Awooga! Help Me! I'm Being Attacked by a Bear!
"Harang! It's time to go to the hospital!"
At the sound of someone calling me, I threw on my coat haphazardly and ran toward the voice.
My original name had been Baek Harang, but it changed to Han Harang when I was adopted. My mother and father had said I could keep going by Baek Harang, but since I had a younger sister and an older sister who weren't much older than me, I asked to change my surname. Even if they were young, they'd notice something was off if my surname was different.
I ran toward the voice calling me, toward the front door where my mother was, and there I found my mother Han Jeong-ah, my father Park Min-hyeong, and my younger sister Han Seol-hwa — still only four years old — sleeping in my father's arms.
"Son, listen to your mother and take care of yourself."
"Yes, don't worry, Father."
I answered brightly to my father, who was stroking my head. I still felt awkward calling my mother and father "Mom" and "Dad."
My mother looked at me and straightened the bear-stuffed-toy-style coat I'd thrown on haphazardly, then opened the front door while gripping my hand a little firmly, as if she wouldn't let go.
"Honey, I'll be back~ Call me if anything comes up."
"Yeah, you take care too, honey~"
After the warm exchange between the couple, I held my mother's hand and headed toward the hospital where I'd stayed for half a year.
It had been a little over three months since I was adopted by my mother and father. When I woke up in the hospital, it was around February, with snow falling, and I came to be adopted around August, six months later — and now the calendar was already showing December.
Haa...
I stared blankly at my breath turning into white vapor and rising into the sky.
After being adopted, I regularly visited the hospital for checkups to make sure I was doing well and had no abnormalities, and today would be the last time I'd need to go for regular checkups.
I held my mother's hand and walked past people toward the hospital, and I could feel the gazes of countless people around me glancing at me. Some even approached me, got permission from my mother, and stroked my head before passing by.
My hair was quite long, just as it had been in the other world, and according to my mother, I looked like a girl unless I revealed I was a boy first. So everyone who looked at me or approached me thought I was a girl. Holding my mother's hand, I had to stay quiet even when I heard things like "What a pretty daughter~"
Seeing people's reactions, I asked my mother if I should cut my hair, but she told me absolutely not, with a stern expression. Of course, since I'd lived with long hair for so long in the other world, having long hair felt a bit more familiar, so it wasn't bad.
My mother and I arrived at the hospital and went through the final checkup, and the various examinations that had continued for about three months since my adoption ended today. The conclusion was that there was nothing wrong with my body and that I was adapting well to my new family.
"Thank you."
I went to the doctor in charge who had taken care of me, the counselor, and the other doctors I'd met, to thank them, and the doctor in charge was so reluctant to let me go that she hugged me and shed tears.
On the way home, I bought bread for my father, younger sister, and older sister who were at home, and when I arrived, I noticed people I'd never seen before moving their belongings into the house next door.
"Oh my, hello~ We just moved in next door."
A woman with a gentle face approached me and my mother and spoke to us, and my mother smiled and replied. While we exchanged light conversation in front of the house, the moment I turned to put the bread and snacks I'd bought inside, I felt someone tugging at my coat, and when I turned my head, there was a girl about my age with light blue hair, holding the hem of my coat and looking at me with sparkling eyes.
"Wow~!! It's a bear-costume person!!"
I was flustered by the girl grabbing my clothes and jumping around, and the woman who had been talking with my mother hurried over and pulled the girl off.
"Oh dear! I'm sorry, Se-ah! You need to apologize too! You scared your friend!"
"Mom! Mom! Look, it's a bear-costume person! A bear-costume person!!"
The girl called Se-ah, even while being carried by the woman, flailed her limbs and spoke in an excited voice, and the woman and my mother exchanged a look telling me it was fine to go inside.
I bowed to the woman in greeting, then went inside the house with the bread and snacks. Until I went inside, the girl called Se-ah stared at me intently while being held by the woman's hand.
Since she was a neighbor, I figured we'd probably cross paths again from time to time.
"Harang!!! Let's play!!!!!!!"
I woke up from sleep to the sound of someone calling me from outside the window, starting in the morning.
Kang Se-ah, who had moved in next door, was home because she'd be starting elementary school next year, and since the day we first met, she'd come every morning without fail to call me in front of our house.
Now, as if it were routine, I went down to the first floor, opened the front door, and let Se-ah in.
"Waa!! Thank you! Lady! Sir! Excuse me!!"
As soon as Se-ah came inside, she loudly greeted my mother and father, who were probably in the main room, but the one who opened the door at the sound wasn't my mother or father — it was my older sister Han Seol-hee.
"Haa~m... Se-ah's here? Come in."
My older sister, who was usually laid-back and relaxed, had been startled a few times by Se-ah shouting for me from outside the window, but she'd adapted quickly, and now she could sleep even with Se-ah making noise right next to her.
"Se-ah, Seol-hwa is still young, so if you shout like that inside the house, Seol-hwa in her room might get scared," I scolded Se-ah while pulling her by the hand toward my room, but Se-ah just said, "I'm so happy... ehehe," and hugged my waist.
I sighed, left Se-ah in my room, washed up lightly, and headed back to my room with drinks and snacks to share with Se-ah. My mother, whom I met on the way, stroked my head and said, "Don't hate Se-ah, she's such a bright kid," but contrary to my mother's worry, I didn't particularly hate Se-ah.
"Se-ah~ I brought snac... what are you doing?"
"Ehehe! I'm a bear!"
Se-ah was standing on the bed wearing the bear-stuffed-toy-shaped coat I liked to wear, looking down at me with both arms raised high, as if a bear were threatening me. When I turned my head to look at the closet, my closet still bore the clear traces of Se-ah rummaging through it looking for the coat.
"Haa..."
I set the snacks and drinks I'd brought down in a safe place, then walked up to Se-ah, gave her a light hug, and collapsed onto the bed, saying:
"Awooga! Help me! I'm being attacked by a bear!"
"Ehehehe!! Rawr!! I'll eat you!!"
Se-ah hugged my body and rolled around on the bed several times, playing around, and once she was satisfied, she jumped up from the bed and toddled over to the juice I'd set down earlier and started drinking it.
I watched Se-ah like that and then started tidying up the rumpled blankets and closet.
"Harang! Harang! Let's play a game! A game!!"
Se-ah, who had been watching me tidy up the blankets and closet, came up to me and this time pulled game controllers out of the drawer, holding one in each hand, and started jumping around saying we should play a game. I smiled slightly at Se-ah's antics, took one of the game controllers she offered, and decided to play along.
Knock knock
"Harang~ Seol-hwa says she misses you~"
While I was playing a light puzzle game with Se-ah, holding game controllers, I heard my father's voice knocking on the door.
"Yes~"
I paused the game and opened the door to take Seol-hwa, who was in my father's arms, and hold her. My still-young body found it a bit difficult to hold a younger sister who wasn't much younger than me, but Seol-hwa would giggle happily in my arms every time I held her like this.
"It's Seol-hwa!! Seol-hwa~~! Se-ah unnie! Hello~!!!"
"Ugh... I don't like her......"
When Se-ah greeted Seol-hwa with a bright smile, Seol-hwa said she didn't like her and buried her head in my arms.
Seol-hwa was the only one in our house who didn't like Se-ah. I couldn't figure out why Seol-hwa disliked Se-ah, but Se-ah would jump around saying she was cute despite Seol-hwa's protests, or gently take Seol-hwa's finger and shake it like a handshake, and every time, Seol-hwa would bury her head in my arms and just repeat "go away" to Se-ah.
"Seol-hwa! Look at this! Water show~!!!"
To get Seol-hwa's attention, Se-ah showed how water sprayed from one palm and disappeared into the other, but Seol-hwa didn't even glance, just wriggling around in my arms looking for a comfortable position.
Se-ah apparently gained a superpower called Suryu. When Se-ah was five and went to a water park with her parents, she had the thought that she could somehow move water, and while she couldn't move the water at the water park, she succeeded in creating flowing water.
All I knew about superpowers in the original world was what I'd heard from the doctor in charge, but hearing Se-ah's story, I could somewhat understand what the doctor had said: "You realize it at some point and can use it as if it had always been part of you."
"Seol-hwa~ Se-ah will be leaving soon, you could stay with Father,"
"No... I like you, unnie..."
Seol-hwa called me "unnie" and burrowed into my arms to avoid Se-ah. Seol-hwa calling me "unnie" might be partly because of my long hair, but since Seol-hwa saw me calling Seol-hee "noona" and tried to call me "noona" the same way, I decided to use the term "unnie" until Seol-hwa started elementary school.
Holding Seol-hwa, who had burrowed into my arms to escape Se-ah's antics, I picked up the game controller again and played with Se-ah.
This quiet, joyful peace — something I'd never experienced living as a hero in the other world — was an incredibly precious daily life to me.