Episode 1. The Eldest Daughter is Suspicious (2)
Upon hearing that the pre-ordered packages were piled high in front of his house before childbirth, Kang Dae-oh was the first to temporarily leave the postnatal care center.
“I’ll organize everything and come back in 3 days. Until then, don’t forget to take lots of photos and videos of our Chukbok-i and send them to me. Okay?”
“Yes. Don’t worry. When it’s time for the feeding call later, I’ll diligently take pictures then too.”
Kang Dae-oh and Min Seung-yeon’s smartphones were already full of pictures and videos of their child.
Kang Dae-oh, who temporarily left the postnatal care center with only a few simple belongings.
He immediately drove for about 15 minutes and arrived at an old villa.
The moment he reached the 4th floor after climbing the stairs.
What greeted him first was not the familiar front door, but the delivery boxes piled high in front of it.
They were piled so high that the front door was obscured from view.
‘Quite a lot came.’
He had ordered that many.
Knowing it was their karma, Kang Dae-oh began to quietly organize the delivery boxes without blaming anyone.
“This is the baby bed. This one… is it a mobile? Then this must be the anti-reflux pillow.”
He shouldn’t forget the diapers and formula containers, which would be consumed the most.
The already small 17-pyeong old newlywed home quickly began to fill with baby products.
Even if they didn’t have much money, isn’t it a parent’s heart to raise their child without any shortcomings?
Kang Dae-oh bought almost all items that would help with his daughter’s childcare, regardless of whether they were new or used.
It took nearly five hours just to organize.
“Hoo…!”
Perhaps because it was midsummer, sweat was pouring down like rain.
“Should I take a short break and then continue?”
He felt like he had finished about two-thirds. He thought, ‘The rest can be done slowly while resting, right?’
It was then.
Ding! Along with a ‘ding!’ sound, an alarm indicating a new message arrived, making Kang Dae-oh, who was slumped on the sofa, get up again.
His wife, Min Seung-yeon, had sent photos and videos.
―Chukbok-a! It’s mommy, mommy. Aigoo, how pretty!
As if she understood the word ‘mommy,’ the baby smiled faintly.
She was nothing short of an angel.
Watching his child smile, Kang Dae-oh felt his drained energy recharge.
“Right. I should work hard without resting.”
For his wife.
And.
For their daughter, who had a place to live for the first time in her life.
Kang Dae-oh decided to deliberately ignore the sweat trickling down.
As he worked hard again, the sun was quickly setting.
‘I should probably eat dinner soon.’
It seemed like it would take too long to make something to eat.
Just then.
Kang Dae-oh’s smartphone rang again.
This time, it wasn’t the sound of a message arriving.
It was a call from Oh Myung-woon, one of his high school friends.
“Hello?”
―Oh, Dae-oh. It’s me. I heard you came out of the postnatal care center? Did sister-in-law and the baby come out with you?
“No. My wife and Chukbok-i will come out next Wednesday. I just came out temporarily to organize our belongings and set up the baby products in advance. I’ll go back into the postnatal care center in 3 days and come out with them on that Wednesday.”
―Oh, really? So you’re home alone right now?
His tone was as if it was a good thing.
“Yeah, pretty much. But why?”
―If you haven’t eaten yet, want to come out now? We were just about to have a drink with the guys tonight. The place is close to your house, so you can just come right over.
“Hmm…”
His moment of hesitation wasn’t very long.
“Alright. I’ll head out right away.”
―Okay. We’ll be waiting.
It turned out to be a good thing, as eating alone in an empty house would have been too lonely at that moment.
“Dae-oh, he’s here.”
“Hey, Kang Dae-oh! Over here!”
His friends raised their hands, showing Kang Dae-oh the location of their table.
Kang Dae-oh naturally joined them.
As soon as he saw him, Oh Myung-woon said, as if it had been a long time,
“Finally, we see your face, you rascal.”
“Sorry. My wife’s condition was on and off. It was so irregular that I just couldn’t make it to drinking appointments. I also had to be considerate.”
“Well, nothing you can do about it. Sister-in-law, I heard her morning sickness was really bad in the early stages of pregnancy?”
“Yeah. It was crazy because of that.”
Physical hardship, emotional hardship. They both went through a lot.
Of course, Kang Dae-oh was the same.
Another classmate who had arrived earlier with Oh Myung-woon and was having dinner and drinks, asked Kang Dae-oh,
“Did sister-in-law ever strongly ask you to buy her something to eat?”
“She mostly said she wanted to eat fruit.”
“Fruit?”
“Yeah. Tomatoes, strawberries… things like that.”
“Meat?”
“She actually said she didn’t really crave meat.”
Min Seung-yeon used to like all kinds of meat before she got pregnant.
So when she suddenly said meat didn’t taste good to her, Kang Dae-oh doubted his ears when he first heard it.
Oh Myung-woon nodded his head while crossing his arms.
“It just looks like the taste buds of mothers who have daughters.”
Even before the gender was revealed, Kang Dae-oh often heard similar things from acquaintances around him.
They said that looking at the mother’s taste, it felt like a princess.
This soon became a reality during the regular check-up.
Oh Myung-woon refilled Kang Dae-oh’s glass with beer.
“Tell us how you feel about becoming a dad.”
“Is there anything to feel? I haven’t even properly started parenting yet.”
“Still, there must be a feeling when you first saw the baby, like she’s so lovely. Seo-jin, he cried right after his son was born when he first saw him.”
The classmate called Seo-jin, perhaps feeling embarrassed by Oh Myung-woon’s words, blushed and mumbled for him to stop talking about it.
The first feeling when he met his child.
Kang Dae-oh cautiously opened his mouth.
“I don’t know if I should say this, but… should I say something feels a bit strange?”
“Strange?”
“Yeah. I did tell the baby’s mom too. She seems special, somehow different from other babies.”
“Hey, hey. Parents always see their own children as the prettiest, most lovable, and most special. That’s just how it is.”
“No, I don’t mean it in that way.”
To Kang Dae-oh, Chukbok-i literally looked strange.
How should I put it?
“It’s like she’s on her second life.”
At his words, his friends laughed loudly with dumbfounded expressions.
“Like a reincarnated person from a fantasy novel? Huh?”
“You should say something that makes sense.”
Kang Dae-oh also knew well that what he said was realistically impossible.
Still, the reactions other babies showed and the way Chukbok-i had behaved so far were vastly different.
It was as if she was trying to figure out who she was and what this situation was.
However, his friends heard Kang Dae-oh’s words in one ear and let them out the other.
Oh Myung-woon refilled Kang Dae-oh’s beer glass, which he had just emptied, and asked,
“How did sister-in-law react to your words?”
“Just like you guys, you know.”
“See? It might just be because you’re seeing a baby for the first time that you feel that way.”
“Is that so?”
Come to think of it. Chukbok-i isn’t a second or youngest child. She’s the first.
This meant that Kang Dae-oh was also encountering and raising his child for the first time.
Because of this, he had almost no prior information on what specific behaviors babies exhibited.
Although he had learned a lot from words or YouTube videos, seeing a real baby in person was bound to feel significantly different.
Because it was his first time parenting.
As his friend said, it might be because he was a father for the first time that Chukbok-i felt special.
“I must have been overthinking it.”
“Yeah, man. Don’t worry and have a drink. Alright, everyone. In honor of our friend Dae-oh, who has become a father, let’s all raise a glass. Cheers!”
“Cheers—!”
Clink!
The sound of glasses clinking together was heard from all around.
As the atmosphere matured with alcohol, a piece of entertainment news came on the TV.
―Next up. Choi Seon-ah, who was on a successful path as a solo singer after being from an idol group. Her fans gathered in Seoul Plaza for her second death anniversary to commemorate her. Entertainment industry officials expressed regret, lamenting the loss of such a valuable talent…
On this day, two years ago, the news of Choi Seon-ah, a young female solo singer who tragically lost her life in an accident, was broadcast through the news.
Kang Dae-oh briefly fixed his gaze on the news.
Oh Myung-woon, who was watching his friend’s expression, sighed with his drink.
He knew why Kang Dae-oh was showing deep interest in the news of Choi Seon-ah’s death anniversary.
“You and sister-in-law first met at Choi Seon-ah’s solo concert, right?”
“Yeah. Both I and Seung-yeon. We were both fans of Choi Seon-ah. Especially Seung-yeon, she really liked Choi Seon-ah. If I was just a general fan, Seung-yeon was a true fan among true fans.”
He still vividly remembered how his now-wife, back when she was his girlfriend, cried her eyes out for days after hearing the news of Choi Seon-ah’s death on that day.
Oh Myung-woon also expressed regret and sadness at the news of Choi Seon-ah’s death anniversary.
“I also liked the songs Choi Seon-ah sang. It’s really sad. But they never released details about what kind of accident led to it, did they?”
“Yeah. I also searched hard online. But they said nothing was released.”
Only that it was kept private according to the wishes of the bereaved family was known. There was no further information.
Perhaps that’s why. Questions about Choi Seon-ah’s death continued to linger.
Her presence held such immense significance in the Korean music industry that discussions about Choi Seon-ah still remained a hot topic.
The name Choi Seon-ah will continue to be mentioned in the future.
“I hope she’s reborn as a singer in her next life and debuts again.”
At Oh Myung-woon’s words, his friends gave a bitter smile.
Kang Dae-oh was no different.
She had once said this in an interview with the media.
That even if she were reborn, she would want to stand on stage.
Although Kang Dae-oh didn’t have a personal acquaintance with Choi Seon-ah.
“It would be great if that really happened.”
He sincerely hoped her wish would come true.
