A Father's Reflection
It was obvious, but the child was genuinely asking because she didn't know.
She was asking whether it was truly something she shouldn't do.
Suddenly, Jungwoo thought of his daughter as a little girl.
What had she been like back then?
She had been a bright child, just like Seia, and she had loved her dad just as much.
But in this household where she was the only daughter, there were many things that had to be managed.
If she wasn't properly educated from a young age, it would be impossible not only to expand what she had later in life, but even to protect it.
It wasn't that he had tried to withhold affection. He had simply been wary of the aftermath that came with giving it.
What he saw in Seia now wasn't an overlap with his daughter's childhood self.
It was simply that her answer revealed, in a single moment, exactly what kind of existence a father was to this child.
Then, what kind of existence was a father to Su-yeon?
The thought suddenly occurred to him.
It wasn't the first time such a question had crossed his mind.
Yet every time he thought about it, the only thing that came to mind was that he had provided his daughter with everything.
To his daughter.
What kind of person was Choi Jin-cheol, the father of Choi Su-yeon?
Was he someone who could truly be described as everything?
Probably not.
Choi Jin-cheol let out a small chuckle and resumed eating the rest of his meal, completely unaware of the surprised look his secretary was giving him.
Now that he thought about it, the food was delicious.
Quite so, in fact.
"Thank you for the meal. I'll be going now."
"Yes, thank you. Please come again."
Perhaps it was because of the thoughts he'd had alone just moments ago, but the smile the owner gave him didn't feel like a mere business smile.
Come again.
Honestly, he wasn't sure.
Whether he would come again or not.
But the mere fact that he was even considering it was an enormous change for Choi Jin-cheol.
"Alright."
After paying for the inexpensive meal and stepping out of the restaurant, darkness had already settled over the surroundings.
It wasn't darker than before.
The streetlights were now illuminating the road.
"Are we heading straight back, sir?"
"...What about Su-yeon?"
"The young lady should have gone home by now."
"Is she walking today?"
"Yes. It seems she'll be coming with Miss Chae-yeon."
"I see. Then let's head home for now."
"Yes, President."
The drive back felt far warmer than he had expected.
It wasn't because of the excellent ride quality of the luxury sedan, nor was it due to his secretary's exceptional driving skills.
Normally, anything he couldn't identify the cause of would immediately put him on guard, yet this inexplicable warmth strangely didn't trigger any wariness.
This was a road he didn't usually take.
On the way here, it had stirred no particular feelings, but on the way back, an unknown emotion was rising within him.
What was this feeling?
Would he understand it with time?
For Choi Jin-cheol, who had grown up without lacking anything or wondering about anything, this mysterious emotion was both unpleasant and pleasant at the same time.
And he wasn't the only one experiencing such new emotions.
His daughter, Choi Su-yeon, had also returned home carrying a feeling best described as warm and fuzzy.
A house like a massive mansion.
Choi Su-yeon paused for a moment in front of it, habitually steadying her breathing.
She knew that the air she breathed in and out here was the freshest she would taste until she left the house the next day.
"...It's suffocating."
If someone asked whether her parents were bad, Choi Su-yeon could firmly deny it.
She understood well why her father was so strict and stern.
Wouldn't it have been better if her mother were around?
It wasn't that she didn't have a mother, but it might as well have been the case.
When you possessed so much, there were things that had to be sacrificed to protect it.
The arranged marriage between her parents had hinted from the beginning that Su-yeon's family could never be ordinary.
Her mother rarely came home.
Once every few days, or sometimes once every few weeks.
Even when they met, they hardly shared any meaningful conversation.
"Huu..."
Still, she had grown used to it by now.
It wasn't literally suffocating, but she knew exactly what this feeling of pressure was.
She took one final deep breath.
Tonight, she needed to steel herself.
She had already informed her father that the after-school study session her homeroom teacher had personally requested had been canceled.
He wouldn't scold her, but she would need to explain convincingly why she had stopped attending, what she planned to do with that time, and so on.
I've prepared well... but I wonder how it'll go.
It was time to go inside.
Since she had finished preparing, it was time to face the outcome.
She passed through the massive front gate, as imposing as the house itself, and as always, her father was reading the newspaper with the news playing on the TV.
A newspaper in this day and age.
Still, it was the object that most clearly explained what kind of person her father was.
"I'm home..."
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Avoiding her father's gaze, she tried to head straight to her room.
"You're back."
"Yes? Ah, yes."
A brief silence followed.
Her father's eyes, which had been fixed on the newspaper, now turned toward Choi Su-yeon.
"Have you eaten?"
"Ah, yes, I have."
"I see. What did you have?"
"...Tteokbokki."
But today's father was a little— no, quite different.
The fact that such conversation rarely happened was one reason, but what was even clearer was his tone.
"Tsk, you should eat something good for your body. How can tteokbokki be enough?"
"I'll do that next time."
"...That's not what I meant. More importantly, I heard you've decided to stop attending after-school study sessions. Your homeroom teacher contacted me."
"Yes..."
The conversation that would follow was practically predetermined.
Why she had quit, what she would do with the time instead, why she was doing that, and how it would help her.
They were perfectly reasonable questions.
Choi Su-yeon knew full well that even asking such things was all for her sake.
But it was always like this.
Even outside of conversations like this, the constant demands were what had made her feel suffocated.
"...Alright. Just don't come home too late."
"Yes? I mean, yes!"
"There isn't a parent in the world who doesn't worry."
"...Yes!"
"Good. Go rest now."
With a slightly dazed expression, Su-yeon stood there for a moment after her father turned his gaze away again, then headed to her room.
"...What was that?"
It was strange.
Yet she didn't feel suffocated.
It wasn't comfortable enough to call it easy, but it didn't feel stifling either.
"Oh, right!"
Lying on her bed, Choi Su-yeon pulled out her phone and immediately called Lee Chae-yeon.
"Hello?"
"Chae-yeon. Did you get home okay?"
"Yeah. You?"
"I got home fine too."
"Really? Your voice sounds different than usual."
"Well, maybe something good happened? Anyway, when can you send me the video you took earlier?"
"I'll send it right now."
"Wow, thanks!"
Not long after the call with Lee Chae-yeon ended, the video they had filmed at Seona's Restaurant arrived.
Lying on her bed, where she no longer felt suffocated, and watching her friend and Seia in the video brought Choi Su-yeon considerable comfort, even though it was nothing special.
She had a good feeling.
She didn't know if tomorrow would be better than today, but one thing was certain.
Today was better than yesterday.
"How was it?"
In response to Jungwoo's question, Seia silently raised her thumb in approval.
The tteokbokki she had tasted today.
It was the ultimate expression of bold, stimulating flavors, and it deserved to be called the best.
The cleanup in the dining area wasn't perfect, but Seia was handling it efficiently all by herself.
With the absurd sinkhole incident nearby and fewer customers coming in.
Hmm... I think we need a bit of promotion.
What would be the best way to promote the restaurant?
And he had to consider both the case where promotion worked well and where it didn't.
Should I look for a part-timer?
It wasn't absolutely necessary, but if the number of customers increased, Seia wouldn't be able to handle it alone.
Even now, the reason he was getting her help wasn't because he was short-handed, but to give her a chance to talk with people and meet as many as possible.
Before thinking about promoting the restaurant and the results that would follow, there was something he needed to consider first.
Whether it was truly a good thing for this restaurant to become busy.
The ideal restaurant Jungwoo envisioned was exactly what it was now.
As long as he earned enough to live happily with Seia, he was satisfied.
Earning more would naturally be better, but distinguishing between wishes and greed wasn't difficult.
This restaurant was a window connecting them to the world.
And if that was the goal, there were many other ways besides running a restaurant.
He needed to carefully consider what would benefit him, Seia, and the restaurant itself.
"Hoo... There are so many things to think about."
But Jungwoo knew.
That these worries were happy ones.
They weren't worries about what he could do, but about what he should do.
They were worries he couldn't have even imagined in the past.
"Daddy."
"Yes, Seia?"
"Seia finished cleaning all shiny!"
"Hmm? Oh, you mean you wiped all the tables."
"Yes! They're sparkling!"
When he turned to look at the tables, they were indeed gleaming from how diligently she had cleaned them.
Yes, what really mattered?
As long as he could preserve the smile currently on Seia's lips, that was enough.
"Seia."
"Yes?"
"Would you like it if there were more customers?"
"Umm..."
In a way, it was an irresponsible question.
It was no different from passing his own worries onto her.
"Seia likes everything."
"Really? It might get really busy, you know?"
"Ah...!"
He didn't know what would happen if it got extremely busy, but Seia understood too.
The way she had guided customers to their seats today and shared short conversations with them.
It all depended on how Seia saw it.
Whether she thought of it as work, or as a kind of play.
"Seia likes everything."
"Then..."
"But if Seia talks to one person, then another, and then another..."
What was Seia trying to say?
If there were more customers, she would definitely be guiding people to seats here and there and having all sorts of conversations.
But if that happened too often?
She might have to stop talking with one customer to speak with another.
"Hmm, so you mean you want to focus on just one customer at a time. Is that it?"
"Yes, that's right!"
It was such a thoughtful thing to say.
It meant she wanted to give her sincere attention to every customer.
At that moment, a notification sound rang out as a message from Lee Chae-yeon arrived.
"Seia. The video we filmed earlier is here. Want to watch it together?"
"The one with the pretty big sister?"
"Yes, that's right."
It hadn't been long since they got home, yet she had already done some light editing on the video.
Hello, everyone. Today...
He hadn't been able to hear what she was saying while he was cooking, but watching it now, it didn't feel much different from what other YouTubers did. It was more like keeping a video diary.
"Should we watch some of the pretty sister's other videos too?"
"Yes!"
Since it would soon be the channel Seia would appear on, it wouldn't hurt to watch them now.
Following the link Lee Chae-yeon had sent, they entered the channel she had shown them earlier.
"The subscriber count has gone up a bit?"
"What are subscribers?"
"Hmm... people who say they'll keep watching the videos that get uploaded here?"
"Then, are they friends?"
"...Something like that."
Friends, huh.
Friends. Friends.
Whenever he had conversations like this with Seia, he would suddenly feel something.
It was truly amazing.
She wasn't saying it with any particular intention, yet it always felt so special.
If YouTube was Lee Chae-yeon's way of keeping a diary of this time in her life, then for Jungwoo and Seia, couldn't it become a way to make new friends?