At the police station as well, the couple refused to admit any fault of their own. Han Jun repeatedly stated that he had no intention whatsoever of reaching a settlement with things that weren’t even human.
“Just so you’re aware, I’ll have my lawyer send over the medical report. I never want to see your faces again. A restraining order or something like that—is that possible? Then please add that too, Officer.”
“This is unbelievable. Just because a dog bit someone, you’re bringing in a lawyer? If that were the case, every lawyer in this country would’ve bought themselves a building in Seoul by now!”
“If you hadn’t provoked him, our Janggun wouldn’t have bitten anyone in the first place. It goes both ways—what lawsuit are you even talking about?”
“Fine. Dogs can act that way. But a person was injured due to your negligence. If you were human beings, you should’ve at least apologized.”
When Han Jun lifted his arm, groans of Aigo… burst out from those around them. Feeling a sharp sting of guilt, Yi-hyeon curled into Han Jun’s arms and repeatedly licked around his bicep. He licked so much that his mouth filled with the cool, faintly sweet scent of the shower cologne Han Jun used after bathing.
“Oh, perfect timing—the lawyer’s here. Attorney Kim! Over here, over here!”
The couple had brushed off the high schooler’s talk about lawyers as nothing more than childish bravado. But when a man carrying a briefcase, a badge pinned to his chest, appeared and bowed his head while addressing Han Jun as Young Master, their expressions instantly darkened. The couple who had stubbornly insisted moments ago that their dog had bitten only because it was provoked were nowhere to be found. When the lawyer sharply protested, asking if they even knew what kinds of measures were taken against a dog that had bitten someone once before, their faces turned deathly pale, and they began to tremble.
***
As soon as they got home, Han Jun shrugged off his dirtied clothes and tossed them aside. Then, as if his arm had pulled wrong, he sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth, knitting his brows.
Seeing that, Yi-hyeon rushed over and began frantically licking the only place his mouth could reach—Han Jun’s ankle. At that moment, worry over Han Jun being in pain outweighed any awareness that he himself was human, and Yi-hyeon didn’t even realize what he was doing.
Han Jun, completely unaware of Yi-hyeon’s thoughts, simply found it adorable that his usually aloof pet was trailing after him with both ears drooping low.
“Since Louis worries about me like this, I guess I should keep getting hurt.”
When Yi-hyeon lifted his head and barked wang, wang, Han Jun carefully cupped him with both hands and lightly kissed his round, fluffy forehead.
Being careful not to touch the injured area, Yi-hyeon ended up with one paw sticking out beyond Han Jun’s arm. Watching the small, delicate paw sway in midair, Han Jun smiled gently and said,
“Did you move out of the way so you wouldn’t touch where hyung hurts? Our Louis is so smart—sometimes you really seem just like a person.”
Calling him an existence he couldn’t help but love, Han Jun pressed a quick kiss to Yi-hyeon’s mouth. The brief contact, sticking together and then parting, felt soft and tender. Suddenly feeling overheated, Yi-hyeon stuck out his small red tongue and panted, hekh hek.
“It’s such a relief you weren’t hurt.”
His lazily resonant voice brushed against Yi-hyeon’s heart, tickling it like swaying foxtail grass.
But you were the one who got hurt.
Letting out a small kkiing, Yi-hyeon drooped both ears again. Noticing his reaction, Han Jun patted his back a few times, telling him there was no need to worry, then set him down on the floor. After that, he headed into the bathroom to shower.
Worried that water might touch the wound and cause Han Jun pain, Yi-hyeon lay sprawled in front of the bathroom door and waited for a long time until he came out.
It really shouldn’t get infected…
Even though he was in Louis’s body, the fact that Han Jun had saved Yi-hyeon didn’t change. Yi-hyeon recalled Han Jun’s eyes—eyes that never left him even after he threw himself forward to protect him. Those eyes, which had always seemed cold because they never revealed what he was thinking, had been fixed straight on Yi-hyeon in that moment, and the chill he used to feel vanished completely.
That night, Yi-hyeon climbed onto the bed on his own.
Then he waited for Han Jun, who finished studying and stretched. When Yi-hyeon saw Han Jun walking toward the bed, he hurriedly pawed at the blanket, pababak, digging it up. After that, on all fours, he carefully smoothed out the bumpy blanket until it lay flat.
Cradled in Han Jun’s arms as they lay down, Yi-hyeon silently stared at Han Jun’s arm for a long while. The bandage, hastily wrapped at the pharmacy before coming home, looked clumsy beyond words. Feeling unsettled, Yi-hyeon licked Han Jun’s arm again and again.
Thank you for today, Han Jun.
Han Jun, perhaps exhausted, fell asleep early the moment he lay down. Yi-hyeon pressed his backside against Han Jun’s side and slowly closed his heavy eyelids. Lying there with their bodies touching, feeling his warmth, Yi-hyeon used the steady sound of Han Jun’s breathing as a lullaby and drifted off to sleep.
***
After living as a puppy for several days, Yi-hyeon found that only his cunning had increased. Most importantly, he figured out how to deal with bodily needs. When Han Jun came out of the bathroom, Yi-hyeon used his hind paw to shhk slide Louis’s stuffed toy into the gap of the door. With the bathroom door not fully closed, it was easy to push it open with a body slam, and thankfully, he was able to take care of his biological needs at the drain.
After completing the perfect crime and coming back out, Yi-hyeon walked toward the large floor-to-ceiling window in front of him. Every time he walked, there was a tododok, tododok sound. Standing with his face pressed flat against the glass, Yi-hyeon looked down and let out a deep sigh.
It should be about time now…
On days when Han Jun went to school, it was unbearably boring.
Of course, Han Jun turned on the TV in the room for Yi-hyeon before leaving, but what good was it to watch the pet channel? Then Yi-hyeon remembered the educational broadcast channel and studied while watching it until Han Jun returned.
While he was doing that, he heard someone entering the house and hurriedly pressed beep beep on the remote, switching back to the pet channel. From the phone conversation echoing from downstairs, he realized it wasn’t Han Jun, but his father, Assemblyman Han, who had come home.
The people who managed the house had gone to the mart, and Se-hyeon’s mother was at her shop. Both sons would still be at school, so the only ones left in the mansion were Assemblyman Han and Yi-hyeon, disguised as a puppy.
A short while later, the sound of the master bedroom door closing echoed through the house.
Just as Yi-hyeon was about to switch back to the educational channel, Assemblyman Han’s voice—usually loud—reached his ears in a low murmur.
“If this isn’t handled perfectly, things will get complicated. It needs to be completely dismantled so that not even a trace can be found. Yes. I’m counting on you, Chief Kim.”
The sound of the front door opening followed, along with Se-hyeon and his mother’s voices. Assemblyman Han hurriedly ended the call, stepped out of the bedroom, and began acting as though he’d just woken up. Yi-hyeon found his behavior strange, but since the position of a National Assembly member was full of secrets, he dismissed it and turned the educational broadcast back on.
***
Startled by the sound of someone climbing the metal stairs, Yi-hyeon, who had been sleeping belly-up, sprang to his feet.
It’s not time for him to be back yet!
He hurriedly changed the channel, parting ways with the teacher who had been conducting a science lesson. Then he trotted over and stopped in front of the door. Thinking it might be the Auntie bringing food, Yi-hyeon sat down with his butt plopping firmly against the floor.
Since she was the only one who ever came into Han Jun’s room, he obediently waited for the door to open, tapping the marble floor with his tail, tak, tak.
What’s she bringing today?
Perhaps because it was a wealthy household, even the food given to the dog was all top-tier. Of course, since what he could eat was extremely limited, that part was a little disappointing, but Yi-hyeon was still grateful that there was human food he could fill his stomach with. Already, he felt his mouth flooding with saliva.
Click. As the door opened, Yi-hyeon’s tail wagging sped up, taktaktak. But the one who entered wasn’t the Auntie holding a bowl of delicious food—it was a student wearing a Korea High School uniform.
Han Se-hyeon. Because people constantly referred to him as “the Assemblyman’s son,” Yi-hyeon vaguely remembered his face. With a gentle appearance and eyes that drooped slightly when he smiled, if Han Jun reminded one of a blade-like winter wind, then Se-hyeon felt like a warm spring breeze.
“Louis, you were alone?”
His voice was fairly kind, but Yi-hyeon didn’t like the way Se-hyeon looked at him. Maybe it was because Yi-hyeon knew he’d been spreading bad stories about Han Jun.
“I’m sorry about that time. I was trying to put on a new harness, but I didn’t think you’d run away so fast.”
When Yi-hyeon first found Louis, there hadn’t been so much as a leash or even a collar around his neck. He’d wondered if Louis had escaped from somewhere, but it seemed Se-hyeon had lost him while trying to switch him into a newly bought harness.
I get the intention, but you still shouldn’t do something that dangerous near a road.
“I brought something tasty as an apology. Want some? You like fruit, don’t you?”
There’s a saying that among people who love animals, there are no bad ones. And if they give you delicious food on top of that—well, all the more so.
