Ch.191Epilogue. Perfect Happiness (2)

“As expected, Ms. Juliane’s law school recommendation was canceled.

That’s why Ms. Juliane has been working hard preparing for the entrance exam lately.

Of course, since just sitting and studying would be bad for the baby, even when she complained about her heavy body, I’d force her out for walks.

She says she gave up on her dream of becoming a prosecutor long ago.

In her own words, she wasn’t cut out for it, but it seemed she had decided it would be difficult to live in such a high position while hiding Cuss and me.

Though I felt heartbreakingly sorry, I tried to express gratitude rather than apologies.

Instead, Ms. Juliane is aiming to become a lawyer.

What’s surprising is that despite having nearly two years of experience as an investigator, she’ll still be considered young even after entering law school, graduating, and becoming a lawyer.

She’s an amazing person.

We’re putting in every effort for our daughter’s prenatal education.

Since her severe morning sickness disappeared in early pregnancy, Ms. Juliane’s appetite has increased tremendously.

I mainly cooked meat dishes for her, and she ate so much—nearly twice what she used to eat.

Yet it was astonishing how she barely gained any fat.

I wonder how much our daughter is stealing away.

I’d heard that prenatal education like playing music was considered superstitious.

Ms. Juliane even told me it was like some East Asian mystical practice.

But there was one thing I couldn’t give up.

-Billie Jean is not my lover······

“Ahh······. This is it······.”

I exclaimed with the speaker playing the catchy tune beside me.

It really is good no matter when you listen to it.

I decided to start early education, thinking she should learn to appreciate good music from a young age.

But Ms. Juliane, in her final month of pregnancy, didn’t look pleased at all.

“That song is annoying, could you please turn it off?”

“What?! How dare you call the great Michael Jackson annoying! If I don’t play this timeless classic, what song should I play?”

“Why are you suddenly like this, again······.”

The great Michael Jackson was a hero who kept his promise to return for a concert after Korea’s unification.

When he was resurrected as a hologram and descended upon Pyongyang, Korea was in absolute chaos.

It was truly regrettable that I couldn’t be there in person.

“Turn it off, Jinsoo.”

“Why? It’s good.”

-But the kid is not my son~

“I said turn it off because it’s annoying. Now.”

“······.”

Ms. Juliane gritted her teeth and looked serious.

The lyrics are certainly a bit… problematic.

I couldn’t bear to look at her cold expression and turned off the speaker, feeling deflated.

What a shame.

“Listen to it when you’re older. Your mom hates this song.”

“Hmph······.”

“Hey you. You need to be good to your mom when you’re born. Do you know how much she’s suffering because of you?”

“You should be good to me.”

“Why me?”

“You keep avoiding what I ask for······.”

Ms. Juliane whispered while caressing my waistband.

What’s wrong with her?

“I told you we shouldn’t do it in the last month.”

“But······ you’ve been holding back so much······.”

This is driving me crazy.

She keeps making excuses and begging.

I don’t really feel like it after being forced into five rounds yesterday.

“Just a little bit. Hmm? If we do it gently, it won’t affect the baby.”

“I said no······”

Juliane’s hand slipped into my pants as she leaned in for a kiss.

I reluctantly pressed my lips against hers, exchanging saliva, and immediately got hard.

This is really driving me insane.

Thud!

“Jinsoo! Juliane! Look at this!”

“······?!”

At that moment, the door opened roughly from behind, and Ms. Juliane’s hand quickly withdrew.

“Oh. What is it?”

“Jinsoo······. Please control yourself······.”

“No, no! This isn’t what I······!”

Seeing me leaning over Ms. Juliane, Cuss frowned.

Anyone would think I was some sex-crazed monster who couldn’t wait to pounce on a heavily pregnant woman.

The reality was quite the opposite, but who would ever imagine that?

It was absurd, but I decided to let it go.

“What’s that?”

“I won this stuffed animal at the air gun shooting range! It’s a tiny penguin!”

“Oh. Good job.”

Cuss came running with her black hair flowing, showing off her prize.

We recently dyed her hair black because silver hair was too conspicuous.

When she had silver hair, no matter how many times I looked at her, she never quite felt like my daughter—there was always a sense of distance.

But after dyeing it black, I truly felt that this child was indeed Mari.

“I’m going to give it to my sibling!”

“What······? You’re giving something to someone else······?”

“Jinsoo. What do you take me for?”

Cuss is willing to share with someone else?

For a moment, I was so shocked I checked her forehead for a fever.

Still cool to the touch.

Did she hit her head?

“Strange. You don’t seem injured······.”

“Stop talking nonsense, Jinsoo. More importantly, I’m hungry.”

“Hey. How long has it been since lunch? Ms. Juliane, what would you like for dinner? Tell me anything.”

“Schweinshaxe.”

“What?”

Schweinshaxe?

Is she talking about that German pork knuckle?

I quickly searched on my phone and found there were no restaurants serving Schweinshaxe in this area.

“Haha······. There’s no place that serves it. How about something else······”

“It’s a dish I often ate at my grandmother’s house in Germany, and I really want it right now.”

“Oh······.”

Ms. Juliane cut me off firmly.

Judging by her protruding lips, she seemed upset with me.

Come on, a woman about to give birth is sulking because I refused sex?

Still, if she wanted Schweinshaxe, I had no choice.

I’d have to make it myself.

“Cuss. Stay home and watch the house. I’ll go buy ingredients. You know what to do in an emergency, right?”

“I know. So hurry up and make that German pork knuckle thing or whatever it’s called.”

Cuss answered, drooling.

I’m a bit unsure, but I’ve reminded her many times, so it should be fine.

Even if her water breaks while I’m gone, Cuss should be able to handle it calmly.

“Just wait a bit. I’ll make you the most delicious Schweinshaxe in the world.”

“Hehe. Looking forward to it.”

After a quick kiss with Ms. Juliane and roughly tousling Cuss’s hair with another reminder, I left the house.

Schweinshaxe······.

I’ve only heard of it but never made it before.

Back in prison, some German lunatics once planned a mass escape to steal pigs from a farm to make Schweinshaxe for a festival.

Of course, they were caught during the escape attempt—two were shot dead, and the rest were captured and beaten to a pulp.

I also got the same treatment for following them out of curiosity about the taste of Schweinshaxe.

I remember the Germans mumbling the recipe then.

Of course, their makeshift prison recipe couldn’t be normal, so I needed to find a proper one.

“Ah. It originally uses dark beer.”

I couldn’t help sighing several times while searching for recipes online.

In prison, with no way to get dark beer, they were planning to use urine from a Black inmate who had eaten barley rice.

Back then, everyone slapped their foreheads and gave thumbs up for the brilliant idea, but looking back now, it couldn’t have been more idiotic.

“Pork shoulder and······. Let’s see.”

I went to a distant butcher shop to select the meat.

This place had the best quality and freshest meat in the area.

For a dish for Ms. Juliane, I couldn’t compromise even a little.

The dark beer would be best from a bar a bit further away.

Bzzzzzz······

While selecting the rest of the ingredients at the supermarket, my phone vibrated like crazy.

It was Cuss.

What’s going on?

-Jinsoo! Her water broke! We’re in a taxi now but······

-AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

-As you can hear, she seems to be in a lot of pain.

A loud scream burst through the phone.

Damn. The contractions seem quite severe.

Of all times, when I’m not there······.

“Excuse me! This······ You know that shabby hotel by the beach? Please deliver this there!”

“This meat isn’t even from our shop!”

“Ah! Onegaishimasu!”

“I’m Chinese! Cao ni ma!”

“If you’re an Asian living in Hawaii, you’re an honorary Japanese! Anyway, please deliver this! Here’s a tip! 50 dollars!”

“Arigato gozaimasu!”

I quickly drove toward the maternity hospital.

The traffic was unusually heavy today.

I must have honked the horn every three seconds.

My legs were trembling, and cold sweat dripped from my forehead.

When Mari was born, her head was so big that a C-section was necessary.

Ms. Juliane’s pelvis is unusually wide, so there probably won’t be any issues, but I couldn’t help having ominous thoughts.

What if the pain is so severe she faints?

What if she loses all her strength during delivery?

What if the bleeding is too severe and won’t stop?

With all sorts of worries in mind, I finally arrived at the hospital.

“Damn it······. Why isn’t she answering?”

I kept calling Cuss, but she wouldn’t answer.

What is she doing?

Did she go into the delivery room too?

I went straight to the counter to ask about Ms. Juliane’s location and followed the nurse who guided me.

But damn, she walked so slowly.

I had to suppress the urge to kick her backside several times while walking behind her.

“Push a little more! Last one!”

“AAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

“J-Juliane! My hair feels like it’s being ripped out······!”

I could hear them.

The voices of Ms. Juliane and Cuss.

I hurried past the nurse and ran to the delivery room.

I couldn’t go in right away—I had to be disinfected and fully equipped with a ridiculous hat, gloves, and apron before entering.

“Ms. Juliane!”

“Waaah······! Waaah! Waaaah! Waaah! Waaaah······!”

A powerful cry echoed.

I froze in place.

Cuss was holding the baby wrapped in a white blanket, looking at me.

I’ll never forget that look of wonder on Cuss’s face.

“It’s a healthy baby girl.”

“Ah······.”

As if my soul had been sucked out, I trudged over and took the baby in my arms.

She was a big baby.

No wonder Ms. Juliane, despite her wide pelvis, was in so much pain······.

The crying was so loud it could burst eardrums—truly a future general.

Looking at that wrinkled, ugly face, I couldn’t stop smiling.

“Show me too. I want to see her face. Her face······.”

“Hehe. She’s really ugly.”

“How is this ugly······.”

When I turned to show the baby, Ms. Juliane, completely exhausted and half-dead, burst into laughter.

I carefully handed the baby to Ms. Juliane, who was reaching out.

“She’s so beautiful, really······.”

“What should we name her?”

“Right. A name.”

It’s embarrassing to admit, but we still hadn’t decided on a name for our daughter.

My opinions on naming were completely dismissed.

Apparently, my sense of naming a daughter “Curse” wasn’t needed.

I was just joking then—I’m confident I could come up with a good name if I were serious······.

Anyway, Ms. Juliane had been pondering alone but couldn’t decide until now.

“Ugh······. Maybe I have decision paralysis. Why can’t I decide at all?”

“How about Juliane then? After her mother’s name······”

“No. Absolutely not.”

There’s no need to be so serious······.

Is Juliane really that bad?

If it had been a boy, I would have named him Bob without hesitation.

After my best friend.

Kim Bob. What a majestic sound.

But since I’d already used Mari for my daughter’s name before, it was difficult to come up with another.

“Jinsoo. Juliane. How about Bliss?”

“Bliss?”

“Yes. It means blessing.”

Bliss.

It was certainly a pretty name.

Pretty, but······.

The contrast with Cuss’s name bothered me.

One means curse. One means blessing······.

Damn. That’s badass.

“That’s fucking awesome······? You’re good at naming! Let’s go with Bliss!”

“But Cuss······. Are you okay with it?”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay with it?”

“Still······.”

“It’s decided! Your name is Bliss!”

“Waaah······!”

Bliss.

The blessing of my life.

Today was a day when unparalleled happiness came to us.