In the housing complex where I live
there are many Koreans..Japanese..and ethnic Chinese locals..
There's a WhatsApp group where we exchange information
and also post about problems..
The hottest issue these days isn't the president..nor the VAT increase..but rather..
dog poop..
Maybe because the residents are dog lovers..
in the morning..and in the afternoon you see a lot of people walking their dogs..
Sometimes the owner does it..sometimes they have the helper do it..
And occasionally you see dogs walking alone, presumably because the leash came loose..
Dogs do this thing called marking territory..
So they go again in the spot where they went before..
A few days ago..
a very solemn post with a photo went up in the WhatsApp chat room..
The photo was of dog poop..
The poster was presumably an ethnic Chinese local..
For reference.. the background of the dog poop photo was a lawn..
The message went like this..
You have to read it rather solemnly while looking at the dog poop photo..
When I read it..I really felt that solemnity..
Since there's no dog poop photo here..please use your imagination(?)..
' This is the second time..
If there is a third time..I'm sorry to say this, but that dog
may get hurt or may never make it home again..'
It felt quite solemn..
but I laughed for a good while reading it..
It just made me laugh..
I even thought, so this country has finally(?) entered the era where people fight each other
over pet dogs..
Speaking of pet dogs, a scene suddenly comes to mind..
I've been living in my current house for over 10 years..
In my alley many Korean people have lived and moved away..
and new people move in..that's how it goes..
A few years ago..
I was walking around the neighborhood at sunset..
I can't quite remember whether it was a stroll..or whether I was going somewhere
but I think it was around the point where the alley opens onto the main road..
I saw a woman about my age in workout clothes power-walking
toward me..
She was a stranger so I glanced once and looked away, but
the woman who had been walking fast suddenly stopped as if startled by something..
and started backing away..
What's this..? I thought, and followed her gaze..
and about 10 meters ahead something like a white Jindo dog was running toward us
and judging by the direction it was running, its target looked like the woman..
In that instant..
along with the thought, I'm screwed..
I instinctively(?) blocked the path in front of the woman, who was frozen in shock..
I'd raised a large dog in the past..
but with a medium-sized Jindo-like dog I'd never seen before running at me
honestly my knees went weak too..
I stood in front of the woman..
and raised both hands in a surrender pose..
When you're startled you just do it automatically..
But..looking closely I could see that this dog
was wagging its tail..
It seemed it had been tied up at home and the leash had come loose
and it looked so overjoyed at its rare freedom that it couldn't contain itself..
I was standing there with both hands up in surrender..
and this darn Jindo kept jumping at me, planting its front paws on my belly..then dropping down, over and over..
and the woman was stuck fast to my back..
But this thing was so thrilled with its freedom..
that instead of just playing with me..
it circled around and headed toward the woman..
To protect the woman, who was terrified..
I kept turning while holding my surrender pose
and that woman too..
perhaps because she'd played a lot of tag as a child
turned along nicely in the direction I turned..
The truth is I was scared too..
That's why I surrendered..
But I stepped in because I thought the woman might end up in trouble..
and this darn dog just wouldn't leave..
Holding my surrender pose and turning on the spot, I kept talking..
Don't run..and you mustn't scream..
It clearly looked like it was just bounding around happily right now, but
with dogs medium-sized or larger, unless you're the owner
you never know when they'll turn if they feel threatened..
While I was warning the woman like that..
ah..would you believe it..
this woman, stuck fast to my back, starts saying..
how on earth do people raise dogs like this..
and that she'd bring her husband over and complain strongly..
just going on..
saying things that felt so unfair from where I stood..
It's not even my dog..
and I'd met this woman for the first time that day..
and I was scared out of my wits myself
while doing my best to hold the line..
and the absurd words coming from behind my back put me right out of sorts..
But what could I do..?
It wasn't a situation where I could explain anything
and all I could think about was somehow shaking off this darn dog quickly..
Just then..
from far~ away someone came running
and called that darn dog..
It was the dog's owner..
He came running with a leash in hand
and the dog, seeing its owner..
would normally run over and jump into his arms..
but instead it bolted off like mad in the other direction..
It's over at last..I thought, and only then turned around to look..
and the woman was standing there with her arms folded..
Whether she'd been stuck to my back with her arms folded
or folded them after the dog left, I was in no position to see..
but it was clearly not the posture of someone facing the person who'd saved her life..
She asked whether I was the dog's owner..
haha
We had both just watched a man run after the dog with a leash..
Without a word of thanks..of course I wasn't doing it to hear that..
without a single word..muttering to herself that she'd have to bring her husband over
she went on her way..
I don't know whether that woman is here or not
but I'd like to say just one thing..
Ma'am..
a person really shouldn't do that..
Back then we..blocked that darn dog with truly fantastic teamwork, didn't we..
And if you leave like that without a single word of thanks..
How is someone like me, with no husband to bring, supposed to live with the heartache..
