Chapter 114…
Doggone Uneasy.
The cast members watched with pleased smiles as people hoping to become pet owners met the dogs.
Of course, though I was smiling, my eyes were busy scanning the place.
“Hey, what’s with that face?”
“Huh?”
Is Nara noona interested in me or something?
“You look busy.”
“Well, it’s Doggo Matchmaking after all.”
“Huh?”
“A magical collaboration where dogs ‘choose’ humans and humans ‘choose’ dogs. The real-life love connection between man and mutt.”
“…Wow.”
Nara noona stared at me with amused curiosity at my ridiculous line, and Mr. Gyeong-woo chimed in too.
“Do you go to some kind of comedy academy or what? Why are you so weirdly good at this? You should come on my YouTube channel! I’ll let you do whatever you want!”
“You’re seriously promoting yourself here? You never invited me on!”
When Nara noona snapped, Mr. Gyeong-woo frowned.
“No, you can’t. Your lines are straight out of a moral textbook. You’ve gotta be spicy like Suhan here—ride that fine line between censored and not censored. That’s what makes it fun.”
“No, thank you.”
I flatly rejected his hopes.
“Why not? I’ll treat you well!”
“I’m still in social adaptation training. Look, I might end up mentally broken and dead by the end of this.”
I gestured toward my manager, Mr. Park, who’d come along with me.
“Whoa, what happened to your face? You used to look so bright when you were with Daesung.”
“People die slowly when they hang around me. So please, help me until I become the moral compass of the broadcasting world.”
“…”
“…”
“Did I say something wrong…?”
The mood suddenly went awkward. I glanced around nervously, trying to figure out what I said.
Nara noona just gave an awkward laugh, while Mr. Gyeong-woo muttered under his breath, turning away—
“Even dogs have more self-control…”
“…”
Was my goal really that hard to reach?
“If you keep that up, you’ll get kicked off faster. That’s Suhan’s charm, after all.”
“Cough!”
Charm? That’s my charm?!
Looks like I’m doomed to walk the tightrope forever.
Eventually, everyone finished picking their dogs, each holding one happily in their arms.
Even that strange grayish man from earlier was gently petting a tiny puppy he’d adopted.
“Thank you all for giving these precious pups a chance at new homes! That’s it for today’s Golden Puppies! ”
With the closing line, the shoot wrapped up.
“You’re doing something really admirable.”
“Oh, it’s nothing, haha.”
The trainer and the shelter staff walked up to that suspicious man, all smiles and handshakes.
“What’s so admirable about him?”
“He runs a big dog café. Apparently, he fosters rescues and helps them get adopted by customers. Especially big dogs—it’s hard to find them homes.”
Next to him sat a large, proud-looking dog, trying to show how obedient he was.
“Really? You sure about that?”
“Why?”
“No reason…”
Nara noona gave me a curious look.
I couldn’t exactly say “because he looks ghostly weird”, could I?
The man chatted a while longer with the staff—and in the end, he adopted six more dogs.
“He might just… be kind only to dogs.”
Maybe he was the type who’s rude to people but soft-hearted toward animals.
Maybe I was just being too sensitive.
But as the crew began packing up, the others went out to see the man off.
I followed along—and my face immediately twisted.
“…Son of a—”
The curse slipped quietly from my lips.
Inside his van, I saw not one, but three dog ghosts huddled together.
[Woof!]
[Don’t come closer!]
[Woof! Woof woof woof!]
[Run away! Get out of here!]
Their barking overlapped with desperate voices in my ears.
Not that I planned to do a “spirit fusion show” just to confirm it—
because the ghostly dogs were already lunging at that man, biting him.
But each time, they bounced off the hazy aura surrounding him, twitching as if electrocuted.
I watched quietly and then spoke.
“Noona.”
“Yeah?”
“When someone adopts a dog, is there like… a screening process?”
“Of course!”
I couldn’t hide my uneasy tone.
“Why? You planning to adopt one?”
Let’s tread carefully.
Her eyes were sparkling—one wrong word and I’d end up leaving with a new family member.
I wasn’t ready for that. I could barely take care of myself.
Then someone came to mind.
“Uh… my brother Daesung likes dogs, so I was just curious.”
“Aha! Well, they don’t just hand them out to anyone. Depends on the shelter…”
“Yeah?”
“First, they check if your living space is suitable. You need an environment fit for a rescue.”
“That’s it?”
“Of course not! If you have family, everyone has to agree to it.”
“That’s all?”
“No, no. You also need financial stability—can you afford food, vet care, vaccinations… You can’t just abandon them later.”
Sounds solid… but also kind of flimsy.
“And most important, you need a loving heart for animals!”
She said it with a proud smile.
Still, I could tell—the process probably ended at “paperwork.”
Even though this shelter looked decent, it clearly ran mostly on donations, with few staff members.
The TV appearance was likely a way to attract more funding.
Meaning: they do the paperwork, but can’t really follow up afterward.
Sure, maybe they ask for pictures every now and then—but that’s not a lifetime check.
As the van door was closing, one puppy barked at me.
“Woof! Woof woof!”
[Bye, mister! Thanks for helping me with my constipation earlier!]
I just nodded silently. No need to make things awkward by replying.
But one of the ghost dogs saw that.
Its eyes filled with tears as it barked softly.
[Woof, woof…]
[Please… help us…]
“…Ah, damn it.”
Something I didn’t want to see.
“What’s wrong? Sad to say goodbye?”
Nara noona mistook my expression.
I kept my eyes on the closing van door.
“What if…”
“Hmm?”
“What if that guy’s taking them for something bad?”
“Huh?”
She stared at me, surprised.
“And if people find out later… what happens to the show?”
“It’d get canceled.”
“Even if it’s not the network’s fault?”
“Still would.”
Ah… now I felt even worse.
Also, why does my cheek feel hot?
I turned—and Nara noona was looking at me through narrowed eyes.
“You saw something.”
“W–what? Saw what?”
“You noticed something, didn’t you?”
“What—what are you talking about?”
Wait… did she figure out my secret?
“You’ve got sharp eyes. Remember? Everyone said you were like a detective that day!”
“Oh… uh, right.”
That’s fine, actually.
“Detective” sounds better than “guy who sees ghosts.”
Just then, Mr. Gyeong-woo and the trainer came over.
“Good work today! Wait—are you two dating? Nara, you thief!”
“What?!”
“How dare you steal away a bright young man’s future!”
“What’s wrong with me!”
Isn’t it usually the guy people call the thief in that situation?
Then Nara noona hesitated before speaking.
“But… isn’t that guy adopting a bit too many dogs?”
“He runs a couple of big cafés and gives dogs away for free to good customers. Everyone says he’s a great guy.”
“Who says that?”
“The shelter here—and others too. He’s well-known for it.”
“But Suhan thinks he’s suspicious.”
“Huh?”
Seriously, noona—why sell me out like that?!
She even brought up the “corpse discovery” incident I was involved in—which hasn’t even aired yet—
saying I was like some detective investigator.
“Don’t worry. They already checked everything. He even agreed to be on the show. Seems fine to me.”
Mr. Gyeong-woo’s words didn’t reassure me.
“Yeah. I’m sure the documents are fine, and maybe he really does run a café. And now, thanks to the broadcast, he’ll get even more rescue dogs easily.”
The trainer frowned slightly.
Guess my tone sounded uneasy.
And it’s not like I hadn’t shown my “love for dogs” earlier—
literally sitting among them like some natural animal whisperer.
The producer’s grin back then could’ve split his face in half.
Now, seeing how serious I was, the PD and my manager, Mr. Park, joined in, their faces turning stiff.
“Suhan, come here a sec.”
Mr. Park pulled me aside and whispered.
“What did you see?”
“Yeah.”
“Ha… was it human?”
“…Dog.”
Short exchange.
He’d asked if the ghost was human, and I said it was a dog.
He sighed in relief.
“Phew… then that’s fine.”
“…”
“Let’s go.”
“That’s it?”
“What else? You wanna follow him? You’re a celebrity—getting mixed up in cases isn’t good for you.”
I mean, fair point.
“Hyung. Ever since Momo possessed me, I’ve had side effects—like super hearing and a crazy sense of smell.”
“Right…”
He already knew that part—and looked guilty about it.
After all, that ability had helped me save Daesung before.
“But that’s not all.”
“Huh?”
“Remember how you mentioned a veterinarian earlier? You think I actually studied that?”
“…Then what?”
His pupils trembled.
I sighed.
“I can hear what dogs are saying.”
“What do you mean…”
“I can literally understand their barking. Like human speech.”
His face went through the five stages of grief in ten seconds—pale, red, blank, then suddenly sparkling eyes.
Why sparkling though?
Was he planning to sell me to some talk show?
“Anyway, those dog ghosts were barking like crazy when that guy loaded the others into the van. They told them not to go. Then the last one thanked me for fixing his constipation.”
“…”
I stopped there for a moment, then asked quietly—
“Should I just… pretend I didn’t see?”
