"Dumb mongrel. Couldn't wait for just a second." We had searched the whole neighborhood, but couldn't find Dubu. When I checked the time, twenty minutes had passed. How far could a two-month-old puppy have gone in twenty minutes, I was sweating in the hot summer sun. I had called for him until my throat was sore and dry. In the moment I had checked my phone, he had slipped his leash. When I looked around, Dubu was gone. I started to run again. I looked in every alleway and checked inside every open door "Dubu" I called in a loud voice. Only passersby looked back at me.
As I ran, I berated Dubu, calling him a stupid puppy. I even got angry and said it was because he was just a mongrel but even in that moment, I knew that it wasn't Dubu's fault it was mine. I had looked away I hadn't been paying attention and he had gotten loose. I had been laughing at some unimportant conversation and hadn't even known Dubu was gone. Had Dubu run away on purpose, at the thought, I came to a stop despite myself. Maybe Dubu didn't like being with me. To me, living with him was a good thing, but to him maybe it was nothing more than being separated from his family.
The next moment, I heard a patter of feet and the sound of Dubu barking. At first I thought I was imagining it, but it was no hallucination or imagination, and I saw Dubu running down the alley. The puppy's ears were flying back and his mouth was open with the effort of running up the hill "Dubu!" I shouted, and when I kneeled down, he ran straight toward me “where did you go, how did you come back, did you remember how I smell,” as he started to lick my cheek from within my embrace, a strange feeling welled up in me. Oh, I'm the only person Dubu can rely on. I can be reliable for someone too. I can be somewhere he'll come back to’. Dubu squirmed to get out of my arms, but I only held him closer.
TRANSLATED BY @ORIGAMYFIREFLY. PLEASE DO NOT REPOST.