Brother, Am I Cute? [EN]: Chapter 385

“Hyung, aren’t I cute?” Siha asked, flashing a smile. 385

Next to us was a simple bobsleigh track, more like a slide for kids.

It looked like fun, something even young children could easily enjoy.

“Hyung, I wanna ride that!” Seung-jun and Hana’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

I hesitated, wondering if it was safe since it looked like we’d be going pretty fast, maybe even faster than on a regular sled.

We headed over to the bobsleigh area.

It was set lower than the sledding area beside it, and the track looked relatively flat.

We’d be riding on plastic sleds, which seemed like a lot of fun.

Baek Dong-hwan spoke up, “Ah, I think I’ll pass on this one.”

“Why not?”

“Well, the width is a bit… I don’t think I’ll fit.”

“You’re right. I don’t think I’d fit either. Is this thing just for kids?”

“Exactly! It’s not just me who’s too big, right?”

*No, it’s definitely not just you. You’re way too big for that bobsleigh.* Baek Dong-hwan would probably have to stick to sledding.

“Hyung, can’t you ride?” Siha asked, his voice laced with disappointment.

“Yeah, I don’t think I can, buddy. Let’s meet at the bottom, okay? Siha, do you want to try something else?”

“Since we came all this way, you should try it once,” I encouraged.

“Okay! Hyung, you have to wait for me at the bottom. Siha will find you right away!”

“I got it. Be careful!”

I walked down with the other adults.

Seung-jun’s mom said she was going to film the kids.

My uncle was also planning to film Siha from behind, which meant I was free to go down ahead of them.

*They’re really on top of things,* I thought, impressed by their attentiveness.

I was heading down when Siha started his run.

“Hyung-nim, do we need to go down quickly?”

“Yeah, I guess so. It shouldn’t take too long.”

Since there weren’t many people, he’d be down in a flash.

I hurried down the slope.

From a distance, I saw a staff member helping Siha out, just like they did with the sleds.

“Hyung!”

“Yeah, Siha!”

“Hyung, too lwate! Twardy! Twardy!” He was using the word ‘tardy’ here, something he never did at school.

“Sorry, buddy. Siha went down too fast. Was it fun?”

“Fun!” Siha wiggled his fingers excitedly.

He probably wanted to go again, but he was holding back because I couldn’t join him.

“Seung-jun and Hana, why don’t you go ride some more? Hyung needs to take cool pictures of Siha coming down.”

“Hyung doesn’t have to wide? Hyung, aren’t you bored?”

I smiled. Siha looked so adorable when he was worried about me being bored.

*Where in the world could you find a kid like this? Oh, right here with me.*

“Hyung is having so much fun taking cool pictures of Siha coming down! So, Hyung would really like it if Siha went to ride quickly.”

“Okay! Siha will show you something weally cool!”

“Yeah, but you have to ride safely, okay?”

“Okay!”

Seung-jun was already calling Siha to hurry up.

The three of them diligently made their way back up the hill.

Seung-jun’s mom and my uncle still hadn’t come down. They were probably waiting for the kids.

Even though there were safety personnel around, parents always worried.

It occurred to me that I could film both the back view as they went down and the front view as they came down.

“Hyung-nim, I’m sorry!”

“Suddenly? What for?”

“I should have brought the camcorder! With a tripod! To take completely steady shots!”

“Just be quiet and follow me,” I said, trying to keep him grounded.

“Yes, sir!”

“Always overdoing it,” I muttered.

“But should I have bought a drone too? To fly a drone and film it, kkeueu [onomatopoeia for a choking sound, implying a strong desire].”

“Keep it moderate,” I warned.

“Yes, sir!”

If he went that far, people would definitely start staring.

We found a good spot and filmed Siha coming down.

He was holding the sled with one hand and making a V-sign with the other.

*I guess that’s the ‘cool’ look Siha was going for,* I thought.

Just in case, I told him to hold on tight with both hands.

Then, when he came down again, he squinted his eyes.

His eyebrows looked angry, but for some reason, that expression made me laugh because it was so cute.

After the kids had their fill of bobsleighing, they announced they wanted to go sledding again.

“I want to go sledding again!”

After one more round of sledding, the kids were finally satisfied and declared they were done.

“Then how about we try another kind of sled? There was an ice sledding area,” I suggested.

“Ice sled?!”

“Yeah, it might be a little tricky, but let’s give it a shot.”

There was an ice sledding area nearby.

It had wooden chair sleds with blades and wooden sticks for pushing on the frozen ice.

We all got on the sleds.

“Eeing, Hyung, it’s not going!” Siha complained.

“Hehe, you have to pull hard with this wooden stick,” I explained.

“Eeing,” Siha strained, but the sled barely moved.

Seung-jun and Hana were having the same problem.

Baek Dong-hwan chuckled at the sight and said he’d show them how it was done.

“Kkeueung [sound of effort]! Why isn’t it going?”

“Baekdong hyung is too heavy!” Siha declared.

“No, I can do it! Heup!” Finally, the sled moved, inch by inch.

It looked like he was moving it with sheer strength, not sliding.

“Baekdong hyung, you were slow when Siha wode in the car [rode in the car]. Because you were heavy. The sled is also slow!”

*Siha, you really shouldn’t bring up those facts,* I thought.

Baek Dong-hwan was starting to look dejected.

“Puhaha [laughter sound],” my uncle laughed as he watched Siha and Baek Dong-hwan.

Somehow, my uncle was the only one who seemed to be doing well.

“Uncle, how are you widing it wike that [riding it like that]?”

“That’s wight [right], Siha uncle! You’re the only one widing well!”

“Hana wants to wide wike that too [ride like that too],” Hana chimed in.

My uncle smirked. *Here we go again,* I thought. I knew that playful expression meant he was about to say something ridiculous.

“The reason you guys aren’t moving is that you’re not friends with the ice!”

“!!!”

“The ice guys are shaved ice [a popular Korean dessert]. But you guys keep saying it’s delicious, so they’re angry. Apologize quickly!”

Siha apologized as if it were really true. “Sorry! Shaved ice was too yummy! Next time, I’ll eat stwawbewwy shaved ice [strawberry shaved ice] and watahmelon shaved ice [watermelon shaved ice] instead of ice shaved ice! Sorry!”

Seung-jun also apologized. “It was really delicious when I ate shaved ice with soccer. But I’m sorry! Next time, I’ll only eat one instead of two!”

Hana joined in, “Sorry! Hana ate it deliciously too! But I couldn’t not eat it! So next time, I’ll eat only a little!”

*These innocent kids,* I thought, amused.

Suddenly, they were all sitting on their sleds, earnestly apologizing to the ice.

Of course, it didn’t mean they’d suddenly be able to ride well.

“Okay! Now try it!”

“Eeing!”

“Iyap [exclamation of effort]!”

“Hana is going too!”

But they still couldn’t do it well and only moved forward a tiny bit.

“Uncle! It’s not wowking [working]! The ice is angwy [angry]!”

“Puhaha [laughter sound]! That was a lie!”

“Uncle! You wied [lied]!”

“Puhaha [laughter sound]! Don’t be too angry! Uncle will tell you how to ride really well!”

“What is it?”

“The reason Siha can’t ride well is that he’s not ‘with Hyung’!”

“!!!”

“It’s the same with Seung-jun and Hana!”

“!!!”

*Why is everyone looking at me?* I wondered.

“Ahem. Siha, get off,” I said.

First, I helped Siha off the sled.

Then, I grabbed a new sled – a sled with a rope.

“Then Hyung’s sled will depart!”

“!!! With Hyung!” Siha exclaimed, his face lighting up.

“Hana too!”

“Seung-jun too!”

*Yeah, that’s what my uncle was getting at,* I realized.

Next to us, Baek Dong-hwan and the professor were pulling Seung-jun and Hana’s sleds.

Seung-jun’s mom was busy taking pictures of everything.

My uncle was recklessly enjoying the sledding, pulling with all his might.

*If you think about it, he’s the kind of person who could come here alone and have a blast,* I mused.

“Hyung’s sled departs!”

“Siha, let’s go together!”

“Hana too!”

So, we all pulled the kids’ sleds together.

The speed was on a completely different level from when I was pulling it alone like a snail.

Seuk seuk [sound of sled moving on ice].

I wanted to pull them faster, but it wasn’t easy because the floor was ice.

It would be easier to slide if I had a skateboard, but oh well.

“Siha, is it fun?”

“Hyung and the sled combined, so it’s more fun!”

“Right?”

I skated around the ice rink like I was skateboarding.

There were so many things to play with.

*I think we’ve already gotten more than our money’s worth of 20,000 won [approximately $15 USD],* I thought.

But I was a little worried because the professor next to me kept singing about smelt, smelt.

It seemed like he was really looking forward to it.

*We’re not just going smelt fishing after this,* I reminded myself.

*I think we’ll take a special train here and go catch smelt.* The reason I planned this route was that the kids might get cold if they were only on the ice, and their clothes might get wet.

“Uncle, Siha wide [ride],” Siha said, pointing at my uncle.

“Oh, yeah. Siha is a little kid, so someone has to pull him, right?”

“Siha is a wittle kid [little kid]. But who’s pulling Uncle? Should Siha pull you?”

My uncle looked at Siha as if he was thinking, ‘This kid is funny.’

He probably didn’t expect to hear that kind of response.

“Then shall I ask you? Will you pull me?”

“No! Uncle has to pull himself! Siha will only pull Hyung!”

My uncle looked taken aback.

*Our Siha. Amazing. He’s growing up while being teased by my uncle,* I thought proudly.

“Hey! That’s discrimination! Discrimination!”

“But Siha only discriminates against Uncle, so it’s okay!”

We got our money’s worth, but my uncle picked a fight for no reason and didn’t even get his money’s worth.

The two of them seemed to be playing really well while bickering.

*It’s like I’m seeing my old self,* I thought, watching them.

“Uncle is going!”

“Uncle, go togethew [together]! Hyung, follow Uncle!”

*You discriminated against your uncle like that, but now you want to follow him?* I wondered.

Maybe Siha was the devil today, not my uncle.

We pulled the sled for a long time, but now the kids were bored and playing on the ice.

I liked this peaceful feeling.

People seemed to be arriving little by little.

Everyone was going sledding, but it was still manageable here.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“Pwayed enough [played enough].”

“Did you play enough?”

“Yeah.”

Seung-jun and Hana also said they had fun and wanted to go out now.

“Then shall we take a break, go for a drive, and go smelt fishing?”

“Drive?”

“Yeah, there’s a train here. You can go around in a circle.”

We went with the kids to the place where the tractor pulled the tin can trains.

It was 5,000 won per person [approximately $3.75 USD].

I was worried they were charging money here too, but I still wanted the kids to have fun.

“Hyung too!”

“That’s wight [right]! Siha hyung too!”

“Siha oppa [older brother] has to wide too [ride too]!” Hana insisted.

Due to the kids’ insistence, I was the only adult who decided to ride.

The other adults thought 5,000 won was too much to ride once.

So, another 20,000 won was flying away.

Looking around, there were kids riding with their moms and kids riding with their siblings.

Most parents seemed to be regretting their decision.

“Hyung, start!”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I replied.

Still, I figured I should sit comfortably, rest, and take pictures.

I had to take a lot of pictures of Siha.

“Siha, kimchi [a pose for taking pictures, like saying ‘cheese’]!”

All of our Siha’s pictures were V-signs.

*How can time pass without the poses changing?* I wondered.

“Seung-jun, kimchi!”

Seung-jun was making a strange face, sticking out his tongue or crumpling his face with his fist.

*That’s not how you use your face,* I thought.

*Why do you always do that when you take pictures?* It felt like it was getting more diverse as time went on, but this wasn’t artistic expression, was it?

“Hana, kimchi!”

Hana made a V-sign and a flower pose.

She winked, and it looked cute.

“Siha.”

“Huh?”

“Wink!”

Siha covered his closed eye with a V-sign.

*Is that a wink? No. If you close one eye, it’s a wink.* Anyway, I guess it was a wink.

Click.

“Hyung, there’s a goat over there!”

“Oh? There really is.”

“Goat ajusshi [term for older man]. Says ‘Baa!'”

“Yeah, it says ‘Baa!'”

They were dragging me around, but the scenery was just okay.

Still, the kids were strangely having fun.

*Is it because it’s like an extension of playing train?* I wondered.

After riding it all, I felt empty.

*Is this the expensive drive?* I thought wryly.

“Hyung, are we going smelt fishing now?”

“Yeah, let’s go smelt fishing,” I replied.

The kids had expectant eyes, but the professor was especially excited.

It was as if he had been waiting for this moment.

My uncle was bluffing again from behind.

“Siha, let me tell you, Uncle is really good at smelt fishing! If you flick your hand, you’ll catch it quickly!”

“Weally [really]?”

“Yeah! And if you drop a bomb there, you’ll catch all the smelt!”

“!!!”

*Uncle, isn’t that a criminal act?* I thought, shocked.

I looked at my uncle in disbelief, and he shrugged as if there was nothing wrong with what he said.

“Siha, dropping bombs to catch them is a very bad thing to do!”

“Uncle! Did you teach Siha to do bad things?!”

My uncle chuckled. “I told you I’m a bad person, so it’s okay to do bad things!”

“Uncle is a devil! A devil!”

“Siha, do you know that?”

“What?”

“Uncle is still an angel to my people!”

Siha stared at my uncle and said one word: “Uncle wies [lies]!”

*That’s right. He teases me every day, so there’s no way he’d look like an angel,* I thought.

Anyway, we moved to a place to go smelt fishing.