Item Acquired: One Veterinarian!
"Hold on just a second!"
Cradling the enormous jade elephant heart in both hands, Dohyeon crawled inch by inch beneath the ribs of Taesan, who lay sprawled across the ranch floor. He shifted the organ this way and that, hunting for its place, until at last he found the perfect spot.
—!
The sixty-centimeter Cranial Organ flared with light and became one with Taesan.
Clack-clack! Strength restored, Taesan waited for Dohyeon to crawl back out, then rose to his feet in one smooth motion.
Taesan's eye level soared, and now able to generate his own mana just like Goldie, he began tearing around the ranch with him. Two bodies running the same engine meant that, in theory, their power should be identical. Goldie bounded along light on his feet, while Taesan ran more nimbly than he ever had in life — yet still heavy and ponderous next to him.
"Go on and play, you two! Big Brother's got to get ready to go out!"
Clack-clack! At Dohyeon's shout, Goldie snapped to attention and came pattering after him into the house, while Taesan stayed behind, rubbing his tusks against a blameless tree as he adjusted to his new heart.
Leaving Taesan alone at the ranch, Dohyeon and Goldie paid a visit to the Korea Racing Authority building.
"Hello there. Gwak Myeongcheol, Department Head at the Korea Racing Authority."
The man who introduced himself as Department Head Gwak Myeongcheol held out a business card.
"Ah, right. I'm afraid I don't carry business cards..."
Dohyeon accepted it respectfully, taking Gwak's measure as he did. A slender frame, dark skin, horn-rimmed glasses, lips pressed into a tight line. Judging by looks alone, the man seemed a stickler for principle.
"So — the Racing Authority entrusts us with the care of its horses... and in turn receives our acknowledgment of rights over the remains..."
"As for the consignment arrangement... if costs keep accruing, the company would have little reason to go along with it..."
The KRA staff and the Tower Management Bureau staff dove straight into haggling over terms.
Dohyeon had held down a job once, but he'd barely shaken off the new-hire label back then, so he quietly watched the flow of the negotiation. Some points slid by as smoothly as a snake crossing a wall; on others, opinions clashed, and the two sides burned time working out the differences.
Swish, swish. Dohyeon passed the wait brushing Goldie down with a stiff bristle brush.
Once every last point had been settled, the Bureau staffer finally turned to study Dohyeon's face. "Climber Cha Dohyeon, we've finished aligning positions. Is there anything here that doesn't sit well with you?"
The Bureau staffer treated him with such extravagant deference that Gwak unconsciously straightened his posture. He touched his tie once, perched properly on his chair, and fixed his gaze on Dohyeon.
At last, Dohyeon — who had done nothing but watch in silence — opened his mouth. "I trust the two of you negotiated the terms so that both sides come out winners. I couldn't judge the details anyway. I came out today simply because there's something I'd like to ask the KRA staff member."
Both the Bureau staffer and Gwak let the tension drain out of them and settled back into their chairs.
"Of course. As long as it's nothing like a trade secret..."
"Do you know a Kang Eunseo? I hear she was a KRA employee until very recently."
"Ah..."
Gwak's complexion soured a little.
"What is it about Ms. Kang that you'd like to know?"
Seeing the ambiguous look on Gwak's face, Dohyeon explained. "The truth is, she came to see me a few days ago. Said she'd left the Racing Authority over an unpleasant matter — she's a veterinarian, apparently — and asked me to hire her. But I can't take one person's word alone, so I sat in on this meeting to verify the facts for myself. I have no intention of nitpicking over the KRA's internal affairs, and I've no right to, either."
Hearing this, Gwak shrugged and let his shoulders relax. He looked, if anything, relieved.
"Hmm... I can't speak to what Ms. Kang may have told you, but the company holds no ill will toward her. It's true there was some ferocious infighting over differences of opinion, and we're well aware she wasn't acting out of any bad intent... She did use some supplies without the company's knowledge, but it was hardly a large amount. In any case, the official record states that Ms. Kang resigned because a horse she doted on wasn't receiving the level of care she wanted. Her severance came out to roughly the price of the horse's adoption fee."
Huh. So they're not on such bad terms after all?
"Ms. Kang believes the Racing Authority put pressure on the veterinary clinics here in Jeju. Is that true?"
"Ohh — certainly not."
Gwak waved his hands as though he'd touched something scalding.
"The KRA has no power to do any such thing. A few of the big hospitals we work with might watch their step on their own, but the company sending official notices telling them not to would just be laughable... It's the sort of thing that could be construed as solicitation, you see."
Gwak opened his mouth again, a touch more carefully this time. "If anything, it may have been Ms. Kang's disposition that was the problem."
"Her disposition?"
Gwak nodded. "Her patients. That is to say, the animals. Loving them too dearly is a wonderful thing when you're the one who owns the clinic — the hospital thrives, the reputation grows. But not every veterinarian can work that way. Plenty of people who started out because they loved animals end up compromising with reality... And there are few clinic directors alive who'd be pleased when one of their vets gets too zealous about billable treatments."
"Ah..."
To Dohyeon, none of it mattered either way. This meeting had never been about weighing the KRA's rights and wrongs. Even if the Authority had pressured Jeju's vet clinics, the negotiations wouldn't have collapsed over it. The point was simply to find out whether Kang Eunseo carried some flaw he didn't know about, and to decide whether to hire her.
So no real problems with her skills or her character, then.
"I understand perfectly. Thank you for your time."
"Yes. We look forward to working with you as well."
The handshake concluded, Dohyeon left the KRA building. The Bureau staffer apologized for failing to extract better terms, but Dohyeon couldn't have cared less. He'd be the one earning the money regardless — what mattered were the kids who'd be living at the ranch. He was more than satisfied; on top of everything else, he'd gained a veterinarian with a proven track record.
The next morning.
"Boss! Reporting for work!"
Kang Eunseo arrived with her horse loaded into the bed of a small flatbed truck.
The very evening of the day he'd sat in on the KRA meeting, Dohyeon had texted her to come in, and she'd replied she'd be there right away. She'd also accepted his suggestion to bring the horse along without a moment's hesitation.
"Ah, there you are. So that's Lightning?"
Perhaps because the foal had been born of exceptional bloodlines, even the name was a cut above. In the truck bed, the young horse was surveying the unfamiliar surroundings with wide, curious eyes.
"Yes. Still only three, so there's plenty of growing left to do."
Eunseo guided Lightning onto the lift at the rear of the truck and worked the controls to lower her down.
A happy whinny. Lightning's hooves met the soft ranch ground, and she snorted and whinnied in obvious delight — until she spotted the bone-dog creeping up by her feet and reared back in fright.
A panicked shriek of a whinny—!
Thud!
"Whoa there, Lightning! Hold still! He's the boss's pet dog! He's not some weird monster!"
Eunseo grabbed Lightning's reins and tried desperately to calm her, but a foal seeing a skeleton for the first time in her life didn't settle so easily.
Clack-clack-clack!
Goldie, clipped on the head in the scramble, flared up in full fury and launched himself at Lightning.
"Whoa, Goldie! Easy! Go easy!"
Dohyeon, for his part, couldn't very well order his dog to sit still after taking a hit, so he contented himself with telling him to take it easy.
Wham! Wham!
Eunseo was utterly failing to calm her horse. It was bad enough that the filly had been startled by a skeleton — but when that skeleton came bounding over throwing doggy punches like a cat, what chance did she have?
In the end, Eunseo lost her grip on the reins.
Another frantic whinny—!
Thud-thud-thud-thud. Lightning bolted out across the ranch's broad plain, and Goldie tore after her, hot on her heels.
"Hmm..."
It looked like a disaster in the making, but to Dohyeon's eyes it was nothing of the sort. Goldie had flown into a rage over getting cracked on the skull, true — but the fact that Lightning was still breathing proved he was pacing himself just fine. If Goldie, with his Cranial Organ, had truly put his mind to it, even a world-champion racehorse would have been caught in moments. A defective racehorse like Lightning running free and unharmed was proof enough of that.
"Uh... shall we get the employment contract signed first? I don't think those two are going to do anything too serious."
"...Yes."
Dohyeon scratched the back of his head, and Eunseo clasped her hands together in a polite bow.
Contract signed, the two of them stepped back out to the ranch — just in time to witness Goldie and Lightning ambling into the barn side by side, the best of friends.
A contented whinny! Goldie was clearly over the moon about his new little sister, and Lightning seemed every bit as taken with the socializing.
"What the— since when did they get so chummy?"
Was this some animal-to-animal understanding? Lightning even played a prank, pressing her soft lips to the tail of the Goldie walking ahead of her.
Half in disbelief, Dohyeon raised his smartphone and caught the moment on camera.
Click, click!
"Is that one going up on StarInsta too?"
Eunseo had come up beside him and asked.
"Huh? How do you know I'm on StarInsta?"
"I'm one of your followers."
Eunseo tapped at her smartphone and held up the screen showing her freshly following Dohyeon's account.
"No kidding... you've been following me this whole time?"
Dohyeon, who had never paid much mind to comments or followers, was taken aback by the chance encounter with one.
"Not from the very start — I found your account while I was job hunting. I was pretty desperate, as you can imagine. I knew about it before my colleagues at the KRA did, back when Taesan was all over the news?"
"Ah... somehow that makes me kind of happy?"
"Haha. Anyway — we're not running this ranch with just the two of us, are we? You did say new arrivals were coming the day after tomorrow."
Eunseo changed the subject.
"Hmm... two of us won't cut it, I suppose?"
"Of course not. Even if I pitch in with every odd job there is, there's far too much work. And you still have to climb the Tower, Boss."
"How many more people do we need?"
Eunseo rolled her eyes around for a moment, thinking. "One more should do for now. It's not as if I plan to just stand around with my arms crossed playing at being a vet."
"Anyone you have in mind? Someone with experience?"
"As it happens, yes. Shall I ask?"
"I'd appreciate that. I'll leave it in your hands."
"Of course. And since we're on the subject..."
"Yes? What is it?"
"My YouTube channel. It was just starting to take off, you know. You were on social media to begin with, Boss — how about we make an official YouTube channel for the ranch? And down the road, when things allow, we could run ranch experience programs too."
Dohyeon crossed his arms at the suggestion.
"Hmm... Did I never tell you why I'm running this ranch?"
"You did! You said you'd be bringing them back to life when they die?"
"Right. I'm the one making the money anyway. My plan is to run the ranch by spending it. Ranch experience programs are a headache — not my style. A YouTube channel might be nice, though. Posting on StarInsta has been pretty fun lately, I'll admit."
Eunseo readily backed down.
"Wow — 'I'm the one making the money.' Kind of cool, Boss. Anyway, understood. I only brought it up because I'm on the payroll too — it'd be good for me if you earned a lot, so I was thinking of ways to help with that."
A cheerful whinny! Eunseo drank in the sight of the horse, the dog, and the elephant trading greetings by the barn.
"Thank you for taking Lightning in along with me. I'll work hard — I promise."
"Of course. Our ranch doesn't do performance reviews or any of that. Just get along well with the kids who live here, and help out any of them who get sick. That's all I ask."