Episode 14. Still, I Love My Daughters (4)
The three sisters were able to escape the fire scene beforehand without any injuries.
However, even though there were no visible major injuries, Kang Dae-oh decided to take the children to the hospital for a thorough check-up, as they might have inhaled smoke from the gas explosion.
Examination results.
“There’s nothing wrong. Although we’ll need to wait for a more precise result, from what I can see, the babies all seem fine.”
Only after hearing from the doctor that there was ‘no problem’ could Min Seung-yeon finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, Kang Dae-oh reacted calmly, perhaps because he had already anticipated hearing such words even before coming to the hospital.
The doctor smiled wryly as he looked at Min Seung-yeon, whose face was streaked with tears.
“It seems like the mother was very flustered.”
“Huh? Oh… that is…”
Realizing belatedly that her appearance was a mess, Min Seung-yeon hurriedly covered her face.
This was because checking the children’s condition as quickly as possible was more important than worrying about her own appearance.
The doctor smiled faintly as he looked at her flustered expression.
“The children must be happy to have such a good mother.”
“Not really… that’s not quite it.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I’m still very lacking. And…”
Ever since she heard that her daughters came from the future, she had been constantly caught in a strange feeling.
Because of her complex emotions, Min Seung-yeon wondered if she truly deserved to be called a ‘good mother.’
Nevertheless, the doctor could tell.
“I’ve been in charge of pediatrics for 20 years. How many children have I seen, and how many parents have I met during that time? So I can say with certainty.”
Strong conviction was present in the doctor’s eyes.
“You are a good mother. So please, don’t doubt your maternal love.”
“…Thank you.”
Kang Dae-oh thought to himself as he watched the doctor encouraging Min Seung-yeon.
That he should mainly come to this hospital when the kids are sick.
He was a doctor who somehow inspired trust.
News of the fire that occurred at the kids’ cafe located inside the large supermarket spread nationwide through the news.
The news that a fire had broken out specifically in a place where young children gather made the hearts of all parents nationwide sink.
Fortunately, there were no casualties.
The only reported human casualties were two adults who sustained minor abrasions while escaping the fire.
“It seems the fire was bigger than I thought.”
Kang Dae-oh, who had taken his children and wife to the hospital and then returned straight home, clicked his tongue while watching the fire-related news being broadcast on TV.
Min Seung-yeon seemed to find it difficult just recalling that her children had been there at the time, sighing repeatedly from the kitchen.
“From now on, I will never go anywhere leaving the kids alone.”
How many times had he heard this today? Kang Dae-oh had already given up counting.
“It’s fortunate enough that the kids are safe. Don’t you think?”
Kang Dae-oh turned his head to his daughters, who were gathered together playing in the living room, and asked.
Then Kang Yera pointed towards Kang Yebin.
“Our escape was all thanks to Yebin.”
“Yebin?”
“Yes. She said that she took fire safety training for six months because she was filming a movie, and that there would be a separate emergency exit, so we just needed to find it and go out.”
Kang Yebin looked at Kang Yera with a “What’s gotten into her?” expression.
“Unnie. You didn’t inhale too much smoke there and get weird, did you? Why are you suddenly like this, praising me so much?”
“I’m a woman who admits what needs to be admitted.”
As Kang Yera put her hands on her hips and made a “Ehem!” sound, Kang Yebin chuckled as if dumbfounded.
“Then I guess I should admit what needs to be admitted, just like unnie. Appa. It wasn’t me who found the emergency exit, it was Yeyoung.”
Kang Yeyoung, who became the next target, lifted her short right arm while lying on the reverse cushion.
After that, she made a gesture of giving a thumbs-up.
A tiny thumb, barely visible, poking out from above her round fist, was truly adorable.
Meanwhile, Kang Dae-oh let out a hollow laugh at the sisters’ sudden praise relay.
“How nice would it be if you always praised each other like this?”
“……”
“……”
“……”
An awkward silence fell between the sisters.
When they were adults, they lived their own separate lives. But now that the whole family was living together, frequently seeing each other’s faces even in a small house, conflicts naturally arose more often.
Still, compared to the beginning, their relationship seemed to be gradually improving.
Kang Dae-oh was sufficiently satisfied with just this.
“Oh?”
Kang Yera, who was watching TV, made a surprised expression.
It was because of the interview scene with a victim involved in the fire incident.
Kang Yebin also reacted the same way as Kang Yera, then soon opened her mouth.
“Isn’t that the person unnie helped find their child earlier?”
“I think so.”
Kang Dae-oh and Min Seung-yeon tilted their heads at the two children’s conversation.
“What are you talking about?”
Kang Yebin, on behalf of Kang Yera, recounted how unnie had helped a crying child find their mother at the fire scene.
Min Seung-yeon stroked Kang Yera’s small head.
“That’s so admirable, my daughter.”
Was she happy to be praised by her mother? Kang Yera giggled like a puppy.
At that moment, the child’s mother being interviewed happened to bring up Kang Yera.
“—There was a girl who saved my son Jiwon, but I couldn’t even ask her name. If you’re watching this news, I hope her mother, father, relative, or acquaintance will contact me. I want to at least offer a reward.”
“—Did a child save a child?”
“—Yes. She didn’t look much different in age from my son, but her actions were incredibly mature. It was also that girl who shouted that there was a separate emergency exit, so we should scatter and run that way. If it weren’t for her… this fire wouldn’t have ended as just a minor incident to be easily talked about and moved on from.”
If it hadn’t been for Kang Yera, numerous casualties would have occurred.
The woman said so.
Min Seung-yeon asked Kang Dae-oh.
“Why don’t you try contacting her?”
Before that.
Kang Dae-oh first sought their opinion on what he should do.
Then Kang Yera replied like this.
“No reward is necessary. I just did what I naturally had to do.”
“In that case… Oh, wait a minute.”
Suddenly, Kang Dae-oh’s smartphone rang.
“Oh, Seojun-ah. Someone came to the cafe? ……Really? Alright. I’ll be right there.”
Kang Dae-oh, after finishing the call, looked at Kang Yera and gave a wry smile.
There was a reason he reacted this way.
“It seems it’s impossible to pass this by quietly.”
“……?”
Kang Yera, Kang Yebin, and Kang Yeyoung, the three sisters, tilted their heads simultaneously at their father’s significant remark.
As the news about searching for Kang Yera spread live through the interview, tips poured into the broadcasting station from people who thought they knew who the girl was.
Reporters, having found out Kang Yera’s name and even the information about the cafe her father ran, flocked to the place.
Lee Seojun, deciding it was too difficult to handle alone, eventually had no choice but to call Kang Dae-oh for help.
The reporters wanted only one thing.
An interview.
Min Seung-yeon, who received a call from Kang Dae-oh who was at the cafe, said she understood and hung up.
Kang Yera and Kang Yebin, who were in the living room, asked her.
“What did Appa say?”
“The reporters want to interview us as a group. Appa told me to ask you if you want to do it or not.”
Although she had refused earlier, since the reporters had come all the way to the cafe, Kang Dae-oh decided to reconfirm his daughters’ intentions one more time.
This time too, Kang Yera gave the same answer.
“It’s annoying, and it’s better not to…”
At that moment.
Kang Yebin lightly pinched Kang Yera’s thigh.
“Ouch—! What are you doing!”
“This is why unnie couldn’t get out of being an unknown idol. You’re a foolish unnie. A chance has come, so why are you trying to kick it away yourself?”
“A chance? What kind of chance?”
“This is when you can let people know unnie’s name and face.”
“This isn’t an audition or anything, there’s no real point in doing it…”
“The first step to becoming a celebrity is originally by gradually making your presence known to the public like this. Isn’t that right, Yeyoung-ah?”
As Kang Yebin sought her younger sister’s agreement, Kang Yeyoung kept nodding, indicating that her second unnie had spoken well.
Faced with the active appeal of her two younger sisters, Kang Yera finally raised the white flag and retracted what she had said to Min Seung-yeon earlier.
“That’s what they say, Eomma.”
Min Seung-yeon wore an awkward smile at the sight of her daughters.
The next day.
Kang Dae-oh had separately prepared a spot in his cafe, which was chosen as the interview location.
Numerous reporters hurried to set up their cameras, laptops, and microphones, preparing to interview Kang Dae-oh’s family.
A moment later.
When Min Seung-yeon appeared holding her daughters, the reporters welcomed them with applause.
Min Seung-yeon showed great embarrassment in a situation she had never experienced before.
Kang Dae-oh was the same.
The children, however, maintained a calm reaction, perhaps because they were very used to facing reporters in this situation.
‘If I had known this would happen, I should have asked the kids for advice.’
Kang Dae-oh swallowed a wry smile internally.
As soon as the interview began, questions poured in.
The most frequent questions were about how such cool-headed handling, which even adults couldn’t manage in a crisis, was possible.
To this, Kang Yera simply replied.
“It’s thanks to the safety education I received at kindergarten.”
She couldn’t possibly say that Kang Yebin, who had regressed from the future, had told her, so she simply made something up.
The reporters nodded and said.
“You were very well educated.”
“From Appa’s or Eomma’s perspective, you must be very proud.”
To this, Kang Dae-oh opened his mouth after a long time.
“They are priceless treasures to us, a couple unlike any other in the world. Isn’t that right, Yeobo?”
Kang Dae-oh passed the turn to Min Seung-yeon.
For a moment, Min Seung-yeon was greatly flustered.
Then she suddenly realized that she had been subtly keeping her distance from the children until before the fire broke out.
Daughters from the future.
Seeing the babies who managed everything perfectly on their own even without her care, Min Seung-yeon had once felt a sense of doubt.
But.
If the children hadn’t come from the future.
Would Min Seung-yeon have been able to laugh with her daughters and conduct an interview in front of reporters with her husband, like now?
Perhaps… she might not have.
As soon as Min Seung-yeon saw that the children were safe at the fire scene, she thanked heaven.
From that moment on, Min Seung-yeon finally understood.
Regardless of regression or anything like that.
That simply because they were the daughters she gave birth to, it was enough to love these babies.
Min Seung-yeon smiled with all her might.
And through her husband’s question, seeking her agreement, she finally gave the answer she had been contemplating for a long time.
“More than just treasures.”
In response to their mother’s answer filled with love, Kang Dae-oh and his daughters smiled brightly.
