26.
The first thing he discovered upon stepping out into the vegetable garden was a bird.
Watching the bird flap its wings and rise from the ground, Sihu rubbed his eyes.
The bird's body was that of a lion, while its head and wings were those of an eagle.
It looked to be about 2 meters in size.
It was something he had never seen even in any animal encyclopedia he knew of.
Screeeech—
A bird call he occasionally heard when coming to the vegetable garden.
Sihu realized that sound belonged to the bird he had just seen.
While carefully watching the bird that had ascended into the sky, Sihu noticed something strange.
"Huh?!"
He saw the bird, which had looked no larger than a black bean, suddenly fold its wings and plummet vertically.
Skreeeek—
The bird(?) descending at high speed from the sky extended its legs toward the ground, much like an eagle snatching prey from high altitude.
Sihu looked to see what was below it as the bird descended at high speed.
"Huh?"
Before Sihu even had time to figure out the bird's target, it crashed to the ground.
It was to catch the creature beneath its feet.
Whether it had detected the bird's attack, it fled noisily and frantically in all directions.
Pat-pat-pat—
Skitter-skritch—
The bird stretched out its forelegs among its four legs to catch the animal on the ground.
To avoid colliding with the ground, the bird spread its wings wide.
Whap—
The wind from its wings ruffled Sihu's hair.
Kyaah—
Just as rabbits scream when cornered, the animal caught by the bird shrieked in terror.
Kyaah—
Perhaps thinking it had caught its prey, the bird stood on the ground with its wings half-spread, looking down at the animal caught in its forelegs.
The animal thrashed about, twisting its whole body to escape from the bird's legs.
Sihu quickly picked up a large stone rolling around the vegetable garden.
And he pulled his left arm back with all his might, then hurled it at the bird using the momentum of his waist.
Whizz—
Crack—
Fortunately, the stone hit the bird's head—right where Sihu had aimed.
The bird glared at Sihu as if displeased, then tried to take off, flapping its wings.
Scree— scree—
When it flapped its wings to fly into the air with the animal still caught in its forelegs.
Sihu found another pebble and threw it with all his strength.
It seemed to have struck around the bird's eye as it was taking off.
It dropped the animal it had been holding in its forelegs and ascended.
Flap— Flap—
Each time the bird flapped its wings, the wind was fierce.
When the bird had risen somewhat into the air, Sihu approached the fallen animal.
"Huh?"
Looking at the animal's ears, Sihu thought of a rabbit.
Soon, the thought of a rabbit vanished from his mind.
If there was a similar animal, it would be something like a cat.
It felt like a large Sphynx cat.
The animal lifted its eyelids with difficulty and locked eyes with Sihu.
"^&*("
It seemed to let out a cry.
A cry he had never heard before.
Sihu frowned as he looked at the black-colored animal, covered in blood despite having been caught by the bird only briefly.
Sihu carefully lifted the bleeding animal and muttered.
"Oh dear—this is bad. You're badly hurt."
Sihu went closer and picked up the animal.
The limp animal was trembling faintly.
Sihu carefully held the animal in his arms and went up to the main room.
***
At that moment, in the vegetable garden, animals similar to the one Sihu had just carried away appeared here and there throughout the garden.
The animals stamped their feet on the ground and expressed anger with their whole bodies.
An animal leaning on a cane looked up at the sky.
Soon it looked once more at where Sihu had disappeared and let out a sigh.
When it tapped the ground several times with its cane, the black animals around it gathered.
"$%^&(*&"
"&*()(*)"
"GH*^&"
With expressions saying there was nothing they could do, they went near the shadows and disappeared.
The one holding the cane looked in the direction Sihu had disappeared and sighed.
He too disappeared into the shadows with an expression full of worry.
***
Sihu hurriedly began searching for a towel to wrap the animal in.
The animal was bleeding too much.
Seeing that, Sihu was breaking out in a cold sweat all over his body.
Images of his parents' past accident were overlapping.
"Gang Sihu, get a grip!"
Sihu shook his head as if telling himself to come to his senses.
"Ah! Where was the cotton?"
Sihu thought he had to stop the bleeding before taking it to the hospital.
He quickly rummaged through the medicine box, found cotton, and found bandages too.
He pressed cotton to the bleeding areas and quickly wrapped them with bandages.
"Please... hang in there. I'll take you to the hospital soon. Ah. A blanket! Where's the blanket?"
Quickly rummaging through the main room wardrobe, what came out was an old knee blanket his mother used to use.
He took the knee blanket and approached the black animal he had briefly set on the floor.
Sihu wrapped the small animal in the blanket.
Not knowing how big cats were, Sihu tried to open the front door while holding the animal wrapped in the blanket.
Though he had stopped the bleeding, the black animal remained completely limp.
Sihu struggled to properly hold the limp black animal wrapped round and round in the blanket.
He recalled the location of the animal hospital in his head and moved his feet quickly.
After kicking the iron gate shut with his foot, Sihu ran down the incline as if flying.
If he fell, both the black animal in his arms and Sihu could get hurt together.
Sihu ran down with all his might, wishing for the animal in his arms to survive.
Huff huff—
Sihu forcefully opened the animal hospital door.
Ding-a-ling—
Had she seen Sihu's sweat-soaked face?
Huiyeon at the reception desk realized that the animal he was holding was an emergency case.
"Doctor! Please come out for a moment."
Having called the doctor, Huiyeon asked for the animal wrapped in the towel Sihu was holding.
The veterinarian ran out and placed the towel-wrapped animal on the examination room table.
The veterinarian's eyes grew as wide as an owl's as he carefully unwrapped the towel.
"?!"
The veterinarian's expression and actions contained bewilderment and confusion.
Soon, looking at Sihu, the veterinarian asked.
"This is a cat, right?"
Sihu caught his breath and opened his mouth.
"Ah... maybe?"
Sihu saw the veterinarian's expression slightly distort.
The veterinarian had seen many animals until now, but this animal before his eyes was the first.
Its whole body was black, and its ears were long and drooping like a Lop breed rabbit's.
Furthermore, its skin was similar to a Sphynx cat's, but the animal before his eyes was all-black.
And there were parts that looked like a cat too.
When the limp animal opened its eyes, the veterinarian's pupils shook upon seeing them.
They were eyes that looked like a cat's pupils dilated to the maximum.
'It's like obsidian was embedded. What on earth is this animal?'
Due to the animal's critical condition, the veterinarian's thoughts ultimately couldn't continue.
The veterinarian examined various parts of the animal and discovered torn wounds.
They were the source of the bloodstains on the towel.
The veterinarian carefully held the animal and called for Huiyeon.
"Ms. Huiyeon. Let's take an X-ray first."
"Yes."
In response to the veterinarian's words, Huiyeon answered and looked at Sihu.
"Guardian, please wait in the waiting room for a moment."
Sihu nodded and went out to the waiting room.
Whew—
Sihu, letting out a sigh, plopped down onto a chair in the waiting room.
And he looked down at his hands.
The trembling he had felt when holding the bleeding animal.
Sihu's pupils shook.
He knew that the animal's faint trembling was an attachment to life, a desire to survive.
'I hope it's not too badly hurt...'
Sihu was worried about the animal he had seen for the first time today.
When the bird had grabbed the animal,
it was because it had seemed to speak to Sihu.
—S-save me.
Sihu shook his head.
What animal would talk? He looked around his surroundings.
A cat looking down at Sihu from the top of a cat tower inside the animal hospital.
When its eyes met Sihu's, the cat slowly blinked languidly.
—?!
After some time passed, the veterinarian called Sihu to the examination room.
The veterinarian treated the animal's wounds, pulled up its condition on the monitor, and told him that it would need to be hospitalized for several days.
When Sihu agreed to the hospitalization, the veterinarian took him to where the animal he had rescued was.
"Please talk to it and reassure it, guardian."
A needle was inserted into the animal's arm.
Following the needle, an IV line was visible.
He could see transparent fluid slowly entering the blood vessel through the machine.
Sihu looked into the hospital cage where the animal lay and spoke to it.
"I don't know if you'll understand, but you're badly hurt so you need to be treated here for a few days, so... I'll come visit briefly at night after school. Meow."
Without realizing it, Sihu called the animal "Meow."
The veterinarian who was watching turned his head at Sihu calling it "Meow."
***
Sihu was about to pay when his eyes went wide.
He was a bit surprised seeing the amount.
Seeing that, Huiyeon began calmly explaining the amount.
Sihu nodded and asked about what he was curious about.
Sihu paid and came out of the animal hospital.
'Are animal hospitals usually this expensive?'
He sighed as he looked at the treatment bill in his hand.
Though surprised by the amount, which was larger than expected, he stroked his chest at the thought that he had saved a life.
Buzz—
A welcome call came in.
It was Yun Ganghun, the former owner of [SeeYou].
"Hyung!"
—Yeah, are you that happy to hear from me?
Sihu was as if he had received a call from an uncle he was fond of.
Sihu answered as if the other person were right in front of him, nodding his head.
"Yes, of course. Did you come back to Korea?"
—Yeah, I came back for a bit. I heard from Hayun that you're trying to juggle school and the shop?
"Yes-."
Silence fell on the other end of the line for a moment.
"...Hyung?"
Sihu called out, puzzled.
—Huh? Oh. Won't it be hard?
"Well, it is hard. It feels like I have four times as much to worry about, not twice."
—Really? I'll come by on a regular closing day in a few days.
"Really? Then will I see you at the shop?"
—Yeah, and I heard there's a new part-timer with Hayun?
Sihu laughed at Ganghun's words and said.
"Did Hayun-hyung tell you?"
At Sihu's words, laughter was heard from the other end.
—Of course he did. Ah! I got another call. I'll text you later.
"Yes, hyung. I definitely want to see you."
—Yeah. See you later.
Click—
Sihu looked down at his phone for a moment, feeling rueful.
He really wanted to see him very much.
After taking over the shop.
There had been many times when Sihu struggled as well.
He just hadn't shown it.
He simply silently checked off what needed to be done and did it.
Sihu also liked the expressions people made when eating the food deliciously.
The surroundings were dyed in orange.
The alley going up to his house was also dyed in orange.
Sihu glanced back at the animal hospital once, then slowly walked up toward his house.
Buzz—
Checking his text message, Sihu quickened his pace.
It was a delivery text for the electric bicycle he had ordered during the day.
Sihu started running up the alley toward his house again and called the delivery driver.
"Hello?"
—Yes, I'm near the hiking trail entrance.
Sihu figured out in his head where the driver was waiting.
"I'm sorry. Please wait there just a moment. I'll be right up."
Thank you for reading.
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