Moreover, the building… it was definitely made with high-end materials, but it was so flashy that it was dizzying even to my eyes.
“Let’s go in then.”
Hyeol led my hand toward me as I stood there dumbfounded. I awkwardly followed Hyeol into the kindergarten. As expected, there wasn’t a single sound of children laughing as they arrived at school, and no welcoming teachers were visible either.
I was feeling lost at this unfamiliar sight when it happened.
“What brings you here?”
A stiff voice spoke and a young woman suddenly popped out from between the buildings. The mysterious woman wasn’t wearing an apron and was dressed in a black uniform that revealed her curved figure. She looked exactly like an android you’d only see in sci-fi movies.
“Dad, I’m running out of time so I’ll go in first.”
Just then, Hyeol pointed toward what appeared to be the building entrance and spoke.
“Huh? Okay, Hyeol… listen to your teacher, don’t fight with your friends… and…”
“Don’t worry and just go to the hospital.”
“…Yeah.”
Hyeol curtly said that to me and waved his hand. I smiled bitterly and waved back at Hyeol until he was out of sight.
“Ah, you must be one of our student’s father. Nice to meet you. I’m the guide for this section.”
In the meantime, the woman approached and introduced herself.
Not the XXX of this section, but the guide of this section…
I’d never heard of kindergartens having sections, let alone guides. But this was the novel my sister wrote. I didn’t have time to find it strange.
“Hello… Um, that… I’d like to meet the principal of this kindergarten.”
“If you could first tell me your business, I think I could guide you more quickly, father.”
“……”
The woman who spoke stiffly like a robot smiled at me. It really wasn’t easy. I had no choice but to take out the note from my pocket.
“Hyeol and I moved to a different place… this is the new address. I was wondering if you could send a vehicle here if possible…”
I spoke carefully, then tried to hand over the note with Baek Woojin’s house address written on it. But the guide made a very troubled expression and refused my note.
“I’m sorry, but we don’t provide school bus service.”
“…What?”
I was completely shocked. They built such an ominous-looking kindergarten in such a remote place and don’t provide vehicle service? I looked up at the massive wall surrounding us in bewilderment and asked again.
“Don’t the parents… complain?”
It’s far from downtown, so it would be difficult to drive to and from school every time…
“Yes, as you would have been explained when enrolling, all the students attending our kindergarten have been confirmed to have their own drivers… So we don’t receive related customer service inquiries. Hyeol should also have a driver registered, father.”
After finishing her explanation, the guide smiled brightly and asked like a robot if I had any other questions.
“A driver…”
So that’s why Hyeol said this morning that he could just call a driver to go.
I had many more things I wanted to ask about this kindergarten, but before I could speak properly, I suddenly started coughing. As I coughed and couldn’t continue speaking, the guide just stared at me blankly.
“I’ll… *cough*, next time… I’ll come, *cough*, again…”
In the end, I bowed my head in greeting and walked away.
“Yes, father. Take care.”
When I just passed the kindergarten entrance, my coughing subsided, but I didn’t feel like going back to ask questions to that robot-like guide.
“What kind of place is this…”
I had confidently declared that I would send him to school every day when I was at Baek Woojin’s house…
So do I have to bring him here every day? I don’t even have a driver’s license… No, I don’t have a car either. I don’t have money to take taxis either…
“……”
Suddenly it felt like everything went dark before my eyes. I couldn’t even handle taking a single child to kindergarten…
I was amazed at myself for acting so recklessly.
My heavy footsteps trudged toward the parking lot. I felt completely drained and couldn’t lift my head.
“Chae Seungyeon-ssi.”
Just then, a gentle voice rang out above my head.
How long had he been waiting outside? When Baek Woojin spotted me, he strode toward me. He held out warm honey tea that he seemed to have bought from a convenience store.
“Thank you…”
My throat was so dry anyway… I gulped down the honey tea with the lid already opened.
“Did Hyeol get in safely?”
Baek Woojin, who was watching me drink the honey tea, asked the same question I had asked earlier.
“Yes, he went in fine, but… this place… seems a bit strange…”
“The kindergarten?”
“Yes… Honestly, it doesn’t even seem like a kindergarten…”
I turned my head to look at the building that was flashy on the outside but utterly bleak.
“If children attend here… they might become… a bit strange…”
“So am I strange?”
“What?”
I was startled by the unexpected question.
“I’m a graduate of this kindergarten.”
“Pfft…!”
I spat out all the honey tea that was in my mouth.
*
“I really didn’t know, I’m sorry…”
As soon as I got in the car, I apologized to Baek Woojin. He could rightfully be offended, but Baek Woojin held out another unopened honey tea as if it didn’t matter at all.
“What about you, Woojin-ssi?”
“I already drank mine earlier. It was a 2+1 deal.”
“Ah…”
I finally understood and put the warm honey tea in my pocket.
“I didn’t attend that kindergarten for very long. At the time, both my parents passed away in an accident, so I was left with relatives.”
“Ah…”
As soon as I heard about Baek Woojin’s difficult past, I didn’t know what to say and just opened and closed my mouth. I had no idea he had such a painful past.
I guess you really can’t judge people by their appearance. This is why you shouldn’t have prejudices and should be careful about everything until you know someone’s deep circumstances.
“Would you like to see it?”
“……?”
What did he want me to see? I was wondering when it happened.
Clunk.
Baek Woojin took something out of the console box.
“This is…”
What Baek Woojin held was a photograph. In the photo was a very beautiful woman who looked a bit pale, holding a newborn baby in her arms. The baby with chubby, peach-like cheeks couldn’t even open its eyes yet.
“Could this baby be…”
“Yes, it’s Kkotsu.”
“Ah…”
I knew it… The face of the small, white baby wrapped in swaddling clothes looked familiar somewhere, and it was Kkotsu.
Then this beautiful woman must be…
“She’s my noona.”
“…What?”
An unexpected answer flowed from Baek Woojin’s mouth. I naturally assumed she was Baek Woojin’s deceased wife since she was holding Kkotsu in her arms…
“My noona, who was quite a bit older than me, practically raised me.”
Baek Woojin continued speaking with a somewhat lonely expression, as if reminiscing about the past.
“After our parents passed away, we relied on each other and lived together. I was going through a very troubled period at the time, so if it wasn’t for my noona… I probably wouldn’t have lasted long.”
Baek Woojin’s voice saying he wouldn’t have lasted echoed hollowly in my ears. Just from that, I could imagine how difficult it must have been. What kind of life those young siblings must have lived without parents… It was clearly visible and my heart ached.
‘Promise me… you’ll never abandon me again.’
Perhaps because it was similar to Hyeol’s life, who would later become an obsessive maniac. Although I don’t know the details since I didn’t read the novel properly, it was described that Hyeol also lost his parents and went through very difficult times.
My sister who wrote this novel probably set it up simply as a device for the protagonist’s tragic narrative… but the life the actual characters had to endure was utterly cruel.
I felt sorry for them. I looked at Baek Woojin’s noona and Kkotsu in the photo for a while, then carefully asked Baek Woojin.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
