Maybe... the cat's already dead.
A chill ran through Hae Dam's mind, and his heart began pounding anxiously. He glanced at Jeongwon, who was already driving as fast as he could.
We're almost at a rest stop.... We should probably stop, though. Get some noodles or soup and rice.... Ordinary people need to eat meals.... I have to make sure the landlord eats. He's so skinny.
But stopping for a meal would cost them at least thirty minutes.
What if those thirty minutes made the difference between finding the cat and losing her forever?
Just then, Jeongwon spoke without taking his eyes off the road.
"Shall we skip the rest stop?"
Hae Dam practically jumped out of his seat.
"What? But, um, don't you need to eat? We left so early that you didn't even have breakfast."
"I want to find Sara as quickly as possible. I don't usually eat breakfast anyway, and when I think about Sara wandering the streets, I don't have much of an appetite."
"...! Yes! Let's do that. I'll treat you to meat when we're finished!"
Hae Dam was deeply moved, though he couldn't help worrying.
The landlord really doesn't eat much. Shouldn't someone that tall eat a lot? Is his health okay?
At that very moment, his landlord was thinking something remarkably similar.
When he said ordinary people need to eat meals, did he mean he doesn't eat them himself? Does he really eat nothing but ginseng? Is his health all right?
While each worried about the other's health, they arrived at the scene of the case in Busan.
"It was only for a moment. I left the door open for just a moment while I was moving in.... And it's so cold outside. It's already been a whole week. I'm so worried I feel like I'm losing my mind."
The cat's owner had red, swollen eyes, as though she'd been crying right up until their arrival. Her hair was a mess, and she was wearing mismatched socks.
Although today was the warmest day of the year so far, she seemed to feel as though she were trapped in the depths of a winter blizzard.
"I'd like to check inside your home first. May I come in?"
"The other detectives have already searched the whole apartment, though...."
"It'll only take a moment. Just give me three minutes to look around. I've had cases where five people searched a house without finding anything, and then I went in as the sixth person and found the animal."
"Oh, all right, then.... Please come in."
The owner opened the front door wide.
Hae Dam removed his sneakers and entered first.
Jeongwon was about to follow when he hesitated.
Hae Dam looked back.
"What's wrong?"
Without turning toward the owner, Jeongwon whispered so quietly that only Hae Dam could hear.
"I'll wait outside. She's a woman living alone. It might make her uncomfortable to have two men come into her home...."
Only then did Hae Dam realize his oversight.
He always worked alone, and for some reason, ordinary people rarely seemed wary of him. It simply hadn't occurred to him.
Our landlord is really considerate.
"I'll be right out. Please wait a moment."
"Of course."
Jeongwon stepped outside and closed the front door.
The woman felt a wave of relief.
The man was extraordinarily handsome, certainly, but he was also tall and imposing, with a rather intimidating expression. She hadn't been entirely comfortable with the idea of letting two men into her home.
It was a small studio apartment with a separate kitchen area.
Unpacked belongings lay scattered everywhere. There were plenty of places a cat might hide, including drawers and wardrobes, but Hae Dam didn't touch any of them.
He walked around calling Sara's name.
When no cat answered, he turned back without hesitation.
"She's not inside. I'll go look for her outside. Please wait here, and come out when I contact you."
"I-is that all? You're not going to look inside the drawers or open the boxes?"
There was no need.
Hae Dam could communicate with animals. Even when they didn't speak aloud, he could naturally understand whatever they wanted to convey.
This home was empty.
There were no animals speaking to him, so there was no reason to rummage through all those boxes.
"That's right. Since there's no answer, I'm certain she isn't inside."
"...Can you really talk to animals?"
The owner regarded him with suspicion.
Hae Dam had been asked that question countless times, and he always answered it seriously.
"I can communicate with them, yes. But it's not exactly what people usually think of as a 'conversation.' It's more like our energy resonates on the same wavelength, or I can sense that an animal is trying to tell me something. That sort of feeling. You know what I mean, right?"
"I don't know what you mean. But I believe in you, Detective."
Tears quickly filled her eyes again.
"The other detective said you were different, Detective Hae Dam. He said if even you couldn't find Sara, then there really was no hope of finding her, and I should give up."
The owner clenched her fists.
"Detective, I think I should come out and help you look after all. Sara will respond to my voice."
"You've already spent days searching for her, haven't you? You'll make yourself sick at this rate.... Please stay home and rest today."
"But Sara's all alone outside in this cold. How can I sit comfortably in a warm house while she's out there? My Sara gets cold so easily. Even in summer, she won't sleep unless I spread out a fleece blanket for her. She won't even go into her carrier unless I put a little hot-water bottle inside."
"..."
"They say the temperature's going to drop below freezing tonight. What am I going to do? I should've had her microchipped. I was afraid it would hurt her. Oh God, what am I going to do? I only left the door open for a moment. I was carrying my things inside. What do I do? I really, I... my Sara.... If I lose Sara, I...."
Hae Dam looked around the small apartment once more.
It was a tiny studio, barely twenty-three square meters.
And apart from the mattress, practically everything in it belonged to the cat.
A cat tower, an exercise wheel, scratching posts, a litter box, a water dispenser, hiding houses, cushions, and all sorts of toys.
It had been a week since she'd lost her cat on the very day she moved in, yet she still hadn't unpacked her own belongings.
But every single one of the cat's things had been set out.
She had probably unpacked them first.
She must have wanted to reassure Sara by surrounding her with familiar things in an unfamiliar place.
So Sara could eat from the bowl she always used and rest on the cat tower she'd always loved climbing.
The owner finally broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.
Her face was a mess of tears and snot.
When Hae Dam saw something like this, he understood.
How deeply someone had loved.
How deeply someone had been loved.
And that was why he couldn't bring himself to stop working as an animal detective.
"Hmph. About time you showed up."
"Hello, sir." This story is hosted at g.com.
"Stop calling me sir. I'm only in my forties, for fuck's sake...."
When they reached the place where Sara had last been spotted, they found a man in a bucket hat pacing around.
It was Kim Deokjun, better known as Myotam, an animal detective who had been working in the field since its early days.
He approached them grumbling, then stopped short when he noticed Hae Dam's companion.
"Who's that?"
"My new assistant. We started working together today. Jeongwon, this is Myotam. He specializes in finding cats."
"Stop making me sound like some old man!"
"Hello, sir."
Jeongwon greeted him politely.
He had already caught the man's second, indignant voice.
I'm only forty-nine! What the hell do you mean, old man?
Myotam gave Jeongwon a skeptical once-over, then turned to Hae Dam.
"So you've finally decided to start a GemTube channel?"
"What? No. Why would I start a GemTube channel?"
"Then what's this?"
"What do you mean, 'this'? He's a person. I told you, he's my assistant. He's here to help with the work."
I'm asking why you'd need an assistant that handsome if you're not planning to make GemTube videos.
Myotam kept that thought to himself.
No, wait. Hae Dam really isn't the type to get distracted by GemTube. Maybe he just hired the guy because he's handsome. He's always had a weakness for a pretty face.
Jeongwon quietly lowered his eyes.
"The situation is serious. You said Sara was last spotted around here three days ago?"
"Yeah. Looks like she's been wandering pretty far. I just hope she hasn't gone up into the hills. Tch."
With both a mountain and a stream nearby, the terrain was dangerous for a house cat.
"There are a lot of strays in this neighborhood, too. I even saw a little one that was obviously abandoned."
That black one was especially cute. I wanted to snatch it up and take it home.
"It's a residential neighborhood, after all."
"I hope the other cats aren't picking on her."
"Cats don't bully each other nearly as much as people think. They're actually more likely to look after each other."
"What are you, a cat? Why are you getting so worked up?"
"I'm not getting worked up."
"That client of yours has already hired three detectives to find her cat in the past week. You're the fourth. You've seen her yourself, so you know what I mean. Every time I see her, she's cried so much her whole face is swollen. I don't even know if she's eating properly. Then again, who could keep their head straight after losing a family member?"
"..."
"I'm counting on you. Make sure you find her."
"I'll do my best."
Myotam, who said he'd already been up all night, strode away at a brisk pace.
Myotam hadn't always thought well of Hae Dam.
Back when Hae Dam first started working, practically every animal detective greeted him with the same default attitude: arms folded, eyes narrowed, and a thoroughly skeptical expression.
There was only one reason for it.
Hae Dam claimed he could communicate with animals.
How many people would readily believe a fifteen-year-old eighth grader who declared, "I'm really good at communicating with animals. I can understand what they're saying. I can feel what they want to tell me"?
Most would simply conclude that his adolescent delusions had arrived right on schedule.