Chapter 113

< Stepping on the Seasons (6) >

The family, each doing their best in their own way, reacted as if they had made a promise.

Woo-woo-ah!

For that moment, it felt like a monster family had appeared on Earth.

Son Kwang-yeon, who had eaten too much and was straining in the bathroom with a pale face, and Han Yu-young, who was cooking something in the kitchen, both screamed.

Even Yoo Jin, who was in a strange position with her hands and feet close together on the living room floor and her buttocks raised, added her voice like a baby monster, “Kyaaak-!”

And so, the whole family made a fuss and ran out to the yard.

Inside Jang Gun-i’s wooden doghouse, they turned on the light, laid down soft straw, and placed a cozy blanket on top.

“Oh my! The puppy is coming out!”

With the help of Han Yu-young’s gentle touch on his back, Jang Gun-i, who had been struggling, successfully gave birth.

Hee-ak.

Jang Gun-i, who must have had the hardest time, licked his mother’s hand as she praised his efforts.

“Oh, our Jang Gun-i, you worked so hard to have a baby.”

“I thought his belly wasn’t that big, but it’s just one puppy.”

Son Kwang-yeon checked to see if there were any more puppies coming.

Yoo Jin was both amazed and overwhelmed by the cuteness of the puppy. She rolled her feet while watching the squirming puppy, who hadn’t even opened its eyes yet, and her eyes looked like they were about to burst into tears.

The kinder and more innocent people are, the more they tend to share good feelings. Yoo Jin was one of those people, so she looked at her brother, Jin Hyuk, wanting to share her excitement.

“Oppa, isn’t Jang Gun-i’s baby so, so pretty?”

“Yeah, so pretty-.”

But Jang Gun-i is the prettiest among dogs.

Jin Hyuk’s eyes moistened. It felt like his own child had given birth, and his nose tingled.

Han Yu-young crouched down, tucking her skirt into her knees, and her eyes sparkled.

“The dad must be handsome, right?”

“Heh-, of course, he’s handsome.”

Son Kwang-yeon laughed heartily.

To think that Jang Gun-i, that crazy dog, had a mate. That handsome guy must be a real catch.

It was hard to judge the dad by the puppy’s appearance. The wrinkles made it look like any other puppy.

They could only suspect the dad based on the timing.

“Our Jang Gun-i, you worked so hard to become a mom. Eat a lot.”

Han Yu-young crushed a chicken stewed with seaweed and pushed it into Jang Gun-i’s house.

She had to let it cool in the winter chill before giving it to her.

“We should name the puppy.”

“Jin Hyuk, you’re good at naming things, why don’t you give it a try?”

“Ah······.”

Jin Hyuk was embarrassed by his dad’s suggestion.

Naming things was not his strong suit. His naming sense was at the level of naming a dog “Louis” or a chicken “Johnson.”

His dad’s belief that he was good at naming was a misunderstanding. The names of his sibling and the company were just lucky coincidences.

He wished his dad had asked Yoo Jin instead.

What would be a good name? He wanted to give it a cool and simple name. After all, it was the puppy of Jang Gun-i, who had risked his life to protect young Jin Hyuk.

“What movies came out this year?”

“Why movies?”

“They say it’s good to use movie character names when it’s hard to come up with one.”

At his son’s words, Son Kwang-yeon scratched his head.

Suddenly, he couldn’t think of any movies. Not because he didn’t know any, but because he had seen too many. He had gone to the theater with his wife under the pretext of taking her to broadcasting university classes.

“Hmm-, ‘The General’s Son III’ came out this year. Since it’s Jang Gun-i’s son, how about ‘Gintokkan’?”

“That’s too Japanese, don’t you think?”

“Right? Kim Du-han sounds too much like a person’s name.”

Son Kwang-yeon easily agreed.

The Son father and son put their heads together and began to ponder.

Who knew naming a puppy could be such a headache?

“‘The Last of the Mohicans’ also came out. The main character’s name was Hawkeye, right?”

Jin Hyuk just tilted his head, not liking the name.

Apart from the discomfort of naming a puppy “Hawkeye,” it also felt too long.

“How about two or three letters?”

Agreeing with his son, Son Kwang-yeon began listing movies that came out this year.

He was hoping to stumble upon something.

“‘The Bodyguard,’ ‘Alien III,’ ‘Thunderbolt VII,’ ‘The East is Red,’ ‘Blue Coral II,’ ‘Girl’s War,’ ‘Mulberry III’······.”

Jin Hyuk held his forehead.

This dad is crossing the line again.

‘Ah, I don’t know.’

But still, it’s the puppy of the great Jang Gun-i, so we can’t just name it carelessly.

His genius brain began to associate.

Looking at the wrinkled and droopy face of the puppy, Rambo came to mind.

Rambo might be okay, but thinking of Rambo reminded him of Rocky, a movie starring the same actor as a boxer.

Oh, then Rocky or Champ would be good.

But when it comes to boxing, that name is the best.

So.

“How about Tyson?”

“Eh-hey-!”

“Don’t do it-!”

Both dad and mom booed at the same time.

It was a good name, meaning “iron fang,” but they didn’t seem to like it much.

Hee-hee, still better than Gintokkan.

‘Tch, what’s wrong with Tyson?’

Jin Hyuk felt hurt that his parents didn’t understand his feelings.

How strong are Tyson’s teeth!

Then Yoo Jin caught the family’s attention.

“Our Jang Gun-i likes persimmons, right? Persimmon-. Mom, isn’t it delicious?”

“Persimmon?”

The family repeated in unison, turning to look at Yoo Jin.

Yoo Jin, with her tiny hands, stroked the puppy suckling its mother’s milk.

Even though mothers usually become aggressive when their pups are touched, Jang Gun-i didn’t mind Yoo Jin touching the puppy.

Heh-heh-heh!

And most importantly, she seemed to like the name.

“Persimmon······. Not bad.”

“Yeah. The name is pretty.”

Both Jin Hyuk and Han Yu-young smiled at the rustic yet fitting name that reminded them of Jang Gun-i.

Son Kwang-yeon also nodded, hugging his son and wife.

Hee-ak.

Jang Gun-i, who had been exhausted from giving birth, also seemed to like the name as she kept licking Persimmon. Though she couldn’t speak, her every action showed how much she loved her.

‘It’s touching.’

As the white snow formed a roof on their heads, the four family members crouched in front of the doghouse, sending loving glances to Jang Gun-i and Persimmon.

Hee-ak-hee-ak.

Son Wang-wang and Son Wang-wang, those ignorant humans.

My puppy almost got named Gintokkan or Tyson.

Persimmon was a female.

***

It snowed a lot.

The snow piled up so much that Jin Hyuk couldn’t go jogging even though he felt restless. He had to give up hiking too. Luckily, Chairman Yoo Myung-sun had gifted him a gym.

‘Hmm. Everyone’s working hard.’

The SSS Agents were the first to catch his eye. Some were practicing self-defense, others were riding indoor bikes or running on the track, and some were even teaching swimming to the residents.

Choi Mi-kyung, a teenager, was also splashing around in the water with her parents, saying she wanted to learn swimming during her winter break. She seemed to be swallowing too much water. She looked like she was about to sink any moment.

Moon Seok-il was training with Yang Gang-wook.

‘It looks like Jeet Kune Do.’

It also resembled Krav Maga, a close-combat martial art.

Every time Moon Seok-il demonstrated a move, Yang Gang-wook would nod and follow along. The two were so close that their breaths seemed to mingle, making an impressive sight.

‘They’re reliable.’

Jin Hyuk had asked Moon Seok-il to help improve the SSS Agents’ skills.

They were already excellent fighters, but they needed to be able to perform at their best anytime, anywhere. With their small numbers, becoming elite was a necessary process.

Peaceful days don’t come for free.

Jeong Sang-tae was absent, tracking down Park Dae-soon. He had changed his address frequently, and the last reported address was empty. It seemed it would take a while to find him.

Kim In-rang had gone to town to keep an eye on New Seoul Cafe. He also planned to fulfill Han Yu-young’s request for hotteok and chrysanthemum bread.

Thanks to Hong Ki-jun’s wealth, Jin Hyuk had people who moved like his own limbs, allowing him to focus on his daily life.

As he started stretching and running on the track, Kang Heon-chang followed. Though he couldn’t keep up, having someone run with him made Jin Hyuk reach his daily exercise goal without getting bored.

Kang Heon-chang grabbed his knees, gasping for breath.

“How many laps did you run?”

“Forty laps.”

Once Jin Hyuk started running, he had to run at least 10 kilometers to get his blood flowing.

What a freak. Kang Heon-chang muttered between rough breaths.

*

On his way home after a shower, Jin Hyuk saw his mom wandering the yard in the cold wind.

If his dad had been home, he wouldn’t have let her go outside, but since he was away, there was no one to stop her.

“Mom! It’s cold, why are you out here?”

“I can’t find Yoo Jin.”

Han Yu-young’s eyes were red, as if she was about to burst into tears.

She was worried because her daughter, whom she always held close, was missing, and being pregnant made her even more emotionally unstable.

“Did she go to play with the uncles while they’re working?”

“I’ve looked everywhere.”

Han Yu-young shook her head, and SSS Agent Yoo Tae-hwa, who was with her, did the same.

Feeling a sudden fear, Jin Hyuk raised his voice.

“Yoo Jiiin-!”

His roar pierced through the strong winter wind.

“Yeeess-.”

Huh?

Han Yu-young and the bodyguard couldn’t hear it because of the wind.

But Jin Hyuk’s sensitive hearing caught Yoo Jin’s faint voice, like a mosquito’s buzz.

He bent down and stuck his head into Jang Gun-i’s house where the sound came from.

“Ah, you rascal! Mom’s worried sick, what are you doing here?”

“Hehe-, I’m playing with Persimmon!”

Yoo Jin was inside the doghouse, hugging Persimmon.

It seemed like a common occurrence, as both Jang Gun-i and Persimmon looked comfortable.

Persimmon’s shiny black eyes resembled Yoo Jin’s.

“Oh my······.”

Seeing her mom’s bloodshot eyes, Yoo Jin carefully put Persimmon down and crawled out. She sniffed Persimmon’s scent at the end, clearly addicted to the puppy’s newborn smell.

“Don’t scold her too much. Country kids grow up like this.”

“Sigh-, alright.”

Jin Hyuk also remembered holding Jang Gun-i in the yard when he was a puppy. He was older than Yoo Jin at the time. Thinking back, his sister’s behavior wasn’t strange at all.

“We need to rebuild Jang Gun-i’s house. Bigger.”

“Bigger?”

“Persimmon might grow bigger than Jang Gun-i.”

No matter how you looked at it, this wasn’t an ordinary puppy.

Its droopy ears and increasingly plump backside were just like a retriever puppy.

*

From the garage, he took out wooden planks and leftover interior wood materials.

He smoothed the surfaces with sandpaper and roughly measured the dimensions with a tape measure.

Now, he just needed to cut them with a saw and nail the joints together.

For an ordinary person, this would be tedious and laborious work, but for Jin Hyuk, with his exceptional stamina, it was just a half-day’s amusement.

‘It’s good to be strong!’

Even though the wood was heavy enough to build a large doghouse, to Jin Hyuk, it felt lighter than a wild boar.

“Isn’t it too big? Why is there no roof?”

Choi Mi-kyung, a teenager holding Persimmon while crouching and watching, couldn’t hold back her curiosity. She visited every day, fawning over the puppy with Yoo Jin.

“I’m going to put Jang Gun-i’s house on top of this.”

“Ah? A two-story house?”

She understood quickly. Jin Hyuk muttered under his breath, but the hammering drowned out his words.

Instead of a roof, he placed a beam on top and set Jang Gun-i’s house on it, completing a splendid two-story doghouse.

He also fixed a long plank at the entrance to the second floor so Jang Gun-i could easily climb up.

“Even a mastiff could fit in the lower floor.”

At Choi Mi-kyung’s admiration, Jin Hyuk nodded.

He made it big in anticipation of Persimmon growing up and for Yoo Jin to play in. Well, since the puppy is still squirming, Jang Gun-i will take care of it, and if they get in each other’s way, they can have separate rooms.

‘It would be funny if I’m wrong.’

That is, if Persimmon only grows as big as Jang Gun-i.

Well, Jang Gun-i also looked like Persimmon when he was a puppy. He just grew bigger.

But as dad said.

The more family, the better, and the bigger the house, the better.