PHUW 52

***

As soon as Jeong Mok went out, Haeri ran to the garden. Gom-i followed behind him.

The car that came out of the parking lot was not the black sedan he usually drove but a navy supercar. The car, flaunting a different kind of force, sped away with a droning engine sound.

“Ah, this is driving me crazy.”

He leaned his arms on the reinforced glass railing that lined the edge of the garden and sighed. Gom-i also hooked his two front paws on the railing and looked out in the same direction as Haeri.

“He’s definitely pissed.”

Woof!

“He’s completely pissed at us. But I don’t know why.”

It wasn’t that there was no fault, but rather that there were too many things it could be. From the beginning he had opposed keeping Gom-i, he had sloppily brushed him when told to, and he couldn’t handle the bathing alone so he made him do it with him, and on top of that, he made a mess of the living room. Even when the precious sofa got wet he defended Gom-i, and even went so far as to bring out an air mattress and a hot-water mat from upstairs, where he wouldn’t normally step foot saying he would catch a cold. It was mistake after mistake, but nothing gave him the clear feeling of ‘this is it.’

“Let’s go over it carefully. At least up to playing fetch it was fine. That much is certain.”

Playing in the garden was fine. They played together without bothering Jeong Mok. When he flopped down from being out of breath, Jeong Mok had come closer and suddenly, with that deep gaze…

The moment that sculpted face, the kind you would see on the cover of a men’s luxury magazine, slowly descended toward him, Haeri unknowingly held his breath. With the sky at his back, Jeong Mok seemed to tower over Haeri’s entire world. He felt naked. A shiver ran down his spine. His heartbeat grew faster, and just then a monotonous melody came from afar. At that, Jeong Mok suddenly raised his body. Before the pounding had even calmed, a rough pounding noise came from the laundry room.

It was laundry. Of course it was laundry. The laundry from Gom-i’s bath was what he should have taken care of himself.

“Ah! Why am I so stupid.”

Haeri reflected. After doing all kinds of chores, on top of it he was even running the laundry himself, so it was no wonder he felt hollow.

As he clutched at his hair and shuddered at his own stupidity, Gom-i stared at him fixedly as if looking at a strange creature.

“It’s because of you! You brat! It’s all because of you!”

With no one to stop him, Haeri grabbed Gom-i’s thick cheeks and rubbed them. Gom-i wagged his thick tail, as if pleased.

Woof!

“Hey, what are you barking so proudly for.”

While Haeri pretended to get angry, barking was heard from over there. When he turned his head, Janggun was standing in the yard, looking this way.

“Hello, Janggun.”

Behind Janggun, his owner came out.

“Oh my, young man. Didn’t you send that one to the animal hospital?”

The aunt shouted as she restrained Janggun, who was barking.

“I decided to raise him.”

“Will you be alright? He seemed very fierce.”

“He listens well to me. I’m going to train him properly from now on too.”

“Really? But for the time being you shouldn’t let Janggun’s walk time overlap. The two are complete opposites, complete opposites.”

“Right.”

Unlike Janggun who barked fiercely, Gom-i did not bark. Instead, he stared at Janggun with a very heavy gaze. Even to Haeri’s eyes Haeri, a novice owner, it didn’t look like a sign of friendliness. It seemed more like a warning that if provoked he would really kill him.

At Janggun’s barking, the uncle also came out into the yard. The aunt explained something to him. Then he looked this way and waved. Haeri bowed his head in greeting.

“But is Jeong Mok also fine with it?”

“Yes, well.”

He had stormed off in fury and was now in a runaway state, but he didn’t say that.

“Right. The pain of sending off a dog is healed only with another dog. Song-i may be a different breed altogether, but it’s still another large dog. Even if it’s strong, Jeong Mok can handle it well enough.”

“Yes?”

What did he just hear? The uncle suddenly brought up Song-i. Not only that, he even said Song-i and Gom-i were different breeds. Since one was human and the other was a dog, of course they were different breeds, but no matter how he turned it over in his mind, that wasn’t the sense in which the uncle meant it.

“What did you just say?”

“I said Jeong Mok would raise him well!”

The uncle cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted.

“No, before that. Didn’t you say something about Song-i?”

“Song-i? Hahaha. Song-i was really something! Ah, even our Janggun couldn’t do a thing against Song-i!”

Because Jeong Mok wasn’t there, the uncle spoke comfortably about Song-i. Then the aunt nudged him at his side. She seemed to be giving him a signal. The uncle said, “He’s not here, I said,” then immediately asked Haeri,

“Is Jeong Mok at home too?”

Haeri shook his head. At that, the uncle scolded, “See, I told you his car just went out earlier.” Relieved, the aunt chuckled and turned back inside, dragging Janggun along. If he stayed outside any longer, his throat might have gone hoarse. The uncle also seemed about to head back in.

“Wait a moment! I have something to ask. Can I come by now? It’ll only take a moment!”

“Alright. But you have to come alone. If you bring the dog, he’ll fight with Janggun.”

As soon as permission was given, Haeri ran straight to the front door. Gom-i chased after him.

“Gom-i. Sit. Stay.”

While cramming his feet into his shoes, he firmly restrained Gom-i. Gom-i, being obedient, listened well. Once he saw him sitting, he closed the inner door and stepped out of the front. As he passed through the entryway, Gom-i scratched at the door and whined. It pained him, but he didn’t want to take him along to Janggun’s house. If a fight broke out between them, who would stop it?

Haeri went down the stairs in front of the elevator, passed through the parking lot, and quickly headed to Janggun’s house. Compared to Jeong Mok’s house, where the difference between the garden and the path was higher, here the entrance was easier to reach. The door opened almost the instant he pressed the bell, as if they had been waiting.

“Come in.”

It was Janggun’s uncle. The aunt inside also poked her head out to greet him. Haeri bowed in return.

When she gestured for him to come inside, he declined and got straight to the point.

“I wanted to ask if you know someone named Song-i.”

“Of course I know Song-i. Shr was Janggun’s friend.”

The uncle laughed.

“She was Janggun’s friend?”

“Yes. They were inseparable. Ever since Janggun was just a pup this big, Song-i, acting like a noona, played with him, disciplined him, and raised him.”

It sounded almost like he was talking about a person, yet at the same time it sounded like he meant a dog. Saying it sounded like a dog was a strange expression, though. When he had vaguely overheard before during the incident catching Gom-i, he had wondered if perhaps Song-i was a dog trainer.

But the way he said the words “acting like a noona” was slightly dismissive. Then again, given the uncle’s age, it seemed natural that he might call someone like that casually.

“Could I ask what Song-i looked like?”

“That wouldn’t be hard, but if you want to know about Song-i you should ask Jeong Mok. Why ask here?”

Only then did the uncle look at Haeri again, as if finding something strange.

“It’s just that right now it’s difficult to bring up the topic of Song-i with him.”

“Tsk tsk. If it’s Jeong Mok, that makes sense. He must have cherished her that much. When Song-i died, I thought Jeong Mok was even holding a funeral. He’s only recently started looking a bit lighter in the face. Just earlier when I saw him in that car again, I wondered if it reminded him of Song-i. One time I asked by chance, and he said if he missed Song-i he would drive like that.”

At those words, Haeri froze. Without meaning to, he had found the answer to the strange sight of Jeong Mok from earlier.

Jeong Mok had gone out because he missed Song-i. It must have been because the sofa got ruined. Because he and Gom-i had messed up Song-i’s precious house so badly.

“Ah. He went out to see Song-i.”

When he nodded, the uncle asked in return,

“Why didn’t he say anything before leaving?”

“He only said he had some business.”

As Haeri trailed off, the ajusshi clicked his tongue again.

“Burying a dog you’ve raised for over ten years in your heart is no easy thing. Our Janggun is already over five. Just thinking of the day he’ll go makes everything go dark before my eyes.”

…What?

Once again, in a way he had never intended, Haeri learned the truth about Song-i. Without giving any detailed description as Haeri had tried to elicit, the uncle bluntly said it. Then, glancing at Janggun whining at the inner door, he turned away. The front door he had been holding swung shut with a squeak, and he patted the shoulder of the dazed Haeri.

A dog raised for over ten years. In other words, Song-i wasn’t “Ms Song-i.” Song-i was a dog. He was dumbfounded.

The uncle brought Janggun out. Janggun sniffed Haeri carefully from head to toe, then wrinkled his nose a little unpleasantly, but didn’t bark.

“He smells a dog on you. He won’t bite. Honey! Come here a second!”

The uncle held Janggun’s leash tightly and shouted inside. The aunt soon came out.

“What is it?”

“You know the photo of Janggun with Song-i? Bring that.”

“Why?”

“This young man wants to see.”

Then she came out with her phone.

“Here.”

Instead of taking the phone himself, the uncle had her take Janggun back inside.

“Here, look. This one’s our Janggun, and this one’s Song-i.”

On the large phone screen was a picture of two dogs sitting side by side. One was Janggun, whom he had just seen. Next to him, no smaller in build, no, in seated height actually taller than Janggun, was a curly-haired dog.

At a glance it looked like a poodle, but what kind of poodle was the size of a full-grown retriever? With its slender muzzle tilted downward and only its eyes lifted, it stared straight into the lens. The force that radiated from its whole body was overwhelming.

“This… this is Song-i?”

“Yes. A brown standard poodle, already old, but with a very fierce temper. If someone wasn’t to her liking, she wouldn’t even let them near. The only reason she tolerated our Janggun was because they met when he was three months old, just a baby. Other dogs, she gave them nothing. She was like a princess, and if they behaved the least bit rudely, she would punish them immediately. Thanks to her, our Janggun grew up polite and well-mannered without any training at all. Haha.”