By Zephyria 
Tae-un indifferently pushed away Yang Yura, who was incessantly exclaiming in admiration while poking at his face and hands.
“My mental age hasn’t regressed too.”
“Eek! The doll is talking!”
“…….”
After exhausting Tae-un with her loud fussing, Yang Yura finally bowed her head to Kim Si-baek.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I just couldn’t believe it even after seeing it with my own eyes, so I got carried away.”
“It is alright. It is only natural to be surprised.”
“More than that, I’ve heard so much about you from the kids. Seeing you in person makes it even more moving!”
Yang Yura treated Kim Si-baek as if she were meeting someone for the first time. Until recently, whenever he faced such unfamiliar reactions, it felt as if something sharp was scraping one side of his chest, leaving it sore, but now it didn’t affect him that much.
Did it mean he had grown used to it…? No. That couldn’t be it. It was because the root of his heart had changed. Instead of a place he had to return to someday, it had become a hometown where he should stay and live. As for the relationships with people from his past who had scattered without a trace, he could simply rebuild them one by one.
Soon, Pi Min-hyeong arrived in a rush with the children, and the full-scale amusement park date began. Contrary to Tae-un’s wishes, however, several “extras” had tagged along.
A single question sprouted in Pi Min-hyeong’s mind. No matter how strange the phenomenon that made him younger was, the person inside was clearly a 36-year-old adult; so why was he so happy to ride something like a carousel?
‘Did his brain become a brat’s too?’
Whether he harbored doubts or not, Tae-un was having a wonderful time despite the presence of the intruders. The resentment of the past, when he could only watch Kim Si-baek play with the siblings due to height and weight restrictions, had vanished completely. If there were rides he couldn’t go on because he was too short, he could simply grow taller and come back in a few weeks.
“I wanted to play with Daddy…”
Even Pi Seo-yeon, who had been excited to go out with Kim Si-baek, grew grumpy.
Because a tiny, cute child—so small that passersby would look back at least once—was enjoying himself with a constant smile, he unconsciously drew people’s attention. The fact that the guardians beside him were the well-known Kim Si-baek and Pi Min-hyeong only added to the attention.
Even Kim Si-baek, who was usually oblivious to people’s gazes, felt the back of his neck prickle, but he steadfastly waved his hand at Tae-un, who was riding the carousel in the distance, and diligently took photos. The embarrassment from the stares was momentary, but the precious opportunity to capture the young Tae-un in an album would not come twice.
‘Maybe I should have bought clothes a bit larger?’
He had grown 1.5 centimeters since he was measured last week. Although he was still smaller than his peers, he was growing rapidly, as if being stretched from top to bottom, so his clothes had to be changed just as quickly.
‘Ah. So cute.’
Even while thinking such things, a broad smile naturally broke out on his face when the carousel turned from behind a pillar, revealing the child’s face with large eyes blinking amidst chubby cheeks. He was wearing a rabbit-ear headband today, and he was so adorable that Kim Si-baek wanted to put a rabbit tail on his backside as well. It would be the best if a rabbit tail on his bottom flickered back and forth…
In his heart, he wanted to cherish this fantastic cuteness for a lifetime, but it was only natural that Tae-un had to become an adult. For the sake of Tae-un’s social position, and for Kim Si-baek himself.
If so, wouldn’t it be fine to spend the day as a child and the night as an adult? While he was immersed in this serious yet useless contemplation, the carousel ride ended, and Tae-un, having dismounted, scurried over and hugged Kim Si-baek.
“Did you have fun?”
“Looking from the horse, the distance here was surprisingly far and there were so many people, but I could see you so well, Hyung!”
“Hyung could see Un-i clearly too.”
“Why?”
“Because our Un-i is the cutest.”
Having heard the answer he wanted, Tae-un smiled with satisfaction, while Pi Min-hyeong, who was looking after the siblings beside them, wore an expression as if he felt nauseous.
“Daddy! I want to do that next.”
The place Pi Seo-yeon was begging for was none other than the haunted house. When they came last year, she wouldn’t even look at it, saying it was scary, but having aged one more year, she had become quite brave.
Since it was a place tailored for children, Kim Si-baek thought it might be boring for Tae-un and was about to suggest riding another attraction, but Tae-un quickly nodded.
“I want to go too, Hyung.”
“It won’t be scary for you.”
“I plan to pretend to be scared and let out a fragile scream so I can hug Hyung.”
“Then we must go.”
Thus, at the next destination, Tae-un faithfully carried out his role. It meant that whenever there was a sign of something moving in the darkness, he would scream and grab Kim Si-baek’s hand, throw himself at Kim Si-baek, or wrap his arms around Kim Si-baek’s waist.
Conversely, Pi Seo-yeon, who had been screaming because she was actually terrified, gradually calmed down. She found herself more startled by Tae-un’s screams than by the ghosts appearing everywhere or the eerie background music.
“Daddy, who is that? Don’t tell me to play with him from now on.”
“Daddy’s sorry…”
Watching them lead the way with all sorts of fuss, Pi Seo-yeon gave up halfway and, for the first time, envied her younger sibling who had left early with Aunt Yura. The haunted house she had looked forward to ended so boringly—because of Tae-un, who wore a satisfied expression after fully tasting Kim Si-baek’s embrace by pretending to be frail.
“Aren’t you tired?”
“I’m sweepyyy.”
Kim Si-baek sat on a bench, holding the limp Tae-un, who was dragging out the end of his words, on his lap. Leaning against his shoulder, Tae-un let out a long yawn and fidgeted. When he was an adult, this amount of activity was effortless, but since his physical strength had also become that of a young child, it was only natural that he would be fatigued.
Coincidentally, Pi Min-hyeong had stepped out with the siblings to buy ice cream. Yang Yura took a photo of the dozing Tae-un, whose rabbit ears were twitching, with her phone.
“I feel like I could sell this photo to Han-gyeol for money.”
“Is… is that so?”
“At the very least, I could get a good meal out of it.”
Smiling playfully, saying that Han-gyeol was lamenting not being able to come today, Yang Yura thought to herself. She had heard from others that while Kim Si-baek was a good person, one could feel him subtly drawing a line.
That was why she had been slightly nervous coming out today, but to her surprise, the polite distance that everyone had spoken of was almost nonexistent.
‘Did he loosen up while spending time with the bratty Tae-un?’
If Kim Si-baek had known her curiosity, he would have answered that it was due to a change in his heart, but unaware of such thoughts, he simply toyed with the hand of the dozing Tae-un.
The hand, which had once been covered in scars here and there, was now clean and smooth. If he resumed hunter activities with an adult body, wounds might appear again, but at the very least, that scar on the palm would never remain. That specific scar, which had occurred while trying to save Kim Si-baek when he had tried to throw away his own life.
Looking at the fair skin, untainted by magical energy, Kim Si-baek felt that he wanted to build his and Tae-un’s time together like coloring a white blank sheet of paper, without any wounds or scars. Unlike the terrible distortion that had been the landscape of his mental landscape, he wanted to fill it with colors that he and the boy liked.
After the photos, Yang Yura, who was filming a video of Tae-un, suddenly shifted her gaze.
“Ah, right. I heard from Sister Hyo-ju Agnes that the brother she was looking for was you, Teacher?”
Kim Si-baek nodded awkwardly, recalling the time he had met Hyo-ju Agnes a few days ago.
Because Cloud had taken no particular stance upon returning to the country, Hyo-ju Agnes had been unable to contact him first and had only waited anxiously. It was only after meeting him through Kim Si-baek’s contact and receiving confirmation that tears streamed down her face.
〈Mother… was sorry to her brothers for her entire life.〉
〈I know.〉
〈She should have taken you out somehow, but she said that back then, you were also young and she was too preoccupied with escaping…〉
After finishing her words, she sobbed for a long while before finally regaining her composure and rummaging through the album she had brought.
〈I don’t know if you’ll want to see this, but…〉
Of course, Kim Si-baek was also curious about how his mother had lived.
The past of his mother, which he was only now confirming, was just as he had hoped. Just as he had hoped there would be no more word like ‘escape’ in the remainder of his mother’s life, the mother in the photos always had a bright smile or a warm, gentle expression. Beside her husband, beside her children, beside her relatives.
Because they were old photos, he was careful even to touch them, and as he looked down at the pictures with only his eyes, Kim Si-baek murmured softly. It was a single phrase, and he himself wasn’t sure if it was a word of comfort for his younger sister or something he wanted to tell his deceased mother.