Chapter : 6 The Decisive Blow
“Why aren’t they here yet…”
Dasol was waiting for her scheduled customer.
But even after twenty minutes had passed, there was no sign of them. She called, but they didn’t answer.
She had confirmed the appointment over the phone yesterday and even sent a reminder text an hour ago.
Thirty minutes passed, and she called again.
Still no answer.
She had to accept it.
‘A no-show.’
A customer who made a reservation but never intended to come.
As a one-person business owner, Dasol could only groom three to five dogs a day at most.
Losing even one appointment dealt a heavy blow to her income.
Ring—
Just as she was trying to calm the irritation rising to the top of her head, the salon phone rang. She snatched up the receiver almost as if stealing it.
“Hello, Solsol Pet Salon.”
“Animal abuser. It’s disgraceful that someone like you is working in this neighborhood. Get out immediately!”
“Excuse me? What are you talking about…?”
“Stop pretending you don’t know! You traumatized that dog and made it mentally depressed!”
“Are you one of our customers? Was there some kind of problem?”
“Why would I ever go to a place like yours? Quit acting innocent. That Bichon has depression now. You bitch. Let’s see how long your business survives.”
Click.
The woman shouted harshly before hanging up.
…What was that?
Dasol stared blankly at the phone.
She had just been cursed at by a complete stranger over something she knew absolutely nothing about.
First the canceled appointment.
Now this bizarre phone call.
“Haa…”
She let out a long sigh.
Ring—
The phone rang again.
It was another call.
A different voice.
Earlier it had been a young woman.
Now it was a man.
Not long afterward, a middle-aged woman called as well.
In total, she received four calls.
The message was always the same.
The groomer at Solsol Pet Salon was an animal abuser.
A bad feeling washed over her.
Dasol sat down at the front desk and searched for her salon online.
At first, nothing came up.
Unable to shake the uneasy feeling, she searched using only the initials of the salon’s name.
She found it without much difficulty.
On an online community.
And on social media as well.
“My dog got groomed at a salon called ‘ㅅㅅ ㅍ ㅅㄹ,’ and ever since coming back, she’s been acting strangely. At first she looked completely dejected, but now she barely eats and seems depressed.
She keeps trembling and hiding in corners.
Their grooming prices are a total rip-off too. They claim to have fixed prices, but the actual charge was completely different from the price list. She’s a Bichon Frise, but there’s no way grooming should cost that much.
When I complained, the groomer cursed at me instead, calling me ‘bitch’ over and over and threatening to sue me for interfering with her business.
Never go there.”
Dasol’s mouth fell open.
It felt as though every drop of blood in her body was boiling away.
Many people in the comments were asking for the name of the salon.
The original poster kindly replied to each one, saying she would reveal it through private messages.
Dasol immediately knew who it was.
Seolhee’s owner.
“…Ah.”
So that was why they had made an appointment and never showed up.
She wanted to call them immediately and demand an explanation.
But it was only a suspicion.
She had no concrete proof.
Burning with frustration, Dasol could do nothing except gulp down glass after glass of cold water.
Meanwhile…
At the Prosecutors’ Office.
Jihyuk, Sanggeun, and Hyewon were sitting together at a restaurant near the office.
All three worked in what were commonly considered the prosecution’s three elite departments.
Jihyuk and Sanggeun belonged to the Violent Crimes Investigation Division.
Hyewon worked in the Public Security Division.
“Let’s have a bowl of gomtang.”
Friends since college, the three of them ate lunch outside together twice a month.
It had become something of a tradition.
Today’s restaurant—a famous gomtang restaurant with over fifty years of history—had been enthusiastically chosen by Sanggeun.
Jihyuk and Hyewon rarely talked about personal matters.
They only became talkative when debating work.
Sanggeun, on the other hand, talked almost exclusively about personal things.
By all appearances, they seemed like an unlikely trio.
Yet they spent time together surprisingly often.
In the otherwise cold atmosphere of the Prosecutors’ Office, the three remained close friends.
Today was one of those days.
Sanggeun spoke first in his booming voice.
“I found a new animal hospital for Garam recently. Turns out it’s the one right next to our Prosecutors’ Office.”
Garam was the name of Sanggeun’s pet dog.
A brown curly-haired Poodle.
“The one around here? Why’d you come all the way here instead of going near your house?”
“I heard it’s famous.”
Hyewon let out a dry laugh, while Jihyuk scratched his temple.
“I went on my day off, and they’re really good. The director gives off such a warm impression. You can tell at a glance he’s someone who genuinely loves dogs. The only downside is that he’s so popular you have to wait forever to see him.”
“You came all the way here on your day off just because it’s famous? You won’t even go to a hospital for yourself when it’s right in front of your house.”
Sanggeun was a mountain of muscle who absolutely refused to visit hospitals.
He always came up with ridiculous excuses to avoid getting injections.
Yet he’d gladly spend over thirty minutes traveling to a famous animal hospital.
On his day off, no less.
Neither Hyewon nor Jihyuk had ever owned a dog.
To them, his way of thinking was impossible to understand.
“Enjoy your meal.”
At that moment, steaming bowls of hot gomtang were placed before them.
“Looks delicious! Let’s eat. Anyway, Garam needs a grooming appointment too, but I haven’t had time to look around. Those drug dealers never seem to take holidays.”
“If you’ve already found a hospital, just use a groomer near your house.”
“Garam scares easily. I can’t leave him just anywhere. I’ve tried several places before, but none of them worked out. He’s a Poodle, so proper grooming is important.”
The guy who shaved his own head into a buzz cut because hair care was too much trouble…
He really was something else.
“There’s a pet grooming salon next to the Prosecutors’ Office. Jihyuk, isn’t that the one?”
Hyewon asked while pretending to throw him over her shoulder.
“Oh, that place? Actually, I only realized there was a grooming salon there because of what happened recently. So I looked it up.”
Sanggeun frowned and slowly shook his head.
For some reason, he looked exactly like a suspect insisting on his innocence.
“You know… there are some grooming shops that abuse dogs.”
Anyone interested in pets knew about cases like that, he said, speaking passionately.
Not long ago, a groomer had been caught hitting a dog for refusing to cooperate.
In another case, someone strangled a dog because it wouldn’t stay still, killing it.
“There are more places like that than you’d think. So I searched that salon, and its reviews weren’t good.”
Sanggeun leaned his massive frame toward Jihyuk and Hyewon.
With his intimidating face looming so close, Jihyuk almost felt like he was interrogating a suspect.
“They say a Bichon that got groomed there ended up with depression.”
“And the evidence?”
Jihyuk, who had quietly listened until now, asked calmly.
Not for the first time, he thought Sanggeun would have been better suited to running a detective agency than becoming a prosecutor.
“What?”
“The evidence.”
“What evidence? The owner wrote about what happened firsthand. In great detail, too.”
“Did they actually use that salon, and the Bi… what?”
“Bichon. A Bichon Frise.”
Sanggeun answered as though it should have been obvious.
“Right. The Bichon. What objective evidence supports the claim that the dog developed depression? A veterinarian’s diagnosis? An expert evaluation? Documentation comparing the dog’s behavior before and after grooming?”
Jihyuk spoke matter-of-factly while looking at Sanggeun.
Sanggeun licked his thick lips.
It was a habit that appeared whenever he was cornered.
“…There isn’t any.”
“And you’re still a prosecutor?”
Unable to meet Jihyuk’s sharp gaze, Sanggeun looked away and scratched the back of his neck.
“The chief of the Violent Crimes Division said it himself. In thirty years as a prosecutor, he’d never seen anyone separate work and private life as completely as Kim Sanggeun. At work you’re a prosecutor. After work, everything becomes ‘I heard someone say…'”
Hyewon chuckled.
Sanggeun laughed awkwardly as he stuffed a spoonful of gomtang into his mouth.
“Evidence isn’t everything. Sometimes posts like that turn out to be true. Right, Hyewon?”
Apparently realizing even he wasn’t convinced by his own argument, Sanggeun shot Hyewon a desperate look for support.
She coldly ignored him.
“If the Bichon’s owner had really been wronged, they would have at least uploaded hospital receipts or a veterinarian’s written opinion. Without evidence proving causation, it’s nothing more than a personal allegation.”
“…Ahem. True.”
“We also need to hear the other side. Especially with animals—there are too many variables.”
Hearing Jihyuk’s calm voice, Sanggeun cleared his throat.
Jihyuk knew Sanggeun already understood all of this, which only made him sigh in frustration.
“If someone spreads false information while identifying a business by name, the pet groomer could sue the Bichon’s owner for interfering with business operations or defamation.”
“…I know.”
“And yet you’re swayed by a post like that? A prosecutor from the Violent Crimes Division?”
Sanggeun rubbed his large face with his broad palm.
“Come on. It’s different when it’s your own kid. People can’t help getting emotional.”
After everything, his only defense was an emotional appeal.
Then Hyewon, who had quietly listened the whole time, delivered the finishing blow.
“Then today’s lunch bill should be paid by Prosecutor Kim Sanggeun, who believes in emotional appeals.”
Without saying a word, Jihyuk raised his glass of water in silent victory.
As he thought of the owner of the pet salon.
