episode_0037

On the way to the cafe with Dayoung.

“Oh, I need to use the restroom.”

Suddenly, a signal came from my bladder. Considering I had just eaten spicy chicken stir-fry and finished a venti-sized Americano, it was strange that the signal hadn’t come earlier.

“Should I go with you?”

Dayoung suggested, but I shook my head. She didn’t seem desperate to pee, and since it seemed common for girls to go to the restroom together, I thought it would be better to go alone.

“No, you go ahead to Davin. Apologize in advance if possible. Got it?”

Dayoung frowned but reluctantly nodded as I insisted.

“Okay.”

I sent Dayoung ahead and headed to the restroom. The urge was stronger, probably due to the sudden signal. I hurried into the restroom.

“Oops!”

“What’s wrong?!”

Oh, it’s the men’s restroom. It must be because it was my first time going to a public restroom from outside, so my body naturally headed to a familiar place.

“Oh, sorry!”

I quickly left the men’s restroom and entered the women’s restroom.

“Phew, that was close.”

I narrowly avoided a mishap. Would it have been a crime if this had caused a problem nowadays? Well, some people do make a fuss about such things. I doubt anyone would press charges, though.

Anyway, feeling a bit startled, the signal from my bladder intensified.

“Uh… I need to go in quickly.”

Saying that, I entered an empty stall, quickly pulled down my pants and underwear, and sat on the toilet.

– Sigh.

“Phew….”

I barely made it. Would I have leaked if I had waited a little longer?

After finishing up, I opened the door and left. I washed my hands and headed back to the cafe. As I arrived at the cafe entrance and opened the door, I saw…

– Bam!

“Ouch!”

– Crash! Bang!

“Get lost, damn it!”

Dabin was crouched down, being stepped on by three boys.

“Ah! Let go of this!”

“No way! You let go first!”

“Jung Dayoung, are you completely crazy?!”

Dayoung was grappling with two girls, while the leader of the group, maybe Oh Yeon, watched Dayoung being bullied by the others and casually recorded a video on her phone.

A few steps away, a female clerk looked on helplessly, furrowing her brow. People around, seemingly intrigued, did nothing to intervene but kept their phones focused on the scene.

What on earth is happening here?

I was trying hard to figure out the situation when suddenly the cafe door behind me opened, and someone entered.

– Whish!

“Stop right there, everyone!”

With a whistle, someone shouted loudly. When I turned around, it was the police. He swiftly entered, subdued the male students bullying Dabin, then instructed the policewoman who followed him to organize Dayoung and the female students. The scene was quickly brought under control.

As the police tried to lead the kids out of the cafe, I quickly grabbed the policeman’s wrist.

Startled, he jerked his hand away.

“Oops!”

He looked surprised as he turned to face me, his wrist sore from my touch.

“Are you okay?”

It was so sudden that I couldn’t say anything to explain why I touched him.

“Um… I’m sorry.”

“Ahem, anyway, what’s going on here?”

His voice sounded a bit suspicious, but that wasn’t important right now.

“Um, those kids you’re taking are the ones who were fighting earlier. Can you please explain what’s going on?”

Then, as if he understood why I caught him, he said, “Ah!” and then shook his head as if not understanding immediately.

“Um… If you were here, wouldn’t you know more about the situation than we do…?”

His question was valid, and I needed to explain about it.

“Well… I just came into the cafe. Right after that, the police officer came in.”

Is it really a police officer? He definitely looks older than me. Maybe in his late twenties? But since there was no other way to address him, I called him that.

“Ahem, it’s Officer Kim Daecheol, not sir.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Anyway, I’m also not sure about the situation right now…”

It felt apologetic to call someone who clearly looked older than me “sir,” so I quickly apologized.

“So, should we accompany each other for now since you mentioned being a guardian?”

“Oh, yes…”

We should stay here for now since there are no parties involved and we can’t assess the situation. Following Officer Kim’s suggestion, we decided to accompany each other for now.

With eight kids, another patrol car came to support, but there wasn’t enough space, so we decided to have Davin and Dayoung ride in my car.

Inside the moving car.

“So, what happened? Why were you guys fighting like that?”

In any case, our kids fought intensely, and although they might be treated as victims due to receiving more blows, it was essentially mutual assault. If they decide to press charges, it would likely turn into a countercharge situation. Anyway, it was a violence incident outside of school, but if we don’t reach an agreement today, the school might take disciplinary action. So, we needed to find out the exact details. That way, I could use my connections nearby to help in some way.

“Th-that’s…”

Davin was cautious with his words. Looking at Dayoung, she shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.

“I don’t know. When I went in, Davin was getting into a fight with those guys, and I tried to stop him but got involved, and then they… no, those guys started fighting with us.”

As Dayoung recalled the situation, her emotions seemed to intensify, her words becoming harsh before quickly correcting herself.

“Yeah. So, Davin. Why did you fight?”

But Davin still didn’t speak up.

As a parent, I want to trust my child, and since I’ve never been involved in this kind of issue before, I believe there must be a reason for his actions.

But to handle the situation appropriately, I needed to know why he fought so that we could proceed accordingly. In any case, Davin had to open up for the story to progress.

“Ugh… well…”

He seemed to want to say something but hesitated.

Why is Davin holding back his words so much? What could have triggered him to resort to violence when he’s usually rational in such situations?

Anyway, he’s my child. They say children reflect their parents, right? If something made me that angry, what could it be? Thinking about it, primarily, it would involve family.

In fact, there was a time when I neglected my family due to work, and even though it might feel awkward to say this, considering I was the only one working in the household and got married early at 22, I lived a busy life.

Since my ex-wife got pregnant with Dayoung first and we married in violation of speed limits, I worked part-time during my university years to support the family. After graduating and getting a job, I focused solely on work.

Anyway, looking back, I realize I may not have been able to do much, but my intentions were always for the sake of the family.

So, I cautiously speculated that Davin’s trigger might lie there and asked.

“Did they even curse at me? They might do that since they’re not on good terms with Dayoung.”

Upon hearing that, Dayoung also blinked and asked Davin.

“Hey, really? Those bastards… No, did those guys really curse at Dad?”

Whether that statement was correct or not, Davin kept silent quietly.

“These crazy bastards? Hey, what did they say?”

Dayoung’s voice seemed less angry than usual.

“No, I don’t know.”

“Hey, Jung Davin!”

It seems like it must have been a very harsh curse. So, in their own way, they must be keeping their mouths shut like that, thinking they were considerate of me. But it’s obvious what kind of words they said would be about my appearance. Since we just met each other today, how could they curse at me? In the end, it must have been a story about plastic surgery or something.

Why, isn’t there a scene like that often in dramas? Since I could predict such a typical pattern right away, it became boring. Well… what’s that. Of course, from the child’s perspective, they can’t just overlook their parents being cursed at. They will be very angry. As much as Davin got angry like that, I’m thankful, but if because of that, red lines are drawn in Davin’s life or if he gets disciplined at school, I think I’ll have a harder time.

So, I tried to scold him not to do that next time, but Davin ended up opening his mouth due to Dayoung’s persistent questioning.

“Oh, those crazy bastards are making sexual jokes! Saying they want to see Mom’s breasts once, or that Sister’s bra size is big, thinking they’ll grow up like Mom later, so they should try it now! So, I grabbed them by the collar first, got it?!”

Davin’s rough breathing could be heard clearly.

And at the moment of Davin’s bombshell statement, neither I nor Dayoung could say anything, stunned.

What, what? Bra size? Are these words suitable for 17-year-olds? Is this what Korean high school students use? Glancing back, it seems Dayoung is getting increasingly red with anger.

But is he angrier than me? Like a film suddenly cut off, I opened my mouth, forgetting where I was in front of the kids.

“These damn bastards, have they gone mad….”

How dare they say something about my daughter? Then why did they make my son’s face like that?

I was so angry that I immediately opened my phone and made a call somewhere.

These damn bastards. I won’t let them get away with this.