PUPPY 26

As if he had starved while wandering around outside, he wagged his tail as soon as Juwon brought over a plate full of heated dumplings.

“Hey, we have a lot of dumplings at my house, so eat slowly.”

The moment Juwon set the plate down, the puppy started devouring the dumplings as if he had a motor in his mouth.

Chomp, chomp, chomp.

The filling of the dumplings was smeared around the mouth of the puppy, who was eating them with gusto. Juwon watched the rapidly disappearing dumplings and asked.

“Which are tastier, the galbi dumplings or the meat dumplings?”

“Woof…”

As a beastman, Juwon could understand all the sounds of a dog barking, but the young beastman, instead of explaining with words to Juwon, slightly pushed the dumpling on the left with his snout.

“Galbi dumplings are delicious…”

Juwon muttered, nodding as if he agreed.

“Woof.”

“Eat slowly. If you eat a lot all of a sudden, you’ll get an upset stomach.”

Juwon said to the puppy, who bit into one of the remaining dumplings with a chomp.

Juwon had recognized right away that the puppy in Seowoo’s arms was a beastman. Recognizing a beastman of the same species was a very natural and powerful force of instinct.

Juwon’s cousin, Junseok, who was a half-blood of a beastman and a human, could distinguish beastmen very faintly. But that was not something he realized instinctively; it was closer to something learned because his family and relatives were beastmen.

Among half-blood beastmen, even those who were humans unable to transform retained animalistic traits, such as having an unusually good sense of smell or developed hearing. It was said that there were cases of people distinguishing the faint differences between beastmen and humans with a superior sense of smell, but it was very rare.

“I’m not going to steal them, so chew before you swallow. You have teeth, don’t you?”

“Ruff, ruff.”

He himself much preferred his puppy form, and he had been caught after transforming carelessly a few times, but he had never lived so openly like a dog before.

“Where was your home. Sangil-dong?”

The puppy shook his head from side to side. Where was there a family with such a young male beastman…

“Ah, Cheonho-dong, right.”

At Juwon’s words, the puppy, who had been eating the dumplings as if slowly savoring them, subtly avoided his gaze. It was as good as telling him he was correct.

“You’re a real piece of work.”

At Juwon’s words, spoken with a sigh that sounded like air escaping, the puppy awkwardly avoided his gaze again. The way he stiffly turned his head already gave the answer away.

“……”

“If you’re done with the dumplings, go to sleep.”

“Ruff.”

Nodding, the puppy flopped down on the floor where the warm heating was coming on.

“Don’t do that on the floor, sleep here.”

Juwon said, tapping a luxury brand dog bed full of flashy logos with his foot. At that, the puppy sluggishly raised his body and lay down on the soft dog bed.

🦴

Waking up with a start early in the morning, Juwon transformed into his human form and held a dog carrier in his hand. Muffling his footsteps, Juwon approached the puppy and swiftly moved him into the carrier.

“Ruff ruff ruff! Ruff ruff!”

Startled by the unexpected attack, the puppy’s eyes grew round and he began to bark loudly.

“Ruff ruff! Ruff ruff!”

Looking at the puppy barking as if in protest, Juwon made a gesture of covering his ears.

“Stop the woof woof.”

“Ruff! Ruff!”

Juwon, who had pulled the hood of his hoodie over his head, lifted the carrier and spoke to the puppy, who was giving him an aggrieved look.

“What are you barking about, it’s time to go home now.”

Having confirmed the notification that the pet taxi he had reserved had almost arrived, Juwon walked toward the main gate. Just then, Juwon’s cell phone vibrated briefly. Seowoo had sent him a message.

「Juwon」

「Should I go to the vet with you?」

Worried that he would be misunderstood for reading and ignoring the message, Juwon only checked it through the notification window. If it had been just an ordinary puppy, he could have gotten the golden opportunity to be with Seowoo on a Sunday morning, but he couldn’t reveal the beastman’s identity.

“Because of you, little squirt…”

Muttering quietly, Juwon opened the gate, went out, and got into the taxi that had arrived. Then he sent a message to Seowoo saying that he had already left.

The puppy sitting in the carrier kept making whining sounds, as if anxious and restless. When the taxi driver asked, ‘Is there something wrong with the puppy?’ Juwon answered, ‘No. He’s faking it.’

The veterinary hospital, which operated 24/7, was full of customers despite it being a Sunday. This was a veterinary hospital run by a dog beastman veterinarian, and it was also used like an emergency room when young beastmen suddenly fell ill.

The hospital was a bustling success, having gained a reputation as a ‘miracle dog doctor’ not only among beastmen but also among humans. Thanks to that, he was able to erect a building in his own name in the middle of Seoul.

Juwon himself had been to this place a few times when he was young. As an adult, he was never sick, so he had no reason to go to a hospital at all.

When he insisted on seeing the director, he was told he would have to wait quite a long time because there were many patients. Juwon sat in the hospital waiting room, put the carrier down, and looked at his cell phone screen. Seowoo had not yet checked the message Juwon had sent.

He sent an emoticon of a puppy tilting its head and sending a question mark, but there was no reply. Juwon turned off his cell phone screen and raised his head, then flinched upon seeing a framed picture hanging in the waiting room.

<Commemorative Photo of Internet Star Cha Hyewon and Genius Dog Grace’s Visit>

Hanging prominently in the waiting room was a picture of the director and Juwon’s older sister, Cha Hyewon, shaking hands. Seeing his sister’s picture in such an unexpected place made a chill run down his spine for no reason, even though he had done nothing wrong.

[Cha *won and ‘Puppy’]

A short while later, Juwon’s name appeared on the monitor hanging in the waiting room. The young beastman hadn’t answered when asked for his name, so he had told them to just register him with a random one.

“Hello.”

As Juwon entered the consultation room, the veterinarian spoke with a surprised and pleased expression.

“Who is this, is it the Cha family of the Gwanghwamun gukbap restaurant?”

“It’s been a while since we served gukbap… Please come by for dumpling soup sometime.”

“I’ve been so busy with the hospital, I kept saying I need to go, I need to go. I think you said you were going on a business trip this month…”

The veterinarian, as expected, seemed to know his parents well. The Gwanghwamun Cha family’s gukbap was delicious… Muttering that to himself, the veterinarian looked back and forth between Juwon and the carrier and asked.

“Anyway, what’s he sick with?”

“Ah, Doctor. Do you know him?”

Juwon asked as he opened the carrier door and took the puppy out. The small puppy barked fiercely and resisted.

“Oh my, where did you find this one?”

The moment he saw the puppy, the veterinarian let out a sigh mixed with a lament and asked Juwon.

“He was wandering around like a beggar and sleeping in a cat’s house with no pride.”

At Juwon’s explanation, the puppy barked talkatively, ‘woof woof woof woof.’ If he had a complaint, he could just transform into a person and say it, but he was still maintaining his puppy form.

“This is the youngest son of the Ha family in Cheonho-dong. They were in an uproar because he went missing…”

“I think I might have met him once before.”

At the veterinarian’s explanation, Juwon tried to search his memory. Because beastman families frequently interacted with each other, he was sure he must have met him, but he couldn’t remember the youngest son.

“You rascal, running away from home by turning into a puppy? Didn’t the doctor tell you not to turn into a puppy in front of humans. I did, didn’t I. And I told you not to stay as a puppy all the time.”

“Whine, whine…”

As the veterinarian sternly lectured the Ha family’s youngest son, the brown puppy covered his face with his front paws and made a groaning sound.

“He crawled into my friend’s house, so my friend was fostering him.”

“I’ll contact the family in Cheonho-dong, so tell your friend who was fostering him that he died.”

“What if you get a reputation as a quack doctor because of that. If you give me the little squirt’s home address, my friend and I will just take him there together.”

Thinking about how shocked Seowoo would be if the puppy he took to the hospital suddenly died, Juwon stopped the veterinarian’s extreme prescription with a look of disbelief.

“Then bring him tomorrow. Today, let’s have him get some tests and, depending on the results, give him some nutritional supplements.”

Nodding slowly at the doctor’s words, Juwon raised one corner of his mouth slightly and said.

“Yes, I’ll come tomorrow. And please shave his fur really short.”

“That’s a good idea.”

The veterinarian nodded at Juwon’s suggestion. At that, the Ha family’s youngest son began to bark shrilly.

“Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!”

“He’s lost his mind and acts cute just anywhere.”

Recalling the sight of him snuggled deep in Seowoo’s arms, Juwon held up his fingers and ordered for the fur to be cut very short. It was a form of petty revenge.

“I’m leaving, little squirt. See you tomorrow. I’ll stop by after school tomorrow. Thank you.”

Bowing his head deeply in farewell, Juwon turned around and left the consultation room. Just before the door closed, he heard the puppy’s barking, which carried the meaning ‘I don’t want my fur shaved!’

Shaking his head, he left the veterinary hospital building and got in a taxi. With good timing, a message from Seowoo arrived as soon as he got into the taxi. A smile automatically formed on Juwon’s lips.

「Are you still at the hospital?」

「Nah, on my way」

「Are you coming home with the puppy?」

「He’s being kept for a day for tests」

「Really? When are you coming?」

「About 30 min?」

「Okay, got it. Let me know when you get here!」

「OK」

「(Emoticon)」

When he turned off his cell phone screen, the last thing he had heard, the screams of the Ha family’s youngest, echoed like an auditory hallucination. Since he had run away from home as a puppy, getting his fur shaved short was unavoidable, but it seemed he didn’t know that yet because he was still young.

“So why did you have to transform and crawl into someone else’s house…”

Juwon, who was looking at the scenery outside with his head pressed right against the window, muttered as if to himself. When he lowered the window slightly, a cool breeze came in. Barely suppressing the urge to stick his head completely out the window, Juwon narrowed his eyes. Only after being hit directly by the wind for a long while was Juwon able to arrive home.

After getting out on the main road, as Juwon walked along the alley, he saw Seowoo standing in front of his house.

And next to Seowoo stood a little girl who looked to be about kindergarten age and a woman presumed to be her mother.

“Juwon.”

“Who’s this?”

At Juwon’s question, Seowoo’s eyes crinkled brightly as he smiled and replied.

“I found the puppy’s owner.”

This was outside of his expectations and plans.