Black Killer Whale Baby [EN]: Chapter 91

Black Orca Baby (91)

I could see the lines of time etched on my mom’s face, lines that hadn’t been there before.

Not only that, but she seemed to have lost a little weight.

Nevertheless, seeing her soft expression, the one she wore when she was truly at peace, filled me with relief.

It really is Mom.

My mom…….

Strangely, tears I thought I had long forgotten streamed down my face.

I tried hard to wipe them away.

I didn’t want my tears to blur my view of Mom.

‘I can’t come back to your side yet, but I will definitely return.’

Seeing Mom like this only strengthens that resolve.

Indeed, I want to go home…….

I missed Mom, who would greet me with an apron on when I came home from school in my uniform.

After a while, the door opened, and someone cautiously stepped out.

The moment I saw that face, the tears that had finally stopped began to flow again. I tried to hold them back, but I couldn’t.

“Are you cold? The veranda window is closed, so that’s strange. Maybe the kitchen door is open. Should I check?”

A gentle voice. The voice that always called my name with more warmth than anyone else in the world.

“My daughter~!”

“Dad loves you the most.”

It was Dad. His handsome face was a little more tanned, and he seemed to have a few more wrinkles.

It was Dad, whom I missed so much.

I couldn’t help but reach out to him.

Of course, my hand passed right through him.

Right. I came through the door, so there’s no way I could touch Dad.

I smiled, even with tears streaming down my face.

‘I’m glad, he seems to be doing well…….’

I had been so afraid that my disappearance had caused my parents unbearable despair.

On the other hand, what was even more frightening…….

Was that the place where I belonged would disappear in the meantime.

This was so scary.

Perhaps it was a feeling I felt even more strongly because I was adopted.

But it’s okay.

My parents seem healthy and kind, so surely when I return…….

It was when I had gotten this far in my thoughts.

I quickly raised my head.

Huh? No.

‘Did I mishear?’

No way…….

I tried to deny it, but it was an undeniable sound.

Waaaaah!

……It was the sound of a baby crying.

“Oh, our princess is awake! You stay here. I’ll go get her.”

“Okay, bring her quickly. It’s time for her to be hungry.”

I stood there with my mouth open, watching Dad rush away.

……No. No.

There’s no way.

Right?

But, contrary to my expectations, Dad returned with a small child.

I could tell at a glance.

The baby looked like Mom and Dad; anyone could see it.

“Our daughter was born from Mom’s heart. That’s why she looks like us.”

Not resembling my parents was my only complex.

I thought it couldn’t be helped and tried to ignore it, but it made me worry and agonize countless times.

During my adolescence, I worried countless times a day that I would be abandoned.

In the end, it was a deeply embedded nail that melted away at my parents’ firm words that I was their only child.

That nail came back to life and struck my heart with a thud.

“Aww, our princess. Were you hungry?”

“Waaaaah!”

“No? Should we change your diaper?”

“Oh my, Mom’s arm hurts. Come here, our princess!”

No. Isn’t it?

I moved my mouth, gasping for air.

I felt like I was suffocating.

Mom. Dad. I’m here.

“Mom, D……ad.”

I, I crossed 60 years to finally get here.

So please, look at me.

I, I endured that difficult time thinking only of Mom and Dad…….

“……No way? Okay. I, I can understand.”

Why am I crying? When I think about it, the two of them were a loving couple.

I heard that Mom was diagnosed with infertility at a young age.

No, to be exact, it was ‘close to infertile.’

Nevertheless, she didn’t despair and adopted a child and raised her with love, so maybe that’s why this kind of gift could come to her?

Yes, I have a younger sibling.

So, Mom. Dad.

You haven’t forgotten me, have you?

Please tell me you haven’t.

“Dad.”

I’m crying. You always came running when I was crying.

Dad, you haven’t forgotten me, have you?

……Tell me you haven’t.

Otherwise…… all my efforts so far are too pitiful and pathetic.

“Our first child was just a little smaller than the princess. Right, honey?”

I stopped crying and paused.

They say something strange happens if you cry and then laugh, and I was having such absurd thoughts that my tears stopped as if it were a lie, and a smile appeared on my face.

Right, there’s no way my parents could have forgotten me.

How did they raise me?

If I just go back like this…… we can all live together harmoniously, right?

Having a younger sibling is a happy thing.

But the next moment, words came out that shattered my joy-filled heart.

“Honey, stop it.”

A firm voice. It even felt cold, as if cutting something off.

From Dad, whom I love more than anyone.

From Dad, who loved me more than anyone.

“That child is gone now.”

I heard words that erased me.

“Even if she comes back, she’s a stranger. Think of it that way.”

The place where I can return is being erased before my eyes.

Why?

Dad, what…… did I do wrong?

I’ll fix it. I’ll fix it.

“So don’t even think about bringing it up again.”

“…….”

I’ll fix anything. I’m really good at that.

So, Dad.

Why are you trying to forget me?

Don’t erase the place where I belong. Dad, don’t do that.

“……Okay. I’m sorry, honey.”

Mom, Dad. Why have you already…… forgotten me?

Tears dripped down.

I didn’t even think about wiping them away and just watched them flow endlessly.

With an empty feeling, I slowly lowered my head, and my body was disappearing from the bottom up.

What I saw last was.

“I don’t want to, I don’t want to……! Mom, Dad! I’m here. Sob, I’m here……!”

“I’ll never bring it up again.”

“Why, Mom, Dad!!”

“Yes, never bring it up again.”

It was the 모습 [Korean: mosup – appearance, figure] of a family where I no longer belonged.

“Sob, Dad, Dad, Dad!!”

I reached out my hand, but the moment it touched Dad’s cheek, it disappeared.

My family disappeared before my eyes.

* * *

“…….”

“……Honey?”

Soo-chan blinked his eyes widely and then slowly shook his head.

“What’s wrong? What’s the matter?”

“No, nothing. It felt like someone touched my cheek.”

Soo-chan said to his wife with a bewildered yet affectionate voice.

His wife, Ji-hyun, tilted her head and then became gloomy.

As expected, it was as she had expected.

“I told you, let’s not talk about her.”

“But honey…… how can we not talk about her?”

Tears seemed to well up inside Ji-hyun’s dry eyes, but they didn’t flow.

There were times when sadness overflowed in her heart to the point where even tears wouldn’t flow.

“That child is our child. Si-eun is our daughter.”

An Si-eun. It was the name of their lost daughter.

It was the child who had said she was going to school as always and never returned home.

They did everything to find her, but in the end, they couldn’t find her.

Everyone said she was dead. They told them to give up now.

“She might be crying somewhere. How can I, as her mother, be happy?”

“Honey, you’re getting emotional. Calm down. Huh?”

Soo-chan had to make a decision to protect his wife and second child.

It was something only he could do for his wife, who was suffering from depression, to make her realize reality.

“I know. I loved our Si-eun more than anyone.”

“…….”

“But we can’t find her anymore. Let’s focus on Ji-eun now. Let’s forget about it now.”

But Soo-chan, who was saying this, knew it himself.

How could he forget his lovely daughter?

Soo-chan looked at the window as always.

“Dad! Sky good! Si-eun likes whales too!”

“Dad, I think I really should go into marine biology?”

Our daughter, are you eating well?

Dad still misses our daughter.

……Wherever you are, I hope you’re not sick.

* * *

Pierre was a person who had hardly ever worried about anything in his life.

First of all, he was born with great power and outstanding looks, and as he grew up, he received his mother’s trust and confidence.

Power followed naturally.

At the same time, he was inherently indifferent, so he learned boredom before desire.

Even when he eventually became seriously ill and secluded himself, these things did not become obstacles in his life.

He was sick, but he didn’t have any major worries.

He is currently having the biggest 고민 [Korean: gomin – worry, trouble] of his life.

‘Why isn’t she talking?’

Because of his only daughter, Calypso.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t find the cause.

Unlike him, Calypso always had a confident expression on her round face, or she was busy chattering.

He didn’t seem to realize that he was 은근히 [Korean: eun-geun-hi – subtly, secretly] talkative, but Pierre liked that about his daughter.

But in just one day, all of this had disappeared.

Pierre recalled what had happened the day before.