A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 102

Seated across from Do-bin at a small table, Seung-gyu began a dictation session.

“Write this: I like my younger sibling.”

“Young! er…! Sib…!”

Do-bin recited each syllable loudly, carefully writing down his father’s words in his notebook.

However, Do-bin’s initial enthusiasm waned as he progressed. After several minutes of waiting, Seung-gyu checked Do-bin’s work. Like his son’s voice, the writing had started strong but ended weakly. The words read, ‘I like my younger sibwing.’ Seung-gyu sighed quietly.

“It’s not ‘sibwing,’ it’s ‘sibling’.”

In response to Seung-gyu’s correction, Do-bin erased a vowel, changing the word to ‘I like my younger sibing.’ Seung-gyu’s voice grew a little louder.

“‘Ling’ as in ‘ling’! Add a ‘ng’ to ‘sib’!”

*Ye-na* [Seung-gyu’s daughter] writes ‘ling’ so well; she writes sixteen-letter sentences all by herself. Why can’t my son even write six letters correctly?

Unable to grasp his father’s intentions, Do-bin found the sudden dictation lesson frustrating.

“Dad, I don’t want to do this.”

“Let’s just do a little more. This will be good practice for you.”

Do-bin stared at Seung-gyu, puzzled.

“How can writing be blood?”

“No, I mean it will be helpful. Just one more sentence. Write this: I wish the sea was land.”

“What’s land?”

“Ground. We call ground land.”

“So, you wish the sea was ground?”

“Yes. Hurry up and write it. I wish the sea was land.”

“I don’t think it would be good if the sea was land, so why should I write that?”

“This is dictation time!”

“Ah, so *sea-tation* time is for writing about the sea!”

“Ugh, yes. Just hurry up and write.”

Nodding at the strange logic, Do-bin picked up his pencil again. With an expression more serious than that of a renowned calligrapher, he painstakingly wrote the ten-letter sentence, character by character, over ten minutes. But the result was ‘I wish the sea was landed.’

“I just taught you! Ling! Add a ‘ng’ to ‘sib’!”

Do-bin corrected the writing according to Seung-gyu’s instructions. But the task wasn’t finished in one go.

“You have to fix this too. It’s not ‘landed,’ it’s ‘land.’ ‘Was land.'”

“Dad, we have a double ‘d,’ so why don’t we have a double ‘n’?”

“Why wouldn’t we? Because King Sejong [the creator of the Korean alphabet] didn’t make it.”

“Then you make it, Dad. I’ll call you Your Majesty.”

“Stop joking around and just write.”

“Dad, I really don’t want to do this.”

With the last sentence of the dictation lesson in sight, the little rascal gave up. Sighing, Seung-gyu turned his head to see his second child, Do-yoon, wiping his cherry-stained hands on the blanket after spitting out the pit.

“Park Do-yoon!”

Seung-gyu quickly picked up Do-yoon. The white blanket was already stained red, resembling autumn foliage.

Kids always cause trouble. If they didn’t cause trouble, they wouldn’t be kids.

Seung-gyu lamented bitterly. What was he going to do about this? This was the new blanket Jin-seo [Seung-gyu’s wife] had just put on today.

Realizing his father was upset, Do-yoon looked at him cautiously and said,

“Dad, I’m sorry.”

He couldn’t get angry at young Do-yoon. Seung-gyu quickly resigned himself and soothed Do-yoon.

“That’s not something you should apologize to Dad for.”

“That’s right. You shouldn’t apologize to Dad; you should apologize to the blanket,” Do-bin chimed in, acting like he knew everything. Seung-gyu could only laugh.

Seung-gyu stood the two children up and began to lecture them.

“Park Do-bin, Park Do-yoon, listen carefully. There are times when you can say ‘I’m sorry,’ and times when you have to say ‘I did wrong.’ Is it good to get fruit juice on the blanket, or is it bad?”

“Do-yoon did it, though? I didn’t do it.”

“Anyway, I’m just asking. Is it okay to get fruit juice on the blanket, or is it not okay?”

“But. The teacher said that Shin Saimdang [a famous Korean artist and calligrapher] used fruit juice to paint pictures.”

“That’s Shin Saimdang!”

Seung-gyu’s voice rose again at Do-bin’s impertinence and audacity in retorting to everything. Jin-seo, who had been on the phone with Do-yoon’s teacher, returned to the room and chuckled at the sight of Seung-gyu.

“You’re having such a hard time just watching the kids for a little while; what are you going to do in the future?”

“Mommy, save meee.”

Do-bin, who was having a hard time with dictation, ran to Jin-seo. Seung-gyu watched the scene with a weary face before heading to the kitchen.

Raising children is the hardest thing in the world. Kids only cause trouble and don’t understand even when you try to reason with them, and now there’s even a third one on the way.

Jin-seo approached Seung-gyu, who had gulped down cold water and let out a deep sigh.

“Was it really hard?”

“No, it’s okay.”

“You sighed like the floor was going to collapse.”

“No, no. The water was just too cold.”

Seung-gyu made excuses, but Jin-seo quickly read her husband’s mind.

“Now you know why I like Ye-na so much, right? What are you going to do about Ji-heon’s new house? Have you heard anything?”

“I don’t know. Ji-heon’s current house is already huge, so won’t he just go there?”

“Jeong-o’s mother doesn’t want a place that’s too high up, though?”

“Oh, really? I didn’t know.”

Jin-seo revealed her desires to Seung-gyu, who replied blankly as if he wasn’t interested.

“It would be so great if they moved near our neighborhood. It would be easy to go back and forth, and later Do-bin and Ye-na could go to elementary school together. Don’t you think?”

“Oh. That’s true?”

“Ask them which neighborhood they’re going to get the new house in. And try to persuade them that our neighborhood is good. Okay?”

* * * * * * *

After learning that Young-mi had visited Jeong-o, Ji-heon and Jae-gwang headed straight to Jeong-o’s house.

Jae-gwang nagged Ji-heon throughout the drive.

“Hurry up. Our driver Kim is going to start yawning back there.”

“I told you I’d go alone.”

“I have to bring your mother back. Step on it. I could drive better than that.”

Ji-heon became even more anxious due to Jae-gwang’s prodding. Still, thanks to his father’s fussiness, they arrived faster than expected. And they found Jeong-o standing blankly in front of the house.

“Jeong-o.”

Jae-gwang also got out of the car after Ji-heon.

Jeong-o, who had been standing there vacantly, belatedly recognized Jae-gwang and greeted him with a dazed expression.

“Hello, Chairman.”

“Yes, yes.”

“What brings you here…?”

“Ye-na sent a text. Saying your mother came here.”

Ji-heon answered Jeong-o’s question, trailing off at the end.

“Ah, she already left.”

Jeong-o’s expression darkened further as she gave a clumsy answer. Not only Ji-heon but also Jae-gwang were chasing after her as if something terrible had happened, making her reflect on how audacious she had been.

She had completely crushed Madam Jang Young-mi’s pride…

Jeong-o became uncomfortable facing the two men.

“As I said before, Ji-heon’s mother is a bit sensitive. If she said anything too hurtful…”

“No. It wasn’t like that. I’m fine… I think I might have hurt her.”

Jae-gwang tried to apologize first, not knowing what Jeong-o was feeling, but Jeong-o immediately denied it. Jae-gwang’s eyes widened slightly at Jeong-o’s serious expression.

“I’m sorry. I think you should go see her as soon as possible.”

“Yes. I should.”

Jae-gwang, who properly understood Jeong-o’s meaning, hurriedly got into the car that had followed them and left.

Jeong-o also said to Ji-heon.

“You should go too, Oppa [older brother/term of endearment].”

“No. I should stay here. I told Ye-na I’d go at nine o’clock.”

Jeong-o nodded slowly at Ji-heon’s answer and turned around. Ji-heon asked Jeong-o, who was walking up the stairs ahead of him.

“Are you okay?”

“…”

“Don’t take to heart whatever my mother said.”

“Yeah. I know.”

Jeong-o answered dryly and strode up the stairs, opening the front door.

“Daddy!”

Ye-na ran out of the room at the sound of the door opening. Ji-heon easily picked up Ye-na.

“Did Ye-na have a fun day today?”

“Yeah!”

Guk-soon, who had been pacing around the house waiting for Jeong-o, also ran to the entrance. Guk-soon looked back and forth between Ji-heon and Jeong-o and asked.

“Did you… meet your mother?”

“No. I didn’t meet her because she had already left.”

Even as she listened to Ji-heon’s answer, Guk-soon’s gaze remained on Jeong-o. Guk-soon secretly sighed at her daughter’s face, which seemed to have lost all its energy in just one hour. But she couldn’t reveal that feeling to Ji-heon.

Ji-heon was also watching them carefully. While he was thinking about how to bring up this rudeness and how to apologize, Ye-na, still in Ji-heon’s arms, tapped her feet and urged him.

“Daddy, Ye-na needs to brush her teeth.”

“Okay.”

When Ji-heon tried to put Ye-na down, Ye-na clung to him even tighter.

“Ye-na. You can brush your teeth by yourself.”

“No, I can’t brush my teeth by myself.”

Jeong-o spoke sternly to Ye-na, but Ye-na brushed it off lightly. In the end, Ji-heon carried Ye-na to the bathroom.

After brushing the child’s teeth, washing her face and hands, and reading her about three monster-filled fairy tales, the child’s eyelids grew heavy.

Ji-heon patted her until she fell asleep, then gently laid Ye-na down in her room, said goodbye to Guk-soon, and left the house. Jeong-o came down with him. Ji-heon’s heart ached at Jeong-o’s back, which was not as bright as when she had gone up the stairs.

“Jeong-o.”

“What did your mother say to you, Oppa? About Ye-na?”

Jeong-o asked Ji-heon, who had called out to her, first.

“…She said she would raise Ye-na.”

“…”

“So I told her not to say things like that. I said I would pretend I didn’t hear it.”

Jeong-o’s voice became even drier as Ji-heon confessed honestly with parched lips.

“I wasn’t on good terms with your mother earlier. It wasn’t a fight, but I unilaterally lashed out. I had a lot of resentment too.”

“…”

“Oppa, I’m going to protect Ye-na. My number one priority is Ye-na. That will never change.”

There was no room for doubt in her firm voice. Ji-heon just stood there, facing Jeong-o’s solemn eyes.

“If I have to keep standing up to your mother, I will. But you don’t have to.”

“…”

“I thought you should be by her side because you’re the child’s father, but I still respect your choice. You don’t have to go down a rough path because of a sense of duty. Even if we don’t become a family, Ye-na will still call you Dad.”

Ji-heon’s heart raced at Jeong-o’s words.

What on earth is she saying?

What am I supposed to do without you?

He wanted to deny her concern, but his chest only felt hot and overwhelmed, and he couldn’t get his voice out.

“I’m going. Goodbye.”

In the meantime, she turned around without emotion. He had to chase after her and grab her, but it was as if someone was putting a leash on him from the opposite side and pulling him back. He struggled to move his body, resisting the invisible force.

It was impossible to move forward as if his feet were shackled. He felt like the world in front of him was closing in, becoming a dot.

Haven’t I shown you all of my heart?

Jeong-o, who had turned around, suddenly stopped walking.

She had spoken coldly to Ji-heon because she wanted him to make a rational decision as well. She had confidently told Young-mi that she was ‘her son’s new family,’ but honestly, she couldn’t be sure.

With today’s meeting, Jeong-o realized that she couldn’t get along with Young-mi. This fact might not mean anything to her, but it could be painful for Ji-heon.

He would have wanted Jeong-o to get along well with Young-mi. Even if he was sure that his choice was right and distanced himself from his mother now, as time passed, he might resent Jeong-o for driving a wedge between mother and son.

So Jeong-o said that they didn’t necessarily have to become a family. She wanted to let him know that there was an alternative that wouldn’t shake everyone up.

But soon her heart grew heavy. For some reason, she was bothered by the fact that Ji-heon hadn’t said a word. She thought that he might be heartbroken, but he might also be shocked.

Turning back, Jeong-o approached Ji-heon again.

He looked pathetic, standing there blankly with one hand covering his forehead, not even lifting his head.

“What are you doing? You have to go home. Aren’t you going?”

A car was seen flickering its lights at the far end of the alley. It seemed like it was trying to come this way, but it also seemed like it was turning around and leaving in the opposite direction. Jeong-o thought that she shouldn’t let him stand in the middle of the alley, so she took back what she had said earlier.

“I’m sorry if I said anything too harsh. Let’s talk again later. Go now.”

She thought it would be better to calmly explain rather than speak coldly. But still, he didn’t react.

Jeong-o approached him closely and placed her hand on his arm. She felt a faint tremor from his body, like a beast thrown into a snowy field on a winter night.

“Hey. Jeong Ji-heon.”

Slightly startled, Jeong-o tilted her head to look at Ji-heon’s face. His expression could not be seen because his large hand was covering his face.

Jeong-o raised both hands, firmly cupped Ji-heon’s cheeks, and pulled him closer. A hot liquid touched her fingertips. Only then did Jeong-o check his face.

The streetlights flickered precariously, illuminating his face. His dark eyes seemed to be filled with nothing but black fear.

“Oppa.”

A faint ray of light flowed down his cheek.

He seemed to have forgotten how to breathe.