CHAPTER: 011 Let’s Go for a Drive?!
CHAPTER: 011 Let’s Go for a Drive?!
“Kyaaaht—!”
Dolphin shouting.
Whenever they felt good, the two babies would scream.
Sometimes, when they screamed without warning, Yoonseul felt awkward.
It was a residential neighborhood, but the layout had houses on both sides separated by a single alley, so loud sounds could carry to the neighbors.
Still, since it was raining today, it would be rare for the babies’ dolphin shouting to leak outside.
Ding-dong—
No, never mind.
It probably did leak out.
Yoonseul, who had set the babies down on the mat near the living room gate, put on his slippers and headed to the front gate, opening the door.
Clank—
The moment he opened it, a plump-looking middle-aged woman stood there under an umbrella.
It was Mrs. Lee Sukhyeon, known among the neighbors as the “final boss of sensitivity.”
“Are you raising a baby here?”
Her eyes narrowed.
“…My younger siblings are staying with me.”
At Yoonseul’s words, Lee Sukhyeon’s eyes widened slightly.
“Ahem. Even if your siblings are here, keep it down. The crying and the squealing are so loud it’s driving me crazy.”
“Yes, understood. I’ll be careful.”
Lee Sukhyeon glared Yoonseul up and down, then went back into her house.
The distance from Yoonseul’s gate to hers was about five meters.
After watching her back for a moment, he closed the gate and went back inside.
Not realizing the babies had been watching what happened outside.
“Uweo-aa-uu— (Looks like our crying and screaming carried over there...)”
“Haua-a? (How loud can we even be?)”
“Auang— (Pretty loud. We should be quiet starting now.)”
The two babies sat and babbled like they were having a conversation.
Then, with a pacifier in her mouth, Dasomi’s lip corner lifted slightly.
As if flailing her arms, Dasomi called Arjion, pointed toward the neighboring house, and babbled.
“Aua— wuu— (Arjion… I don’t like it when Oppa Seul gets scolded… Can you help…?)”
‘That’s…’
Arjion realized the baby spirit caller’s expression was serious.
And on top of that, the lightning spirit Arjion had seen everything the guardian of his baby spirit caller had done.
He had watched him bow his head to another human.
What was so “noisy” about his baby spirit caller’s babbling and dolphin shouting anyway…?
‘It’s just cute… Our baby spirit caller… heh.’
Arjion was considering giving the visitor a little “lesson,” when an order came down from the tiny baby spirit caller.
Rumble— grrrr—
Flash— crack—
Startled by the sudden whiteout, Yoonseul grabbed the babies and held them close.
In that instant—
“Kyaaaaah!”
A scream came from next door.
At the sound, Dasomi’s eyes curved into crescents.
“Awoong— (Nice.)”
“Uwaat— (Exactly. Who dares to mess with our Oppa Seul—.)”
Seeing his baby spirit caller so pleased, Arjion smiled.
“Whoa… what kind of lightning—”
Startled, Yoonseul checked whether the babies were okay.
If he had heard what they were “saying,” he would’ve grabbed the back of his neck.
•
Yoonseul’s neighbor, Lee Sukhyeon.
She suffered from chronic tension headaches.
The reason she’d moved from an apartment to a house was because she felt like the upstairs noise was going to give her a neurosis.
After moving into a house, she loved it—
but then the sounds of children running and the chatter in the alley began to bother her.
Since there was no management office, she had no choice but to knock on doors herself and demand quiet.
Then one day, she started hearing babies crying and dolphin shouting from somewhere, and she got even more sensitive.
When she learned it was the neighbor directly facing her house, Lee Sukhyeon began ringing the bell every lunchtime and complaining to the woman who came out.
“I’m sorry. I’ll keep the babies quiet.”
The woman always bowed and apologized.
But today—
even today, with rain, she could still faintly hear dolphin shouting.
Irritation surged, so she stormed out and rang the bell.
The moment she saw the man who answered, she froze.
Oh my? He’s handsome…
She’d heard there was only an older lady living in that house.
Then suddenly there were baby sounds.
And the woman who came out to apologize.
Now this handsome man.
Putting it together, she concluded: Newlyweds.
But when she heard the man’s answer, she got flustered.
The babies… are his siblings?
Standing at the gate, Lee Sukhyeon said, “Keep those babies quiet. I have work to do at home, and the crying and that dolphin squealing gets on my nerves.”
“I’m sorry.”
The young man bent at the waist and apologized.
“Be quiet. They shriek even in the middle of the night, so it’s so loud—honestly.”
“……”
After that, Lee Sukhyeon went into her house and slammed the gate shut with a bang.
A few days later.
When Yoonseul was coming home from work and walking up the alley, a truck behind him struggled up the hill.
The slope was so steep that cars usually didn’t come up, but delivery trucks did sometimes.
A fridge and… a washing machine? Someone moving in?
The truck passed Yoonseul and stopped in front of Yoonseul’s house.
Clank—
The neighbor’s gate opened, and he saw the delivered appliances being carried into that house.
Looks like they’re replacing appliances.
When Yoonseul got home and closed his gate, Han Mira opened the living room door and greeted him with the babies.
“You’re back?”
“Did Garam and Dasomi have fun today?”
“Yes. They ate the thin rice porridge we started yesterday well, played well, slept well… and then around the time you come home, they were sitting like that. Also, Garam’s pulling himself up to stand now.”
“Oh! He stood up?”
“Yes. I’ll send you the video.”
“Thank you.”
As Han Mira finished getting ready to leave and was about to head out, Yoonseul stopped her.
“Ah—be careful when you go out the gate. I think a delivery truck came up to the house in front.”
“Hm? Ah… so they’re replacing everything after all.”
At that, Yoonseul tilted his head.
“What do you mean?”
“A few days ago, you know that day when the thunder and lightning was really bad? The next day, Dasomi did a lot of dolphin screaming.”
“And… she came again?”
“Yes. She came to complain, saying she didn’t know why the lightning struck only her house, but all her appliances got ruined. She was ranting about it.”
“……”
Yoonseul felt conflicted.
He felt sorry for the noise the neighbor had suffered because of the babies—
but at the same time, the fact that she came to complain again made irritation rise, and he stayed silent.
“She was coming every other day to tell us to be quiet, so it started getting on my nerves.”
“I see. Anyway, be careful on your way out, and I’ll see you the day after tomorrow.”
“Yes. I’ll head out now.”
“Yes—rest well tomorrow. Merry Christmas.”
“You too, Merry Christmas.”
After Han Mira left, the two babies, having heard everything, babbled to each other with pacifiers in their mouths.
“Auang—”
“Wuhang—”
“You two are talking again?”
“Aua—”
“Uwaa—”
The two babies crawled over and sat in front of Yoonseul.
Grabbing Yoonseul’s knees while he sat on the sofa, Garam stood up, and Yoonseul lifted him.
“Our Garam stands so well.”
Maybe because of that, Dasomi also strained, trying to stand while holding onto Yoonseul’s knee.
“It’s okay to go slow, Dasomi.”
“Hngh-cha—”
In the end, Dasomi stood too.
Yoonseul was happy they could stand—
but at the same time, he pressed his lips together, thinking about what would come next.
Haa… They’ll turn into the kids patients bring in… these guys too…
Toddlers who could shoot off in any direction like a rugby ball.
Yoonseul looked forward to that day, but it also made him uneasy.
That evening, after tuning his guitar, he sat the babies down and started playing.
Dara-rang—
“I don’t want a lot for Christmas. There is just one thing I need.”
When he sang the world’s number one Christmas carol, the two babies wiggled and flailed like they were thrilled.
“All I want for Christmas is you~.”
“Aua—”
“Uwaaau—”
Hearing a hint of melody mixed into their babbling, Yoonseul couldn’t help laughing.
“Are you that happy?”
“Kyaaah—!”
“Kuuaa—!”
Dolphin shouting burst out of them again.
Putting the guitar down, Yoonseul said as he looked at them, “Next year, you’ll both be one… Garam is March 1, and Dasomi is April 14. I have to throw you a first-birthday party…”
Yoonseul decided he would take pictures of both kids and hold a doljanchi for them.
Grrrk—
Yoonseul’s stomach growled.
The two babies turned into grinning faces.
Dasomi crawled over, braced on Yoonseul’s knee, stood up, and let out dolphin shouting.
“Aww—our Dasomi has some lungs. You’re hungry, right? Oppa will make something you can eat soon.”
When Yoonseul stood up, Dasomi plopped down on the mat like she’d landed on her butt.
“Auaaa— (Oppa! Give me lots of rice porridge.)”
“Awoong— (I want soybean paste stew though…)”
At the babbling, Yoonseul smiled and said, “I hope you can talk soon.”
“Kya-uwaa—!”
“Kyaaa—!”
When the dolphin shouting started again, Yoonseul covered his ears and hurried into the kitchen to start dinner.
It was a peaceful day off.
On New Year’s Day and the day after, Yoonseul could rest at home because the family medicine clinic was closed.
“Guys—staying home all the time is a bit much… Want to go out somewhere?”
At Yoonseul’s words, Garam and Dasomi answered.
“Wung—”
“Eong—”
Yoonseul laughed.
They were too cute.
Over the past few days, the kids had grown, and they could stand holding onto the sofa or something for a long time.
“Should I buy a walker? Or just turn a whole room into a playroom?”
Looking between the living room and the master bedroom, Yoonseul made a big decision.
He would remodel the master bedroom.
His late mother’s belongings had been burned during the funeral procession.
Only a few precious things remained.
He scanned the room with his eyes, typed something on his phone, then slipped it into his pocket.
After dressing Garam and Dasomi warmly, Yoonseul strapped on baby carriers front and back and headed toward the public parking lot.
“Awu—”
“Aa—”
Because of the wind, he wrapped a shoulder shawl around the baby on his back so the wind wouldn’t hit them as he walked.
People’s gazes gathered on Yoonseul.
“Going out somewhere?”
It was the neighborhood’s small supermarket.
The owner was Grandma Tae Sunja, like the resident “old-timer” of the area.
“Ah, hello, Grandma. Happy New Year.”
“Yes, Yoonseul, happy New Year. I hope only good things happen for you this year.”
“Thank you. But why are you out here?”
“Hm? I came out to see if I should open the shop today.”
“I see. I’ll stop by on the way back, Grandma.”
“Okay. Have a good trip with the babies.”
“Yes.”
She was the grandma from the little supermarket Yoonseul had visited since he was young.
When she heard about his mother’s death, she rushed over to help.
And she was also a neighbor who learned during the funeral that he’d become the half-siblings’ “older brother.”
She’s tight-lipped, so the rumors didn’t spread, but…
He really had gotten a lot of help from her during the funeral.
When he later visited to thank her, he ended up being comforted instead—he remembered that.
Click—
He seated Garam and Dasomi in two baby car seats in the back and buckled them in.
Sitting in the driver’s seat, Yoonseul looked back at them, smiled, and said,
“Alright—then from now on, let’s go for a drive with hyung?”