< Chapter 25 >

It was a strangely warm Sunday for winter.

Woof woof!

Whine.

Growl.

The café was filled with cheerful chatter and barking.

Do Hwan, who had agreed to meet for coffee that afternoon, glanced across the table.

His gaze dropped from Haewon’s indifferent face to the small head poking out from inside his leather jacket.

He looked back and forth between the man and the dog before asking, half incredulous,

“You have a pet now?”

Seori met the eyes of the man across from her.

Han Dohwan. She knew of him by name, one of those good-looking guys whose face was well known around campus.

‘Were he and Haewon close?’

Dohwan reached his hand out toward her.

What a strange dog. Round and cute, but the eyes were sharp and a bit too human, like some kind of AI.

“Her head’s unusually big, huh.”

Thud. Haewon instinctively blocked Dohwan’s hand and frowned faintly.

Why did he stop him? He didn’t even know.

He stared at his own hand for a moment before replying calmly.

“There’s not much inside, but the size alone is impressive.”

Seori bared her teeth at them. One human making fun of her head, and the other taking pride in it.

‘Figures. Birds of a feather.’

Glaring with contempt, she squirmed inside the jacket.

‘Let me out.’

Haewon set her down on the floor, acting like he didn’t care, though clearly she wanted to play with the other dogs.

“Try not to brag about your big head too much, alright?”

I hate you so much.

Seori lifted her middle paw behind his back. He turned around almost immediately.

‘Does he have eyes on the back of his head?’

She quickly lowered her paw and darted away.

“Don’t go too far.”

Haewon spoke without looking, then turned back to Dohwan.

“So, what did you find out?”

“You’re not paying me with coffee again, are you?”

Pouting, Dohwan opened his laptop.

He came from a family that ran a finance company. It looked clean on the surface but wasn’t.

He was good at digging into things, but Haewon wasn’t exactly his favorite client. Too rich, too lazy, and far too good at using family hierarchy to his advantage.

“Did we really have to meet in a place like this?”

Woof woof!

“With all these dogs around?”

Grrr.

“Can’t even hear myself think.”

Each complaint was punctuated by another bark.

Haewon thought of Seok Daengdaeng, the dog who’d recently become his mother’s favorite, and said with a straight face,

“She needs socialization training.”

“Why?”

“She already acts spoiled and only pretends to be cute when it benefits her.”

“Sounds familiar.”

“You might need some socializing yourself.”

When Haewon reached for the leash, Dohwan blurted out in panic,

“Debt!”

Haewon froze.

“I checked. Kim Seori’s clean. No debts. Her grandmother left her a little inheritance.”

Woof woof!

“She’s not rich, but it’s enough to get her through college. The villa’s old but under her name.”

Haewon twirled the leash around his fingers, his gaze growing darker the longer he listened.

‘So she didn’t borrow from loan sharks after all.’

He’d suspected her strange behavior meant money trouble, that she was desperate enough to cling to him for financial help.

But that wasn’t it.

“She really has no debt?”

Bark bark!

“Whoa, calm down, big head. Anyway, she’s been working part-time for living expenses, and her tuition’s covered by scholarships.”

“Hard-working, then.”

Haewon leaned back against the chair, his head tilted.

So it wasn’t about money or a man. That left him right back where he started.

“But there’s one odd thing.”

Dohwan’s voice dropped as he glanced up from the screen.

Woof woof woof.

“From December last year until now, so for the past few weeks, there’s been no record of personal card use. Not a single charge.”

A small dog’s bark echoed nearby, heightening the tension.

“She just vanished off the grid.”

* * *

While Haewon and Dohwan talked among barking dogs, Seori covered her ears with her front paws.

Her triangular ears twitched as if reacting to something.

She could hear it.

The voices of other dogs.

‘I hate getting my picture taken.’

‘I want a pup-puccino. Now. Now.’

‘They shaved my fur too short. I lost all confidence.’

From afar, it had just sounded like barking. But now, nearby, she could actually understand them.

She didn’t know how, but somehow she could communicate with them, dog to dog.

‘Seori’s sister.’

A shadow fell over her head. A large dog stood before her. She looked up and her eyes brightened.

‘Ppori.’

Kang Ppori, her old walking buddy from the lake park. Four years old, stern and traditional, a dog raised on Confucian values.

‘Your male.’

Male?

She didn’t immediately understand what that meant until more fragmented thoughts flowed into her head.

‘Terrible manners. No respect for elders.’

Ah. So she was talking about Seok Haewon.

‘Ppori’s ignoring him again. He didn’t even say hello.’

To Ppori, who lived by strict dog etiquette, that was simply unacceptable. She snorted disapprovingly and shot Haewon a solemn look.

‘Don’t mate with that male.’

‘W-what…’

She was at a loss for words.

Seori’s legs gave out and she dropped onto the floor, dizzy.

But Ppori, entirely serious, licked her cheek affectionately.

‘By the way, why are you a dog?’

Ah right. That.

Seori’s eyes widened. If she could talk to other dogs, maybe she could find a clue about her transformation.

‘Ppori, how did you know it was me?’

‘By smell.’

‘Can humans turn into dogs?’

‘You did.’

‘Do you know why?’

‘Ppori doesn’t know.’

No luck. Ppori placed a paw gently on her shoulder.

‘Oh, Seori’s sister, say hi to Sundae.’

Seori’s ears perked up. She remembered Sundae, the fluffy gray dog who wagged his tail at her, the one owned by the elderly woman who had given her phone to Haewon that day.

‘Why suddenly mention Sundae?’

‘Don’t know. He said to come say goodbye.’

‘Goodbye? Who said that?’

‘The human in white clothes.’

Snap.

It was as if something inside Seori’s mind had broken clean in half.

* * *

Facing the entrance, Dohwan frowned.

“Huh?”

The café door opened, and before anyone could react, a beige dog with pale fur darted out like a bullet.

“Your dog just ran out.”

Before he could finish, Haewon was already out of his seat and sprinting.

Dohwan blinked. Since when did this lazy man move that fast? He ran after him, barely keeping up.

Tap tap tap. Seori ran down the street, her teeth clenched.

‘Sundae.’

Sundae, with his thick curly fur, was already old enough to be nearing the end of his years. Still healthy, but at that fragile age where things could change overnight.

His grandma often said,

‘As long as he can eat what he likes and take walks every morning and evening, that’s all I could want for him.’

She wanted him to spend his final moments in comfort, not in a hospital, but at home, in her arms.

Unlike Seori, who had taken Dog Seori to the vet again and again until the very end, unable to let go.

Maybe Grandma’s choice had been the right one. Maybe Seori’s stubbornness was selfish.

Now that she could understand dogs, she wanted to hear what Sundae himself had thought.

Thud thud thud.

Footsteps approached from behind, Haewon and Dohwan chasing her.

Glancing back to confirm, Seori picked up speed. At least they were following, which meant she didn’t have to worry about finding her way back later.

Dohwan huffed beside Haewon, puzzled by how determined the dog looked.

“Where is she even going?”

“Guess we’ll find out.”

Despite running with all her strength, her little legs didn’t move that fast, so they managed to keep pace.

Haewon could’ve caught her easily, yet he didn’t. Something inside him said not to stop her.

At the crosswalk, Seori sat and waited for the light to change. Behind a traffic pole, two grown men crouched awkwardly, thinking they were hidden.

People started whispering.

“Don’t dogs not understand traffic lights?”

Haewon, legs spread to steady his phone camera, whispered back,

“She’s just waiting because she’s smart.”

“You said she was empty-headed earlier.”

“It’s fun to say things that annoy her.”

“If you keep acting like this, you’ll end up a total creep.”

“Too late. I already am, a dog creep.”

The light turned green. Seori trotted gracefully across the intersection and entered the lakeside park.

Haewon followed at a distance, scanning the area. It was the same place where, a few weeks ago on a snowy night, he’d found her after she’d run away.

She wandered in circles as if searching for something, then stopped in front of a sunny bench.

The same elderly woman sat there, the one who had picked up Seori’s phone and handed it to him.

Rustle.

Hiding behind the bushes, Haewon narrowed his eyes.

‘Coincidence?’

It seemed too deliberate. The way she had run straight from the café to this exact spot made it feel like she had come looking for the woman.

He whispered quietly to himself.

“She’s smart, but this is too much.”

Rustle.

Dohwan crouched beside him, peeking through the bushes as well.

“It’s fine to ignore people’s stares sometimes, but we’re definitely going to get reported if we keep doing this.”

Murmur, murmur.

The sight of two handsome men crawling through the bushes together drew plenty of attention from the bystanders.