Chapter 29
***
I had expected it.
I did.
I had even seen it with my own eyes.
"Waaaaah!! Waaaah! Oppa! Oppa!!"
"Aaaah!! Sukyeong! I'm sorry!! I'm sorry!!"
The old folks were crying.
They held each other close, and all the regret, pain, and despair of the years gone by.
They cried bitterly until they forgot all of it.
"Grandma!!"
Was it because Grandma was crying?
The blond boy was crying too as he hugged her.
Watching the three of them bawl like that, I opened the bag I had brought.
"Please stop crying and have this first."
"Sniff... What's this?"
"Cheongsimhwan."
"......"
Old Man Kim Seok-choon looked at me as if asking what kind of weirdo I was.
Tears and snot.
Even if he stared at me with bloodshot eyes, it didn't do much for me.
"Are you a T?"
"How do you know that, sir?"
"My granddaughter. Sniff, she says that when she teases me sometimes... I didn't expect you to pull out Cheongsimhwan here..."
"If you cry too much and strain yourself, that would be a bigger problem, wouldn't it?"
What's so strange about that?
In any case, the two elders took the Cheongsimhwan I offered and swallowed it.
Only then did they finally calm down enough to smile through their tear-streaked faces.
"Aigoo, oppa. You've turned into a total old geezer!"
"Please. You've got more wrinkles on your face than Grandma Chun-hee did back in the day."
"What?! You had more, oppa!!"
They snapped at each other, but beneath it was the sibling affection they had failed to share for so long.
"But, but how did you survive...?"
"Well..."
Grandma told us about the years she had lived through.
After she was separated from her brother, she was rescued by the U.S. military.
Then she was adopted by that American and lived in the United States.
"I did my own investigation too... I never imagined you'd gone to America..."
"I ended up in a very rural part of America too."
I worked hard and made a life there.
I got married, had children.
And then I came to Korea.
"Her mother is Korean."
"I see... That's good. That's really good..."
Holding hands tightly, the two of them began talking about the years that had passed.
I didn't think I needed to listen, so I nudged Han Yuna.
"What is it?"
"Let's step outside. They seem happy, so there isn't any need for us to stay."
"Sure."
I went outside with her.
By the time I had taken in the quiet country air for a moment,
Han Yuna was looking around here and there with curiosity.
"Is it fascinating?"
"It's my first time in a place like this."
She had always stayed in the city.
Of course a rural village like this would feel amazing to her.
"Even if it's a country village, it's not that special, is it?"
This house wasn't even in a real backwoods place.
It was built in a Western style, and the yard was covered in a lawn just like in America.
"Still."
Just looking over the wall, she could see rice fields and farmland stretching out, and it seemed to fascinate her endlessly.
"I saw a valley by the side when we came earlier. Want to go take a look?"
"Is that okay?"
"Why wouldn't it be?"
Old Man Kim Seok-choon would be over there.
And...
"Mr. Cheolhon."
"Yes."
"Could you stay here for a bit?"
"I am a bodyguard, though..."
Mr. Cheolhon, who had followed us in his own car when we drove here, said bluntly.
"You never know what kind of danger there might be. Especially since this is the countryside."
When he said it might be dangerous in a place without even any CCTV, Han Yuna stepped in.
"Would this be enough?"
What she took out from inside her coat was...
A gun?!
No, why would you have a gun in Korea?
"It's a gas pistol."
"Ah."
"I've learned some self-defense too, and I know how to prepare for emergencies."
"Hmm. Well, if that's the case."
He nodded while staring at Han Yuna.
He had originally said no several times, and even warned her sternly that if anything happened, she should hit the emergency bell and run straight here.
"Aw, I'm not a five-year-old left on the side of the road. Surely nothing's going to happen."
"That's how accidents happen."
"Okay, okay. We'll be back soon, so don't worry too much."
After patting his shoulder, I left with Han Yuna.
Even from the car, the country road looked pretty deserted.
"Yuna. Look at this."
"Yes?"
"It's a frog."
"......"
I hadn't exactly expected a shriek of "Eek!" or "Ugh, gross!" but this was a little...
She was staring indifferently at the frog in my hand.
"This frog has an interesting look to it. I've seen other frogs during dissection experiments."
"You do those kinds of experiments?"
"I did it in high school."
"What kind of high school did you go to that you dissected frogs..."
Anyway, while we chatted about all sorts of things with a single frog, I noticed a nearby stream.
"Have you ever played around in a place like this?"
"No."
"Want to play?"
"....Yes? Here?"
"It's hot out, and I don't even know if the water here is okay..."
"Hey."
I splashed water at her.
She looked at me with a flustered expression, then moved her hand.
-SPLASH!
"Ack!"
No, I just splashed water with my hand, so why did it hurt like I got slapped with a wave...?!
Anyway, I couldn't lose.
And so we played hard at the stream near the house.
.
.
.
"...What exactly did you two go and do?"
Old Man Kim Seok-choon stared at us, who had come back looking like drenched rats, utterly dumbfounded.
We had fun, so that's enough.
"Oh dear. Young lady, you'll catch a cold if you keep that up. Go wash up quickly, and I'll give you some of my clothes, so wear those for now."
"Noah should wash up first instead of me."
"There are two bathrooms."
One in the master bedroom, one in the living room.
She said it matter-of-factly and told me to go in and wash up right away too.
After washing up in the living room bathroom and coming out, I found a tracksuit set there.
"Our son wears it whenever he comes, so just wear it comfortably."
"Yes. Thank you, Grandma."
"And..."
Grandma's hand wrapped around mine.
Her hand was rough like an old tree trunk, but I could feel it was full of gratitude and goodwill.
"Thank you... thank you so much..."
Her small shoulders.
Her stooped back.
Her white hair, as if dusted with frost.
Her small body was trembling violently.
"If it weren't for you... sob... if it weren't for you... sniff..."
"Aigoo, please stop crying. I don't like seeing old folks cry."
"Kheung! Yes, I'm being ridiculous. I'm being ridiculous. Why am I crying so much on such a good day?"
After sniffling again and again, she wiped her face and grinned.
"We have precious guests, and I can't just sit here. At least stay and eat."
"We'll eat gratefully. Ah, there's one more person outside—may I bring him in too?"
"Of course!"
I called for Cheolhon, who was outside as well.
He kept refusing, saying it didn't seem right to eat in the middle of a protection job.
But since we'd be leaving a bit late, he couldn't exactly go without eating anything.
In the end, when I brought him in too, Han Yuna came out.
"Wow. That floral mombae pants look really good on you."
"This is the first time I've worn clothes like this. They're very comfortable."
"My daughter-in-law's pants were too big, so I figured it was a bit much to give them to you."
Even if the top was just something casual, there was nothing to be done about the bottoms, so Grandma Kim Suk-kyung said calmly that she'd lent her own pants.
"Still, you're so pretty, young lady. You look like a model."
"T-thank you."
She must have been embarrassed.
Seeing her awkwardly speak while tucking her hair behind her ear made me chuckle.
"You all like baeksuk, right?"
"Oh, I'd eat it even if I had to hunt for it."
"Then just wait a little."
The baeksuk was served.
It was delicious.
"Don't say that—come live with me instead, okay?"
"Aigoo, my grandson is right here, so where are you going? Hurry up and go home!"
Our Old Man Kim Seok-choon kept holding his younger sister's hand and refusing to let go until nightfall.
Grandma Kim Suk-kyung, after meeting her older brother for the first time in decades, smacked his back with perfect gusto and chased him off, then spoke to us.
"Young man, young lady, you're welcome to come visit anytime. You seemed to like playing at the stream earlier. It'll be even more fun in the summer. Then I'll cut up watermelon for you, give you peaches too..."
"Will you give us baeksuk too?"
"Of course!"
"I'm looking forward to it."
"Yes, yes. Come anytime."
"Go on inside."
"I'll just watch you leave."
We watched them until we got into the car.
Until the car was no longer visible.
She stood there watching us.
While I was glancing at her in the rearview mirror.
I heard sobbing from behind.
"Hh... hhhh... sniff... sob..."
"Please stop crying already."
"W-wouldn't you cry if it were you?"
"I'm an orphan, so I wouldn't really know."
"You mean you wouldn't be like this even if you saw your parents?"
"I've had no father or mother since birth. A genuine, true-to-the-bone S-rank orphan. A pureblood orphan, you could say."
And whatever the reason, they were still the parents who abandoned me.
I didn't think seeing such people would change how I felt.
"....."
Old Man Kim Seok-choon closed his mouth.
Then he grabbed my shoulder.
"You. Are you interested in adoption?"
What was that supposed to mean now?
"Adopting a child in Korea isn't an easy thing."
Especially for an unmarried man, it's even harder.
On top of that, I was just a fledgling member of society fresh out of the orphanage.
No matter how much money I had, adopting a child was nearly impossible.
"You. Become my son."
"...Pardon?"
What was this nonsense?
Old Man Kim Seok-choon, as if his gratitude toward me had overflowed its limits, continued very seriously.
"It wouldn't be a bad thing for you either."
I knew that.
Old Man Kim Seok-choon had retired, but he was a well-known wealthy man in Japan.
If I became the adopted son of someone like that, I could inherit part of his fortune within a few years.
"Uh... I don't really want to."
But I didn't like it.
It just felt unnecessary.
"It's fine if you're grateful to me, but as for adoption..."
It would be a little much to suddenly gain an older brother or sister who was more than twenty years older than me.
"How about a different relationship, then?"
"A different relationship?"
"Let's be friends."
"How big is the age gap between us, and you want to be friends..."
"Han Yuna here is my friend too. What does age matter between friends?"
"That's the kind of thing old people say..."
"If you don't want to, then forget it."
"Hmm... fine. Let's be friends."
I had made a new rich friend.