Chapter 7
While Dubu ran around the living room,
the five of us sat around the table.
Warm tea was placed in front of the adults, and juice in front of the children.
Once everyone had settled down, I was the first to speak.
“I really had no idea Dubu already had an owner.”
There was a clear reason I had to speak first.
Everyone was looking at me like I was a kidnapper, a puppy thief, and the world’s worst uncle.
“No, I’m serious! I met him in the mountain. I thought he was a stray dog. He didn’t have a leash or an ID tag. Who would think a dog like that actually had an owner?!”
I was truly innocent.
Without exaggerating even a little, I had simply met Dubu in the mountain and dreamed of living happily together.
He was the one who rejected me.
He was also the one who came looking for me first!
…Well, I was the one who shut the door so he couldn’t leave.
‘…That really is kidnapping.’
The moment I quietly closed my mouth, my older sister glared at me even harder.
“You went to the mountain?”
Ah…
So that was what she was upset about.
“Ahem… I-I told you I went for a walk.”
“What kind of walk goes all the way up there? That’s not a walk. That’s hiking.”
“It’s basically the same thing. They’re both good exercise.”
“They’re completely different! Are you ever going to take care of your body? If you keep doing this, I’m locking you inside the house!”
“O-Okay…”
The moment my sister shouted, Jia and Jiwoo jumped in surprise and clung to the woman.
Even the woman claiming to be Dubu’s owner looked completely flustered.
“Anyway… I understand what you’re saying. You’re saying Peanut belongs to… um…”
“Jina. My name is Seong Jina.”
“Right. You’re saying this puppy belongs to you, Ms. Jina?”
“…Yes.”
After hesitating for a moment and glaring at Dubu, Jina reluctantly nodded.
Her eyes were warm, yet somehow filled with complicated emotions.
“But…”
“Our child’s name isn’t Peanut.”
Ah…
So that was bothering her.
She seemed determined to correct us somehow.
But—
“No! It’s Choco, unnie!”
“Umm… Jiwoo likes Strawberry better. Right, Uncle?”
“I like Dubu. Besides, I’m the one who met him first, so the name Dubu…”
Not only Jia and Jiwoo, but even I insisted on our own names.
While quietly watching this completely chaotic battle over names, Jina spoke with an astonished expression.
“N-No. Our child’s name isn’t Choco, Strawberry, Dubu, or Peanut.”
“It’s Arin.”
“Seong Arin.”
“Wait… why would you give a dog a person’s name?”
“Because I wanted to?!”
“Well… I suppose that’s true.”
If the owner said so, then that was that.
Still…
It sounded way too much like a human name for a dog.
What strange taste.
“There’s something I’d like to ask.”
After calming down the upset Jina, I asked,
“Are you really the owner?”
“What did you just say? Are you saying I’m not? First you take my child away, and now…”
“No, you keep saying I took your dog from your house. I already told you I found him in the mountain…”
Jina glared at me furiously.
Her eyes were unusually fierce.
It wasn’t simply the look of someone who was angry.
They were so sharp they reminded me of a wild beast.
The change lasted only an instant.
And I was the only one who noticed it.
‘This is getting even more suspicious.’
She looked like a woman around my age.
She was beautiful enough that anyone would believe she was an actress or an aspiring celebrity.
Yet beneath that flawless appearance was an indescribable contradiction that kept bothering me.
“Then show me proof that you’re the owner.”
“Proof?”
Jina tilted her head.
The dangerous aura she had shown moments ago had completely disappeared.
Now she looked like nothing more than an ordinary woman.
“What proof do you need? Just looking at us, it’s obvious that she and I…”
“No.”
“It isn’t obvious at all.”
“And these days there are all kinds of strange people around.”
“A picture of the two of you together would be enough.”
If she really was Dubu’s owner, then of course she would have pictures.
There was no way someone wouldn’t have even one photo with such an adorable puppy.
I’d only met him today, and I’d already taken over fifty pictures.
My sister nodded in agreement.
“Do you have any?”
“I do…”
“But…”
After hesitating for a moment, Jina lowered her head.
“I left my phone behind…”
“So I don’t have it with me right now.”
“Hmm.”
Well…
If she’d realized her dog had disappeared and rushed out in a panic, that made sense.
It wasn’t impossible to believe.
“Then just go get it.”
“I can’t leave my child here!”
“But we can’t hand Dubu over to someone whose identity as the owner hasn’t been confirmed.”
Then I gently asked Jia and Jiwoo for their opinion as well.
“You two think so too, right?”
“Yep!”
“Bunny Rabbit said so too.”
“If you don’t have proof, it doesn’t count.”
“He said you should always keep evidence so you won’t get scammed.”
Just who in the world is that ridiculous rabbit…?
Meanwhile, Jiwoo looked at his older sister with complete admiration because she sounded so smart.
Anyway, once even the children agreed, Jina’s expression darkened.
“Why won’t any of you believe me?!”
“You want to know why?”
“Hold your hand out like this.”
I reached one hand beneath the table.
After hesitating briefly, Jina slowly did the same.
At that moment, Dubu—who had been happily destroying the slipper he’d dragged in from the entrance—came running over with a bright smile.
Toward whom?
“That’s it, Dubu.”
“We’ve only known each other for one day…”
“But you already like me more?”
“Ah?!”
Without the slightest hesitation, Dubu bit my finger playfully.
I quickly picked him up and hugged him.
“And after seeing that…”
“You still expect me to believe you’re really his owner?”
“Ghk!”
Curled up in my arms, Dubu wriggled happily and let out a contented purring sound.
The moment they saw that, my nieces rushed over.
“Uncle! Me too! Jia wants to hold Choco too!”
“Me next! Me too, Uncle!”
“What did Uncle say before?”
“Dubu isn’t a toy.”
“What was it?”
Jia and Jiwoo shouted together.
“A friend!”
“That’s right.”
“A friend.”
Not a pet.
A companion.
A member of our family.
A friend who would stay with us from now on.
That was why I had firmly taught Jia and Jiwoo that lesson.
When I carefully placed Dubu into Jia’s arms, she hugged him as gently as if she were holding a precious friend.
Watching that scene, Jina’s expression stiffened slightly.
“So that’s my point.”
“Whether we believe you or not shouldn’t depend on words.”
“It should depend on evidence we can actually see.”
“…”
After a long silence, Jina finally nodded.
“Fine.”
“So if I show you undeniable proof, that’ll be enough?”
“Yes.”
“It’s already late today.”
“If you bring your phone tomorrow and show us the pictures…”
“No.”
“I’ll show you today.”
“Your house is nearby?”
Even if she lived in the neighboring village, it would still be a decent distance.
By the time we got back, it would already be completely dark.
The sun always set early in the countryside.
“It’s close…”
Looking straight at me, Jina continued,
“So come with me and see for yourself.”
“Huh?”
“Go with you?”
“Who?”
She slowly raised a finger.
“You.”
Then she pointed toward Dubu, who had fallen asleep in my nieces’ arms.
“Bring my child with us.”
“I’ll show you undeniable proof.”
“That’ll settle everything, won’t it?”
In the end, I followed Jina to verify whether she was telling the truth.
Leaving with Dubu made me feel uneasy because my nieces clearly didn’t want to let him go.
And honestly…
‘The same scent… the same atmosphere… and…’
Looking back and forth between Jina walking ahead of me and Dubu sleeping in my arms, the question I’d had since we first met surfaced again.
It was something I couldn’t ask back at the house.
If anything, being alone like this made things easier.
“I have something I want to ask.”
Once we had left the village behind and were almost at the “house” she had mentioned, I stopped walking.
Standing with the enormous shadow of Cheongwang Mountain behind her, Jina turned toward me.
Her eyes glowed an eerie blue.
The phrase possessed by ghostly energy had never seemed so fitting.
Yet strangely…
The feeling she gave me was oddly familiar.
I couldn’t help letting out a small laugh.
“I don’t think you’re a beast.”
“So…”
“What exactly are you?”
“My identity?”
“I was planning to ask you the same thing.”
“Wow.”
“You switched to speaking casually.”
“Well, you seem pretty old, so I guess I won’t complain.”
“…”
The moment I mentioned her age, Jina frowned slightly.
But she didn’t deny it.
“What are you?”
“Why…”
“No.”
“I asked first.”
“How…”
Both of us spoke at exactly the same time.
“You possess spiritual power, don’t you?”
“You possess divine power, don’t you?”
At that very moment,
the divine power dwelling within Seong Jina exploded outward,
rapidly spreading around me and completely surrounding my body.
