Chapter 6 : The Expression She Never Shows Me (3)

I arrived at K Station thirty minutes earlier than the appointed time.

A sad habit left over from life as a corporate worker, always stuck in a subordinate position.

[Ah! A matched daughter has appeared within 10M!]

[What will you do? Greet her / Fight / Run away]

I stared blankly at my phone.

This damn Pringles can of an app.

Putting aside the disrespect of describing clients like wild Pokémon… contrary to what PapaBot said, there was no girl in sight ahead.

Then it happened.

A warm breeze brushed against the edge of my ear.

“…Dad.”

A crisp whisper.

Startled, I immediately turned around.

“Ahaha. Surprised you?”

Maybe I’d held some prejudices.

I thought the kind of people who used this service would all be gloomy or insecure about their looks.

But it was the exact opposite.

She was a beautiful girl with distinctive olive-colored highlights in her hair.

Innocent, yet lively in that unmistakable way only someone her age could be.

She held up her phone with the [Rental Papa] app open, giggling softly.

She had just come from school—wearing her uniform and carrying her backpack.

It was a cropped version, showing her belly—something unimaginable in my past life.

But in this gender-reversed world, society is fairly tolerant of female exposure.

As a backlash to this reversal, women in Islamic regions now wrap themselves in barely a single layer over their chest and lower body.

Anyway, back to the point.

Of course, I was startled by the way she leaned in and spoke right by my ear.

But that wasn’t what truly shocked me.

For a while, I couldn’t speak at all.

‘She looks like my wife!’

I couldn’t say anything about her personality, but her appearance—she resembled my late wife.

Unlike her younger sister, who had very different features.

For a moment, I thought the woman from those old days—the one who used to go to and from school with me—had returned.

[New data for Cho Sewon has been registered in the app!]

Damn.

My jaw clenched on its own.

Of all people, why did this girl have to request a scenario where she’s the daughter of a father who lost his wife ten years ago and raised his daughter alone?

Is it really just coincidence?

Or some cruel joke?

I was so confused, I nearly selected [Run away].

“Nice to meet you, customer. I’m Joo Yeonho from the [Rental Papa] service. I apologize for noticing you so late.”

I grabbed onto the fraying edge of my mind.

Since there didn’t seem to be any specific protocol for [Rental Papa],I instinctively spoke in the stiff tone I used with coworkers.

“It’s okay. Still… it’s really real. I mean, renting a dad…”

Sewon scratched her lower cheek with her finger as she spoke.

That, too, was a mannerism just like my wife’s—an unconscious habit she had when embarrassed or lying.

“Haha… yeah. It’s hard to trust something just from the internet or an app, I guess.”

Actually, even now, I don’t exactly trust [Rental Papa].

But I didn’t show it and continued speaking.

“As scheduled, the [Rental Papa] service will run for the standard four hours. I will act as your father for those four hours, Miss Sewon. Understood?”

“Yup! Got it.”

Sewon smiled warmly and accepted it.

She had expressive facial expressions and rarely showed any dislike.

Some girls in this reversed world were rather aggressive toward men.

But Sewon seemed far from that type.

Well, whatever her circumstances, she probably just wanted to experience having a father.

She likely had the kind of nature that made people love her without even trying.

To someone like me—who often gets misunderstood because of my lingering sense of values from my past life—her personality was something to be envious of.

With a character like hers, I figured the four hours might pass by smoothly.

Relieved, I quietly sighed with relief inside.

Ding.

The [Rental Papa] app timer activated.

[Timer 03:59:56]

From this moment, a temporary father-daughter relationship had been established between me, Joo Yeonho, and Miss Sewon.

Now that the “Papa-katsu” had begun, I found myself unsure of what to do.

Even though I’d spent the past two days thinking hard about it.

5 p.m. was too early for dinner.

Heading straight to a restaurant seemed thoughtless.

‘I wish I could find something to kill more time.’

But we weren’t going to waste time in a karaoke room or a comic café like some dating couple.

This wasn’t a date, after all.

It’d be nice if we could do something more fitting for a father and daughter.

Before I could suggest anything, Sewon spoke up.

“Dad, come to think of it, that rose park near the station looks really pretty.”

Switching to daughter mode, Sewon used informal speech.

The unexpected suggestion came gently from her lips.

There was a neighborhood park near K Station.

Though nicely landscaped, it was a bit off the main path and not very popular.

In fact, since it was surrounded by bars, it was considered unsafe at night—from a man’s perspective, obviously.

There had also been news that, thanks to the warm weather, roses were blooming earlier this year.

By now, K Neighborhood Park was probably in full bloom.

“…….”

Should I just agree with her?

With my long experience as a corporate entertainer, flattery came easy.

There were even seniors who burst out laughing when they saw me do it.

But somehow, flattering my “daughter” felt like an NG move, so I answered cautiously.

“Shall we stop by on the way?”

“Hehe. You figured out I wanted to go, huh? Yes, Dad, would you take me?”

Thankfully, I dodged a landmine.

Looking satisfied, Sewon clasped her hands together.

She looked like a textbook example of perfect communication, complete with imaginary subtitles.

“Isn’t that heavy? Sewon, want me to carry your backpack?”

The backpack she was wearing bulged noticeably at the sides.

It must be full of books or study materials.

Probably she packed it for review and prep since it’s the weekend.

A diligent student.

“—Huh? The bag? Why?”

Sewon tilted her head, genuinely confused.

Is it really that strange for a parent to help carry their child’s bag?

“What do you mean why? I’m trying to carry it for you.”

“You, Dad…? Ah, here, here you go.”

She hesitated for a moment, then handed the bag over.

She briefly had a strange expression, but quickly replaced it with a soft smile.

I slung the schoolbag over one shoulder and started leading the way to the neighborhood park.

***

As expected, K Neighborhood Park was full of roses.

The sweet scent was almost dizzying.

The most impressive feature was the rose tunnel, made by training rose vines over wires for years.

Red roses.

Yellow roses.

Pink roses.

A colorful entrance formed by roses, each with their own meaning.

“Dad, let’s go in there!”

Sewon, excited, pointed toward the rose tunnel.

Seeing her so cheerful made me smile without realizing it.

I felt a little embarrassed that I had doubted the integrity of [Rental Papa].

It really felt like spending time with my actual daughter.

Well, if I did the math from my own life, a high school daughter would be way too early.

“A real daughter, huh…”

Why was I thinking about something that’ll never happen again?

My mouth tasted bitter.

I smacked my lips for no reason.

“The roses… they’re amazing. So pretty~ Should I pick a few and decorate my room with them?”

She reached out toward the metal rods entwined with rose vines.

Just before her fingers touched the flowers, I instinctively spoke up.

“Don’t touch that.”

My warning came out in a slightly low voice, and ‘my daughter’ looked at me, puzzled.

I quickly covered my mouth, realizing my mistake.

Yikes, I must’ve subconsciously overlapped this with a past incident.

I forced a smile and tried to smooth over the awkwardness.

“You might get pricked by the thorns. They’re tougher than you think.”

“Really? You always worry so much, Dad.”

She’s a good kid.

Without showing any annoyance, she ad-libbed along with me.

The perfect companion for a trial version like this.

If this were a dating sim, she’d be the ultra-sweet, low-difficulty heroine meant to help out beginners.

I was impressed by the AI PapaBot’s ability to select matches.

[Timer 02:43:08]

I glanced at the timer on the smartphone app.

We’d already spent over an hour in that small park.

We sat on a bench for a bit.

‘Maybe I should suggest getting dinner soon.’

I’m not the one paying for the meal.

It’s not even included in the one-time rental fee.

The other party pays for it entirely.

Even if it weren’t a clause in [Rental Papa]’s terms, in this world, there’s a widespread notion that women who split the bill with a man are stingy.

Still, I don’t have the nerve to expect an expensive meal.

Since the client is an 18-year-old student, I looked up a reasonably priced restaurant in advance.

“Dad, want to open the bag?”

Sewon pointed to the schoolbag I was holding in front of me.

So that’s why it felt overly stuffed.

Inside was a lunchbox wrapped in a floral cloth.

“A lunchbox?”

“Yeah. You’ve been eating out all the time lately, right? That’s bad for your health. So I made this for you. Hahaha…!”

I opened the lunchbox without a word.

The thought that maybe she packed it just to save on dinner costs melted away like snow once I saw the contents.

A simple yet lovingly prepared meal.

Even though my head had already been a bit foggy, a sharp ringing sound filled my ears, and a certain scene came to mind.

“Someone stole your lunchbox?”

“That’s what happens when you’re not manly enough. Geez.”

“Here. I made this for you, so eat it. Who else is gonna take care of you if not me?”

Why did you leave me behind?

If you’d been here, no matter how miserable I was, I wouldn’t have done something like this.

The truth is, I don’t want to love or be loved by anyone but you.

Just like you said… I really am not much of a man.

Without realizing it, tears started rolling down my cheeks.

They slid down my face and fell onto the lunchbox.

I showed an expression I’d never let anyone see—not even when things were hard—except for my wife.

“Why are you crying?”

Flustered, Sewon briefly dropped her daughter act.

“Sorry. No, I mean… sorry. I just suddenly thought of my wife… I’m okay now.”

“…Are you really okay, Dad? Wanna touch my chest?”

Hack.

The tears instantly dried up.