A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 94

94. Dad’s Coming

Jiheon responded to Jung-oh’s question with a touch of pride.

“Maybe.”

*I* want to brag too, just like Yena does.

Jiheon, fully understanding Yena’s desire to show off her dad, gave Jung-oh a victorious smile and sought her permission.

“Since things are like this, can I go?”

Being dangled between two women, asked to pick up one while holding onto the other. He was such a popular and happy man with two women that the corners of his lips threatened to touch the ceiling.

Her expression softened, a sign she’d been serious for a moment. Jung-oh found him even more irritating in that state, but she was also completely devoted to her daughter.

Faced with any conflict, they united when it came to ‘Princess Yena’.

“Be careful. Watch what you say, and especially be careful about mentioning names.”

“……”

“*Oppa* [older brother or boyfriend, a term of endearment] is Jung Jiheon, but Yena is Lee Yena.”

Hopefully, Yena wouldn’t be hurt again.

“Okay.”

Jiheon nodded at her earnest request.

“Tell me when you get back.”

“……”

“I’ll play with you when I get back.”

“Am I acting like this because I want to play?”

*Chuk.*

With a quick movement, he planted a thief-like kiss on her to appease her flare-up, then turned away. His footsteps, each one hurried, suggested his eagerness.

Soon, *click*. The door opened and closed.

Left alone, Jung-oh voiced her annoyance into the empty air.

“Seriously, who is *he* calling a fox?”

As if he wasn’t an even bigger fox himself. She could only sigh at the gall of this man, unable to tolerate others acting sly.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

In front of the Baduk [Go] academy building.

Dobin, arriving before Yena, waited with the teacher. It was Yena’s first day back after missing a day due to illness. Dobin had also stayed away for two days, mirroring Yena’s absence.

“Why didn’t Dobin come yesterday?”

“Because Yena didn’t come.”

Dobin answered the teacher brightly. While the other children learned Baduk, Dobin was learning about love. A Baduk academy without Yena was like shaved ice without red bean topping for Dobin.

Soon, Yena’s kindergarten bus arrived. The moment the doors opened, Yena shouted with a happy smile.

“Park Dobin!”

“Yena-ya!”

Dobin grabbed Yena as she stepped off the bus, jumping up and down with excitement. Yena stomped her feet in response, mirroring Dobin’s enthusiasm.

“Are you not sick anymore? Are you all better?”

“Yeah. I’m all better.”

“Yena, are you really okay? Is it okay for you to go to the academy today? If you couldn’t come, I was told to call your grandma. She said she’d come to pick you up.”

“I’m okay.”

Yena, answering Dobin and the teacher’s questions with a light tone, headed into the academy as bright and cheerful as before.

In the middle of the lesson, Dobin whispered to Yena, taking advantage of the teacher’s brief absence.

“I thought you were dead.”

Remembering the previous day when he cried, thinking his beloved Yena had died, Dobin’s eyes welled up again.

“I called ‘Yena-ya’ over a hundred times at the hospital, did you hear me?”

“No, I didn’t hear you.”

“Wow! That’s amazing. I called you really loudly.”

Dobin resolved to call even louder next time.

“But why did you collapse?”

In response to his question, Yena pointed to the far corner of the classroom and whispered to Dobin.

“Actually, she and her brother scolded me.”

At the place Yena pointed, Sooin was shrinking in on herself.

“Why did they scold you?”

“Because I said I had a dad, they said I was lying and told me to call my dad.”

Dobin, who became fiercely protective when it came to Yena, tightened his lips, preventing them from trembling. Yena, noticing his expression, chided him as if he were about to cry.

“Hey. What are you going to do if you cry!”

“I’m not crying.”

Dobin wiped away the tears that had gathered on his eyelashes. In truth, Yena was grateful for Dobin’s reaction. She was eager to share the exciting news with him.

*It’s okay. I have a dad too.*

Her lips fluttered at the thought of her dad’s arrival.

Yena was overjoyed, but Dobin, only now fully grasping the events of the previous day, belatedly grew angry. Unable to contain his fury, Dobin approached Sooin to confront her.

“Hey.”

Sooin blinked and looked up.

“Aren’t you going to apologize to Yena?”

“Why?”

“You did something wrong to Yena.”

Sooin’s face twisted at Dobin’s accusation.

“Apologize quickly.”

“No!”

Sooin shouted and ran out of the classroom. Spotting the director standing near the entrance, Sooin burst into tears and grabbed the director’s hem. The director, surprised, asked,

“What’s wrong? Sooin, what’s wrong?”

“Teacher, he’s telling me to apologize. To Lee Yena. Waaaaah.”

Dobin and Yena also emerged from the classroom. Dobin, speaking clearly to the director, rebuked Sooin once more.

“Yena almost died because of you.”

At that moment, the academy entrance door opened. It was Sooin’s mom.

“Mom!”

Sooin, recognizing her mom, released the director’s hem and ran to her. Sooin’s mom was also taken aback.

“Oh, teacher, what’s going on?”

The director answered with a troubled expression.

“Sooin’s mother, I told you yesterday, right? There was a bit of an incident between Sooin, Jaein, and Yena.”

“Yes, you did. You said our kids told her she didn’t have a dad.”

“Mom, he’s telling me to apologize. To Lee Yena. Waaaaah.”

Sooin said, pointing at Dobin. Her crying intensified. Sooin’s mom, heartbroken by her child’s tears, comforted her in a soft voice.

“But… telling a kid who doesn’t have a dad that she doesn’t have a dad, you can’t say she does…”

“Yena collapsed because of that, so I think it would be good if they could resolve it and get along, Sooin’s mother…”

“No, teacher. Why are you only taking her side?”

Sooin’s mom was upset by the director’s response. She resented the academy’s implication that her children were solely at fault.

“Is the child collapsing because of our kids? We don’t know if she collapsed because of our kids or because of her own inferiority complex. Children from single-parent families are originally like that. They tend to exaggerate and blow things out of proportion due to their inferiority complex, even things that can be easily overlooked.”

Sooin’s mom wiped away her child’s tears and continued to vent to the director.

“Are you pressuring our Sooin to apologize because of that? Making a seven-year-old cry like this?”

Her anger escalated with each word. Sooin’s mom, immediately recognizing the child standing next to Dobin as Yena, stepped closer and asked,

“Hey, are you Yena?”

“Yes.”

“Yena, I need to talk to your mom. When is your mom coming?”

“My dad’s coming.”

“What, what?”

Amidst Sooin’s mom’s wide-eyed surprise, the academy entrance door opened, and Jiheon entered. Spotting Yena through the academy’s glass door, Jiheon had rushed inside.

“Dad!”

Yena’s face, previously expressionless, lit up. She ran nimbly and hugged Jiheon.

“Huh?”

Dobin, seeing Yena call Jiheon ‘Dad’ and run to him, blinked, looking back and forth between them. But he remained silent, refraining from saying anything tactless like Jiheon wasn’t Yena’s dad.

An unknown force of the universe sealed Dobin’s lips. It was the first time in Dobin’s life that he showed such tact.

Yena hugged Jiheon tightly and said to the director,

“This is my dad.”

“He’s friends with my dad.”

Dobin chimed in with unnecessary concern, introducing Jiheon.

Jiheon put Yena down and scanned the surroundings. He wondered why everyone was staring at him. Something had clearly happened.

Before coming to the academy, he had briefly researched the director and vice-director, as well as the Jaein and Sooin siblings and their parents, so he quickly pieced together the situation.

“Hello. I’m Yena’s dad.”

Jiheon greeted the director, while Sooin’s mom muttered quietly,

“No, I definitely heard… that the child didn’t have a dad…”

Yena pointed at Sooin.

“Dad, this is Hong Sooin. She’s the one who said I didn’t have a dad and that I was lying.”

“I never did!”

Sooin flared up.

“You did. You.”

“…”

“Dad, she lost to me in Baduk. So she said something to me. Because I’m better at Baduk.”

“No. You forced your way to win!”

“You can’t lie. I remember all the Baduk games I played with you. Do you remember?”

“Yena has a good memory.”

Dobin chimed in, cheering Yena on as she questioned Sooin. Sooin pressed her lips tightly, looking upset. Yena continued to press.

“Why did you do that to me? Were you upset because you lost to me in Baduk?”

“No! I wasn’t upset!”

Sooin shouted. The children in the classroom rushed out to see what was happening. Even Sooin’s brother, Jaein, joined the crowd. Sooin grabbed her mom’s arm and whined.

“Mom said so! She said she didn’t have a dad. But she lied, so I told her not to lie. Waaaaah.”

Tears streamed down her face again. Sooin’s mom, flustered, hugged and comforted her child, while Sooin continued to cry sadly.

“Why are you only telling Sooin to apologize? Sooin is crying too.”

“…They’re kids, so they can say things like that. That’s why they’re kids.”

Sooin’s mom argued in a low voice, glancing at the people around her.

Jiheon asked Sooin’s mom, his smile completely gone,

“Sooin’s mother, did you tell your children that our Yena doesn’t have a dad?”

“No, there was such talk in the community…”

“You told your children what was going around in the community.”

“…”

“You’ve turned your children into liars who don’t even know manners. You have.”

Sooin’s mom’s anger surged at the provocative remark. Her focus shifted to the director. She wanted to blame the academy for not handling the situation properly.

“No, you can’t say that. Why do you keep cornering our kids? Teacher, why do you keep asking the child to apologize and making things worse!”

Dobin chimed in again.

“The teacher didn’t do that. I told her to apologize.”

“Dobin said he told her to apologize.”

Jiheon supported Dobin’s words. Sooin’s mom yelled loudly at Dobin.

“Hey, who are you to tell our child to apologize or not!”

“They’re kids, so they can do that. Sooin’s mother.”

Jiheon defended Dobin. Sooin’s mom’s face turned red.

“Children may not be able to apologize. That’s why they’re kids. Let’s leave the kids out of it.”

“…”

“Since you, the adult and guardian, have come at the right time, you can apologize to my child on their behalf.”

Jiheon took steps towards Sooin’s mom. She, as if Jiheon approaching her was like the Grim Reaper, stepped back with fearful eyes.

However, she couldn’t escape Jiheon’s snare.

At that moment, the class bell rang, creating a chaotic atmosphere. Jiheon, who had approached closely, spoke in a low voice so that only Sooin’s mom could hear.

“Do it right, Sooin’s mother. Jaein and Jaein’s friends seem to be watching. The less trouble there is here, the less embarrassed the child will be, right?”

“…”

“You’re an adult, so you should be careful what you say in front of children.”

It was so creepy that it felt like her heart would stop.