A Peaceful Day (2)
A Peaceful Day (2)
As the innings stacked up, the atmosphere turned hotter and hotter.
Park Ji-hoon watched the game with his arms crossed, whether he was actually interested in baseball or not.
After the sixth inning wrapped up, the Kiss Cam started again.
The single biggest talking point in the stadium was obviously me—I got the spotlight dropped right back on me.
And... Park Ji-hoon sitting next to me got pulled into it too.
The second he registered he was on camera, Park Ji-hoon grinned and turned a smoldering gaze on me.
For a split second I nearly drove my elbow into Park Ji-hoon's face live on the big screen, but I reined in my rationality fast.
I covered my mouth with a hand and spoke to Park Ji-hoon lightly.
"Make that face one more time and I'll shatter your cheekbone. Got it?"
At my sweet smile, Park Ji-hoon flinched and looked away.
I planted a kiss on my palm and blew it toward the camera, signaling them to move the damn camera along already.
In the end, Hanseong won the game, and Lee Jin-seok wore a victor's smile.
The moment Lee Jin-seok looked like that, Kim Seon-hwa smacked him from the side.
Watching their parents, Lee Jin-seok's kids... their faces flushed red, presumably from sheer embarrassment.
And Park Jeong-ho muttered that he should've been sitting over there.
After the game ended, we headed straight to a barbecue place for the after-party, jerseys still on.
The adults grilled samgyeopsal and chatted away.
We were at the table right next to them grilling our own meat, and that bastard Park Ji-hoon had stationed himself at the grill only to shove every piece straight into his own mouth the instant it cooked.
Jeong-yeon, who would be starting his first year of high school soon, smiled and added more of his meat onto Ji-hoon's plate,
and Ji-hoon bobbed his head in thanks.
"Oh, thank you."
"You sure eat well, huh~"
Then he put meat onto my plate too.
All while keeping his eyes locked on Park Ji-hoon...
"It's Ji-hoon, right?"
"Yep."
"You must be pretty close with Si-yoon...?"
"Right? I don't really have friends besides Si-yoon and Da-yeon."
"Ah, I see~"
Jeong-yeon had been watching Park Ji-hoon the whole time, and by now he must have finished sizing up his personality.
Jeong-yeon's gaze was starting to go cold, and it looked like his signature spirit-crushing routine was about to make an appearance.
Just sitting back and watching would've been hilarious, but the adults were right there too, weren't they.
I picked up a cooked piece of meat, placed it on Jeong-yeon's plate, and said with a faint smile.
"Big bro, you eat up too."
"Huh?! Okay!"
Hearing me call him 'big bro' made Park Ji-hoon pull a face like he'd caught a full-body chill.
Didn't even have time to check Park Ji-hoon's expression—with just one word from me,
Jeong-yeon was back to being a seventeen-year-old about to start high school.
Soon, Jeong-yeon would be getting ready to study abroad for language and business courses.
The adults, who hadn't been drinking while we were around, seemed to have decided to head out for a third round.
After dropping me and Da-yeon's little siblings off at home, the grown-ups said they needed to talk among themselves and went out.
Once I'd washed up, I debated whether to hop on the computer for a bit, then caught sight of Alpha and Beta gazing at me and swishing their tails.
"You been doing okay?"
""Meow.""
When I lay down on the sofa, Alpha and Beta followed me over.
I turned on the new Hanseong smartphone I'd just upgraded to and was about to watch Neotube when I spotted a video uploaded this morning that had me in it.
Watching the video, it looked like someone had recorded the stadium screen.
- I believed in you!!! You grew up so pretty!!!
'Why were you believing in my looks...'
- Wow... wow..... wow... I have no words.
↳ Wow... insane...
↳ Thought it was Ga-in all grown up from the Zombie movie... I'm actually losing it...
↳ Pick your battles, comparing her to a fictional character like Ga-in is... wow... this is really unedited? Absolutely batshit insane.
↳ I think the top visual in Korean women has been officially decided...
- The guy next to her, is that Park Jeong-ho's son? He's seriously 15? He looks built as hell.
↳ More than that, Si-yoon is jaw-dropping...
↳ OP must have no eyes, you see Si-yoon next to him and your gaze goes to Park Jeong-ho's kid?
↳ For real, I only spotted Park Jeong-ho was in the frame after reading this reply.
As expected of the Republic of Korea, barreling full-speed into capitalism and lookism—plenty of chatter about my face.
Curiosity got to me and I searched it up, and the shots from today's stadium had already spun into news articles.
At this point, you'd think portrait rights and everything else were out the window, but the video I'd just been watching suddenly vanished.
Probably Jang Seong-man managing things...
Meanwhile, Alpha rubbed his head against my wrist as if demanding pets.
"You want a Churu?"
""Meow!?""
"Go get it."
I put a movie on and stayed sprawled out watching the cats, and Alpha and Beta dashed over to the drawer and each trotted back with a pouch of Churu.
Beta got back first and set the Churu in front of me with sparkling eyes, so I tore it open with my teeth and fed it to her.
Alpha watched that, then suddenly—bap-bap-bap!—landed a flurry of kitty punches on Beta's head.
"Hssss!!"
"Hey! You made her spill it!"
When I sat up, Alpha kept his distance to dodge me.
I fed Beta first, and when I tore open Alpha's Churu, he finally came over.
"Is it good?"
"Meow meow mrrp... meow meow."
"What's that supposed to mean."
I got up, tossed the empty Churu pouches, grabbed some snacks from the storage room, lay back down, and went back to watching the movie.
Time passed, and Dad came home drunk.
Watching drunk people, honestly, I get really jealous.
Maybe he figured fifteen was old enough to leave me alone, but Dad had started making drinking plans every so often.
He wobbled in, slipped off his shoes, then bent over and slowly started lining them up neat.
"Si-yoon's shoooes are sooo smaaaall~ so cuuute..."
'Think he's low-key talking shit about me...'
I was lying there processing this inexplicably offensive tone of voice when Dad flipped on the lights and spotted me.
"Si-yooooon!"
Dad suddenly came charging at me and I fended him off with my foot.
"Go wash up."
"Yep!"
Chaos ensued.
Dad was way drunker than I'd thought—this was only the second time I'd ever seen him drink that much.
The first time Dad got drunk... I know this might land me on some kind of watchlist, but...
I hadn't yet built up the strength to reject Dad's thick booze stench and excessive tidal wave of affection...
I'm sorry to say, I deployed a high kick and physically put him to sleep.
Seriously, the alcohol smell is one thing, but when he sinks more than three bottles, I get way too worn out dealing with it.
Dad came out after washing up without putting any clothes on, beaming brightly and looking straight at me.
My eyes were assaulted by the sight of Dad's junk swinging around for the first time in a while, and I immediately averted my gaze and said,
"Could you put some clothes on...?"
"Okay!"
Dad quickly got dressed, then stared at me like a puppy eyeing its owner holding a treat.
'What's his deal...?'
"...What."
"You're done with everything else, right?!"
"Haah... fine."
Dad threw himself onto me and kept trying to kiss my forehead, so I blocked him with my hand.
"I'm fifteen, you know?"
"Whyyyyy~ To Daddy you're still a baby?"
In the end, Dad's lips made contact with my cheek...
Dad sucked on my cheek like a vacuum cleaner.
Like he was trying to inhale it outright—he only seemed satisfied after leaving a dark kiss mark, and then Dad finally peeled himself off me.
"Wanna sleep with Daddy tonight?"
"You've done enough. Just go to bed."
"Huh?! Wait a sec! I haven't said goodnight to Si-yoon's mom yet! I'll be right back!"
Dad grinned with his flushed face and bolted up to the second floor.
"....."
I wiped my left cheek, now thoroughly coated in drool, and thought.
Not being able to hang out with Dad much lately had probably been the real root of this disaster.
Staying out of sight was the best play right now, so while Dad was gone I ducked into my room.
In the early morning hours, I felt something squirming and figured Alpha and Beta had climbed in.
But the head was way too big, and the hair was way too coarse.
I opened my eyes and found Dad lying in my bed.
I was about to say something, but the bed was wet—Dad was crying.
"Honey... Si-yoon... honey... looks... so much like you..."
Dad was smiling while tears kept streaming down his face.
I ruffled Dad's hair, pulled the blanket over him, and tried to go back to sleep.
If only he hadn't been calling out Mom's name and holding me so tight...
Dad works out every single day, so his strength was way beyond what I expected—I had to thrash around for a while before I finally managed to wriggle out of his arms.
I let out a sigh, slipped out to the living room, and lay down on the sofa.
When morning came, Dad was making breakfast for me.
I woke up to the clattering sounds, Alpha and Beta seated around me.
"Nngh."
"You're up?"
"Yeah, good morning~ yawn."
Dad was focused on cooking, and I muttered at him.
"Do you remember last night?"
At my question, Dad thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"...No?"
"That's a relief. If you remembered, you'd feel so bad you'd never drink again..."
"...Huh? What'd Daddy do?"
I curled up a little, figuring I'd mess with him, and said,
"Yeah, if I were any other kid, I would've turned you over to the cops a long time ago..."
"...What?"
Dad was genuinely trying to piece together the events of last night.
The only thing he'd probably remember was meeting Mom in a dream...
"You seemed to be mistaking me for Mom..."
Dad's face began to turn horrified, maybe catching a fragment of his sleep-talking.
"What?! Seriously!!!!?"
"Yeah... like, not wearing anything... and trying to jump... me."
Dad's expression, which practically made an audible thud, began to turn serious beyond words.
"...For real...?"
"....."
I subtly shielded my body and launched into my victim cosplay, and Dad's hands began shaking violently.
He looked like he was agonizing over how to broach the subject without even breathing, frozen stiff, his face going paler and bluer by the second.
"Still... my first time was with you, Dad?"
"...!!!"
Dad was past horror, on the verge of passing out from shock, and he suddenly slumped.
"What... what have I done..."
Trembling uncontrollably, Dad covered his face with both hands.
My prank had him shaking like he was having a seizure, dead serious, and I panicked at the sight and spoke up fast.
"Dad? I'm kidding."
"...What have I done..."
"Dad?"
"I..."
"Dad!!!"
Realizing just how deeply Dad had taken the hit, I bolted toward him, and his trembling halted—he looked straight at me.
"Kim Si-yoon, you...!!! How could you lie about something like that!!!?"
Before I knew it, Dad had a dust-covered riding crop in his hand.
Still mid-dash toward Dad, I slammed on the brakes, pulled a U-turn, and fled into my room.
The instant I locked the door, Dad threw his weight against it, rattling the whole thing.
"Open the door!!!"
"No."
"Hey!!! Kim Si-yoon!!!! Open the door!!!!"
"Eek~ Daddy's trying to pounce on me again~"
"Hey!!!!!"
I came back out rubbing my sore, burning-hot butt—Dad had spanked me for the first time in a long time.
He'd been genuinely furious; he spanked me until my butt was red.
Da-yeon, who'd been waiting at the front door, looked at me with concern.
"...You okay?"
"Yeah, were you waiting long?"
"Not at all~"
I went down to the first floor with a smiling Da-yeon, and Kim Tae-oh was waiting for us.
We were taking a morning stroll along the Han River, ran into Park Ji-hoon, and kept walking together.
As expected, walking along the Han River really lets you soak in that deep, tranquil peace.
Other than the fact that my butt was a lot more on fire than I'd expected...