Reincarnated Father
"You're my... daddy!"
.............
Why is she acting like that? ...Ah.
It wasn't hard to guess why Kim Bom was so shocked. My—Yeoreum's—tragic circumstances must have hit her hard.
Well, yeah. It's the kind of story you'd only see in a heavy documentary like Human Theater. An orphan with heart disease, moving alone to the countryside.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to bring up something so heavy," I apologized.
Kim Bom jolted back to her senses. "Oh, no! Not at all. I asked first, remember?"
Her words said one thing, but her body told the truth. ...Not in a naughty way, of course. Her voice cracked slightly as she spoke, and her eyes glistened with moisture. She was definitely holding back tears.
She was such a sentimental person. To feel this much sympathy for someone else's misfortune.
She's a really good person.
.............
A little later, we got up from the rock and continued touring the village. Kim Bom guided me carefully, avoiding hills and slopes.
"That shop you see there is the only butcher in town."
"The building next to it is the agricultural co-op. And the parcel pickup point is over there too."
"Parcel pickup point? What's that?"
"Oh, right—a parcel pickup point is... where you pick up deliveries."
"S-so that means packages don't get delivered to your house?"
"Yep."
"......"
Ooooooh! Amazing! A place just for receiving packages!
Hey, does that mean in the countryside, packages don't even come to your doorstep?!
...I didn't blurt that out loud. But I did feel a slight pang of despair.
As she kept showing me around, the sun began to dip toward the west. Orange sunset hues bathed the whole village, casting long shadows over the rice paddies and fields.
"Guess it's time to head back," I said.
Kim Bom nodded. We retraced our steps slowly.
Finally, we reached my house. Kim Bom and I faced each other in front of the rusty iron gate. Time to say goodbye.
"Thank you so much today. I learned a ton about the village layout thanks to you."
"No problem at all!"
Kim Bom smiled brightly. Then she turned to leave—but she didn't. Instead, she stepped even closer.
"Now we're in a special relationship, right? Let's see each other often and get close!"
"A special relationship?!"
The sudden words made my heart pound. Not from my heart condition—just pure shock.
She burst into laughter at my startled reaction. "Of course! Neighbors like this in a small countryside village? That's plenty special. You said in the city, people don't even know their next-door neighbors' faces, right?"
Ah... that's what she meant.
I let out a sigh of relief. I felt embarrassed for instantly imagining something romantic between a man and a woman.
Kim Bom smiled as she pulled out her smartphone from her pocket. "Let's exchange numbers. Call me anytime if you need anything."
I took out my phone too. I turned on the screen and opened the contacts app to enter her number—
"Huh? Can't see the screen well?"
Suddenly, Kim Bom pressed right up beside me. Then, completely naturally, she draped her arm over my shoulder.
"Whoa!?"
She was tall, so when she linked arms, the side of her breast surged toward my face. An overwhelming presence—plump yet unbelievably soft—pressed against my cheek.
A faint floral scent and her body fragrance filled my nostrils.
W-what the hell...!?
My whole body went rigid as one, and my heart started racing wildly. For a completely different reason than climbing the hill.
I'd never imagined such bold skinship. Even Choi Seori, whom I'd known for quite a while, had never gone this far. Though, to be fair, Choi Seori didn't have breasts capable of this.
"Starts with 010, right?"
Whether she noticed my panic or not, Kim Bom asked casually.
"Y-yeah. That's right. 010..."
I steadied my trembling voice and barely managed to recite my number. My face burned; it was probably beet red.
This world's attitudes toward physical contact aren't different from my original one, are they?
Somehow I doubted it. From Yeoreum's memories, she'd gotten attention from girls due to her looks, but never anything like this.
So probably... just a countryside vs. city cultural difference. Treating a stranger like me this kindly might be normal here.
Yeah. Countryside folks are just this open and casual.
Once the number was entered, Kim Bom stepped back. She hit save with an oddly satisfied smile. Exaggerating a bit, she looked like she owned the world.
Exchanging contacts makes her that happy...?
I had no idea what that smile meant. I could only stare blankly at her clear, beautiful face.
"Well, I'll head home then. See you tomorrow, Yeoreum."
She waved and turned away. Her figure—straw hat atop a white sundress, backlit by the sunset—made for a strangely picturesque scene.
I stood at the gate, dazed, watching her go. The soft sensation still lingered vividly on my cheek.
Wait... see you tomorrow?
She must have her own stuff to do, but tomorrow too? Did she have more to show me?
"Tch, what the heck is going on..."
.............
Kim Bom's house wasn't far from the one Yeoreum had just moved into. She opened her gate and stepped inside. It was an old wooden house, but better maintained than mine.
The moment she opened the front door and entered—
The innocent smile on her face changed. It didn't vanish, but its nature shifted. It was no longer the sunny warmth that had charmed Yeoreum.
Her eyes lost focus, staring off into the distance. The smile on her lips grew hazy, intoxicated—like a devotee lost in religious ecstasy, blurring the line between reality and fantasy.
Wearing that eerie smile, Kim Bom entered the house. Her steps were slow and graceful, almost floating.
The house was silent. She passed through the living room toward a room in the corner. She unlocked it with a key, and a pungent incense smell assaulted her nose.
This wasn't an ordinary room. The walls were plastered floor-to-ceiling with red and yellow talismans. In the center sat a small altar.
On the altar: a brass bell, a few old coins, a bowl of white rice. And the most important item—a faded black-and-white photo.
The man in the photo was strikingly handsome, even in the blurry image. He wore a gentle smile, but illness shadowed his features.
Kim Bom stood before the altar, holding the now-empty plate of rice cakes she'd brought for Yeoreum earlier. She placed it carefully atop the altar.
Then she knelt in seiza position. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, inhaling the incense deeply into her lungs.
Memories of the day flooded her mind.
.............
That feeling when she first saw him at the bus stop.
Daddy.
The certainty was so intense, she'd unconsciously called him that. She'd fled in panic, but she couldn't deny what she'd seen.
She'd glimpsed his soul. It was nearly identical to her late father's.
But that alone wasn't proof. So she'd tried to dismiss it as a mistake.
Yet the evidence didn't stop there.
'When spring ends, summer comes.'
Her name was Bom—spring. His was Yeoreum—summer.
No coincidence. It was heaven's design. Just as summer follows spring, Yeoreum arrived when Kim Bom finally gave up waiting for her father.
That was the first proof.
Others might call it forced nonsense, but to her, it rang true.
'An orphan.'
Yeoreum had grown up in an orphanage without parents. Kim Bom's father must have too. She'd never heard it directly, but... she'd never met any grandparents either.
Her father had no family. No relatives. He had to have been an orphan.
Second proof.
'Congenital heart disease...'
She recalled Yeoreum nearly collapsing on the hill. That cute face gone pale, gasping for breath.
Her father had always been sickly. A lifetime of illness. He never specified what, and she didn't remember clearly... but now she knew.
Seeing Yeoreum's heart condition, her father must have had it too.
Undeniable. Certain.
Because... Yeoreum was her father reincarnated, returned to her.
Finally, Kim Bom opened her eyes. She lifted the black-and-white photo from the altar.
"It took twenty years."
Her fingers traced her father's face through the spotless glass frame.
"I'm sorry, Daddy. And thank you."
She clutched the photo to her chest. The cold glass pressed against her heart.
Then she turned toward Yeoreum's house. Tears welled in her eyes, but a smile bloomed on her lips.
"This time, I won't let you be alone. Not now that you've come back to me like this."