Sun-jam, the Enforcer
"We're here."
"Whoa, is this it?"
"Yeah. Be careful getting out."
At Dojin's words, the Chang-su siblings quickly unbuckled their seatbelts and scrambled out of the car.
Click.
"Alright, all done. Hands up."
"Hands."
When Dojin unbuckled her car seat and spoke, Sun-jam raised her hands high in the air.
Chuckling at the sight, Dojin scooped Sun-jam up and set her down outside.
It was Dojin's special service for Sun-jam, who still struggled to climb out of the car seat on her own.
"Heheh."
Clearly happy to have been held in Dojin's arms, Sun-jam beamed brightly.
A warm, fatherly smile began to spread across Dojin's face, but just as it did—
A voice interrupted him.
Woof!
"Alright, alright, I hear you."
Prompted by the demanding bark, Dojin walked to the back of the vehicle.
Inside the crate securely fastened in the trunk, Ttorang-i was wagging her tail furiously, practically begging to be let out.
Click!
"Rough ride, huh? Alright, come on out."
The moment Dojin opened the crate door, Ttorang-i leaped out as if she had been waiting for this exact second.
Woof! Woof!
Jumping down from the trunk, Ttorang-i began running circles around the area without stopping.
It seemed the crate had been far more stifling than she could bear.
"Maybe it's because I covered it with a blanket to keep her warm? She's wilder than usual."
Or perhaps she was just thrilled to be out for the first time in a while.
Ever since the boiler burst, she hadn't gone on a long trip with Dojin.
Either way, I need to calm her down a bit.
Fortunately, Ttorang-i's wild rampage didn't last long.
It was all thanks to Sun-jam, who had been quietly watching Ttorang-i and stepped right into her path.
"Stop. Tired."
Pant, pant!
Whimper.
"No. Cold. Stop running."
At Sun-jam's stern command, Ttorang-i sat down obediently.
Smiling, Dojin patted both of them.
Sun-jam, standing with her arms spread wide to block a dog much larger than herself, and Ttorang-i, meekly obeying her commands—to Dojin, they were both incredibly adorable.
"Aww, good girl. Good job, Sun-jam."
"Hehe."
Woof!
While the two adorable creatures basked in Dojin's praise, the rest of the group got out of their cars one by one and approached them.
"Shall we head inside, Director?"
"The dogs are all ready."
Dojin nodded at the security team's words and looked down.
Woof!
Woof, woof!
He saw the other dogs wagging their tails at him, just like Ttorang-i.
These were the rescued dogs that the security team had chosen to adopt.
Perhaps because they played with Ttorang-i often, or because they recognized Dojin as the one who had saved them, they always rushed over to greet him happily whenever they saw him.
"They've gotten a lot healthier."
"Yes, we've been giving them supplements with their food, so they're full of energy now."
Pant, pant!
Snort!
At the team member's words, the dogs puffed out their chests in unison.
It seemed they wanted to show off how much they had improved, but unfortunately, it was still a bit too early for that.
Dogs really do rely on their coats for looks.
Whether their fur had been pulled out when they were abducted, torn while being dragged around, or had fallen out due to malnutrition, all three of them still had bald patches here and there.
"They're handsome fellas, though."
Woof?
Arf!
At Dojin's remark, the three dogs tilted their heads in unison.
The perfectly synchronized movement drew a burst of laughter from the onlookers.
"Anyone watching would think they were trained to do that."
Dojin laughed along with the security team and stroked the dogs affectionately.
They said the dogs didn't act like this with anyone else, but strangely, they always seemed exceptionally clever in front of Dojin.
But...
As Dojin observed the three, his gaze drifted to the Border Collie sitting on the right.
It wasn't a purebred, of course, but a mixed breed. Still, it was just as smart and sturdy as any purebred.
Yet, the dog seemed unusually listless today.
"Charlie, what's wrong? Are you sick?"
...
Even at Dojin's question, Charlie just stared straight ahead without responding.
Normally, the moment Dojin spoke to him, he would have come running...
"Something's up, isn't it? Tell me."
Dojin cupped the dog's head in his hands and asked.
In truth, he already knew. He had noticed that this dog was the only one who hadn't made a single sound since they arrived.
Whimper...
Perhaps caught off guard by Dojin holding his head to ask, Charlie looked visibly flustered.
He cast a stealthy glance in a certain direction.
"...Ttorang-i? Don't tell me you're being threatened by Ttorang-i?"
Realizing Charlie was walking on eggshells around Ttorang-i, Dojin let out an incredulous laugh.
Glancing over, he saw Ttorang-i acting completely innocent, snuggled up in Sun-jam's arms.
"Ttorang-i, cut the act and get over here."
...
"Hey! You're not coming? Do you want me to get mad?"
Whimper...
At Dojin's warning, Ttorang-i dragged her feet toward him with extreme reluctance.
With her tail tucked between her legs, she looked incredibly pitiful as she watched his reaction, but unfortunately for her, it didn't work on Dojin.
"You little rascal, is your acting getting better by the day?"
With those words, Dojin grabbed Ttorang-i's snout and gave it a gentle stretch.
Instantly, a tragic, dramatic shriek erupted from Ttorang-i's mouth.
Yip... yip... yip...
The rest of the group flinched at the sound, having never heard Ttorang-i make such a noise before.
But Dojin remained unfazed, tightening his grip slightly. In fact, he even let out a scoffing laugh.
"Stop exaggerating. Keep this up, and I'm sending you straight back home."
The moment the words left his mouth, the echoing shrieks stopped instantly.
The security team, who had been watching the two with concern, stared in utter disbelief.
"Wait, what? That was acting too?"
"Wow, Ttorang-i! I knew she was smart, but this is on another level. It's almost scary."
"No, more importantly, how did the Director see right through it instantly?"
Having shattered Ttorang-i's schemes with a single sentence, Dojin lectured her.
"If you bully or threaten the other dogs one more time, you know what happens, right? No walks, no meat, and no treats for a whole month. Got it?"
Whimper...
"Hey! I asked if you got it."
...*Woof.*
Once Ttorang-i gave a begrudging reply, Dojin released her snout with a satisfied expression.
Smack, snort!
Ttorang-i grumbled grumpily behind him, but Dojin pretended not to hear and walked forward.
It was time to head inside.
"Let's go in."
"Okay."
"Yes."
At Dojin's word, the group left the parking lot together.
Fortunately, their destination was right in front of the parking lot.
Paju Stray Animal Protection Center
Built through the joint efforts of the Mayor of Paju and Hye-seok, he was visiting today in an official capacity.
Since he was listed as an external auditor, he had to drop by periodically.
Well, they said there are other external auditors besides me... I'll just get a general feel for the place today.
Just as Dojin finished his thoughts and stepped lightly into the building—
The ears of the dogs following behind them perked up, and they suddenly bolted forward.
Woof!
Woof, woof!
"W-what?"
"What's wrong with them?"
"Oh, no!"
Perhaps because it happened so fast, the security team members all lost their grip on the leashes.
It was something unimaginable under normal circumstances, but the sudden burst caught them completely off guard.
"Oh, no! We're so sorry."
"We'll go get them right away."
Realizing their mistake, the security team quickly chased after Charlie and the others.
Watching them go, Dojin turned his head to look at Ttorang-i.
Ttorang-i was the only dog who hadn't bolted.
What a good girl.
Compared to the others, she seemed exceptionally well-behaved. He almost felt bad for scolding her earlier.
But as if mocking Dojin's thoughts—no, she was literally mocking him.
Snort?
Ttorang-i rolled her eyes at him as if to say, What are you looking at?
Seeing that look, she was clearly still sulking about what happened earlier.
However...
Oh? Look at this rascal.
It was true that Ttorang-i was cute, and she had just behaved well, but that was that, and rebellion was another matter entirely.
Is this that "adolescent dog phase" or whatever they call it?
They said it usually happens before they turn one, but perhaps Ttorang-i was experiencing it late due to the trauma of being abandoned by her previous owner.
Whether it's dog adolescence or just a rebellious phase, she needs discipline.
Just looking at her eyes, they were brimming with defiance.
While Dojin was pondering how to train her,
Tug, tug.
Huh? Sun-jam?
Feeling someone tugging at his wrist, Dojin turned his head and tilted it in confusion upon seeing Sun-jam staring up at him.
There was no obvious reason for her to call him.
But Sun-jam's next action made Dojin burst into a chuckle.
"You want me to leave it to you?"
Nod.
Pointing to herself, Sun-jam nodded at Dojin's words.
Dojin looked back and forth between Sun-jam and Ttorang-i for a moment, then nodded.
After all, discipline was always more effective when handled by a direct senior.
"Let's head inside too."
At Dojin's word, the rest of the group moved inward.
Only one child and one dog remained behind, motionless.
"Ttorang-i, sit. Stand up! Sit again! Ttorang-i, sulking is bad! Stand up!"
It felt like they could hear someone getting scolded from behind, but no one in the group stopped walking.
They had all caught on to the situation.
When someone is being disciplined, it's best to pretend you didn't see anything.
"You rascal! How could you just run off like that!"
"You're getting retrained the moment we get back to the dorms."
"What are you smiling for? Acting cute won't save you."
Fortunately, the runaway dogs were found not too far away.
They were all huddled together in front of a door labeled "Activity Room."
And Dojin immediately understood why they had suddenly bolted.
Bark! Bark, bark!
Yap!
Sniff, sniff!
Arf, arf!
"Hello. I'm Choi Yu-sik, in charge of the stray dogs here at the center."
"Hello. I'm Baek Dojin."
Once the security team secured the dogs' leashes, the door opened as if on cue, and a man stepped out.
At the same time, the interior of the Activity Room was revealed. The space was quite large, yet it looked cramped due to the sheer number of dogs filling it.
Among them, there were a few dogs that looked particularly familiar.
"Have you guys been doing well?"
Yap, yap!
Woof, woof, arf!
Pant, pant!
At Dojin's greeting, the rescued dogs gathered near the entrance—the ones Dojin himself had saved—began barking in unison.
"Kyaah!"
"Oh my gosh, you scared me."
"U-Uncle..."
Dohee, Seungwan, and the Chang-su siblings clung closely to Dojin.
The hallway echoed loudly as dozens of dogs barked all at once.
Yet Dojin, standing at the very front of the group, didn't seem surprised at all. He simply stroked the dogs held by the security team.
"Did you cause all that chaos just to see your friends?"
Pant, pant!
Whimper...
"Yeah, it's good to see them after a while, isn't it? But you can't cause trouble once you go inside, okay?"
Woof!
Snort!
At Dojin's words, Charlie and his companions nodded their heads in unison.
Yu-sik gasped in surprise at the dogs' seemingly understanding gestures, but the rest of the group barely reacted.
They had already witnessed such scenes countless times while living at the Sekki House.
Leaving the group and the children in the Activity Room, Dojin headed to the Administration Office with Yu-sik.
Even if it was mostly nominal, he needed to assess the current situation as an external auditor.
Yu-sik spoke to Dojin cautiously.
"To be honest, I didn't think you'd be able to make it for the audit this year."
"Ah... there was a bit of an incident."
Dojin spoke calmly, as if it were no big deal.
But he couldn't help the bitter expression that crossed his face.
Seriously, they should have broadcasted the truth.
Dojin recalled the episode of In Search of Truth that had aired recently.
To an uninformed viewer, the broadcast made it seem as though Dojin and Jung-wang had confined the victimized children and subjected them to secondary abuse.
However, the show's viewer bulletin board was currently being torn to shreds.
The reason viewers reacted this way was due to the unedited interview footage that Seungwan had uploaded during the broadcast.
The writer's attitude, clearly guiding the answers with a predetermined conclusion in mind, and Dojin's actual answers, which differed completely from what was aired, left no doubt about the production team's malicious intent.
But there was an even more decisive reason why the production crew was getting blasted.
I never expected the writer to be personally involved.
The writer who had come all the way to the Sekki House to conduct the interview—the one who introduced herself as the second-in-command right under the main writer—turned out to be the niece of the president of Shinyeom Pork.
If she wanted to hide being his niece, she should have at least deleted the family photos on her Instagram.
It seemed she hadn't anticipated that the viewers would dig through her personal Instagram.
The real trouble started the next day.
Jung-wang, who appeared on the scheduled JJBC Newsroom, exposed all of these facts to the public.
Once the intentionally edited footage and the writer's family ties were revealed on the news, In Search of Truth was forced to issue a public apology.
Rumor had it that the producing director and the writer in question were fired and kicked out of the broadcasting station.
As a result, even more people began looking for Dojin.
Since he was the subject of a rare public apology from a major broadcaster, interview requests poured in from all directions.
Given the circumstances, it was only natural for Yu-sik to be surprised that Dojin had actually come for the audit.
"These are the relevant documents."
"Is this... all of it?"
Arriving at the Administration Office under Yu-sik's guidance, Dojin tilted his head as he looked at the prepared files.
There were several folders, but the actual documents that should have been inside were missing, or at most, consisted of a single page.
When Dojin looked up at Yu-sik, the man replied sheepishly.
"We prepared them after receiving word that you were coming today, but honestly, there isn't much to audit right now. As you know, the center has only been operating for barely two months."
"Ah, that's true."
Since they had started operations in early November, it had indeed been just under two months.
Under these circumstances, the lack of paperwork was understandable.
"Well, it's actually better for me since there's less material to review. But I don't know how the other audit committee members will feel about it."
As Dojin spoke while checking the documents one by one, Yu-sik looked puzzled.
"Pardon? This is the first audit of the year."
"What?"
Dojin turned his head at Yu-sik's words.
He was so taken aback that his body remained frozen in the posture of reviewing the documents, with only his head turned.
But Dojin didn't have the luxury to worry about his posture.
New Year's is just around the corner, and I'm the first auditor?
Dojin hadn't come for the audit at this time of year for no reason.
As far as he knew, the Paju Stray Animal Protection Center was supposed to undergo regular audits.
Internal audits twice a year, and external audits once a year.
And yet, not a single audit had been conducted until now?
Flustered, Dojin checked the audit regulations he had received.
Did they decide to skip the audit this year?
Since the operating period was less than two months, that was a possibility.
However...
There's no mention of that.
The audit regulations clearly specified this year as an active audit period.
And that meant...
They're slacking off.
He had occasionally seen news reports about external auditors neglecting their duties, but he never expected it to happen here.
Yet, Dojin didn't feel particularly angry.
Tsk, tsk. Pitiful people. If you're going to slack off, you should at least choose your targets wisely.
Director Wang also held a stake in the operation of this center.
In other words, this place was already under Hye-seok's watchful eye.
And Hye-seok absolutely detested insincerity and immorality.
This side will probably be cleaned up on its own soon.
There was no need for Dojin to report it himself.
She likely knew everything already through her all-powerful secretary, Yeong-jin.
"I've checked everything. There are no issues on paper."
"Haha, that's a relief."
Yu-sik let out a sigh of relief at Dojin's words.
Even if there was nothing to hide, audits naturally made people nervous.
Smiling at his reaction, Dojin pointed outside and asked.
"Then, could we take a look at the actual operations of the facility? The paperwork seems fine, but I need to verify the actual conditions."
"Yes, of course. I'll guide you."
At Dojin's request, Yu-sik took the lead.
The first place they checked was the Activity Room they had passed earlier.
Since it was the place where the animals spent most of their time outside of their sleeping quarters, it was the most critical area to inspect first.
However, the moment Yu-sik stepped into the Activity Room, he froze in his tracks at the sight before him.
...
...
"Good job! Now, everyone, down!"
Patter, patter!
Rustle!
"Great! Now, roll over!"
Roll!
Roll, roll!
The Activity Room was usually a chaotic place, never quiet with dozens of different dog breeds running around.
But right now, not a single bark could be heard.
The only sounds were the commands of a little girl and the synchronized movements of the dogs obeying her.
"Sit!"
Thud!
"Stand!"
Rustle!
"Down!"
Flop!
"Roll!"
Roll.
"Wh-what...?"
Choi Yu-sik, who had spent the last two months working tirelessly to care for these stray dogs—
A miracle was unfolding right before his eyes.