By Zephyria 
“Could you pick up Min-jung after work…? The person who helps with the after-school pickup has the flu. The kid is currently in the school’s temporary childcare classroom. But I… have outside schedules packed from now until evening.”
Yi-ho felt it might be better not to ask, but since he needed to grasp the situation, he ventured a question.
“…Is something going on with your parents?”
With the enrollment of Min-gyu’s younger sibling, Min-jung, into elementary school, Min-gyu’s parents had moved from the countryside to Hanam. And as far as he knew, the two of them… still didn’t have any particular jobs. Min-gyu’s stiff expression seemed to provide the answer in advance.
“A trip. They’re in Jeju, so they can’t come back immediately.”
A great deal of patience was visible on Min-gyu’s face. Yi-ho silently patted his shoulder.
“I’ll take a half-day.”
“No, you don’t have to go that far.”
“I have plenty of vacation days. Besides, Min-jung is my sibling too. You said she’s already being looked after somewhere. I should go, even if you didn’t ask.”
“…Thanks.”
Cha Min-gyu always seemed to be wrapped in layers. He rarely showed a vulnerable side to anyone. At work, those layers were perhaps three or four deep, and in front of Yi-ho, maybe just one. But in that simple “thanks” he just uttered, it felt as though something from the inside had been revealed.
“I should just bring her to my place, right?”
“Yeah. I’ll wrap things up and leave as quickly as I can.”
Min-gyu stepped closer. He pulled Yi-ho into a one-armed embrace and patted his back.
“Song-i, thank you so much.”
“…….”
Was it because they had become close enough to share family matters? Cha Min-gyu really considers me family. The thought suddenly occurred to him.
Yi-ho rubbed the back of his neck as he followed Min-gyu out the door. For a moment, whispers lingered about how much he must have pissed off Min-gyu—who had summoned him to the conference room only for Yi-ho to suddenly take a half-day the moment he returned—to make him bolt out of the office like that.
∗ ∗ ∗
“Hello, teacher. I’m the guardian Min-jung’s contact mentioned….”
“Uncle Song-i Song-i!”
“If you could just confirm with Min-jung’s older brother that I am indeed the person coming to pick her up….”
“Song-i Song-i! It is Uncle Song-i Song-i, teacher!”
Min-jung tried to run toward Yi-ho, her small body hopping up and down. The teacher kept Min-jung inside the classroom door during the identity verification process, but she didn’t show any particular wariness toward Yi-ho. The reason was:
“Min-jung wrote ‘Uncle Song-i’ on her family list along with her parents and brother, so I assume it’s you.”
“…Ah, yes.”
“You’re Min-jung’s brother’s friend, right? One moment.”
Only after the teacher finished a call with the parents, following the one with Min-gyu, did she lead Min-jung outside.
“Just in case something happens, I’ll record your name and contact information. What is your surname?”
“It’s Song.”
“…Is your name, Song Song-i…?”
“No. It’s Song Yi-ho….”
“Ah. Oh my, goodness. I’m so sorry. Since she called you Uncle Song-i….”
Yi-ho clenched his fist inwardly. The cause of this situation lay with Cha Min-gyu, who had drilled the nickname ‘Song-i’ into his sibling. Thanks to that, Min-jung had called Yi-ho ‘Ttoi’ or ‘Tto-tto’ since she was crawling, and by now, it had been fixed as ‘Uncle Song-i.’
“Min-jung, let’s go home with Uncle.”
“Yes!”
Min-jung trotted over and immediately grabbed Yi-ho’s hand.
He had worried that she might find him unfamiliar after not seeing him for a while and look for her family, but fortunately, Min-jung seemed purely happy that Yi-ho had come to get her. Their joined hands bounced up and down.
“But why did Uncle Song-i Song-i come today?”
“Ah, Min-gyu—your brother—is busy at work.”
“Really? I was super, super busy at school today from the morning until now, too.”
Then she stared intently at Yi-ho. He guessed this was a prompt for him to ask immediately what she had been so busy doing.
“What was Min-jung so busy doing all day?”
“When we go to school, we do morning reading until 8:50. Until the big hand of the clock goes to 10. And then we do growth gymnastics. But you know, this morning, I actually wanted to wear my blue skirt, but Daddy said I couldn’t because it was cold. But you can’t change the clothes you picked out yesterday. If you do, you’ve broken a promise, so you have to wear them next time. So I wore this jacket instead.”
…He didn’t understand a single word from the middle onward. Moreover, since she was missing a bottom tooth, her pronunciation leaked slightly, making it a difficult signal for Yi-ho, who had always had poor language grades. However, he did his best to nod along as he opened the back door of the car for Min-jung and fastened her seatbelt.
“Does Uncle Song-i know about Jelly Jelly Roll?”
“Huh? Um… is it a snack you like, Min-jung?”
“Nooo, Sweet-Sweet Jelly Jelly Roll. This one.”
Min-jung held out the wallpaper of her kids’ phone toward the front seat. A rabbit…? A pig…? It was some kind of pink glutinous rice cake-like character with sparkling eyes. It seemed to be a popular cartoon character.
“I see. What does Jelly Jelly Roll do?”
Ah, that was a good question. This would keep her excited for a while as she explained the plot of the cartoon. As he slowly exited the school zone, Yi-ho asked.
“It’s just Jelly Jelly Roll?”
“Huh?”
“Jelly Jelly Roll doesn’t work. It’s just cute.”
What a… lazy life. A Jelly Jelly Roll that doesn’t work and is just cute. Is it okay for children to be obsessed with such a futureless character?
However, seeing Min-jung—who used to be shorter than Yi-ho’s forearm, the baby who used to suck on dolls when they were handed to her—boasting about her wallpaper because she found a character she liked, gave him a strange and mysterious feeling. The affection built from knowing someone since they were a newborn is truly powerful. Moved by this, after parking at the apartment, he stopped by a local unmanned stationery shop and pressed two Jelly Jelly Roll keyrings into Min-jung’s hand.
“It’s a secret from your brother.”
“Yes!”
Min-jung, who usually attached a “Why?” to 80% of Yi-ho’s sentences, answered quickly this time.
Sigh, she can negotiate and handle contraband now.
Since he had lived as Min-gyu’s neighbor for five years, Min-jung had visited Yi-ho’s house a few times. Since the layout was the same as her brother’s, she dashed inside without hesitation after taking off her shoes. One of her princess shoes landed belly-up, and the other was pushed all the way to the door. Yi-ho tidied the shoes and followed Min-jung into his home.
“Uncle Song-i Song-i.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you have rice cakes?”
Yi-ho opened the freezer. It was a relief that his mother had stopped by recently. Even after closing her rice cake shop, his mother often made rice cakes in a small pot. And knowing that her son no longer ate them much, she would leave one or two in the freezer before leaving.
Like the eggs in Yi-ho’s refrigerator, those rice cakes had become the property of the Cha siblings at some point. Yi-ho brought out a steamer from the pantry. This, too, was a gift from his mother. He placed frozen seolgi and baram-tteok in it and turned on the heat. As he listened to Min-jung’s chattering for a moment, the scent of steaming rice cakes—a smell he had known since birth—wafted through the air. Even after he stopped liking rice cakes, this scent always stirred his emotions.
Yi-ho had personally witnessed almost every stage of Min-jung’s growth, from her 100th-day celebration to her first birthday party. Perhaps she followed him so well because he had been a presence in her eight years of life, as subtle as the scent of steaming rice cakes.
Once the rice cakes were fluffy and well-cooked, he placed them on a plate and used a stack of documents to cool the steam before serving them. Instead of a fork, Min-jung deftly tore the rice cakes with her hands. It was a mukbang that would have made Yi-ho’s mother very proud.
“Uncle Song-i Song-i. You know, when is Brother coming home?”
“There are about two hours left. Why? Do you miss him?”
“No. Uncle Song-i Song-i, then… I have a real wish. I want to play a tablet game. Can I?”
“Uh… sure. You can.”
This kid likes games. She might end up closer to his department than Min-gyu when she grows up.
Min-jung pulled a mini tablet out of her backpack and held it out. Yi-ho realized why she had asked for permission. The device was locked. It was the Kids Smart Lock feature created by Taejang Electronics during the phone’s launch.
“Do you know the password?”
Min-jung shook her head, frowning seriously.
“Then I think we’ll have to ask your brother for the unlock code.”
“But Brother doesn’t let me use the tablet. He only lets me use it for one hour a day. My friends get to use theirs a lot. Even though I don’t watch YouTube and only play games.”
Cha Min-gyu really doesn’t give in easily. Min-jung looked at Yi-ho pleadingly, her eyes saying, ‘Aren’t adults able to open this?’ Indeed, Cha Min-gyu, an adult in Min-jung’s world, or her parents, would know the password.
Not all adults in the world were omnipotent. There were things impossible even for adults… but in this specific situation, Yi-ho could be an omnipotent adult.
Yi-ho left Min-jung for a moment, went into his room, and came back with his laptop.
Because one of the participants in the development of that Kids Smart Lock feature was Song Yi-ho, who had been in the Research Division before being transferred to the DL Division….
Yi-ho connected the tablet to the laptop. After a few keystrokes, he succeeded in forcing the lock open. When the lock screen disappeared and that Jelly Jelly Roll appeared on the main screen, Min-jung looked at Yi-ho as if she had seen a god.
In exchange for giving her the tablet, Yi-ho moved to the seat next to her. Well… I think I’ve done too much for someone else’s kid just because she’s cute, so I should supervise. Fortunately, Min-jung opened a cute metaverse game for children. Her ID was ‘JellyMinjungRoll.’
While Min-jung focused intently on the game with a rice cake in one hand and the tablet in the other, Yi-ho, sitting beside her, finally had time to check his phone.
Cha Min-gyu
[Did you get home?] 14:41
[Thanks for the hard work. I’ll leave work as soon as possible.] 14:42
[If she gets bored, ask if she did her homework, and if she tries to avoid it, just show her a cartoon. Anything from DisOney will do.] 15:17
[Don’t do everything the kid asks for.]
[Especially don’t buy her anything. Got it?] 15:19
It seemed most of the requests had already been ignored.
Since he had brought out his laptop, Yi-ho spent a moment working remotely. He wondered how to stop her if she played for too long, but in less than 30 minutes, Min-jung put the tablet down as if she were bored. Thinking now was the time to play the role of a guardian, Yi-ho suggested:
“Shall we do your homework then?”
“…….”
“Should I put on a cartoon…?”
“Yes.”
As if afraid he would take it back, Min-jung quickly ran and settled herself on the living room sofa. Yi-ho scrolled through various animations on an OTT service and played the one she chose. After spending some time with the cheerful sounds that didn’t quite fit the atmosphere of this house, Min-jung came back to find her tablet again. This time, she even introduced her character to Yi-ho.
“My ID is JellyMinjungRoll, and my pet’s name is Legendary Mackerel.”
“……?”
Was being a science-track student the problem? He couldn’t grasp the flow at all.