episode_0022

“Mom, I’m going to Eunbi’s house to play for a bit.”

From the morning, Da-young spoke to me, who was busy in the kitchen.

“Oh, okay. Have fun and come back. Oh, right. If you’re going to Eunbi’s place, take this with you. I feel bad that you always go there just to eat, so consider it a gift.”

I handed Da-young a jar of kimchi that I had prepared yesterday. Since it seemed like we were often indebted to Eunbi’s family, I asked in advance if they ate kimchi at their house. When they confirmed, I experimented by making fruit kimchi without fermented fish sauce and gave it to Da-young.

Our kids couldn’t handle kimchi with a lot of fermented fish sauce well. Unfortunately, the kimchi my mom sent from our hometown, which had a decent amount of fermented fish sauce, wasn’t their favorite even though they could eat it.

So, while store-bought or occasionally the fruit kimchi made by my ex-wife was well-received, I tried to replicate that taste. It didn’t have the depth of flavor like the one with fermented fish sauce, but it was refreshing and palatable.

“Got it. I’ll pass on the message. See you later then.”

After Da-young left, I got busy again.

It was because today was the first day Da-bin was bringing a friend over. More accurately, it was the first time I was welcoming one of Da-bin’s friends.

Previously, either I had to work on Saturdays or my ex-wife took care of everything, so I didn’t have much to do. It felt like just greeting the friends, watching TV in the living room, taking a nap, and letting them play before leaving. If I had known, I would have prepared a bit earlier.

If it was my guest, I could handle it, but how should I entertain when it’s my child’s guest? Just prepare food, cut some fruits for them to snack on while they play? But Da-bin’s room is small; wouldn’t it be uncomfortable for two of them to play?

Various thoughts kept running through my mind.

“Dad, just relax. Seriously.”

Da-bin reassured me as I seemed uneasy.

“No, why is Dad more nervous about my friends?”

“But what if you make a mistake and it spreads rumors at school?”

With a sigh, Da-bin said, “Oh, there won’t be any issues. It’s not like we’re throwing a huge birthday party; it’s just 3-4 friends. Besides, what can they do? I’m more popular and influential at school.”

What’s this? Is this something a high school senior would say? Influence?

“Anyway, don’t stress too much. You’re making me anxious for no reason.”

“Sorry. And you know I’ll act like Mom in front of them, right?”

“Yes, of course. Oh, should we double-check if there are any missed photos?”

After exercising yesterday, Da-bin and I erased any traces of my ex-wife that might still be lingering around, including all the photos from before my transformation. Given the circumstances of divorced parents, especially with the public perception of my father abandoning the family, I didn’t want any suspicions raised about having my old photos.

“Okay, I’ll quickly run to the convenience store nearby. We’re out of milk, and I need to get some urgently.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

Naturally, I left the house in a casual outfit, hastily putting on a cardigan. Wallet in hand, I headed to the convenience store inside the apartment complex.

“Welcome…”

A young man who seemed to be a part-timer greeted me. Without even waiting for the greeting, I hurriedly grabbed the milk from the refrigerator and headed to the checkout counter.

“Shall I ring this up?”

As if asking if he had picked everything, the young man nodded. Suddenly, my eyes caught sight of the cigarettes displayed behind the young man.

I hesitated. I used to be a smoker before the change, but somehow ended up quitting after my body changed. Maybe it was because of the change that there were no withdrawal symptoms or anything like that. But occasionally, I found myself mentally craving it. Like a habit.

The young man met my gaze, then turned his head following my gaze.

“Oh, would you like some cigarettes?” he asked. For a moment, I almost unconsciously nodded and was about to say ‘Marlboro Red,’ but managed to hold back and shook my head.

“Oh, no. I was just looking. Hehe.”

“Oh, okay… Here you go.”

The young man put the milk in a bag and handed it to me.

I took it and quickly left the convenience store.

“Phew, that was close.”

To regain my appetite and composure, I raised both hands to my cheeks as a gesture, then returned home.

“Mom, the kids are almost here.”

“Oh, really? We need to get ready quickly.”

Saying that, she went into the kitchen and started making pancake batter to serve as a snack. She mixed flour, milk, eggs, and melted butter, stirred well, and stored it in a corner of the refrigerator.

She also prepared the fruits nicely, and by the time she was finishing up…

*Ding-dong.*

The doorbell rang. Looks like the kids have arrived.

*Beep-beep.*

With the sound of the front door opening, a lively chatter could be heard. Then Davin led the kids into the kitchen briefly to greet me.

“Hello.”

There were a total of three people, one of whom I recognized. Well, Davin had already mentioned it, and I had also met Seungyun at school.

“Hello, ma’am. How have you been?”

Seungyun, the only one who knew me from before, greeted me pretending to know me.

“Oh, yes. Seungyun, how have you been?”

“Hehe, I’ve been good.”

“Oh? Seungyun, your face looks red. Are you feeling unwell?”

Worriedly, I asked, but Seungyun shook his head, denying it.

“Oh, no. I’m fine. It’s probably just because it’s hot outside.”

Looking around, it seemed like the other kids’ faces were a bit red too.

Swiftly changing the subject, I asked Davin to introduce the friends.

“Davin, could you introduce your friends?”

Starting from the right, Davin began the introductions.

“Oh, yes. These friends are from the movie club. Seungyun, you said you saw him at school before, right? At first, it seemed a bit awkward, but after talking here and there, it turns out he’s really interested in movies. So I quickly got him involved. Haha. Oh, and next to him is Hyunseung. Shim Hyunseung.”

“Hello. I’m Shim Hyunseung. I’ve been friends with Davin since 2nd grade.”

If Seungyun looked average-sized and appeared to be around 16 years old, Hyunseung was a bit on the chubby side. However, he was tall for his age, probably around 170cm. Nowadays, kids grow so much that it seems like that might be average. Even Davin was around 168cm tall. When they reach high school, they might not be far from around 170cm. Anyway, compared to Seungyun, who gave off a slightly stronger impression, Hyunseung had a gentle demeanor that matched his physique.

“And finally, this friend is Song Yeji.”

“Hello. My name is Song Ye-ji, and I’m best friends with Dabin. But your mother seems really young… Dabin, does your big sister… no?”

Thinking about how to naturally react to that, I tried to act as if I were playing the role of a mom from a recent drama.

“Hahaha, this one. Even if it’s just words, thank you. This one.”

Ah, it was cringeworthy, but I managed to hold back. Well done, me.

Anyway, Ye-ji seemed to give off an overall cute vibe, appearing to be around 155cm tall. Her eyes were round, and she seemed like she had a good personality. And from earlier, it seemed like she was quite interested in Dabin, which made me unconsciously smile.

“Oh… right. Can I speak comfortably to the lady?”

Asking that, the three of us nodded as if it were obvious.

“Yes, nice to meet you like this. I’m Dabin’s future mom. Thank you for coming over to our house today. Let’s have fun. Um… Dabin, will you play in your room? It might be a bit small, is that okay?”

Asking that, Dabin nodded as if it was okay.

“Yes, we’re planning to watch a movie together and discuss it. As long as there’s a place to sit, it should be fine.”

Nodding in agreement, I said, “Hey, why watch on a small screen in that cramped space when we have a TV in the living room? Let’s watch there.”

Saying that, I connected my laptop to the TV to set up for watching the movie.

“Wow… impressive.”

Ye-ji exclaimed, looking at me, and I smiled back at her.

“Most moms haven’t seen someone handle machines like this before. It’s amazing.”

I didn’t expect to receive such admiration for the simple process of connecting a laptop to a TV using an HDMI cable, but thinking back, my ex-wife was completely clueless when it came to these kinds of devices.

“It’s not that difficult, really. Anyway, what movie did you decide on watching?”

At that moment, Dabin came out of the room with a USB and plugged it into the laptop. A video file and a subtitle file appeared. But something was strange; the video file name and subtitle file name were different. SSNI-208? It seemed like a familiar combination of alphabets. Without much thought, I played the video.

“Wait…!”

Dabin hurriedly tried to stop me, but the video had already started playing.

And the familiar intro began. Unintelligible Chinese characters appeared on the flashy screen.

-췐궈 쭈이 따더 메이뉘 루오리아오 지에 다이 쫑씬 샹씨엔 라!

Frantically trying to hit the stop button, I accidentally pressed somewhere near the middle of the playback bar.

-Oh no! What the…!

-Click

Fortunately, I quickly hit the stop button and turned off the video.

However… in that brief moment, a scene of a man and a woman intertwining flashed by, leaving everyone’s faces filled with shock.

I looked at Dabin, trying to gauge his expression, but he was already pale with panic.

Dabin, why on earth did this happen?

This is… a major disaster.

Oh, how do we even begin to fix this situation?