5
Chapter 5. Dad! What’s That Beside You?!
I had an older brother.
And there was a ten-year age gap between us.
My brother’s name was Yoo Jongcheol.
Both of our parents passed away from chronic illnesses when I was in middle school. At the time, my brother had already graduated from university, and he took responsibility for raising me on his own in place of our parents.
My brother wasn’t particularly gifted academically, but when it came to athletics, he was exceptionally talented.
Thanks to that, he worked as a bodyguard for famous celebrities and high-ranking officials, making sure I never had to struggle financially because of my studies. Wanting to repay all of his efforts, I resolved that I would definitely get into a prestigious university.
Through grueling effort, I maintained straight Grade 1s even through the September mock exam.
Things were looking good, but unfortunately, I failed my first college entrance exam because of food poisoning.
It was the first failure of my life.
“It’s okay, Jin! You were just unlucky. If you try one more time, you can do it!”
My brother comforted me after my failure and encouraged me to prepare for the exam again, saying that he would provide the money himself.
But the second chance I had worked so hard to obtain ended with the worst possible luck when I was involved in a traffic accident on the day of the college entrance exam.
Even after paying for all my expenses and watching me fail twice, my brother instead encouraged me whenever I was disappointed.
“It’s okay, Jin! You can do it. Unlike your brother, you’re smart, aren’t you?”
My brother comforted me after I had ruined the college entrance exam twice.
With his encouragement behind me, I went into the military, graduated from a junior college, and began preparing for the Grade 5 Civil Service Examination.
After being discharged from the military, I studied while working part-time and doing other jobs. After four years of preparation, I proudly passed the Grade 5 examination.
And when my brother heard the news that I had passed, he congratulated me more than anyone else.
“Jin! Congratulations! I knew you could do it!”
While I was preparing for and eventually succeeding in the Grade 5 Civil Service Examination, my brother had also gotten married and had a daughter of his own.
Ever since we were young, my brother had been envious of the fact that my name consisted of a single syllable, so he gave his daughter a single-syllable name, something he himself had never had.
“Seol-ah~ Say hello to your uncle.”
Seeing my niece, who had chubby cheeks and was toddling around, I naturally smiled.
Yoo Seol.
She was my brother’s daughter, my niece.
“D…… Dad!”
She was only two or three years old at the time, too young to distinguish between her uncle and her father.
So Seol called me Dad just like she called my brother.
“Seol-ah, should your uncle buy you a toy?”
“Kyahhhh!”
Unlike other little girls, Seol liked toys such as robots and swords, the kinds of things one would expect little boys to play with.
I guessed her unusual tastes had been influenced by my brother.
“Isn’t our Seol cute?”
“I’m glad she takes after your wife instead of you.”
“What, you little punk?!”
Perhaps because we were both in a more comfortable situation by then, we could laugh and exchange jokes like that.
They say jokes are more enjoyable when you can share them in good circumstances.
But sometimes my brother would half-jokingly ask me to look after his daughter.
“Jin. Even if something happens to me, you have to take good care of Seol, okay?”
“Why would anything happen to you? Don’t think about things like that. I’ll take good care of my niece, so you just raise Seol well too.”
“Hahaha……. Alright, alright, you punk.”
At the time, I didn’t know.
I didn’t know that my brother would leave my side because of a terrible accident.
* * *
It was a hit-and-run.
My brother and sister-in-law were struck by an unidentified vehicle and became stars in the sky.
At the time, I had been branded a whistleblower after reporting corruption involving a high-ranking official, and I had already quit my job because I was being ostracized at work.
I had no parents.
I stood alone at the funeral, serving as the chief mourner and receiving the few mourners who came to pay their respects.
“Dad…….”
Come to think of it, I wasn’t alone.
My brother’s daughter, Seol, had not been in the car with them.
Seol stayed by my side and accompanied me through the final farewell to my brother.
“Seol…….”
Suddenly, I remembered something my brother had said to me before.
“Jin. Even if something happens to me, you have to take good care of Seol, okay?”
Back then, I had told him not to say things like that.
But now, I was the only person left who could protect Seol.
I held Seol tightly in my arms and made a vow in front of my brother’s funeral altar.
I would do for Seol everything my brother had done for me.
I would make sure she lived a happier life than anyone else.
That became my new goal.
* * *
Coming back to the present……
“Dad!”
My niece Seol’s hard little head slammed directly into my abdomen.
“Guh!”
After taking a second consecutive hit to the exact same area that the coffee fairy had attacked earlier, all the strength instantly drained from my body, and I fell backward again.
“Why are you so late! You said you were going to come early today!”
Seol puffed out her cheeks as she blamed me for arriving late while sitting on top of my stomach.
“I-I’m sorry. Something came up at work.”
I tried to make an excuse, but there was no way such an excuse would work on my seven-year-old niece.
“Tch, liar! I don’t care! I’m not playing with Dad!”
Seol sharply turned her head away, so I gently patted her head.
“We’re going to the supermarket today. Are you not going?”
The moment I mentioned going to the supermarket, the expression of the little girl who had been furious just a moment ago changed completely.
“The supermarket~?!”
Apparently excited by the thought of going to the supermarket, Seol immediately stood up and brushed off her clothes.
Then, all on her own, she bowed politely to Daeun, the kindergarten teacher.
“Teacher, thank you for today.”
Seeing her perform such a proper bow with both hands neatly placed in front of her, Teacher Daeun burst out laughing.
“Seol, have fun at the supermarket today. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yes! Dad, what are you doing?! We need to go to the supermarket!”
Seeing my niece declare that she had finished everything she needed to do and immediately urge me to go to the supermarket made me let out a hollow laugh.
There was no point in continuing to lie on the ground.
I quickly stood up, brushed the dirt and dust off my clothes, and thanked Teacher Daeun.
“You worked hard today.”
“No, you worked harder, Mr. Yujin. I’m fine because seeing the children gives me energy.”
I smiled at Teacher Daeun as she smiled brightly.
“But aren’t you going to work another night shift today……. Are you sure it’s okay to go to the supermarket?”
Normally, my daily routine ended after finishing my night shift and taking Seol to kindergarten.
While Seol was at kindergarten, I was supposed to sleep.
But today, I hadn’t slept because the Grim Reaper Mandeok had come to see me.
I was tired, but perhaps because I now had a life I could look forward to tomorrow, my mind felt clearer than ever.
“I’m fine. I don’t think I’ll be doing night work anymore. I started working at a café today.”
“Oh my, really?! That’s wonderful! I’ll definitely come visit sometime.”
Teacher Daeun held both my hands and congratulated me.
I thanked her and said that next time I would come by with some coffee before saying goodbye.
“Dad! Hurry! Let’s go! We’ll be late!”
Seol must have been excited about going to the supermarket already.
She tugged on my pants and pointed in the direction of the supermarket.
“Alright, alright. Let’s go.”
Pulled along by my niece, I headed toward the neighborhood supermarket.
* * *
“Whoa! Can I really get one?!”
Inside the supermarket was a small neighborhood bakery.
When I told Seol she could choose one piece of bread she wanted, she beamed and began looking around the bakery.
“She’s still full of energy.”
She must have used up plenty of energy running around and playing at kindergarten.
Yet somehow she still had that much energy left.
“Dad! Pick me up!”
Apparently too short to see the bread display properly, Seol asked me to lift her.
I easily picked her up and held her in my arms.
“Can you see now?”
“Yeah! Hmm……. What should I eat?”
Seol began carefully choosing her bread.
After thinking for quite a while, she eventually chose her favorite pizza bread.
“Pizza bread, right?”
“Yeah! That’s right!”
We picked out the pizza bread and headed to the bakery counter.
The female owner recognized us.
“Oh my, Seol is still so cute~.”
The owner, who was always fond of Seol, spoke to her affectionately.
Seol smiled shyly and held out the pizza bread she was carrying.
“Please give me this!”
Seol handed over the pizza bread, and I handed the owner my card.
The owner processed the payment, saying it was 2,000 won.
“Bye, Seol~.”
“Goodbye!”
After politely saying goodbye from my arms, Seol began tugging at me and urging me to go home.
She clearly wanted to eat her pizza bread as soon as possible.
“Wait a second. I have something to buy here too.”
“Something to buy?”
With that, I headed toward the confectionery section.
‘Do they have it?’
Earlier, while using my phone to search for something I could give to an Italian person as a gift, I had found one particular item.
It was uncommon enough that I had worried whether even a large supermarket like this would carry it.
Fortunately, I found exactly what I was looking for on a shelf.
“Found it!”
As I took the item off the shelf, Seol, still in my arms, asked,
“Dad, what’s that?”
Seol asked what the item I was holding was.
I smiled and answered.
“A bribe.”
“A bribe?”
She tilted her head, apparently not understanding the word.
I told her I would explain it later, then took Seol to the checkout, paid for the items, and left.
* * *
“Wow~! What’s this place?!”
After paying at the supermarket, I brought Seol to the Healing Café Mandeok had given me today.
As soon as she arrived somewhere new, Seol looked at the exterior of the café with sparkling eyes.
“This is where I work.”
“Here? Then you don’t have to go to work at night anymore?!”
“Yeah. From now on, I’ll work here while Seol is at kindergarten, and I’ll rest at night.”
“Really?! Wow! Now we can play at night too!”
Seol knew very well that I used to work as a day laborer at night.
She was delighted to hear that I no longer had to work at night.
Of course, she would be half-asleep and practically unconscious once it got past eight or nine at night.
Seeing her so excited made me wonder if I had just created a problem by promising to play with her more at night.
“Wait here for a moment.”
I put Seol down, took out the key Mandeok had given me earlier, unlocked the café door, and went inside.
Jingle~
The café door opened, but the interior was completely silent.
I turned on the lights and told Seol to go inside and wait.
Seol narrowed her eyes into a straight line and pouted.
“Ehh~ It’s boring when I’m alone…….”
“I’ll be out in a moment, so just wait inside for a little while. I’ll play with you a lot when we get home today.”
“Really?! Promise?!”
Pitter-patter-patter!
Watching Seol run toward the back of the café, I wondered if I had made an unnecessary promise.
I decided to worry about that later.
After Seol disappeared inside, I picked up the item from the bag I was holding.
‘This has to work.’
Actually, the real reason I had gone to the supermarket earlier was to buy a bribe so I could make peace with the coffee fairy.
I had gone to the biggest supermarket in the neighborhood specifically for that purpose.
Of course, buying a gift for Seol was also part of it.
But making peace with the coffee fairy came first.
I carefully knocked on the cabinet where the fairy had hidden.
Knock, knock-
“Coffee fairy~.”
There was no response.
I knocked again and called for the fairy.
Only then did the cabinet open, and the fairy peeked its face out.
“Pii…….”
It looked extremely tired.
Judging from the way it glared at me with an angry expression, it was obvious that it still hadn’t completely gotten over its anger.
“I’m sorry about earlier. Maybe because it’s our first day, we didn’t really understand each other. I bought this as an apology. Will you accept it?”
With that, I handed the item I had bought at the supermarket to the coffee fairy.
The fairy inspected the item with half-closed eyes.
Then suddenly, its eyes opened wide and it rushed toward the thing in my hand.
“Piiiiii!”
Apparently pleased with my peace offering, the fairy rubbed its face against it with a satisfied expression.
‘This worked.’
What I had given it was chocolate.
And not just any chocolate.
It was traditional Italian chocolate with espresso inside.
“Pii~! Piiii~.”
Perhaps its heart had melted at the sight of traditional chocolate from its homeland.
The fairy waved its hands as though asking why I had gone to so much trouble.
It looked like it had completely forgiven me.
“Then we’re making peace with this, okay? I’ll buy you some often from now on.”
“Pii?! Piiiiii!”
The moment I promised to buy it chocolate often, the coffee fairy rushed into my arms.
Unlike before, it rubbed its face against mine in a gesture of gratitude.
I couldn’t say I disliked the sight.
The fairy was no longer angry.
Now all I had to do was take care of Seol and head home.
But then I realized Seol had somehow come out from the back of the café.
She was staring blankly at me and the fairy.
Unlike me, Seol didn’t possess spiritual energy.
So there was no way she should be able to see the fairy.
From her perspective, it must have looked as though I was putting on a one-man show by myself.
Just as embarrassment began to creep over me, Seol looked at me with sparkling eyes.
Then she pointed directly at the coffee fairy beside my face and asked,
“Dad! What’s that beside you?!”