Brother, Am I Cute? [EN]: Chapter 26

Hyung, Am I Cute? – Episode 26 (26/500)

Emoticons.

It was a problem I had never considered.

I knew that the presence of emoticons had been rapidly increasing with the development of smartphones.

But was it because of my familiarity with everyday life?

I hadn’t really given it much thought.

“Hmm. Emoticons, huh? Never crossed my mind. Is it really that simple to do?”

Baek Dong-hwan nodded.

“Hyung, you use emoticons too, so you know. You need 24 different drawings for each set.”

“I haven’t counted, but I guess it’s around that many.”

“You just submit the files in the specified format, and they’ll review them. It takes about two weeks, but there’s nothing to lose. If it doesn’t get approved, it’s just over.”

“Yeah, nothing to lose.”

If you were good at drawing, it could be an efficient work-from-home job.

But I didn’t want to make Siha work.

Still, if the drawings were already done, couldn’t we just submit them for review?

‘And the money earned would go into Siha’s account?’

Thinking about it, it didn’t seem like a bad idea.

“But you seem to know a lot about this?”

“Ahem. I’m aiming to be a movie voice actor, but I also like animation voice acting. Because I’m interested in that, I hear a lot of stories. Emoticons are supposedly a pretty good business.”

“Really?”

“Yes. As far as I know, the character business has never really declined. Of course, that’s only when the artist themselves is consistently active.”

“Hmm.”

Come to think of it, the future of the character business never seemed bleak.

It’s just that only a few always get the spotlight.

Isn’t that the same for other jobs?

But as character businesses like emoticons have expanded, the number of people who get the spotlight seems to have increased.

“I’ll think about it for now. Siha doesn’t have 24 drawings yet. I don’t even know if he’ll draw 24.”

“Once you fall for something, you tend to draw various versions of that character, right? He might draw more than 24.”

“Is that so?”

Remembering Siha’s obsession with tissue boxes, I thought that might be true.

“Now that I think about it, all the fan art and original drawings he’s done are penguins.”

The cute art style was perfect for emoticons.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah. Did you finish already? Want some more?”

“Ah ah.”

I gave Siha more spaghetti.

Baek Dong-hwan said,

“Anyway, think about it. I just mentioned it because I thought it might help the household.”

“Ah, thanks. Haha. It would be good for Siha to have the experience of earning money.”

“If Siha goes on TV, it’s going to get really noisy.”

“That’s not going to happen, so it’s okay.”

“If that happens, I’ll beat them up for you, so don’t worry.”

If he hit someone with those muscular arms, there wouldn’t be anything left.

We finished our meal and looked at Siha’s tablet.

Slowly scrolling through the saved files, I created a folder.

[Pepe Series]

[7 files inside]

If this drawing count increases, we can submit it as an emoticon set.

Maybe it won’t see the light of day.

It might fail the review.

But in the sense that it’s a challenge that doesn’t cost money, it might be good education for Siha.

He might not understand the meaning of earning money yet.

‘I need to create various opportunities.’

I looked at Siha.

“Wouldn’t it be great if people used Siha’s drawings?”

“Ah ah.”

“Let’s give this drawing a name. How about ‘Pe-ha!’? Since he’s saying hello.”

“Ah ah.”

Baek Dong-hwan, who was next to me, said.

“Hyung. I think ‘Peha’ sounds like ‘Your Majesty.’ Like referring to a king? Wouldn’t just ‘Hello!’ be better?”

“Is that so?”

I hesitated but just saved it as ‘Pe-ha!’

Lee Si-hyuk with his bowl-cut hair.

I am a man of conviction.

The other drawings also had clear concepts, so it was easy to name them.

[나눠 자래~ (Sharing Jjajangmyeon) – Sharing Black Bean Noodles, 냠냠 (Yum Yum), 감사해요 (Thank You), 패대기 (Slam)]

After naming them, I realized that everything Siha had experienced was captured in the drawings.

“Siha, let’s experience a lot of things in the future.”

The drawing tells me.

To give him many experiences.

Siha could only draw what he knew.

“Ah ah. Hyung.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I stroked Siha’s head.

***

-Monday.

Siha left the house with Hyung.

But from the morning, they could hear someone fighting.

“It’s the landlord. I can’t go to say hello…….”

Hyung looked troubled.

When Siha listened to the sound.

“No! This house doesn’t allow dogs. Do you understand? The dog’s barking is a nuisance. A nuisance.”

“I’ll keep it quiet.”

“If dogs understood people so well, I wouldn’t have written that it’s not allowed. You said you knew when you signed the contract, but this is a problem.”

“Then what should I do?”

“What do you mean what should you do? Send it back to your parents’ house this week. If it poops everywhere, it’s a nuisance to the residents.”

“Yes. I understand…….”

“Geez. I thought you were a nice young lady…. Let’s not get into arguments over things like this.”

Siha didn’t quite understand what was being said, but he definitely understood the part about ‘dog.’

‘Doggy.’

Siha had seen doggies in books.

It wasn’t as much as a penguin, but he remembered it being a pretty cute animal.

As the landlord came down, looking like he had a headache, he made eye contact with Siha.

Si-hyuk greeted him first.

“Hello.”

“Oh, hello. Are you going to work with your child?”

“Ah, yes. I’m taking him to daycare.”

“Haha. Seeing a baby makes my stress go away. Hello.”

“Hello.”

Si-hyuk said.

“Siha, you have to say ‘하세요 (haseyo, formal hello)’ too.”

“Hase.”

The landlord laughed.

“Hahaha. He still can’t speak properly. Cute. Cute.”

“Yes. He’s improving a lot now.”

“My son had a time like that too. These days, he’s so blunt that he doesn’t even talk to me.”

He showed the bitter side of the usual father-son relationship.

The landlord said.

“Then go quickly. I showed you something unpleasant from the morning.”

“Yes. I understand. Have a good day. Siha, let’s go.”

“Ah ah.”

Siha thought about ‘doggy’ as he walked.

Fluffy. Doggy.

Soft. Doggy.

The doggy he glimpsed looked cute because it had a lot of fur.

Thinking about the dog that kept catching his eye, he looked at the sky.

Woof-

Si-hyuk looked at Siha.

“Siha, we have to go now.”

“Ah ah.”

Siha was already lost in playing with the doggy, so he was out of it.

Si-hyuk hugged Siha.

Si-hyuk had to quickly take care of things and drop him off at daycare.

“Siha, I’m sorry, but let’s go quickly.”

“Ah ah.”

Siha felt the wind as he was held by Si-hyuk.

The scenery was passing by quickly.

‘Dog.’

Siha felt like this is what it would be like to run with a dog.

Siha, who had already lost his heart to the dog, rubbed his face against Hyung’s chest.

He didn’t even think about the penguin bag he was carrying on his back.

“We’re here!”

Before they knew it, Siha and Si-hyuk had arrived at Kangin University’s Career Center.

The reason for coming here was to give something to Moon Do-hwan.

“Ah ah.”

“Siha, snap out of it. Are you so tired because it’s morning?”

“Ah ah.”

“Are you spacing out? Or were you always spacing out?”

“Spacing?”

Si-hyuk mentioned ‘spacing’ without realizing he had stimulated Siha’s imagination about doggies.

“Ah ah!”

Siha raised both arms.

“Haha. Why are you like this today? Let’s go to Uncle Moon Do-hwan.”

“Ah ah.”

As they entered the Career Center, Moon Do-hwan was there.

It wasn’t even 9 o’clock yet, but he had come to work early.

“Do-hwan hyung.”

“Oh? What brings you here at this hour?”

“Siha says he has something to give you.”

“Oh. Really? Siha, what are you going to give me?”

“Ah ah. Tta-gi (strawberry).”

Siha put the penguin bag on the floor.

He opened the zipper and took out the strawberries he bought from Grandpa Taek-soo’s strawberry farm.

Siha was shocked that the plastic packaging was a little crumpled.

“Tta-gi…. Hurt.”

At those words, Si-hyuk looked at the strawberries.

“Huh? No, the strawberries are safe. Siha, look.”

In Si-hyuk’s hands, the strawberry packaging safely returned to its place.

Siha’s eyes widened by 1mm at the sight.

“Hyung!”

“Yeah. It’s safe, right?”

“Ah ah.”

Moon Do-hwan said.

“So when are you going to give me the strawberries?”

“Wait a minute.”

Siha looked at Moon Do-hwan.

“Moon-do!”

Moon Do-hwan was more touched by Siha calling his name than giving him the strawberries.

“Huh?! Siha called my name?!”

Si-hyuk said to Siha.

“Siha, you have to say uncle. Ah! I forgot, uncle is hard to pronounce for a baby?”

Siha called Moon Do-hwan.

“Moon-do!”

Moon Do-hwan said as if it was okay.

“Just think of it as a foreign country. Foreigners just call each other by their names. Si-hyuk, I’m a man with that much tolerance.”

“Moon-do.”

“Yeah, Siha. I’ll enjoy the strawberries.”

The people at the Career Center also smiled warmly at Siha’s cuteness.

Moon Do-hwan said.

“Siha, do you know? Moon-do is a character from League of Legends [a popular online multiplayer game]. Do you want me to show you?”

“Ah ah?”

“Take a good look!”

“Ah, hyung. Wait a minute…….”

Si-hyuk, who remembered the Moon-do character, tried to stop him, but it was already too late.

「Mundo goes where he pleases!」

A slightly scary character appeared in front of Siha.

Siha was startled.

The voice was deep, and the purple skin was strange.

Siha waved his hand without realizing it.

Click!

The phone flew and fell to the ground.

Moon Do-hwan shouted.

“Ah! My 1.3 million won phone! [Roughly $1000 USD] I still have 20 months left on the contract!”

Si-hyuk smiled bitterly and picked up Siha.

Siha snuggled into Si-hyuk’s arms.

He didn’t like the scary-looking character.

“Moon-do siro (싫어, I don’t like).”

Moon Do-hwan picked up the phone with a heartbroken expression.

Siha turned his head away.

“Siha, even if you made a mistake, you have to say sorry to Do-hwan hyung.”

Siha also knew he was wrong and said hesitantly.

“Moon-do. Je-sung. Ha-nida (죄송합니다, I’m sorry).”

“It’s okay. It’s my fault for showing you something too scary. Siha’s height is short, so there are no scratches.”

“Ah ah. Moon-do.”

“Yeah. Moon-do! It’s okay!”

Si-hyuk chuckled and greeted Moon Do-hwan.

“Hyung. Then enjoy the strawberries. We’ll be going.”

“Okay. Take care. Bye, Siha.”

Siha waved his hand.

“Bye~”

Siha parted ways with Moon Do-hwan and headed to daycare.

When they arrived at daycare, Seung-joon and Hana were the first to greet him.

“Siha~”

“Siha~”

The twins stuck to Siha and rubbed their cheeks against him.

Siha was dragged straight into the room without even saying goodbye to Si-hyuk.

Si-hyuk shouted as he watched Siha.

“Siha, have fun today too.”

“Ah ah.”

Siha answered without even looking back.

***

-On the way home.

Siha was chattering to me about what happened today.

Of course, he expressed it more with his body than with words.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah.”

“Shu shu shu. Bu bu bu.”

“Oh! Really! Looks like you had fun today too?”

“Ah ah.”

“You played with Seung-joon and Hana again today?”

“Ah ah.”

“Hyung, I worked really hard on the translation. I have to buy Siha a lot of toys.”

“Ah ah.”

“If Hyung makes a lot of money, I’ll buy you a lot of strawberries too.”

“Tta-gi. Tta-gi.”

“Strawberry Ttawalgi (딸기 또왈기, Strawberry again).”

This time talking with Siha is precious.

It was more fun than any funny comedy program.

Does Siha know?

How much I enjoy this time?

I hope Siha enjoys it too.

As Siha and I were talking and passing by a nearby supermarket, Siha’s steps stopped.

“Huh? Siha, what’s wrong?”

“Hyung.”

Siha pointed at something.

There was a dog with a collar loitering around the supermarket.

‘Oh? That dog…….’