“Oh come on… No, but I think it’s fortunate that there are indoor rides here too. And amusement parks are more fun when there are lots of people, right, kids?”
When I asked Hyeol, who was holding my hand tightly, he just made an indifferent face as if he wasn’t interested.
“Well… It’s a bit annoying when there are too many people.”
“Huh? Annoying? Why?”
Just as I was puzzled by Hyeol’s meaningful words, the whispering around us was getting louder.
“What… what’s going on…?”
“There are too many people.”
Right after Hyeol spoke, I quickly looked around. There seemed to be more people than before.
Now that I thought about it, the amusement park had felt excessively crowded since we entered, but even after entering, people weren’t moving to the rides. They kept circling around us or openly staring.
“What’s this, why is everyone…”
Is there something strange about us? I examined the children, Baek Woojin, and my own attire. Far from being odd, we all looked especially nice and attractive today…
“Excuse me… Are you two actors by any chance?”
“Pardon?”
Suddenly, a young woman approached and asked. She glanced at me and Baek Woojin with a smile.
“Right? You’re here for a drama shoot, aren’t you?”
“What? No, we’re not those kinds of people…”
“Wow, even the kids look like dolls! They’re so pretty.”
This time, a couple who appeared to be husband and wife showed interest in Hyeol and Kkotsu.
“Haha, our kids are a bit…”
Feeling embarrassed, I pulled Hyeol closer to me. Baek Woojin seemed to feel the same way, as he picked up Kkotsu.
“Look at that tall guy, isn’t he so handsome? Wow… He looks like a model… I’ve never seen someone like that before.”
“……”
“And the person next to him is idol-level, right? His visuals are killer.”
Gasp, no… To speak so loudly that we can all hear…
It was embarrassing. Of course, I know that Baek Woojin, Chae Seungyeon, Hyeol, and Kkotsu are all very handsome and pretty. But I didn’t know how to react to people who spoke so blatantly.
And then I finally realized.
Baek Woojin’s comment about renting out the entire amusement park… might have been made because he foresaw this situation.
“Let’s move over there since there are a lot of people. We should get a guide book from the service center, and it would be good to minimize our route as much as possible.”
But Baek Woojin walked briskly toward the service center, not paying any attention to the people around us. From his words, it seemed he even had some sort of plan.
Kkotsu and Hyeol were the same. They remained unfazed even when people looked at them with curious eyes and talked about them.
What’s this, is everyone relaxed except me…?
Well… if you think about it, maybe it’s natural.
Baek Woojin has probably been subject to burdensome gazes and evaluative comments since he was young… Has he gotten used to it? The same goes for the children. These situations seemed so familiar to them that they found it annoying, like Hyeol did.
Click.
Still, people openly staring at us or talking about us wasn’t a big problem. People were even secretly taking photos of us.
“Hey, photos are…”
Just as I was about to speak up, thinking this was really unacceptable, Baek Woojin moved faster than me. He strode directly toward the person who had taken the photo.
“The person who just took a picture with their camera, please delete that unauthorized photo immediately. If not, you’ll have to accompany us to the police station for violating portrait rights and personal information protection laws.”
Perhaps intimidated by Baek Woojin’s articulate voice and imposing height and presence, the person who had taken the illegal photo immediately deleted it and repeatedly apologized.
Having handled the situation well, Baek Woojin strode back to me. Until then, he still had doll-like Kkotsu in one arm.
“I’m really surprised… This doesn’t usually happen, is it because we’re in a crowded place…?”
Unfamiliar with such behavior from people, I whispered softly to Baek Woojin. He glanced at me and said:
“That’s not necessarily the case.”
“What? Ah… Woojin-ssi, since you’ve experienced this a lot…”
“I’m not talking about myself.”
Baek Woojin spoke firmly once more and put Kkotsu down on the ground.
“While they didn’t take photos, there have always been many guys following Chae Seungyeon-ssi’s path with strange looks.”
“Pardon…?”
Was that really true…? I had no idea.
Or maybe they could be those people who received the commission. Even Chief Seok said he had been watching over me to protect me… Baek Woojin might have thought he was seeing those people.
“D-daddy…!”
Meanwhile, Kkotsu, who had been holding Baek Woojin’s hand, must have grown bored with the adults’ conversation and shouted while shaking his hand vigorously.
“L-let’s go… th-there…!”
Kkotsu seemed to have already spotted a ride he wanted to go on. He pulled Baek Woojin’s hand and headed somewhere.
“Ah, shall we go now? Kkotsu, what do you want to ride?”
“N-not… n-not riding y-yet…”
“Huh? Not riding?”
“Th-that…!”
Kkotsu pointed at something and ran quickly. Following the child’s footsteps, we stopped at a souvenir shop.
“Th-this…!”
Entering the souvenir shop, Kkotsu grabbed a white rabbit ear headband displayed on the counter.
“Kkotsu, do you want to wear the headband? It would suit you. Want to try it on?”
“Y-yes!”
I quickly put the rabbit ear headband on Kkotsu and also put a black cat ear headband on Hyeol. Is it because they’re children? Both Kkotsu and Hyeol looked very cute in them.
“Wow, Hyeol looks super cute too…!”
“……”
Although Hyeol showed no reaction and looked like he was chewing on something unpleasant, he showed interest in the fighter jet figurine in the souvenir shop. He really is still a child after all.
“Chae Seungyeon-ssi.”
While I was taken aback by the price of the fighter jet figurine Hyeol had chosen, Baek Woojin called out to me as he approached.
“Yes?”
Just as I turned my head, Baek Woojin’s hand moved toward my head, and in an instant, a headband was placed on my head.
“Huh…? What is this? A headband?”
When I touched my head, I felt a bumpy texture that didn’t quite feel like ears.
“…It suits you well.”
“What is it…”
“T-teacher… d-deer…!”
Before I could check in the mirror, Kkotsu exclaimed while looking at me. Looking in the mirror, it really was a deer headband with antlers.
A deer, should I be thankful it’s not goblin horns?
“Hmm, then for me…”
I looked at the items displayed on the counter to find a headband that would suit Baek Woojin. And I found one that was perfect for him and put it on his head.
“Pfft…!”
I burst out laughing as soon as I saw it. It was because the small white tiger ears rising cutely above Baek Woojin’s black hair were too adorable.
“Kkotsu, Kkotsu. How do Daddy’s ears look?”
I asked Kkotsu, who was distracted by a large animal doll, while trying to hold back my laughter.
Seeing his father, Kkotsu seemed to find it as funny as I did, his cheeks twitching before he said, “I-it’s funny.” Then he handed me a large carrot-shaped doll and went back to browsing through the display.
“Ah, really… kids are so honest.”
“……”
“Woojin-ssi…?”
It was just a bit of teasing… Was he shocked?
Baek Woojin remained motionless for a while, looking at his reflection in the mirror. His expression was like someone who had discovered a creature not of this world, so I couldn’t bring myself to say anything more.
*
“B-boring…”
“Huh? Kkotsu, was it boring? Wasn’t it fun?”
It was after we got off the spinning teacup ride. Kkotsu muttered with a face full of dissatisfaction.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
