#095
“Yeonwoo? Did you come to visit?”
The front door swung open with a clatter, revealing Seo Gyeongtae, Grandma Kyeong-i’s son. And his daughter Seoirae poked her head out the door.
“Oppa, you can come in now!”
Lee Yeonwoo dusted off his bottom and stood up to enter the house.
“Hello.”
“Yeah. It’s been a while. It’s hot, why were you waiting at the front door? You could have asked Irae to open it for you.”
“I was going to, but the kid is clever.”
Lee Yeonwoo reached out and ruffled Seoirae’s hair as he spoke.
Her neatly arranged twin pigtails became messy because of Lee Yeonwoo’s rough touch. Seoirae primly brushed away his hand and moved her small hands to retie her hair.
But when it didn’t work out easily, she grabbed Lee Yeonwoo’s pants leg and pleaded.
“Tie my hair again.”
Lee Yeonwoo asked Seo Gyeongtae without concern.
“Where did Grandma Kyeong-i go?”
“Shopping for a bit. She’ll be back soon. Will you wait?”
“Oppa, my hair! Tie my hair.”
At Seoirae’s continued pestering, Lee Yeonwoo finally sat on the sofa and called her over.
“I’ll tie it for you, so sit down.”
“Okay!”
Seo Gyeongtae went to drink some water while casually leaving his daughter in Lee Yeonwoo’s care.
“I’ll be sleeping, so go out and play with Irae. When mom comes back, you can have dinner with us too.”
It was a scheme to spend his peaceful holiday more peacefully.
Unaware of this, Lee Yeonwoo obediently nodded and focused on tying Seoirae’s hair.
Seoirae stamped her feet while leaving her hair to Lee Yeonwoo.
“Did you use the fan I gave you well?”
“There were no batteries.”
“Really?”
Seoirae grabbed the fan next to Lee Yeonwoo and couldn’t hide her disappointment when the fan wouldn’t turn even after clicking the button.
“Sorry.”
Lee Yeonwoo pulled at her deeply bowed head.
“You need to lift your head for me to tie it prettily.”
“Okay!”
Seoirae, who had quickly forgotten her disappointment about the fan, answered brightly.
Still, Lee Yeonwoo played his role as an adult quite well in front of a young child.
“I’m done tying it.”
Seoirae shook her head to check if it was tied securely and headed to the small side room to check the mirror.
In the meantime, Lee Yeonwoo lay down on the sofa, absorbed in contacting Kang Dojun.
“What is this!”
Seoirae’s sharp voice could be heard.
Worried that something had happened, Lee Yeonwoo entered the small side room where the sound came from, just as Seo Gyeongtae, who had been sleeping in the main bedroom, also came running hurriedly at his daughter’s scream.
“What’s wrong?”
Seoirae looked at her messy hair tied in a single strand instead of twin pigtails, held back her tears, and ran to her dad.
“Daddy, daddy tie it again.”
Lee Yeonwoo approached Seoirae, scratching his eyebrow in embarrassment.
“Why, it’s tied well. Or do you want to untie it and leave it loose? Should I brush it for you?”
“Huuung, I hate oppa.”
“What, why me. I’ll buy you candy. Don’t cry.”
Since Lee Yeonwoo didn’t know well how to comfort a young child, he did his best to stop her crying.
Even so, when Irae didn’t easily stop crying, he looked at Seo Gyeongtae with helpless eyes for assistance.
“Daddy will tie it prettily for you.”
After her hair was neatly braided into twin pigtails, Seoirae held Lee Yeonwoo’s hand and went out for a stroll.
“Oppa, where are we going now?”
“Well. Should I show you the bees?”
“Bees? Aren’t they scary?”
Lee Yeonwoo showed her bee photos on his phone with his free hand.
“This one is a honeybee, and this one is a wasp.”
“Eww, we’re going to see these? I don’t want to.”
“Honeybees are cute. If you follow uncle, I’ll give you royal jelly.”
“Royal jelly? Is it like gummy bears?”
Despite finding Seoirae’s endless questions bothersome, Lee Yeonwoo consistently answered them.
‘I’ll buy you snacks’ had transformed into ‘I’ll give you royal jelly,’ but lured by the word ‘jelly,’ Seoirae excitedly followed him without even knowing what it was.
And the result was predictable.
“Hyaaaaa! I, I don’t like it. I want to go home. Mommy! Daddy!”
“Irae, look carefully. How cute they are. This is your first time seeing so many bees, right?”
Lee Yeonwoo comforted Seoirae, who was clinging tightly to his legs as if they were a lifeline. She had cried so much from fear that her face was already bright red.
Having no choice, he picked up Seoirae and held her in his arms, patting her. If you look closely, they’re cute. It’s okay, don’t be scared. I even put a bee veil on you. You should brag to your friends when you enter elementary school.
“Should uncle catch one for you? Don’t you have school homework or something? Insect collecting or something like that.”
“I don’t have anything like that!”
“Really? When I was young, we always had insect collecting. That’s a shame.”
“Never mind, let’s go down quickly!”
But it only made her angrier instead. Seoirae pulled Lee Yeonwoo’s hair hard with her tiny hand, telling him to hurry back.
“Ah, my hair. My hair is being pulled out. Irae, uncle is hurt. I got it. Let’s go. We’ll go.”
Unable to resist her fussing, Lee Yeonwoo carried Seoirae and started walking. I’m going to lose my hair showing her the bees.
Seoirae might fulfill the dream of a bald head that Kang Dojun had been secretly longing for. Lee Yeonwoo hurried down the mountain and put Seoirae down on the ground halfway, his face full of exhaustion.
“There are no bees now, right?”
“Hic, yeah.”
“Then let’s go down. It’s almost dinner time.”
Seoirae stood still and stared at Lee Yeonwoo as he started down the path.
He thought if he pretended not to notice, she would follow on her own, but when she didn’t move at all, Lee Yeonwoo eventually ran his hands through his hair and retraced his steps.
Then he crouched down to meet Seoirae’s eye level.
“What, why. What now.”
Seoirae stretched her arms out to Lee Yeonwoo.
“Carry me.”
“Seven-year-olds should walk by themselves. You’re entering elementary school soon.”
Lee Yeonwoo muttered meaningless words and refused the request.
Although it was a mountain, it was one that elderly people often visited for light walks, and it wasn’t steep enough that even a young child could walk alone sufficiently.
“I’m scared and my legs have no strength.”
“Try to be strong.”
“Carry me.”
“You’re heavy. I almost dislocated my arm carrying you briefly earlier.”
“Then piggyback.”
“……”
Somehow it became even more difficult.
Seoirae went behind the crouched Lee Yeonwoo and quickly climbed onto his back. Lee Yeonwoo urgently shouted.
“Piggyback is not allowed. Let’s compromise on a piggyback carry.”
“What’s compromise?”
“You’ll learn when you go to elementary school.”
Elementary school, elementary school…. Seoirae hit Lee Yeonwoo’s back, who had been mentioning the word elementary school like some magic spell from earlier. It didn’t even register.
Lee Yeonwoo stood up with a grunt, carrying Seoirae on his back.
“I’m light, right?”
“Light is for things like feathers.”
Lee Yeonwoo never said empty words even to a young child. Seoirae pouted and shouted as if teaching him a lesson.
“In times like this, you say I’m light!”
“Yeah. You’re light, like a feather.”
Finally, Seoirae sulked and buried her face in Lee Yeonwoo’s back.
Lee Yeonwoo glanced back. Wondering if she had fallen asleep, he jostled the arm holding her short legs and called to Seoirae.
“You’re still light, Irae.”
“It’s already too late.”
“Too bad. If it’s too late, there’s nothing we can do.”
While exchanging meaningless words and continuing down the mountain, Seoirae’s view captured Lee Yeonwoo’s nape.
Irae freed her arms that had been wrapped around his neck and poked at the red mark on his neck.
“Oppa, what’s this?”
“What?”
“Did a mosquito bite you?”
“Ah, um…. My arms hurt. Come down now. You can walk by yourself, right?”
Lee Yeonwoo put Seoirae down and rubbed his nape. When did this appear again? Now he couldn’t even gauge where or when they appeared. He just accepted it.
“Oppa, did a mosquito bite you? Did you just get stung by a bee?”
“…Something like that.”
Seoirae’s eyes widened in surprise as she grabbed Lee Yeonwoo.
“Let’s go to the hospital quickly!”
“It’s not that serious, so it’s fine. More importantly, walk slowly. You’ll fall.”
Lee Yeonwoo didn’t brush away the small hand that grabbed his and walked forward. He felt a strange feeling from the child’s slightly fevered hand, not Kang Dojun’s warm hand that always took care of him.
What is hyung doing right now?
He habitually thought of him while holding Seoirae’s hand.
***
On the way back home, they visited Grandpa Beom’s store.
“Oh my, who is this! You’ve grown so much since I last saw you.”
“Yes! I’m entering elementary school next year!”
“It feels like yesterday when I was changing your diapers.”
Thanks to Seoirae capturing the affection of the village elders, Lee Yeonwoo could comfortably choose a drink. He opened an ion drink can right there and gulped it down.
He could clearly feel Grandpa Beom’s glare. But there was nothing he could do. Playing with a child had drained his energy, so he had to drink this to feel energized.
“Please put it on Uncle Gyeongtae’s tab.”
After paying the cost of babysitting without Seo Gyeongtae’s consent, he picked up snacks next to him and asked Seoirae.
“Irae, you choose too. Everything’s free. Want candy? This one? Or jelly?”
Grandpa Beom approached Lee Yeonwoo with quick steps, snatched the snack bag, and shouted.
“We don’t do tabs these days!”
What era is this? Grumbling sounds could be heard.
Lee Yeonwoo looked troubled and rubbed the can he had finished drinking.
“This is a big problem. I don’t have money right now.”
Then he looked at the cute pink bag Seoirae was carrying.
“Irae, do you have some money? Like allowance you got from daddy?”
“Yeah! Why?”
“I played with you, didn’t I? I’ll pay you back later, so could you pay for me?”
“Okay!”
Seoirae readily nodded and fumbled with her bag.
A sharp touch reached Lee Yeonwoo, who was crouched down to meet the child’s eye level.
“You can’t even buy something for the child!”
Lee Yeonwoo grumbled while massaging his stinging back.
“It’s not good to spoil them too much either. She’s entering elementary school, so she should calculate by herself. Irae can do it, right?”
“Yeah! I can do it! Here!”
Seoirae answered spiritedly and pulled out a ten thousand won bill to hand to Grandpa Beom.
“Irae, choose what you want to eat too.”
“Can I choose?”
She blinked her round eyes wide and asked Lee Yeonwoo.
Lee Yeonwoo took out candy from the snack display corner and gave it to her.
“Want candy?”
“Yeah, unwrap it for me.”
He was going to say elementary school students should unwrap it themselves, but for Seoirae, who had become the financier this time, he personally peeled the candy wrapper and put it in her mouth.
Grandpa Beom took money from the cash register and offered change.
“Drink 1,300 won, snack 1,700 won, 2 candies 400 won. How much is the change? Count it.”
Seoirae mumbled her lips while calculating the money in her hand, then soon her eyes sparkled as she looked up at Grandpa Beom.
“Sixty-six thousand won! The money increased…!”
“What? Let me see.”
Surprised, Lee Yeonwoo leaned forward and counted the money in the small hand.
“Ah, you need to remove one zero.”
“Remove one zero? Then what?”
“Six thousand six hundred won. You should say thank you after receiving change.”
“Thank you, grandpa.”
After paying and greeting, on the way home, Seoirae hung on Lee Yeonwoo and asked.
“Oppa, don’t you say thank you?”
“To whom?”
“To me! I bought it for you!”
“……”
Lee Yeonwoo fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a hidden ten thousand won bill to offer. Then he whispered very quietly as if sharing a secret.
“This is my emergency money, but I’m giving it to you for doing something nice.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
