Chapter 53 – Chapter 53

The joy of having done something like that is short-lived.

「Thump, thump!」

I sat down as far as I could in the corner and carefully buried my head on the table.

‘I’m embarrassed!’

What have I done?
After coming in to buy gimbap, what did I do? No, it was right that I came in for this.
I wanted to say it somehow in front of Miho and Noah, even while others were watching.
It was a wall that I had to break through at least once in order to speak casually from now on.
Instead, it was also me who had to deal with the aftermath.

“Here’s the menu, call me when you decide what to order.”
“Yes…”

My face is so hot I can’t even lift my head up.
I barely managed to hold back when I tried to cover my face with one hand.

‘I have no regrets.’

What is regret
No, it was rather good.

[Right. Well done!]

The voice agreed.
And I thought something was wiggling next to me, and Miho and Noah clung to my side and rubbed their faces ticklingly.

“Miho, it’s the tongue’s daughter…”
“Even Noah…”

I said hugging them tightly.

“Okay.”

The woman who was watching said this.

“It’s a family where sesame seeds spill out. I envy you, I envy you.”
Haha! Go, thank you.”

In a way, I felt a little sorry and grateful to the lady who suited me for this cheesy skit.

“Good. Miho, let’s eat whatever we want here.”

At least, ordering a lot of food and selling it was the bare minimum.

“Oh!”
“Even Noah can eat a lot here.”
“No, Noah! Choi, I will try my best to eat.”
“… Noah, let’s eat in moderation.”

For some reason, I had an instinct that I shouldn’t force something on Noah. This kid is so good-natured, he does what he tells him to do.
It was clear that if I kept telling her to eat, she would chug her food, even if it meant ruining her stomach.

“Kyaaaaang! It doesn’t matter if Miho’s stomach explodes.”

He should cut it down a bit.
Oops, I don’t know

“Aunt! Please bring me pork cutlet gimbap, kimchi gimbap, tuna gimbap, and tteokgalbi gimbap with red pepper gimbap, and also tteokbokki and ramen. For now!”
“Now, wait a minute… I beg your pardon? Can you call me one more time?”
“Pork cutlet gimbap, kimchi gimbap, tuna gimbap, tteokgalbi gimbap, red pepper gimbap, and tteokbokki and ramen.”
“… Packing, are you going to do it?”
“No! We will eat everything here!”

Miho, to be exact.

I added 5 rows of gimbap, tteokbokki and ramen, but I wasn’t afraid at all.
First of all, I can eat ramen with one roll of gimbap.
Rather, what I’m concerned about right now is that this much isn’t enough.

“Ah, okay. Wait.”

The lady looked at me with a worried expression until the end, then quietly went into the kitchen and started making food.
While making the food, Miho hummed to her and waited for her food to be served, while Noah quietly looked at his phone.
I wonder what they were watching so intently, but even if it was a child, it was good to keep at least some privacy.
And two messages came to me as well.
Both numbers were unknown.

[Hello, Mr. Kim Hyun-woo. I am Kang Eun-kyung, assistant manager at Nobel Chemistry. I got a call from Mi-hye Seo, the manager, and I contacted you to let you know that the contract was successfully concluded. Thank you very much for yesterday. And, I suffered.]

For some reason, I feel like this woman will come to nominate again next time.
Let’s see where next.

[Hello, this is Manager Ahn Jang-jin. This time around, she credits the deal with being a big help. Thank you very much.]

“Because social life isn’t easy either.”

Well, when I was working hard as a host, I constantly sent messages like this to guests who thought it was okay.

“Certainly, not in a bad mood.”

I never thought people who work for large corporations would just send a message saying thank you to the host.
While I was splitting the threads by myself, the lady brought glossy gimbap, tteokbokki with steam rising, and ramen.

“Here you go.”
“Thank you.”
“Kyaaaaa!”

With the most excited Miho ahead of the meal, we quietly greeted each other and diligently moved our chopsticks.

“Furrhurp, hurl!”

In the meantime, when I saw Miho eating ramen noodles while making noodles, I burst out laughing without even realizing it.

“Ok? Why are you laughing?”
“No, just… When we first met, the kid who munched because he did n’t know how to eat noodles, now he eats so well, it’s amazing…”

At the first meeting, he said he was hungry, grabbed his stomach, spilled the ramen I made for him, and even scooped and fed him himself.
Kids grow and change really quickly.
So, it was clear that the very painful wounds these children had now could be healed.

“Is it delicious?”
“Kyaa! It’s delicious!”
“What about Noah?”
“Oh, it’s delicious…”

As expected, Miho ate overwhelmingly well, so despite thinking that he ordered quite a lot, he was able to finish it just right.

“Please pay here.”
“Gosh…That’s great.”
“It’s because I was growing up.”
“Still…”

I bowed my head to the startled woman and asked Miho.

“Was that old lady scared too?”

Miho replied.

“… He didn’t seem like a bad person… Miho knows too. Not everyone is bad.”
“Yeah, that’s enough. You don’t have to try too hard already.”

In the first place, there was a high possibility that Miho would get better quickly.
It seems like she always expresses it badly, but Miho’s normally bright and simple personality overcomes her trauma faster than I thought and always brings a smile to the people around her.

“What about Noah?”
“No, Noah…”

Noah hung her head.

“… Oh, I’m sorry, Dad.”
“It’s okay. Are you okay. I didn’t ask to burden you. It’s okay.”
“Yes…”

I lifted Noah into her arms and gave her a small pat on the back of her.

‘Noah will take a lot of time.’

Miho and Noah too.
It probably wasn’t like this from the beginning. Perhaps in Miho’s case, given that she has quite a few memories of her parents, she could have the personality she has now because her parents were such good people.
In Noah’s case, maybe…

‘Considering that I have no memory of my parents at all.’

Perhaps, even before she felt the warmth of her parents, Noah had been through a terrible life.
So it couldn’t be

“Hey, heh… I’m sorry. Noah, write, useless… Kkeuk, Noah, tsu, trash…”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Sorry, I suddenly asked a strange question.”

Noah really had no self-esteem or self-confidence at all. Even if it’s just a drop, if there’s even a little bit of it left, you can grow it based on that.
The guys who really bullied Noah made everything about this child a mess until the bottom was visible.

[Baby dragon… In particular, in the case of hatchlings, they are beings that need the warmth of their parents so much that they are probably bigger.]
[Hatchling can’t even grow properly without parents, and because such a hatchling is so precious, all Jackie Chans try to protect it.]

‘They say that dragons are so great that they can be called absolutes, but what did they do if they couldn’t protect a kid like this?’

[That’s something we don’t know.]

The voice said in a bitter voice.

[No one knows what will happen in the world. Just like how you and these poor children met.]

“…”

I don’t know if I should like it or be sad about it.

“I would have eaten too. Shall we go to the nearby playground?”
“Playground?!”

Also, Miho, whose eyes sparkled at the new words he heard, and I, who had stopped crying to some extent, carried Noah, who rubbed his face against my neck, to the playground, and I had no choice but to stop.

“Rrr r r r r r r r r r r r r r!”
“Hey, fuck! Stand there! You bastard!”
“Aaaaagh! Mama, Mama!”

… Hey, what’s ahead is hell?
… I wonder where the voice is coming from, is it my imagination?

‘It’s a battlefield, this place.’

More than 20 kids play on slides, swings, sand, etc.
In addition to that, they occupied various spaces and were playing while talking so loudly that their voices resonated throughout the real apartment.
Nearby, there were more than 10 aunts, starting with water bottles and strollers, preparing various equipment and chattinghaha.

“Mi, Miho… Go, I’m suddenly hungry…”
“Dad, uh-huh, uh-huh!”

To be honest, I had a hard time breathing even this time.

“For now, shall we go back today?”
“Salty!”
“Joe, that’s a good idea… ” …”

Maybe we should say that the walls of a playground already full of people are too high. If I went inside now, it didn’t seem like it would be fun at all.
Conversely, it’s fortunate if you don’t instill new trauma in the children who are only getting better little by little.

‘Ah, then where should I go?’

Shall we go to the hiking trail that the uncles and aunties are climbing?
While I was thinking about this, a message came to me. It was a familiar message.

[Sunwoo Yerang remitted 20,000,000 won to me.]

Soon after, a text message came through.

[I forgot to give it to you. This time, I did a lot of wrong things, so I sent it as a double. Miho, buy me some delicious things. If possible, start saving money and prepare to move. Honestly, what is it like raising a child in that small studio? If you ever need money to move right away, feel free to contact us. I’ll lend it to you without interest.]

Maybe that’s why it’s called a country where you can do anything with money.
Even before confirming that the amount of 20 million won had been deposited into my account, I had already forgiven Seonwoo Yerang for what he had done to me so easily.
Seriously, money is scary.

[Kim Hyun-woo: Thank you.]

After sending a reply to Seonwoo Yerang, I asked the children.

“Do you want to go to the department store?”
“Ok!”

[Dotde Department Store]

We just got in the car and headed to the department store. Then, I went to the children’s clothing section where Miho had made her cry before.
Even the employee was still working.
After confirming this, Miho took the credit card from me and gave it to the staff member while shouting cutely.

“We came to Flexz today too! Little sister, I’m here to buy clothes!”

He wasn’t really trying to get revenge, but Miho was afraid that the staff would ignore and misunderstand us like before.
The employee listened to Miho’s words and bowed to me first.

“Before, I am really sorry!”

Well, it’s right to accept the apology as it is…

“Tonnu, what are you doing?”
“Yes?”
“Did you apologize? Then you should say it’s okay and accept it.”
Haha!”

I nodded my head while bursting into laughter.

“Right, that’s right. It’s okay. I think it could. Would you mind helping me pick out clothes for the kids?”
“All right.”

I wondered if it would end so warmly, but did this employee have a bad relationship with us in a previous life?

“… Uh, by the way, did your mother not come with you? All the clothes these days are fine, so you can just pick what your parents like. And these things are the ones that mothers choose really well.”

At those words, Miho and Noah’s bodies next to me stiffened.
Noah’s hand holding me tight was so strong that even I was surprised.
In the meantime

This time, Miho willingly stepped forward and said.

“We, mom, are gone.”
“That, uh… ! Sorry, sorry…”

The clerk was startled, and his complexion immediately turned black. He realized that he had made another mistake.
However, to be honest, it was hard to say that this was solely the clerk’s fault.
How to solve this…

“Are you still okay?”

Miho said.

“We have tongues! It’s okay because Daddy is here!”