CHAPTER 3

Abandoned

February 2018

“Looks like the renovation of the house in Yeonsan went off to a good start,” her father brought up as they were eating together at the dinner table.

"So, it really has begun?" As her brother had mentioned a month ago, Seulgi's parents had finalised plans and officially contacted an architect and some contractors to layout and plan the reconstruction of her grandmother's house in Yeonsan. Seulgi just stayed on the sidelines, listening to her parents make plans throughout January and the first half of February.

“Maybe we should all go over there in the weekend. It will be fun. Seulgi, you don’t mind taking a break from your work to do that, do you? It’s only for a whole day.”

“Hm...” Seulgi came back to Seoul because she wanted to be with her family. Going back to Yeonsan was never part of the plan. Last time she checked, Yeonsan was not exactly a place filled with happy memories. She had not been to Yeonsan in ten years. The thought of going back somehow made her uneasy.

But if a lot has truly changed, maybe it won’t be so bad to visit, she positively thought. 

The ride to Yeonsan was as boring as Seulgi had remembered it. There was nothing but long winding roads through mountains, dead trees, and empty fields. The roadside had piles of muddy snow, and the sky was greyer than ever. February may be next to March, but spring did not seem to show any signs of coming any time soon.

In that uneventful ride, Seulgi browsed through her DSLR's gallery, reviewing shots from the previous days. When she came across her photographs of the graduation, she stopped. That familiar girl... She zoomed into the photo and took a good look at the graduate's face again. She looks like someone; I just can’t put my finger on it. I know I’ve seen her somewhere before… After wracking her brains to no avail, she finally just gave up and turned her camera off to save battery.

I wonder what I’ll see there. Seulgi just sat back and rested her head as she watched the trees zoom past on her window. The last time I left Yeonsan, it was a cold winter day too…

Upon nearing the small city, a few institutions were starting to appear here and there. Now the scene was changing. Unfamiliar little details began showing themselves before her.

“See that sign? We’re here!” Seulgi’s father said excitedly.

The car zoomed past the huge stone marking on the side of the road. Carved on the stone were the words, “Welcome to Yeonsan.”

Thirteen Years Ago: August 2005

“Hey!”

A grey pebble suddenly flew in through the bars of the low gate that closed off Seulgi’s grandparents’ house from the outside world. The tiny pebble flew toward Seulgi and hit her on the shoulder, causing her to pause her early morning watering. She twisted the small lever of the faucet and threw down the hose on the ground.

“Wow, you’re here early,” Seulgi greeted her new neighbour friend Soo-Young. She did not expect Soo-Young to be so eager to hang out with her already. They had just met yesterday. And right now, it was only 8 am. She had not even had breakfast yet.

“You comin’ out?” Soo-Young had her fists on her hips already.

Boy, she’s really impatient, Seulgi thought. But for a bully, she seems oddly nice… She really had no idea what to think of this new friend, but it was better than nothing.

“Can’t we go at around 9? I still have to finish chores and eat breakfast.”

“Are you kidding me? That’s an hour from now!”

“Have you eaten though? You can come and have breakfast with us if—”

“It’s fine. I already ate.” Soo-Young angrily crossed her arms. “Have fun with your granny and grandpa.”

“I’ll ring your house when I’m done, okay?”

As Seulgi continued watering her grandmother’s plants, her easily annoyed and frustrated neighbour, Park Soo-Young, marched off back to her house.

Earlier, Soo-Young was awakened at sunrise to the sound of a rumbling car engine from outside her window. With half-open eyes, she watched as the parked SUV took off, and not for long, it was out of sight. When she passed down the hall to the stairs of their house, she saw that her baby brother’s room was also empty. With heavy barefoot steps, she went downstairs past the living room to the kitchen and dining area. In the refrigerator, her breakfast, lunch, and dinner were all in lunchbox Tupperware, readied for microwave heating. Back then, her mother used to make notes and stick them on the refrigerator door, but nowadays she did not even bother.

When her mother came home at around 9:30 p.m. last night, Soo-Young barely interacted with her, just like all the other nights. Her mother was too busy taking care of the toddler and preparing food for the next day to pay any attention to her.

"Mom, I—"

"Soo-Young, can't you see I'm busy?! Go to your room and stop bothering me!"

Again, last night wasn't any different from other nights, and today wasn't any different from all other days. Most of the time, Soo-Young was always alone.

“Absolutely nobody wants to be your friend! Nobody likes you, not even your parents! If they did, they would spend more time with you!” Those painful words echoed in Soo-Young's head as she sat in their living room in silence. She had once given one kid a black eye because of those words. What was worse was that when she looked around, everyone seemed to agree. This made the insecure little softie deep down inside her harbour a terrible rage. In her head, a nasty offence like this needed to be countered by an equally nasty counterattack. It seemed to be the only logical thing to do at the time.

“Soo-Young, you’re never going to make friends if you give them black eyes,” said the principal after she had been called into the office for punching the daylights out of that kid.

“He deserves it!”

“Soo-Young…,” her principal massaged his temples and ran his fingers through his hair. “If you want people to like you, you have to be nice. Instead of stealing others’ snacks, why don’t you try sharing your snacks and playing fair games with others? Instead of scaring them, try smiling more. Maybe if you did that, you won’t get punished as often.”

Soo-Young refused to believe what had been said about her. So then, she made it a mission to make a friend just to disprove that dumb kid with the black eye she gave. However, since she was infamous for being one of the bullies in town, she just got frustrated. Whenever she forced people into “being her friend” they either her or got scared of her.

But then, this new kid moved to town. Kang Seulgi. They almost got off on the wrong foot, but Seulgi was still a completely ignorant little newbie. Soo-Young thought she could manipulate Seulgi into being her friend by doing exactly what the principal had told her—buying her snacks and sharing her toys. She was being nice to her, but she just had an unconventional way of showing it. Good thing Seulgi was a total pushover and was gullible enough to please.

Later, the clock struck 9. After a while, the doorbell began to ring. Soo-Young threw down her Gameboy Advance SP on the sofa and immediately ran out to open the gate.

“Hello!” Seulgi greeted with an annoyingly sweet smile. “I just finished eating.”

“Took you long enough!” Soo-Young scolded her. Despite the harsh way of speaking, she was actually very excited to spend the day with Seulgi. She has not had any real social contact with anyone since summer vacation started. “Let me just get my bike.”

When Soo-Young finally got her mountain bike out of their gate, she saw that Seulgi also had her own bike. It wasn’t an expensive mountain bike and it was a bit smaller, but it had a convenient basket at the front. And it was yellow, Seulgi's favourite colour—the colour of sunshine and sunflowers.

“Oh, you have a bike too?”

“Yeah.” Seulgi walked over to her bicycle and got ready to ride it. “It’s one of the few things I got to bring with me here from Seoul. I figured it would be better to ride separately, so I don’t have to ride on yours.”

“Okay then. Follow me.”

Soo-Young then rode her bike and led Seulgi around their neighbourhood first. As they cycled down the asphalt streets with low semi-brick houses all huddled close together, Soo-Young would point at houses and tell Seulgi who lived where and roughly what kind of people they were. Even the small-town gossip and old folklore—she knew about all of them. The girl gave her too much information. Seulgi could not really memorize most of it though.

“How do you know all of this stuff?” Seulgi asked.

“I’ve been living here since birth, moron. Of course, I know all this stuff.”

After a few turns, Soo-Young led her to one of the vast farming fields. It was a wide, flat area for rice fields, vineyards, patches of lettuce, and other crops. (There were plenty of these fields in Yeonsan. It was a provincial area after all.) Between the fields were small cemented paths for people to pass through. Usually, these paths were not just for the farmers but were also for the ordinary townsfolk to use as shortcuts when walking or cycling to certain places. Seulgi was incredibly fascinated by the small farms. They hopped off their bicycles a few times to look at the flourishing summertime crops. She marvelled at the clumps of big black grapes dangling from the vines; she gasped and jumped for joy upon discovering the balls of peaches and plums clinging onto the low tree branches. It was her first time seeing them up close.

Surprisingly, Soo-Young also knew a lot about seasonal crops and could name almost every plant in the area. She explained the rice plantation cycle of planting in the spring and harvesting in late autumn. She enumerated the seasonal fruits and vegetables for all four seasons. She also explained what the canals in between some of the fields were for and how the farmers use them to stream water from Keoul Lake to irrigate their fields. Clearly, her mind was like an encyclopedia filled with all sorts of random facts about this town, and she made Seulgi seem like a total dunce whenever she pompously recited all these useless trivia. A smart bully. Definitely dangerous.

At the end of that cemented path, they reached a two-lane asphalt road also surrounded by fields. From that point in the middle of the flatland, one could take in a view of silhouettes of mountains in all directions. At the far end of the fields where they came from, they could see tiny buildings and homes—their small neighbourhood. In a different direction, other tiny buildings could be seen as well, hinting the location of downtown Yeonsan. From there, Soo-Young began pointing to random directions telling Seulgi which road led to where and what to expect there… Overall, there was nothing to see there except more fields.

As they cycled past the fields of green rice stalks on the side of the road, the soothing wind swayed the grass-like leaves in a synchronized fashion—like a tide of ocean waves formed by green grass. This countryside road’s tranquillity and serenity were unequalled, as far as main roads go. Sometimes a car would pass by, but if you dared to lie down in the middle of the road for at least a minute, you could probably survive, for nothing would come around to run you over.

Though that road seemed never-ending, they eventually arrived at downtown Yeonsan where the town hall, traditional flea market, and other small novelty shops and stores were located. It was nothing at all like the downtown areas of the big cities, but compared to their small quiet neighbourhood and the farming fields, this was the hallmark of civilization. As expected, Soo-Young also knew this place like the back of her hand. She toured Seulgi around like a legit tour guide and even bought her street food from the flea market.

“Seulgi Unnie, do you like dogs?” Soo-Young asked as they walked their bicycles down the paved sidewalk.

“Yes, of course!”

“Then come, I’ll show you my favourite place in town.” Soo-Young hopped onto her bike and headed straight down the road. Seulgi followed suit.

When they arrived at Soo-Young’s favourite place, Seulgi was surprised. It was a rather unexpected choice for someone like her.

“A dog shelter?” They stood before the entrance of a small rundown building with a sign above that says, “Sunshine Puppy Home.” From outside, they could already hear the barking and the whining. There were definitely dogs in there.

“It’s where dogs end up going when they are abandoned by their owners,” Soo-Young told her. As she continued speaking, her voice began to soften until she barely sounded like a stone-hearted bully anymore. “When people move away from Yeonsan either to bigger cities or abroad, not all pet owners get to bring their dogs or pets with them. What happens is they end up in places like this.”

“Oh… that’s sad.”

“Sad, but that’s just the reality of how cruel some people are. Anyway, the owner of the shelter allows kids to come and play so that the dogs don’t get lonely. Come on, let’s go see them.”

Upon entering, the bell attached to the door chimed to signal visitors. There in the small reception area, they saw the supervisor sitting behind the cluttered counter, watching a game show on the small boxy television set above a shelf of files. She was fanning herself with a folded newspaper, even though she already had an electric fan on high pointed directly at her. When the supervisor turned away from the TV to see who came in, she immediately got up to greet them.

“Good morning, Soo-Young Unnie,” greeted Soo-Young.

“Oh, hello, little Soo-Young!” The lady immediately flashed a bright smile. Then she focused on Seulgi with her big, round endearing eyes and said, “And you brought a friend this time! Good for you!”

Seulgi awkwardly bowed and said hello as well, though she was not sure what was going on.

Soo-Young proudly introduced her new friend to the supervisor lady. “This is Seulgi Unnie. She just moved here in town a few weeks ago.”

“Nice to meet you, Seulgi! Do you like dogs too?” This lady sounded so energetic and excited.

“Yes,” Seulgi coyly answered.

“That’s good! I’m Choi Soo-Young. We have the same name. She’s like my mini-me,” she said, referring to the younger Park Soo-Young. She was also tall—just like the younger Soo-Young. “I kinda run this place, but as you both can see, paperwork just isn’t my thing.” She pointed to the counter covered with stacks of folders and files. The kids took a glance at it but did not really mind.

“We want to see the dogs!” the 11-year-old Soo-Young demanded.

“Go ahead! They’re all probably very bored in their cages anyway.”

The dogs were kept in a bigger, well-lit room with a few black cages lined up next to each other by the wall. There were about ten dogs kept in here. Upon entering, the excited barking of the dogs was heightened. The little creatures wagged their tails and excitedly paced their little cages. They sure were happy to be visited.

 “Hello everyone!” kid Soo-Young gleefully greeted the doggies and puppies. She ran to their cages and opened up some of them. Dogs of all colours and sizes began crowding around her, and brushing against her with all the affection they could give. It was the first time Seulgi saw this sweet, adorable side of her hard-shelled neighbour. Seeing Soo-Young smile and laugh while coddling puppies made her appear to be the friendliest, most warm-hearted person on Earth, and Seulgi just loved the sight of it. She liked seeing people at their happiest.

“I’ll leave you two here while I get back to my paperwork, okay? Have fun!” said the supervisor lady. Then she lightly patted little Soo-Young on the head and winked at her before leaving them. “I’m proud of you.”

Kid Soo-Young had this shy, yet smug look on her face after hearing that. This dog shelter supervisor lady with the same name was actually one of the adult figures that Park Soo-Young looked up to. In spite of the many adults who frowned upon her, Choi Soo-Young always treated her kindly and complimented her with words like “You’re such a great help!” “You’re so sweet!” “I hope you come over more often,” and so on whenever she came over to play with the dogs. Nobody else complimented her on a usual basis. It was only at this place that she actually felt loved and wanted.

“Seulgi Unnie, come here!” Soo-Young beckoned to her. Now Soo-Young began to introduce and name each dog as they sat together on the hardwood floor. Seriously, her memory power was amazing. Like a commander, she also knew how to make all these canines obey her. She could tell them to sit or lie down and they would obey like little minions.

“So, why did you move to this boring old town anyway?” She asked Seulgi while they were petting the dogs. “Did your parents want to abandon you too? Is that why you’re here?”

Seulgi was completely thrown off by that question. “What?! No, of course not! I came here because of my health. They wanted me to live a healthier life and they think letting me live here for a while will help.”

“Tch…” Soo-Young scoffed at her answer, just like how Joohyun seemed to have scoffed when Seulgi had told her the same thing. But Soo-Young added, “Well, you do seem kind of tiny for your age.”

Seulgi looked at Soo-Young’s bigger figure and grimaced. “Ah… I guess.”

“I swear, if you want to be like me, milk will do the trick.”

“Right…” Then it was Seulgi’s turn to ask a question. “What made you decide to come here to a dog pound though?”

“I like dogs.” Soo-Young affectionately hugged a Shiba Inu and gave it a few kisses. “They just love me no matter what. They can’t lie, and when they show affection, they are sincere. Whenever I come, they’re always very happy to see me even though I don’t really have much to offer.” Then she sighed. “I wish I had my own dog.”

“But if you like dogs, can’t you just ask your parents to get you a pet so you didn’t have to come here often?” Suddenly a huge Jindo dog Seulgi’s ear, wanting her to pet its golden fur. She happily obliged.

Soo-Young put the Shiba Inu down and looked at Seulgi. “I already did that, and you know what I got? A Tamagotchi.”

“Really? I had a Tamagotchi too. It was kinda fun, but you couldn’t really hug it or pet it except through buttons.”

“I already have four of those.” She said it as if getting all those Tamagotchi was the biggest injustice in the world.

“Oh.”

“My brother is allergic to house pets. That’s why they wouldn’t get me a real pet, but they get me literally everything else so I can't really complain, even if I want to.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Whatever.”

“Though I guess that’s a good thing,” Seulgi said on a positive note. She fell on the hardwood floor giggling as the Jindo dog continued roughly her cheeks. “That means all these other dogs in the pound get your love and attention. And look how much better off they are with you and me here! Let’s come here more often!”

Soo-Young lightened up as she watched Seulgi laugh and giggle while playing with the dogs. For so long, she was nothing but upset for not getting her own dog, but now she knew she did not really have to be. She was already happy here with all the other neglected, unloved dogs anyway.

February 2018

Seulgi's dad was right; Yeonsan had changed quite a lot. There were plenty of buildings and establishments that Seulgi swore she had never seen before. Although there were still farming fields here and there, some of those farming areas were converted into apartment complexes, recreational parks, parking lots, and huge grocery stores. Even when they reached downtown Yeonsan, it was barely recognisable. The classic low-rise buildings may have retained their aesthetic, but branded outlets, convenience stores, and fast food restaurants have taken over their premises, moving the small businesses and novelty shops to lesser-known areas of the city. Even the town hall has been rebuilt into a glassy modernised structure, with the addition of an obnoxiously huge LED billboard screen at the entrance displaying PSA’s and government-sponsored ads.

As Seulgi’s father drove through the streets touring Seulgi through the "new and improved" downtown area, they passed by one building with a sign that immediately caught Seulgi’s eye: Sunshine Dog Café.

“That used to be the old dog shelter you and your friend liked going to,” whispered Seulgi’s grandmother.

Seulgi’s gaze stayed with the dog café until they had left the area.

Park Soo-Young... she used to drag me to that dog shelter often back then. That was when she finally remembered. That girl at the graduation—was that Park Soo-Young?

A lump began to form in .

Her last memory of Soo-Young was not exactly a good one. A few days before she moved back to Seoul in February of 2008, they got into a heated fight.

"Why didn't you go to the funeral?" she remembered Soo-Young say to her.

"Soo-Young, I..." She tried to say but fell short. She had no good excuses.

"So you're gonna leave just like that? How could you do this to Yeri?! To Joohyun Unnie?! I understand you're a coward, but how could you not even show up at the funeral?!"

"I can't handle this anymore, Soo-Young!"

"Well, I hope you're proud of yourself for being a deserter."

They had not seen each other since then. All these bad memories were starting to come back to her one by one as they neared their old neighbourhood. 

It was not long until the car slowed down and had come to a stop. Seulgi looked out the car windows and squinted her eyes. Outside was a familiar scene with low semi-brick houses crowding over a small asphalt-coated street. “Is this...?”

“We’re here! At your grandmother’s old house!” announced her father.

Upon stepping outside the car, Seulgi could not believe her eyes. Despite the familiar atmosphere, there were glaring differences as well. There before her was what used to be the flower pot house, currently being demolished by an excavator. However, it wasn’t the only one being wrecked.

Grandma’s house and Joohyun Unnie’s house… Seulgi stared at the two houses with gaped in disbelief.

“We also bought the abandoned land beside it,” said her father. “This used to be the neighbour’s house. We’re planning on joining the two houses together to provide room for more guests. We can also use this as one big vacation house.”

Seulgi stood there completely aghast and unable to come up with anything intelligible to say. This can't be real.

Author's Note: First off, thanks for reading, guys. I'm still kinda playing with the plot. I don't really have a definite ending yet. Although I've already made up my mind with certain plot points like the character death, I'll probably discovery-write this fic for the most part and see where it goes.