Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Lucky the Golden Retriever
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When I opened the door and entered the waiting room, I was met with a sight reminiscent of a small play area in a restaurant.
Mats were laid out on the floor to prevent injuries from falls, and there was a small slide, a swing, and toy cars.
“It’s so colorful and cute.”
“Has the child not arrived yet?”
“Yeah. They’ll be here soon.”
I took off my shoes and sat on the mat, blankly waiting for the child to arrive.
“By the way, have any of you ever played with kids before? All my cousins are around my age, so I’ve never really been around children.”
It was the same for me.
As the youngest in my family, I was always the one being taken care of.
“I’ve fed a baby milk and changed diapers before. My younger sister is ten years younger than me.”
It was the first time I’d heard that Haru had a sibling ten years younger than him.
“Really?”
“A little brother?”
“No, a little sister. She’s in middle school now and is really into K-pop. Apparently, she uses me as an excuse to keep pestering our parents to visit Korea.”
“With such a big age gap, you must miss your sister a lot. I’ve heard guys with much younger sisters treat them like daughters.”
“I did when she was little.”
Haru gave a slight nod in response to Lee Ho-jun’s words.
“But I came to Korea to become an idol, so I’ve only seen her in pictures. I felt too ashamed to go back to Japan, you know? I couldn’t even call often. So we just grew apart. My parents waited for me, but my sister didn't. She was too young, and since I didn't keep in touch, we naturally drifted.”
For some reason, Haru looked a little lonely.
I often thought I wouldn’t have been able to endure the hardships without the support of my family, so I felt a bit sorry for him.
“But it’s okay. I’ll visit often whenever I have time now. And she likes K-pop, right? So now it’s my turn to make an effort.”
“She’s still your family, so she won’t push you away.”
Haru smiled and nodded at Jung Eun-woo's words.
*Squeak.*
My gaze shifted at the sound, one you'd expect from a dog toy, to see a little girl holding onto the door, her face full of caution as she watched us.
It seemed she was the child we were supposed to look after today.
As soon as we spotted her, we all stood up as if on cue.
“But did she come alone?”
I thought at least one of her parents would come to greet us and give us some instructions, but that wasn’t the case.
“Hi there. See that swing over there?”
Haru crouched down to meet the child’s eyes and asked in a gentle voice.
“How about you and your bunny go for a ride on it?”
The girl gave a small nod.
She still seemed wary.
“Okay, let’s take off your shoes.”
As Haru helped her take off her shoes, the girl hugged her stuffed rabbit tightly.
*At least she’s not crying. That’s a relief.*
Before long, Haru had seated the child on the swing.
“Did your mommy or daddy give you anything to show us uncles today?”
The girl unzipped a zipper on the back of her stuffed rabbit.
*So it was a backpack.*
She took out a red card and placed it in Haru's hand.
“Hyung, I’ll read it.”
I took the card from Haru’s hand.
“Hello, and thank you for taking care of my daughter today. Her name is Jung Chae-yi, and she is five years old. She loves cars, and the rabbit with her is named Rabbit. It’s her comfort toy, so she never lets it go.”
We all met each other’s eyes and nodded, a silent agreement to be careful with the doll.
“I’ve left some snacks and a lunchbox, so please feed her if she says she’s hungry. I’ll leave her in your care for the next hour.”
That was the end of the card.
The production staff, who were filming behind a white screen, pushed a shopping bag toward us.
“This must be the lunchbox.”
Park Ji-ham, who was closest, brought the shopping bag over.
“I’ll just put this by the wall for now.”
We had our instructions, the lunchbox, and the snacks.
The only problem was, we had even less of an idea what to do.
“So, what do we do now?”
We all looked at Haru.
“Just stay like this.”
“Like this?”
“Yeah.”
Haru's answer only added to our confusion.
*Just stay as we are?*
“Yeah. Just sit down. You’re all so big in her line of sight, which makes her feel more intimidated.”
I quickly sat down on the floor.
“We’re strangers, and she has to keep looking up at us. Just relax and wait. She’ll come and talk to you first. When she does, just give her a bright smile and answer.”
The girl swung by herself, fiddling with her rabbit doll.
About five minutes passed in silence.
“Uncle…”
The girl came up to me and tugged on my clothes.
“Yes, what is it?”
I smiled and answered, just as Haru had said.
“Chae-yi is thirsty.”
“Do you want some water, then?”
“Yeah.”
I rummaged through the shopping bag and found a water bottle.
“Here, let’s have some water.”
“Okay!”
The girl sat on my lap and started drinking.
“What’s this? It looks like she’s taken a liking to you.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. Some people are just naturally good with kids.”
The girl was so small I couldn’t move.
“Uncle.”
“Yes?”
“Hold Chae-yi.”
“Hold you?”
She wrapped her arms around my neck on her own, so I supported her back and picked her up.
“Mmm. Higher.”
The child whined.
“I think she wants you to stand up.”
At Jung Eun-woo’s words, I carefully stood up.
“Do I just stay like this?”
I felt my palms getting sweaty.
“Hyungs.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m a little scared.”
At my words, Park Ji-ham shot up from his seat.
“Huh? Why? Are you hurt?”
“No. What if I drop her?”
“What the heck. You scared me, I thought something happened.”
Park Ji-ham plopped back down.
“Uncle.”
“Yes.”
“Chae-yi wants the slide.”
“Okay.”
I took each step carefully, afraid I might fall and hurt her.
“I want to get down now.”
“Okay.”
I gently set her down.
“Uncle.”
“Yes.”
“Uncle, you look like our Lucky.”
“Lucky?”
The girl chattered on, even as she went down the slide.
“Yeah.”
“Who’s Lucky?”
“The puppy who lives with Chae-yi.”
The other members burst out laughing at her words.
“You think I look like a puppy?”
The girl nodded her head vigorously in response.
“Lucky gives Chae-yi piggyback rides, too.”
I was shocked that the reason she’d warmed up to me was because I resembled her dog.
“Do you know what kind of dog he is?”
“A Golden!”
“No way.”
“Wow, Yoon-seul. It seems you’re destined to be associated with dogs.”
“That must be why she asked you to hold her.”
The members teased me playfully.
“Do you like Lucky, Chae-yi?”
“Yeah! I love him. Lucky is my friend.”
The girl beamed.
Her wariness seemed to have completely melted away.
“Uncle! Police car for me.”
Apparently tired of the slide, she ran over to the toy cars.
“Uncle, you drive this one! And you, this one!”
She handed out cars to everyone.
Playing with the cars, we quickly grew closer to the girl.
“Wee-woo, wee-woo.”
“Police car coming through. Please make way.”
Everyone did a great job playing with her on her level.
“Chae-yi wants to eat now.”
After diligently feeding her, it was almost time for us to part ways.
“Yaaawn.”
As if getting sleepy, the girl yawned repeatedly until her eyelids finally closed.
“She’s sleeping so soundly.”
We talked as quietly as possible so as not to wake her.
Just then, we heard the door open.
“Huh?”
Seeing the person who entered, all of our eyes widened in surprise like startled rabbits.
It was a good thing the child was asleep, or we all might have screamed.
“Sir.”
“Hey. It’s been a while.”
The child’s father was none other than the dance trainer from RED CUBE.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh, our Chae-yi? I got an offer after RED CUBE. But it looks like you guys did a great job playing with her in such a short time. She doesn’t usually fall asleep in front of strangers.”
“It was all thanks to Yoon-seul.”
“Yoon-seul? Is he some kind of childcare prodigy?”
The dance trainer turned his gaze toward me.
“It’s not that. She said he looks like Lucky.”
“Lucky? Our Lucky?”
The dance trainer thought for a moment before bursting into laughter.
He covered his mouth with his hand, seemingly trying to stifle his laughter so as not to wake the child.
“Our Lucky is a Golden Retriever… They say kids have a sharp eye, and it’s true. Anyway, you all worked hard today. Watching a child for an hour couldn’t have been easy.”
“It was our first time looking after a child, so we were a bit flustered, but we enjoyed it.”
“Really? Then I’ll have to ask you again sometime.”
For some reason, the dance trainer’s words didn’t feel like an empty pleasantry but a sincere request, sending shivers down my arms.
It wasn’t that I disliked spending time with the child, but it was so nerve-wracking that I didn’t want to go through it again.
“More importantly, tomorrow’s your debut stage, right?”
“Yes.”
The day we would stand on a music show stage for the first time as RE-V was already upon us.
“Well, I’m not worried. I’ll be watching tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
The dance trainer carefully picked up the child and left after a brief goodbye.
“Alright, guys. Let’s go, too. We need to save our energy for tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
It still felt unreal that tomorrow would be the first day we would officially meet RE-V’s fans.