Brother, Am I Cute? [EN]: Chapter 206

If people have things they want to show off, libraries also have something they want to boast about: a vast collection of books.

Public libraries open the doors of knowledge, making it accessible to everyone. This is a tremendous contribution to cultural and intellectual development.

It’s easy to take for granted the significant impact of readily available books in our communities.

“Siha, if there’s a library like this, you can borrow all the books you want to read,” I said.

“Ah?” he replied.

Libraries permeate everyday life, expanding general knowledge and understanding. What greater treasure trove of knowledge could there be for me, someone who can’t afford to buy a wide variety of books?

Even with the internet, it’s often hard to know what to search for. But libraries are different. You can stumble upon words and genres you’ve never encountered before.

Of course, they also have picture books that Siha enjoys.

“The first floor here only has books for children, like picture books and children’s literature.”

Adults sometimes stop by to read them too.

Siha, curious, asked me why.

“Why?”

“Hmm, I wonder? Why *is* it on the first floor? Should we think about it together?”

Siha and I started pondering the question right from the entrance. When I crossed my arms, Siha imitated me.

A child passing by, holding their mother’s hand, gave us a questioning look, as if wondering, ‘What are those two doing?’

Hmph. It’s no fun if I give away the answer immediately.

“Hyung, Siha figured it out!”

“Oh! So, why do you think it’s on the first floor?”

“Children are number one. Adults are number two.”

“Ooh!”

Children are number one, so the first floor. Adults are number two, so the second floor.

That was an unexpected perspective! I actually thought it was located there to make it easier for children to access.

But Siha might be a genius. The country considers children a priority. That’s right, because they are the future.

“Shall we go inside now?”

“Ah ah.”

As we entered, a feast of books unfolded before us. I found the picture book section and picked out books at Siha’s eye level.

“Tada! What do you think? There are so many picture books, right?”

“Hyung! Many books! Book rich. Library book rich.”

“That’s right, book rich. You pick out books like this, take a quick look, and if they seem fun, you borrow them. You go to the person sitting over there and say, ‘I want to borrow this.'”

Of course, you can borrow everything with a machine these days, but I wanted Siha to do it himself today.

“Okay. So, these bookshelves here are all picture books. There are many other interesting things in other places too. Shall we each pick out one fun thing?”

“Ah ah.”

Well, whatever Siha picks will probably be a picture book. He can’t read yet, so it will be hard to understand anything too difficult.

“Hyung. Pick?”

“Yeah.”

Siha started exploring the surroundings first. He picked one, opened it, and nodded, saying, “Uh-huh.”

Hey, Siha, what do you know just by looking at it? You’re only looking at it for three seconds before putting it back!

Open and put. Open and put.

He did that for a while and then moved to another place to explore.

This is probably like a treasure chest for children. You might open a box and find something you don’t like, or you might discover something amazing.

That’s why libraries are fun.

“Hyung. Many.”

“Huh? What?”

“Fun many.”

“There are many fun things?”

“Ah ah. Siha three pick.”

“Haha, okay. Pick three.”

At my words, Siha started exploring even more diligently. He picked out things he liked one by one and tucked them under his arm.

Actually, he probably likes them all.

Wait a minute! In the end, I’m the one who’s going to read them?! I nodded without even thinking because he was so cute.

One good thing is that he doesn’t know you can borrow ten books. If he knew, he would have picked out ten books. Even so, ten books wouldn’t fit in that penguin bag.

“Hyung. All done.”

“Oh! All done? Where, let’s see?”

Siha held out three books.

“Siha found. Monster. Monster.”

“Ah! You found a monster.”

No wonder he seemed so excited. He must have gone on an adventure to find monsters in the library.

I looked at the books.

Hmm, the types are diverse.

*[Penguin Driving a Supercar Audi]* – Economics.

*[Penguin Studying Potions]* – Science.

*[Penguin President. Peng-sident]* – Politics.

Indeed, even though he picked three, he picked very diverse types. They all have penguins in common, but even if we overlook that, does he become this interested when he comes to the library?

Huh? That’s strange? I can almost see Dohwan hyung’s face saying, ‘Don’t talk nonsense!’

I waved my hand and came to my senses.

“Wow, Siha, how did you find all of these? You really picked well.”

“Siha eyes good. Ttadak [onomatopoeia for ‘instantly’]. All know.”

“Wow, you know when you see it, ttadak. I see. Then shall we borrow these books?”

“Ah ah.”

Siha hugged the three books and went to the librarian. She smiled at Siha, who was trotting over, because he was so cute.

“This. Borrow. Siha borrow.”

“Oh my, you’re going to borrow this? Can I have it?”

He hugged it tightly, thinking she was going to take it away, and shook his head.

The librarian and I laughed at the sight.

“Siha, there’s a barcode on the book, right? The black line. You have to scan it, ttik [onomatopoeia for ‘beep’].”

“Ah? This?”

“Yes, the one you’re looking at now.”

“This super. Saw. Sell at super [supermarket].”

“Yes, you saw it on things at the supermarket, right? You have to scan it here too to borrow it, ttik.”

“Ah ah.”

Now that he understood, he handed the book to the librarian. I handed over my library card.

The librarian said, “Would you like to make a membership card for the baby? It’s not a bad idea to make one. Kids really like having a card like adults.”

“Oh, really? Then please make one.”

“Yes, I’ll link your contact information here as well. In the end, the guardian is the one who returns it.”

“Ah, yes.”

When I told Siha that I was making a card for him to borrow books, he stuck to my leg, saying, ‘Same with Hyung!’

Siha didn’t particularly care about making cards, but he liked having the same card as me more.

***

I came home with Siha. I hugged him tightly when he immediately took out the book and held it out for me to read, just because I was so proud of him for trying to read like this.

“Hyung. This. This.”

“Okay, I’ll read it to you. Come on, sit in front of Hyung.”

The first book he picked was *[Penguin Studying Potions]*. If there’s one thing I’m curious about here, it’s that they called the penguin a monster instead of Pepe [common penguin name in children’s media]. Why did they do that?

The answer will be in this book.

“Okay, I’m opening it.”

“Ah ah.”

When I opened the book, there was a penguin wearing a white gown and swirling a triangular flask.

“There was a penguin named Pengdol. Pengdol wanted to defeat the nasty seal because it bullies the penguins every day. So, he started research to win.”

Seals are actually natural enemies of penguins. They often get eaten, so I wondered if they made a fairy tale based on that motif.

“Hyung. Pepe research?”

“Yeah, I think he’s researching potions? I’ll keep reading. Pengdol finally made an amazing potion. It was clear that he would become very strong if he drank this because he was a genius chemist!”

The scene of Pengdol drinking the potion and transforming came out. His body was covered in green fur, and his eyes also turned the same color.

“Pengdol, who had tremendous power, defeated the seal. But his friends didn’t like Pengdol like that. He was already different from them.”

Next page.

“Pengdol, who fell into loneliness, defeated even more seals.”

“If I work harder, my friends will accept me! It will definitely be like that!”

“But unlike what he thought, many friends became afraid of Pengdol. Pengdol became depressed.”

Siha was also depressed along with him. He reached out and stroked Pengdol. He made me feel sorry for him, saying, ‘Sorry~ Not monster.’

This fairy tale is more profound than I thought – a situation where one is ostracized due to outstanding power, where good intentions lead to bad results.

“Let’s see what happened to Pengdol, okay?”

“Ah ah.”

“He left home because his friends were scared. The journey began. He packed his things and went to another place.”

When I turned to the next page, I saw new penguins. Each had a different fur color.

“When the new penguins saw Pengdol, they asked, ‘Why are you alone?'”

“‘I’m too strong and different from my friends, so I left home.'”

“‘Really? Then let’s live with us.'”

“‘Huh? Is that okay? Aren’t you scared of me?'”

“‘Not at all. Why are you scared? Are you scared of yourself?'”

“‘No! That’s not it!'”

“‘Isn’t that enough? You’ve become afraid of yourself without knowing it. We’re not afraid of you.'”

“‘Thank you.'”

“So, Pengdol met new friends and lived with them. Sometimes they punished seals, ate together, and danced.”

The story ended here. There was a lingering feeling. Why were penguins with different fur colors able to accept him? That’s probably because they had already accepted differences.

The reality may have more problems, but this problem makes you think about it one more time. Fairy tales seem to compress seemingly trivial stories into a composition very well.

“Siha, he wasn’t a monster?”

“Ah ah. Not monster. Nice.”

“Yeah, I thought he was a monster because he turned green, but he was a good penguin.”

“Pengdol nice.”

“Hahaha.”

Siha tapped the picture book and asked me to read it again. I wanted to read it again with Siha too because I wanted to meet Pengdol again.

It ended after reading it three more times.

Oh, by the way, the penguin driving an Audi wore a robot suit he saw somewhere and surprised the world. The Peng-sident wore strange glasses and said, ‘Playing is the best,’ and made the penguins keep playing without working.

It feels like I’ve seen each of those contents somewhere, but I must be mistaken?

***

Is it because I read Pengdol? Siha found something like a triangular flask and picked up a cherished bottle. He swirled the clear, round water bottle around, but the color didn’t change, so he seemed a little disappointed.

“Siha, shall I make something colorful inside?”

“Ah?”

I grabbed the bottle and poured out the water. After washing it thoroughly, I put peach mango iced tea that I had at home and poured in mineral water.

Siha’s eyes widened when the color became clear. Wouldn’t it look like magic?

As a finishing touch, I put a straw in it.

“Here! You can stir it with this. You can also drink it.”

“Drink?”

“Yeah, this is water you can drink.”

I actually drink iced tea sometimes when I’m tired of coffee at work. I’m glad I bought it since he’s so amazed. There’s also grape flavor, but I couldn’t bring myself to mix it because it contains caffeine.

“Okay, stir it.”

“Ah ah.”

Siha stirs the straw diligently. He stares intently at the transparent bottle, checking if anything changes. It was a little funny because it felt like he was really experimenting. It’s just that the powder is dissolving inside.

“Hyung. Gone. Amazing.”

“Yeah, it’ll be even more amazing if you drink it?”

“Really drink?”

“Yeah, try drinking it.”

Siha makes a suspicious expression. I guess he’s suspicious even if it’s my word?

“Siha green no? Don’t want green. Siha want red.”

“Puhaha! You won’t turn green if you drink that.”

I was wondering what he was worried about again. Even if he likes Pengdol more, it seems like he prefers red to green. Anyway, I get unexpected answers every time.

Siha put his mouth on the straw and sucked it up. His eyes widen.

“Ah?! Hyung! Delicious!”

“Right? It’s called peach mango.”

“Peach mango?”

“Yeah.”

“Delicious.”

Now he’s not interested in chemistry and starts drinking hard. I was resting my chin and watching him when I got a call.

“Yes, Alisa, what’s wrong?”

“Si-hyuk, long time no see. How have you been?”

“I’ve been well.”

“Do you know what day it is this week?”

“Huh? What day is it?”

“……..”

Silence followed, and then the answer that comes back:

“Wow, it’s not long before it’s too late. Si-hyuk, you might end up locking the barn after the cow is lost [Korean idiom meaning ‘it’s too late to take precautions’].”

I don’t know what she’s talking about, but I know one thing for sure: Alisa is starting to use idioms.