PUPPY 42

“Whine…”

On the fence where the puppy had led them, a drawing was posted. The puppy stood in front of it, looking back and forth between the drawing and Juwon, barking softly. Seowoo knelt in front of it and looked at the drawing. It seemed to have been drawn by a very young child with colored pencils. Below it, in neat, carefully pressed letters, was some text.

Looking for Gureumi

Age: 1, Puppy

Phone: 010 23XX XXXX

Truthfully, looking at just the drawing, he wondered if this was even a puppy. It was shaped more like an overstuffed, bursting dumpling than a puppy, but it was neatly written below: ‘Age: 1, Puppy’. Moreover, the puppy, which had been calm until now, was wagging its tail and barking as if in greeting. Seowoo called the number written below the drawing.

Ring, ring, ring….

The call was going through properly, but it wouldn’t connect, perhaps because they weren’t answering an unfamiliar number. After trying to call about three more times, Seowoo made a disappointed face, and Juwon spoke in a low voice.

“It’s late, so they might already be asleep.”

At Juwon’s words, Seowoo nodded, saved the number, and linked it to his messenger app. Seeing the profile picture that popped up with a notification about a new friend, Seowoo showed the screen to Juwon and said.

“I think they’re the owners. Look at this. It’s a picture of him.”

“……”

The profile picture displayed on the screen showed a married couple, a young child presumed to have drawn the picture, and a white Pomeranian. However, the Pomeranian in the photo was not the puppy that was with Juwon and Seowoo now.

They looked so similar that one could be mistaken, but Juwon could clearly feel the difference. It was a similar-looking… different dog.

“Let’s come here and wait tomorrow. We can try calling again, too.”

Seowoo said in a resolute voice.

“Huh?”

“Tomorrow’s Sunday, so let’s wait starting in the afternoon. Who knows, maybe the kid who drew this will come to the playground again tomorrow.”

“That’s true, but…”

“We can also ask other kids who come to the playground.”

Having found a clue about the puppy’s owner, Seowoo’s face had brightened considerably.

“If it recognizes him like this just from the drawing, I think it’s the right one.”

“Yap!”

As if it understood Seowoo’s words, the puppy standing in front of the drawing answered with a short bark. Juwon stood still, looking down at Seowoo and the puppy. Seowoo thought that the puppy, with its good sense of smell, must have caught the scent of its young owner left on the drawing.

“Maybe they lost him inside the apartment complex. It’s connected to the walking path, and if you take a slight wrong turn, you can get far away quickly…”

Seowoo murmured to himself as he looked at the path leading from the apartment complex to the walking trail. The puppy kept trying to walk toward the apartment complex that connected to the playground, as if that was the home it used to live in.

Juwon didn’t doubt the puppy’s homing instinct and keen sense of smell. However, a corner of his mind still felt uneasy. It was a discomfort that had continued ever since he saw the photo of them smiling brightly with a different, similar-looking puppy. This feeling was purely a suspicion learned through humans.

🦴

The puppy, which had been quiet, started making a fuss in the morning, so Juwon and Seowoo arrived at the playground much earlier than their planned time. In fact, because of the missed kiss timing from yesterday, neither of them had slept properly. They had thought about talking about it when they met, but once they were actually face to face, their lips stayed tightly sealed.

“They’re still not answering the phone?”

“Yeah… I hope they didn’t go somewhere else.”

Knowing it was rude, Seowoo kept calling, and as the number of ignored calls increased, he got the feeling that something was wrong.

“But why aren’t any kids coming out to play.”

Juwon said, looking at the quiet, empty playground. He enjoyed spending time with Seowoo, but he was worried because he could see an increasingly anxious and uneasy look clouding Seowoo’s face.

“Do you think the kids went somewhere else since it’s Sunday?”

“How long are we going to sit here and…”

“Sorry.”

At Juwon’s muttering, which was like a complaint to himself, Seowoo immediately apologized.

“No, I wasn’t talking about you. It’s just that the kids aren’t coming out…”

Slightly flustered by Seowoo’s reaction, Juwon stood up and shook his head vigorously. Then, gently pulling on the puppy’s leash, he spoke as if he had made up his mind.

“Ah, let’s just go find them ourselves.”

“How? This apartment complex is so big.”

“We’ll tell him to find them by scent.”

Juwon said, pointing at the puppy with his chin.

“Isn’t that something they need to be trained for?”

“It’s fine, he can do it all.”

Juwon, nodding as he replied, tore the drawing off the fence. He then lowered his posture and brought the drawing right up to the puppy’s nose.

“Did you get the scent?”

The puppy, not understanding Juwon’s words, simply looked at the drawing and wagged its tail back and forth. Juwon stood up and looked at the picture drawn by the young child. No, he pretended to look at it while gathering the olfactory information remaining on the drawing.

Because the one who would find the way by scent was not the small puppy, but Juwon. Seowoo, who was watching Juwon’s serious expression, like a detective carefully examining clues, said.

“It must be nice to have a good sense of smell.”

“…Huh?”

At the sudden compliment, Juwon looked at Seowoo. Juwon’s gaze caught on Seowoo’s plump lips before moving away.

“It seems like a useful ability. You probably wouldn’t even need a map app.”

Have I managed to show off my charms again like this, Juwon thought to himself.

“Well, I’m sort of like that.”

“But it also seems like it could be agonizing… It can’t be pleasant to smell other people’s scents and stuff.”

At Seowoo’s words, Juwon thought of his own nose, which was overworked every day in a classroom that smelled musty. But, it wasn’t all bad. Perhaps because the smells it was compared to were so miserable, the fresh and sweet scent that wafted from Seowoo felt all the more pleasant.

“Yeah. That’s true. But it also means I can smell good scents even better…”

Juwon could distinguish the scents coming from Seowoo in great detail. The subtle scent of fabric softener seeped into his school uniform, and the shampoo scent from his hair after a shower. Even the unique body scent he felt when he held him tightly in his arms.

And now… even the lewd scent.

“I think it’s that way.”

The puppy, which had been moving almost entirely at Juwon’s will, suddenly started to move energetically. It began to walk ahead, so much so that he could feel the leash being pulled.

“Hey, slowly…”

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

Just then, the puppy’s barks changed, becoming powerful. Juwon, lifting his head, passed the leash to Seowoo.

“Hold this.”

“Huh? Oh. Excuse me!”

Over there in front of them stood the family he had seen in the profile picture. The couple, whose eyes briefly met Seowoo’s, turned on their heels as if flustered. He could hear the young child ask, ‘What’s wrong?’, but they just turned away without answering.

“Excuse me!”

Seowoo called out to the family again. However, they ignored him, as if they were deliberately pretending not to hear. Feeling their all-too-clear intention, Juwon muttered a low curse and said to Seowoo.

“You walk with him. I’ll chase after them.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Juwon took off at an explosive speed. The distance closed quickly, but the family had already run inside the apartment building.

Thud—.

Juwon stuck one arm in before the main entrance door could close. Juwon, having blocked the door from closing, stood there at an angle and waited for Seowoo.

“Don’t run. We know where they live now.”

Juwon said, looking at Seowoo who was walking over hurriedly.

“Is your arm okay?”

“Yeah. What about you, are you out of breath?”

“I’m fine. I couldn’t run because of the puppy.”

Seowoo smiled and said, as if to tell Juwon not to worry. Once they arrived inside the apartment building, the puppy was more energetic than ever before. Distracted by this, Seowoo overlooked the fact that the family of three had just turned and fled as if they were being chased.

“What floor is it?”

To Seowoo’s question after they got on the elevator, Juwon answered as he pressed a button.

“Ninth floor.”

“You saw?”

“Yeah.”

Juwon said in a confident voice. Soon, the elevator arrived at the 9th floor, and seeing the puppy find its way to the apartment as if it were familiar, Juwon realized his gut feeling hadn’t been wrong.

Ding-dong.

Seowoo pressed the doorbell without hesitation at the door where the puppy had stopped. It was clear someone was home, but seeing no response, Seowoo realized that his calls had been intentionally ignored.

Seowoo expressionlessly kept pressing the doorbell. If it had been a complete stranger, they would have come out and asked what was going on, but from the way they were trying hard to ignore him, he could tell they were definitely connected to the puppy.

The ding-dong, ding-dong sound of the doorbell stopped for a moment.

— …

A scraping sound came from the speaker—scrape. A voice could be heard saying, ‘I told you not to go up there and answer it!’. The sharp voice made his heart drop, but Seowoo spoke in a voice that remained calm.

“Hello. We’re students from Haesung High School.”

— Hah… What is it.

“It’s just that we’re temporarily looking after a puppy. It’s a young Pomeranian, and we thought it looks like the Gureumi you’re looking for…”

— We have nothing to say. Please leave.

A hostile voice came back through the speaker. As soon as she heard the name ‘Gureumi’, the sound of a young child whining could be heard.

Seowoo looked down at the white puppy. He had thought this would be a satisfying event, like when he returned the brown-furred puppy to its original owner last time, but he had not expected a situation like this at all. Juwon, who was watching Seowoo’s trembling fingertips, slammed his fist on the door, making a loud thud—, and said.

“We came because we saw the flyer about a lost puppy. We’ll wait until you open the door.”

When Seowoo looked at Juwon, he added nonchalantly, ‘They’ll come out before they starve to death.’