Sweet Summer (2)
Sweet Summer (2)
How much time had passed?
I was peeling and eating the candy and yogurt that had been placed on the table.
The staff member who had guided us came back in with a woman who looked a little older.
The woman wore an expression that practically screamed, 'I am the center director,' so I stood up and greeted her first.
Seeing us do that, she looked a little surprised, then soon broke into a smile and laughed out loud.
"Oh my, this batch of interns is really polite."
"Thank you."
A smile automatically spread across my face, maybe because I'd received a pleasant compliment.
Just by the center's name alone, I'd wondered what kind of director she might be, but she seemed kind and very nice, so my expression naturally relaxed.
Didn't they say praise makes even a whale dance?
Somehow, I felt like I needed to work even harder, which seemed like a good start.
"I am Kim Jin-hwa, the director of Sorimsa Children's Center. I look forward to working with you for these two weeks."
"I'm Yoo Seong-hwan. Pleased to meet you."
After I introduced myself, Jeong Hwan-yi and Lee Min-ho followed suit and gave their greetings.
The director looked satisfied as she heard our names, then invited us to take a seat.
Then the center director also sat down, and the staff member who had been standing next to her took a seat as well.
"When the Chairwoman called me, I wondered what on earth was going on. I was going to refuse because the last batch of interns was a total mess..."
It seemed the last batch—meaning the people who did their practicum the previous year—had been an absolute disaster.
Even we, who didn't fully grasp the situation, could tell just how bad that group had been.
Common sense would dictate that a children's center is a non-smoking area, wouldn't it?
It's a place where not smoking goes without saying, even if it isn't explicitly posted.
But they got caught smoking regular cigarettes, not even e-cigarettes, in the bathroom of such a place.
Even without having witnessed it ourselves, these predecessors left us aghast.
"But the Chairwoman told me it was her son and his good-natured friends, so I agreed to it."
"Thank you. If it weren't for this place, we would have had nowhere else to go."
We had left it up to Lee Min-ho and hadn't looked for another practicum placement ourselves.
So when it was time to submit our practicum information to the school, we really panicked because ours was the only one not decided.
That guy Lee Min-ho said he'd take responsibility for it!
Even though his mother had forgotten, he didn't say anything and almost created a huge crisis!
"Wouldn't they have tried to take Seong-hwan-ssi anywhere? You're such a popular person."
"Ugh... I guess you already knew..."
Considering my current Qtube subscriber count, it was only natural.
Even a quick calculation showed that one-fifth of the Republic of Korea's population was subscribed, wasn't it?
So at least one of the staff members working here had to be subscribed to me.
It was hard to imagine them not noticing when they saw my name or personal details.
"Then shall we slowly start with a tour of the interior?"
"Yes."
With that, I rose from my seat.
Seeing that, the center director once again wore a satisfied expression and headed outside.
Afterwards, the director showed us around and told us that the interns would also be treated as Seonsaengnim.
Apparently, once we got our social worker license, we would become people who are properly called 'Seonsaengnim' in welfare facilities.
Well, that made sense...
Even the social worker in the school counseling office was called Seonsaengnim.
"Everyone is like that at first. They naturally compare you to the Seonsaengnim they had when they were little."
For me, the first Seonsaengnim were the ones at the orphanage.
Because my mother was a Seonsaengnim at the orphanage and raised me as her son, but I still addressed the other Seonsaengnim properly.
In Minji and Hojun's case, they both called—and still call—their mother Seonsaengnim.
Back then, I couldn't understand why they called their mom Seonsaengnim even though they were a family.
"Seonsaengnim, huh..."
Jeong Hwan-yi looked somewhat moved.
Since none of us planned to get a job as a social worker later, this would probably be both the first and last time.
No, to be precise, acting as a Seonsaengnim might be the first and last time.
Being called that was something you could hear any number of times—that's what the word Seonsaengnim was.
"The children will start trickling in one by one around 12 o'clock. Then you just guide them according to the program."
"W...we're guiding them?"
Isn't it dangerous in many ways to leave children solely in the hands of people like us, who have zero practical experience?
That didn't seem good for us and didn't seem like a good approach for the children either!?
"Hahaha, of course, you'll be doing it as a team with the staff members in charge, so don't worry."
A sigh of relief escaped me for a moment.
If we were with the professional staff Seonsaengnim, we could manage somehow.
"Of course, you'll be put in as support at first, but later on..."
It seemed the center director had plans to eventually put us in alone.
If that's what a practicum is, then there's no helping it.
We'd have to follow along.
***
The current time was 3 o'clock.
The children's center was, to put it mildly, steeped in chaos.
At first, there weren't many kids, so I thought it was fortunate.
That was because most of the children were in the upper grades of elementary school.
But after classes ended at the affiliated kindergarten attached to the center and the kindergartens nearby, the kids swarmed in.
It was like... a counterattack of elementary schoolers heading home right after the end-of-term ceremony?
I never imagined the children's center was something they'd flock to this much, as if it were a PC bang.
"Seonsaengnim! Ha-yeong keeps taking my doll!"
"Waaaaaah!"
The sound of someone taking someone else's belongings.
And the incessant crying started to assault my mind.
As if that wasn't enough.
There were even kids who kept taking crayons and colored pencils to the wall, even though they clearly had sketchbooks.
.........This was very familiar.
To me, who grew up in an orphanage, this was a very familiar occurrence.
"Seong-hwan Seonsaengnim, I'll leave that side to you."
"Yes! That's right, that's right... Ha-yeong, give the doll back to Jae-jun... There! Shake hands~"
Not only was I mediating reconciliations between children, but for some reason I was also defending the thickly painted white walls,
I had become the ace.
Jeong Hwan-yi and Lee Min-ho had already collapsed.
No matter how much Lee Min-ho had taken care of his younger sister Ji-ye, she was a polite and very kind kid.
She wasn't the kind of child who ran around like the ones here or didn't listen.
So I was the only one with proper real-world experience.
In my case, as the eldest son at the orphanage before I left, I practically raised all the younger kids myself, so I was very used to it.
"S-Seong-hwan Seonsaengnim, you seem incredibly used to this."
"Well, I grew up in an orphanage. Ever since I was little, I'd look after the younger ones... Hey! Jae-jun! You can't hit your friend!"
"Minseo hit me first."
"Really? Then smack him one."
Along with a thwack! sound, Jae-jun smacked Minseo on the head.
Maybe because the kid had a conscience, Minseo didn't cry since he threw the first punch and got hit back.
Kids gave back what they got...
They had a subtle sense of loyalty, I'd say.
"Hey, you two, don't just rest, look after the kids a bit."
"He's a m-monster...."
"That guy, I knew something felt off about the way he looked after Ji-ye..."
"Taking care of kids like this was daily life for me."
If anything, it was more than this, not less.
That's how much trouble my younger siblings were, here and there.
"So since you've rested up now, how about you switch with me a bit? I'd like to go to the bathroom."
"O-Okay! Let's see who wins, me or these kids!"
Had I accidentally pressed some weird button for Jeong Hwan-yi?
Some kind of competitive spirit had kicked in.
And this from a guy with no experience caring for kids until now, trying to beat me.
Did taking care of kids look that easy?
*
"Haa... it's hot. So hot."
I was up on the rooftop for a moment, getting some air.
I desperately wanted to go right back inside where the air conditioner was blasting,
but going in was difficult because Jeong Hwan-yi and Lee Min-ho were currently waging a bloody battle with the kids.
"Huh? Where did my cola go?"
I definitely got it from the vending machine and put it here, but I couldn't see it.
It was a perfectly chilled cola, with a thin layer of ice chips... What a shame.
"Here you go."
"Oh, Director-nim?"
I turned around to see who had suddenly thrust an arm out toward me, and it was the center director.
In her hand was an ice-cold coffee as well.
It seemed she had gone to a coffee shop, bought coffee, come up to the rooftop, and coincidentally ran into me.
"How's your first activity going?"
"Being surrounded by children again after so long feels like I'm being tortured."
"Hahaha, you really have a funny way of talking."
She seemed to think I was mixing in a little humor.
The words I just blurted out were my genuine feelings, though, with no lies or jokes mixed in.
"Seong-hwan-ssi... by any chance, was the orphanage you were at when you were little... the Sunflower Orphanage?"
"Huh? How did you know... Ah, right. With the sponsorship I did the year before, everyone who would know already knows."
The place I decided to sponsor was the orphanage I used to attend.
It couldn't be helped that a lot of people knew.
But it wasn't reported extensively, was it?
How did this center director know about it?
"Actually, Seong-hwan-ssi's mother was in the same cohort as me."
"........Ah?"
Come to think of it, didn't she say she had a friend...
or rather, a classmate who was a director at a children's center?
The one she went to that training with before.....