Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Yeonwoo's First Day at Daycare
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Chae Hayeon locked eyes with Yeonwoo, who was peeking out from behind his grandmother, only his head visible.
‘Oh my God…!’
The common reaction of adults upon seeing this world's Yeonwoo had come to her as well.
No one could keep their heart still at the sight of the world's most beautiful Yeonwoo.
It felt like your heart plummeted with a thud.
Even Chae Hayeon, who had cared for many children, was no exception.
Chae Hayeon bent at the waist, meeting Yeonwoo's gaze, and said,
“Shall we go in together, teacher and you?”
“…….”
At Chae Hayeon's question, Yeonwoo looked toward his grandmother.
Heo Ok simply nodded quietly.
It meant he had to go.
Yeonwoo stepped out from behind his grandmother and took Chae Hayeon's outstretched hand.
“Grandma, don't worry too much. If Yeonwoo has trouble adjusting, I'll give you a call.”
“Yes, thank you. Yeonwoo, Grandma's going now?”
“Yes, have a safe trip.”
Yeonwoo bowed politely at the waist to his grandmother, then took Chae Hayeon's hand again.
As if he mustn't let go of her hand in place of his grandmother.
And so, Yeonwoo's daycare life began.
Daycares vary in their approaches, but the Ja-in Daycare where Yeonwoo enrolled didn't make a special fuss introducing new children.
There were parents who complained about putting a child alone in front of everyone and making them introduce themselves.
Unlike kindergartens managed by the Ministry of Education, daycares are overseen by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, so they placed greater emphasis on childcare and meals rather than structured education like in kindergartens.
Because of that, once the official day began at 9 a.m., it was free playtime until morning snack.
“Hi? Who's you?”
And so, a girl approached Yeonwoo, who was left all alone (of course, with the teacher watching from afar).
“Me? I'm Yeonwoo… Shin Yeonwoo.”
“Oh. You're super pretty.”
At the girl's frank words, Yeonwoo frowned.
“I'm a boy. Not pretty.”
“Really? Not a girl? You look like one? That's why no earrings or rings?”
As she said that, the girl showed off her recently bought princess earring and necklace set.
Even on her hands, dazzling plastic rings adorned every finger.
“Wanna try?”
“…No.”
Yeonwoo instinctively felt repulsed.
Though it's wrong to differentiate boys and girls by colors and accessories, children naturally gravitate toward blue for boys, pink for girls, robots for boys, dolls for girls.
Of course, not all do, but Yeonwoo reacted like an average boy his age.
But the girls around him wouldn't leave Yeonwoo alone.
“It's a necklace, wanna wear it?”
“Let's play with my Barbie doll.”
As the girls swarmed, the curious boys joined in too.
“You really a boy?”
“Where do you live? That apartment? Which building?”
“You got Lightning Man figures? I do. Wanna play?”
“I like Brachiosaurus. You?”
Suddenly receiving the attention of a dozen kids in a situation he'd never experienced before, Yeonwoo panicked, not knowing what to do.
Surrounded by so many people—peers, no less—for the first time in his life, how could he not panic?
“Uh… um…….”
Even words that flowed endlessly in front of family wouldn't come out easily, blocking his speech, when—
Ding.
A piano sound came from somewhere.
Diriring, ding ding.
Then, like the children of Hamelin drawn to the Pied Piper, all the kids' gazes turned toward the piano.
There sat Chae Hayeon at the electronic piano.
Confirming the children's eyes on her, Chae Hayeon smiled her warm teacher smile and began playing in earnest.
Hearing the melody, the children—especially the girls—instinctively started singing along.
“Show me the shining magic!!”
“Catch catch!!”
“Gather pretty hearts!!”
Just as 20-something influencers surrendered to club music, or teens followed the latest short-form meme dances and sang along, the kids couldn't be stopped from mimicking the trendiest animation songs and dances.
Even the boys didn't dance openly but hummed the tunes.
The next song, Bread Barbershop…
“No one na na na na na na finds me!!”
…And Jadu's Song, still loved by kids decades later, were the same.
“Grow sour!! Sweet two!!”
It was utter pandemonium.
Amid it, Yeonwoo faced the children's fairies popping out nonstop.
From Yeonwoo's perspective, who even composed adult songs, kids' favorites might seem boring, but watching the kids belt them out and the fairies joyfully swirling around, Yeonwoo watched endlessly without boredom.
Until morning snack time arrived.
The kids, now hyped, unleashed their infinite stamina, playing wildly.
The teachers loved when kids played among themselves without needing them.
The problem started at lunchtime.
Even then, kids ignored food to keep playing.
After teachers barely got them to eat, naptime came shortly after.
The issue was that the older class kids were entering elementary school next year.
In just a year, kids' sleep needs dropped sharply.
They resisted naptime easily. They were at the age to start skipping naps, but teachers couldn't let them go without.
If not now, they'd get sleepy at awkward times like 4 or 5 p.m.
Napping them then would be hell for parents.
Late bedtimes would delay parents' evenings off childcare.
Thinking of those parents, Teacher Chae Hayeon had to put the kids to sleep somehow.
“Teaacher!! Play piano!!”
“Play piano!!”
“Yeah!!”
Not forgetting the morning fun, the kids demanded piano from Teacher Chae Hayeon.
“No, it's sleep time now. Piano later in the afternoon?”
“Aww, play it!!”
“No piano, no sleep!!”
“Me too!!”
“Hmm… No cartoon themes, but I can play lullabies.”
“Then play that!!”
At their insistence, Chae Hayeon reluctantly turned on the electronic piano again.
Chae Hayeon's hands began playing a lullaby.
The kids listened quietly at first but soon grew bored, fooling around and chattering loudly.
Among them, Yeonwoo gazed at Chae Hayeon's piano.
‘Is the teacher piano?’
He wondered if the fairies circling her were born from the piano.
But it felt lacking somehow.
At best, one or two faint fairies appeared and vanished ghostly.
They weren't purely blue either.
Red Fairies emerged, and faint purple ones that were neither blue nor red appeared and disappeared.
For Yeonwoo, who'd never heard sloppy playing, this in-between purple fairy was new.
The blue ones earlier must've come from familiar pieces.
But….
“Sleep well, our baby—front yard and back hill—”
The moment she sang, Yeonwoo's eyes widened.
Fairies circling her gathered as she sang, and new ones were born.
‘Not the piano, her voice.’
Yeonwoo realized why Teacher Chae Hayeon attracted fairies.
But the playing was still awful.
Singing made it worse.
Unable to stand it, Yeonwoo quietly stood and went to her side.
“Huh? Y-Yeonwoo. You should lie down?”
“Teacher.”
“Yeah?”
“Teacher… can't play piano.”
“……!!”
Chae Hayeon looked shocked at Yeonwoo.
“W-Well… I have played piano quite a while…….”
But Yeonwoo's standard for good piano was Heo Ok.
Yeonwoo didn't think himself great, dismissed pro producer-composer Jiyeong's playing as subpar, so Chae Hayeon's was off the charts—below.
“I'll do it.”
“Huh?”
“I'll play. Teacher, you sing.”
“Y-You can play piano?”
“Yes.”
Chae Hayeon thought he's only six at most… but couldn't push him away.
Yeonwoo's sparkling eyes at the piano were too cute.
Kids this age sometimes get bold like this.
Without stopping him, Chae Hayeon stood, seating Yeonwoo.
Yeonwoo placed his hands on the keys.
The original of the teacher's song was the common Mozart Lullaby (actually Bernhard Flies' Lullaby, long misattributed to Mozart).
Of course, Yeonwoo didn't know the title. Even Grandma hadn't played it for him.
But Yeonwoo knew this song.
He remembered it exactly as his mom played it in his childhood.
From Yeonwoo's white, delicate fingers flowed the lullaby, retracing his precious memory of mom.
At the fluid performance, Chae Hayeon's eyes went wide.
“Wow…….”
The kids behind, like baby birds awaiting food, watched Yeonwoo's back with sparkling eyes.
Amazed by playing beyond his peers.
Amid it, Yeonwoo kept playing, gazing steadily at Teacher Chae Hayeon.
“…Ah!”
Realizing what he wanted, she cleared her throat and began singing to his accompaniment.
“Sleep well, our baby, front yard and back hill—birds and lambs all asleep—”
Her sweet voice soon had kids rubbing eyes, heads down.
They'd resisted, but one by one, they drifted off.
Amid it, excited Yeonwoo began variations.
Over mom's memory-laden song, he layered grandma's piano.
Grandma's fairies, waiting, smiled brightly, clapping.
As Grandma smiled more, her fairies did too.
Seeing them, Yeonwoo grinned and launched into a jazz version of Flies' Lullaby—so fluid Chae Hayeon stopped singing in shock.
Yeonwoo ignored it, saying to her,
“Teacher, sing.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Um…….”
Unsure where to start, at her hesitation, Yeonwoo seamlessly replayed the beginning without stopping.
The wild freestyle jazz lullaby, her sweet voice.
Those two soon drew every teacher in the daycare.
Leaving sleeping kids, from the director to young teachers, even those just arriving for the older class.
And as Koreans—or anyone smartphone-savvy—do, they all whipped out phones to record.
As if knowing what this would become, some fairies spread translucent wings, flying everywhere.
To blanket the world.