Brother, Am I Cute? [EN]: Chapter 273

Hyung, Aren’t I Cute? Episode 273

Morning arrived.

Siha had pondered diligently about what to draw the night before.

And he’d come up with an answer.

To draw his favorite Hyung and Pepe.

However, secretly drawing it without Sihyuk knowing wasn’t easy.

Because he checked Siha’s drawings, not daily, but occasionally.

Hiding the drawings saved on the tablet was impossible.

So, he decided to do the drawing at daycare.

“Hyung? Are you awake?”

“Koo-”

Confirming that Sihyuk was asleep, emitting regular breaths, he tiptoed.

He grabbed the tablet and slipped it into his penguin backpack.

With this, the second hiding was accomplished.

“Whew~”

Siha pretended to wipe away sweat.

Even though there was nothing on his hand.

Now, it was time for today’s routine. He wriggled into the blanket that Hyung had covered himself with and settled on his stomach.

Then, he abruptly pulled the blanket off.

Sihyuk’s upper body was exposed to the outside air.

“Hyung. Wake up. Wake up.”

“Ugh.”

His eyes opened due to the relatively cold air, a stark contrast to the warmth inside the blanket.

“Cold.”

“Gasp! Hyung is cold?”

Siha jumped up and covered him with the blanket.

Then, he patted him.

“Hide well. Hair showing.”

“Why the boiler all of a sudden? No. Why a hide-and-seek song suddenly?”

“Hide-and-seek? Hyung. Shall we play hide-and-seek?”

“We need to get up now.”

“Get up and play?”

“No. We need to get ready to go to daycare. Siha. You didn’t forget about going, did you?”

He was briefly lost in the thought of playing hide-and-seek with Hyung, then remembered that he had to go to daycare.

“Oops!”

Siha smacked his forehead.

Sihyuk smiled slightly at the sight.

He touched his soft cheeks with both hands.

“Let’s wash up and eat. Okay?”

“Siha help?”

“Fire is dangerous, so can you do something else? Like setting the table with spoons?”

“Siha can do.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

Siha and Sihyuk washed up and prepared breakfast.

He received the spoons from Hyung and placed them on the table.

“This is Hyung’s. This is Siha’s.”

He carefully placed the side dishes and sat down, staring intently at Hyung.

When he scooped rice, he received it and diligently moved it [presumably to his mouth].

Once everything was done, he sat down and tapped his feet, waiting for Hyung.

“You must be very hungry, right? All done. Here! Finished!”

“Ah!”

“Thank you for the food.”

“Thank you for the foob [food].”

Munch munch.

“Hyung. Delicious. Thank you~”

“Pfft. As expected, fried eggs are the best, right?”

“Ah. Runny yolk good. Runny yolk.”

“Pop the yolk on top of the rice.”

“Ah.”

Pop. The really delicious thing bursts and flows out from the inside.

Siha was as excited about the completion of today’s gift as the bursting yolk.

***

He said goodbye to Sihyuk at daycare.

Only after watching him close the door and leave did he lift the sole of his shoe in the shoe rack and take out ten thousand won [Korean currency, roughly equivalent to $8 USD].

The teacher chuckled, trying to hold back her laughter at Siha’s actions.

“Teacher. Hid ten thousand.”

“You hid it there of all places?”

“Saw it in a cartoon. Hid it like this so they wouldn’t find it.”

“I see. Cartoons teach you a lot, don’t they?”

“Can buy Hyung’s gift.”

Seungjun approached Siha after hearing that story.

“Siha. You can hide it in your socks instead of there.”

“Huh?”

Siha’s eyes widened as if he had just learned that fact.

Hana also chimed in.

“You can hide it in your hat. Like this, putting it on your head.”

“Ah!”

Somehow, the conversation turned into a story about hiding things.

The three children looked at Yeonju.

Feeling pressured to give her opinion, she reluctantly said something.

“I can put it in my violin case.”

The scene turned into something of a conspiracy.

Siha looked at the money in his hand while talking like that.

“Teacher! Teacher!”

“Yes?”

“Going to Uncle Mundo [Moon Dohwan]. Uncle Mundo.”

“Ah, a birthday present for Hyung? But Siha, have you finished the drawing?”

“Nope. Didn’t draw.”

He had forgotten about that too.

He had no choice but to put the money back under the sole of his shoe.

The teacher was puzzled.

Is there any need to put the money there now?

“Teacher. Siha draw picture. Shh!”

“Teacher didn’t say anything.”

“Shh. It’s a secret.”

He took his index finger off his lips and took out the tablet from his bag.

He had never shown himself drawing so seriously at daycare like this.

The twins and Yeonju were curious and just watched Siha from behind.

The tablet’s screen turned on, and he grabbed the pen.

He went into the app and started drawing in earnest.

Since the composition was already in his head, Siha’s hand was unrestrained.

The Pepe character drawings he had thought of were in three poses, and he drew the lines in one go to match them.

It was a simple drawing that didn’t require separate line art.

“Wow! You’re good at drawing!”

“Siha is awesome.”

“How do you draw like that?”

Jongsu and the other children had arrived at daycare and were slowly coming behind Siha.

“Coloring.”

Siha started coloring with the pen.

With purely sensory colors [colors chosen based on feeling rather than realism].

The rapid completion was noticeably visible.

The teacher was surprised.

It happened in the blink of an eye, exaggeratingly.

Should I say that watching him draw like that makes you fall into it?

“All done!”

“Wow! Amazing! It’s Pepe!”

“Siha is incredible.”

“There was a reason why you won first place with the dinosaur before.”

Siha pressed save and looked at the teacher.

“Teacher. Go now?”

“Hmm. Wouldn’t it be better to go at lunchtime later? Not just Uncle Mundo, but Uncle Dohwan has to work too. Right?”

“Huh? Ah!”

Siha nodded as if he agreed.

“Then what do now?”

“Hehehe. So, the teacher has prepared something for you all to have fun with today.”

The teacher took out a sketchbook.

Seungjun raised his hand and spoke first.

“Teacher! Are you going to tell a story again?”

“No!”

The teacher shook her index finger from side to side.

What she had prepared today was not a story.

“Today, Siha worked hard to hide and create a secret, right?”

“Yes!”

“So, the teacher is going to teach you a code that only we can know. You can know the code with just numbers!”

“Really?”

“It’s like a fun number game. Adults played like this too.”

“!!!”

The children’s eyes widened.

Adult games! It was a very curious and stimulating word.

What kind of games did adults play with numbers?

“That’s the pager code!”

“Pager?”

Seungjun said.

“I know! My name is Pippi Longstocking!”

“Hana know that too. Wear long stocking like this and tie hair on both side.”

“I don’t know it very well?”

Then Jongsu said.

“Tsk tsk. That’s not it. A pager is, well, something you used when there were no phones a long, long time ago. Instead of a phone.”

Siha looked surprised.

“No phone?”

“Yeah.”

Jongsu showed off what he knew.

Siha blinked.

“If no phone, how call?”

“Huh? Just with a telephone?”

“Telephone? No phone?”

“?”

The teacher covered her mouth with her hand.

Now the children don’t even know what a telephone is.

She knows that there are not many places that have telephones at home these days, but every time such a difference in perception occurs, she can’t help but feel sad as if she’s getting older.

“Everyone, you’ve seen this kind of telephone in stores, right? They used that. There are also public telephones.”

“What public telephone?”

“Hmph. It’s a place where you can make a call by inserting a coin. There were many on the street. You stand and make a call like this.”

“Vending machine. Vending machine!”

Insert a coin. That’s a vending machine. This formula was engraved in Siha’s head.

Already in Siha’s imagination, he was putting coins into boxes that looked like vending machines in the middle of the street and making calls.

“Maybe… there will be one near this university too. Yeah! Look for it next time you go out.”

“Yes!”

That wasn’t important now.

The teacher turned the sketchbook over.

[Number Code!]

“Now, shall we start with something easy? What would ‘hurry hurry’ be expressed in numbers?”

“?”

“It’s 8282! The pronunciation is similar, right?”

“Simila [Similar]!”

“Then, how would you express an angel in numbers?”

Jongsu raised his hand.

“1004! The pronunciation is ‘cheonsa’ [angel]!”

“Yes. That’s right. Jongsu is smart. You also know the unit of a thousand.”

“Teacher, I’m Jongsu?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. Jongsu. I was so happy that my pronunciation got stronger.”

The teacher apologized, but Jongsu had a somewhat uneasy expression.

Is it really a mistake? Such doubts arise.

“Okay, okay. Let’s go to the next question.”

[11010]

“What is this? Guess the code.”

Everyone tilted their heads.

The teacher turned the sketchbook vertically.

“It’s ‘Heung’! The letter Heung [a Korean consonant that looks like the number when flipped].”

“Wow!”

“Siha don’t know letters.”

“Right! Don’t know letters!”

They were children who didn’t know how to write Hangeul [Korean alphabet] properly yet.

“Teacher is sorry.”

“Other thing. Other thing.”

“Okay. Then how about this!”

The teacher was already excited.

The children widened their eyes to guess.

[1592 – Imjin War]

“One five nine two?”

The teacher said.

“You shouldn’t have one five nine two! The enemy is invading. Ahem. Sorry. I’ll do something else. This is real. It’s a code we need to know well.”

[7942]

Seungjun jumped up.

“Friends! Hahaha. I know this well!”

“Yes. Seungjun. Calm down.”

Siha raised his hand.

“Yes? Siha. Is there something you want to do?”

“Siha also have code.”

“Oh! Really?”

“Ah. Number code. Number code. Siha want ask question.”

“Okay. Siha. Come out and ask a question.”

Siha showed numbers with his fingers.

One, two, five.

“?”

“125? Don’t know one.”

“What is it?”

Then Eunwoo raised his hand.

“What is this all about~! Pop!”

I don’t know why, but he made a pop sound by flicking his cheek with his thumb while opening his mouth.

“Is it right?”

“Huh? No.”

“It’s not ‘What is this all about~!’?”

“Ah. No.”

“Then what is it? I don’t know.”

Siha stuck out his stomach and said.

“Hyung and. Siha birthday!”

Siha’s birthday is December 5th.

Sihyuk’s birthday is January 25th.

When you add the numbers, they are the same.

“Same with Hyung!”

Siha was very confident.

Jongsu slightly opened his mouth and said this.

“Really, what is this all about…….”

***

Siha looked for Moon Dohwan.

He had already been contacted by Teacher Yoo Dahee and was waiting.

“Uncle Mundo!”

“Oh. You came?”

“Bring Hyung gift?”

“Yeah. I brought it. Did Siha bring the money?”

“Ah.”

Siha took off his shoes.

Moon Dohwan tilted his head.

“Why are you taking off your shoes all of a sudden? You can wear shoes here?”

“Here.”

He pulls out ten thousand won from the sole.

“Why is it there of all places?”

“Secret from Hyung. Secret. Shh! Took out from piggy bank. Secretly. Secretly.”

“You managed to take it out without getting caught and hid it there?”

“Ah.”

“You managed to think of hiding it there.”

“Uncle Mundo. Here!”

Siha cheerfully held it out.

Moon Dohwan received ten thousand won with a dubious expression.

“Siha. Do you wash your feet every day? Doesn’t smell?”

“Siha feet clean. Hyung bite.”

“Don’t lie. No matter how clean it is, it’s not to the point of biting.”

“Really. Siha did that when baby.”

“How old are you talking about?”

“Don’t know.”

Siha remembers.

The fact that Hyung bit him slightly when he was a baby.

“Hmm. Anyway, here it is. Did you bring the picture? I’ll print it out right here.”

“Really?”

“Of course. You can do it on this size paper.”

Siha took the tablet out of his bag and gave it to Moon Dohwan.

After transferring the saved file to the computer.

“This is a secret. Erase. Erase.”

“Huh? Erase?”

“No. Put other place.”

“Ah! Since it’s on Uncle’s computer, I’ll send it to Hyung’s email after his birthday is over. Is that okay?”

“Ah.”

Siha nodded as if satisfied.

Weeing. Weeing. Weeing [sound of printing].

The picture Siha drew was printed out.

“Okay, look closely. If you hit this part, it will separate from the tumbler. Then, if you roll up the picture and put it in.”

“!!!”

“Complete.”

“Hyung gift all done.”

“Now, just put it back in the tumbler box and wrap it up. I even bought wrapping paper. Well, it’s about ten thousand won in total, should I give you the exact change?”

“No. Siha know. Tip. Tip.”

“Pfft. Okay. Thanks.”

Moon Dohwan wrapped it neatly and taped it.

“Now it’s really over.”

“Ah. Uncle Mundo. Thank you~”

“Hehe. Okay.”

Siha hugged the gift tightly in his arms.