Brother, Am I Cute? [EN]: Chapter 219

-Daycare.

Siha opened his penguin backpack, which felt particularly heavy today.

Rustling sounds came as he reached inside.

He quickly pulled out a Pepero stick [a popular Korean chocolate-covered biscuit stick] and gave it to Seungjun.

“Seungjun!”

“Huh? Siha, what’s this?”

“Pepero!”

“Wow! It’s a soccer ball?!”

Seungjun received the Pepero with a delighted expression.

A special treat tailored for his friends.
The reason there were only two on the wrapper was a consideration that they would receive many Pepero sticks.

One each made by Si혁 and Siha.

“What about mine?”

Hana pointed at herself.

Seeing her subtly expectant eyes, Siha rustled through his bag again.

“This! Hana!”

“Wow! It’s a microphone! It’s even prettier because it’s pink!”

Hana jumped up and down with joy.

As he handed them out, the other children gradually showed interest.

Jongsu looked at him with a subtly expectant gaze.

As if rewarding that feeling, Siha took out a snack.

“Jongsu!”

“Oh! Thank… you?”

The Pepero was ordinary itself.

He couldn’t think of anything special, so he made it plain like Hyung [older brother or male friend].

Jongsu was secretly disappointed.

Strangely, he felt happy but also a bit sad that it wasn’t anything special.

He was trapped in a truly complex and subtle emotion.

Whether he knew his feelings or not, Siha handed a Pepero to the next person.

“Jaehwi!”

“Thanks, Siha. It’s pants?”

“Ah, ah. Pants 맞아! [Correct!]”

“I’ll enjoy it.”

“Eunwoo!”

“Puhaha! What is this? A hat? A hat? Rappers have to wear hats.”

“Yundong!”

“Oh, okay. Thanks. I’m a person? Am I dancing?”

Siha nodded.

Yundong slightly twitched his tightly closed lips.

Then, he took out a Pepero stick from his pocket and gave it to Siha.

“It’s nothing special, but I brought it too. It’s not like I brought it thinking of you. We all just prepared it together, so I’m giving it to you.”

“Ah, thank you!”

Siha received a Pepero.

Even though it was store-bought, the sincerity couldn’t be ignored.

Yundong handed out Pepero sticks to the other children as well.

But only Siha’s Pepero was almond flavored.

Siha tilted his head, wondering why, then stopped thinking and carefully put it in his Pepe bag.

There were still two left.

“Teacher~ Director!”

Siha gave Pepero sticks to Teacher Yoo Dahee and the director.

“Oh my, Siha. Are you taking care of us too? Thank you so much~”

“It looks really delicious.”

“Ah, ah. Hyung made this. Pepero made. This Hyung. This Siha.”

They both smiled, as if they understood Siha’s words well.

After the Pepero presentation ended.

The teacher clapped her hands, drawing the children’s attention.

“Okay, everyone. Today is Pepero Day, as Siha has prepared.”

Crunch. Crunch.

The children were already putting the Pepero sticks Siha gave them into their mouths and eating them deliciously.

They looked at the teacher’s face, but their attention was already focused on the snacks.

But she had too much experience to care about such things.

“Shall we learn about Pepero Day? Actually, the first idea was to give snacks to become as slim as Pepero sticks. They say it’s effective if you eat them at 11:11 on November 11th.”

Hana reacted first.

“Really?!”

“Of course. Dieting is an unavoidable fate for women… but no one seems interested?”

“No! Hana is curious! I have to diet to become an idol.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

The boys, except for Hana, weren’t particularly interested.

Diet? What’s that? Is it something to eat? That’s the expression they had.

Siha was looking with a face that said, “What is a diet?”

“Ahem, well, that’s the origin, but I’ll tell you another story.”

The teacher made the number 1 with both hands.

“November 11th. The two look alike, right? You give Pepero sticks to people who have similar or the same hearts. Now, here’s a question. What looks exactly alike?”

Seungjun pointed to Hana and himself.

“Twins! Hahaha!”

“Yes. Being born on the same day is similar.”

“No, Hana doesn’t look like her brother?”

“Yes, that’s true.”

The teacher chuckled.

Seungjun, why do you have such a shocked expression again?

Hana looked at him and said, ‘Oppa [older brother], why are you making an ugly face?’

‘Hey! I’m not ugly!’ he retorted.

While they were bickering, Siha raised his hand.

“Oh! Siha, do you have something in mind?”

“Ah! Hyung! Siha!”

“Huh?”

“Hyung! Siha!”

He got a hint from the twins Seungjun mentioned and talked about look-alikes.

The teacher was very embarrassed, but she didn’t pretend to be embarrassed.

“Um, that’s right. They look alike. Siblings are bound to resemble each other. They look exactly alike!”

“No. Hyung is more 멋있어 [cool/handsome].”

“Huh?”

Is he going to twist it there?! No, what am I supposed to agree with? They look alike!

“Hyung. Siha. Name.”

“Ah, their names are similar. That’s right! The consonants are the same! ㅇㅅㅎ!”

“Ah, ah!”

Siha nodded as if he was right.

At that point, the teacher had a question.

I asked the question, but why do I feel like I’m the one answering?

While she was seriously contemplating, the answer she wanted finally came out.

“Chopsticks!”

“Yes, Jongsu. Chopsticks are the same. They’re somewhat 빼빼하게 [thin/slender] like Pepero sticks.”

Eunwoo burst out laughing at that.

“Puhaha! Pepero is 빼빼하게! Good rhyme. Puhaha! Yo. Yo. Pepero is 빼빼하게!”

Suddenly, rap came out.

The teacher listened for a moment and then continued.

“Shall we try using chopsticks that look exactly alike? Doing the same thing as Mom, Dad, and Hyung!”

The conclusion is that today is chopsticks education day.

The children looked with sparkling eyes, as if they were interested.

The teacher brought children’s training chopsticks.

Hana’s were especially pink. The other children’s were sky blue.

“You can practice with these. Take one each.”

Siha looked at his chopsticks.

‘Same as Hyung!’ he thought and put his fingers in.

Middle finger, ring finger, pinky.

“Ah?”

“Puhup. Siha, that’s not how you put them in.”

“Like this?”

Siha lifted the chopsticks and put his eyes to the holes.

As if wearing glasses.

“That’s not it either. You put your thumb, index finger, and middle finger here.”

“Ah, ah.”

He put his fingers in as the teacher taught him.

He wiggled them a few times, as if he wasn’t used to it.

“Okay! Everyone has them in their hands?”

“Yes!”

“Then I’ll give a special Pepero stick to the person who uses chopsticks the best today. If you eat this at 11:11 on November 11th, you’ll get slim.”

“Hana will definitely win!”

“I’ll show you first.”

The teacher brought a Pepero stick.

A long, tall box much taller than the children.

Of course, what was inside wasn’t a snack that big, but the box alone could be used as a staff.

“Wow! It’s big!”

The boys finally had a desire to have it.

The teacher pulled out the box like a sword to fuel the fire even more.

Swish.

“Wow! Wow!”

“It’s a huge Pepero stick!”

“Ah, ah! Baekdong!”

“Hehehe. How is it? Do you want it? Only the person who wins the chopsticks game can have it.”

The teacher had something special ordered for the game.

It’s a hot pot toy!

Inside the pot, there were tofu, cabbage, fish cakes, green onions, meat, bean sprouts, etc., with character faces drawn on them.

The children looked at it and said wow, wow again.

It was worth searching the internet with their eyes wide open.

She worked so hard to get this. It was a really hard toy to find.

“There’s a dish called hot pot. You put in various ingredients and eat it. The person who takes out the most on the toy plate wins!”

The children tapped their chopsticks.

Maybe their fingers weren’t strong enough.

More than anything, it was their first time learning.

So, it was more important to try it in the form of a game like this than to practice something and test their patience.

That way, the children would be able to exert more patience.

“Then we’ll start the first game.”

Four hot pot pots arrived in front of the children.

When the teacher blew the whistle, they started using chopsticks.

Siha reached out first.

Picking it up and dropping it, picking it up and dropping it.

“Ah?”

He looked at his hand in surprise.

With an expression that said, ‘Why isn’t this working?’ he patted his right hand with his left hand.

“I can do it. I can do it. I have to do well.”

“Puhup. Ahem. Siha, fighting [a Korean expression of encouragement].”

“Teacher, Siha do.”

“Okay. Hurry up.”

Challenge again.

This time, he’s aiming for fish cake.

It seemed like it would be easy to grab because of its cylindrical shape.

Slippery. As expected, the circle wasn’t easy.

“Ah?”

When he tried again, he was able to pick it up with a thud.

As it is, goal in the bowl.

“Ah, ah!”

“Wow! Good job, Siha. That’s how you do it.”

Nod.

Siha looked at the other children.

Everyone was having a little difficulty as well, but they were still putting it in well.

Siha only had one in his bowl.

Gloomy.

“I can do it.”

As he was using chopsticks, Siha saw something strange.

Jongsu was secretly picking up ingredients with his hands.

“Jongsu!”

“Gasp!”

“Don’t touch it with your hands!”

“Ahem.”

Seungjun’s eyes lit up when he heard that.

“Hey! You’re a yellow card. Yellow card!”

“No, I didn’t say not to use my hands! I just picked it up with chopsticks and supported it with my hand.”

“Y, you bad!”

The teacher calmed them down.

“Okay. That was a practice match until now. From now on, it’s forbidden to use your hands.”

“Yes~”

“Then start!”

This time, Siha found something a little easier.

Green onion!

It seemed like it would be easy to put the chopsticks in because there was a hole in the middle.

As expected, it was much easier to pick up.

But maybe everyone thought the same thing.

Green onions started to pile up in the children’s bowls first.

If it was a real hot pot, they would have picked up the meat first.

“No green onion.”

“Hahaha! Everyone’s only eating green onions! Siha, let’s pick something else now.”

“Ah, ah!”

While everyone was struggling, only the pink chopsticks danced wildly.

It was worthy of being called 여포 [a legendary warrior known for his unmatched strength] in war.

The skill of putting it in the bowl was unusual.

Almost confirmed victory.

“Chopsticks easy!”

The teacher blew the whistle and ended the game.

Bleep-!

“It’s over. The victory is Hana’s. Please congratulate everyone.”

Clap clap clap.

Hana held the large Pepero stick like a cane and stuck out her stomach.

Today, she beat everyone and won MVP.

“Hana will eat with Mom.”

She opened the Pepero box.

There were 3 long, thick Pepero sticks packaged inside.

“???”

The teacher looked at the scene and said.

“Tada, it’s magic.”

The children felt like they had been tricked.

***

Around the time the children’s shock over the trickery subsided, it was lunchtime.

Today, it’s tofu rice balls that can be eaten with chopsticks.

Minced beef, carrots, green onions, and rice were stir-fried and simply filled with tofu.

The children swallowed their saliva when they saw the food.

“Okay. Let’s eat with chopsticks.”

Siha had a good idea while looking at the tofu rice balls in front of him.

Poke it with chopsticks! It goes in with a thud.

He figured out a way to use it instead of a fork.

“Ah, ah!”

He easily lifted the tofu rice ball and ate it in one bite.

Seungjun, who saw the scene.

“Wow! You can do that!”

“Hana too! Hana too!”

“Me too! Me too!”

Without using chopsticks, they all poked and ate like forks.

It’s like making skewers.

“Everyone, you’re so creative.”

The teacher was hit hard this time.

But I didn’t want to tell them not to eat like that.

They were going to learn slowly… very slowly.

No one is good at it all at once.

Today, it was more than satisfactory to just know how to do it.

It seemed like today, November 11th, would be Chopsticks Day rather than Pepero Day for the children.

While eating, Siha looked at the penguin bag he had put down.

There were still gifts left inside.