Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: The Greatest Treasure (2)
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Jang Yoon-seul gripped the black oil-based marker, locking onto her target. Launch position: above Oppa’s right cheek.
To be honest, she wasn’t confident about writing letters, but it would be fine anyway.
She could manage writing her own name somehow.
She’d just memorized the word “treasure” from the picture book.
“Umm... Got it!”
Pop—
She twisted off the marker cap.
Then she swung her arm down at a right angle and charged.
Stab—
It hit the targeted spot.
Song Joo-hyun’s right cheek turned black.
Scritch—
Scritch scritch—
Scritch scritch—
The sound of writing on skin was surprisingly sharp.
“Yoonseu... li trea... sure... did!”
Master calligraphy!
Jang Yoon-seul nodded to herself in satisfaction.
However, it was messy and crooked in places.
It was too early an age to write properly, and on top of that, the canvas was a chubby cheek.
Even a master calligrapher like Han Seok-bong would struggle to write neatly on such an uneven surface.
“Hmm?”
She was looking at what she’d written when a sudden thought struck her.
It looked good enough...
‘But... will Oppa like... this?’
Somehow, it felt like he wouldn’t.
A sudden sense of crisis washed over her.
She had to erase it.
If she didn’t wipe it off before Oppa woke up, something bad would happen.
That gut feeling spurred Jang Yoon-seul into action.
“How do I... erase this?”
The problem was, she didn’t know how.
She didn’t even know that oil-based markers took a lot of effort to remove.
This desire-driven toddler was only five years old.
First attempt.
“Hmm!”
Rub it with her palm!
Squish— smack—
“Uh...!”
A complete failure.
And the situation worsened.
The sweat on Jang Yoon-seul’s palm slightly dissolved the ink, causing it to smear.
The letters were still there, but Oppa’s right cheek now looked like Chocolate Uncle’s mustache.
Second attempt.
“Lick.”
Lick the cheek!
Then rub with her palm!
Smoosh—
“Hmm...”
Another failure.
“Huh? Oppa wipes it off like this sometimes.”
She’d once seen Song Joo-hyun wet his finger with saliva to erase something, so she tried it.
Fortunately, this time the situation didn’t worsen.
It was a bit salty. But a tasty kind of salty. She could see why dogs lick human cheeks.
She pondered licking it again for about three seconds.
The smudged letters hadn’t changed.
“What do I do.”
At this point, she had no choice but to use her secret weapon.
Third attempt.
“Pretend I don’t know.”
Abandon it!
**
“Baek Su-in-ssi, what’s so funny?”
- Oh, no. When did I laugh... Ahem.
“You seem to be laughing in real time right now. Are my eyes playing tricks on me?”
- Yeah, probably.
“Then let’s leave it at that.”
Unusually, Baek Su-in-ssi (the person who once ordered up to twelve bowls at our restaurant and scraped them clean) had been smiling throughout her meal.
Normally, customers either chatted with Yoon-seul or stared at their phones while eating.
Yet she kept looking at my face and laughing.
Meanwhile, Yoon-seul, perhaps not fond of Baek Su-in-ssi, kept trying to redirect her attention.
“Unnie-ya, look over here at Yoon-seul. Stop staring at Oppa.”
- Got it, Yoon-seul.
She winked at Yoon-seul, sending some kind of signal.
She was on her fifth bowl of stir-fried pork, and aside from the huge portions, something felt off about her—suspicious, even.
But I had no time to worry about it.
For some reason, today had an unusually high number of customers.
I’d used [Chef’s Intuition], so I could predict sales for the day’s main menu.
It had been average, and I’d expected evening sales similar to usual.
The variable was today’s special: Pa-dak Udon.
It was selling like hotcakes, making this the busiest day ever.
- Two bowls of today’s special udon, please!
“Two udons coming up!”
Pa-dak Udon.
I’d thought it might work to slice up braised chicken legs like ramen chashu, add grilled green onions, and serve it in a refreshing broth with udon noodles.
That creation was a huge hit.
It was June, so evenings weren’t cool yet, and customers seemed to crave the fresh bite of green onions.
The combination of anchovy broth with soy sauce and dashi, plus the udon noodles, turned out better than expected.
Topped with stir-fried green onions and chicken, it made a light, refreshing udon dish.
Thanks to this udon special, I even got to see Yoon-seul’s adorable motions.
“Flap flap~!”
She spread her arms like a bird’s wings and strutted around the restaurant. It seemed inspired by the menu name, Pa-dak Udon.
If a twenty-something had done that, someone might have stopped them, saying no dad jokes.
But our five-year-old mascot did it, warming up the whole shop.
- Yoon-seul is so cute today too~.
- I don’t know if I should keep my eyes on my food or on Yoon-seul.
The customer who said he didn’t know where to look glanced my way too.
Our kitchen was open, so it wasn’t unusual for them to watch me cook. But today, there seemed to be more stares than usual.
And it felt less like they were watching the cooking and more like staring at my face.
“Did something get on my face?”
The thought crossed my mind.
But with seats barely emptying before filling again, and udon selling fast for quick turnover, I had no time to check.
I had to cook and handle checkout too.
“No helping it.”
It’s probably just a green onion bit on my head or something. I’d ask the Pa-dak Chicken strutting around.
“Yoon-seul.”
“Hmm?”
“Anything on Oppa’s face? If there is, take it off.”
“Hmm... Hmm...”
She suddenly looked away.
And started pondering.
What’s up?
“Nothing’s on there?”
“Hmm... Nothing.”
“Then what’s wrong? A pimple or something?”
“Hmm... No.”
“Really?”
But why’s she hesitating so much?
Weird.
....
Completely oblivious.
For a full four hours.
I’d been proudly displaying Yoon-seul’s mark of treasure.
I only found out after closing, when I stopped by the bathroom and glanced in the mirror above the sink.
No need for handwriting analysis.
My face had been clean even during the last break, so our five-year-old Pa-dak Chicken must have done this while I slept.
“So, Yoon-seul-ssi?”
“It’s Yoon-seul!”
“What happened here?”
“Yoon-seul just...”
“Yeah. Just?”
“Wanted to mark it!”
She twisted her index fingers together and pouted her lips. She couldn’t meet my eyes, staring at the floor.
I wasn’t that mad, but pranks like this too often wouldn’t do, so I decided to say a few words.
“What were you trying to mark?”
“Treasure mark!”
“You tried to mark Oppa’s face as treasure? Why?”
“‘Cause Oppa’s Yoon-seul’s treasure. So no one takes you away. That’s why...”
“Is that so? Who’s gonna take Oppa?”
“Hmm... Bandits.”
“You did it ‘cause you’re scared bandits would take Oppa? Like in the picture book?”
“Yeah... Sorry. Yoon-seul did wrong. But shouldn’t draw on Oppa’s face.”
Big trouble.
I was going to scold her.
But she’s too cute.
My lips twitch.
I try to stay stern, but I keep smiling.
“Ahem, do you know exactly what Yoon-seul did wrong?”
“I know.”
“You gonna do it again?”
“Uh-uh, no.”
Maybe because it’s the first time I’ve spoken in such a low voice, Yoon-seul shrank back.
Her voice grew tiny.
My heart starts to ache.
Just as I’m about to forgive her, she peeks at me and comes right up to my nose.
Then she bonks her head against my chest.
Bonk—
I was squatting to match her eye level, so it was possible.
Bonk— bonk—
Bonk— bonk...
“Yoon-seul, why are you headbutting Oppa?”
“‘Cause you’ll forgive me.”
“Does doing this make Oppa forgive you?”
“Yeah, it works.”
How’d she know.
My heart had already melted like ice cream.
Squeeze.
I hugged her. Just like that.
She’s too cute; I can’t hold back anymore.
“Ububu.”
She buried her face in my chest, then snuggled fully into my arms. Embarrassed, she just wiggled her mouth.
“Did Oppa scold you and make Yoon-seul sad?”
“Sad.”
“Then Oppa’s bad too. Made Yoon-seul sad, right?”
“Yeah... That’s right! Oppa bad too!”
Hee-hee—
She giggled in my arms.
Her mood lifted instantly.
“Then Oppa’s bad, so he’ll prank Yoon-seul back.”
“Prank?”
“Yoon-seul, close your eyes for a sec.”
“Okie.”
Yoon-seul closed her eyes.
I waved my hand in front of her face a couple times to check for peeking, then headed to the counter.
Grabbed a marker.
“Okay now?”
“No, hold on.”
Pop—
Twist off the cap.
Scribble—
On the cheek.
“Eek, cold.”
Swipe scribble—
Scribble.
“Done.”
“Hmm! Oppa!”
“What?”
“Oppa drew on Yoon-seul’s cheek too?”
“Busted?”
“You said you wouldn’t?”
“Wanna see?”
“Show me.”
I pulled out my smartphone, switched to selfie mode.
Set Yoon-seul in front of me and checked together.
“Huh!”
“Wanna read it?”
“Joo-hyu... n’s treasure?”
“Yoon-seul’s Oppa’s treasure too, so I wrote the same on your cheek.”
“Huh? Oppa did the same as Yoon-seul.”
“What if bandits try to steal Yoon-seul? Gotta mark it.”
“That won’t happen.”
“Why?”
“‘Cause Yoon-seul’s stronger than bandits! I can beat ‘em.”
Oh my.
I almost missed having an ultimate boss right here.
She even commands someone a year older.
Bandits wouldn’t stand a chance.
Click—
Click—
Selfie mode, snapped pics of us both.
Each with the other’s name on our faces, plus “treasure” after.
Joo-hyun’s treasure.
Yoon-seul’s treasure.
The crooked writing on each other’s faces.
Captured in photos, it felt profoundly meaningful.
“A memory.”
“Hmm? Yeah!”
“Let’s go home like this today.”
“Huh, people’ll stare.”
“We’ll deal.”
“Okie!”
On the way home, people did glance.
Even at night, city lights are bright; writing on faces is easy to spot.
But it was fun.
Yoon-seul stuck tight to my back to hide her embarrassment.
Since we biked home, they mostly saw my face up front.
Whatever.
We got home like that.
Washed up together.
“Hmm?”
“Hmm?”
“Yoon-seul.”
“Yeah?”
“You used an oil-based marker on my face, didn’t you?”
“Oil-based what?”
It had smudged a bit, so I thought it was water-based, but nope, oil-based.
Might not wash off even after scrubbing all evening.
“Sigh.”
A groan escaped.
For the record, the water-based one on Yoon-seul’s face wiped clean with soap.
“Yoon-seul’s treasure” on my face lingered faintly until next morning.
Took quite the effort to scrub it off completely.
“But it was fun.”
Illustration 2