He began drawing upon his abilities once more. Just like before, the shimmering light started to gather, one by one, and soon surrounded baby Seo Eui-woo in a radiant glow.
‘Luckily, it looks like I can send him back right away.’
Kwon Jae-jin let out a sigh of relief.
But at that very moment—
“Uwaaaang! Aaaaang!”
Baby Eui-woo suddenly burst into loud wails, his tiny body heating up as if it were about to explode.
“Mm?”
Seo Eui-woo furrowed his thick brows and poured out more of his abilities. The light was blindingly bright, yet it didn’t seem to take proper effect on baby Seo Eui-woo.
‘Why the hell isn’t it working?’
“What’s wrong? Don’t mess around. Hurry up and put things back.”
“Hold on a second, I’m trying. But since that’s still technically me, my clone needs to return my abilities to me as well. But… he can’t use his abilities right now.”
“He can’t…?”
“I think it’s because he’s a baby. Did I make him too young?”
Seo Eui-woo channeled even more light toward the baby. The brightness was so intense that keeping his eyes open was nearly impossible.
“He’s… damn, he really can’t control his abilities right now. This isn’t supposed to happen.”
“Ugh…!”
KUUUUUNG!
The light exploded outward like a detonation, scattering Seo Eui-woo’s power in all directions. The house trembled lightly, and the ceiling lights flickered momentarily before going out completely. After a brief moment, the lights came back on, and silence followed.
In the sudden stillness, baby Eui-woo cried out in distress.
“Aaeng!”
“Aaang!”
“Hic, hi… uwaaang! Huaaang!”
Jae-jin covered his mouth with one hand, lowering his head with a grim expression, staring blankly at the floor.
Seo Eui-woo stood frozen, still holding baby Eui-woo in his arms, stunned. He hadn’t expected this outcome either. Could it be that the clone’s body was too young, preventing their abilities from properly synchronizing?
No—if he really thought about it, this was the obvious conclusion. If his body had turned into a baby, then the core inside his chest must have also shrunk and become underdeveloped, making it impossible to control his powers properly.
No matter how ridiculously overpowered he was as the very first S-Class Esper, it wasn’t like he had been able to wield his abilities freely from infancy.
Of course, control would be difficult. And restoring him back would be even harder.
“Eui-woo.”
“Yes, Jae-jin?”
“For now… let’s try to calm the baby down. He won’t stop crying.”
“…Alright.”
This was a disaster.
A seriously fucked-up disaster.
And just like that, an unexpected chapter of Raising Baby Eui-woo had begun.
***
“This is what happened. That’s why we had to rush over.”
Sixth Residential District. Peace Complex 3.
An impromptu family meeting was taking place at Kwon Jae-jin’s parents’ house.
There was only one agenda: childcare.
Seo Eui-woo, naturally, knew nothing about raising a baby, and Kwon Jae-jin wasn’t any better. Since neither of them had a clue, their only choice was to seek help from the only people they knew with parenting experience—Jae-jin’s parents.
Meanwhile, the baby wouldn’t stop wailing. No matter how much they tried to soothe him, his cries didn’t subside. They had no idea whether he was hungry, sleepy, or uncomfortable.
To make matters worse, neither of their homes had baby formula. Even if they went out to buy some, they had no clue which one to get, how much to feed, or even how to feed him properly. They also lacked essentials like diapers, baby clothes, and just about everything else needed to care for an infant.
“Oh my goodness.”
Jae-jin’s mother, Song Yun-hee, gasped after hearing the full story.
“My god.”
Jae-jin’s father, Kwon Young-jin, was just as stunned.
“This is insane.”
Jae-jin’s younger sister, Kwon Jae-hee, could barely process it.
“Gh!”
Jae-jin’s youngest sibling, Kwon Sun-woo, let out a sharp bark.
Since this was an emergency, they had immediately requested transit clearance from the upper ranks. The moment they got approval, they used instant coordinate teleportation to jump straight to the Sixth District’s family home.
The problem was that the family had no idea they were coming.
Jae-hee had been the first to witness their sudden arrival in the middle of the living room and had let out an ear-piercing scream. Naturally, their parents and Sun-woo thought they were under attack by some intruders.
Regardless of the chaos, the current priority was coming up with a childcare plan.
Jae-jin carefully placed baby Seo Eui-woo—who had been temporarily swaddled in a large bath towel—onto the low sofa table in the center of the living room. Immediately, the entire family leaned in, scrutinizing him from every angle.
“This baby is really Captain Seo—no, Seo Eui-woo’s clone?”
“He just looks like a normal baby to me. Are you sure he’s not your kid?”
“Aigoo, he’s absolutely adorable. Oh my, how is he this fair-skinned and pretty?”
“Wait, then what are we supposed to call the baby? I mean, this one is Seo Eui-woo, and that one is also Seo Eui-woo… This is going to get confusing.”
“Wang! Ang-ang!”
“Uh-huh, yeah. This is your first time seeing a baby, right, Sun-woo? He’s your little brother. Your younger sibling.”
“Mang-mang!”
They had come to the family home to clear up the confusion, yet somehow, it felt like the situation had only gotten more chaotic. Was that just his imagination?
His father, his mother, Jae-hee, and even Sun-woo were all talking over each other, too excited to stay quiet. And to make matters worse, baby Seo Eui-woo started crying at the top of his lungs, turning the whole scene into a madhouse.
“Waaaah! Aaaaang!”
‘Ah, shit.’
Jae-jin pressed his fingers against his forehead, regretting bringing baby Eui-woo to the Sixth Residential District. He had taken the baby to his parents because the crying wouldn’t stop, but maybe he should’ve just searched online for answers instead.
‘We could’ve asked the Center for help, but then someone might have tried to use Seo Eui-woo’s clone for military purposes.’
A baby clone of an S-Class Esper. Reporting this to the Center would only invite trouble. Besides, this whole babysitting ordeal was only temporary, so there was no need to make a big deal out of it.
Letting out a deep sigh, Jae-jin calmly addressed his family, who were all fussing over the baby in their own ways.
“Alright, everyone, settle down. Once the baby can control his abilities, he’ll merge back with the original. So we only need to take care of him until he can manage his power. Right, Eui-woo?”
Passing the question to Seo Eui-woo, who was sitting beside him, Jae-jin watched as he gave a firm nod.
“Yes. It’s not even complex control. As long as he can release his ability at all, that should be enough. It won’t take long.”
“You heard that, right? This is only temporary. It’s not like we actually had a baby. He’s not my son or anything.”
“Aru-ru-ru! My grandson, come here, let grandma hold you!”
“Uwaaang! Aaang!”
No, he’s not your grandson.
“I’m your aunt! Say it with me—Jae-hee Auntie! My sweet little nephew!”
Not a nephew either.
“Woong! Gguuung… Mung! Mung!”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. Not you too, Sun-woo.
Did no one here plan on listening to him? They were all so obsessed with the baby that they seemed deaf to anything else.
Still, he could kind of understand their reaction. Baby Seo Eui-woo looked like something straight out of a painting—an angelic little thing that anyone would fall for at first sight.
Soft, white, peachy cheeks.
Thin, delicate curls of hair.
Tiny baby hands.
His hands were so small that even his barely visible fingernails looked like tiny dots. The way those chubby little fingers wriggled and fidgeted was almost too much to handle.
So damn adorable.
‘Yeah, I get it. He is cute.’
It only made sense. This was baby Seo Eui-woo—someone who had already been born with flawless looks.
Now, as an adult, people called him things like Archangel Michael or Uriel. So, of course, as a baby, he looked like a cherubic little Eros.
‘Yeah, I know that, but…’
Jae-jin found himself staring at baby Seo Eui-woo’s plump little cheeks. His snow-white skin was smooth, flawless—like the finest silk.
‘It’s pink. A soft pink.’
His chubby cheeks looked so irresistibly bouncy and squishy that it was hard to fight the urge to poke them.
‘Yeah… Even Seo Eui-woo must’ve been this soft and squishy when he was a baby.’
Like a peach before it ripens and hardens.
He was so used to seeing Seo Eui-woo as a firm, unyielding presence—the hard peach. But now, for the first time, he was seeing him in this softer, more vulnerable state. If Jae-jin wasn’t careful, he could easily get swept up in the overwhelming cuteness.
‘…Still.’
Snapping himself out of it, Jae-jin reached out and gave Seo Eui-woo a light tap on the arm. Seo Eui-woo, noticing the cue, quickly added more explanation.
“If the clone can manage even a little bit of his ability, he can grow his body. Once his body matures, his ability will stabilize, and we can immediately send him back to the original.”
“Ah… Is that so?”
His mother, holding baby Seo Eui-woo in her arms, looked noticeably disappointed.
“Then how long will it take for him to return?”
Jae-jin answered in her stead.
“Ten days.”
He glanced at Seo Eui-woo for confirmation, and Eui-woo nodded.
“Yes. At most, it’ll take about ten days.”
“Ten days? I see…”
His mother’s eyes dimmed with a hint of sadness.
