Chapter 128
Chapter 128
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 128
Chapter Title: Daeun's Portrait Gallery
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Looking back now, Daeun had known everything.
She knew her mom had died, and that she was left all alone.
But on the day I first met Daeun, she hadn't cried.
Back then, I'd just thought it was because she was too young and didn't understand.
"Who would've thought she was enduring her grief all by herself like this."
Daeun hadn't been free of sadness.
She had simply been expressing it in her own way.
Seeing this painting, I finally understood why Sister had said what she did.
Swish.
Sister Kim Inyoung approached quietly from behind me and began recounting the old story in a voice tinged with pity.
"Before you came, Kanghyeok, Daeun never cried once. At first, I thought she was just too young to grasp it, but then I realized that wasn't the case. How could she not know? Her mom was gone."
Especially a child like Daeun.
"So one day, I got so curious that I peeked in when she was alone in her room to see what she was doing..."
"She was drawing, wasn't she?"
"Yes, exactly. She was drawing by herself. But the moment I came in, she tried to hide the picture."
Daeun, who could feel the emotions of those who drew, must have been scared of her own feelings being exposed.
"So I took my time, slowly got close to her and built trust, until I finally got to see what Daeun had drawn."
Swish.
Sister must have been shocked when she saw Daeun's drawings too.
They were all identical pictures, from one to the next.
From Sister's perspective, she couldn't fully grasp what Daeun's behavior meant.
"Was that why you asked to come here alone with Daeun?"
Nod.
"Yes. I thought she drew these because she missed her mom so much."
Of course, Sister wasn't wrong. But she wasn't entirely right either.
Half right, half wrong, I suppose.
"You're right that she drew them because she missed her mom. But I don't think she'll hate seeing this picture."
At my words, Sister tilted her head and asked,
"Why not?"
"Because it's just like me."
"Pardon?"
"Whenever I had too many thoughts or felt emotionally drained, I'd draw a lot. And through the act of drawing, I'd unload those thoughts and feelings. Just like Daeun did."
As I spoke, I pointed to Daeun's drawing.
"This isn't Daeun's sadness, in other words. It's the thoughts she was having back then."
"Then..."
"Yes. It might bring back those memories and make her a bit melancholic, but she won't be as upset as you're worried."
Assuming Daeun took after me, that is.
'Brings back old memories.'
Blood really is a scary thing.
Sometimes, seeing how much she resembled me gave me chills.
"I'm sorry. I just assumed Daeun would naturally be sad seeing these drawings..."
Sister's sudden apology startled me, and I waved my hands frantically.
"Oh, no, no. Of course you'd think that. I thought the same at first."
"You did, Kanghyeok?"
"Yeah, it sounds weird, I know. But it's true. I used to think seeing my own emotional paintings would hurt me too."
Funny, isn't it?
But someone changed that way of thinking for me.
It was Hyorin.
'Hmm. Come to think of it, that time was similar.'
The reason I'd been so emotionally wrecked and drawing nonstop.
As I pondered what it was, the answer came to me.
It was probably the longest period after college when Hyorin and I were apart.
"But thanks to Hyorin, I realized that's not the case. So, um, could I bring Daeun and look at them together?"
Understanding my words belatedly, Sister nodded.
"Yes, if Daeun's okay with it."
If she takes after me, it should be fine.
As I thought that and was about to explain, a good idea suddenly struck me.
Smile.
"Oh, before that. How about showing Daeun the room the way Hyorin did for me?"
"Pardon?"
"If Daeun takes after me, she'll definitely like it."
No doubt about it.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Swish.
I looked at Daeun, whose hand I was holding, and asked,
"Did you have fun playing with your friends?"
"Not done pwaying yet! Daeun wanna pway mowe!"
Yeah.
Sweat beaded on her forehead, and she clearly wanted to keep going.
Well, at that age, just running around was pure joy.
Since I didn't know when Daeun could play like this again, I wanted to let her.
'I'll make time to play more before we head home.'
With that in mind, I asked Daeun the question I was really curious about.
"Daeun, Daddy has something he's wondering about."
"What?"
"Do you remember the pictures you drew when you were here?"
"Oh, yeah! I 'member! Mommy picture!"
As expected, Daeun remembered perfectly.
"Then you remember hanging them up in the room too, right?"
"Yeah! Gwanny said it's okay if Daeun wants to hang 'em!"
Seeing her reaction made me feel a bit relieved.
I'd thought it'd be fine if she took after me, but you never know.
"Yeah, Daddy went into Daeun's room."
"Oh, did you see Daeun's picture?"
"Yeah, the mommy picture."
Hearing she'd seen the mommy picture, Daeun's eyes sparkled as she said,
"Daeun dwew it 'cause she missed Mommy. Daddy knows?"
Nod.
Anyone could feel those emotions in it.
"Of course. When Daddy's super sad or thinking a lot, like Daeun, he draws too."
Whoosh!
Daeun's eyes went wide.
"Really?"
"Yeah. So the moment I saw your pictures, I knew. I knew how hard you worked."
Swish.
As I stroked her head.
"Good job. My Daeun. You held out so well until Daddy came."
At my praise, Daeun stared into my eyes for a moment before smiling.
"Yeah!"
Daeun smiled, and so did I.
As we chatted about all sorts of drawings, we arrived at the room Daeun used to use.
Sister, who had been waiting, greeted us warmly.
"Alright, Daeun, shall we go in?"
"Yes!"
Click.
As I opened the door, the room had a completely different vibe from before.
The curtains were wide open, and all the haphazardly pasted drawings had been removed.
Not all of them, though—one single picture hung on one wall.
"Huh? Daddy, where Daeun's picture go?"
I figured she'd look for it right away.
So I continued from where we'd left off.
"Remember what Daddy said earlier?"
"What?"
"That it's just like Daddy."
"Oh! Yeah!"
"Actually, Daddy drew the same picture over and over too, just like you. And your mommy told me one trick back then."
"Mommy did!"
Her expression changed the moment mommy came up.
"Yeah. Back then, Mommy did this for Daddy. She gathered all my drawings in one place and made them into one."
Swish.
I pointed to the picture on the wall as I explained.
"All the mommy faces you've drawn so far are in there."
Hyorin had told me, as she gathered my drawings,
Emotions are like waves—once they start crashing, you can't control them.
The drawings I'd made then held so many emotions, so she said I needed restraint.
To feel one emotion purely, so I could face the next.
"...That's what Mommy told Daddy."
I repeated to Daeun exactly what Hyorin had told me back then.
Daeun stared at the picture, lost in thought for a moment.
Then, a little later, she gave an answer slightly different from what I'd expected.
Beam.
"Daeun look at other pictures later!"
I was a bit surprised she wanted to see them later.
'Her emotional waves are stronger than mine.'
It was partly because of her abilities, but she was still so young.
Naturally, her waves would crash harder than an adult's, so Hyorin's method might have worked even better for her.
No—if Hyorin hadn't used this, maybe Daeun would have been even more down.
'Hyorin is Mom to the end.'
Even now, without her here, Hyorin was comforting Daeun.
I wanted to tell Daeun this story right now.
'When she's a bit older... I'll tell her then.'
Thinking that, I went to Daeun's side.
I placed my hand on her head and said,
"Daeun."
"Yeah, Daddy."
"Let's go see Mommy now."
The real reason we'd come here today was to see Hyorin.
Her urn was at Sky Orphanage.
At those words, Daeun glanced at the picture on the wall and replied,
"Yeah!"
And so, Daeun's first birthday was celebrated with our whole family.
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Clunk.
We left the orphanage and boarded the bus.
Checking the time, it was just past 5 p.m.
Teasing Daeun, whose eyes were a little red-rimmed, I joked with a smile,
"Daeun, you got all red here, you know."
"Daddy too! Daddy super red too!"
"Then we're both red, huh?"
"Yeah, right now!"
I wondered how this birthday—with me, Daeun, and Hyorin—would stay in Daeun's memories.
I was a little curious, but I decided to keep the question in my heart.
I felt like I already knew how she felt, without asking.
"Okay, Daddy!"
"Yeah?"
"Where we going now?"
Did she think we were heading somewhere else?
"Hmm, to our studio."
"Daeun's stwudio?"
"Yeah."
Droop—
Whoa, she's super disappointed.
Her expression was so obviously let down that I got flustered instead.
"W-Why? Is there somewhere Daeun wants to go?"
Pout!
Daeun stuck out her lips, her face totally different from before.
"No!"
But it seemed like there was somewhere she wanted to go.
What was I missing? Just then, Daeun said,
"Daeun not tell you how she feels. Hmph!"
Her emotions flipped so suddenly that I teased her playfully.
"Aw, come on, tell Daddy. What do you wanna do?"
"Don't."
"Ah, why not? Tell Daeun. Daddy might listen."
Glance.
Whoa, she just looked super conflicted.
Like she was responding to a devil's whisper, Daeun turned toward me.
Whoosh!
Then turned away again.
"No!"
Argh! So close. She almost turned back.
Looking at her, I asked again.
"Hmm, should Daddy guess?"
"No guessing game!"
But at "guessing game," her face turned angelic.
From grumpy imp to angel in seconds.
Grinning wide at her cuteness, I said,
"Okay, my guess. Did Daeun wanna go to the zoo?"
Shake shake!
"No! Nope! Daeun not wanna go zoo!"
"Hmm, then... amusement park?"
"Amusement park..."
Her eyes sparkled—wait, was it really the amusement park?
But though she wanted to go, it wasn't the answer; her voice trembled as she said,
"N-No."
"Then... big mall?"
"No!"
"Then..."
Screech—!
The bus arrived at our stop, we got off, walked, and kept playing twenty questions all the way to the studio.
Beep beep beep—!
As I unlocked the door, I asked,
"Hmm, then Jeju Island?"
"Daeun wanna wide pwane again!"
At this point, I wondered if it was even a guessing game.
"So, did I get it?"
"No, nope."
"Okay, last one for real. This time Daddy really knows."
"Weally wast?"
"Yeah."
As I said that, I opened the studio door.
Click. I turned on the light in the dark office and said,
"Is it maybe Daeun's birthday party with your friends?"
In that instant, lights popped on! And everyone waiting in the studio shouted toward Daeun.
"Happy Birthday, Daeun!"
And at their cheers, Daeun, wearing the world's happiest smile, yelled,
"Super fun!"
Smile.
Happy Birthday, Daeun.