Whining

Whining

I’m not a baby so I’m not sure, but.

Babies have a habit of running together when the baby in front of them starts running.

So when Jin-ah, the child in front, started running, Chae-a and Yu-na started running for no reason too.

I was bewildered watching the babies suddenly start running away.

Ha-eun had to quickly follow them, as the little ones could have gotten lost.

The place they arrived at was a resting area in the middle.

It was a space where they could rest, with a bench like before.

The four of us were exhausted from running, so we lay down on the bench and stared blankly at the sky.

Chae-a, who was panting, sat up and asked Jin-a a question.

“Hey, what’s ‘hagwon’?”

“Hagwon? Oh, academy. Hmm, how should I explain it?”

Jin-a crossed her arms and thought for a moment, then told Chae-a how scary academies are.

“Once you go in, you can’t leave freely, you can’t play, they only teach boring things… And you have to sit for a long time, and you can’t bring animals.”

Hearing this, Chae-a’s expression showed extreme shock as she opened her mouth.

She continued to show disbelief as she spoke.

“Scary…”

Then she shriveled up, tightly held my hand, and curled up.

As I was patting Chae-a’s back to comfort her,

Yu-na, who had been listening, spoke with a somewhat indifferent expression.

“Yu-na knows a similar place.”

“Really? Where?”

“It’s cold and dark. And it’s full of ice, so you can’t get out.”

Hearing this, Jin-a tilted her head and said,

“Are you talking about a freezer?”

“…?”

It’s similar but a bit different.

I thought if the conversation got any deeper, Jin-a might learn things she shouldn’t know, so I changed the subject appropriately.

“But are you going to keep running away?”

It was a fundamental question.

If Jin-a were an adult, it might be understandable.

But for a 7-year-old child, not returning home wasn’t an option, so I asked this question.

Jin-a’s expression hardened as she lay down on the bench again and said to me.

“I don’t know! I’m going to live here.”

At those words, I smiled awkwardly and turned my gaze away.

Usually, people who speak so stubbornly need time rather than persuasion in most cases.

‘So for now, just…’

I was thinking it would be better to just watch over her for now.

Jin-a looked up at the sky and sighed.

“I don’t want to go to academy… It’s not fun.”

“It’s scary.”

“Yes, it’s scary too.”

If I left her like this, it seemed like Chae-a might start crying, saying it’s scary.

As I was stroking Chae-a’s head to comfort her, suddenly raindrops started falling from the sky one by one.

Thinking it was my mistake for not checking the weather forecast, I looked around.

But as I couldn’t see any place to take shelter from the rain, I was starting to panic.

Somteol and Kkamang-i, who came along with us, jumped up and down and pointed to one side while speaking to us.

“Beep!”

“Meung!”

It was a cry indicating that there was a place to take shelter from the rain over there.

Hearing their cries, I quickly gathered the children and pointed to the place Kkamang-i and Somteol had shown us.

“Let’s go over there!”

With those words, we started running forward, trying to avoid getting wet in the rain as much as possible.

*

A small cave.

In fact, it wasn’t really a cave since it wasn’t hollowed out inside, so it would be more accurate to call it a small space with a stone roof.

Anyway, since it looked similar to a cave, we decided to call it a cave and looked around.

‘It would be best to stay here until the rain stops.’

If it really seemed dangerous, we could call for help or ask Kkamang-i and Somteol for assistance.

For now, it seemed best to wait and see, so I crouched down on the dirt floor.

Jin-a looked at us and sighed, then said.

“I’m sorry, babies. Because of me…”

She seems to think this happened because of her.

I shook my head and told her it wasn’t true, but she didn’t seem to want to listen and started to look very depressed, pulling her legs together.

“I should have just gone to the academy. I should have just endured it myself.”

Feeling a bit sorry for her when she said she should have just endured it herself, I was about to pat her shoulder when.

Yu-na shook her head with an expressionless face and spoke.

“No, it’s not good to hold it in. If you hold it in, it hurts here. So you shouldn’t hold it in.”

Yuna, with her tail lowered to the floor dejectedly, pressed her palm against her chest.

Soon after, she perked up her ears and said to Jin-a.

“You know?”

At those words, Jin-a chuckled and nodded, saying.

“I understand. But adults often have to endure even when it’s hard, so I’ll do it depending on the situation.”

“I see.”

“Still, it’s good advice. Thank you.”

It was somewhat complex and subtle to hear a 7-year-old talking about adults like that.

But since it wasn’t wrong either, I just nodded silently.

Jin-a, who was staring blankly at the rain, asks one question.

“What are your dreams?”

The first to answer that question was Yuna.

“I want to have a warm home.”

“Home?”

“Yes. I don’t like cold places. And I think it would be nice if we could all live together. Ha-eun, Chae-a, Seo-rin unnie, A-rin unnie, Somteol, and Kkamang…”

Apparently, Yuna seemed to dislike the cold, probably because she had been trapped in ice for a long time.

I carefully held Yuna’s hand, trying to show her that it’s okay because I’m here.

This time, Chae-a stands up and confidently says.

“Chae-a wants to have a big house like this! Then I can live with the bugs, right?”

“Bu, bugs?”

“Mmm. Bugs are cute.”

Jina’s expression suddenly hardens, as if she dislikes bugs.

While I’m giggling at Jina’s expression, she says something that’s not easy to brush off.

“You all want to have a home. Don’t you have homes? Why is everyone’s dream to have a home?”

That question about why everyone’s dream is to have a home.

Actually, since I’m also aiming to have a home, I feel conflicted inside.

I’m not sure what Chae-a and Yuna are thinking.

Based on my thoughts, I wondered if it’s because we don’t have a place we can call home yet.

‘The hospital room and the lair… don’t feel like home.’

It’s more like a temporary lodging that we’ll have to leave someday.

We’ve grown attached and fond of it, but.

I sometimes felt anxious because of the thought that we couldn’t live here forever.

‘If I feel this way, Chae-a and Yuna might feel it even more strongly.’

While I was thinking that this psychology might be reflected in the dream of wanting to have a home.

Chae-a spoke to Jina with a somewhat proud expression.

“Yeah. Chae-a doesn’t have a home!”

At those words, Jina speaks to us with an expression of complete incomprehension.

“Why don’t you have a home? Then where do you live? Do you live outside?”

“We live over there!”

“Hey? Isn’t that place only for adults to enter?”

It was simple curiosity without any malice.

Thinking it was a bit heartbreaking, I smiled bitterly and was about to answer on their behalf.

But Chae-a answered somewhat boldly.

“Ha-eun and Chae-a and Yuna are okay! Because everyone except Ha-eun is an adult…!”

“?”

Hearing that, Jin-a went ‘hmm’ and then nodded, saying.

“Okay, I’ll believe you.”

“Thank you!”

“So is it nice in there? I want to go too, but they say I can’t enter.”

To that question, Chae-a flapped her hands and said with a very happy expression.

“It’s really great!”

“Really? I’m jealous. I want to go there instead of the academy. Then when I come to play later, I’ll go in there…”

Before Jin-a could finish speaking, a loud voice calling “Jin-a!” echoes from far away.

Wondering what it was, I looked ahead and saw a woman running towards us in the rain, which made me realize it was time to part ways soon.

“Mom’s here…”

Jin-a seems to be thinking similarly to me, sighing and getting up from her seat.

As I stare blankly at Jin-a, she waves her hand and walks briskly into the rain, giving a brief greeting.

“Then see you later. I’ll go first.”

As we wave back, I think we should head back to the association soon too.

In the distance, I can see Jin-a shouting “Mom!” loudly.

‘Kids will be kids.’

As I was thinking how cute that scene was and chuckling, just about to leave.

I noticed Yuna and Chae-a blinking as they stared at that scene.

Thinking they might be envious of seeing parents coming to find their children, I was about to say something.

“Ha-eun! Chae-a! Yuna!”

I see Seo-rin and Han A-rin waving at us and running towards us from far away.

At that sight, Chae-a and Yuna’s expressions visibly brighten, and they start waving back.

Realizing that they must have been secretly envious of such things even if they didn’t show it, I decided to try harder to fill these gaps for them in the future.

‘I’ll have to put in more effort.’

As I was pondering how to fill those gaps while crossing my arms.

Seo-rin approached us and poked each of our cheeks in order, saying.

“We were worried about you.”

At those words, Yuna’s eyes sparkled as she asked Seo-rin again.

“How much did you worry?”

Seo-rin seemed a bit taken aback by Yuna’s question, but soon slowly opened her mouth.

“Very, very much…?”

Yuna seemed satisfied with Seo-rin’s answer and nodded, then hugged me, looking a bit happier.

Though it doesn’t show much on her face.

I think she’s more attached to the people around her than me and Chae-a, and as I was thinking this, Han A-rin looked at us and said.

“Shall we go home then? Let’s go wash up and eat. I’ll buy you something delicious. And I have some good news to tell you too.”

I tilted my head at the mention of good news.

It seemed Han A-rin thought it wouldn’t do, so she told me.

“It’s been decided that you can now stay somewhere other than the hospital room.”

Hearing those words, Chae-a opened her eyes wide and said to me.

“Like Beaver oppa, we’ve been kicked out of home…”