The Meeting
On weekends, Mina and Hyuntae would take their son Seon-a out as a family—to amusement parks or anywhere else a child might enjoy.
Seon-a himself possessed the mind of a twenty-eight-year-old adult, so the whole affair left him uncomfortable. Still, he couldn't help but read his parents' faces and play along.
What had begun as an act—imitating a little boy—had eventually settled into his bones. As the charade repeated itself week after week, he found himself actually enjoying it, until even his thoughts began to feel like those of a child.
He had never truly grasped how happy and joyful this everyday life was—the parental love he had never received in his previous life. The sheer unfamiliarity of it all left him too confused to recognize the truth for what it was.
Five years had passed since he gained parents and their unconditional love, yet a faint awkwardness still lingered. He couldn't bear to disappoint them, so he would occasionally throw little tantrums and cling to them, secretly savoring the satisfied looks on their faces.
But he needed to stop these idle thoughts. Today felt somehow different from usual.
From the morning, Hyuntae had bathed Seon-a and dressed him in neat clothes. Hyuntae himself and Mina had also changed out of their usual casual outing wear into something more formal.
Unlike last week's trip to the amusement park, this wasn't a simple family outing. Seon-a's eyes were drawn to Mina's attire—the kind of formal dress that suggested she was conscious of someone else's opinion.
"Mom, where are we going?"
"Someone Mom knows invited us over for a meal. There's a friend your age there too. Let's go eat something delicious and play."
Mina spoke at a level a young child could understand. In truth, a dinner invitation from her workplace superior was uncomfortable, but she didn't want her son or husband to sense her unease, so she acted as bright and positive as she could.
"Our Seon-a is mature and well-behaved, so he wouldn't do anything like that—but you still need to get along nicely with your friend. No making a fuss or causing trouble."
Hyuntae, who understood Mina's feelings to some degree, said the words she couldn't quite manage herself.
"Yes, I understand, Mom, Dad."
When Seon-a answered in the formal speech he usually avoided while acting spoiled, Hyuntae stroked his hair with an expression of pure fondness.
"Our Seon-a really is a good boy."
Sometimes, when Seon-a was so quick and perceptive, he seemed far too mature for a five-year-old.
They say children act more grown-up when their parents keep showing unreliable sides of themselves. It worries me so much.
Hyuntae never said it aloud, but every time Seon-a displayed that adult-like behavior, he fretted over whether he and Mina were truly fulfilling their roles as parents.
Is this really Seoul?
Even the cheapest land in the greater Seoul area commanded high prices on average—and yet here stood a house built right in the heart of the city center. A two-story home with a garden of this scale, in a neighborhood where the land alone had to be worth hundreds of millions of won.
Calling them ordinary silver-spoon types hardly seemed enough.
At this level, aren't they diamond spoons...?
Standing before the front door of a detached house whose garden looked easily large enough to measure in the thousands of pyeong, Seon-a watched his mother press the doorbell and wait. A young woman's voice came through the intercom.
"Team Leader Lee. Right on time. Come in."
"Thank you for inviting us. Well then... we'll come inside."
Mina's voice trembled slightly as she answered. The person who had just spoken over the intercom seemed to be the acquaintance his mother had mentioned in the car earlier. Judging by how tense she looked, it was someone she found difficult to deal with.
This is a world where women work, so she's probably a workplace superior. A young voice, yet Mother is this careful around her—must be a fairly high rank.
They were about to face his mother's boss. Seon-a sorted out how he ought to behave before they stepped inside.
Once they entered the house, a young woman, a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties, and a little girl around Seon-a's age were waiting. Among them, a woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties with cat-like features spoke first and offered a handshake.
"Welcome. It's been a while since I saw you in the hallway before heading out into the field."
"Good day to you. Executive Director Park Yura—this is my husband, Kim Hyuntae, and my son, Lee Seon-a."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kim Hyuntae."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Lee Seon-a."
Seon-a listened to what Mina had said and roughly pieced the situation together.
Young as she is, she talks like she's already in her forties. Interesting person. An executive director is a high position even among company officers—climbing that high at her age, is she a parachute hire? Mother's work life must not be easy either.
It was a slight misunderstanding. As a hunter, the more mana one accumulated in the body, the stronger the physique became and the slower aging set in—but the Seon-a of now had no way of knowing that.
As a matter of courtesy, Park Yura introduced her husband and then her daughter.
"This is my daughter, Park Yurin."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Park Yurin."
A cute face that called to mind a kitten, with big eyes—an utterly adorable look. Seon-a found it unbearably endearing that a five-year-old girl would carefully enunciate polite speech through her short little tongue.
This child named Park Yurin had been staring at him the entire time. Once those large eyes locked onto him, they never left. It was the gaze of a same-age friend, half curiosity and half expectation.
"Let's get along well!"
Seon-a took Yurin's hand and spoke in a bright voice.
Park Yurin had been told that a subordinate from her mother's workplace and that woman's family would be visiting today. Hearing that a boy her own age was coming had filled her with anticipation—someone she could actually play with.
Acquaintances and people her mother knew came by the house now and then, but a friend close to her age was a rare treat. She saw children her age at daycare, of course, but making a new friend was always one of the more exciting things in her life.
After some time had passed, a woman's voice came through the doorbell offering greetings. When the front door opened, a couple and a boy who looked about her age stood there.
The pretty little boy had slightly sharp eyes, with a beauty mark beneath his right eye. Even as the other family made their introductions, her gaze refused to leave him. Among children her age, she had never seen one this pretty.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Lee Seon-a."
Even his voice is pretty. If I ask him to be friends, will he say yes?
Yurin wanted to grow closer to this boy named Seon-a. His looks and his obedient manner both pleased her.
Once the family introductions were finished, Yura guided Mina's family to the barbecue area prepared behind the garden. Seon-a ate while catching fragments of the conversation between his mother and Executive Director Park Yura.
Was anything uncomfortable at the company these days? For the next promotion review, their HR manager would help a great deal—and so on. Much of what Executive Director Park Yura said was about looking after his mother.
She might be a parachute hire, but she's a kind person who takes good care of Mother. Probably trying to pull her into her own faction at the company.
"Seon-a? Seon-a, answer me~"
Absorbed in the two women's conversation and his own thoughts, he failed to respond properly to the voice that suddenly came from beside him. Yurin had grabbed his arm and was shaking it repeatedly. When Seon-a, distracted by the adults' talk, didn't listen to her, she had started tugging on his arm.
"Huh? I was thinking about something else for a moment and didn't hear you. Could you say that again?"
"We're the same age, so you don't have to talk so politely. Speak comfortably. Listening to the grown-ups talk is boring anyway—let's go play in my room."
Being ignored might have put her in a bad mood, but Yurin didn't seem to care at all. She simply invited him to come play in her room with her.
Seon-a switched his speech style as she had asked. He wanted to repay the gaze and the behavior of someone so eager to befriend him.
"Okay. Let's go."
Staying here any longer didn't seem likely to produce any interesting conversation anyway. He had only been reluctant to leave because of how awkward his mother looked, pinned down by her workplace superior.
Yura, the so-called executive director, wasn't deliberately putting his mother in a difficult position—but her rank was high enough that Mina often broke into a cold sweat and stumbled over her words.
She seems like a good person, but she has no sense of tact...
With that brief thought, he followed Yurin out.
Perhaps because she wanted to grow closer to him, Yurin showed him all sorts of toys, trying to catch his interest. But counting his previous life, Seon-a's mental age was far too high for playing with toys like these.
Even though he put on a child's act every weekend while going out with his parents, actually playing with toys like this made him feel queasy. He had the sense that if he kept it up he might truly become a child—and that, at least, he could not allow.
Instead, he tried to talk with Yurin. He listened to the name of her daycare, her favorite teacher, her friends—anything that would let him learn about her. He meant to find topics and interests they could share and pass the time that way.
After they had talked for quite a while and the conversation topics finally ran dry, Yurin scooted closer and sat right beside him. Then she spoke quietly.
"Among the boys, you're the first one who's this pretty and easy to talk to. Want to be friends?"
"Yeah, okay."
From the way Executive Director Park Yura had invited their family today, and from the earlier conversation where she treated Seon-a almost like her own direct subordinate, he had realized something. She was so openly broadcasting her intent to recruit them for company politics that it was impossible not to notice—but if an executive director brought his mother into her faction, he would likely end up seeing Yurin often. Maintaining a good relationship seemed wise, so he agreed to be friends.
"I like Seon-a. Do you like me too?"
Seon-a assumed the "like" Yurin meant was the ordinary kind—the way children said "I like Mommy, I like Daddy."
"Then, Seon-a—there's something Mommy and Daddy do sometimes. Want to try it with me?"
"Huh? What is it?"
Do married couples go hiking or play sports together a lot?
While he was still thinking it over, Yurin suddenly shoved him onto his back, leaned her face in close, and pressed her lips to his.
"Mwah! Mwah-mwah!"
Her tiny lips sucked at his mouth with such force that it actually hurt.
What is this? Why is she suddenly doing something like—
Still unable to fully process the abrupt situation, Seon-a stared at Yurin with startled eyes. After sucking on his lips for a long while, Yurin saw those eyes and pulled back as if answering him.
"I tried it for the first time and it seems fun. I saw Mommy and Daddy do this before, so I asked, and they said you do it with someone you like."
Only then did he understand. To Yurin, steeped in a young child's pure innocence, this registered as a game.
"No. This is something you do when you're grown up! Let go! Stop it!"
"I don't wanna. It's fun. Just one more time."
Is she really the same age as me? Why is she so strong? No matter how hard I push with my arms, she doesn't budge...
Seon-a thrashed and struggled desperately, but he couldn't escape from under Yurin, who had him pinned flat.
"Ngh! Ugh! Let go!"
Even the single arm holding his wrist wouldn't move an inch. When his frantic resistance seemed to accomplish nothing at all, Yurin kept kissing him and watched his flustered expression with clear delight.
Seon-a looking troubled is so pretty and cute. If I make him even more flustered, will he show me an even cuter face?
For the thoughts of a pure little child, it was a remarkably sadistic idea. The moment she moved to put that thought into action—
The door opened on the two of them mid-kiss. Or rather, on Yurin pressing her full weight down on the little boy beneath her and lowering her mouth toward his.
Someone who saw them called Yurin's name in a loud voice.
"Park Yurin! What do you think you're doing!"
The person who threw open the door and shouted was Park Yura, her face full of shock.
On weekends, Park Yura enjoyed inviting acquaintances, juniors, workplace colleagues, and others over for a meal, maintaining good relationships. When she received guests with her family, she sometimes noticed her family looking exhausted, and it worried her. Seeing that made her think she ought to try harder to understand how they truly felt.
Was her daughter Park Yurin getting along with the other children at daycare? Was her husband lonely, stuck at home by himself? She came home late on weekdays, and on weekends she spent the time that should have been for family alone with other people instead—she had been neglecting them. Curious about how Yurin would behave with Mina's son Seon-a, she pretended to go to the bathroom and eavesdropped through the door.
"I tried it for the first time and it seems fun. I saw Mommy and Daddy do this before, so I asked, and they said you do it with someone you like."
It can't be... What I'm thinking can't be right...
Hearing her daughter Yurin's words through the door, Yura told herself she must be mistaken.
"No! This is something you do when you're grown up! Let go! Stop it!"
"I don't wanna. It's fun. Just one more time."
"Ngh! Ugh! Let go!"
Hearing Seon-a's frantic voice, Yura realized it was no mistake. If this continued, her daughter was clearly about to commit a serious blunder—so she threw the door open at once and looked inside.
And everything she had overheard proved true: Lee Seon-a lay on the floor with tears faintly gathering in his eyes, pinned beneath Park Yurin as she forced a kiss on him.
Overwhelmed by shock and anger, Park Yura shouted at her daughter at the top of her lungs.
"Park Yurin! What do you think you're doing!"