Jae-jin wasn’t someone who easily displayed his emotions like that, so he suddenly felt a pang of guilt.
‘Ah. Come to think of it, ordinary people aren’t used to abilities… Mother might truly see him as a baby. I completely overlooked that.’
Maybe he shouldn’t have brought baby Seo Eui-woo to his parents’ house after all. No matter how desperately the baby had cried, he and Seo Eui-woo should have just struggled through it together somehow…?
At that moment, his father cleared his throat and began speaking.
“Hmm, I see. Jae-jin, I understand your situation.”
Then, as if he had made up his mind, he firmly advised Jae-jin.
“I get that this baby isn’t really our grandchild. I also understand that you’ll be sending him back in ten days. But even if he’ll disappear after ten days, right now, he’s alive and well. We can’t just treat him like a stray rock that rolled in.”
His mother immediately nodded in agreement.
“That’s right, Jae-jin. Even if he’s not our real grandchild, shouldn’t we still treat him like one for these ten days?”
Jae-hee was no different.
“I’m totally fine with it. What’s the big deal about calling my nephew my nephew? Right, Sun-woo?”
“Aruru! Woof! Woof!”
“See? Sun-woo’s happy to have a younger sibling too. No, wait. This is messing up the family tree. Since Sun-woo is the third in the Kwon family… that makes him the uncle.”
They say blood is thicker than water.
The Kwon family united as one, warmly welcoming baby Seo Eui-woo. When it came to moments like these, they were truly of one mind and one heart.
With his entire family pushing him in this direction, Jae-jin found it difficult to draw a firm line. Besides, his parents did have a point.
‘Tsk. Well, what can I do? The baby is already here. Either way, I’m responsible for taking care of him for these ten days.’
His family had already embraced the baby wholeheartedly. Seo Eui-woo had wanted a baby too.
Even if this wasn’t a real baby…
‘For a few days, there’s no helping it.’
In the end, Jae-jin gave in. It was just for ten days, after all.
“Alright. But only until we send him back.”
“Then first, let’s give the baby a name.”
Now that they had decided to accept baby Seo Eui-woo, his father insisted that the baby needed a name. After all, a child without a name wasn’t truly a child. The rest of the family quickly agreed with him.
“That’s right. We can’t just keep calling him ‘baby,’ ‘grandchild,’ or ‘nephew’ forever.”
“Let’s name him. This is something the parents should do.”
“Yeah. Shouldn’t Oppa and Esper Seo Eui-woo discuss it together?”
Of course, even at that moment, Jae-jin couldn’t help but feel a little doubtful.
“But wait, this baby is still Seo Eui-woo in the end. Isn’t it weird to give him another name when he already has a perfectly fine one?”
No matter how he looked at it, baby Seo Eui-woo was still Seo Eui-woo. Was it really okay to give Seo Eui-woo a name that wasn’t Seo Eui-woo?
Jae-jin turned to look at Seo Eui-woo sitting beside him, bewildered. But Seo Eui-woo himself didn’t seem to have any objections about giving his baby self a different name.
“What does it matter? I don’t mind. You’re the one naming me, Jae-jin. Why would I dislike that?”
“Still…”
“Just think of it as a childhood name. Like a pet name families used for babies. They used to do that in the past, didn’t they?”
A childhood name? Seo Eui-woo even knew about childhood names?
Maybe he picked it up from watching a historical documentary channel. It was originally Jae-jin’s habit to watch documentaries, but since Seo Eui-woo always stuck by him when he watched TV, these days, it felt like Seo Eui-woo was watching them even more diligently than Jae-jin himself.
“I guess… If you’re fine with it, then it should be okay to name you.”
Jae-jin fell into thought.
They had decided to come up with a childhood name, but there was no way he could name the baby on the spot. It wasn’t just a nickname or a joke—it was a name. He couldn’t just slap something together without thinking.
‘Nothing’s coming to mind right away.’
No, actually, there was one thing.
‘At best… soft peach…?’
Soft, squishy, pink baby Seo Eui-woo…
Soft peach… and from that… Malbok…?
‘No. No way. Absolutely not.’
No matter what, there was no way he could name baby Seo Eui-woo Malbok, even if it was just a childhood name.
‘What the hell is Malbok, seriously?’
An angelic baby with pure, fair skin, as beautiful as a masterpiece hanging in an art museum, and the best name he could come up with was Malbok? If he even added a surname, it would be Seo Malbok?
‘Ha. This is insane. Seo Malbok.’
It couldn’t be a worse fit. At this rate, he might as well just keep calling him baby Seo Eui-woo.
Just as Jae-jin was struggling with the absurdity of his own thoughts, baby Seo Eui-woo burst into loud tears, as if perfectly timed. He had been crying, getting exhausted, and then crying again so many times that this time, it really looked like he was about to pass out from it.
“Uwaah! Uwaaaah…!”
“Ah—anyway, I’ll think about the name later. Right now, we need to calm him down first. Is he hungry? But he barely drank any formula earlier. Did I do something wrong?”
Jae-jin looked at baby Seo Eui-woo, who was crying pitifully in his mother’s arms. The baby seemed exhausted from all the crying. His father immediately shook his head.
“Formula? What are you talking about? Just by looking at him, he’s about ten months old. He should be eating baby food by now.”
Ten months? Really? Was he around that age?
It was impressive how his father could determine the baby’s age at a glance. His mother swiftly took control of the situation.
“There’s a lot to teach. You, go take the car and quickly buy diapers, baby clothes, gauze towels, and everything else we’ll need. In the meantime, I’ll feed the baby with Jae-jin and Mr. Eui-woo and teach them how to take care of him.”
“Oh, right. That sounds like a plan.”
Jae-jin always panicked whenever baby Seo Eui-woo cried, but his parents remained cool and composed. They were as unfazed as seasoned Awakeners facing creatures on the battlefield. His parents were incredibly strong.
“Dad, I’m coming too! I’ll help carry the bags. And I’m picking out my nephew’s clothes, no exceptions!”
Jae-hee eagerly ran after their father. Thinking it was just a walk, Sun-woo wagged his tail and scampered to the front door alongside them. Meanwhile, Jae-jin’s mother, now holding baby Seo Eui-woo in her arms, slowly rose to her feet with a solemn expression.
Her gaze had transformed.
A sharp glint, unwavering calmness, and absolute determination.
It was the gaze of a warrior heading into battle.
“Jae-jin, Mr. Eui-woo. Listen carefully. There’s only one quality you need to raise a baby.”
For some reason, Jae-jin felt the same tension he had on the battlefield. The sheer force of his mother’s presence was overwhelming.
Jae-jin and Seo Eui-woo swallowed dryly and asked in unison.
“One quality?”
“What is it?”
They felt like disciples receiving the legendary teachings of a martial arts master.
With unwavering confidence, his mother passed on the sacred wisdom.
“Stamina.”
“…What?”
“Stamina…?”
“Real-life childcare is nothing like the fantasy. From now on, say goodbye to sleep.”
***
It didn’t take long for them to fully grasp the terrifying reality of parenting after receiving his mother’s ruthless teachings.
How to make baby food, how to feed it, how to hold a baby, how to support the neck, how to bathe him, how to change diapers, how to put them on, how to take them off, how to put him to sleep… They learned everything down to the last detail. They even returned home with an armful of baby supplies perfectly suited for his age.
But all of that was nothing more than the opening act of the true battle.
The baby cried at the drop of a hat. The moment they looked away, he stuffed anything he could grab into his mouth. Yet, when it was time to eat his actual food, he refused it as if it were poison. He crawled with surprising speed, disappearing from sight in an instant. He bumped his head on furniture, toppled over backward, twisted his neck at weird angles, cried, cried, and then cried his lungs out again.
Ah.
‘Ten days feel like a thousand years.’
A state of emergency lasted twenty-four hours a day, with no room to let their guard down, not even for a second.
Even with two adults taking care of a single baby, it was this exhausting. And it wasn’t just any two adults—it was two fully grown men with no shortage of physical stamina. Seo Eui-woo, an Esper from the Special Task Force, went without saying, and even Kwon Jae-jin never neglected his training.
‘Who knew childcare was this hard…’
If they had stayed at his family’s home in the Sixth Residential District, his parents and Jae-hee would have helped at least a little. But due to the time restrictions on their transit permit, they had no choice but to return to the Special Residential District. His family had been deeply reluctant to part ways, and Jae-jin also felt regretful about leaving, but there was no other option. Besides, he couldn’t exactly impose on them for the entire ten days.
‘Still, I thought it would be manageable as long as Seo Eui-woo and I did it together…’
