Temporary Care
The punishment for the dog thief was carried out in the blink of an eye.
Unfortunately, because the culprit was an undocumented immigrant, there was no proper way to prosecute him under Korean law.
All they could do was seize all the funds he had operated and detain him until he could be deported back to China.
However, the culprit was not detained in one piece.
"...Do you feel a bit better now?"
"Yes. Thank you."
At Do-jin's words, Nureongi's owner, Kim Man-sik, bowed his head in deep gratitude.
Behind him, the thoroughly beaten culprit lay collapsed on the ground.
It was the result of retribution delivered by the owners of the stolen dogs.
After checking on him, Do-jin turned his gaze back to Man-sik.
I really thought he was a strange person at first.
Since he had caused a scene during their very first meeting, his first impression could not have been good.
On top of that, the fact that he was from Mabong-ri had unconsciously added to the prejudice.
But now that time had passed and the misunderstanding was cleared up, Kim Man-sik turned out to be a surprisingly decent man.
"I'm a bit distant from the other villagers. I spent my youth living elsewhere and only recently returned to my hometown."
Having worked for a long time at the most famous bakery in Mokpo, he had returned to his hometown because of Nureongi.
"Haha, I never imagined I would quit my job because of a dog."
Having spent his entire life baking, Man-sik had assumed there would never be a pet in his life.
Naturally, he had never raised a pet at home before.
But he hadn't realized that his strict rule had sparked a rebellious streak in his daughter.
As soon as she started living on her own for college, his daughter got a dog as if to spite him.
And a large Jindo mix, at that.
"When she reached her junior year, she said she had to go study abroad and dumped Nureongi at our house as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She called him her little brother. At first, I wouldn't even look at him, but..."
It was during the period of alternating monthly shifts due to COVID-19.
Spending so much time at home, he naturally began spending more time with Nureongi, and before he knew it, he had grown attached.
"Do you know how clever this guy is? He knows I'm the head of the household, so whenever he sees me, he acts completely devoted."
Kim Man-sik was an ordinary Korean family man.
With no major issues but nothing particularly outstanding either, he was moderately awkward with his family, just like many other fathers.
Yet, the dog that had rolled into his house welcomed Man-sik with its entire body.
Following him around wherever he went,
and approaching him to show affection even when he was just sitting still, the dog had gradually wormed its way into Man-sik's heart.
In the end, before his monthly shift rotation started again,
Man-sik had no choice but to make a decision.
"To be honest, I could have kept baking while raising a dog. But it would have been hard to shower him with the same amount of love as before. So, I quit and came back to my hometown."
Of course, he hadn't quit without a plan.
Since he had to work alternating monthly shifts for the foreseeable future anyway,
he would have only received half of his base salary every other month.
"I figured it would be cleaner to just resign, take my severance pay, and collect unemployment benefits."
Fortunately, his workplace had respected his decision.
They were already struggling due to COVID-19, and paying employee salaries was a burden.
Thanks to the cooperation of his former employer, Man-sik secured his unemployment benefits and headed straight back to his hometown.
He planned to rest for a bit and then open a bakery downtown.
"But then, one day, Nureongi just vanished. Half the reason I came back to my hometown was for this guy."
Woof!
Man-sik said, stroking the squirming Nureongi.
"Let's greet each other when we pass by in the future. It must be fate."
"Sure. Honestly, I don't get along with the people in my village at all. How should I put it... they lack common sense? Anyway, thank you so much for finding Nureongi. And I apologize for my rudeness last time."
With those words, Man-sik headed back to his house.
As Do-jin watched the dog and its owner fade into the distance,
"It seems we've returned all the dogs from Mabong-ri with this."
"Ah, thank you for your hard work, Officer Park."
At Do-jin's greeting, Officer Park Jeong-sik bowed in return.
He had rushed over personally upon receiving the report that the dog thief had been caught.
Actually, Do-jin had been slightly flustered when he saw him arrive.
It had reminded him of his bad history with Jeong-sik's relative, Park Sang-hyun.
But thanks to Jeong-sik's friendly attitude, Do-jin no longer minded it much.
"But what should we do about them?"
Do-jin turned around with a sigh.
There, a chaotic scene unlike anything ever witnessed at Sekki House was unfolding.
Arf! Grrr! Whine! Woof, woof!
The empty lot meant for the temporary shelter had been completely taken over by the dogs rescued from the thief.
With dogs of all sizes, breeds, and temperaments running wild and complaining that the lot was too small, just looking at them felt draining.
Woof woof!
The most excited among them was Ttorang-i.
Was it because she suddenly had so many new friends?
The dog, who had been so gentle until now, was busy herding the other dogs here and there.
Is she trying to be the boss of the neighborhood or what?
While the other dogs hesitated due to their physical discomfort and unfamiliar surroundings, Ttorang-i alone was snooping around and stirring things up.
"...Sigh."
As Do-jin sighed at the sight of Ttorang-i, who was cluelessly having the time of her life, Jeong-sik spoke with an awkward smile.
"We are contacting people who have recently reported their pets missing. I suspect a good number of them belong to those owners, but..."
"How many reports have been filed?"
"Hmm, eight in total."
"Which means, at most, only eight dogs will be leaving."
Do-jin looked around as he spoke.
Even a rough count suggested there were at least thirty dogs.
In other words, even if eight were returned, more than twenty would remain.
"If no owners come forward after a week, we will request assistance from the animal shelter run by Paju City."
"Hmm... Understood. I'll foster them until then."
"Thank you, Representative."
Jeong-sik bowed at Do-jin's words.
He looked visibly relieved, as there was currently no other place capable of sheltering this many dogs if not for Do-jin.
To outsiders, it was merely a week of temporary care.
But to those on the scene like Jeong-sik, he was a grateful collaborator who was sheltering them for a whole week.
This gave them time to prepare other administrative tasks.
However, despite those efforts,
the number of dogs in the empty lot remained exactly the same a week later.
Arf! Woof? Sniff, sniff, sniff.
"..."
Do-jin stared blankly at the empty lot again today.
Visiting this place after breakfast had now become a natural routine.
"What day is it today?"
Do-jin tried to recall, but soon shook his head.
He hadn't kept track since the number of days the dogs had stayed reached double digits, so he couldn't remember clearly.
One thing was for sure: the week Jeong-sik had promised had long since passed.
"Is he... taking revenge this way?"
If this was the price he had to pay for sending Jeong-sik's relatives to prison, it would make some sense.
But to think that, Jeong-sik was far too sincere.
Vrrr.
"Sigh..."
Checking the text message that arrived at exactly 10:00 AM without fail, Do-jin hung his head with a deep sigh.
Sending it every single day like this made it impossible to doubt his sincerity even if he wanted to.
In other words, there really was nowhere else to send these dogs.
"Seriously, where on earth did that thief get all these dogs?"
They weren't wild dogs.
They clearly had owners, yet even after rescuing them, there was nowhere to return them.
He had to build the temporary shelter soon, but at this rate, there would be no place to let them run around.
He couldn't let them loose on the main playground, as they might escape into the mountains or pose a threat to the otters.
"Sigh..."
As Do-jin sighed once more at the endless cycle of worries,
a few small dogs approached him.
Pant, pant, pant! Tap!
"Huh?"
Bow-wow! Pant, pant!
When Do-jin looked up at the sensation of a paw resting on his foot, the small dogs gathered around him as if they had been waiting.
Some spun in circles or playfully lunged at him, but most rolled over to show their bellies, acting cute.
Do-jin chuckled at the sight and said,
"You want to play?"
Bow-wow! Sniff! Whine.
The small dogs gathered around reacted instantly to his words.
They were so energetic that it was hard to believe these were the same dogs that had been on the verge of death from exhaustion just a short while ago.
"Heh, you little rascals. Feeding you well was worth it."
Do-jin had gone out of his way to feed them expensive kibble mixed with nutritional supplements for every meal.
If he hadn't taken such care, many of them would have been in danger from severe malnutrition.
Did they recognize Do-jin's efforts?
The dogs, who had initially been wary and barely ate, had now gained a healthy amount of weight and looked robust.
Yip yip!
When Do-jin kept drifting off into thought, the small dog at the very front barked to get his attention.
It was demanding that he play with them now.
"Ah, why me? Go to the others... Ah, they're busy."
In Do-jin's line of sight, the security team members were each playing with one to three dogs.
This was the biggest change at Sekki House over the past few days.
Normally, the off-duty security staff would work out or rest, but lately, they were spending their time here playing with the dogs.
Of course, they couldn't possibly give enough attention to over thirty dogs, so Do-jin took charge of the remaining ones.
"Sigh, alright. What's the use of worrying? Let's play first..."
As Do-jin was pulling out balls and toys for the small dogs, he suddenly froze and turned his head.
The foul stench he had been smelling for the past few days hit his nostrils.
Sniff, sniff!
Sniffing around to locate the source, Do-jin finally grimaced and pinched his nose.
"Ugh! You guys, seriously! What are we going to do about this smell?"
These were dogs that had been crammed inside chicken coops for days.
In the process, all sorts of vomit and filth had rubbed off on each other's bodies, creating an indescribable stench.
Looking closely, there were even clumps of dried filth stuck to their fur.
"Ugh!"
Do-jin desperately suppressed the sudden urge to gag.
"Playing isn't the priority right now."
It was amazing how the security team could ignore this smell and play with them.
"This won't do. Let's handle this first."
Turning around, Do-jin headed toward Sekki House.
The people who could help him were there.
Conveniently, it was lunchtime, making it the perfect opportunity to recruit them.
"Brr, it's cold."
Stepping outside after finishing her meal, Do-hee shivered at the contrast between the warm cafeteria and the chilly outdoor air.
It was already mid-November, so it was quite brisk.
Just then, Do-jin draped a cardigan over her shoulders and said,
"Geez, I told you so. I said it would be chilly outside, so you should wear this."
"That's strange. It felt so warm inside."
While Do-hee tilted her head, wrapping the cardigan around herself,
Seung-wan draped yet another cardigan over her and asked,
"That's because you ate two bowls of soft tofu stew. How do you always have such a great appetite when you already had a huge breakfast?"
"Huh? But it was delicious. You're supposed to eat a lot when the food is good."
"That only applies to someone with a stomach as 'great' as yours. Not everyone can do that."
"Eh? No, there are plenty of people like that."
"Where? I've never seen anyone eat as much as you in my life. Well, excluding mukbang YouTubers."
Seung-wan raised her chin, challenging her to name someone.
At that, Do-hee turned around and pointed toward a corner of the cafeteria.
"Right over there."
"Where..."
"..."
Turning their heads confidently at Do-hee's words, Seung-wan and Do-jin were instantly left speechless.
Where Do-hee pointed, Shan-hun's family was eating with their trays piled high with food.
No, "inhaling" would be a more accurate description than "eating," given the speed at which they were vacuuming the food down.
"...That's weird. I saw that exact same scene earlier."
"Yeah. That's their third plate. Sun-jam just went back to get a fresh one."
"Wasn't there no meat on the menu today? Shan-hun's family eats well even without meat."
"Yeah. Altani said they've taken a liking to seasoned wild greens lately. And even if there's no meat, they served meat dumplings today. They absolutely love those."
"..."
"..."
"Do-hee."
"Yeah?"
"Let's stick to standard Korean benchmarks, for humanity's sake. Including them in the comparison is... a bit too harsh."
Do-jin nodded slightly at Seung-wan's words.
If they used Shan-hun's family as the standard, everyone else would be considered light eaters on the verge of malnutrition.
"Haha, I was just joking. Anyway, we don't have anything else scheduled, right? Since we've finished lunch, how about a coffee break?"
At Do-hee's suggestion, Do-jin shook his head.
It was time to bring up the main point.
"We do have plans. A very important one, in fact."
"Huh? What is it?"
"We had something scheduled?"
Do-hee and Seung-wan asked curiously.
But as Do-jin continued, they froze in place.
"We need to bathe the foster dogs. I've been debating it for a few days, but the smell is getting unbearable."
"Uh... Oppa, I suddenly remembered I have something to do..."
"Nope, you don't. You ate two bowls of rice, so you should have plenty of energy, right?"
"U-Um, Do-jin. I still have some editing left..."
"Tomorrow is Saturday, so the weekly highlights go up. I saw yesterday that Obei already finished all the editing. Is there something else?"
"..."
"There isn't, right? Alright, both of you change into comfortable clothes and meet me in the first-floor shower room."
"Ah, no..."
"Please..."
"Come on, now! You know the longer you drag this out, the only things you'll gain are despair and pain. Let's move quickly instead of wasting time."
"..."
"..."
"For your information, the director of Good Doctor Veterinary Clinic is coming for a house call this evening. So we need to finish before then, right?"
"Oh, my, God."
"This must be a dream."
The hellish time attack to wash and dry over thirty dogs within the time limit had begun.