A Special Child.
A Special Child.
In the dark study, Kim Ji-ho sheepishly held out his test paper to Lee Jin-seok.
"210 out of 500... You really twisted those questions..."
"I'm embarrassed..."
Lee Jin-seok sat down in his chair and slowly read through the test paper Kim Ji-ho had given him.
"Man... look at these questions... an eight-year-old made this?"
"Jin-seok... honestly, when Si-yoon was grading it, I was scared..."
Lee Jin-seok nodded, remembering Si-yoon coming to confront him.
"Every time I asked whether my answer was right, she'd tell me exactly which page and line of the printout to read... it was honestly terrifying."
At Kim Ji-ho's words, Lee Jin-seok flinched as if he'd briefly imagined it.
"10,000 won per point...?"
"Yeah, when I asked why she needed the money, she said that's how I'd get motivated..."
"Hm... an eight-year-old demanding... 2.9 million won as allowance... at this rate, wonder how much she'll spend when she's older..."
Kim Ji-ho looked at him with a curious expression, wondering what his daughter was spending it on.
"What kind of thing?"
"If you hear it, are you confident Si-yoon won't find out I told you?"
"...No."
"Then... better not ask."
"Yep..."
Having finished my deal with Dad, I booted up the game he'd allowed me.
After downloading the voice chat program, I started talking to Park Ji-hoon.
-"Come on, Boss, what's with... this cutesy little game?"
"This is the best option."
-"Ah... there are so many games out there these days, what's with RPGs..."
"Sigh... Dad won't let me play anything except all-ages games, so what can I do? I can't even make an account with my own resident registration number, damn it!"
-"My dad just handles all that..."
I checked for a moment to see if Dad was home, then spoke.
"You bragging, you little shit?"
-"Euk."
My character on the screen was hitting a snail.
-"Whoa... all our tigers are dead... you're beating up a snail with a club."
The tigers meant Taebaek's enforcers—in other words, us.
"If I'm doing this, I'm aiming for first place."
-"I watched some videos and there are people who stay up all night playing, you know."
"...Then I'll have to pull all-nighters too..."
-"But if you get caught, you said you can't play for a week."
"I'm... not afraid."
-"I'm not joining you, okay?"
"Cheap bastard."
After hunting for a long while, a notice popped up telling me to choose a job advancement.
'What does job advancement mean?'
A flashy animation played and a character delivered some lines.
'Hm... this is kind of childish, isn't it?'
Suddenly, a spectacular action scene and some insane lore appeared.
'Ooh...'
I nodded my head, watching the video playing, and said,
"I'm gonna make my character stronger than that guy, no question."
I started thinking about what I'd studied regarding this game.
'The budget I need is 100,000 won...'
I immediately went to the payment window and clicked 100,000 won, and it asked me to enter a verification code.
Dad had left his phone behind.
I quickly entered Dad's resident registration number and paid by phone.
'I'm... afraid of the consequences... but there's no helping it.'
I entered the trading market and began memorizing all the item prices for the most efficient investment.
After a long time had passed, Park Ji-hoon spoke.
-"Boss, you're still level 30?"
"I'm working on powering up..."
-".....Boss?"
"I... won't back down."
An eight-year-old sitting in front of the computer with bloodshot eyes... showing an image that would make Dad freak out if he saw it.
During school, I was sprawled out on my desk.
The sound of kids talking behind my back still reached me; the little brats kept sneaking glances.
'Building cliques this young... what are they gonna grow up to be... no wait, in Korea, growing up like that might actually mean success...?'
Still thinking of them as little brats, I was drawing when Park Ji-hoon spoke up.
"You invested a fair bit into that game, so how'd it go?"
"Quiet..."
"...? How much did you make?"
"I took a loss."
"....."
"I have 10,000 won left..."
"Pff? And here you were always calling yourself a genius, a genius—euk."
When I looked at Park Ji-hoon with murder in my eyes, he hurriedly assumed a defensive stance.
"It's... harder than I thought... I'm trying again with another 100,000 won today..."
"...Why not just buy the items directly?"
"...There's a daily top-up limit."
"Whoa... so you're not gonna say you won't do it..."
"Log in tonight too, I'll show you how it's done..."
Our homeroom teacher, who'd been writing addition problems on the board, called me out loudly.
"Kim Si-yoon! Who told you to chatter during class!"
I put on the most wronged expression in the world and glanced at Park Ji-hoon.
"Park Ji-hoon! Go stand outside!"
"What?! All of a sudden?"
"Ahem!"
Park Ji-hoon looked at me.
"....."
As if asking when I'd ever chattered, I simply sat there reading my book with a haughty, doll-like expression.
Beta was sitting next to me.
Watching Alpha and Beta, there was something I'd been noticing for a while.
It was that even though Dad said they were Norwegian Forest Cats, Beta and Alpha's size was strange.
They'd started getting bigger and bigger, and now they'd grown large enough to be compared to me.
"Dad."
"Yeah?"
"Are these guys really Norwegian Forest Cats?"
"Hm... that's what I heard from Ji-eun..."
Alpha and Beta were lying down, and they were roughly my size.
"At this point, aren't they lions?"
".....Hold on."
Dad made a quick phone call, then took a picture of me with Alpha and Beta and sent it.
I brushed Beta's belly with the comb.
"Heuh... aren't you guys, like, way too big?"
As I combed their fur, the cats relaxed and let me groom them.
Dad had a serious back-and-forth on the phone, then hung up.
"She says they're Maine Coons?"
"Maine Coons?"
The cat-walking harness I'd originally bought for taking them on walks had gotten too small, to the point where I needed to buy a new one.
"Paw."
Beta placed her paw on my small palm.
I lightly stroked her.
Time passed, and I was playing the Maple Leaf game when Dad called me.
"Si-yoon."
"Yeah."
"Come eat."
At Dad's call, I left the computer on and headed to the living room.
The table was full of side dishes, mostly food Grandma had made.
"Thanks for the food."
Dad watched me as I ate.
When I looked at him with puzzled eyes at that, Dad spoke.
"Si-yoon."
"Yeah?"
"Why did 300,000 won get taken out of Daddy's bank account?"
At Dad's question, I felt a dizzying jolt while mid-bite.
"...Khm... maybe I've got indigestion? I'm feeling a little full today, thanks for the—"
"Hey! Kim Si-yoon!"
"...Sorry."
Dad rubbed his forehead and asked seriously.
"Sigh... am I raising my daughter wrong?"
"No? I'm plenty happy and I'm growing up just fine~"
When I answered awkwardly, Dad narrowed his eyes and looked at me.
"...While stealing Daddy's money?"
"Wow... calling it stealing when I'm your own daughter..."
When I put on the most pitiful expression I could, Dad stared at me wordlessly with eyes full of disappointment.
"....."
"Sorry, take 300,000 won out of my 2.9 million! No, I'm feeling generous! Take 600,000 won!"
It probably sounded like nonsense to my dad who had a lot of money, but to me, 600,000 won was a huge sum, so I was being incredibly magnanimous.
"Si-yoon."
"...Yeah?"
"Don't try to get off easy. Go down to the first floor and buy three Korean zucchinis, two avocados, and some soy sauce."
"....."
"I'll pay you one thousand won per errand."
"...Father?"
Dad saw my reaction and grinned.
"Earn back the 300,000 won at one thousand won per errand. Go buy them after you finish eating, my dear daughter."
I watched Dad and spoke seriously.
"...One thousand won is ridiculous... How am I supposed to do three hundred errands?"
"Then how much would be good?"
"...Let's settle on three thousand won."
"Fifteen hundred."
".....Two... sigh. Fine..."
After eating, I threw on some clothes roughly.
The grocery store on the second floor of the apartment complex amenities building.
While I was moving around for my errand, I ran into the lady who'd nursed me back when Dad had to go around begging for breast milk.
"Oh my! Si-yoon, you're out running an errand?"
"Yes~"
"It's the first time I've seen Si-yoon walking around alone~"
"Sigh... my first time too. Dad's following me from back there, but I'm pretending I don't notice."
"...?"
The lady made eye contact with Dad, but from a distance he was holding a finger to his lips in a 'shh' gesture.
Dad suddenly looked so pathetic that I was embarrassed to be seen with him.
"Sigh..."
I picked up the shopping basket and selected some avocados.
And then, a little brat who made eye contact with me.
A kid taller than me stared blankly, then suddenly walked up to me.
"Hi."
"Yeah, nice to meet you."
"You're really pretty..."
"Yeah, thanks."
I stretched my arm toward a Korean zucchini but could not reach it.
The brat who'd been watching that grabbed the squash and handed it to me.
"Two more."
"Okay..."
The brat struggled to pull out the squash, looked around, and awkwardly handed them to me.
"Yeah, thanks. Sorry for the trouble."
"Um..."
The brat called out to stop me, and I was about to ignore him before finally looking at him.
"I like you!"
As expected...
Ever since I started elementary school, the number of little brats confessing to me had increased.
"Yeah, thanks."
"...Will you go—"
It seemed like he was about to say something he shouldn't, so I drew the line.
"That's far enough."
I moved my short legs to go buy soy sauce.
A brat following me, and behind him, Dad was hiding.
He probably thought he was hiding well, but the stares from people around made his location obvious.
The basket got heavy once I put the soy sauce in, so I spoke to the brat who'd been following me.
"Carry this."
"Okay."
When we headed to the checkout counter, a big, bulky lady draped in luxury brands appeared.
"What are you doing, son."
"Huh?"
So the situation wouldn't look weird, I quickly and lightly greeted the brat's mother.
"Hello, ma'am."
I sent her a fake, thin smile and a warm greeting, and the woman nodded.
"Yeah... and who are you?"
"I'm Si-yoon, Kim Ji-ho's daughter."
"Ah! That's right, I saw you on TV."
"Yes~"
But the woman's gaze was fixed on her son.
"But... why is my son carrying your things?"
"Ah! He offered to carry them for me, and I'm just so grateful!"
At my words, the brat checked his mother's expression.
Thinking that dragging this out would only make things worse, I quickly wrapped it up.
"Thanks for carrying them~ your son is so kind!"
"...He's older than you, so show him some respect..."
"Ah! I see. Well then, goodbye~ Take care, sir."
I pulled out the card Dad gave me, paid, and slipped away from the counter.
The brat waved at me as I quickly left the scene.
"".....""
Waiting for the elevator, I stared straight ahead and spoke.
"Dad, why don't you come out now?"
"....."
"I knew you were following me from the moment we left, you know? You'd have gotten caught when we got home anyway."
"...Yeah."
I looked at my dad in his shabby state.
He'd rushed out after me, still in his pajamas.
"I made plans to go to the pool with Da-yeon, hurry up."
"Okay..."
"If you were worried, why'd you send me in the first place?"
"...To see how well you'd do?"
Dad and I boarded the elevator that had arrived.
"Aren't you going to take them?"
At my words, Dad quickly took the bags I was carrying.
"....."
The elevator fell quiet.
"Pick me up, I mean."
"Ah."
Dad scooped me up into his arms.
I'd shot up in height since starting elementary school.
But I was still on the shorter side compared to others, so Dad could still carry me.
"Being like this reminds me of the old days~"
"...You know you're eight, right?"
"Then... it brings back memories from about half my life ago... for you, Dad, that would be when you were fifteen."
"...Yeah... I guess it really is the old days..."
I looked at Dad's forearm, which was about as thick as my whole body, and spoke.
"Dad, you know your body's been getting bigger lately?"
Dad deflected, either wanting to brag about his brutal workouts or wanting to hear me call him cool.
"Have I gained weight?"
"Yeah."
"Right? Lately, working out... wait. I've gained weight?"
His arm suddenly tensed up as he flexed, making it rock-hard, and I shot him a displeased look.
"What are you doing?"
"Sorry..."
Dad carried the basket in one hand and me in the other and made it all the way to the front door.
"...Si-yoon, can you press the passcode for me?"
"Sigh... you'd have to put me down to take off your shoes at the entrance anyway, right?"
Dad shook his head like a child. I stared at him for a long moment, then gave up and awkwardly reached from his arms to press the door code.