Episode 8. Battle of Nerves (2)
After driving their eldest daughter for about 30 minutes.
Finally, the house where Kang Dae-oh and his family lived began to appear.
To Kang Dae-oh, today’s house felt like a decisive battleground (?).
It wasn’t the fateful first meeting of the eldest and second daughters…
‘Perhaps it could be their second meeting.’
Kang Dae-oh was still suspicious about Kang Yebin’s regression.
On the other hand, Kang Yera maintained a confident attitude, saying there was no way that was true.
Kang Dae-oh got out of the car first, opened the back door, and lifted Kang Yera up.
Although her mind was that of a 29-year-old young woman, her body was that of a 2-year-old baby, so Kang Dae-oh’s help was essential when getting in or out of the car.
“Thank you, Daddy.”
“You’re welcome. The stairs are still hard to climb, right? Daddy will carry you.”
“It’s okay. I can move by myself.”
Kang Yera began to climb the stairs diligently, as if to boast of her growth to her dad.
Compared to adults, children have to expend a lot of energy with each step they take.
Despite it being a difficult and bothersome task, Kang Yera silently climbed the stairs.
This was because practicing regularly like this would allow her to continue growing faster.
Kang Yera’s wish to quickly become an adult was clearly felt through her stair climbing.
Kang Dae-oh simply found his daughter’s appearance endearing.
Finally, Kang Yera safely reached the front door.
She had managed to overcome the stair climbing with effort.
“Daddy, the door. Open it for me.”
The door was impossible for Kang Yera due to her small height.
Kang Dae-oh nodded and entered the password for the front door.
Ding-a-ling!
As the front door opened, Min Seung-yeon’s voice from the living room was the first to greet the father and daughter.
“Honey, you’re here? Where’s Yera?”
“I brought her.”
Kang Dae-oh picked up Kang Yera and showed her to her mom.
Min Seung-yeon smiled brightly and opened her arms towards Kang Yera.
“My baby! Come to Mommy. I’ll hug you after a long time.”
“Mommy—!”
Even if she had become a baby again through regression, it was natural for a child to miss her mother’s embrace.
Kang Yera, who was sucked into her younger mom’s embrace, buried her face in her chest and began to nuzzle.
Min Seung-yeon was surprised when the usually mature Kang Yera showed rare aegyo, and at the same time, she thought:
“Mommy, did you miss me that much?”
“Yes!”
“Oh dear, you did. Mommy is sorry.”
Although she had to be separated from Kang Yera due to childbirth, Min Seung-yeon still felt an inexplicable guilt for making her eldest daughter lonely for a long time.
However, Kang Yera herself didn’t seem to care much.
Her attention was fixed on her younger sister, who was lying in the baby crib.
“Is Yebin sleeping?”
“Not yet. Do you want to see your sister?”
“Yes!”
Min Seung-yeon, holding Kang Yera, walked towards the baby crib where Kang Yebin was lying.
Showing a younger sibling to an unnie is a common, ordinary scene that can be seen in everyday life.
However, Kang Dae-oh couldn’t understand why this moment, when his eldest daughter and second daughter were about to meet, felt so tense.
Kang Yera and Kang Yebin finally met.
“My sister. Hello?”
Kang Yera smiled brightly and greeted Kang Yebin first.
However.
Kang Yebin, who had been staring blankly at Kang Yera, suddenly turned her head sharply to the right.
Min Seung-yeon, watching this, smiled wryly and said,
“Is she already shy? Yebin must be seeing her unnie for the first time.”
Perhaps worried that young Kang Yera might be hurt by her sister’s behavior, Min Seung-yeon tried to put a good spin on it.
Kang Yera nodded briefly, as if to say that was perfectly understandable.
“Wait.”
Min Seung-yeon moved, bringing Kang Yera back to where Kang Yebin had turned her head.
However, Kang Yebin turned her head to the opposite side this time.
A grand battle of nerves unfolded between the one trying to show her unnie and the one desperately trying to avoid her unnie.
The ultimate victor was Kang Yebin.
“My arm hurts.”
Min Seung-yeon’s arm became tired from holding Kang Yera and moving her around so much.
Putting Kang Yera down again, Min Seung-yeon massaged her wrist and asked Kang Dae-oh.
“Honey. Don’t you think our kids are able to distinguish faces much earlier than other kids? Yera was like this when she was little too.”
“······You’re right. It’s really strange.”
Kang Dae-oh knew the reason, but speaking it would likely make him seem like a lunatic, so he responded with an awkward acting tone, vaguely agreeing with Min Seung-yeon.
Kang Dae-oh could already hear it.
The sound of the blazing battle of nerves between his first and second daughters.
When babies turn 3 months old, they slowly begin to babble.
However, Kang Yebin, like Kang Yera, showed a remarkably early babbling period.
Exactly two months after being born, Kang Yebin began to babble in earnest, often referred to as the language of angels.
And it wasn’t just babbling once or twice by chance.
It was a lot.
“Oh my, my baby. Did you? Oh, so pretty!”
Min Seung-yeon stroked Kang Yebin’s head.
Perhaps because she was gaining weight, her cheeks were puffing up, and her chin was starting to double.
Nevertheless, like Kang Yera, she seemed to have inherited a lot of her mom’s beautiful genes, as her features were quite distinct.
A baby who already had the face of a beauty.
But Min Seung-yeon harbored one major concern about Kang Yebin.
She laid the baby on a reflux pillow and activated the mobile.
However, Kang Yebin, instead of playing while watching the mobile, only began to get annoyed.
“What’s wrong, Yebin?”
Even holding her didn’t stop her annoyance.
Just then, Kang Dae-oh returned home with Kang Yera, who had been to daycare.
“I’m home. Did something happen to Yebin? She seems annoyed.”
“I laid her down and showed her the mobile, but she really hated it.”
“Really?”
“Why? Even holding her doesn’t help much…”
She had some confidence in parenting, being a second-time mom.
But even though they were sisters, Kang Yebin’s personality was completely different from Kang Yera’s, and Min Seung-yeon’s difficulties grew day by day.
Kang Dae-oh told her to wait for a moment, then began to adjust the angle of the baby crib.
After changing its position so that the TV screen was clearly visible.
Beep!
He turned on the remote control and began changing channels as if searching for a specific program.
Min Seung-yeon looked at her husband with a bewildered expression.
“The baby is annoyed. Are you just going to leisurely watch TV?”
“Wait… here it is.”
The destination of his channel-finding adventure was.
A cable channel that was re-broadcasting a morning drama.
—Seoyeon is my daughter.
—What nonsense are you talking about! I’ll never give up custody, so know that.
—Do you want to raise Seoyeon as a child without a mother?
—Then do you! Want to raise her as a child without a father? Huh?
A common marital conflict scene in morning dramas unfolded.
Min Seung-yeon wore a flustered expression.
“You’re showing the baby something really good. You should show videos with children’s songs instead. Kids wouldn’t like dramas…”
Min Seung-yeon hadn’t even finished speaking.
From somewhere, a giggling sound was heard.
The source of the sound was.
The baby crib where Kang Yebin was lying.
The couple on TV were yelling at each other and fighting.
Kang Yebin was giggling while watching the drama.
Kang Dae-oh shrugged his shoulders once and said,
“How about that?”
“······Even if you ask ‘how about that’…”
Min Seung-yeon didn’t know how to react to this situation.
She had prided herself on being an experienced parent.
And now, little by little, cracks were starting to form in that pride.
Meanwhile.
Kang Yera, who had been observing all these scenes from a distance, couldn’t help but be lost in thought.
This was because her future younger sister, who was a drama and movie maniac, was exactly like this.
Of course, since they were the same sister. If she thought about it calmly, it was a perfectly normal reaction.
The problem lay in Kang Yebin’s birth timing.
It made no sense for a baby barely two months old to already understand and enjoy drama content.
Perhaps.
“Maybe Dad was right…”
A time came when Kang Yebin, who had only spent her days eating, sleeping, pooping, and watching dramas while lying down, was allowed a certain degree of physical freedom.
“She crawls well now.”
“Right?”
Min Seung-yeon looked proudly at Kang Yebin, who was slowly but steadily crawling towards her.
Meanwhile, Kang Yera went and sat near Kang Yebin, then spoke to her younger sister in a friendly voice.
“Yebin. It’s unnie, unnie. Try saying ‘unnie~’.”
“······Mwa?”
Kang Yebin tilted her head at Kang Yera once.
It was as if she was asking, ‘What word is “unnie”?’
Min Seung-yeon hugged Kang Yebin and said to Kang Yera,
“Yera. I understand you want to play with your sister quickly, but she’s still a baby. She probably won’t understand what you’re saying.”
“······Really?”
Kang Yera looked at her sister with a suspicious gaze.
At that, Kang Yebin buried her face in her mom’s arms, avoiding her unnie’s gaze.
To call it a coincidence, the timing was too perfect.
“Honey.”
Min Seung-yeon called Kang Dae-oh.
“I’m going to drop Yera off at daycare, so please watch Yebin for a bit.”
“Okay. Have a good time, Yera.”
After sending the mother and daughter off.
Kang Dae-oh watched the small baby crawling all over the mattress.
Kang Yera had tried something else besides asking Kang Yebin to call her “unnie.”
‘Did you regress too?’
That was the question.
Each time, Kang Yebin showed the same reaction as just now.
‘She only reacts like a normal baby when sensitive questions come up.’
Kang Dae-oh felt it was like acting.
Yebin was an actress, after all.
Even in a baby’s body, it would be possible to some extent to act.
So Kang Dae-oh intended to ask Kang Yebin directly when Kang Yera wasn’t around.
Because.
‘Yebin seemed to want to let me know she was a regressor.’
That was the case at the postpartum care center too.
“Yebin.”
“······?”
Kang Dae-oh put an object into Kang Yebin’s hand.
It was.
A ballpoint pen.
“Listen carefully to what Daddy says now.”
He handed her a sheet of A4-sized paper.
“Yebin, did you come from the future?”
“······”
“If you tell me honestly, I’ll keep it a secret from your unnie. I don’t know why, but it seems you want to keep it a secret from your unnie.”
Kang Yebin, who had been silent, looking up at her dad, finally moved her hand.
Surprisingly, she was writing.
Exactly like Kang Yera.
[Yes, that’s right.]
It was the moment the identity of the second regressor was revealed.
