Chapter 106: Late Spring (1)

After the joyful Christmas passed, Gu Bong-gu left the hospital after a long time. And not long after, Gu Bong-gu started running the kindergarten again.

Because of this, the children started attending kindergarten again.

"I'm off, Dad. Come pick me up quickly when it's over."

"Okay, Suryeon. Study hard."

"Yeah."

And so, the children attend kindergarten.

I diligently went around closing dimensional gates.

As we each lived our lives in our proper places, time flowed mercilessly and it became New Year's Day.

"How do you make rice cake soup again..."

It's still not easy to cook even with the recipe. New dishes are always difficult. I made a simple, thick rice cake soup following the recipe.

"Alright, everyone eat your rice cake soup and age a year."

Clatter-

I put down bowls of rice cake soup in front of each of them.

Then Choryeon looked at the rice cake soup, raised her hand, and asked.

"Father, what does rice cake soup have to do with age?"

"Ah, you don't know that. They say you age a year when you eat rice cake soup on New Year's Day."

"Then, if I eat two bowls, I'll age two years!?"

Eureka-!

Choryeon's eyes widened as if she had made a discovery of the century. Just as I was about to correct Choryeon's words, saying that's not how it works,

"What?! If you eat one bowl of rice cake soup! You age one year!?"

"I've found it. The optimal route to become an adult. It's an age copying event."

Hwaryeon and Suryeon started emptying their bowls of rice cake soup without even listening to me.

"I finished! I'm 1 year old now! Bring more rice cake soup! No, bring it all!!!"

"I'll have one more bowl too."

Hwaryeon held out her empty bowl to me, demanding more quickly. Even Suryeon, who usually eats little, wanted more rice cake soup.

As if not wanting to lose,

"If I age a lot, I could marry Father, right! Please give me one more bowl too, Father!"

Swish-

The kids held out their instantly emptied bowls to me. I was flustered, but since they said they wanted to eat, I refilled their bowls.

"Hmph, I'm first! I'll age the most!"

"By eating a lot of rice cake soup, I'll become an adult quickly."

"Marriage with Father...! It's not far away...! Please wait a little, Father...!"

Slurp slurp-

The kids ate the rice cake soup as if they were inhaling it. Seeing their passionate behavior, I wondered if I should tell them the truth.

'They're eating the rice cake soup so deliciously. Should I tell them, or not?'

I should tell them it's just a saying with no real meaning, but I couldn't bring myself to say it due to the kids' overwhelming enthusiasm.

So the dragons continued to empty bowls of rice cake soup.

"One more bowl!"

Empty bowls piled up.

"One more for me too."

The children's bellies, which were like melons, swelled up like watermelons.

"Please give me one more too!"

Only after I bought more ingredients and made more rice cake soup, and the pot was finally empty,

"Ah! I ate well and I'm full! I ate the most!"

"Urgh, maybe I overdid it... But now I'm... an adult..."

"Ugh, now I... can marry Father...! Let's have the wedding quickly... Father...!"

The children finished eating rice cake soup. The dragon kids ate so much rice cake soup that they became adults.

I patted their bellies, which had become like volleyballs, and said.

"By the way, kids. Do you know something?"

"What is it, Father?"

"Actually, eating rice cake soup doesn't make you age."

"What? What do you mean?"

"It means you're still 1 year old."

"...Father?"

Chill-

The air froze cold. The dragon kids glared at me with glowing eyes as if they would kill me. They seemed to be very angry with me.

'Ah, this is bad.'

Let's run away before it's too late. I quickly escaped to the bathroom to avoid the kids, and that action was close to the optimal decision.

"Dad tricked me! Dad, you're dead!"

"You dared to deceive me. Don't hide and come out now, Dad."

"I'm disappointed, Father. If you come out now and have the wedding, I'll forgive you."

Bang bang-!!

The children pounded on the door, telling me to come out of the bathroom. I desperately blocked the door and shouted.

"You should listen to the end in Korean! You misunderstood! And you enjoyed the rice cake soup, didn't you!"

"That's a different issue, Dad. Open the door quickly."

Bang bang-!!

The door shook with strong vibrations. I couldn't hide in the bathroom all day, so I came out when the kids' anger seemed to have subsided somewhat.

"Ahem, kids. Is your anger all gone?"

"No."

"Do you think it would be?"

"No. I'm still angry!"

The kids' horns were sticking up fiercely. Since their anger wasn't fully gone, I had no choice but to pay a settlement.

"Happy New Year!"

"Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year!"

"...Okay, everyone get your New Year's money."

I had no choice but to give them generous New Year's money.

The financial loss was quite big, so I had to secretly wipe away tears while looking at my account balance.

'These robber kids.'

They're greedier for money than I thought. I felt it must be because they're dragons.

***

As the cold winter came to an end, a short spring came to us.

Which means, it became the time when plants start growing green.

"It's time to farm, Father!"

Smile-

Choryeon smiled brightly and grabbed my hand, leading me to the rooftop. The time for farming, which we had been waiting for during the long winter, had finally come.

"Sprinkle the seeds~ And water them well~"

Hum hum-

Choryeon headed to the rooftop in a good mood. I spoke to the dragon kids still sitting dazed.

"Lee Hwaryeon, Lee Suryeon! You come to the rooftop too!"

"..."

"..."

See this?

Hwaryeon and Suryeon didn't even respond. I had no choice but to bring out our family principle.

"Dragons who don't work don't eat. If you don't come to the rooftop, no dinner today."

"Fine! We're coming!"

Jump-!

Hwaryeon and Suryeon also got up and followed to the rooftop. It seems they consider food important too.

'Fortunately, we have a tractor and watering can.'

S-class tractor and watering can. I thought my daughters have truly amazing abilities, even if they are my children.

"What's with that look, Dad! I don't like it! Raaah-!"

"Me neither."

Chomp-!

Hwaryeon and Suryeon bit my legs as I was going up to the rooftop.

'...Do they know by instinct?'

These scary kids.

I dragged my legs with teeth marks up to the rooftop. It had become quite dirty since we hadn't been up here in a while.

"We should clean up before planting crops in the flower beds. Everyone, bring cleaning supplies!"

"Yes!"

Pitter-patter-

Choryeon ran ahead first and brought cleaning supplies. Then, she distributed cleaning tools to the children and they started cleaning up the trash diligently.

"There's so much trash in the world! We should clean it all up!"

"You can say that again."

"When I grow up, I'll clean up all the trash! Every last bit of it!"

Choryeon's eyes didn't waver as she said this. It seemed she was serious.

"Cleaning up trash is good. But Choryeon."

"Yes!"

"You shouldn't treat humans as trash, okay?"

"Hmm, I think that might change depending on the situation!"

"..."

She's not giving a definite answer.

I thought Choryeon might be dreaming of something scarier than I expected. After cleaning the rooftop together like that, I stood by the flower bed with seeds to plant crops.

"It's been a while since I've done this."

"I'm bored! I want to sprinkle too!"

"Okay, Hwaryeon can sprinkle too."

Hwaryeon was jumping up and down asking me for seeds, so I put seeds in Hwaryeon's hand. Then Hwaryeon started sprinkling seeds in the flower bed enthusiastically.

"Grow or don't! Grow on your own!"

Seeds were sprinkled in the flower bed with an energetic voice. Choryeon saw this and approached with interest.

"Father! I want to sprinkle seeds too!"

"Okay, Choryeon, take some too. Don't sprinkle pepper seeds in the lettuce area."

"Yes! I understand!"

Hwaryeon and Choryeon sprinkled seeds according to their designated areas. Seeing them enjoy planting seeds like this made me feel good.

'I'm glad they're not finding this bothersome.'

Although Suryeon seems to find it bothersome. I asked Suryeon, who was quietly watching from afar.

"Suryeon, aren't you going to do it?"

Suryeon stared at me intently, then turned her head and answered.

"I don't need to. It's bothersome."

"Well, if you say so... Can you bring the watering can instead?"

"Okay. Watering can."

Suryeon nodded and went down from the rooftop.

I was relieved that although she wasn't interested in sowing seeds, she was still cooperative with farming. But that was short-lived.

"Dad."

Suryeon came back with an uncharacteristically flustered expression. There was no watering can in Suryeon's hands.

Suryeon looked at me with a serious expression and said.

"I think it would be better if you come quickly."

"Why?"

"That human you call Grandma has collapsed on the stairs."

As soon as those words ended, I quickly left the rooftop and headed for the stairs. As Suryeon said, Grandma had collapsed on the stairs just below the rooftop.

"Grandma!"

Remembering Gu Bong-gu's words to take care of Grandma, I quickly picked up Grandma on my back and started running towards the hospital since there's no ambulance system operating in District 09.

So, I ran to the hospital with my daughters to take Grandma there.