A child who looks like me

Sung-kyu sat across from Do-bin at a small table, calling out short sentences for him to write.

“Write ‘I like my younger sibling.’”

“Dong! Saeng……!”

Do-bin wrote his father’s words in a loud voice in his notebook.

However, the first syllable that had been strong gradually diminished. After waiting a few minutes, Sung-kyu checked the writing, which ended up being as unfinished as Do-bin’s voice. The words read “I like my younger sibling” (but with a mistake), and Sung-kyu quietly sighed.

“It’s not ‘I like my younger sibling’; it should be ‘I like my younger sibling.’”

After Sung-kyu’s feedback, Do-bin dropped one vowel and completed the phrase as “I like my younger sibling.” Sung-kyu’s voice rose even higher.

“‘Jo’ as in ‘jo!’ Add the ‘hi’ final consonant to it!”

Ye-na could write ‘jo’ so well and write a sixteen-character sentence all by herself, so why couldn’t his son write even six characters correctly?

Do-bin, unable to comprehend his father’s desires, felt frustrated by the sudden dictation instruction.

“Dad, I don’t want to do this.”

“Just a little more. It will be beneficial for you.”

Do-bin looked at Sung-kyu in disbelief.

“How can writing be beneficial?”

“No, it’s helpful for you. Just one more. Write ‘If the sea were land.’”

“What’s land?”

“Land. We call land ‘yukji’ in Korean.”

“So, if the sea were land, is that good?”

“Right. Quickly write, ‘If the sea were land.’”

“I think it wouldn’t be good if the sea were land. Why should I write that?”

“It’s dictation time now!”

“Aha, during dictation time, I write about the sea!”

“Ugh, yes. Quickly write.”

Nodding along with the strange logic, Do-bin picked up his pencil again. With a more serious expression than a famous calligrapher, he wrote ten characters slowly over the course of ten minutes. However, the result was “If the sea were land, it would be ‘joketda’.”

“I taught you just now! It’s ‘jo’! Add the ‘hi’ final consonant!”

Following Sung-kyu’s nagging, Do-bin corrected the writing. But it wasn’t fixed immediately.

“You need to correct this too. It’s not ‘cat,’ it’s ‘get.’ It’s ‘ge’ with a double ‘s’ final consonant. You know what double ‘s’ is, right?”

“Dad, there is a double ‘s,’ but why isn’t there a double ‘n’?”

“Why isn’t there? Because King Sejong didn’t create it!”

“Then you should create it. I’ll call you ‘King.’”

“Stop joking around and write quickly.”

“Dad, I really don’t want to do this.”

Just as the last dictation sentence was approaching, his son collapsed. Sung-kyu sighed and turned his head, noticing that his younger son, Do-yun, was rubbing his hands on the blanket after eating cherries and spitting out the pits.

“Park Do-yun!”

Sung-kyu quickly scooped up Do-yun. The white blanket was already stained red with autumn leaves.

Kids can’t help but make a mess. If they don’t make a mess, they aren’t kids.

Sung-kyu lamented. What should he do? That was the new blanket that Jin-seo had put on today.

Noticing that his father was upset, Do-yun looked around cautiously.

“Sorry, Dad.”

It was hard to get mad at young Do-yun. Sung-kyu quickly resigned himself and comforted Do-yun.

“You shouldn’t say sorry to me.”

“That’s right. I shouldn’t say sorry to Dad; I should say it to the blanket.”

Do-bin chimed in, pretending to know. Sung-kyu could only smile.

Sung-kyu stood the two kids up and began his lesson.

“Park Do-bin, Park Do-yun, listen well. There are times when it’s okay to say sorry, and times when you should admit your mistake. Is it right or wrong to get fruit juice on the blanket?”

“It was Do-yun who did it! I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Anyway, I’m just asking. Is it okay to get fruit juice on the blanket or not?”

“But the teacher said that Shin Saimdang painted with fruit juice.”

“That’s a story about Shin Saimdang!”

Do-bin’s outrageous and cheeky response made Sung-kyu raise his voice again. Jin-seo, who had just returned to the bedroom after talking with Do-yun’s teacher on the phone, giggled at the sight of Sung-kyu.

“Struggling this much with the kids for a moment, what will you do in the future?”

“Mom, please save me!”

Do-bin, who found the dictation too hard, ran over to Jin-seo. Sung-kyu watched that scene with a weary expression and then went out to the kitchen.

Raising kids is the hardest job in the world. The kids only cause trouble, and even when he tries to talk sense into them, they don’t understand. And now there was a third child on the way.

After gulping down cold water, Sung-kyu let out a long sigh as Jin-seo approached him.

“Were you really that tired?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“The floor seems to be sighing heavily,” Jin-seo commented.

“No, no. It was just the water that was really cold,” Sung-kyu made an excuse, but Jin-seo quickly saw through her husband’s feelings.

“Do you know why I like Ye-na so much? What are Ji-heon and Jung-oh planning to do about their new house? Have you heard anything?”

“Well, Ji-heon’s current place is quite spacious. They might go with that.”

“I heard that Jung-oh’s mother feels burdened by places that are too high up.”

“Oh, really? I didn’t know that.”

Sung-kyu answered gruffly, showing little interest, while Jin-seo expressed her desire.

“It would be so nice if they moved near our neighborhood. It would be convenient to visit, and it would be great if Do-bin and Ye-na could go to elementary school together later on. Don’t you think?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess?”

“Ask around a bit. Find out where they plan to get a new house. And try to convince them that our neighborhood is great, okay?”

.......*

Upon hearing that Yeong-mi had visited Jung-oh, Ji-heon and Jae-gwang headed straight to Jung-oh’s house.

Throughout the journey, Jae-gwang nagged Ji-heon.

“Come on, hurry up. Our driver Kim is going to yawn from the back.”

“Yeah, but he’s going alone.”

“I still need to bring your mom along. Just step on it a bit harder. Even my driving would be better than this.”

Under Jae-gwang’s persistent urging, Ji-heon grew increasingly anxious. However, thanks to his father’s insistence, they arrived earlier than expected. They then spotted Jung-oh standing blankly in front of the house.

“Jung-oh!”

After Ji-heon got out, Jae-gwang followed suit.

Jung-oh, who had been standing there, belatedly recognized Jae-gwang and greeted him with a bewildered expression.

“Hello, Chairman.”

“Right, right.”

“What brings you here…?”

“Ye-na sent me a message. She said her mother is here.”

Ji-heon replied to Jung-oh’s trailing question.

“Oh, she left already.”

With an awkward response, Jung-oh’s expression darkened even more. Not only Ji-heon, but Jae-gwang too. Seeing everyone rush over like it was a big deal made Jung-oh reflect on how bold his actions had been.

He had seriously crushed Mrs. Jang Yeong-mi’s pride…

Feeling uncomfortable facing both of them, Jung-oh spoke up.

“As I mentioned before, Ji-heon’s mom can be a bit sensitive. If I said something hurtful…”

“No, it wasn’t like that at all. I’m fine, but… I think I might have hurt the lady.”

Not knowing Jung-oh’s true feelings, Jae-gwang attempted to apologize first, but Jung-oh immediately denied it. Jung-oh’s serious expression widened Jae-gwang’s eyes a bit.

“I’m sorry. You should hurry and go see the lady.”

“Yeah, that sounds right.”

Understanding Jung-oh’s implication, Jae-gwang rushed back to the car that had followed them.

Jung-oh then told Ji-heon as well.

“Oppa, you should go too.”

“No, I need to stay here. I told Ye-na I’d be there by nine.”

Upon hearing Ji-heon’s response, Jung-oh slowly nodded and turned to leave. As Jung-oh ascended the stairs ahead, Ji-heon asked,

“Are you okay?”

“……”

“Don’t take to heart whatever your mother says.”

“Yeah. I understand.”

Jung-oh answered dryly and climbed the stairs, opening the front door.

“Daddy!”

At the sound of the door opening, Ye-na dashed out from her room. Ji-heon picked her up effortlessly.

“Did you have fun today, Ye-na?”

“Yeah!”

Guk-soon, who had been pacing inside the house waiting for Jung-oh, also rushed to the entrance. Switching her gaze between Ji-heon and Jung-oh, Guk-soon asked,

“Did you… meet with my mother?”

“No, she had already left, so I couldn’t meet her.”

While listening to Ji-heon’s response, Guk-soon’s gaze remained fixed on Jung-oh. With just an hour, her daughter’s face looked drained of energy, and Guk-soon secretly sighed. Yet, she couldn’t reveal this feeling to Ji-heon.

Ji-heon, for his part, was also on edge. He wondered how to bring up this awkwardness and how to apologize, but while he was thinking, Ye-na, clinging to Ji-heon, started fidgeting.

“Daddy, I need to brush my teeth.”

“Okay.”

As Ji-heon tried to set Ye-na down, she clung to him even tighter.

“Ye-na, you can brush your teeth by yourself.”

“No, I can’t do it alone.”

Jung-oh spoke sharply to Ye-na, but Ye-na lightly brushed it off. In the end, Ji-heon carried Ye-na to the bathroom.

After brushing the child’s teeth, washing her face and hands, and reading about three storybooks featuring monsters, Ye-na’s eyelids finally grew heavy.

After gently patting her to sleep and laying her down in her room, Ji-heon greeted Guk-soon and left the house. Jung-oh came down with him. Just like when they were climbing the stairs, Ji-heon felt a tug at his heart when he saw Jung-oh’s gloomy back.

“Jung-oh.”

“What did Mom say to you about Ye-na?”

Jung-oh turned to Ji-heon, who had called her.

“…She said she would raise Ye-na.”

“……”

“So I told her not to say things like that. Let’s pretend I didn’t hear it.”

As Ji-heon confessed with his parched lips, Jung-oh’s voice became even drier.

“I had a rough conversation with her earlier. It wasn’t a fight, but I was the one firing off remarks. I had a lot bottled up inside.”

“……”

“Oppa, I’m going to protect Ye-na. She is my number one priority. That will never change.”

There was no crack in her resolute voice. Ji-heon simply stood there, meeting Jung-oh’s solemn gaze.

“If I have to keep confronting your mother, I will do it. But you don’t have to.”

“……”

“I thought you should be around because you’re the child’s father, but I respect your choice. There’s no need to take a rough path just because of a sense of duty. Even if we can’t become a family, Ye-na will still call you Dad.”

Jung-oh’s words made Ji-heon’s heart race.

What does this even mean?

What will I do without you?

He wanted to deny her worries, but inside, he felt a fiery and overwhelming heat, unable to voice his feelings.

“I’m going now. Take care.”

In the meantime, she emotionlessly turned away. He felt like someone on the opposite side had latched a leash around him, pulling him back. Resisting this unseen force, he struggled to move his body.

It felt as if shackles had been placed on his feet, making it impossible to move forward. The world before his eyes seemed to close in like a dot.

Haven’t I shown you all my feelings?

Jung-oh, who had turned away, suddenly stopped in her tracks.

The cold words she had said to Ji-heon were meant to prompt him to think rationally. Although she confidently told Yeong-mi that she would become “the new family of her son,” she couldn’t truly convince herself.

After today’s encounter, Jung-oh realized she couldn’t get along with Yeong-mi. This fact didn’t faze her, but it could cause pain for Ji-heon.

He probably wished that Jung-oh could get along with Yeong-mi. Even if he believed his choice was correct now and distanced himself from his mother, there might come a time when he would resent Jung-oh for putting a rift between him and her.

That’s why Jung-oh insisted it wasn’t necessary for them to become a family. She wanted to show that there were alternatives that wouldn’t shake everyone up.

But soon, her heart grew heavy. She felt a sense of unease at Ji-heon’s silence. He might be heartbroken, but she feared he might also be in shock.

Turning back, Jung-oh approached Ji-heon again.

He stood there, unable to lift his head, cradling his forehead with one hand, looking pitiful.

“What are you doing? We should go home. Are you not coming?”

From down the alley, a car’s lights flickered. It seemed like it might be coming this way or perhaps turning to leave.

Not wanting him to be left standing in the middle of the alley, Jung-oh retracted her earlier words.

“If I spoke too harshly, I’m sorry. Let’s talk again later. You should go now.”

She thought it would be better to calmly help him understand rather than speaking coldly. But he still didn’t react.

Jung-oh stepped closer and placed her hand on his arm. She felt a trembling like that of a wild animal thrown into a snowy field on a winter night.

“Hey. Ji-heon.”

Slightly startled, Jung-oh tilted her head to examine Ji-heon’s face. His large hand covered his face, obscuring her view of his expression.

Jung-oh raised both hands, firmly cupping Ji-heon’s cheeks and pulling him closer. She felt a warm liquid touch her fingertips. Only then did Jung-oh see his face.

The streetlight flickered precariously, casting a light on his face. His darkened eyes seemed filled with nothing but black fear.

“Oppa.”

A faint beam of light trickled down his cheek.

It seemed as if he had forgotten how to breathe.