Brother, Am I Cute? [EN]: Chapter 371

“Hyung, aren’t I cute?”

The police officer pondered. *Should I mark that as the correct answer or not?* He decided to give him one more chance.

“What’s next?”

“Cross with Hyung!”

“Wrong!”

“???”

Siha looked like he didn’t know why he was wrong.

This time, Hana raised her hand enthusiastically.

“Hana knows! When the green light comes on, we stop for a moment, check if cars are coming, and then cross.”

“Ding-dong-daeng!” [Sound effect for a correct answer.]

“Yay!”

“And when you cross, you shouldn’t run, you should walk. Got it?”

“Yes!”

“Then I’ll give you a present. Congratulations.”

“Wow!”

Even if it’s a green light, there are cars that might speed through, so you have to be careful.

The world is wide, and there are many crazy drivers.

It might be rare, but it’s necessary to have the habit of checking one more time.

The police officer handed Hana a wrapped gift and said,

“Okay, next question! What should you do while crossing?!”

“Grab Hyung’s hand!”

“Wrong!”

“Raise your hand and cross!”

“That’s right. You have to raise your hand and cross.”

They asked questions like that, and everyone practiced raising their hands and crossing on the mat they had laid out.

Next was question time for the police officer.

“Okay! Ask me anything you’re curious about.”

Siha raised his hand enthusiastically.

“Police ahjussi [term used by children to address older men, like ‘uncle’]. What do you carry around? Do you have handcuffs?”

“Yes, of course. Want to see?”

The police officer took out handcuffs from his pocket.

The children stared with sparkling eyes.

*I don’t know why they’re so focused on this.*

“A stick for catching bad people!”

“Wow!”

“A flashlight to check if there’s anything dangerous at night!”

“Wow! Wow!”

“A notebook for writing down information to find criminals! What’s written inside is a secret.”

“!!!”

“There’s a huge secret written there.”

*Actually, there’s not much written.*

*Just small memos, phone numbers, and things to do each day.*

Crimes don’t happen everywhere like in some comics.

Rather, accidents happen a lot.

*But since there are kids here, I’ll try to show off a bit.*

“Lastly, a gun to catch criminals!”

“Wow!”

It’s not a real gun, but a meticulously made model gun.

The children don’t know that and their eyes are shining.

I quickly put the gun back in my pocket, worried that they might find out it’s fake.

“Anything else you want to ask?”

Seungjun raised his hand.

“Police ahjussi! Are you good at soccer?”

“Oh? I’m not bad.”

“Wow!”

In the midst of all that, Seungjun was curious about whether he was good at soccer.

There were really diverse questions.

Hana asked if there were police who protect princesses, and Yeonju asked if they come to the police station to film.

Jongsu asked if you have to study well to become a police officer.

Jaehui trembled and asked if he had caught a lot of scary people.

Eunwoo suddenly started rapping, and Yoondong just blankly stared without asking any questions.

“Then I’ll be going. Have fun, everyone.”

“Goodbye.”

The children said goodbye to the police officer.

And the attention turned to Hana and Jaehui, who received the gifts.

“Let’s open them quickly.”

When they opened the gifts, they found flashlights that the police officer had.

There were four in a box.

The children all divided them up.

“Wow! Now we’re police officers!”

Click. Click.

The small flashlights turned on and off.

The children pretended to be police officers with them.

***

“Let’s move!”

“???”

My uncle said something strange.

I looked around. *Where? Where to?*

“Where do we have the money to move?”

“I have the money.”

It seemed like what he said before taking Siha to daycare wasn’t just a passing comment.

My uncle seemed really serious.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I already asked them to buy it.”

“Asked who?”

“Someone who manages my money. I have a lot of money saved up and a lot of money invested, so I’m very rich.”

“???”

“Well, you know. I disappear often for several years, so what would I have done with that money? I invested it all in stocks. Unless it’s some weird pharmaceutical company or something, most of them go up. And I had no time to spend money.”

“That’s true.”

He goes on long business trips every time, so he must have entrusted his funds to an investor and made a lot of money.

*Well, he’s someone who hardly has any time to spend money.*

When he comes to Korea, he lives with us. When he has another job, he suddenly leaves.

It seemed like he didn’t have time to spend money rather than not having a place to spend it.

“But buying a house means we’re settling down here for good?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Really?”

“Why? Do you not like it?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it.”

“Even if you don’t like it, I’m going to live next door. Anyway, we can solve the house problem quickly.”

“Hmm, I’d like it to be on the first floor.”

“Ah, so Siha can run around?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t worry! I have a lot of money! I’ll make sure to tell them to consider that.”

And time passed. It was moving day.

I never thought we’d move this quickly.

A 32-pyeong [Korean unit of area, approximately 1,138 square feet] apartment.

Three rooms, two bathrooms, and a living room connected to the kitchen.

There was also a veranda and a utility room.

Especially, it was on the first floor.

The moving company moved the stuff, so we didn’t have to do anything.

They cleaned up neatly and everything was finished.

The living room looked much bigger because there was no sofa, and the TV looked small and empty.

Siha seemed to like it a lot.

“Hyung! Hyung!”

“Yeah?”

“Two bathrooms. Two!”

“That’s right.”

“Now we can play in the water here and play in the water there!”

“Are you going to go that far?”

“Yeah!”

Living in a place like this after just the two of us, there were many empty spaces, and sleeping on a blanket on the floor without a bed made the house feel even bigger.

I suddenly became curious and asked Siha.

“But Siha, don’t you need your own room? This place is small, but it would be nice to have Siha’s room here.”

“Siha sleeps with Hyung. Together with Hyung.”

“That’s right.”

He still wants to be with me.

*Well, he might not want his own room yet.*

“But this is Siha’s room.”

“No.”

“No, it is. It’s Siha’s toy room!”

“!!!”

Siha’s eyes widened.

*Well, he doesn’t have that many toys, but let’s just say that.*

I’m planning to buy a wardrobe later and put Siha’s clothes here.

If possible, a desk and chair too.

Of course, he might not need them now, but the time will come when he needs them soon.

And we can’t just have him drawing or lying down on the living room table forever.

Of course, he likes that, but it’s not good for his body.

My uncle said.

“Let’s go shopping! Shopping!”

“Shopping?”

“We need to buy the things we need.”

“Ah, I’ll buy the furniture with my money.”

“What are you talking about? It’s my house, so I should buy it with my money. I have a lot of money. I didn’t even know I had so much.”

Siha said.

“Samchun [term used by children to address older men, like ‘uncle’]. Siha knows. Knows that.”

“Knows what?”

“Said you’re a rich unemployed person. Samchun has a lot of money.”

“I told you I had a lot of money from before!”

“Yeah!”

I wondered if this was okay, but I decided to just accept my uncle’s kindness.

*I’ll work hard and become independent someday.*

*My uncle might not think so, but it’s a form of living off him.*

“Then shall we go? Sihyuk will drive, right? I can’t drive?”

“Ah, yes.”

My uncle had a house but no car.

He can drive well, but he’s passing it on to me like this, so is there a problem with his license? He’ll have to get it issued.

Maybe it’s just consideration.

As much as I know my uncle well, my uncle knows me well too.

He’s probably making a place for me to stand.

I got in the car.

“Ah! I find the back seat so comfortable.”

“Siha’s always in the back.”

“Puhaha. Really?”

*It’s probably not consideration, but he’s just too lazy to get it issued.*

“Let’s go!”

“Let’s go!”

Siha repeated my uncle’s words.

I smiled and started the car.

First, we looked at furniture.

Siha’s desk and chair.

I have to choose this as carefully as possible.

The staff member says this is how it is and that is how it is.

“This is the best-selling children’s desk these days. My child also used this……”

My uncle interrupted.

“Don’t you have anything that shows a hologram of the world map when you press the desk and the current affairs news flows out?”

“Pardon?”

I shook my head at my uncle as if to say, ‘Are you starting again?’

I can feel the staff member, who was speaking well until just now, getting flustered.

Siha tugged at my pants.

“Hyung. Hyung.”

“Yeah? Why? Do you like something?”

“What’s a hologram?”

“Ah, that’s……”

“Siha knows.”

“Yeah?”

“Holo-gurae [Korean slang for ‘doing it alone’]. Doing it alone! That’s what it is. So, I shout gurae every day.”

“No, it’s English.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah.”

“But Samchun always says ‘Yeah. Gurae. Yeah. Gurae.’ when Siha speaks, isn’t it holo-gurae?”

“Yeah. No.”

*Is that what you thought of your uncle?*

*Well, my uncle always says ‘Yeah’ while listening to Siha or not.*

Siha remembers the soulless answer very well.

That’s actually teasing.

“Siha thought Samchun was buying a desk that says gurae instead when Siha speaks.”

“Puhup.”

“Samchun doesn’t listen to Siha well. Always says gurae.”

“That’s right.”

*Well, we bought a desk and chair like that and bought the things we needed.*

*What’s convenient is that there are furniture options when moving, so you don’t have to buy that much.*

“Shall we go to a hamburger place next?”

“!!!”

I went to a hamburger place with Siha.

His eyes seem to be spinning when he sees the various burgers.

First, I received the menu from the staff member and handed it to Siha.

That way, other people can order.

“Woong [sound of contemplation].”

“Still can’t choose?”

“What about Hyung?”

“Hyung is going to choose after seeing what Siha chooses.”

“Woong.”

The hamburgers in the picture all look delicious.

“Samchun. Is this delicious?”

“Yeah.”

“What about this?”

“Yeah.”

“What about that?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t just say yeah!”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

“Samchun babo [Korean for ‘fool’].”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

“!!!”

My uncle just waited blankly as if he wasn’t interested.

He must have already chosen everything in his heart.

“What did Samchun choose?”

“This.”

He chooses a very big big burger with a double patty.

Siha’s eyes widened.

It’s because it’s a picture, but it was really big.

“Samchun. That’s huge. Does that all fit in your mouth?”

*I thought he would say yeah, yeah, but surprisingly, his eyes come alive.*

*It’s a very playful eye.*

“Samchun has eaten even bigger burgers than this in America?”

“Really?!”

“Really. In America, they sell burgers that are this~~big~~! You have to hug it with your arms to eat it.”

“!!!”

My uncle mimes as if he’s holding a big ball.

“You have to open your mouth really wide and take a big bite.”

“That doesn’t all fit in your mouth. Samchun is lying!”

“In America, science and technology are very advanced. So, there’s also a robot that makes your mouth big. So, you can take a big bite. ”

“Really?!”

“Of course. That’s right. So, a burger this big is enough with just one bite. Siha, try eating this once. It only looks like this in the picture, it’s not that big.”

“!!!”

Siha starts to worry.

My uncle giggles. In the end, he seems to be trying to get Siha to eat that big thing.

*I guess I can’t do that.*

*I have to help. There’s no way that’ll fit in that little mouth.*

“Hyung will eat a cheeseburger.”

“!!! Siha too!”

All the worries fly away and he immediately changes his attitude.

“Same as Hyung!”

My uncle looked at Siha as if he was feeling empty.

He almost got over it, but things went wrong because of me.

“I wouldn’t have done that.”

Maybe Siha would have changed to what I chose right away.

My uncle couldn’t deny that, as if he admitted it.

“Samchun! Siha eats two! So, Siha gets bigger!”

“Yeah. Yeah. You eat a lot!”