Jungkook was exhausted. He always seemed to be nowadays. Where had all his youthful energy gone? He wasn't old or unfit, on the contrary; he wasn't even twenty-five yet and he worked hard to maintain his impressive physic and stamina. Perhaps it was the weight of owning his own business? Maybe the long hours were starting to get to him? Of course, it could have something to do with the fifty pounds of stubborn poodle currently pulling on the leash he held. She was yanking her head back, digging in her back paws and doing her absolute best to keep from moving forward. Jungkook sighed and rolled his eyes. This was embarrassing, if any of his customer's saw him, they'd think he didn't even know what he was doing; 'some dog trainer!'
"Come on Galaxy! You have to go home!" He reasoned with the struggling dog, "Your owner is going to be missing you, don't you wanna go home and see her?" The dog showed zero signs of letting up her resistance. He sighed once more, then in one smooth move, scooped up the poodle with a strong, tattooed arm. "Sorry sweetie, but I've gotta get back to the shop. I can't leave those two for too long, they'll destroy the place." The dog whined and wriggled in his arms, but there was no use, he had her. It didn't take much longer to reach the luxury apartment buildings were he was heading. The enormous glass buildings were set back inside a high wall, carefully watched by both security cameras and a manned gate. He hated this part. He glanced at the dog in his arms, as if for reassurance. He was rewarded with a lick to the ear which made him giggle and try to rub the wet spot off on the shoulder of his shirt. He drew in a deep breath and approached the gate. A stern looking security guard in an impeccable uniform held up his palm, indicating Jungkook to stop where he was.
"This area is closed to residents only," the man said curtly.
"I'm aware Sir. I need to see one of your residents; Mrs Kwan, I have her dog," he gestured to the poodle under his arm, as if he could be referring to any other dog? The man did not appear to have registered anything Jungkook just said. He looked down his nose at him, unmoved. Jungkook wasn't short and this man wasn't particularly tall either, but there was a distinct posture that this security guard was adopting and there was no mistaking it; he was looking down on Jungkook.
"You cannot enter." The man simply repeated, laying on the emphasis of the word 'cannot.'
"Could you please call up to her apartment? She asked me to drop Galaxy home and I can't well leave her on the street, can I?"
The man seemed to take this as a challenge to his authority. He puffed up his chest and his eyes narrowed. "You could be anyone. Why should I bother Mrs Kwan in her home just because some kid is whining about a dog?"
Jungkook never could understand why these people felt so entitled to be this rude. Sure, his customers were mostly wealthy, upper class people who dumped their dogs on him when they wanted to go to some stupid gala or fly off to Paris for the weekend. But this guy was just working for them; he got paid by the exact same type of people as Jungkook did. Where did he get off on pretending he was so high and mighty above him? He took another deep breath, he really wasn't good at this, but he had work to do and this guy's power trip was not on the day's schedule.
"Look, Mrs Kwan is a valued customer to me and Galaxy here is extremely valued by her. I'm sure you recognise this dog, even if you don't know me, so please, if you could just call her apartment and have her confirm that I am who I say I am, then I can give Mrs Kwan her dog back and we can just get on with our respective days... please?"
He seriously thought this idiot was going to continue to argue the point for a moment, but after a few more seconds of staring, unmoving, at Jungkook, the guard finally, wordlessly picked up the phone at the desk and pressed a button.
"Good afternoon Mrs Kwan, I'm terribly sorry to bother you but there is a young man claiming to be your dog walker here and -"
Jungkook bit back his objection; when did he claim to be the woman's dog walker? Did he walk dogs? Well, yeah sure, but he did far more than that. He groomed, trained and cared for all kinds of dogs, dozens in fact, every single day! And 'dog walker,' made him sound like a high schooler making extra pocket money with a side gig, not the luxury training center that he had created from nothing. It had taken years of dedication to build up the excellent reputation his shop now had. And now a glorified door man with a God complex was judging him on the streets of Seoul!
