Cuteness Pays Dividends

I nodded.

If he's handsome, I wouldn't mind if his name were Chunsam. If your looks are good enough, even a rustic name can sound like something a flower boy would wear.

The nun looked at me, and I eagerly reached out my tiny hand.

"Our Gongza has such small, pretty hands."

Weren't babies' hands usually like this?

Well, still, what wouldn't I do for our nun?

I clutched her finger tightly. For something so small, it made the nun beam from ear to ear.

"Gongza, Mommy's back has been hurting so badly lately. Even when I went to the hospital, it only helped for a little while, so I just thought this pain was one of the Lord's trials and accepted it. But starting yesterday, my back's been completely fine. Why would that be?"

Oh. So she'd really been hurting that badly.

I made a wish.

"Ppaaa! Pwaaah!"

"Oh my! So, so cute..."

Kissing the back of my hand, the nun went on, "Has our Gongza been given the gift of healing?"

Not exactly.

I shook my head.

I do try to live a decent life. What I did to heal the nun was basically an experiment, though.

Still, if it ends well, doesn't that make it all good?

Pwaaang. Pya-pya!

When I flailed my arms and legs, the nun laughed.

"I wouldn't mind if you grew up as Mommy's child just like this, but our Gongza is so pretty..."

The nun lowered her voice and whispered, "I wish you'd meet parents even better than Mommy."

Ah.

She means adoption.

I let out a sigh before I could stop myself. Wasn't that basically the lottery?

Sure, there are parents who raise adopted children well...

I knew better than anyone that it wasn't always that simple.

Adoption, huh...

If I had to go, would it be better to go when I was still little?

No, maybe not. More important than timing was what kind of parents I'd end up with.

There are people in this world who adopt children just to win an apartment subscription lottery.

Rather than going to a house like that, it was a hundred times better to stay here.

The nun's rough hand stroked my cheek. On purpose, I pressed my lips to her palm.

You're a truly good person.

"Ppa-ppa-ppa."

So if you ever have pain somewhere, please complain about it.

"Pyaaah! Pya-pya-pya!"

You've given me a wish worth a quintillion, so I'll spend it on you whenever I want.

"Aigoo, how adorable."

Huh.

I tilted my head.

Wait, did the amount get smaller? It only goes up by one now?

Why was it doing that?

So now that I'd decided to stockpile them, the amount I got had gone down?

Maybe I should save them, just in case?

I looked at Sister Theresa. Her back was better, and she looked utterly happy.

She really was a kind soul.

But if it's for a Sister Theresa like this, then of course I have to spend it!

I said it at once.

Use a Love & Peace Coin!

"Puuuu! Ppa-ppa, pyaa-pyaa!"

The sounds coming out of me were a pitiful mess of baby babble, but still...

It's fine. I'm handsome!

When you're handsome, everything is fine!

I ignored my burning face and looked at the subtitle.

Make Sister Theresa's body healthy!

"Ppa-ppa-bam, pa-bo-ppa-ppa-bam!"

I hiccuped.

What?

No, what was with that price tag?

Fixing her back cost 100 coins!

Why was making her healthy 1,000 coins?

After I grumbled about it for a while, the subtitle changed.

Hiccup!

Maybe because I was still a baby, my whole body shook with each hiccup.

Is Sister Theresa in poor health?

I looked at her closely.

The hardworking nun was changing another child's diaper, all while soothing a crying baby on the side.

Her face doesn't look bad, though...

Still, this difference in price was serious.

I guess I should start gathering coins first.

How was I supposed to gather a thousand of them? Maybe I should just use them on something else.

Hiccup!

After finishing with the other child's diaper, Sister Theresa looked at me and said worriedly, "Our Gongza, do you have the hiccups? Would you like some ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠water?"

Sister Theresa stroked my belly. At that moment, my chest swelled with warmth.

This was unconditional love.

Be blessed, Sister Theresa!

"Ppya-pya-pya-pya! Pya-pya-pya!"

Sister Theresa laughed at me.

If I can't make a woman like this healthy, then I'm not Lee Hanjo — I'm Kim Hanjo.

I'm absolutely going to make you healthy. Damn it, when am I ever going to gather that much?

To do that, what was I supposed to do?

To gather coins...

I stared quietly at Sister Theresa. The answer was already obvious.

I have to be cute!

And not just a little — overwhelmingly so!

I flashed a broad smile and flailed my arms and legs.

Ah, so that was it!

I put my hand in my mouth and acted cute. Sister Theresa laughed along with me.

"Our Gongza really is adorable!"

I was just about to keep piling on the cuteness when another child started crying. Sister Theresa hurried off toward the sound.

Darn.

The moment I understood the method, I also understood its limits.

It goes up way too slowly.

Why was that?

Maybe there's a cap on how much you can get from one person?

At first it had been in hundred-coin chunks, but now it was only one coin at a time.

Love and Peace, huh. Pretty stingy. Then again, love and peace do always seem to come in tiny drips and drabs.

The conclusion came easily enough.

I need other people.

If lots of people saw how cute I was, I could probably gather a thousand coins without much trouble.

How do I get a lot of people to look at me?

The infant room didn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠get many visitors because of hygiene concerns.

Then the door slid open, and a small child carefully walked in.

"Sister Theresa! I'm here!"

"Noah, is that you? Did you come to see Gongza?"

A tiny child rose up on tiptoe and peered down at me.

Oh! An audience member has arrived.

Since visitors were so rare, he was an incredibly precious guest right now.

I deliberately waved my arms and smiled.

Kyaaa-

As I flapped around, the child's face turned rosy.

"So small. So cute."

You’re small too, kid.

Noah stretched out his tiny hand with all his strength and grabbed my foot.

Well, I may be cute, but I'm still cuter.

So this was the Noah from the earlier subtitle. Still, it was only five coins.

I stretched out my short, chubby arm as a little service.

As expected, Noah gasped.

"Whoa!"

Darn.

See? It really is shrinking. How am I supposed to gather 1,000 coins like this?

This was no ordinary problem.

Noah stared at my face for a long while. His eyes were round and shiny like marbles.

The child turned his head and said, "Sister Theresa, they said people are coming tomorrow!"

Huh.

Tomorrow? More audience members are coming?

If I put on some cute antics then, would the coins start piling up?

Nice.

But Sister Theresa let out a long sigh.

"Hm? Ah, yes... they are."

Huh?

She didn't look especially pleased.

"Sister?"

"I'm worried. Those people only come once and then leave, but the children miss them afterward. It's a very kind thing for them to do, of course, but still..."

Darn.

...That's a fair point.

I'd seen that plenty of times when I was doing volunteer work too. Some celebrities would show up once for a TV program and make promises they could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠never keep.

They'd always say things like, 'I'll definitely come back.'

That was a truly awful thing to do. Innocent children believed those words with absolute trust.

At the very least, I had never done anything like that.

I really did come back regularly.

By the end, the kids had been the ones begging me to stop coming.

Phew—

As I sighed, Noah lightly scratched the sole of my foot and said, "A rich person is coming!"

"Ah, right. It's the day someone from Sungjin Group is coming."

"That's why the sisters are so busy."

After changing another child's diaper, Sister Theresa wiped her hands and patted Noah on the head.

"I don't really like that sort of thing..."

Sister Theresa looked at me with a worried expression. I flashed my brightest smile for the sake of my two audience members.

Kyaaa-

Noah laughed, but Sister Theresa only gently stroked my cheek.

"Still, that's how the support keeps growing, so we can't do much about it."

That was true.

Well, don't feel guilty about it, Sister Theresa. That's just how life goes.

I flailed my arms to comfort her. As my short limbs waved around, both of them laughed this time.

"Oh my, how pretty. So adorable..."

The coins didn't go up any further.

But I hated seeing Sister Theresa look so downcast. So for both of them, I smiled even harder than usual and turned the cuteness up another notch.

Their faces brightened just a little.

A few days later, I woke up in the morning and immediately sensed that something was off.

I flapped my arms and legs as I drank the milk Sister Theresa gave me.

Grow, coins! Grow!

Please, find me cute! Hurry up!

"Ppuu!"

But Sister Theresa wasn't focusing on me at all.

Is this just how she usually is, or is something else going on?

Come to think of it, she'd said people from Sungjin Group were coming.

Is she still feeling a little bitter about that?

Since the coins weren't increasing anyway, I drank my milk in silence.

Soon the bottle was empty, and Sister Theresa patted my back.

Burp.

When I burped, Sister Theresa set me down in the crib and stared at me intently.

W-why are you looking at me like that?

Just in case the coins might increase, I gave her a careful smile.

"Pya-pya!"

When I smiled so hard my cheeks started to ache, Sister Theresa's expression finally softened.

Thank you for the coin, Sister Theresa. How about a cute little flail this time?

Just as I was about to start thrashing my arms again, another nun opened the door and came in.

"Sister Theresa!"

"Yes. Sister Maria."

It was a nun I'd never seen before.

"You know that Ma Soo-jung is coming today, right?"

Sister Theresa let out a sigh.

"I know."

"They said it would be nice if we held a child and took some photos for the promotional materials. Which child should we use?"

Sister Maria looked at me.

This was my chance! I blinked as hard as I could.

Take that — eye-beam attack!

What do you think? My cuteness!

I had aimed my loving charm at Sister Theresa, but unexpectedly, someone else got caught in the blast.

"Oh, how cute! Who is this child?"

"Noah found him in the flower bed. His name is Gongza."

"Gongza?"

The newcomer stepped up in front of me.

I was more than happy to pour on the charm for a new audience member.

Watch my little hand game!

I held out my hands, clenched my fists, and then opened them again. The nun I'd never seen before broke into a bright smile.

"He's really, really adorable."

"Yes. He spent a long time out in the cold. Luckily, he seems healthy."

"Oh dear..."

Looks of pity rained down on me.

"Then..."

The unfamiliar nun held out a finger to me. I gladly grabbed it.

"Will you be using this child?"

I narrowed my eyes.

Yes! It's me!

Sister Theresa said, "Yes, I think so."

"He'll probably photograph well."

Nice!

But both nuns let out a sigh right after saying that.

For some reason, they don't seem all that thrilled about it.

I tightened my grip on the finger. Sister Theresa looked at me and said, "Then we'd better get ready."

"Yes, we'll need to dress the baby in something pretty."

"Ma Soo-jung is definitely coming here, right?"

"Yes."

"It's a place with babies, so I'm worried too many people will come swarming in."

Ah. I get it.

Sungjin Group, Ma Soo-jung, and a baby. The answer was simple.

They're coming here to take promotional photos for the company that sponsors this place.

To do that, they needed a cute baby.

And that cute baby is me.

But the sisters were worried that an event like this could end up causing trouble for the other children.

I understand that feeling.

Sister Theresa dressed me in a new outfit. I wriggled my arms and legs.

The sisters watched me with complicated expressions. I smiled brightly, as if to reassure them.

It's okay, sisters.

"Ppa-pya-pya-pya!"

I'll work hard and smile so I can bring in plenty of money.

Well, maybe that sounded a bit vulgar, but money is money. And you're going to use that money on abandoned kids like me, aren't you?

Life has always been complicated.

As I kept smiling, the sisters both let out another sigh.

"What time are they coming?"

"They're already here. They should be coming in any moment."

Right then, the murmur of voices drifted in from outside the door. Sister Theresa had just finished changing me into a clean outfit.

The door opened.