipped out of the house with Noona as if we were making a getaway. Stay any longer, and a man bent on treating us might have kept us there straight through dinner.
"Whew... What a unique family."
"Right? A daughter like Sehee someday would be pretty fun, don't you think?"
Having said a daughter like Sehee would be fun, Noona looked at me and waited for an answer.
A daughter like Sehee would be a little...
"I think I'd rather have a daughter who takes after you than one like Sehee."
"Oh, you—!"
"Ack—! I'm driving! I'm driving!"
Suddenly flustered, Noona pounded my shoulder. I barely got the wheel straight again, and so we were spared scraping the rims of Dad's car. Grateful we were in an alley and not on a fast road, or anywhere crowded with people and cars, I shot her a glare.
Catching it, she seemed to know she was in the wrong. She quietly looked away.
"...Sorry."