Chapter 140
“How long will you be staying overseas?”
The dean said while looking through the documents.
Mom answered for me, since I was keeping my lips tightly shut.
“It looks like we'll be leaving in early July and staying for about a month.”
“Understood. I'll take care of the business-trip paperwork. Since you're attending a conference, we'll classify it as official business travel.”
The dean wrote something on a memo pad.
“You won't have any lectures since it's vacation, but what will you do about your research lab?”
“Um...”
That was the first question that made me open my mouth.
“I'll supervise them through online meetings.”
“…Ah, I see.”
The dean looked at me with a slightly puzzled expression.
“Professor Yoo A-yeon, you seem rather quiet today.”
“…!”
As if I had just had a staring contest with Medusa, I froze solid on the spot—crack-crack-.
“You usually tell us all sorts of interesting stories. Are you feeling unwell?”
“…Ah, no!”
I hurriedly waved my hands back and forth.
“I'm perfectly fine! It's just...”
“Just?”
“…I decided today would be a quiet day!”
“…?”
Stare-stare-.
Ugh... That questioning gaze was prickling me.
“Heh heh. I see. If that's what you say, Professor Yoo A-yeon. Everyone has days like that now and then.”
The dean didn't press me any further and simply laughed it off.
Only then did I swallow a sigh of relief.
Phew-.
So even silence becomes suspicious when you're usually so chatty.
Anyway, I got through it, so yay!
✒️✒️✒️
One day, while preparations for our departure were in full swing.
An envelope bearing the name of the Korean Chess Federation arrived in the mailbox.
“Dad-! Something came addressed to me-!”
Arin waved the envelope around with both hands.
Dad took the envelope and opened it.
A stack of documents related to the Chess Olympiad came out.
National team athlete's oath.
Consent form for portrait rights and broadcasting.
Consent form agreeing to anti-doping regulations.
Consent form for participating in an overseas tournament.
“…Wow, that's a lot. They even have anti-doping rules?”
Flip-.
Dad flipped through the documents one by one.
“So you have to fill out all this stuff when you become a member of the national team.”
“Of course. You're going out as Korea's representative.”
Mom said this while neatly sorting the documents.
“They need confirmation from the athlete herself, too.”
“What's that?”
Arin rose onto her tiptoes and peeked over to check.
There were so many difficult words that she seemed to get dizzy almost immediately.
“Heh-heh, you just need to look here.”
Mom pointed to the back page of the documents.
A separate confirmation box had been provided for the athlete herself.
“Hmm...”
I thought about that box for a moment.
Then I realized something.
“Ah-! Arin can't sign her name!”
“That's right.”
Mom and Dad nodded.
Apparently, the signatures of children under the age of fourteen often aren't legally recognized.
So if a problem arose later, the signature itself could be treated as invalid.
I had run into exactly the same problem when I opened an account to receive the Millennium Prize money last year.
That's why I had an official seal made.
If you make an official seal and stamp it—thunk—it apparently gives its wobbly legal validity a massive power boost?
It was time for Arin to have a seal made, too.
“A seal?”
Arin's eyes went perfectly round.
“Yeah. A seal engraved with Arin's name.”
At those words, Arin's eyes began to sparkle.
“My name? They're really going to carve Yoo Arin into it?”
Before long, Arin was pattering around the floor. Pat-pat-pat-pat-.
“Of course.”
“…Heeheehee.”
Arin pressed her palm against her cheek and grinned ear to ear.
I remembered being that happy when I got my own seal last year.
Having an object bearing your own name when you're little is just that exciting.
“Then I'll take you there tomorrow.”
Dad said this while looking up a seal shop nearby.
“Okay! Have fun, you two-.”
✒️✒️✒️
The next afternoon.
Beep-beep-beep-beep-!
The rapid-fire tapping of the door-lock buttons rang out, and the front door flew open.
A tempo faster than the Flight of the Bumblebee.
Arin must have risen onto her tiptoes, stretched her arms high, and frantically hammered the passcode.
“Unniii-!”
Da-da-da-da-da-da-.
Arin kicked off her shoes haphazardly and ran into the living room.
“Look, I got my seal! My Yoo Arin personal seal!”
“Ooh! Really?”
Arin held the seal out to me with both hands.
“Look! It's my name!”
“Wowww.”
I took the seal and examined its engraved face.
[Yoo Arin Seal]
It had been carved with great elegance and neatness.
“It came out pretty!”
“Heeheehee-.”
Arin took the seal back and hugged it tightly to her chest.
“The seal maker recognized Arin.”
Dad said this with a laugh as he came in behind her.
“We went to the shop where we had A-yeon's seal made last year. When he asked if we were sisters and I said yes, he said our faces were identical.”
“Hmph-.”
I shrugged.
After all, people said that my sister and I didn't just look alike—we acted exactly alike, too.
“But, Unni.”
“Yeah?”
“Where am I supposed to stamp this?”
“On the documents. Those documents that arrived earlier.”
“Somewhere other than that?”
“Somewhere else?”
I tilted my head.
“Yeah. Somewhere other than paper.”
Arin said this while clutching the seal tightly.
“…Arin.”
“Yes!”
“…You're not thinking of anything strange, are you?”
“Heeheeheehee-.”
Instead of answering, Arin let out a very suspicious laugh.
It was the most devious expression a five-year-old could possibly make.
“…?”
Seeing it, I felt a prickling in my back.
That suspicious laugh made me uneasy.
It's just my imagination, right?
✒️✒️✒️
That afternoon.
I was lying on the sofa and reading a printed research paper.
It was material I wanted to get organized before going to the United States, but it was quite long.
It was such a peaceful, idle time.
“… ”
Warm sunlight was streaming in through the gap in the window.
The sunlight was warm, the sofa was soft, and my stomach was pleasantly full.
What do you think happens when these three things overlap?
That's when sweet drowsiness comes creeping in.
Zzzzz-.
I slipped gently into dreamland.
✒️✒️✒️
Bonk.
“…?”
Moist~
I felt a moist, chilly sensation press into the center of my forehead, then lift away.
“…Mmmph.”
But I was still half asleep, so my eyes wouldn't open easily.
Bonk.
This time, my cheek.
It was moist, cold, and ticklish too.
Bonk.
My other cheek.
“Ugh...”
I waved my hand around in my sleep.
Then I heard a very tiny laugh from somewhere.
“Heeheehee...”
Bonk. Bonk. Bonk.
A cold sensation passed over my forearm three times in succession.
“…”
Bonk.
Once on the back of my hand.
Bonk.
And once on the sole of my foot.
“…!”
Not the sole of my foot—it was too ticklish!
I frowned and opened my eyes.
“Ugh...! What the—!”
Bolting upright-!
I sat up on the sofa and checked myself over.
My forehead and cheeks were damp.
My arms and the soles of my feet were damp, too.
I looked down at the back of my hand.
Something had been stamped there in sky-blue paint.
[Yoo Arin Seal]
“…”
I very slowly raised my head.
Then I stood in front of the living room mirror and checked my face.
My forehead, right cheek, and left cheek.
The back of my hand, forearm, and sole of my foot, too—!
The seal reading [Yoo Arin Seal] had been stamped all over my body.
“Hey—! Yoo Arin! Where are yooou!”
I looked around the house for Arin.
Arin was already poised by the entrance.
She was ready to bolt at any moment.
“Hehe! I'm outta here-!”
Da-da-da-da-da-da-!
“Unni, it's revenge for last yearrr-!”
“…What?”
I asked before I knew it.
Revenge?
What revenge?
When did I ever—
“…Ah.”
I remembered.
“Stop right there?!”
“Nooo-!”
Clack-.
Arin put on her shoes haphazardly, hopped onto the children's kick scooter parked outside, and sped away with a whoosh-!
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-.
“Huff... huff...”
I couldn't even leave the house, so all I could do was watch my little sister's back as she disappeared into the distance.
If I went outside covered in stamps and happened to run into the neighbors, I'd be so embarrassed that I'd pound my pillow and create a brand-new dark chapter in my history.
“Ugh... I'm so frustrated...”
✒️✒️✒️
“Oh, what's this?”
Just then, Dad returned from grocery shopping.
As he set down the bag in his hand, he saw me and his eyes went wide.
“What's wrong with our daughter's face?”
“…”
Swish-.
I covered my forehead with one hand instead of answering.
But it was pointless.
My forearm had a sky-blue seal stamped on it, too.
“Pfft.”
Dad clapped a hand over his mouth.
“Ah, I shouldn't laugh.”
“Hmph! If you know that, then don't laugh!”
“Sorry, sorry. But... pffft-ha-ha-ha!”
Dad finally burst out laughing.
Then he stealthily pulled out his phone.
“…Dad?”
“Huh? Why?”
“What are you trying to do right now?”
“Nothing. I'm not doing anything.”
“Why are you taking out your phone if you're not doing anything?”
“I told you, I'm not doing anything.”
Click-!
“Daaaaad-!”
“Sorry, sorry! But I have to save this!”
Dad grabbed the grocery bag and scurried into the house.