A Peaceful Day (5)
A Peaceful Day (5)
Min-ji and Jun-su must've had a food coma or something, because they'd gone off to a room and fallen asleep before anyone noticed.
We finished our meal, wrapped up the cleanup, and got moving again.
Everyone got to work, building the igloo exactly according to the design Jong-hyeon and I had drawn up together.
Park Ji-hoon dug into the frozen ground and asked me,
"Yo, this good?"
"Oh~ that oughta be deep enough."
I went around giving directions, and in less than two hours, the twelve-person igloo was finished in no time.
The igloo turned out better than expected. Everyone who'd helped build it got a sparkle in their eyes, as if they'd briefly gone back to being kids.
Now snow would pile onto the outside while the inside, warm, would melt and refreeze in cycles—making this place grow sturdier still.
When I stepped into the igloo, which even had a ventilation system, I saw the inner walls, pure white without a speck of dust.
I switched on the LED lights we'd embedded in the walls, and the glittering interior was complete.
""Whoa....""
Inside, we'd layered several sheets of insulation board for the floor and even rigged up a temporary shoe rack. Long multi-outlet power strips sat neatly arranged in the small holes we'd dug out.
We positioned acrylic panels so the entrance could be opened and shut from the inside, and when I looked at it, we really had built a house in just two hours.
It was designed with two entrances, and we'd rigged cloth to keep the heat from escaping. Even the bodyguards got excited, going in and out.
I gazed at the giant igloo we'd worked hard to build, gave a nod, then headed for Grandpa's vinyl greenhouse.
Sure, we'd made an awesome igloo, but honestly, this place was way more dope.
The gap between them was almost like the Stone Age versus the modern era, you know?
The vibe was way more satisfying in the greenhouse, too.
The ceiling was all transparent acrylic panels, so at night you'd probably see the stars vividly. But like hell I was going out there.
Roy and Rosa, wearing their little doggy puffer jackets, started bounding around the snowfield in high spirits.
Roy and Rosa, who love the bodyguards that dote on them, went into the igloo, played there for a long while, then came back out.
The gentle snowfall suddenly thickened as darkness fell, turning into a blizzard that announced the arrival of night.
At some point, I got curious about what Jong-hyeon was doing and went looking for him. When I heard he was up in the mountains, I found that odd.
As I wandered around, Kang Jong-hyeon flashed a light to show me where he was.
Where Jong-hyeon was stationed, a pure-white sniper rifle rested inside a pure-white camouflage tent.
"In Korea? With that thing?"
"Risks should be minimized as much as possible~"
The inside of the tent was tidier than I'd expected and had everything it needed.
He said he was getting old and would rotate out in thirty minutes, so I nodded and headed back toward the greenhouse. Jong-hyeon saw me off.
Inside the transparent vinyl greenhouse, I watched the snow piling up from the blizzard while eating a hot sweet potato. It was as exquisite as drinking vodka in a hot bath.
Not that I'd have much occasion to drink in this life.
Park Ji-hoon was heating up the chicken drumettes from the fridge in the air fryer.
That bastard's always stuffing his face with something.
Da-yeon glanced my way and whispered softly.
"Si-yoon..."
"Yeah?"
"My stomach hurts..."
I got up together with Da-yeon and walked her to the bathroom.
Da-yeon liked the countryside but hated scary things, so if a huge bug showed up, she'd come flying out in a panic.
"Si-yoon, did you go out?!"
"Yeah."
"You didn't go out! Close the door and get out, quick!"
"Haha. Okay~"
Once I'd cranked some music on my phone and stepped outside, I heard her voice again from inside, checking whether I'd really gone.
Da-yeon was too scared to come here alone, but too embarrassed to have someone stay and watch her.
I walked back to the acrylic house with Da-yeon, who wore a relieved expression, and we sprawled out on the net bed that made up the second floor.
The igloo was built right next to the acrylic house.
I was glad to see the bodyguards looking happy as they carried hot food inside.
Honestly, guarding's fine and all, but isn't enjoying yourself way better?
I'd heard that, including Jong-hyeon but excluding the team leaders, Team 5 and Team 7 had competed for four slots each, and only the winners got to come along.
I was lying with Da-yeon, playing a game on my phone, when Park Ji-hoon suddenly shook me.
"What. I'm getting dizzy, cut it out."
Park Ji-hoon flinched at how much I'd toned down my usual speech.
Grandma and Grandpa were in the same space—couldn't very well open up with a cuss word right off the bat, now could I?
"Got any snacks?"
"Probably in Da-yeon's car?"
"Yeah?"
Da-yeon passed him the keys from her pocket. Park Ji-hoon then took Jun-su and headed outside.
Park Ji-hoon came back lugging a whole box crammed with snacks.
He tossed some mustache-shaped snacks and a cola onto my net bed, then headed off to play cards with Kim Tae-oh again.
"Hey, Park Ji. Water for me."
When I poked my face out, Park Ji-hoon hurled the water straight at me, and I caught it with ease.
"Si-yoon, for me too."
I stuck my arm through the net and passed the water down to Da-yeon below.
The brazier kept the inside warm, while an icy wind swept across the freezing landscape outside.
We were lying on the net bed at that boundary, munching on snacks and in the middle of a game, when Da-yeon looked outside and jabbed me in the butt.
"Si-yoon, look at the snow piled up outside!"
I followed Da-yeon's pointing and checked outside. They'd said this snowfall would be record-breaking, and already the snow was knee-deep.
From Da-yeon's point of view, it must've felt like the snow was rising in real time.
"Wow..."
When I fixed my eyes on the surrounding scenery for a moment, I could see the bodyguards taking turns with shovels, carving out a path in real time.
Looking inside the acrylic house, I'd thought Grandpa and Grandma had disappeared at some point. But they were off in the distance, handing out late-night snacks to the bodyguards.
Amidst all this, delighted Roy and Rosa dashed every which way through the dark snow.
I climbed down from the net bed and went outside, and the moment they spotted me, Roy and Rosa came bounding over.
Grandpa, having been on the phone with someone, sighed and headed toward the parking area.
I trotted off in the direction Grandpa was going.
"Grandpa! Where are you going?"
"Ji-ho says he's stranded because of the snow."
"Huh?"
Grandpa's huge workshop-slash-parking area.
I'd never paid it any attention before... but Grandpa pulled out some heavy snow-removal equipment.
"Wow..."
The parking area was packed with all kinds of heavy machinery, and Grandpa had hung his certifications someplace on each piece of equipment.
Grandpa, who'd said he'd done this and that because he felt sorry toward Grandma while he was writing novels that never made a living...
I hopped in next to Grandpa, figuring it'd be a novel experience, and before I knew it, Da-yeon had run over and settled in beside me.
Da-yeon and I clasped each other's cold hands.
"It's cold~"
"It'll warm up soon."
Grandpa started moving the vehicle. The snowplow rolled along at a steady pace, hurling cleared snow in every direction, and the sight was badass.
Kwa-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka!
In the wake of the roaring heavy machinery, a road began to take shape.
Grandpa cleared only the road with uncanny precision, making it obvious he'd done this plenty of times before.
"What are you going by?"
I couldn't see the actual road at all beneath the piled snow, but Grandpa was clearing right along the asphalt, dead on.
"A feel for it~"
It wasn't long before multiple lights became visible in the pitch-dark nothingness. And we could also see the bodyguards shoveling around the area.
"Father~!!!"
"Whoa there! You've been working hard!"
Grandpa neatly cleared away the snow nearby and then spoke while looking outside.
"Just clear about this much distance and come on back!"
""Yes!""
The moment I hopped out of the vehicle and leapt into the snow, my horrified dad and grandpa called out to me.
Da-yeon also scrambled out of the car in excitement, and we pushed through the snow to reach Dad.
"Si-yoon! You'll catch a cold!"
"Da-yeon!"
Dad, likewise wading through the snow toward us, and the bodyguards, not knowing what to do with themselves...
Lee Gi-seok, seemingly obliged to maintain some decorum, had gotten out but merely fidgeted in place.
Dad pulled me into a hug and laughed.
"Haha, looks like you're having fun?"
"You bet~"
Da-yeon, also excited, was scooped up by Lee Jin-seok, and after we enjoyed our reunion for a moment, I spotted the dozen-plus vehicles.
"What'd you bring so much stuff for?"
"They said the blizzard's been revised to three days? Looks like we might not get home for five days or so?"
"Really?"
"Yeah. So the cars behind us are all loaded with food~"
"What about snacks?"
Dad leaned in close to my ear and whispered.
"My car's got a ton~"
"Oh...?"
I glanced back, and the back seat really was piled with snacks.
The trunk's probably crammed full, too.
The bodyguards had already carved out a path with shovels. Before it piled up again, we got the vehicles moving,
and Da-yeon and I climbed back into Grandpa's car.
Inside the car, Grandpa opened a thermos and leisurely sipped hot coffee while gazing at the snow outside. He looked more relaxed than I'd expected.
All while driving a snow-removal vehicle that made a brutal racket...
Grandpa was short a hand because he was clearing the snow that was quickly piling up again, so the coffee naturally went to Da-yeon.
Even while driving, Grandpa opened his window, looked back, and began issuing this or that command.
This time, we saw yet another side of Grandpa.
Grandpa was far more multi-talented than I'd thought.
Last time I'd seen him in his workshop with an angle grinder and welding torch, saying he was making kebab tools. Grandpa seemed handy at damn near everything.
However, from what I'd heard from Dad, aside from his novels, Grandpa had never focused on one thing for very long.
Grandpa, who hated doing the same job and staying in one place.
It was a good thing he'd met Grandma, who was well-off to a degree...
Dad took after Grandma and was nothing like free-spirited Grandpa. Maybe growing up with Grandpa was why he understood my own urge to try all kinds of things.
We arrived at Grandpa's house and greeted ten new bodyguards.
Thanks to the backbreaking shovel work, the paths were well-maintained.
There was no room for six more cars in the parking area, so we unloaded just the luggage into the storage shed and began moving the cars into Grandpa's heavy-equipment parking structure.
Watching people from inside the acrylic house, it felt like playing some kind of game.
They dug the paths with lanterns in hand according to orders, bustling about in the snow.
Park Ji-hoon kept pestering us to play a game, so Da-yeon and I finally sat down.
The look on Park Ji-hoon's face read loud and clear that he meant to beat me in the game and find some way to smack me.
"Yo, draw."
I fiddled with the cards, stole a glance at Park Ji-hoon's expression, and drew one that avoided the joker.
"Don't you freaking cheat! How the hell do you know?!"
"Bullshit, this dumbass always calls it cheating when he loses."
"You, the grown-ups aren't around and suddenly your mouth's filthy right now?"
"Yep, now buzz off~"
I brought a finger hammer down onto Park Ji-hoon's forehead.
"Hammer time~"
Smack!
"Gahk!"
I was only weak compared to Park Ji-hoon; I was still stronger than most ordinary men.
The kids, realizing I'd been seriously pulling my punches whenever I hit people before, threw themselves into the game for dear life.
In the end, only Tae-oh and Park Ji-hoon remained, and Park Ji-hoon cracked his knuckles to loosen up his hands.
"You know, right? One hit from mine and you're off to sleep instantly? This thing's practically anesthesia~"
Park Ji-hoon, now sporting a little lump on his forehead from where I'd hit him, took up the finger-hammer stance. But Tae-oh just gave a short laugh and answered back.
"You'd better look forward to it, too."
We all watched the pride-fueled showdown between these two idiots.
Park Ji-hoon placed the two remaining cards on the floor and shuffled them with a desperation that even he probably wasn't aware of.
Tae-oh agonized for a long time before drawing, but in the end he picked the joker, and his face crumpled.
"Heh? What now? Gotta leave a nice lump on our Tae-oh's forehead?"
"Just draw..."
"Sure thing, sure thing~"
Park Ji-hoon stared at the cards Tae-oh shuffled.
Park Ji-hoon placed his hand over Tae-oh's cards and closed his eyes.
"Asura Balbalta!"
Park Ji-hoon pulled out every stupid stunt to avoid drawing the joker, but he drew the joker anyway.
"Dumbass."
Hearing me curse, he narrowed his eyes and glared at me.
"What're you looking at? Gonna shuffle or not?"
In the end, their match concluded in Park Ji-hoon's victory. Park Ji-hoon placed his hand on Tae-oh's forehead.
"Baby, you excited?"
"Just get it over with."
"Kyaha-ha, sleep tight, Tae-oh."
Park Ji-hoon drew his middle finger back as far as it would go. Looked like he genuinely meant to kill Tae-oh.
Thwack!!!!
"Keurgh!"
""Kyaah!!""
For a second, Kim Tae-oh's pupils lost focus as he struggled to cling to consciousness.
I lifted up Kim Tae-oh's bangs and saw a swelling lump.
"Whoa... were you trying to commit murder or what?"
"Ahaha, this sumbitch'll be gettin' a second-degree dome fracture soon."
I made an ice pack from the fridge and handed it to Kim Tae-oh.
At first, Roy and Rosa had refused to go outside because of the overwhelming cold, but now they seemed to have adapted.
Roy and Rosa kept tearing around so wildly, I half worried they'd freeze to death at that rate.
With most of the organizing apparently finished, Dad and Lee Jin-seok came into the acrylic house.
"Wow~ came to visit and made it awkward for you brats to have fun, huh~"
"Huh?!"
When Dad got flustered, the brats spoke up.
"No, it's not! Stay with us~"
Da-yeon, who'd been nibbling on a sweet potato roasted to perfect gold, asked Lee Jin-seok,
"Dad, what about Grandpa?"
"He's in the guest room with Si-yoon's grandpa~"
Jun-su and Min-ji, seeing Lee Jin-seok in the flesh—now that the succession was complete and he was seated as the top man at Hanseong—trembled faintly.
"You know they're uncomfortable with you here, right? Hurry up and go back to the house."
Dad rubbed his cheek against my face and made a few sounds of regret, then ultimately went outside.
Outside, the two of them were checking out the igloo.
Seeing as they went in and hadn't come out, they must be happy with it.