I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 132

I stared at Dad, biting my lip a few times.

After talking, I felt like I had learned quite a bit.

‘So, Dad has been living alone, thinking about his memories with Mom.’

Oblivious to my thoughts, Dad spoke cheerfully.

“Shien! Look at this sign.”

“Huh? What’s this?”

The sign was covered with what looked like constellations scattered haphazardly.

As I tilted my head, Dad smiled, connecting the dots with his fingertip.

“These dots are like a map.”

“Uh-huh? A map?”

I tilted my head, following Dad’s fingertip as he traced the constellations.

‘No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem like a map.’

But Dad spoke so matter-of-factly that it was awkward to respond.

I smiled awkwardly and asked.

“Wow, what kind of map is it?”

Fortunately, Dad didn’t seem to notice my awkward tone and answered kindly.

“A long time ago, I went to a nice place with your mom. I left those spots as a code. See this star shape here?”

“Yeah! It’s a star, so the star was the code?”

“Yeah. The star is the code. There was a bar with three stars drawn on it.”

“A bar…?”

Suddenly, I vividly pictured Mom and Dad talking in a bar.

I tilted my head.

“Dad, you went to bars too?”

“Uh-huh… Oh, but you know what? Shien shouldn’t drink alcohol.”

“…Huh? Why?”

“Because it makes Dad suffer.”

“Why would Dad suffer when I drink alcohol!”

“Of course. Alcohol is dangerous.”

“Tch, but Dad drinks!”

As I pouted and grumbled, Dad put on a stern expression.

“Shien, no. Alcohol is the root of all evil.”

I stared blankly, thinking.

‘…Is this something someone who made memories with Mom at a bar should be saying?’

But Dad seemed quite solemn and didn’t seem to realize he was contradicting himself.

In the end, I was the one who changed the subject.

I pretended to be affectionate and said to Dad.

“…Um, so. Dad also had memories with Mom, right?”

“Um…”

Dad, who I expected to nod as if it were obvious, paused for a moment before opening his mouth.

“…I don’t know.”

He looked like he was hesitating to say the next words.

I stared at Dad.

‘Why does he look like that? Maybe the word ‘memories’ feels awkward?’

As I expected, Dad muttered to himself.

“Um… Actually, I thought I had forgotten.”

“But?”

Dad paused again before saying the next words.

“When I think about it again, it still feels like yesterday. It feels strange to call it a memory.”

Hearing those words, I was convinced that Dad hadn’t moved on from his separation from Mom.

‘Dad wasn’t ready to let Mom go.’

There’s a saying that when someone dies, you bury them in your heart.

But it seemed like Dad had been avoiding that fact since Mom died.

‘Even though it’s been over 20 years since Mom died, Dad still hasn’t let her go.’

Dad was raising me while staying in the past, in the days when he parted with Mom.

So, he couldn’t find happiness that wasn’t me.

‘Dad, I will definitely find your happiness for you.’

So that you can part with Mom maturely.

Or so that you can bring back memories of Mom, not with such a painful face, but with happy memories.

I smiled brightly at Dad.

Fortunately, the desert sandstorm didn’t blow while we were talking.

So, instead of chewing on the sand in my mouth and smiling, I could smile as brightly as a spring day.

“Dad, is there another place to show me?”

“Yeah. I remembered something this time!”

Dad and I walked for a while again.

A quick glance showed that Dad had a determined expression on his face.

***

Was it because we walked so hard near the desertified temple?

Dad and I were finally able to reach the center of the desert.

In the center of the desert, there was a small tent.

I widened my eyes and said.

“Dad, why is there a tent here?”

“Because they changed the temple into a tent.”

“Ah… It was originally a temple?”

“Yeah.”

I looked around to find traces of what was once a temple, but unfortunately, it was in vain.

Everything had been covered in sand for a long time.

Instead, a small tent was set up in the center.

I looked up at the tent and widened my eyes.

“Wow! The tent is huge!”

“The Mirmord family installed it.”

Really, typical of the Mirmords… How great is their wealth?

‘Ah, I should wash my hands first. It’s so sticky because of the sand!’

I washed my hands simply and looked around the tent here and there, amazed.

But then, Dad said from behind.

“Shien, you said you wanted to find another joy in Dad’s life besides you.”

“Huh?”

That’s right, but why is he suddenly bringing this up?

I turned my head to look at Dad.

Then Dad smiled and said.

“But Dad has had Shien as his only happiness for over twenty years, so he doesn’t know how to find other happiness.”

“Um…”

“Even if Shien helps, I don’t know if I can do well. Even though I met Yuela today… I just had that thought.”

“What thought?”

“I’m grateful that you let me meet Shien.”

My eyes instantly turned red at Dad’s words.

‘How much does our Dad like and think about me?’

I felt that Dad’s love was too deep.

“I think we met here for the second time.”

Dad raised his hand and looked at the small sign.

The sign was already old and worn out.

But why?

It seemed like Dad could see the memories with Mom, when they planted the sign together.

‘Is Dad reminiscing about his memories with Mom right now?’

He quietly took a deep breath while receiving my gaze and looked around.

After a long silence, Dad wiped the dust off the sign and gave an awkward smile.

‘Dad… looks like he’s about to cry.’

I tried to let Dad sort out his emotions alone.

But I couldn’t possibly leave Dad alone.

Because the person I’m dealing with isn’t an ordinary person, but my dad.

I carefully reached out my hand to Dad and smiled brightly.

“Dad, hold my hand here!”

This is the place Mom liked, so I wanted to go inside.

***

“I put psychedelic magic in the time capsule.”

“…Huh? Psychedelic? Isn’t that bad?”

Dad just shrugged at my words.

‘If it’s psychedelic, it must be magic that means being intoxicated with hallucinations?’

Hallucination magic could have tremendous side effects.

“Well… Even if it’s hallucination magic, it probably won’t be that bad, right?”

I squinted at Dad and said.

“You don’t seem confident at all.”

“Um, really…?”

“Yeah! Not trustworthy at all.”

I was someone who thought terribly about my own body. I narrowed my eyes and glared at Dad as if threatening him.

Then Dad smiled brightly and said.

“Why, is Dad going to feed our Shien something weird?”

I looked at the small mushroom Dad was showing me with a puzzled expression.

The colorful picture drawn on the surface made it look like you would die if you ate it.

As I frowned and pushed Dad’s hand away, Dad smiled slightly and said.

“Want to try it once?”

“No! Is it okay for Dad to offer this to his daughter?”

Dad smiled slightly.

“You don’t want it? If you don’t want it, I’ll just eat it.”

After Dad retorted like that, I suddenly started to worry.

I blinked and shuffled my feet.

“Hey, Dad! Isn’t this some kind of addictive drug…?”

“Of course not.”

“…Dad did so many bad things that now eating drugs doesn’t even seem like a bad thing anymore…”

Dad shook his hand vigorously with an unfair expression.

“Of course not! Shien, no. Trust Dad.”

“Then what is it?”

“Um… This, well, it’s nothing much. It’s just that you can see what you want to see in your dreams.”

If someone were by our side, they would know that there was bitterness in Dad’s voice right now.

I bit my lip tightly, staring at the pathetic expression Dad was showing for almost the first time.

“…Okay, I understand.”

I took Dad’s hand and put it on the time capsule.

Was it the effect of psychedelic magic?

Before I knew it, my vision began to blur little by little, and I saw a small temple in front of me.

It seemed like I was seeing the story of the day Mom and Dad met.

***

The memories that Mom and Dad put in the time capsule were not that special.

I could see Mom and Dad staring at each other in an unknown, bustling pub.

Dad was wearing a black robe on his head and had an indifferent expression as if it was his first time in such a pub.

Around Dad, Mom, who was also wearing a black robe, appeared.

“Hello? Long time no see.”

“…Long time no see.”

I stared at Dad and Mom in their youth and then smiled faintly.

Mom and Dad in front of me seemed awkward for some reason.

But the secret current flowing between them was similar to that between me and Ashid.

“I have something to say.”

“Something to say… What’s the reason you asked me to come to this pub?”

“Um, you know. Shall we do something out of the ordinary today?”

Dad flinched violently at Mom’s words, ‘out of the ordinary.’

“What? What are you thinking that makes your eyes shake like that?”

The two grumbled and shared a drink.

On the surface, it just looked like an ordinary scene.

‘Mom also had such an ordinary side. And Dad too…’

I felt strange seeing their daily lives before I was born.

‘I’m glad I can see Mom’s old self.’

But the thought that I was happy felt strange.

As I looked at her, my heart began to ache.

‘Mom… was such a person. It would have been nice if she had been alive.’

Not just someone who sacrificed herself for me. A living person.

A person who loved me like Dad had…

Thinking that, my heart thumped and my vision blurred.