A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 32

32. What is Love

Afternoon at the Go academy.

Yena placed Go stones on the board one by one, lost in thought.

I’m good at Go.

But my grandma and mom aren’t good at Go.

So why am I good at Go?

‘Maybe my dad was good at Go?’

Jeong-o never told Yena about her dad.

Whenever the word ‘dad’ came up, Jeong-o smoothly changed the subject. Yena’s thoughts naturally followed her mom’s lead.

She wasn’t very curious about her dad, and she liked that she could have her mom all to herself without having to fight with a dad. She was satisfied with the fact that she was her mom’s eternal partner.

That’s how it had been until now, but after becoming friends with Dobin, Yena found herself thinking about her dad a lot.

Dobin is a kind and good friend, but he talked about his family too much. Dad’s stories always came up naturally.

Dobin talks about his dad without a care, but from Yena’s perspective, who doesn’t have a dad, Dobin’s stories were sometimes hard to relate to.

Yena stared at her friend Dobin, who was only playing Alkkagi [a Korean game similar to marbles] during Go class, and asked.

“What’s so good about having a dad?”

Yena brought up the dad story first.

Dobin, with a happy heart, thought for a moment and said.

“Mom says that dad earns money so we can eat and live.”

So, is a dad needed to earn money?

My mom and grandma also earn money, so I don’t need a dad?

Yena tilted her head and asked again.

“And what else is good?”

“Hmm… it’s good when we go to the swimming pool.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m a boy, so I can’t go with my mom when I take a bath, I have to go with my dad. Like going to the bathroom.”

“So, I don’t need a dad because I’m a girl? Right?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

Dobin nodded and suddenly looked at Yena as if he had remembered something.

“Ah, but there’s more. I like that he hugs me when I go to the hospital.”

“Dad hugs you?”

“Yeah. When I go with Mom, I just hold her hand, but when I go with Dad, Dad hugs me like this.”

Dobin pretended to hug a doll.

“Because Dad is strong.”

Everything Dobin had said so far hadn’t bothered her, but the word ‘hug’ made something inside her chest feel warm and fuzzy.

Dads are strong, so they can hug you when you go to the hospital.

“Yena, when I become a dad, I’m going to hug my baby when we go to the hospital.”

While Yena quietly nodded, Dobin didn’t forget to promote himself.

Yena, who didn’t hear Dobin’s confession, just muttered to herself.

“Yeah. I wish I had a dad too.”

“Then should I ask? To have my dad be your dad too.”

“Maybe it won’t work?”

“It might work. My dad said he can do anything for me.”

Dobin said another good thing about his dad like this.

Yena couldn’t easily refuse, and told Dobin twice more that it probably wouldn’t work.

After the academy class ended, after dropping Yena off at the restaurant.

Going home, Dobin said to Jinseo in an innocent voice.

“Mom, Yena and I decided to share a dad.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Yena doesn’t have a dad.”

Dobin smiled contentedly. He was proud.

What is love.

Mom and Dad said they love him and want to give him everything. Dobin was the same. He liked Yena and wanted to give her anything. He was happy to have something to give Yena.

Jinseo suppressed a laugh and said to Dobin.

“Dobin, then you won’t be able to marry Yena, are you okay with that?”

“Why?”

“If you have the same dad, you’ll be siblings. Siblings can’t get married. Didn’t you know?”

The son’s face, which had been wearing a Buddha-like smile, turned pale.

“Then what should I do? I already promised Yena?”

“I know. That’s a big problem.”

Dobin’s eyes shook as if his life had collapsed at the unexpected answer.

Actually, he hadn’t told Yena to marry him yet…….

Last Thursday, on Yena’s birthday, he had prepared a letter and a three-line poem, but somehow he couldn’t show it to her.

He first showed off his crab dance and three magic tricks because he wanted to make Yena, who burst into tears saying her mom hadn’t come home from work yet, laugh. He couldn’t cling to a friend who was crying, Mom, Mom, and say, Marry me, Marry me.

That’s what love is like…….

It flows into ‘somehow’ and makes unexpected decisions.

He was proudly thinking about his decision like that.

He already made a promise, so what should he do?

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Dinner time.

Jeong-o and Gihoon were talking at their seats.

“Manager, I heard that someone deliberately planted a virus on your laptop?”

“Well. I don’t know. They said it’s a popular virus these days, and someone from the planning team also had a hard time.”

“Ah… was it accidentally caught?”

“I guess so. But they said someone deliberately deleted the file I uploaded to the cloud.”

“Oh. There was a culprit. As expected!”

“Yeah. At least it’s a relief that it’s been revealed that it wasn’t my fault.”

“Can’t you find the culprit?”

“I worked on a public computer, so I can’t tell.”

“That’s too bad.”

The office was quiet, so the conversation between the two was transmitted to the surroundings without noise.

“Ah! Manager! I think we can find the culprit!”

Deputy Jo Si-nae, who was listening closely in Production Team 1, flinched.

Jeong-o and Gihoon’s conversation continued.

“Yeah? How?”

“Have you ever heard of a fingerprint recognition mouse?”

“Ah, there is such a thing?”

“Yes. I don’t remember if it was Room B or Room C, but someone once complained to the computer management office that the public computer and mouse were broken. At that time, the computer management office employee replaced the computer and mouse and changed the mouse to fingerprint recognition. The part where the thumb touches the mouse, right? The fingerprint there is stored on the computer. With that information, you can find out who keeps breaking the computer.”

“Oh, really? I should check it out. Which public computer did the culprit use?”

Si-nae’s hands, sitting in her seat, trembled.

“Yes. Please find out quickly. It seems that the information is not transmitted through communication because it is for security purposes, but is encrypted and stored on the computer as is. You can’t erase the information remaining on the computer.”

“That’s right. If that damn virus that’s popular these days gets infected, the culprit may never be caught. I have to move quickly. I can’t guarantee that the management office will cooperate because it’s sensitive information.”

“If it’s difficult, I’ll go with you. My classmate is in the computer management office.”

“Oh! Thank you so much, Gihoon! Then let’s go right away tomorrow morning!”

“Yes!”

The conversation ends here.

Jeong-o and Gihoon sat down and continued their work. The sound of typing on the keyboard was heard cheerfully.

Si-nae carefully got up from her seat. Her hands were trembling and her heart was pounding.

It seemed like planting a virus on Lee Jeong-o’s laptop went well, but the problem was the public computer in Output Room C.

Last Thursday, Si-nae deleted the data Lee Jeong-o uploaded to the cloud from Output Room C. She thought everything was perfect, but she never dreamed that the mouse there would be a fingerprint recognition mouse.

Si-nae took her USB and secretly headed to Output Room C. It was the least crowded place in the company, and she didn’t run into anyone because it was evening. Still, she muffled her footsteps and reached Output Room C.

A very small room. The computer in the corner was the same as it was then. So was the mouse. ……Was it? She couldn’t remember well. She was so nervous at the time that she didn’t have the energy to check such things.

Anyway, the current mouse was definitely a fingerprint recognition mouse. Like Gihoon said, the part where the thumb of the right hand touched was unique. It seemed to recognize fingerprints there.

Si-nae wrapped her thumb in tissue paper and turned on the computer. There was no problem turning on the computer.

‘But where can I find my fingerprint information?’

She said the fingerprint information was stored on the computer. But Si-nae doesn’t know how to use a computer well. As Si-nae pressed this and that, she was startled when she heard a rustling sound from outside.

‘I have to solve this quickly!’

There was no other way. There was no choice but to use the last resort.

Si-nae took out the USB from her pocket. A person she knew across the street made it for her, and it was very simple. It was a novel item that automatically spread viruses inside the computer just by plugging it into the USB port.

Si-nae plugged the USB into the computer and turned the computer off and on. A scene she had seen once on Jeong-o’s laptop monitor passed by.

“It’s done!”

“What’s done?”

“Huh!”

Si-nae was startled by the woman’s voice coming from behind and turned around.

Jeong-o and Gihoon were standing there like grim reapers. Si-nae’s complexion turned bright red.

“Uh… what brings you here? Manager?”

“I asked first. Deputy Jo Si-nae, what are you doing now?”

“I, I came to print it out!”

“It looks like you’re planting a virus on the computer, not printing it out.”

“What nonsense are you talking about!”

“That’s what the screen says. It’s the same virus that was on my laptop. Why are you breaking a perfectly good computer?”

“I didn’t do that! I saw this screen when I tried to use the computer!”

Si-nae raised her voice and screamed.

She couldn’t collapse here.

Then Gihoon strode up and took out the USB plugged into the computer.

“What is this USB?”

“…….”

“This USB is Deputy Jo’s. Didn’t you say you received it as a souvenir when you went to the wedding fair a month ago?”

She didn’t know Gihoon would remember such a thing. She was momentarily flustered, but Si-nae continued to insist.

“Was I the only one who went to the wedding fair? And I never received such a USB. What I received is different!”

“Yes. I understand. The exact truth will be proven by that camera.”

Jeong-o, who sighed deeply, pointed to the corner of the ceiling of the output room.

Si-nae’s face was now in a state of panic.

There was no camera here! When did they put something like that!

“The person who deleted the file I uploaded to the cloud here was Deputy Jo.”

“Do you have evidence? Do you have evidence!”

“The place where the file on the cloud was deleted was here. Output Room C. Weren’t you here to erase that information?”

“No!”

“Yes. Then let’s say that’s not it. You can’t deny that you planted a virus on my laptop.”

“What nonsense are you talking about? Your delusional disorder is making the dog laugh [a Korean idiom meaning ‘that’s ridiculous’].”

There is no evidence. The erased past is not evidence. If they keep insisting like this, they will eventually not be able to say anything.

But Jeong-o didn’t back down either.

Jeong-o received the USB from Gihoon.

“We can find out by analyzing this USB. Whether the virus in it is the same or different from the virus that broke my laptop. If it’s the same, the encrypted codes embedded in it will also match.”

Si-nae’s spine tingled.

Then Jiheon appeared with some employees.

“It’s too noisy. What’s going on?”

“Deputy Jo, why don’t you tell them yourself.”

Jeong-o said to Si-nae.

She was completely caught.