Brother, Am I Cute? [EN]: Chapter 129

Hyung, Am I Cute?

The way dinosaurs walk varies depending on their type.

Some dinosaurs walk in a straight line, while others walk as if their legs are slightly crossed like a model.

This changes depending on their stride, muscles, and joint movements.

It’s the same with people.

There are pigeon-toed, bow-legged, and knock-kneed gaits, starting with a straight walk.

The gait of a ballerina with professional characteristics also shows a confident stride with correct posture.

Like this, everyone has a different way of walking, and sometimes it changes depending on the situation.

Right here, right now.

“Hey, hey. Look over there.”

A student pointed with his chin, indicating something.

A wallet placed on the table.

In the bustling crowd, people don’t pay much attention.

This group knew that well.

“Okay.”

Another student’s eyes lit up.

They looked at each other and glanced around.

“Let’s go.”

The way they walked naturally was somehow cautious.

Two were laughing and chatting, and one quietly followed behind.

The three passed by the table.

The wallet that was there disappeared, and no one saw it.

People were less interested in other people’s affairs than expected and were busy chattering.

Those who weren’t chattering were busy watching what the children were doing.

“Shall we see how much is in it?”

“Oh! I’ll have to top up my game later. There was a new skin I wanted to buy anyway.”

“Wow. They’re carrying quite a bit.”

There were crisp bills inside.

Two 50,000 won bills and three 10,000 won bills. [Approximately $100 USD total]

After confirming that there was a total of 130,000 won, the three snickered.

They neatly took out only the bills and threw the wallet away.

The wallet flew and slipped right between the dinosaur eggs.

It was a place no one would notice unless they looked closely.

“We came to do dinosaur homework and hit the jackpot.”

“Hey. Split it evenly.”

“Okay, okay. I got it. Hey, but let’s divide it later. Aren’t you all going to top up anyway?”

“Yeah. Let’s do that. Shall we participate in that event over there?”

“Hey, won’t we get caught?”

“We won’t get caught. We won’t get caught. Is this the first time we’ve done this? We took something from the car last time, and we didn’t get caught.”

They were students who knew how to take advantage of the fact that the darkest place is under the lamp [a Korean idiom meaning the safest place to hide is in plain sight].

In a way, it was a bold act.

They took a spot with clay.

“I’m pretty good with my hands.”

“Crazy. Hehe. Are you really crazy?”

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No. That’s not it. Shall we bet on who will win here?”

“Oh! Good!”

Then one student asked a question.

“But what if no one gets it?”

“Then we’ll ask someone else who made it well. The winner gets 10,000 won more.”

“Oh! Okay.”

That’s how their bet started.

The footprints were deep, and they didn’t know that the deep footprints would leave traces.

***

“Ah, Hyung!”

I went next to Siha to see how well he was doing.

As expected, he was very talented.

A cute dinosaur was being born, but its head was peeled off.

He seemed to like that head-butting dinosaur quite a bit.

“Do you like this dinosaur that much?”

“Ah.”

“Geez.”

He made a big face first, then made the body.

I wondered if it was a little small to put the face on.

“Ah!”

When he put the dinosaur’s face on, its neck bent and fell backward.

Siha looked shocked with a thud!

“Dino… head…”

“It’s okay. It’s okay. The head is safe.”

Fortunately, it wasn’t dented.

He was showing off his hard head.

“Siha, let’s make the body bigger again. Let’s make it big with a different color of clay and cover it with gray. How about that?”

“Ah.”

Siha started making the dinosaur’s body again.

It was so cute to make it with his small hands.

I shouldn’t interfere with his hard work, but I wanted to touch his hands for no reason.

“Huh?”

“Haha.”

Siha was touching the clay, and I put my hand on Siha’s hand.

I heard a kid behind me say, “They’re filming a movie.”

What kind of movie did that kid watch?

“Hyung!”

“Yeah. It’s going well.”

“Siha oppa!”

“Huh?”

Hana, who was next to me, showed me the dinosaur she made.

To evaluate, it was very unique.

It was a dinosaur that stood on four legs, and its tail was made of flowers.

“How is it? Pretty?”

“Uh… it’s very pretty? Yellow flowers bloomed on the tail?”

“Yeah! This is a sunflower. The dinosaur eats it when it’s hungry later. It’s a herbivore. Herbivore.”

Was she talking about a herbivorous dinosaur that eats sunflowers growing on its tail?

As expected, I couldn’t judge a child’s imagination.

Come to think of it, Siha was making dinosaurs in a normal way.

If there was anything unique, it was that the head-butting part was divided by a line.

‘Did he do that on purpose?’

Suddenly, I was curious and was about to ask, but Seung-jun stepped up.

“Siha hyung! Mine is amazing too!”

“Huh? Yeah. Let’s see. How is it?”

When I turned my head, this was also a unique dinosaur.

A dinosaur standing on two legs.

It has a tail, legs, and three fingers.

Okay. So far, it was normal.

But why is a soccer ball attached to its face?

“It’s amazing! It looks like it’s good at soccer?”

That’s right.

Since its face is a soccer ball, it can’t help but look like it’s good at soccer.

I want to praise myself for my natural evaluation.

“Ahahaha! It’s fun!”

Seung-jun laughed playfully.

Remembering the soccer ball he made before, his face is very detailed.

As expected, children’s acquisition and application skills are no joke.

“Then I’ll write down the dinosaur to submit on this paper. First, starting with Seung-jun. What’s this dinosaur’s name?”

“Um~ Soccer-saurus.”

“Ahha. Soccer-saurus. Should I write that it’s good at soccer in the description?”

“Yeah!”

I wrote [It’s good at soccer as it looks] in the description.

“Hana?”

“Pretty herbivorous dinosaur!”

“Then should I write that it’s a sunflower seed-eating dinosaur?”

“Yeah!”

I wrote it in the description.

A little additional word there.

[A kind dinosaur that protects nature and eats and grows on its own. Maybe it’s the head of an environmental group?]

“I wrote it like this. How is it?”

“Good! If Siha oppa says so, then it is.”

“Huh? That’s not it…”

I looked at Siha.

I can guess the name, but let’s ask him once.

“Siha. Does the dinosaur have a name? Head-butting dinosaur?”

“No!”

“No? Then what is it?”

“Pepe-saurus!”

“Huh? Pepe-saurus?”

“Ah!”

At this rate, all the names will be Pepe.

But Pepe is a penguin, right?

No matter where you look, it looks like a penguin name.

Well, let’s do what Siha wants.

I wrote [Pepe-saurus] and was about to ask what to write in the description.

That’s when it happened.

“Huh?! Where did my wallet go?!”

A foreign man was standing there, speaking in English and looking flustered.

His fair skin was turning red.

With a flushed face, he looked around and shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Who is it! Who took it!”

People who weren’t interested glanced at him.

He turned his head sharply and addressed the people around him.

“Have you seen my wallet around here?”

At the sudden English, one of the people nearby was flustered.

“I can’t speak English well.”

Only then did he realize he was speaking in English and switched back to Korean.

“My wallet disappeared. Did you see it?”

“No, I didn’t see it. Hey, did you see it over there?”

Even when asked of others, the answers were all the same.

That’s because they had no choice but to be indifferent.

It’s a common saying in Korea that people will leave their phones or laptops unattended in a public place like a cafe to go to the bathroom, but they never leave their wallets.

I felt sorry for the foreigner’s carelessness.

“Dad!”

A girl approached him.

She seemed to be his daughter.

“Uh…….”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Dad lost his wallet.”

“Oh, no. You should be more careful!”

“Yeah, I know.”

The child was also fluent in English.

It seemed to be a multicultural family.

Good at Korean and good at English.

At that time, a familiar child was approaching them.

It was Jaehwi.

“Excuse me…….”

The girl waved at Jaehwi, happy to see him.

“Dad. This is the friend I made earlier. His name is Jaehwi.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Hello. What’s going on?”

Jaehwi hesitated and looked around.

“I saw someone passing by around here. I think those people might have taken it. I don’t remember their faces well, though.”

“Dad! Jaehwi saw it!”

He looked at Jaehwi with a surprised face.

“Really?”

“Ah, yes…….”

I listened up to that point and stroked Siha’s head.

“Keep working on this. Hyung [older brother or male friend] will go over there to Jaehwi. Teacher Dahui, please take care of the kids.”

I approached Jaehwi.

It would be better for an adult to go than no one at all.

Actually, I wasn’t going to pay much attention, but since it was related to Jaehwi, I couldn’t help it.

“Hello.”

He raised his head and looked at me.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Siha’s brother. Siha is Jaehwi’s friend. You can think of me as his guardian.”

“I see.”

He looked relieved to see an adult who could communicate.

His native language would be more comfortable than unfamiliar Korean.

“It seems like you lost your wallet. Let’s tell the staff here. That would be faster. You probably won’t be able to find the money, though.”

“I guess so?”

“Yes. First, let’s hear what Jaehwi saw.”

I looked at Jaehwi.

Jaehwi flinched at my gaze and avoided my eyes.

“Jaehwi.”

“Yes.”

“Did you see someone stealing the wallet?”

“Um, I didn’t know they were stealing it at the time. I just saw them naturally taking the wallet…….”

“Really? You don’t remember their faces?”

“No…. But I remember that they were shorter than Siha hyung, and I remember what they were wearing.”

“Oh! Really?”

Jaehwi’s memory of clothes was reliable.

Let’s get the details first.

In case a statement is needed.

“It was a black t-shirt…. with English written on it.”

“I see. You don’t remember anything else besides that?”

“I think they were wearing shorts.”

“I guess so.”

It might be harder to find someone not wearing shorts.

But even what we have now is helpful enough.

I told him the story I heard from Jaehwi.

“Then shall we look for the wallet at least?”

“Pardon?”

“Usually, in these cases, they take the cash and throw away the wallet. I think we can find it if we search the trash cans. For example, that big can standing by the pillar over there.”

I shrugged and led him to the can.

“What’s your name?”

“Ah. My name is Simon Smith. My daughter is Oh Yeonju.”

“Ah-ha! Mr. Smith. Even so, if you leave your wallet behind, this kind of thing can happen.”

“Haha…. Well, there’s nothing I can do. But I really want to find the wallet. There are precious photos in it…….”

“Ah…….”

“It’s a picture of my parents.”

“I see. Don’t worry. I’m sure we can find it.”

Jaehwi and Yeonju, who had run ahead, were looking into the trash can.

Because the can was big, they knocked it over.

Oh, dear.

It seems like it’s our job to clean it up.

“Ah. It’s not here…….”

Yeonju put the trash back in, looking disappointed.

Jaehwi did the same.

Just by looking at it, it seemed like Jaehwi had a crush on that kid named Yeonju.

He was helping so sincerely.

“Kids. It’s dirty. It’s dirty. I’ll do it.”

I was cleaning up the trash can when I suddenly had this thought.

‘Hmm. Maybe it’s nearby?’

I looked around.

Roughly, someone wearing that common black t-shirt with English on it.

There were at least 7 people in sight.

“Jaehwi. Is the person who took it a man or a woman? Do you know?”

“I don’t know. But I think it’s a man.”

“Why?”

“They had a lot of hair on their legs…….”

“Ah…….”

He remembers that…….!

Then there are 3 people left.

I’m not sure if these people are the ones.

But can’t I ask for their understanding and check?

“Mr. Smith. How much cash did you have?”

“130,000 won [approximately $100 USD].”

“Two 50,000 won bills and three 10,000 won bills?”

“That’s right.”

Is that so?

“Then, would you like to ask those three people? Tell them this happened and ask if you can check their clothes.”

“Hmm. Would that be okay?”

“If you explain the situation, they’ll understand. I think it’s better than not doing anything.”

I explained the situation to the three people on the scene and gathered them in one place.

“This person lost his wallet here. It contained 130,000 won. Actually, the money isn’t important, but the photos in the wallet are. If you’re okay with it, can we search your clothes?”

An older man raised his hand.

“No. What basis do you have for singling us out?”

“The child here saw a man wearing a black t-shirt with English on it carrying it.”

“Hey. How can you believe what a child says? That’s not certain.”

“You’re saying the statement lacks credibility?”

“Well, yeah.”

“I can prove that.”

“Yes? No. What kind of person are you…….”

I chuckled.

“Me? An interpreter.”

“Pardon?”

“Today, I’ll be a slightly special interpreter.”

Jaehwi looked at me with admiration.

The kid named Yeonju next to him too.

Oh, my.

I’ve become a hero to the kids, so I understand that gaze.

So, let’s be a slightly special interpreter today.

I looked at Jaehwi.

“Jaehwi.”

“Yes?”