Reincarnation
In that cold hospital room, the only pleasures left to Yujin were the ones he could manage from his bed, so it was only natural that he sank into subculture—anime, web novels, and everything like them.
If I ever got back on my feet, could I become like them?
He had always looked up to the heroes of those stories. They were free, they were strong, and they were loved. But the Yujin of the real world, pale against the sheets, could do nothing more than lie there and dream.
Gasping for breath at the very end, the wishes he clung to came down to three.
Next life, I hope I'm handsome enough to actually fall in love.... And I never want to set foot in a hospital again, so I hope I'm healthy. And... I want to be loved.
Little by little his mind grew dim, and his sight sank away into the dark.
In a small studio apartment, something squirmed inside the blanket spread across the floor.
"Mom, I'm hungry."
That something was Yujin, reborn as a child. She fussed at the mother this second life had given her until she woke the woman.
At her call, the eyes of the woman sleeping with Yujin in her arms fluttered open.
"Mmm... Yujin, you're awake?"
As chance would have it, her name in this second life was Yujin too. Still thick with sleep, the woman answered and drew her even tighter against her chest.
"My little girl, Mommy wants to sleep just a little longer..."
In this life, Yujin was a daughter. Her gender had changed, but she was simply grateful for the new life she had been given.
She climbed up onto her mother and nuzzled her cheek, urging her on.
"I'm huuungry."
Only then did her mother give in and sit up.
Yujin's mother, Choi Hyejin, was twenty-three, an unmarried single mother raising Yujin on her own. Their circumstances were far from comfortable, but Hyejin raised her with love, and for Yujin every day was happier than any moment of her previous life. It helped that she had already spent more time with this mother than she ever had with the birth mother of the life before.
Hyejin slipped her hands under Yujin's arms, set her aside, and got up looking thoroughly rumpled. She was so young in the face and so slender that it was hard to believe she was anyone's mother, and even fresh out of bed, with no makeup at all, her flawless skin and striking features were beautiful enough to draw a sigh from anyone who saw her. That face was no small part of why Yujin clung to her and adored her so.
Hyejin took a drink of water from the refrigerator, picked the sleep from her eyes, and started cooking. The sound of a knife soon joined a delicious smell that slowly filled the little studio.
Yujin rubbed her eyes with her tiny hands and caught a tight hold of Hyejin's hem.
"Mom, hurryyy."
She pressed her. This younger body had stripped the patience clean out of her, and even enduring hunger was more than she could manage.
"The stove's dangerous, so why don't you fold the blankets?"
Hyejin soothed her in a gentle voice. At that, Yujin scampered off to the bedding and set to work on the comforter first. A four-year-old trying to tame a blanket that size was, of course, nowhere near up to the job. Hyejin had only said it to get her out from underfoot, and as she cooked she watched the struggle from the corner of her eye, thoroughly pleased.
"Yujin, food's ready."
While Yujin wrestled the blankets, Hyejin had the folding table set in no time and called her over. Yujin was still buried in the bedding, grunting with effort. Hyejin pulled her free and sat her down in front of the table.
"Mom, blow on it. It's hot."
"Blow on it yourself and eat slowly, all right?"
"Nuh-uh! You do it."
Hyejin burst out laughing, lifted the spoon, and carefully blew on the broth.
"Our Yujin's still a baby, huh?"
Yujin grinned, silly and bright, and gobbled down every spoonful Hyejin offered.
When the meal was done, Hyejin took her to the bathroom, washed her face, and worked lotion carefully into her skin. Looking at that soft, clean little face, she smiled in satisfaction.
"Aigoo, my girl, who did you take after to be this pretty?"
"I take after Mom, that's why!"
At that answer, Hyejin's smile turned faintly bitter. To her eyes, Yujin's father showed through the child's face far too clearly: those large eyes with their slightly lifted corners, the clean bridge of the nose and the slender line of the jaw that remained distinct even under plump baby fat, the bright smile she wore when she was awake and the cold cast of her face in sleep. All of it was the man Hyejin had loved.
Just remembering him left a tender ache in one corner of her chest, but she shook the feeling off and smoothed Yujin's short hair into place.
"Not wearing your princess clothes today either?"
"No!"
Once again she failed to get her into the dress she had bought after working up her courage, and so, as always, she dressed Yujin in a plain T-shirt and pants and finished getting ready to go out.
"Yujin, your hand."
Hyejin took her hand, and they left the house.
Hyejin worked at a gimbap restaurant nearby, the kind of neighborhood lunch spot that rolled seaweed rice and served hot stews. They were always short-handed, which was how someone as young as Hyejin had been able to get a job there.
The moment they arrived, she greeted the older women on staff.
"Hello. I'm a little late today, aren't I?"
"Late? What's late about it? When you're raising a kid, these things happen. Yujin, you have to say hello to your auntie."
"Hello, Aunt Jinsuk."
Yujin ducked her head in a shy little bow, smiling.
"And what about me, Yujin?"
"Hello, Aunt Eunju, too."
Aunt Eunju gave Yujin's soft cheek a gentle pinch and beamed.
"All right, Yujin. Mom and your aunties have to work, so how about you sit at the counter and watch TV?"
Yujin nodded obediently and hopped up onto the chair. Hyejin retied her apron and headed for the kitchen with the ease of long habit.
Before long, lunchtime drew near, and customers began to fill the shop one after another. Being so close to the broadcast district, the place packed wall to wall with office workers the moment noon hit. In the kitchen Hyejin's hands moved faster, and out in the dining room the sounds of people eating rose and spread.
In the middle of it all, a man with a dark expression stepped into the gimbap restaurant. He looked as if he hadn't washed in days, grimy and unkempt, and he dropped into a seat in the corner. He was Park Minseok, a PD in MBS's variety department.
Haa... what am I supposed to do about season three?
He was agonizing over how to save a program that had already been slotted as a new season. The show under his charge was a virtual-marriage program called We're a Married Couple. Casting young idols and actors had stirred up plenty of buzz, but every time a popular couple dropped out the ratings were shaved away, and viewers had grown tired of the same old plot. The previous season had limped to an end on a steady decline.
What he needed, desperately, was an idea that could turn the crisis around.
"Ma'am! One kimchi stew!"
He decided to deal with his empty stomach first and put in an order. While he waited, he glanced around—and his eyes caught on a child sitting at the counter.
"Huh?"
The child was bent over a worn sketchbook, utterly absorbed in drawing something. A cute-looking kid, and yet Minseok's gaze kept snagging there and refusing to move on.
A boy?
The face was androgynous enough to confuse him, but looking at how handsome it was, he figured it was probably a boy. A fond look settled over his mouth as he watched.
Then, all at once, a thought flashed through his head.
Childcare?
The show had started in 2008 and was now in its fourth year, and the formula had stayed so identical that the message boards were full of people saying they were sick of it. It needed a new element—and parenting fit the subject of marriage perfectly. Come to think of it, that child wasn't cute in any ordinary way. Those round, enormous eyes glittered as if the stars of the night sky had been set into them. The features were already so complete that, once the kid grew up, that face looked likely to leave more than a few girls in tears.
As if spellbound, Minseok went over and spoke.
"Hi there, kid. What's your name?"
Still lost in the drawing, the child only bobbed her head in place of a greeting.
"I'm Choi Yujin."
The voice was as cool as the face. Without quite meaning to, Minseok felt a faint smile tug at his mouth.
This kid is going to sell.
As it happened, the idea he had just landed on would require child actors. They had to be young enough to need looking after, so the show could film all sorts of scenes, but not so young that the cast couldn't handle them. At the same time, they had to be as striking as the idols and actors playing the virtual couples, and well-behaved enough that being apart from their parents wouldn't be a problem. On every count, the child in front of him fit.
From the look of her, she was about three or four. Her face was the finest he had ever seen on a child, and more than anything, she was sitting quietly by herself in a noisy restaurant. On top of that, his instinct as a veteran PD kicked in. He had seen more celebrities than he could count, and even he couldn't tear his eyes away—viewers would only be more captivated, never less. In his head, the image played of the child on television, nestled between a virtual couple.
"Hey, kid. Do you know where your mom is?"
"She's working in the kitchen over there."
Minseok decided to move at once. He went to the kitchen and looked for the child's mother.
"Excuse me—the child at the counter. Could I ask which of you is the mother?"
At the question, Hyejin, working at the stove, turned to look at him.
"Oh my, is something wrong?"
"Ah, it's nothing serious. I'm a PD with the variety department at MBS, just up the street. There's something I'd like to talk over with you about your child."
"A PD? Ah... but I'm really busy right now..."
Minseok glanced around. Just like him, broadcast staff had come in for lunch, and the dining room was packed. With no other choice, he decided to come back later and pulled out a business card.
"That's my card. If you call when you have a moment, I'll come right over."
Hyejin nodded, slipped the card into her apron pocket, and turned her attention back to the kitchen.