A Peaceful Day (5)
A Peaceful Day (5)
I was eating the breakfast Dad had made me when Da-yeon came into the house dragging a suitcase.
Da-yeon was already all set.
"Why are you here so early?"
"Hmm~ nothing to do at home, so I came to play with Alpha and Beta~"
I kept eating, stealing glances at Da-yeon playing with Alpha and Beta.
Alpha and Beta, who were old pals with Da-yeon by now, were turning on the charm in front of her.
After eating and watching that, I started getting ready to head out myself.
I dried my hair roughly. While I was pulling on stockings, Da-yeon came over and started seriously working on my hair.
"Should we go with a neat ponytail?"
"Just half-ass it."
"I'll make it pretty~!"
We were just finishing up after fooling around with Da-yeon when Dad started rummaging through my suitcase and adding stuff to it.
"I already packed everything."
"You need to bring snacks."
"Oh..."
I went into the storage room with Da-yeon and started picking from the mountain of snacks stacked all the way up to the ceiling.
Following me into the storage room, Da-yeon's eyes lit up.
"I want the spicy shrimp."
I was only going to grab a couple of things, but suddenly Park Ji-hoon came to mind, so I decided to just haul a whole load along. I grabbed a new shopping bag and started loading it up, but then I thought about how annoying it would be to stuff it all back in later. Deciding to just buy some at a convenience store instead, I came back out to the living room.
"Huh? You're not bringing snacks?"
"I figure it's better to just buy some downstairs."
Dad thought for a second, then nodded, and I gave him a lazy wave of my hand.
"I'm off~"
"You have to call often, all right?"
"All right."
I pulled my suitcase and walked outside with Da-yeon.
"This is gonna be fun, right!?"
"Yeah, it's been forever since I've seen Min-ji and Jun-su."
We got on the elevator, and inside the quiet space I set the suitcase handle down.
And then, fixing my body in place, I moved only my eyes to glance sidelong at Da-yeon.
Da-yeon, who had been watching my every move, flinched at my gaze and instinctively shrank back into the corner.
"Don't do it..."
"Fufufu... let's see how much you've grown, hmm?"
"Kim Si-yoon. I told you not to!"
I extended my index finger and closed in on Da-yeon, who was pointing at me, with a nasty grin.
"Fufufu..."
When we got to the first floor, Kim Tae-oh and Park Ji-hoon were waiting, and they tilted their heads at the sight of Da-yeon, red-faced and panting.
"Hey~"
Tae-oh and Ji-hoon returned my greeting, and Da-yeon came trailing out after me, still flushed. We stopped at a convenience store to buy snacks to suit our tastes, then got into the eleven-seater Jong-hyeon had brought.
Jong-hyeon drove to pick up Min-ji and Jun-su, then headed for Atlantis, the biggest water park in South Korea.
The only downside was that Hanseong's resort division could have acquired this place too, but they'd decided it wasn't good value and bought something else instead.
The instant we arrived, the sheer number of people packed in...
Looks like we'd lost the timing lottery today; the lines were packed too.
I fleetingly wondered if we'd have to wait over there, but we smoothly got a free pass through the employees-only back door.
Atlantis gets advertised so hard that I'd always kind of wanted to come check it out someday... And this time Min-ji and Jun-su had really wanted to go, so here we were.
Looking down at the map, I saw a huge number of rides.
We dropped our stuff in the room we'd reserved and changed clothes.
"Whoa... you got even bigger..."
"Fufufufu... this is the power of mixed blood..."
"Still, compared to Da-yeon you're a baby, you know?"
"......"
"Come on, don't be like that."
I thought about messing with Min-ji while she was undressing, but I figured the guys would be waiting outside, so I just changed into my swimsuit. I slathered on sunblock, spread it all over my body, and stepped outside, where the guys were already waiting.
All of us, being people who loved swimming, had goggles hanging around our necks.
Park Ji-hoon and Kim Tae-oh had the kind of deeply shredded bodies that would make even other guys turn and look twice.
Ji-hoon in particular was almost grotesquely overbuilt: one of the deeply split muscles in his arm, with a groove deep enough to sink a knuckle into, was as big as my face. He must have noticed me staring, because he scoffed.
"This is the Diamond—"
I put my weight behind my arm and drove my thumb deep into the side of the off-guard Park Ji-hoon.
Squish.
"Finger jab."
I smiled as I felt my thumb sink deep into his side and come back out.
Park Ji-hoon freaked out, grabbing his side and yelling.
"Hurk...! Are you insane!?"
We left Ji-hoon crumpled in the corner and enjoyed the oddly fresh sensation of wandering the wet walkways barefoot.
The little splash under each step wasn't bad at all.
We rented life jackets and put them on, but Park Ji-hoon alone couldn't buckle the front clasp shut.
"Pig bastard."
"No, nope, all muscle."
"What crap, you're just a pig."
"Yeah, still better than you wearing a kid's life jacket, I guess."
Park Ji-hoon saw my look, glanced at me about three times, then apologized.
Min-ji and I were wearing life jackets with flower patterns on them, and it made me sigh, but what could you do. There were plenty of women around us wearing the same life jacket design.
We got straight into the wave pool, packed with people, and even Da-yeon was grinning, having fun.
"Here it comes!"
A 3.4-meter wave swelled and started lifting the people in front of us.
"Ooooh..."
I put on my sunglasses-style goggles and checked out the underwater view; the water was cool, and it was way more fun than I'd expected.
Min-ji, Da-yeon, and I were giggling together when I abruptly stared down underwater.
"Hey! Ji-hoon!"
"What!?"
A voice that required shouting to be heard even when you were close, because of how many people there were.
When I pointed underwater, Park Ji-hoon looked down at the bottom and grinned.
The floor was littered with sunken money, and I could see all sorts of accessories—a literal treasure trove.
Reading my expression, Da-yeon flinched, and I immediately looked at her and said,
"Hold this."
"Huh...?"
About to ask what she was supposed to hold, Da-yeon just let out a sigh.
Because I'd tossed off my life jacket like a snake shedding its skin.
While I was underwater picking up coins and bills, I suddenly got curious about what was above me.
'Whoa...'
I could see the butts of roughly a few hundred people.
People paddling their feet like ducks.
When a wave came, you'd get lifted high up for a long moment, then drop back down.
And every time, coins would fall...
This is absolute honey.
Money comes raining down from the sky.
For over five minutes I picked up coins and bills, stuffed them into my pockets, checked on Da-yeon's swimsuit, then surfaced.
"Puha..."
"... Was it fun...?"
"It was amazing. I can see everyone's butts."
"... Oh my god."
I caught my breath and shoved everything I'd picked up at Park Ji-hoon.
"Hold this. Big sis is going back in for another round."
After picking up stuff for quite a while, I felt the current shift and looked up, and a little kid locked eyes with me.
"".....""
I saw someone urgently yank someone else, so I moved fast toward where Da-yeon was.
I'd been picking them up because it was fun, but if an article ran saying Kim Ji-ho's daughter Kim Si-yoon was picking up coins in the wave pool, it'd be a disgrace.
I surfaced, strapped my life jacket back on, and started acting like I didn't know a thing.
"Let's go ride the rides, guys!"
"Yeah! Sounds fun!"
We walked outside, and Kim Tae-oh and Park Ji-hoon, weighed down by the load, and Da-yeon, who'd checked my pockets, all sighed.
"Us... that stuff... should we just leave it...?"
Now lightened, we spent time enjoying the rides before heading off to eat.
We went on all kinds of supposedly thrilling rides... but unless it's a high-altitude drop, my body has gotten to a point where it just can't feel the thrill anymore.
I squeezed water out of my wet hair with my hands as I walked.
There are a few reasons people's eyes gravitate to us but nobody ever tries to hit on us.
One was that by now I'd become an existence who was simply on a whole other level for anyone to try hitting on, and another big part of it was Park Ji-hoon and Kim Tae-oh. Even Kim Tae-oh, with a face fit for an idol, gave off an aura, on account of his scar-riddled body while he was shirtless, that made him hard to approach easily.
When we went inside Atlantis, the restaurants appeared.
We picked what we wanted to eat, sat down, and the three guys quickly ferried the food over.
"This is good."
When Park Ji-hoon says that kind of thing to me, it doesn't mean I should try it.
It means he wants to eat more of it, so buy it for him...
If I didn't, I'd be subject to the god-awful sight of Park Ji-hoon doing aegyo in that form, so I quickly handed over my card.
Min-ji must have had a ton of things she wanted to talk about, because she started chatting nonstop.
"What've you been up to lately?"
"Drawing a webtoon with Jun-su!"
"Oh? It wasn't originally a webtoon, was it? You guys were doing illustrations for me."
"Jun-su draws in a really cute style, but I felt like I was lacking... so I'm getting ready to practice~"
Jun-su must just crank out female characters, because I'd thought his skills had improved looking at pieces where he drew movement or poses. But from what I remembered, Min-ji, even if she was all about Gundams, was overwhelmingly better at drawing, so I tilted my head.
"I want to draw people!"
"All of a sudden? You've always loved Gundams, haven't you?"
"Hmm... those are cool too, but I'm so bad at drawing the people who pilot them..."
"Ah..."
Park Ji-hoon took the others and went to buy ice cream, then came back carrying a variety.
I grabbed the chocolate-flavored one that was coated solid black and was eating it when I witnessed a disgusting sight.
An ice cream with a color that has no business existing in food.
Sure enough, Park Ji-hoon was shoveling down all sorts of things, then finally picked up and ate the mint choco.
"Fucking revolting."
"What is it now."
"Just that you'll shovel anything in and call it good as long as it goes in your mouth."
Park Ji-hoon held out the mint choco ice cream he was eating.
"Try it, it's good."
"Yeah, piss off. I'd rather drink mouthwash blended with ice."
"Can't you at least stay neutral? That's crossing the line."
"What place does neutrality have in the truth?"
Following Park Ji-hoon's gaze, my eyes rolled over to see Min-ji munching happily on mint choco before she froze.
"".....""
As we were chatting away, the number of people sneaking glances at me steadily grew.
"Let's get moving soon~"
We only felt satisfied after riding every last attraction, and it was already night by the time we each headed home.
Everyone must have been tired, because they all fell asleep the moment they got in the car.
With nothing else to do, I moved up to the passenger seat to keep Jong-hyeon company.
"Young miss, it's dangerous..."
"It's fine~ just drive."
Sitting in the passenger seat, I skimmed through the photos we'd taken today.
I did want to post them, but Jun-su and Min-ji were so solidly in the category of ordinary people that they could end up receiving massive amounts of hate because of me.
Of course, these little squirts would probably say it was fine...
So, I set a group photo as my profile picture and posted the pictures I'd taken with Da-yeon, Kim Tae-oh, and Park Ji-hoon. Park Ji-hoon's forearm was bigger than my entire head, so the size difference was overwhelming in the photos.
Well, it's a huge difference in real life, too...
I hummed along as I put on some music, and Jong-hyeon smiled.
"Did you have fun today?"
"It was actually pretty fun."
"Glad to hear it."
All day long at Atlantis today, I'd seen the muscular men chatting among themselves.
Team 5 and Team 7 guys...
I'm sure their objective was to protect us, but I very clearly saw Team 7 sweet-talking them into riding the rides.
I briefly considered contacting Deputy General Manager Kim Dong-hoon, then let out a small laugh.
Looking out the window, I thought that today had actually been more memorable than I'd expected.
From the day I found out Mari was my daughter onward, Dad started minimizing the times he went outside the house as much as possible.
Even so, once in a while there was something he did go out for, and that was fan meetings.
Dad, who would rent an entire concert hall just for one fan meeting.
I had nothing else to do anyway. I finished positioning the cameras in my studio and turned on the stream.
- ?????
- what's going on
- rushed over frantically the second the neotube alert went off.
- whoa... the level of that bare face is seriously... insane.
I picked up a water bottle and gulped some down.
"Ahh... hello..."
The chat window was moving so fast it was hard to track even with my dynamic vision.
"Can't see anything, so hit me up via donations? Or I'll read any chat that stands out."
Someone shot over 500,000 won asking to see Alpha and Beta, so I pointed the camera downward.
Alpha and Beta were following me around like glue, trailing just me.
Alpha and Beta took up positions on either side of my tiny feet, their huge paws making the contrast obvious.
I installed a camera to the side, crouched down, and spoke to Beta.
"Beta, paw."
"Myat."
With a solid thump, Beta set her hefty paw in my hand.
Whether 'heft' is the right word for a cat is debatable, but I really felt it.
"Click."
As I cocked the finger pistol, Beta stared at me, putting on a nervous act.
"Bang!"
"Myaaah..."
Seeing Beta flop over, I smiled like a doting dad and petted her.
"Ahaha so cute~ should we try it with Alpha too?"
"Myat."
Cats are well developed in deducing or mimicking actions based on memory.
If I demonstrated with the smart Beta first, Alpha followed along too, a bit awkwardly but well enough.
- whoa...
- what the hell am I watching, are those really cats?
- even a dog couldn't do that, could it?
- King Cat God.
- cat is the answer.
"Time to eat breakfast~"
I went to the living room, showing the inside of the house, and turned on the stove to heat up the beef radish soup Dad had made.
As I set out the side dishes and ate my rice with cucumber kimchi, the reactions were heated.
- seeing you eat, you really are Korean.
- she seriously eats so little, though.
Having nothing else to do, I properly opened the donation window and read the messages.
- Dubutv has donated 1,000,000 won.
Twerking request?
Without the slightest hesitation, I blacklisted her on the spot.
"Trying to see my ass with that kind of chump change? And no matter how much you spend on me, I'm not accepting missions~"
Maybe it was because I took 1,000,000 won and put him on the blacklist? I saw a few people voicing concern mixed with dissatisfaction at my actions.
- Parmesan has donated 100,000 won.
Aren't you treating money way too lightly...?
"Hmm... that's accurate, though? Even if I have a sense for finances, my perception of money's value is a bit different, honestly. Dad needs 200,000 won to hug me once. So something that can be settled by hugging Dad five times, I've got no desire to do while shaking my ass."
That's when I got a call. The name that showed up on the screen was Dubu.
"Hellooo..."
-"Hey!!! Unblock me right now!"
"Why."
-"What kind of move is taking money and then banning someone!?"
"Well then, wanna come over to my place? You shake your ass for me on the side and the incentives are a total lock."
-".....You... are gonna get yourself into a scandal..."
"Heh."
I lifted Dubu's block, filled my bowl with the reheated beef radish soup, and finished all my rice.