episode_0000

In a cafe in Sindosi.

I came here for work with my laptop for a moment.

“Vroom~!”

“Kyarr! Kyarr! Try to catch me~!”

The cafe was already as crowded as a market due to the children.

I tried to continue typing somehow, but after about 30 minutes passed without any sign of calming down, I went to the counter and spoke to the young man who seemed to be the owner.

“Excuse me, could you please quiet down these kids here? It might be a nuisance, but I’m in the middle of important work. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to calm down even after 30 minutes…”

The young man looked embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, sir. You were very noisy, right? I’ve asked those kids’ parents several times to quiet them down, but they just won’t calm down. But I can’t do much more forcefully…”

Of course. Because it’s Sindosi, the power of the cafe’s atmosphere is strong. I thought I might get into trouble if I complained unnecessarily.

“Then let me go and talk to them, please understand even if there’s a disturbance.”

Saying that, I approached where four women who seemed to be the mothers of the children were sitting.

How did I know? Well, they just looked like it. The only place where four women dressed like me were sitting together.

“Excuse me.”

As I approached them and spoke, the eyes of the women who were laughing and chatting loudly turned towards me.

“What’s the matter?”

The woman who seemed most nervous among them asked me nervously.

“I’m sorry, but could you please quiet down the kids? It’s a shared space for everyone…”

Before I could finish my sentence, the woman immediately retorted.

“No, kids can be like that sometimes. How much can they make noise by shouting! Right, Ahyoung’s mom?”

“Well, yeah. How can a young woman like you lack consideration like this? Just got married, huh? Living with people is like this. Since I’m an adult, I give advice and all that!”

Like a well-rehearsed script, they smoothly connected their arguments, momentarily dizzying me, but I regained my composure and countered.

“No, um…. I’ve been working here for 30 minutes due to work, it didn’t quiet down so I came here. If parents pay a little attention, what’s wrong with the kids?”

“Oh, really. Unbelievable. Hey! How old are you! Talking back to adults like that?! Someone who hasn’t raised a child. Huh? Raise a child too, everyone lives like this! Huh? Instead of just showing a little consideration, why do you have to act so selfishly?”

Ah, they seemed like the young punks I had only heard about. They looked like they were barely in their mid-30s at best.

Nevertheless, regardless of my mood, the four mom-zombies proudly displayed their fantastic harmony and bombarded me with all sorts of nonsense.

In the end, I couldn’t hold back… I exploded.

“Hey, age? Thirty-nine. You mom-zombies! Have you raised a child? I have a high school daughter and a middle school son right now. Where did you learn to act so uncivilized at your age! Is having children a job? In my time, huh? I could hardly eat out because I was afraid the kids would cause a scene, why is it like this now?! Nowadays, huh? Can’t you keep them quiet by just giving them a smartphone, is that why we’re in this situation now? Don’t campaign using raising children. Kids aren’t like promissory notes that allow you to behave like this!”

That day, the wind that started from the post the CEO uploaded to a male-dominated community heated up the internet for a while.

The title of that post was ‘Concept-loving Shinchonji Mom-Zombie’.

Since that day, I became a legend among the male store owners in the neighborhood.

But do they know that I was a father of two children, including a daughter.