Brother, Am I Cute? [EN]: Chapter 443

Tae Kwon Do (3)

After Uncle’s car-scratching incident blew over, the weekend finally arrived.

Today was my date with Seo Su-hyeon, and I decided to bring Si-ha along.

Honestly, it’s hard to go anywhere on the weekends without Si-ha.

We already have so little time together, and with our parents gone, I feel uneasy leaving him alone to go out and have fun by myself.

I could leave him with Uncle, but that doesn’t feel right either.

I have left Si-ha a few times for dates, and I always end up feeling sorry for Seo Su-hyeon.

We’ve been dating for a while, but strangely, our actual time spent together hasn’t been that long.

That’s partly because we have to squeeze in time whenever we can, and also because Seo Su-hyeon has been busy with various things, so we haven’t been able to meet as much as we’d like.

“Shall we go then?”

“Yeah!”

However, Seo Su-hyeon, understanding my feelings, suggested we all go out together.

I’m grateful and sorry at the same time.

“Hyunnie noona!”

“Si-ha, hello~”

These days, Si-ha doesn’t call her ‘Frog Noona’ anymore, but ‘Hyunnie Noona’.

I don’t know if it’s a change of heart or because she’s dating me.

Personally, I was getting used to ‘Frog Noona’ and didn’t mind it.

“Why are you already out here? You haven’t been waiting long, have you?”

“No way. I just got here too.”

“Arrived 20 minutes early, I bet.”

Seo Su-hyeon’s eyes widen at my words.

Then she looks around suspiciously.

“Are you a psychic? What is it?”

Looks like I was right.

Si-ha tugged at Seo Su-hyeon’s sleeve.

“Hyunnie Noona. It’s Hyeong [older brother]!”

He confidently shouts the answer.

Seo Su-hyeon is taken aback by his reaction.

“Oh? Oh. That’s right.”

“Hyeong knows everything. Amazing, right?”

“Yeah. Knows everything. Amazing. Always knows.”

“Ah, right! Hyunnie Noona. I learned Tae Kwon Do [Korean martial art].”

“Really? Wow. Si-ha, that’s amazing.”

“I’ll protect you if bad guys show up today.”

Lee Si-ha. White belt. Been doing Tae Kwon Do for 3 days.

I’m worried if he can really protect her.

Such unfounded confidence. Isn’t all he’s learned is the straight punch?

Oh wait, he also learned how to punch up and down, right?

For the record, yesterday we practiced punching up, straight, and down while shouting Tae Kwon Do together.

“I’ll teach you later. Hyunnie Noona, you should learn too.”

I shook my head vigorously.

But Seo Su-hyeon didn’t see my desperate signal.

“Oh, okay. Thank you. I’ll learn hard.”

She replied like that.

Tsk tsk. She should have said Si-ha will protect her, so I don’t need to learn.

It seems too late now.

“Look. You do it like this and shout! Tae! Kwon! Do!”

“Ooh, well done.”

“Noona, you try!”

“Huh?”

Right now, people are passing by, looking at Si-ha with smiles, thinking he’s cute.

Doing Tae! Kwon! Do! in the middle of all that is problematic.

I’m already embarrassed, and now she wants to do it in a public place?

I can’t handle this.

I need to stop her and suggest we go in to eat.

“Hey. Su-hyeon…”

“Tae, Tae. Kwon. Do. Ugh.”

Seo Su-hyeon throws a straight punch with a flushed face.

It’s kind of cute.

“No. You have to do it with more power. Straighten your back too.”

“Ugh. Tae. Kwon. Do.”

Si-ha, only on his third day, is teaching her quite strictly.

And outdoors, no less.

I’m embarrassed just being with them, so I wish they would stop.

Of course, the people passing by are smiling and looking at them warmly.

I wish they would stop looking too!

“Si-ha. It’s time to eat, so let’s do it later. We need to have fun today.”

“Ah, that’s right! I’m hungry!”

“Yeah. Let’s do it next time. Next time.”

“Okay! Hyunnie Noona. I’ll teach you something even more amazing next time. Okay?”

Seo Su-hyeon couldn’t answer and just nodded with her head down.

I grabbed Seo Su-hyeon’s hand and led her into the restaurant.

“That was cute.”

“Ugh. Please forget it. Please.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.”

“You’re so mean.”

“I was trying to stop you, but you did it first.”

“You should have stopped me sooner.”

I chuckled and waved a photo from my phone in front of her.

“I’ll send it to you later on KakaoTalk [Korean messaging app].”

“?!?!”.

Seo Su-hyeon’s head shot up.

“You took a picture of that?”

“Only the second one?”

“What, what do you mean. Delete it now.”

“Why? It’s a waste.”

“Hurry!”

While we were bickering, Si-ha said.

“Hyeong. You have to be quiet when you’re eating.”

It’s all because of you. Because of you. And we haven’t even chosen the menu yet.

“Si-ha. Have you chosen your menu?”

“Hmm. I want steak! What about you, Hyeong?”

“I’ll have pasta?”

“Then I want pasta too!”

“No. I should eat steak.”

“I want steak too!”

What’s the point of choosing a menu if he’s going to do that?

Well, it’s always like this.

We ordered our food from the staff.

“Hyeong. Noona. Are we going to learn Tae Kwon Do after this?”

“No.”

You’ve only been doing it for 3 days, and you’re already a Tae Kwon Do ambassador?

Maybe he’s just excited because it’s only been 3 days.

Everything is new and fun when you first learn it.

***

After eating, we decided to look around the department store for clothes.

To digest our food.

I’ve never been particularly interested in luxury brands. When I was young, I just thought, ‘Oh, there are a few brands.’

Students are more interested in padding jackets or shoes.

I didn’t pay any attention, thinking about our family’s finances, but I had a longing for them.

That’s why, when I get a bigger paycheck, I sometimes think it wouldn’t hurt to buy myself a branded pair of shoes.

“Do you have any luxury items?”

“I do.”

Su-hyeon’s words made me wonder if I should buy her a luxury bag someday as a grand gesture.

Should I do some research while we’re looking around today?

“I bought a guitar with a lot of courage, and it’s definitely worth the price.”

“Your luxury item is a guitar?”

“Then what kind of luxury item would it be?”

I didn’t think of a guitar?

Seeing my blank expression, Seo Su-hyeon laughed as if she understood.

“Ah. Ah. Oppa [term of endearment for older brother/boyfriend]. Are you perhaps talking about bags or something?”

“Yeah. Well. I was wondering if you had any.”

“I don’t have anything that costs over a million won [Korean currency]. But I have a guitar.”

That darn guitar.

Well, she’s a YouTuber, so it seems she uses an expensive guitar.

She’s earning money too, so.

“Just asking for reference. How much is the guitar?”

“Around 3 million won?”

“Wow.”

Luxury guitars are different from the price.

Well, some very famous violins cost hundreds of millions of won.

“It’s so expensive that I keep it carefully stored. I don’t think I’ve played it much.”

“Why did you buy it?”

“Ugh. Should I say I only use it when I’m playing a finished song?”

Indeed. It seemed like she was cherishing it.

While we were talking and looking around.

“Hyeong. Bodyguard.”

“Huh?”

A security guard was standing in front of the luxury store.

Si-ha ran to the security guard and looked at him with sparkling eyes.

“Mister.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“Can you do Tae Kwon Do?”

“Oh? Yeah. I do Tae Kwon Do.”

“I can do Tae Kwon Do too!”

Is it okay for a white belt to say he can do Tae Kwon Do?

“Wow. That’s amazing.”

“Then, Mister, if a thief comes, do you catch them with Tae Kwon Do?”

The security guard smiled gently.

Even so, they don’t catch thieves with Tae Kwon Do.

But maybe it’s because Si-ha asked with such sparkling eyes?

“Yeah. I catch them with Tae Kwon Do.”

“With kicks?”

“Yeah. I knock them out with one kick.”

“Wow! Then if I work hard at Tae Kwon Do, can I catch criminals too?”

“Yeah. If you work hard, you can become a security guard too.”

“!!!”

Well, it’s not like you only need to know Tae Kwon Do to become one.

I ruffled Si-ha’s hair.

“Hahaha. Sorry for bothering you while you’re working.”

“It’s alright. He’s a very cute kid. You’re a good-looking couple, so he inherited it.”

“Haha.”

He’s my younger brother. Ahem.

Strangers still misunderstand like this.

I never make excuses. There’s no reason to explain it anyway.

“Then, have a good day.”

I greeted him and left the store.

We went down the escalator.

Seo Su-hyeon was fanning herself with a flushed face.

“Oppa. They thought we were a couple.”

“Huh? Ah. Well. They might misunderstand.”

“They said we looked great together.”

They didn’t say anything like that?

“They even said we still looked like newlyweds.”

They didn’t say any of that either?

“Actually, I’ve already decided on the name for our first child. Si-hyeon.”

Is it a combination of Si-hyuk’s ‘Si’ and Su-hyeon’s ‘Hyeon’?

That’s not it. Excuse me? You’re going too far. Come back to reality quickly.

Where is your imagination going with the word ‘couple’?

“The second child is Su-hyuk.”

There’s even a second child?!

“Playing the guitar in front of the kids.”

“Su-hyeon-ah. Come back to reality.”

“Ahem.”

“But the names seem nice.”

“Right?!”

Si-ha answered at those words.

“Hyeong. What about Si-ha Two?”

Si-ha 2. That’s not a name.

It was also a mixed name of Korean and English.

“Uh. I don’t think so.”

“Then Hyeong Two!”

“No. Not that.”

How can a person’s name be Hyeong Two?

“But Hyeong. Si-ha will protect you with Tae Kwon Do.”

“Oh. I appreciate that.”

Si-ha the bodyguard protecting my child, I guess.

“So give me that. That.”

“That?”

“Earphones. Earphones.”

“This?”

I took out the wireless earphones and gave them to Si-ha.

I gave him two, but he gave one back.

Then he puts one in his ear.

“Okay. Okay. I got it. Hyeong. They said it’s safe from here down.”

It seems like he’s copying the earphones the security guard was wearing earlier.

He’s very serious.

“Si-ha is very funny.”

I just smiled at Seo Su-hyeon’s words.

Well, it’s fine as long as he’s having fun.

***

Tae Kwon Do, day 4.

The children arrived at the Tae Kwon Do gym.

The first thing they do is change into their uniforms.

The clothes are neatly folded and put in the locker.

Then, with 20-30 minutes left until class, they bring out the balls.

Bouncy balls. They’re not hard, so they don’t hurt when you get hit, and they’re light, so they fly far.

A ball that doesn’t break things no matter where it hits.

So the children could freely kick and play with it.

“Si-ha. Hurry up. Hurry. I need a goalkeeper.”

“Okay!”

Today’s goalkeeper is Lee Si-ha.

He was wearing a Bluetooth earphone in one ear.

He asked Hyeong and got only one.

Si-hyuk gave him the earphone, even prepared to lose it.

Seung-jun asked.

“What’s that?”

“Today, I’m a Tae Kwon Do bodyguard guarding the goal.”

“Ooh! Awesome!”

“You have to let them know here.”

“Wow! Great!”

You shouldn’t use it in real soccer games, but this was a free gym anyway.

The children kicked the ball hard.

Si-ha raised his hand to block it, but the light ball was too fast and he missed it.

Seung-jun didn’t say he did badly or tell him to do better.

“Si-ha. I’ll score more!”

He just said that.

If he lost, he just had to score more points.

“Okay! I’ll block it well next time.”

“It’s going to be a bit hard because there’s no goal. Fighting!”

The wall was the goal, and it was hard for Si-ha, who was small, to block it.

But the children didn’t care and ran hard.

The scores kept piling up.

Then the director said to the children.

“Okay. Class is starting soon. Everyone get ready!”

At those words, the children stopped what they were doing and put the balls away.

Everyone lined up, pushing each other.

The existing children show the new children first, and the new children follow and take their places.

That’s herd mentality.

They do it naturally, even if no one tells them to do it.

Of course, they tell them to do it like this at first.

The director looked at the children and nodded.

“Um. Is everyone ready!”

“Yes!”

“Huh? What’s that in Si-ha’s ear?”

“I’m a bodyguard, so I need this in my ear.”

“Ah. Ah. You’re talking about that thing in the bodyguard’s ear?”

“Yes!”

“I see.”

“Director. I asked the bodyguard, and he said you can become a bodyguard if you’re good at Tae Kwon Do.”

“Yeah. Yeah. That’s right. But does everyone know? You have to be good at one more thing besides Tae Kwon Do to become a bodyguard. The same goes for Tae Kwon Do.”

“???”

The children tilted their heads, not knowing what it was.

“You have to have manners.”

“???”

“If you look at Tae Kwon Do, you greet each other when you spar, right?”

“Yes!”

“The same goes for bodyguards. You have to protect them politely. Otherwise, the person who hired you will get cursed at. And since you’re doing Tae Kwon Do, you should naturally have manners. Got it?”

“Yes!”

“Ahem. Manners are important. Not just to other people, but to yourself. Everyone has heard the saying, ‘Kind words bring kind replies,’ right?”

“No!”

Some children knew, and some didn’t.

Si-ha was one of the children who knew.

“Okay. Okay. You have to have manners to be cool. You have to love and respect your family.”

The director looked at Si-ha.

“Got it, Si-ha? What do you have to do to your family?”

“Love and put them in trouble!”

“It’s a big deal if they’re in trouble. It’s re! spect! Let’s be careful with the pronunciation.”

“Respect!”

“Yes.”

The director was sweating because of Si-ha’s pronunciation.