Back to the Amusement Park with Dad (2)
"What are you doing, Dad? Hurry up and come in!"
The place my daughter had dragged me to was none other than a costume shop.
"How do I look, Dad? This school uniform suits me, right?"
Min-ah was bubbling with excitement, picking through the racks and holding outfits up against herself.
"Uh... it does look good on you... ah... honey, sorry, but what kind of place is this? Dad doesn't really know."
"Come on, Dad, you don't even know a place like this? It's where you rent outfits to wear around the amusement park!"
Ah...
So that was why my daughter had shown up in whatever she'd happened to throw on — and why she'd told me to wear anything I wanted. She'd been planning to rent clothes here all along?
I looked around, and immediately saw the problem. There was nothing here for me to wear. Every outfit on the racks was made for young people. There wasn't a single thing that would suit a man in his forties.
It was true that I looked young. I'd long since cleared forty, but if I didn't mention my age, people generally took me for early-to-mid thirties. Comparing myself to Min-ah, though, was another matter entirely. Anyone with eyes could see the gap.
"Min-ah... it looks like there are clothes for you, but nothing for Dad."
"Dad, you just wear whatever I pick out for you!"
"Th-that's not what I... Min-ah... Dad is..."
In a single stride, my daughter closed the distance and planted herself in front of me.
"I got into Korea University, remember? We're alumni now, you and me."
"Yeah... Dad's really happy about that."
"Then since I made you happy, you have to grant my wish, right?"
"...Ah... w-well... that's right."
"Dad."
"..."
Min-ah stared straight through me. This was when she was at her most terrifying. Justification. Logic. The moral high ground. This was the face she wore when she had every one of those locked down perfectly.
"...Alright, honey."
It was a game I couldn't win.
After a long and serious deliberation, Min-ah's final selection was a Japanese-style girls' school uniform. A sailor suit.
And do you know what I got? A Japanese-style boys' school uniform. A gakuran.
It was awkward. No — I was mortified beyond all reason. A school uniform, at my age...
"I knew it! Clean, simple designs look great on you, Dad!"
Min-ah was beautiful; that much went without saying. I was the problem. A middle-aged father wearing the same kind of school uniform as a daughter who had only just become an adult... My face burned.
"Thank you. You've reviewed the return guidelines, yes? Have a wonderful time."
"Yes! Thank you so much for lending us these pretty outfits!"
Min-ah slipped her arm through mine and beamed a bright goodbye at the shop owner. The owner's expression was... peculiar. How should I put it? Like a man looking at something he wasn't supposed to see. As if he'd just mistaken us for some kind of paid date.
"Dad. Didn't that owner look at us weird? That was creepy, right?"
"Hmm... from where I'm standing, I think it's because I'm wearing clothes that don't match my age."
"No way. It looks great on you! You look so young it's not even a problem! At most we only look like we're twelve years apart?!"
"...Still..."
I glanced around. It felt like everyone was staring. Those eyes pressed down on me with a weight I couldn't shrug off.
"Dad!"
Min-ah unlinked her arm and stepped in front of me.
"Why are you embarrassed?"
"No... it's just..."
"Are you embarrassed of me?"
Min-ah was the daughter I cherished and took pride in more than anyone alive. I could have gone around bragging like a shameless doting fool that this girl was my daughter — my pride and joy.
"No!! What could my daughter possibly lack that I'd be embarrassed of her! It's just that Dad isn't enough..."
In a flash, Min-ah hung herself around my neck. Our faces lined up on a diagonal, close enough to share a breath.
"I'm not embarrassed of you, Dad."
"...B-but still..."
"You're the dad I'm prouder of than anyone."
"...Min-ah."
"Those strong-lined eyes and that nose. That solid body, that height... I'm so proud that a man this handsome is my dad — and at the same time, it hurts."
It hurts? What was that supposed to mean?
"Honey... what do you..."
"But I've changed my mind."
She squeezed, wrapping her arms tight around my neck.
"When I think about it, you were already mine, Dad."
I was a little lost. What on earth was she talking about?
"Honey... so... that is..."
She nestled into me, soft as down.
"If anyone has something to say about us... I won't let it slide. Not ever."
A strange feeling crept over me. What was my daughter saying right now? There was a disconnect from the ordinary conversation we'd been having up to this point.
"H-honey... so... that is..."
A peck. Min-ah's lips brushed my cheek.
"Dad! Hold your head high! I said so! You and I look amazing together!"
Ah... I see. My daughter — Min-ah — had been trying to put strength in my spine. Telling me not to shrink.
"Who cares what anyone says? There are tons of couples out there worse than us! We're top-tier! Just wait, Dad! I'll prove it!"
In other words: forget other people's eyes, and just enjoy ourselves at the park, the two of us.
Min-ah grabbed my arm and pulled.
"I'll show you, Dad. That what I said is true!"
"R-right. Okay, honey. Just a little slower... ah... that hurts."
Where was she getting that kind of strength? I was being hauled along like a sack as Min-ah towed me straight through the amusement park gates.
Ready? Look at the camera above~!
One, two, three!
Click.
Click.
Click.
The place Min-ah had pulled me to was none other than a sticker-photo booth. Not a portrait studio — what do they call it these days? A four-cut photo booth?
Back in my day we just sat there and took them like three-minute ID photos. Now it was a completely different world. There were cameras in front and cameras overhead, so you could shoot from every angle imaginable.
"Okay, the pictures should be coming out now, Dad!"
"R-right."
My head was spinning. A world I didn't know. In the space of a heartbeat I'd been yanked into poses by my daughter's hands and the shutter had gone off. There was no way I was in my right mind.
Your photos are ready.
Tap. The strip slid out of the machine.
"Here. Look, Dad."
"Uh... huh?"
The me and Min-ah in the photos... went together better than I'd expected.
"I was right, wasn't I?"
That voice of hers, overflowing with confidence. And she was right. I may have been selling myself far too short. The two of us in those pictures looked surprisingly good together. If no one told you we were father and daughter, you would never have guessed. We just looked like a couple with a bit of an age gap.
"Dad didn't trust you... I'm sorry, honey."
"No. I'm the one who should be thanking you."
Min-ah slipped the photos carefully into her little crossbody bag.
"Because of you, I got a picture this precious."
Then she grabbed my arm and pulled again.
"Dad! Let's go ride the roller coaster now! I really!! I really wanted to ride it!!"
At this rate, I was going to spend the entire day at the park in a daze.
Roller coasters had been popular in my day, and they were still popular now. It was a weekday evening, so the park was quiet — but even so, this particular coaster made us wait thirty minutes.
"Waaah, I can't wait!! I've never been on a roller coaster!!"
That tracked. The nightmare when she was six. She hadn't set foot in an amusement park since — not even the school trips. And now, in this moment, my daughter was throwing everything she had into shaking that trauma off for good.
"Have you ever ridden a roller coaster, Dad?"
"Huh?? Ah..."
I had a confession to make. I... had never ridden one. I was too scared. But how was I supposed to say that in front of my daughter?
"Of course I have."
"Were you scared?"
"N-no? Not at all."
She buried herself against me.
"Then if I get scared, I'll only trust you, Dad! If I get scared, you have to help me, okay? Got it?"
"O-of course!"
And so we boarded the roller coaster...
"H-hwaaaaagh!"
"Kyaaaa~~!! This is so much fuuun~~~~!!"
The one clutching my daughter's hand in a death grip was me.
"Ahahaha!! Dad, you said you'd ridden a roller coaster before? Why are you so scared? You chicken!"
"That's... it's been a really long time, so..."
"It's my first time! How can you be more scared than the person riding it for the first time?"
"Well... that's... I didn't know it would tear between the buildings that fast. Especially that part where it spins a full three-sixty around the support in the middle... ugh..."
Min-ah's face said she'd just found herself a new favorite thing to tease me with.
"From now on, Dad's nickname is Chicken."
"Honey... cut me some slack... calling your dad a chicken... do you know how brave I am?"
"He's a chickeen~~ Dad's a chickeen~~~~."
"I'm not a chicken...! You've got it all wrong!!"
"Then ride that."
What Min-ah pointed at was a boat. And not just any boat — the kind that climbs high and then plunges straight down. At least it wouldn't be constantly fast like the roller coaster, right?
That prediction missed by a mile.
"W-wait? We drop from here??"
The boat climbed slowly to the top and paused there, letting you take in the view on a lazy current. But... it was higher than I'd thought.
"Dad, you're not scared?"
"O-of course not! I'm not scared!"
"Doesn't seem like it? You look scared."
"Y-you're misundersta— wait..... uwaaaaaagh!!!"
In an instant I felt my entire body being driven into the floor. In that dizzying moment I reflexively seized the waist of my daughter sitting in front of me.
Fwoooosh!!
Water splashed into the boat, though not as much as I'd expected. And just like that, our brief tour of hell was over.
Right before we stepped off, my daughter leaned in and whispered against my ear.
"Dad... you're strong."
"H-huh?"
"Nothing. Never mind."
And with that, the ordeal came to an end.
"Dad, I'm going to run to the bathroom real quick. Wait here."
"Sure. Go ahead."
I let out a long breath and sank onto a bench. The amusement park at night was genuinely beautiful. Being a weekday, there were hardly any people, and that was a blessing too.
It was fun. That was the honest truth. I'd arrived feeling like I was here to perform a service. But that wasn't it at all. I was enjoying myself, and so was she. Coming here had been the right call. Even those mortifying uniforms didn't seem so bad anymore, not after I'd seen the photos.
"This is what happiness looks like... I couldn't ask for more."
"Dad! I'm back!"
She was quicker than I'd expected, something held in one hand.
"Hm? What's that?"
"A memory of you and me!"
What she thrust toward my face was... a slushie. A yellow one. Pineapple.
That was it. She hadn't forgotten. The pineapple slushie I'd bought her when she was six — she'd gone and gotten one just the same.