Brother, Am I Cute? [EN]: Chapter 179

Hyung, Am I Cute? 179

-Daycare.

Siha took out the snacks he brought from Singapore.

He gave them to his best friends, the twins, first.

“Seung-joon! Hana!”

“Wow! Thank you. This looks really delicious.”

“Wow! Hamada!”

The twins jumped up and down, delighted.

Siha felt proud seeing them like that.

That’s why he bought souvenirs.

Jong-soo peeked his head out and looked, a slightly envious expression on his face.

But he didn’t want to show it, so he turned his head away, saying, ‘Hmph.’

“Whatever, looks tasty. But you can’t eat it now.”

“Ah, Jong-soo.”

“Huh? Is this mine?”

“Ah, Jong-soo’s.”

“Oh… thanks.”

The corners of Jong-soo’s mouth twitched.

He was happy that Siha thought of him, but also embarrassed for acting out.

Jae-hui, who was next to him, also received one and purely enjoyed the joy.

Siha gave snacks to the remaining two, Yoon-dong and Eun-woo, and looked at the two remaining paper bags.

‘Why are there two left?’ he wondered, then looked at the teacher.

“Ah! Teacher. Head Teacher. This.”

“Oh? You’re giving one to the teacher too?”

“Present.”

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it. Hamane?”

The head teacher happily accepted it, and they decided to have a special treat of chocolate together today.

The kids got excited and tore open the snacks to taste them.

Chocolate is always right.

While everyone was enjoying the snacks, Seung-joon tried to eat another one but was caught by the teacher’s radar.

The teacher stopped Seung-joon.

“There, Seung-joon. You can’t eat more. Eating too much will rot your teeth.”

“No, it won’t. If I brush my teeth, it won’t rot.”

“Uh-huh. The bacteria inside your teeth noticed you ate two and are now raising their spears.”

“Hahaha! Lies!”

The teacher realized that reasoning wouldn’t work on Seung-joon and felt frustrated.

But she couldn’t lose here.

Other kids were also subtly trying to sneak more snacks.

Life is about learning moderation.

Especially, parents don’t want their kids to eat too many snacks.

It’s not about anything else, but eating too many snacks makes them eat less or not eat rice at all.

So, you have to teach them not to eat too much when you can.

The teacher quickly scanned the surroundings.

First, she saw Siha.

“Ike. Ike.”

He was putting the snacks in his bag.

He didn’t want to eat more like the other kids.

Because he had already eaten a lot of Hama chocolate.

So, after eating one, he could put the snacks in his bag without any regrets.

He wasn’t exactly practicing moderation.

“Siha is doing so well. He’s keeping his promise to eat only one and putting the snacks in his bag! Everyone, clap!”

Clap, clap, clap.

The kids clapped along with the teacher without even realizing it.

Praise makes whales dance.

No. Praise makes other kids follow along.

Of course, it’s not a method that works for everyone.

But it has an effect. To give it an even greater effect, you have to give a reward.

“I’ll give this praise stamp to the child who keeps the promise well.”

“Ah?”

The teacher stamped Siha’s report card.

A bear face was stamped right there.

“If you collect 20 of these, you’ll get a good present, so let’s work hard to collect them, Siha.”

“Bear!”

Siha wasn’t interested in the present; he was fixated on the bear.

But what does it matter? Everyone started putting their snacks away at the teacher’s words.

The first one to run over was Seung-joon.

“Teacher! I put them all away. Here’s my report card!”

Seung-joon? Isn’t that a bit too quick of a change of attitude?

Jong-soo belatedly dragged Jae-hui over in a hurry.

The teacher stamped their cards as if she couldn’t help it.

Everyone was smiling brightly, happy to receive a stamp.

“Then everyone, sit down. Siha is going to tell us a fun story about his trip.”

“Ah?”

“Okay. Today, Siha is going to tell us a fun story.”

“Ah.”

The kids listened well to get the stamp.

So, she decided to take this opportunity to challenge Siha to speak.

She had a good excuse that he went to Singapore.

“Ah. Siha. Went Singapore.”

“Oh!”

“Siha went country.”

“Oh oh!”

Siha waved his hands.

He seemed to be explaining that he flew on an airplane.

Then he trudged over to Eun-woo.

Extending his hand.

“Hat.”

“What?”

“Hat.”

“You’re asking to borrow my hat?”

Eun-woo didn’t want to lend his beloved snapback.

But he had received chocolate, so he took it off and gave it to him.

“Thank you.”

Siha puts on the snapback.

He pulls it down so low that it almost covers his eyes and nose.

He stands at attention and looks forward, but his eyes can’t be seen clearly.

Eun-woo thought, ‘He knows how to wear it?’

“Red hat. Da-na-kka [a Japanese word for ‘is it?’]. Da-na-kka. Words are ddal-nae [a Korean slang term for ‘followers’].”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

The kids didn’t know what Siha was saying, so they tilted their heads.

Only Teacher Yoo Da-hee wracked her brain to interpret it.

‘Could it be a military drill instructor?’

That was the answer.

Siha was imitating what his brother had done to Baek Dong-hwan.

Having said everything he wanted to say, he returned the snapback to Eun-woo.

Whether the kids understood or not, he moved on to the next story.

“Rice tree. Big. Swim did. Dance did.”

Something was greatly omitted in the middle, but the kids nodded as if they understood.

Seung-joon raised his hand as if he had a question.

“Siha. What dance did you do?”

“Ah? Like this. Like this. Singapore dance.”

Siha’s dance was reenacted at the daycare.

His feet stomped excitedly, and his upper body moved smoothly as if he were dancing a waltz, grabbing someone.

No one knew how that dance came about.

“Wow! That’s a really amazing dance! Hahaha! Singapore is funny!”

They don’t dance like that in Singapore.

It’s just a type of waltz.

The kids had never seen it before, so they just watched it with amusement.

But there was one person who was uncomfortable with it.

“What kind of dance is that? That’s not how you dance.”

Yoon-dong jumped up from his seat.

He hadn’t cared what kind of dance the kids had danced until now, but now it was different.

He didn’t think there was a country that danced such a strange dance.

Yoon-dong at the daycare loved dancing that much.

“I wasn’t going to step up for your sake, but that’s not how you dance!”

Eun-woo, who was behind him, nodded.

Jong-soo was surprised.

He had been playing with Yoon-dong and Eun-woo until now, but they had been quite quiet.

Of course, that was Jong-soo’s misunderstanding.

The two weren’t quiet; they were just less interested.

What was really important to these two was their dream.

“Hey. That’s not how you dance. Watch carefully. Eun-woo, help me out.”

“Okay.”

Eun-woo put his snapback backward and stood up from his seat.

He covered his mouth with one hand and made three sounds.

Kick (K) is book. Hi-hat (H) is tsu. Snare (S) is phew.

A 4-beat rhythm flowed from Eun-woo’s mouth.

“Book tsu phew tsu. Book tsu phew tsu.”

Yoon-dong danced to it.

Poppin’, different from the kids’ rhythmic movements.

He twitched his muscles. He moved his arms and legs to match.

His body moved naturally, cutting off with a snap! Snap!

It felt slow to the 4-beat, but the groove was amazing.

“Wow!”

The teacher’s eyes widened as if she was surprised.

In fact, she knew what these two were good at, but it was the first time she had seen it with her own eyes.

‘They’re prodigies. Prodigies.’

Yoon-dong was great, but Eun-woo was also great.

A child doing beatbox.

When Yoon-dong gestured to speed up, Eun-woo nodded as if he understood.

8 beats. 16 beats.

But as the beat got faster, he ran out of breath and fell out.

Eun-woo smiled awkwardly.

“Haha! I need to practice more.”

“Hahaha. Still a long way to go.”

“I’m more of a rapper than a beatboxer!”

“You run out of breath quickly when you rap fast too.”

“No, I don’t!”

Clap, clap, clap.

Siha clapped first, impressed by the two.

The other kids also applauded, saying they were great.

The two were proud, puffing out their chests like kids who hang out with Jong-soo.

They were showing off to the fullest.

The teacher smiled and said.

“You two did really well. So that’s how you dance?”

“Yes! That’s right. Siha, did you understand?”

“Ah? Ah!”

Siha followed along as if he understood.

Wriggle, wriggle. Shake, shake.

Seung-joon laughed and followed along from the side.

Wriggle, wriggle. Shake, shake.

His arms and legs couldn’t be controlled and flailed around.

Yoon-dong covered his eyes with both hands, saying he had seen something shocking.

Eun-woo shouted ‘Unbelievable!’ from the side.

“Okay, okay. Everyone calm down.”

The teacher jumped up from her seat.

No matter how she thought about it, now was the perfect timing.

“Wouldn’t you all like to learn how to dance properly?!”

The kids tilted their heads.

Only the head teacher nodded, guessing what she meant.

“We all have something to dance together for!”

The teacher’s eyes sparkled.

***

-Lecture room.

I’m not used to listening to lectures after a long time.

A relaxed schedule seems to be a disadvantage at times like this.

Sitting still and listening to the class makes my body ache.

I feel like I should be doing translation work at this time.

Am I a workaholic? Do I have some kind of obsession?

Maybe it’s because it’s a lecture I’m less interested in.

Or maybe it’s because it’s 1 minute before the end of class, so my concentration is dropping?

Tap!

Something poked my arm.

Looking over, Seo Soo-hyun was shaking a pen, telling me to wake up.

“Oppa [term for older brother used by females]. It’s almost over, so don’t space out.”

“I feel like I know it even if I don’t listen?”

“Geez. It’s not like you have a library in your head. Did you memorize all this content?”

“I read the book a bit beforehand. I memorized it all.”

“You’re lying.”

I wish it were a lie.

It’s natural to have other thoughts if you know the content roughly.

Isn’t this a side effect of advanced learning?

I shouldn’t send Siha to a cram school or something to study in advance.

It might be much better to have her do other studies instead?

“That’s all for today. Everyone, good job.”

The professor packed his things and left the lecture room.

Everyone was putting their books in their bags and trying to leave, but Seo Soo-hyun tapped my chair.

“Oppa. Just a moment.”

“Oh, okay.”

When I made room, Seo Soo-hyun shouted loudly.

“Everyone, don’t leave and listen to me for a moment!”

Thump.

The movement of a student who was quickly packing their bag to leave stopped.

Seo Soo-hyun looked at that student and went to the blackboard.

“Okay. I know everyone is busy because of the midterm period, but listen to this one thing before you go.”

“What is it! Hurry!”

“You know it’s the festival after the midterms, right?”

“Agh!”

“The Korean language department runs a food stall. Everyone needs to help a lot.”

“Ah! What are you selling? Isn’t it always the same thing?”

“So-tteok-so-tteok [a popular Korean street food consisting of sausage and rice cake skewers].”

“Ah. Can’t you just buy that and sell it?”

“We’re going to make a special sauce. And we’re going to sell juice together.”

“You can just make the 1st and 2nd graders do it. That’s what we did back then.”

“The skewers are handmade. Please put them on the skewers one by one.”

“That much?”

Why go that far? She grimaced.

But college students aren’t stupid, shouldn’t they make what they want to eat?

“There’s a sausage and rice cake combination, but there’s also a beef and rice cake combination.”

“Huh? Beef?!”

The ‘so’ in so-tteok-so-tteok wasn’t sausage, it was beef?!

I was a little surprised too.

“Yes. I can buy it cheaply through an acquaintance. The budget is all out.”

“Wow. Are you going to grill it with a torch?”

“No. We’re going to boil it a little in advance, then put it on, and then finish it off by greasing a frying pan.”

“That’s a lot of work?”

“We have to make a set amount in advance. So, if everyone takes the time to make five skewers each, there will be a lot, right? You can take that much time, right?”

“That’s true.”

“The 1st and 2nd graders will also set up the booth and procure the ingredients. The 3rd graders only need to put on the skewers and then do some ‘hogang’ [foolish customer] behavior at the booth once in a while.”

“Isn’t it ‘customer attraction’?”

“Ah. Mistake, mistake. It would be even better if you came and bought it.”

I don’t think ‘hogang’ behavior was a mistake?

Doesn’t that mean the Korean language department will come and buy it if it doesn’t sell? That.

‘Festival…….’

This would be Siha’s first college festival, right?

I smiled, thinking it would be fun to be with Siha.