After receiving the call from Hyunjae, I drove here in such a daze that I didn’t even know how I’d managed it.
And when I faced his face, which I’d thought I’d never see again until I died, it felt like my blood was boiling backward.
“I had my doubts even while driving here, but I didn’t expect you to really be here.”
“What right do you have to come looking for me!”
A surge of emotion burst from deep in my chest.
“It’s been a while, Gyeongho.”
“Hah, a while? A while?”
His shameless “it’s been a while” filled me with disillusionment toward humanity.
That’s why I avoided people for so long and only interacted with animals.
He reminded me once again why I’d opened an animal clinic in this rural area.
“We’re not on terms for such greetings, are we? Be thankful you’re old and I don’t have the energy for a fistfight.”
“Professor…… has cancer.”
He dropped the unexpected news about cancer.
“So what.”
“You don’t need to stay holed up here anymore.”
Gyeongho was genuinely dumbfounded. Did he think I was here out of fear of that man?
“They say cancer is treatable these days. Go help him get treated well. Nurse him or something—that’s what you used to do anyway.”
“Ah~ You really don’t get it. That old geezer’s dying soon!”
Cheoljung spoke as if Gyeongho was frustrating, but Gyeongho didn’t budge.
“What does that have to do with me? Should I shed tears if he dies?”
“He’s on his deathbed right now, and if he dies, you can come back up and…….”
“Come back? Where? Is there a place for me?”
Coming all this way just to say this nonsense. It wasn’t worth listening anymore.
“Leave. If you show up here again, you’re dead.”
“……Right now, that bastard Junha’s about to take over the professor’s position.”
Finally, Cheoljung revealed his true motive for finding Gyeongho.
“So what.”
“You idiot! Get revenge for the injustice and reclaim your rightful place. You were the smartest among the three of us.”
“What nonsense. I was the dumbest. I got played by the professor and you two.”
The memory of being backstabbed was still vivid.
“And if you’re after the position, fight Junha yourself. Don’t come to me.”
“Hey!”
It was the moment Gyeongho turned to head back to the clinic.
“But when did you get a family?”
“What?”
“Your parents passed away, and your sister’s family all died in a car accident. So who’s that guy inside?”
He was clearly referring to Hyunjae, who was peeking through the window, curious about our conversation.
“……”
“Nephew? Where would you have a nephew…….”
“Coming after over ten years of no contact just to probe? Get lost. If you linger any longer, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
When Gyeongho furrowed his brow and made a threatening face, Cheoljung reluctantly moved his feet.
Only when the car Cheoljung had come in was out of sight did he enter the clinic.
“What was that?”
“Who was that guy?”
As soon as Gyeongho sent Cheoljung away and entered the clinic, the two rushed over and asked.
“I told you. Someone I used to work with.”
“He didn’t look like a vet? No dog smell either.”
“As expected from a dog’s nose…… I have a vet license, but I didn’t start out working in a clinic.”
Hyunjae and Jiwoon tilted their heads at the mention of not working in a clinic, assuming “veterinarian animal clinic.”
“Then where did you work?”
“A school.”
***
“Professor! What is this all of a sudden…….”
Gyeongho had come to confront the professor after hearing the bombshell order to stop his research.
“This is enough.”
“You said it would definitely work, that’s why we proceeded! But now you’re suddenly…….”
“Yes, that’s why I’m saying you can stop now.”
“Pardon?”
Gyeongho couldn’t understand a word he was saying.
“The research is already complete.”
“What do you mean…….”
“Our research was about the stress the drug imposes on the animal’s body and mind.”
“Huh?”
What was this? Gyeongho had believed his research was to find appropriate treatments for animals and methods for optimal effects.
“Then what you assigned me was…….”
“The emotional support during the drug administration phase…… In short, we needed samples for when there’s an ‘owner’ present.”
“What are you talking about? So you had me do fake research?”
The more he heard, the more Gyeongho felt his mind going numb.
“Anyway, thanks to you, the research ended successfully.”
“No! Hold on! That drug, it’s a normal drug, right?”
Setting aside being deceived, he first asked about the drug that had felt off throughout the research.
“Thanks to you, the pharmaceutical company promised bigger support for the research.”
“Professor! Answer this first. Is that drug legitimate?”
“That’s not important.”
“No! It is important.”
Normally, he’d let most issues slide with an “okay,” but this one he couldn’t overlook.
“You told me it was a normal drug, and when the animals kept dying and I suspected something wrong, you gave me data saying there’s absolutely no issue with the drug!”
“Medicine advances only with sacrifices.”
Gyeongho couldn’t accept the absurd excuse that it was inevitable sacrifice.
“Hah, Professor. This isn’t right. You killed perfectly healthy animals! This is murder!”
“Murder? Don’t talk nonsense.”
“That drug is for the pharmaceutical company that funded the research, right?”
“……”
The professor couldn’t say anything to Gyeongho’s pointed question.
“Bringing healthy animals and conducting unauthorized clinical trials is illegal. I can’t just let this go. I’ll tell the others…….”
“Cheoljung and Junha already know.”
“Pardon?”
“They knew all along.”
It was unbelievable. Friends he’d been with since freshman year, whom he thought he knew everything about.
“No way. They cared for them with me…….”
“They knew and just did as I instructed.”
“Hah.”
Emptiness from being deceived, betrayal from trusted people enveloped Gyeongho.
And what tormented him most was…….
I killed them all with my own hands.
The fact that countless animals had died by his hand in the process.
“You’re smart, I know. But the world doesn’t reward just honesty.”
“No. I can’t do such things.”
“If you say you can’t, quitting now means all your achievements so far go down the drain.”
The nights studying, catering to the professor, researching flashed by like a lantern show, but he didn’t regret a single one.
“Yes, I know. Still, I won’t do it.”
Because the faces of those who’d lost their lives by his hand flashed by too. Sparkling eyes, moist noses, glossy fur. He’d loved and cherished them so much, yet he…….
Tears threatened to well up, but he held them back.
Gyeongho left the room without looking back. And he vanished from Seoul.
****
So that’s what happened.
He spoke in a Seoul dialect and knew nothing about farming, so I figured there was some story.
“There are people like that? Who is he! I’ll just…….”
After hearing Gyeongho’s story, Jiwoon rolled up his sleeves, ready to charge out.
“Enough. He seems to have gotten his punishment already. Cancer.”
“Cancer?”
“Hah, damn…… Never thought I’d tell this to kids like you.”
Gyeongho spoke while alternating looks between me and Jiwoon.
“Kids?”
“I’m a full-grown adult.”
Of course, to 50-something Gyeongho, we might look like kids, but now I had the ability to protect him at least.
“Anyway, if that guy shows up again, chase him off immediately.”
“Don’t worry.”
I was confident I’d make sure he never set foot in our clinic again.
“But…… where’s Jayden?”
Jayden, who should have come with Gyeongho, was nowhere to be seen.
“Ah! Jayden!”
And at the mention of Jayden, Gyeongho jumped up and shouted.
“He’s still at Grandma’s…….”
In his haste, he’d forgotten Jayden and come alone. Gyeongho hurriedly drove to fetch Jayden, and soon returned with Jayden, whose face was full of anger.
“Calm this guy down a bit.”
“Jayden~ Uncle had circumstances.”
“Hmph.”
I tried hard to soothe him, but Jayden snorted and turned his back sulkily on the cushion.
“Uncle said he’s sorry~”
“I had an emergency. Sorry.”
Poking his plump butt and apologizing didn’t work at all.
“Ahem, everyone step aside. Jayden~ Look at this.”
Jayden perked his ears at Jiwoon’s voice and slyly turned his head to look.
“Seen this? It’s new~”
At the oddly shaped toy, Jayden lifted his butt abruptly.
“Woof!”
“Yeah, it’s yours.”
The anger crumbled instantly at the new ball, and as if he’d never been upset, Jayden wagged his tail and busied himself running around with the ball.
“Ah, what was that thing you said you had for me? That?”
Jiwoon hadn’t come all this way just to hang out with me.
“You think I’d come to give that? Here. Here you go.”
Jiwoon handed a small piece of paper to me and Gyeongho each.
A business card?
“This is…….”
“I can’t stay unemployed forever, so I started this.”
The card read “JW Culture Company.”
“JW must be your initials…… What’s Culture?”
Gyeongho said while turning the card this way and that.
“Doesn’t it click just looking at it?”
“No way.”
“You didn’t start something like an investment company, did you?”
I asked, just in case. But…….
“I did. Watching your drama gave me a sense of what would succeed or not. So I decided to use this intuition for business.”
An investment company for a guy who didn’t know the first thing about business. Gyeongho and I wore dumbfounded expressions.
“……Why do you keep filling the kid with useless dreams and hopes.”
“I’m innocent. What did I do?”
I’d been uneasy since he kept mentioning business lately, and he’d finally gone and done it.
“What’s with these reactions. Can’t even congratulate a newbie, at least.”
“Yeah, congrats anyway. It’ll work out somehow. Why would I worry about you.”
“Do well.”
Jiwoon said watch and see, he’d show me hitting it big, boasting before spending time with Jayden and leaving the clinic.
“Uncle.”
I called to Gyeongho, who was tidying the clinic.
“What.”
“Have you ever thought about revenge?”
Being betrayed by trusted people, revenge seemed worth considering, but Gyeongho seemed to have no such thoughts.
“Revenge? Why not.”
“Really?”
“It came to mind dozens of times a day at first. But after some time passed…… it was scary at first.”
“Huh?”
What was scary? I perked my ears to listen, and Gyeongho stopped his cleaning movements to speak.
“That the animals I killed would come back to revenge on me.”