The Photo Zone
"Whew……."
Having hustled Noona and So-eun clear of the scene, I let out a sigh of relief. Beside me, Noona seemed to find the whole performance hilarious — she kept grinning and shoving her phone in my face.
"Your husband could have been attacked by seafood, you know. And you think that's funny?"
"Yep!"
She nodded with such a bright, innocent smile that I couldn't even scold her. It hadn't been all that dangerous to begin with, and Noona knew it perfectly well, which was exactly why she could laugh about it. With no further reason to be harassed by animals, I decided to be magnanimous and settled the matter by tickling her in the side a few times.
Noona burst into ticklish laughter — ahahaha! — and, satisfied enough by the sight, I wrapped So-eun, soaked through with seawater, in a towel and started drying her off. Perhaps it called up her newborn days, when she'd been swaddled tight in a blanket; she simply blinked, perfectly docile. I smiled faintly at that, and we hurried our steps toward the lodging.
The animals were waiting to welcome us when we got back. We hadn't been able to bring them — the outing had meant a boat ride far out to sea — and the moment we arrived, they started clinging to us.
"Had yourselves a fine time without us, did you!"
"You're back."
"And was I not fit to be brought along?"
"Awaiting your return, sir."
"………………………Back."
"Missed the baby, I did!"
Faced with that barrage of greetings, each in its own style, I gave them each a light pat. There were a lot of them, so even that was a chore — but not one I could skip. Once the enthusiastically welcoming pack had been soothed, Noona and I went inside and saw to So-eun first.
A towel and a hair dryer later, she was soft and fluffy, and once her diaper was changed she broke into a bright, sunny smile.
"One look at So-eun's smile and all the fatigue just melts clean away, I tell you."
"And my smile?"
"That one gets me all hot and bothered."
"Hey!"
Scolding me for talking nonsense in front of So-eun, Noona smacked me across the back. What was that for……. I had no choice but to writhe in pain.
"Nnngh! Nnnngh!"
Whether she meant to copy me twisting and groaning or not, the sight of So-eun groaning along made me forget the pain entirely.
"……Did she just go?"
A moment later, though, her little face scrunched up, and I knew she hadn't been imitating me at all.
"Sir. The Young Mistress has soiled herself."
Cheongho confirmed the kill, leaving no doubt why So-eun had been carrying on like that. Marveling at the new record — a diaper that needed changing again a bare minute after the last — I was midway through swapping it when someone knocked, tap-tap, at the door.
"This is Gwak Idu."
At the guide's arrival, I eased the door open a crack.
"There's still time to see one more sight, if you'd like……. What would you prefer to do?"
"Where can we go?"
"There's a place called Flamingo Lake, where the flamingos live. You may think of it as a short walking course. Oh, and along the way there's a tortoise enclosure as well."
"Flamingos? The ones with the pink feathers?"
"Yes. Pink cranes, essentially. The pink is a bit... ambiguous, as if the color's gone a little dingy, but you can still tell at a glance. Ah — those are flamingos."
I was mulling over the guide's words when my phone buzzed and spat out a notification.
They were from Noona. She'd gone into the bathroom to wash up and change out of her wet clothes, then hidden the moment the guide appeared.
I snorted a laugh and nodded at him.
"Then we'll wash up, change, and head out."
"Yes. Please let me know when you're ready."
Assuring us there was plenty of time and telling us to take our preparations at ease, the guide disappeared.
Noona and I set about getting ready to go out again at once. Fresh off the water, we were a little tired — no use denying it — but we couldn't afford to miss another sight.
"Let's go!"
"Yah!"
By the time I was ready, Noona and So-eun — still in the same matching outfits as ever — had thrown their hands high in the air. I chuckled at the sight and set off for the next stop.
The path to the attraction was, quite literally, no different from a walking trail. Neatly kept with boardwalk bridges and stairs of the sort you'd find on a wooded hill path, it left nothing to be desired as a stroll. Thanks to that, Noona and I thought we'd let So-eun walk for a little while. Whether it was the shoes or not, she was rather fond of walking.
Squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak!
The moment we set her down, So-eun stamped her feet as if she'd been waiting for it, squeezing squeaks out of her squeaky shoes. Sparkle and sound together — between the lights and the noise, people's eyes began to gather. Wondering if we were being a nuisance, I debated picking her up again. But every last person was smiling as if the sight were nothing but heartwarming and adorable, so I decided to let her walk a little longer.
We were ambling along at So-eun's pace when—
"Huuooong? How cuuuurious?"
Some long body slid into view and took an enormous interest in So-eun. A little startled, I turned my head — and there stood the very creature we'd come looking for, bolt upright. Reddish feathers, legs long enough to rival a pair of chopsticks, and a neck curved into an S. Wherever you looked, the thing was a flamingo through and through.
"So-eun, that's a flamingo."
"Ooong!"
So-eun gazed up at the lanky bird and, curious, sidled over to stroke its leg. The flamingo, its thin leg caught in her hand, seemed briefly flustered — then lowered its head and nuzzled against her.
"Kyaaang!"
Delighted by the texture of the leg and amused by the head rubbing against her, So-eun broke into a bright laugh and seized the beak in both hands.
"Hwoo?!"
Startled at having its beak grabbed, the flamingo flapped in a panic, slipped free of her grasp, and fluttered away into the air. So-eun might be beloved by animals, but a beak seized out of nowhere had clearly given this one a fright.
"Uuuu……."
"Sad the flamingo ran away?"
"Uh-huh!"
"Then shall we catch one later and take pictures?"
So-eun answered with a bright smile in place of words.
Noona chuckled at that, fetched wet wipes, and cleaned So-eun's hands. She'd touched a wild animal, after all — it warranted a little care. Buoyed by that brief encounter all the same, we started walking again.
A short way on, we found a place marked as a tortoise enclosure. Plenty of young tortoises lived there, every one of them so small that not a single one was bigger than So-eun's head.
"Muuu!"
What's more, they were land tortoises. Reminded of Hanmu, So-eun looked thoroughly fascinated — and no wonder. Hanmu was big enough for her to climb onto, while the babies before her eyes were tiny.
"Hanmu's huge, right? But those ones are still babies, so they're small. Just like you're growing, they'll grow little by little until they get big like Hanmu."
"Ooong……."
The explanation had run a bit long, and So-eun — who didn't seem to follow — looked as if it hardly mattered either way. I chuckled, scooped her up as she waved wildly at the tortoises, and we walked on.
A little farther, we finally reached our destination: Flamingo Lake, its faintly yellowed water filled to the brim.
"Wooow!"
"Quite a lot of flamingos, huh?"
The moment we arrived, So-eun cheered first, and Noona's admiration followed right behind. A good number of them were resting on the lake, each balanced on a single leg.
I called them over at once. We hadn't come all this way just to stare from a distance, and this was also a place where visitors could try feeding the flamingos.
"Flamingos, assemble!"
"Huuooong?"
At my shout the flamingos snapped their heads up and looked our way, then took flight one by one and came toward us. I could feel Noona flinch beside me as several large birds closed in.
"D-don't laugh!"
"Who said anything? Hehe."
After a brief bit of bickering with the flinching Noona, the flamingos had gathered around us in no time. Seeing them clustered, I scattered a bit of the flamingo feed I'd prepared in advance. It was small shrimp, the sort they love, and the moment they saw it they scurried over and demolished the lot.
"More, pleeeease!"
"If you want more, mind doing me a favor?"
Whether the food had driven them mad or what, the flamingos flapped their wings at my words as if to say just give the order.
"Noona, how should we frame the shot?"
"Hmm……."
After a brief huddle with Noona, I promptly put the flamingos to work as our backdrop.
"First, just you two — come forward for a second. And could you sit on the ground a bit? Yes, just like that. And your necks like this……."
Food on the line or not, the flamingos followed my directions beautifully, and made an excellent photo backdrop. With So-eun placed in the center, the two behind her curved their necks into a heart at her back.
"We have to get this!"
The moment Noona saw it, she fired off shot after shot, and So-eun's photo collection grew by several hundred. But that was only the beginning. I kept directing the flamingos into all sorts of poses after that — hearts were the baseline, of course, but I also had them spread their wings for decoration and lined several up at even intervals.
"Shall we get one of us, too?"
In the middle of photographing So-eun, it occurred to me we ought to leave a picture of ourselves as well, so Noona and I took one together. With several flamingos forming hearts around us, we snapped a shot of a light kiss — perfect for posting on Outstar.
"Mwah!"
Of course, So-eun looked distinctly unhappy about the two of us kissing without her, so we had no choice but to take another with her in the middle, Noona and I kissing her from either side.
"Ah, seriously……. They all came out too well. Which one do I even post?"
And so, instead of wondering whether she'd manage a shot worth posting to Outstar, Noona was left wondering which one to post.