PHUW 37

Country houses were usually popular with retired couples who wanted a quiet life or newlyweds who wanted to raise children closer to nature. They weren’t the sort of place a young bachelor in his prime would live alone.

He had probably lived there with his fiancée, planning for a child, until tragedy struck before the wedding. Judging by how comfortable he was with nursing, she must have been hit by something like aggressive cancer or another terminal illness out of nowhere.

Haeri watched Jeong Mok speak seriously on the phone, and he couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

‘That’s rough. I’m surprised he didn’t fall apart.’

To give this kind of trial to a man who had everything. Most people wouldn’t be able to stay sane. As expected the, world really was so fair that it’s scary.

A handsome man with money, the kind everyone would envy. But a man who is somehow strange and has a dark corner. A man who, it turned out, had lost the love of his life. Living alone in the house they once shared, yet unable to bring himself to change even the Wi-Fi password. A man who doted on a total stranger simply because they reminded him of his dead girlfriend.

‘This is enough backstory to choke on.’

When Jeong Mok finished his call and came back into the living room, he looked like he had something to say, but instead of speaking, he reached out and patted Haeri’s head.

“Were you that scared?”

The sudden out of nowhere question made Haeri’s eyes widen.

“Your eyes are all watery. Song-i didn’t like other dogs either, but she didn’t cry over it.”

“I’m not crying because I’m scared of dogs… well, they’re a little scary, but not enough to cry.”

Only then did Haeri notice the dampness in his eyes. He rubbed them dry with the back of his hand. Jeong Mok didn’t know the real reason, he just rubbed his back as if he found him endearing.

“Don’t worry too much. I’ve already arranged to meet Janggun’s owner and a few other neighbors to catch it.”

“I told you, it’s not because of the dog. And how are you going to catch that thing?”

Was that even catchable? At the very least, they’d need a team of professionals like the ones on animal rescue shows.

“This place is half rural. It’s often faster for the residents to deal with things themselves than rely on the authorities. The uncle said it’s been wandering for over two months. People have run into it while walking their dogs and gotten into fights or dangerous situations. Now that it’s hurt a person, we can’t just leave it.”

Jeong Mok ruffled Haeri’s hair again. These days, he seemed to do that all the time. The touch made the tips of Haeri’s ears tingle pleasantly, which only made him more self-conscious. For all the thick, coarse hair down below, here he was, feeling secretly flustered that an older man was treating him like a grade-schooler.

He followed after Jeong Mok as he got ready to head out again. As Jeong Mok picked up his phone, he suddenly turned around.

“What?”

“I’m coming too.”

“It’s dangerous. Stay at home.”

“That’s why I should come. The more people, the better.”

Who knew how many people would actually show up? The more hands, the safer and quicker it would be to catch it.

…Not that that was the real reason. Honestly, Haeri wanted to see Jeong Mok in action.

Something about the way he immediately set out to deal with the dog, just because Haeri had a scraped palm, felt reassuring like the boundless trust you give an older brother who’s about to deal with the neighborhood punk who picked on you.

If it weren’t for the fact the opponent was a dog, he would’ve shouted, “My hyung’s bigger and way better at fighting than you!” Whether Jeong Mok could actually fight or not didn’t matter.

But Jeong Mok shook his head.

“I don’t need a kid’s help for this.”

He called him out loud.

“I’m an adult.”

He looked down and muttered. Jeong Mok, as if he’d never even considered it, looked serious.

“You’re an adult?”

It was clearly a joke, but Haeri’s lips still twisted.

“It’s a joke. But you really want to come even though you cried because it’s sacey? You took your meds, why not rest at home?”

“I told you I didn’t cry because I was scared. And if we all go together, it’ll be fine. If you keep avoiding something because it’s scary, it only gets scarier.”

“Alright. But stick right behind me and don’t do anything risky.”

Permission has been granted. Haeri grinned and followed him.

***

There were seven people including Jeong Mok and Haeri, out to catch the stray. All of them were dog owners. Even in a time when neighbors rarely greeted each other, because they’d seen each other often while walking their dogs. One of them spotted Jeong Mok, and greeted him warmly.

“I haven’t seen you in so long, I thought you’d moved. How’s Song-i?”

The person next to him jabbed his waist and shook their head. The others glanced in his direction. Haeri didn’t need to say a word. The man realized his blunder and flinched.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

He clamped his mouth shut after that. Everyone seemed to be watching Jeong Mok’s reaction.

“Hello.”

Another voice came at just the right moment. A man in hiking clothes with a small backpack was holding a long, thin pipe.

“Perfect timing, Doc.”

It was a vet from a local animal hospital, here at Janggun’s owner’s request. Known for his skill and his way with dogs, most of the dog owners in the area were his clients. He was also active in stray rescue work with her.

Given Haeri’s and the ajumma’s description of the dog being boar-sized, they decided not to use the steel cage trap, it was far too small. The plan was for the vet to shoot it with a blowgun first, then capture it with a net and a snare.

They normally didn’t use snares, but with a dog this large, the risk of injury to people was too high, so they had borrowed one from the fire station just for this. Whoever used the long pole snare had to be stronger than the dog. Naturally, it ended up in Jeong Mok’s hands. Janggun’s owner’s husband, who had plenty of capture experience, carried the large dog leash and the net.

The locals all knew the main routes where the dog had been spotted. As they headed toward the bushes at the entrance of the neighborhood, the main hotspot, they swapped stories.

It turned out more than a few people had been scared half to death while walking their dogs. Everyone here had at least one encounter. Small dogs had developed trauma and refused to go out, while large dogs had gotten into bloody fights with it. Even Janggun, the calm, friendly retriever who was the star among neighborhood dogs, had once fought with it.

“You can’t go anywhere without worrying. But I can’t just keep Janggun inside all the time. Bait didn’t work either. It’s like a true feral dog that won’t follow people at all. It must have been abandoned for a long time,” Janggun’s owner explained.

In the end, they had filed a complaint, and the animal control unit had come out with the fire department, but failed to capture it. Someone had even suggested reporting it to an animal rescue show. Then Haeri had gotten hurt.

They combed the neighborhood for about an hour, but there was no sign of the dog. By the time they gave up, it was well past dinnertime. They decided to call it for the day and have those free at the same time tomorrow come back out. Once people started heading home, only Jeong Mok, Haeri, Janggun’s owners, and the vet remained.

“How about we have a beer at the convenience store? It’s been a while,” an uncle suggested.

“Sounds good,” the vet agreed.

“You two will have one too, right?” An aunt asked.

They were caught off guard by the invitation, but Jeong Mok and Haeri ended up joining. They gathered around a parasol table in the yard outside the convenience store while the uncle went in and came back with beer and jerky. Since Haeri was on medication, he politely declined the beer and bought a soft drink instead.

The conversation flowed easily. Jeong Mok and Haeri mostly listened while Janggun’s owners lamented how many purebred dogs were being abandoned these days. People bought them just because they were pretty, then dumped them when they became too much to handle, tossing them out to live in nature. Some of the ways they abandoned them were cruel. Some drove out, dropped the dog in the middle of the road, and left. The abandoned dog, unable to accept what happened, would chase after the car and either get hit by another vehicle or, if it survived, linger around that stretch of road for months. Just hearing it made Haeri’s blood boil.

“At least small dogs have some chance of rescue or adoption. If a big dog gets abandoned, forget it. Straight to euthanasia. If it bites someone, they can shoot it on the spot,” the aunt said and clicked her tongue.

The vet agreed, saying large dogs were hard to rehome and posed too great a risk to the public.

As he chewed jerky, Haeri thought back to the dog he had seen earlier, the one that had devoured the burger he dropped. Dogs would eat just about anything, but that had not been greed. That had been hunger.

A memory popped into his head, he was saving a single cup of instant noodles to eat slowly. He could not place exactly when it was, probably when he was very young. Alone in a musty room, he had eaten the half cooked noodles like they were the best thing in the world. He had been growing then, and one serving was not enough. He had wanted another, but there was none. So he poured plain water into the cup and scraped off every last bit of seasoning. No kimchi, nothing else.

If we catch it, it will be put down.

Even the aunt who had said it did not look satisfied. But what else could they do with a large dog that had fought other pets.

The reason adoptions did not work out was obvious. They ate a lot, they pooped a lot, they needed space, and ideally a big house with a yard.

Haeri glanced at Jeong Mok. He had once mentioned that the building under construction was going to be a training center and a rescue facility for abandoned dogs. But no one else here seemed to know, and Jeong Mok didn’t seem like he wanted to bring it up. And it was not even finished yet.

Haeri’s own life is a mess, so what rescue work could he even do. Even if he feels bad, it is not like he can help.

His stomach tightened. When that happened, eating helped. He reached naturally for more jerky. That was when something tapped his thigh.

“Huh?”

He looked down. A big, sturdy mass of black fur was staring up at him with light brown eyes. His heart dropped.