PUPPY 32

“Are you going to the hospital?”

“No….”

Seowoo said, leaning his head on Juwon’s shoulder. Because the distance between them had closed, Seowoo’s small voice came through very clearly to Juwon, who had good hearing.

“Are you really okay?”

“I think I’ll be fine if I just rest.”

This time, Seowoo gave a small nod. From a light cold to a severe illness, Seowoo knew better than anyone how his own body reacted when he was properly sick.

Today, there were no distinct symptoms of being sick anywhere; it was just that he was dizzy and had no energy. It was more like a side effect he was experiencing because the weather had suddenly turned summer-like.

“…We were supposed to eat chicken after taking graduation photos.”

A murmur filled with regret flowed from Seowoo’s lips. It wasn’t a situation where he should feel sleepy at all, but perhaps it was because he was comfortably leaning on Juwon’s back and listening to the rhythmic sound of his footsteps. He felt drowsy.

“Let’s go.”

“Where.”

“Let’s ditch Dong Dong Ju and go eat chicken by ourselves.”

Juwon said, hoisting up Seowoo’s slumping body. Juwon’s voice, which held no hint of laughter, was serious.

“No….”

“What do you mean, no.”

“Of course not….”

Seowoo said, letting out a laugh that seemed to scatter into the air.

“Ah, yes we can.”

“But we can’t….”

“It’s a waste to just go home. Hurry up and say yes.”

“Umm….”

As if Juwon’s persistent persuasion or insistence had worked, a hesitant voice, instead of a refusal, flowed from Seowoo’s lips.

“Let’s just go have one chicken leg.”

Seeing him bring up the fact that they were supposed to eat chicken with their friends even though he wasn’t feeling well, it was easy to tell how high Seowoo’s expectations had been. Juwon knew well that if he just went home to rest like this, it would remain as a bigger disappointment or regret.

“…Okay.”

Seowoo finally nodded at Juwon’s words. Having reached the bottom of the mountain, Juwon turned his steps. In order to get the things they had left behind, he first walked toward the school. Seowoo, who was alternately looking at the faraway school and the edge of Juwon’s collar, whispered quietly.

“This feels strange.”

“It does?”

Juwon asked Seowoo back in a low voice. Instead of answering, Seowoo just nodded his head.

It was nice that a detailed question of where, how, or why it was strange didn’t follow. It was just a reaction that seemed to accept his complaint.

Coming from the opposite direction, students from the class that would take their photos after Seowoo and Juwon’s class were walking together in small groups. Watching them walk cheerfully while joking around, it was only then that he realized the photos taken today weren’t ordinary photos, but photos to commemorate and remember the end of his high school life. He felt something well up inside him.

The driving force that made Seowoo study hard was a longing for campus life. When young Seowoo was in and out of the hospital, his much older brother had entered university. And it was the medical school affiliated with the university hospital that Seowoo went to.

Of course, due to the special nature of medical school, he studied just as much as he had in high school, but he had an enjoyable campus life.

Watching him, Seowoo also resolved to become a ‘college student’ later. As he got older, the vague dream of becoming a ‘college student’ gradually became more specific. He wanted to go on MTs, drink alcohol, and come home late at night or even sleep over. He also wanted to go on group dates or blind dates, but he decided to exclude that for now.

He had always wanted to grow up quickly and had thought he wanted all the situations surrounding him to change. But suddenly, it felt like it would be nice if the things that made up this moment now didn’t change and stayed as they were.

When he tightened his arms to hug Juwon’s neck more strongly, Juwon turned his head to look at Seowoo.

“Are you uncomfortable?”

“No.”

The moment his eyes met Juwon’s black eyes asking that question, the blurry emotion became clear.

Once again, something welled up from beneath his throat. It was a piece of an emotion that he had buried and ignored until now.

It wasn’t because today was special to an extent that it couldn’t be compared to other days, or because this moment right now was very important.

“Hold on tight.”

It was because he liked Cha Juwon, who was with him, and so he wanted to preserve even this moment with him just as it was.

🦴

“Jjokko, you’re here?”

“Woof!”

Juwon greeted him happily and lifted a front paw. Seowoo, who had taken his graduation photos and had barely managed to eat two pieces of chicken, ended up being sick all the next day.

Only after going to a large hospital, getting tests, and confirming that there were no problems was Seowoo able to be discharged today. On the evening of the day he took his graduation photos, Juwon had come to Seowoo’s house and, while half-stuck in the doggy door, had overheard the entire conversation between Seowoo’s grandmother and grandfather as they packed his things to take to the hospital.

Even on the evening Seowoo was admitted to the hospital, Juwon had sat in front of Seowoo’s room and waited. He knew it was a pointless act, but it had become so ingrained like a habit that he couldn’t stop.

And today, Seowoo had returned home.

“You’re clean today?”

“Woof! Woof!”

“You’re even cuter because you’re clean. Then I’ll just wipe your paws.”

“…….”

There was a reason Juwon was in a rare clean state. It was because today was the day his older sister, the genius dog Grace aka human Cha Hye-won, had come home. She had stopped by to pack for an overseas shoot she had tomorrow.

Since he couldn’t leave the house after turning into a dog, Juwon had crossed over the wall to Seowoo’s house in his human form. The wall to Seowoo’s house was well over 2 meters high, but jumping over it wasn’t that difficult if he used his muscular strength to leap and then shifted his center of gravity well.

Of course, his conscience pricked him for crossing someone else’s wall in human form, but he couldn’t think of any other good way.

Now that summer was coming, the days would get longer, so how would he be able to come to Seowoo’s room without being seen by people? Juwon’s worries deepened.

‘In the summer, I want to just come over and hang out as a person….’

Juwon thought as he watched Seowoo meticulously wiping his paws. If he came over in human form, there would be no need to bother with wiping his paws.

“By any chance, did you come yesterday too?”

‘The two of us alone in Seowoo’s room, separated from our families….’

Juwon, who had been lost in his own thoughts, shook his head from side to side.

“No?”

Even if he came to Seowoo’s room as a human, all he wanted to do was talk and joke around like now. He had no dark intentions whatsoever of doing something that his parents or Seowoo’s grandparents would worry about. Absolutely none at all.

And yet, he felt his face getting hot for no reason. He thought it was a relief that since he was in dog form, it wouldn’t show on his face.

Seowoo, who had been discharged from the hospital this afternoon, didn’t look as pale as he did on the day of the graduation photo shoot, but his complexion was still not good. Perhaps he had lost weight in that short time, as his body also looked thinner than before.

As they entered the room, which was warm due to the heating, Seowoo placed something on the floor.

“Look at this.”

“Woof!”

‘What is this.’

What Seowoo put down was a card. It was a piece of cardboard on which O and X had been printed largely and glued on.

Wondering what this was, Juwon tilted his head with a tilt—, and Seowoo, as if he had been waiting, began to explain the rules.

“This circle here means, ‘that’s right.’”

‘Ah, what is this….’

Ah, now he understood what Seowoo wanted to do. It seemed he was inspired by the <Talking with Grace using O and X> episode uploaded on his sister’s channel.

“And this X here means, ‘that’s not right.’”

1. Seowoo added again gently. Juwon looked at the kind and calm Seowoo.

‘He’d be good to our puppies later….’

Juwon, who had gotten too far ahead of himself into the distant future, shook his head.

“You don’t get it? Then I’ll do it again.”

Seowoo slowly repeated the explanation he had already given once more in a gentle voice. Only then did Juwon nod toward Seowoo and pretend to listen attentively to the explanation. Seowoo kept stroking Juwon’s head, and Juwon stuck out his tongue and smiled happily. The problem with being a dog was that his expressions were revealed so plainly like this.

“You really get it, right? For example, what I mean is…. Um.”

After pondering, Seowoo placed the cards in front of Juwon and continued speaking.

“My name is Ryu Seowoo. If I say this, it’s correct, so you just have to choose the circle, like this.”

After saying that, Seowoo suddenly lowered his body and pretended to push the card with the O on it with his face.

Seowoo, as usual, was wearing short pants….

“Then shall we start with something easy…. You can’t do the difficult ones, can you?”

“Woof!”

‘I should give him a surprise.’

Juwon thought to himself.

His sister’s videos uploaded on the internet have a high-level strategy hidden in them. Instead of just showing off her intelligence as a genius dog, she drew reactions from people by showing herself learning new things after several trials and errors and then applying them. Everything was thoroughly calculated. They would even have a couple of rehearsals before the actual filming, and sometimes during the planning stage, she would use Juwon or his older brother, Dowon, as stand-ins to review the flow of the video.

Seowoo, sitting in front of him, took a short breath in. The first question was given.

“My name is Kim Seowoo.”

“Woof!”

With the speed of a lightning bolt, Juwon chose the card with the X on it.