First Impression.
First Impression.
I was deep into a documentary when Dad rested his hand on my bulging belly and brought it up.
"Should we get a cat?"
"No. Too much hassle."
At my firm answer, Dad nodded, a faint smile on his face.
"Yeah..."
"More of a hassle for you than for me~"
In the dark room, the documentary was explaining feline muscle strength.
Dad looked at me watching TV absentmindedly.
"Should we go to sleep now?"
"Mm... after one more hour."
Dad touched my cheek, then gave a playful smile.
"Thirty minutes."
"Forty-five."
"Mm... thirty-seven minutes and thirty seconds."
"Forty minutes and forty-five seconds."
Dad must have given up, because he looked at me watching TV with my chin tucked and said,
"You can watch for forty minutes and forty-five more seconds, and then you're going to sleep~"
"Yeah."
Dad set an alarm on his phone.
"But I sleep at daycare too, you know."
"You're supposed to sleep a lot. It's how you grow tall."
"What's wrong with a girl being a little short."
Dad argued back.
"You don't realize tall girls are cool, do you?"
"It wouldn't be that cool if I ended up taller than you, though."
Dad must have pictured me taller than him, because he nodded and said quietly,
"You've got a point there...?"
A day passed, and I finished getting ready to go out, fully entrusting my body to Dad.
Seeing the phone ringing, I told him,
"Grandma."
Dad came over, checked his phone, and answered it.
"Yeah. Hello?"
Since I'd started daycare, he must have had some talks with Grandma, because he kept smiling and nodding, different from usual.
"Yes, yes, I'll come by next week. Yes."
Dad, still holding me, placed me into the car seat.
After buckling me into the car seat's harness, he started the car and headed for daycare.
"Hoo... boring."
"Didn't you make any friends, Si-yoon?"
"Friends, my ass. They're way too young."
"...Then couldn't our Si-yoon just look after the little ones?"
"Babies are a pain. Every once in a while... haah... they piss their pants."
"Uh... um...? That's... normal, isn't it...?"
On parent meeting day, Dad had been bombarded with endless questions from the other mothers, about how they could raise a child to be as sharp and decisive as Si-yoon.
I still haven't forgotten the look on his face—Dad, who'd been afraid of running into fans, suddenly panicking when questions about me started pouring in.
"Should I buy you a cell phone?"
I nodded vigorously at Dad. For once, he was making a suggestion I actually liked.
"Yeah."
Dad looked at me, beaming.
"In exchange, I'm going to set it so you can only look at it four hours a day."
"...What about calls when it's urgent?"
"We can just set calls so they always go through~"
Dad turned the car around, and while calling the daycare, headed to a store to buy me a phone.
"Sheesh... they make functions like that now, I guess..."
"What?"
"Nothing~"
After we arrived at the store, Dad bought a tablet nearly as big as my small body and a phone thicker than my forearm.
"This one's Dad's, this one's Si-yoon's~"
"Yeah."
Since I could only use the phone for four hours, I stuck it in my pocket without even turning it on, and Dad looked at me like I was adorable.
"Shall we go to daycare now?"
"Yeah."
The employees packed me some food, and I made a put-upon face as I took it.
"Brushing my teeth is a hassle, but I'll eat well, thank you."
"If you do, we'll be grateful~"
I was lifted into the car seat by Dad's hands, and we headed for daycare.
I was sitting in my chair, quietly just drawing, when I glanced toward a commotion.
A little brat wearing the same annoyed expression I did, and the teachers looking burdened by said brat.
The brat was accepting the attention like it was only natural, then her eyes met mine.
Her clothes were beyond extravagant — they were the kind of clothes Dad had tried to dress me in at first.
Though Dad had surrendered at my declaration that I'd rather go naked than wear those clothes.
The brat kept sneaking glances at me for a long while,
then, fluttering the lace on her dress, crept up to me step by step.
"Hi? I'm Da-yeon."
"Sure. Nice to meet you."
"You're really pretty~"
"Yeah. Thanks."
"Your clothes are really pretty."
"Yeah. Thanks."
I was focused on my drawing when the brat, who'd been watching my picture, sneered.
"Ahahak! Your drawing's really ugly!"
"...? This is you, though?"
The brat's face went dead serious at my words.
"...That's not me."
The brat called Da-yeon glared at me with a prim expression.
And off in the distance, some big brats were fighting over a toy.
A 12-stage transformation toy.
They were fighting over this toy that was as bulky as my own body, and when they lost their grip on it, the massive toy came flying straight at Da-yeon.
The 12-stage transformation toy, tracing a parabola through the air.
I casually caught one leg of the flying robot, twisted the toy's angle, and slammed it down right onto the nearby drawer, smashing it.
CRASH!!!
"You little shits, seriously... sit still for once."
The 12-stage transformation robot broke apart on impact and fell to the floor, with only one leg left in my hand.
The brats flinched at my voice.
Following that, the Sunshine Class went abruptly silent.
But the kid named Da-yeon was staring at me with sparkling eyes.
"...?"
A house so huge you could call it a mansion.
Inside, a woman approached the child named Da-yeon, who was playing with dolls.
"Da-yeon~ what do you want to do today?"
"I want to go to daycare."
At her daughter's unexpected answer, the woman's eyes sparkled.
"Oh my? Our Da-yeon wants to go to daycare?"
"Yes~"
"Shall we get ready, then?"
"Yes!"
Da-yeon's mother, who was dressed head to toe in luxury brands upon luxury brands, pulled out her phone with an elegant posture.
"Driver? Please get ready for an outing."
"What should Da-yeon wear today?"
"Something pretty!"
"Not something Da-yeon likes?"
"No!"
"Our Da-yeon looks pretty no matter what she wears~"
Da-yeon shook her head at her mother's words.
"Something you pick, Mommy!"
"Oh my~"
Whatever whim had possessed her daughter, Da-yeon's mother was smiling with a proud heart.
"And me too, a cell phone!"
"A cell phone? Da-yeon, is there a friend who uses a cell phone?"
"Yeah."
Da-yeon's mother smiled and dressed Da-yeon, then made a call to Hanbit Daycare.
"Si-yoon, you should greet your teacher."
Thinking myself quite chic, I gave the young teacher a half-hearted wave.
"What did I tell you about how to greet adults?"
I listened to Dad and bowed at the waist again to greet her.
"This maiden shall now... most humbly take her leave."
"Ugh..."
Dad let out a sigh mixed with a laugh, then picked me up and put me in the car.
"Did you have fun today?"
"Haah... a kid named Da-yeon, a real pain, latched onto me..."
"Huh?"
"She follows me around because she likes me..."
"Oh... our Si-yoon is super popular?"
I thought about the brat named Da-yeon I'd gotten to know today.
Ever since I'd smashed the boy brats' toy, she'd tried to copy every single thing I did.
A good idea came to me, and I told Dad.
"Oh... Dad, buy me books."
"Books? What kind of books?"
"Novels. In English."
Dad kept his focus on driving while asking me.
"All of a sudden? Should we go to a bookstore, then?"
"Yeah."
After we got to the bookstore, I pointed to a book displayed on the very front shelf.
"You think you can read it?"
While being held by Dad, I opened the book and read it aloud, translating in front of him.
"....."
"I'll take this one."
Dad lifted me with one arm and paid for the book with his other hand.
"Oh my~ your daughter is so pretti—hurk!"
The part-timer looked at me, then looked at Dad and froze in shock.
Dad pulled down his hat, embarrassed about who-knows-what.
"Thank you..."
"Yes, please come again..."
Because of a call from a certain woman, the young teacher had started getting nervous.
"Yes, Da-yeon's mother."
Da-yeon's mother asked about the cell phone.
Hanbit Daycare, a daycare in Ichon-dong.
Here, phone use was prohibited by the parents' decision.
"...Pardon? Ah... are you perhaps talking about Si-yoon?"
The young teacher looked at the director with a troubled expression, and the director mouthed, 'What's the matter?'
The young teacher mouthed the word 'cell phone.'
The director signaled for the phone to be handed over.
"Ma'am, just a moment."
"Hello~ Da-yeon's mother, this is the director of Hanbit Daycare."
A long conversation ensued, and after hanging up, the director started tidying up the area.
Time passed, and Da-yeon's mother came into the daycare with Da-yeon.
Two apparent bodyguards followed behind them.
"Hello~ please come in, ma'am."
The young teacher lowered herself to Da-yeon's eye level and greeted her.
"Hi~ has Da-yeon been doing well?"
"Yes!"
"Shall we go inside with your teacher and do some drawing?"
"Yes!"
With Da-yeon and the young teacher gone, only the director and Da-yeon's mother remained in the entrance hall.
Lee Da-yeon, the youngest daughter of Lee Jin-seok, the young CEO of Hanseong, second-ranked in the South Korean business world.
It wouldn't be long before Lee Jin-seok, chosen as successor, took the seat of Hanseong's next chairman.
His young wife, Kim Seon-hwa, was seated in the daycare.
"Might a cell phone... have a negative impact on how the children think?"
"Well, the thing is..."
The director tried to continue, but Kim Seon-hwa spoke with a look of worry.
"Da-yeon said... there's a friend who uses a cell phone... and that she wants to use one too..."
Listening to Kim Seon-hwa, the director played a video for her on a laptop.
It showed Si-yoon, who had barricaded herself off from the surroundings, fast asleep.
"...Is this child Si-yoon?"
The director nodded and, showing the current CCTV view, spoke carefully.
"Si-yoon... is just too different from the other children..."
Si-yoon reading a book, a book entirely in English.
And next to her, Da-yeon was staring at Si-yoon in fascination.
Si-yoon was wiping Da-yeon's mouth with a smile, saying something to her.
Without the slightest suspicion that those words might be swear words, Kim Seon-hwa nodded.
"She must be... a very smart child, I take it...?"
"As an educator, I shouldn't pigeonhole a child as merely smart, but... yes... she already knows everything that can be learned here at daycare, so we were thinking of starting her on elementary education early..."
Da-yeon's mother looked at the director with an interested gaze.
"However... Si-yoon's father does not want that."
It was Si-yoon's dad who was refusing that sort of 'gifted education,' the kind others wanted for their children but couldn't get.
"....."
"He said that as long as Si-yoon doesn't want it, he wants her to learn at the same pace as the other children."
"And the phone...?"
"Like the video I first showed you... Si-yoon isn't interested in anything that would normally hold a child's attention."
"Ah... so that's why she was asleep..."
"Yes... Si-yoon's father, who'd been watching her like that with a heavy heart..."
Da-yeon's mother nodded as if she understood.
Even when looking at her phone, Si-yoon hid and looked at it where the other children couldn't see.
That little brat was acutely aware that you weren't supposed to have a cell phone at daycare.
Da-yeon, who'd kept following her around, had witnessed that.
"Would it be possible to speak with Si-yoon?"
The director nodded and said to Kim Seon-hwa, "Then, shall I get permission from Si-yoon's father?"
Thinking that any parent who wanted to speak with Da-yeon would naturally need her permission as well, Kim Seon-hwa replied,
"Of course. I'll ask him myself."