So-eun's Debut (2)
No sooner had So-eun debuted on Mutube than she debuted at the cafe as well. Raising her was so absurdly easy compared to anyone else's child that Noona had slowly started to get bored.
Between my ability to understand baby babble and the animals glued to her side twenty-four hours a day, there was simply no way it could be difficult. Thanks to the dogs' sensitive noses, diaper changes happened the instant they were needed, and the raccoons shook her rattle with every ounce of strength they had, so she never even had the chance to grow bored.
Parenting was easy enough that even if Noona or I stepped away for a little while, So-eun wouldn't cry so long as the animals were with her — so it was hardly strange that the urge to get out and move had begun to stir. On top of that, we'd heard that letting a child encounter all sorts of things, even a little early, helped them grow, and that was all it took for Noona to decide on a cafe debut then and there.
Of course, we prepared a great many things before So-eun could make that debut. From the entrance on, anyone who was sick or running a fever would be turned away, and I — able to understand her babble to some extent — would stay practically attached to her the whole time.
There was pushback at first, naturally. What kind of cafe screens people like it's the middle of an epidemic? Complaints of that sort did come up. But they vanished almost at once.
"Kyaa!"
"Guhk...! C-cute!"
"That baby is hazardous to the heart!"
"Look at those chubby cheeks!"
The moment people saw So-eun buried among the Tokkiz in the little handcart — the sort of thing also called a camping wagon — they clutched at their chests and poured out how cute she was. If it meant getting to see something that adorable, a trifling inconvenience was nothing at all. That was the feeling, more or less.
So-eun alone was cute enough to be the death of you, and with the animals stuck to her side she was cuter still. Cheongho bit the rope on the camping wagon and hauled it along, while Yubu clung to the wagon's rim; inside, the rabbits pressed in around So-eun so that even a sharp turn never jolted her. Bit by bit, the lot of them and So-eun were being bundled together into a kind of matching mascot set.
Whenever the sun came out even a little, Yubu spread his wings wide so that shade would fall over So-eun, which only bound them more tightly into a set. The raccoons, for whom their own snacks mattered more, were left out of it — though when they shook the rattle at her side, people did occasionally count them in.
Thanks to all of that, or perhaps because of it, So-eun earned the nickname the Princess, quite apart from becoming a set mascot. The name came from the devoted care the animals lavished on her. At first she had nearly been dubbed the Bunny Princess, but that phrase was already used to mean something else, and since animals besides the rabbits looked after her too, she simply became the Princess.
At any rate, having debuted successfully on both Mutube and at the cafe, So-eun grew more famous as time went on. One particularly long-winded article even went so far as to call her the youngest celebrity in the country. And as if to prove it, a customer sidled up and stood gazing at her.
"Mr. Shinsoo. Would it be all right if I held the Princess's hand, just once?"
"Ah, I'm sorry. She's still a baby, so direct contact is a little..."
"That's a shame... Would a photo be all right?"
"As long as you leave the flash off."
"Oh yeah!"
The customer looked briefly crestfallen, then broke into a bright smile and hoisted their phone high overhead. When I glanced at the screen, it held both the customer's face and So-eun.
"Thank you! Bye-bye, Princess!"
Having taken the photo, the customer waved a hand at So-eun with a sunny, thoroughly pleased smile. But whether from a lack of interest or otherwise, So-eun only clutched a Tokkiz in each hand and beamed, round and soft.
"Whoa... Honey, look over there."
"Pfft! My eyes aren't playing tricks on me, right?"
"I didn't know they could do something like that."
"The way it runs is hilarious."
"What?"
Puzzled by the sudden commotion inside the cafe, I glanced around — and understood at once why everyone was murmuring.
"...What are they doing."
It was nothing more than this: Sopodong, the smaller of the raccoons, was sprinting toward me with something clutched tight in his hands. On two legs, no less. I stared, dumbfounded, and in no time he was at my side, holding out what he'd brought. It was a baby bottle, warmed through and through.
"So-eun's sayin' she wants her food!"
"Ah, is it already that time?"
At Sopodong's words I glanced at the clock, then took the bottle he was offering.
"Huuu!"
Whether because she'd seen the bottle in my hand or because she happened to be hungry, So-eun started fussing for food.
"Let's eat, So-eun."
I scooped her up at once and set the bottle to her mouth. She must truly have been hungry — she sucked at it so hard it made a steady slurp-slurp. As she drank, people and animals alike began to drift in around us. Unlike the animals, though, the people couldn't come closer than a certain distance.
"Wow... She's seriously cute. No wonder they call her the Princess."
"Starting today, I'm a fan of the Princess."
"But look at Cheongho over there. Doesn't it seem like he's on guard against us? Get any closer and he'll bite. That's not a dog pulling a stroller — that's a knight, through and through."
"A stroller knight?"
"No, I mean... a knight who guards the Princess. You know. That sort of thing."
Just as two of the onlookers were saying, Cheongho was quietly blocking their approach. Whether he knew that a crowd meant an accident waiting to happen or not, whenever people tried to come closer he bared his teeth or shifted his body just enough to stop them.
"Cheongho, you're about to pick up another nickname."
I let out a light laugh at the sight of him, well on his way to becoming unexpectedly rich in nicknames, and watched So-eun suck at the bottle in a posture that had her half-clinging to it with both arms and legs. She went at it with such passion that the contents vanished in an instant.
"Aigoo, did you finish already?"
I lifted So-eun — who had polished off the bottle with vigorous slurps — gave her a gentle burp, and settled her back into the wagon. At that, as if to announce that it was walk time, Cheongho took the rope in his mouth and began to move at an easy pace.
"Hmm... The sunlight is rather fierce, I must say."
Yubu, perched with a grip on the wagon's rim, quietly spread his wings and blocked the sunlight beating down on So-eun in a single instant. I followed slowly behind with a satisfied smile, trailing after them for fear that something might go wrong.
"Hiyah!"
"Ack!"
But as I strolled through the sunlight, watching So-eun being taken on a walk whether she liked it or not, I couldn't help but jump out of my skin. Maru, who had been tearing across the lawn in a mad sprint, had leapt clean over the wagon So-eun was riding in — as if it were nothing but an obstacle to clear.
"Success!"
"Don't you 'success' me!"
I marched up to Maru, who looked thoroughly pleased with herself after clearing the wagon, grabbed her drooping cheeks, and gave them a shake. She already ran like a maniac and caused the occasional accident; now that she'd done it again, I couldn't just stand there and watch.
"Would you stop running around already!"
Caught in my grip, Maru tried every which way to turn her head, but I held on too firmly for that. Instead she rolled her eyes this way and that, doing her best to look like someone who shouldn't be scolded. When I finally let go, she dropped her head low, as if she knew perfectly well she'd done wrong.
"Haa... Fine. Running is good. It is. But you can't go crashing into people, and you can't try to jump whatever happens to be in front of you, like just now. Understand? Especially So-eun — you stay clear of her. If you collide with So-eun, it won't end at a little ouch. You're the one who has to be careful."
"Okaaay!"
At my words Maru snapped her head up and immediately took off running. She hadn't heard a word of that, had she? Not even with the back of her ear.
I let out a small sigh. If that bullheaded runner ever collided with So-eun, it would be a disaster, so I needed some way to deal with it. The thought even crossed my mind that it might be better to just buy up all the land around here, so Maru could sprint around like a lunatic without any chance of hitting anyone.
Fortunately — if I could call it that — Maru didn't ignore my scolding. Even in the middle of a wild run, the moment the wagon carrying So-eun came into view, she stopped dead, then started moving again. Thanks to that, until the cafe closed for the day, nothing like So-eun getting bowled over by Maru ever happened.
"All right, then. Let's call it a day."
At my words the staff moved even faster than the animals. Within only a few minutes, the place was down to nothing but arming the security system before we could leave.
"Boss! See you tomorrow!"
"Everyone, head on home."
I saw the staff off, then led the animals still lingering at the cafe out the door to head home.
Clunk!
But as we were leaving, the wagon Cheongho was pulling caught on a large jutting rock, and the whole thing lurched hard.
"Euu...!"
Fortunately — again, if I could call it that — the wagon didn't flip. So-eun, riding inside, voiced only a little complaint and showed no sign of actual discomfort. It was thanks to the rabbits packed in tight against her sides.
As if determined to live up to the nickname they'd earned — the airbag rabbits — they absorbed every bit of the shock that would have reached So-eun. Of course, it helped that the impact hadn't been all that great to begin with. The moment we got home, I set a long-cut carrot in each of their mouths.
"Don't worry about So-eun-sha!"
"Just leave it to us-geosha!"
Having received their carrots, the rabbits munched them down with every appearance of perfect happiness.