Potato Pup

Camping Part 1

It's been a while since I last set foot in the forest, Gijoo thought as he hopped out of the car, I haven't been to the forest since I left my pack.

Memories of that gruesome night came flooding back, each scene as clear as day. He vividly remembered the sight of the pack's pups' corpses, the crimson splatters covering large portions of the area, the metallic scent filling the air.

"Gijoo?" Doyoon nudged his packmate, and Gijoo managed to return to the present. "What's with you?"

"I'm just a little distracted." Gijoo scanned the area. I doubt the pack would be around here. We're still pretty close to human civilization. 

"You've lived in the wild before wandering into the city, right?" Doyoon asked, "Did you used to live around here?"

"Something like that." He wasn't exactly sure how far he had ran from his pack's territory.

"This park's very big and has lots of trees," Jaeryeong said.

"It's a forest," Gijoo told his pup, "There are lots of wild animals that live here, so be careful not to wander off on your own. I don't want you getting hurt."

"Okay!"

"We'll walk a bit further before we set up camp," Changhui said, "I think there's a lake nearby, so we can go fishing and swimming once everything's set up."

"Dad, can I swim?" Jaeryeong asked his father with eyes full of hope.

"Don't go too far from the shore," Gijoo warned, "You don't have much experience swimming, and I don't want you to drown."

Cheongang walked down a path and after many minutes of walking, they finally arrived at the lake. Changhui and Joowon, being the only ones with hands and opposable thumbs, set up the large family-sized tent.

"Can we swim now?" Jaeryeong happily jumped around with excitement. "I wanna swim with the fishies!"

"Put on a life vest first," Changhui said, "because it'll help you stay afloat."

Changhui helped Jaeryeong into the doggy life vest, and Jaeryeong sprinted into the lake. Gijoo didn't wait for Changhui to put a doggy life vest on him, and he ran after his pup. Gijoo started struggling the further they got from the shore. He was a terrible swimmer and only managed to succeed in fishing in the Han River due to it having an average depth of approximately thirteen feet. Jaeryeong was also struggling against the lake's current.

Before Changhui or Joowon could dive into the lake to rescue the two wolves, three adult wolves dashed past the Cheongang members. These new wolves were skilled swimmers, and they managed to bring Gijoo and Jaeryeong back to the shore. The father and son duo coughed up some water, but they remained unconscious.

"Hey, wake up." One of the wolves nudged Gijoo and Jaeryeong.

"Gijoo! Jaeryeong!" Changhui, Joowon, and Doyoon rushed over towards them, but stopped once the three wolves began to snarl and growl.

Doyoon stood in front of Changhui and Joowon protectively, and he growled back. "Who are you!"

"That's what we should be asking you!" The three wolves shouted. 

"Gijoo and Jaeryeong are part of my pack," Doyoon said, "so get the fuck away from them!"

The declaration seemingly made the wolves even angrier. "Gijoo is part of our pack! By extension, his pup is part of our pack too!"

"What are they saying?" Joowon asked Changhui.

"They said that Gijoo is part of their pack," Changhui answered, "so I think these three wolves are part of Gijoo's former pack."

"Former?" The growling and snarling became even louder. "Gijoo is still part of our pack! You humans kidnapped him!"

"Now they're accusing us of kidnapping Gijoo," Changhui translated for Joowon.

"Don't fight." All eyes turned to Gijoo, who had finally regained consciousness, but he was still exhausted and weak at the moment. "Jay, Rye, Young, stand down."

The three wolves stopped snarling and growling at Cheongang, but they still glared at them.

"Those three's names are Jay, Rye, and Young," Changhui told Joowon.

"Yeah, they're definitely Gijoo's packmates."

~🥔Potato Pup🐶~

"You were missing for months," Jay told Gijoo, "and your scent trail didn't end at the edge of the humans' territories. We thought they kidnapped you."

"I left the pack and the forest on my own accord," Gijoo told them, "because I had no place here anymore."

"What do you mean you have no place here anymore!" Young shouted, "You're a part of our pack! You're a part of our family!"

Young's yelling woke Jaeryeong up. He yelped when he saw the unfamiliar wolves, and buried his face into his father's fur. "Dad, those three aren't Doyoon! I don't know these wolves! Stranger danger!"

"He's so cute and small and fluffy!" Rye cooed over the pup.

Doyoon growled, "You're scaring the brat."

"Jaeryeong, go with Doyoon, Changhui, and Joowon," Gijoo said to his pup, "I need to talk with these three."

"But stranger danger!" 

Doyoon picked the pup up by the scruff of his neck and walked over to Changhui and Joowon. He plopped the pup down, and he pinned him down with a paw when Jaeryeong tried to run back over to hid father.

"Gijoo," Jay asked, "why did you leave?"

"I was in charge of protecting the pack's pups, and I failed," Gijoo answered, "We didn't just lose one or two pups; we lost all of the pack's pups." His voice became ridden with guilt and shaky. "The enemy lured me away when I was ordered to stay with the she-wolves. If I had followed orders and stayed with the she-wolves the entire time instead of being tricked, the pups would still be alive. How could I ever stay in the pack after failing that badly?"

"The pack doesn't blame you," Young said, "and we avenged the pups. We slaughtered the entire other pack."

"Come back to the pack, Gijoo," Rye told him, "and you can even bring your pup too."

"I can't forgive myself." Gijoo shook his head and refused. "I can't face the others. I can't face Amaroq especially. And..." He looked over to where Cheongang were. "I'm enjoying my new life. Doyoon's rough around the edges, but he's warming up to us. I do enjoy the pampering, so my wild instincts might've gotten a bit rusty since I don't hunt anymore. I sometimes go fishing in the nearby river, though."