chapter_0626

626 – I’m Bad at Lying

626 – I’m Bad at Lying

I hurriedly turned off the television after going up to the ceiling of the house.

Fortunately, since the movie was rated for ages 12 and up, there weren’t any overly violent scenes.

“I-I was so surprised…”

Did the kids look up the clown movie because they were impressed by the clown who gave them balloons?

Of all movies, it had to be a horror film.

If you think about it, most movies featuring clowns are horror films.

“Hey, are you guys okay?”

“Yeah, we’re fine… Huh!”

Levinas, who had been answering normally, suddenly jumped up from his seat.

With his mouth agape, Levinas dashed out of the house without anyone being able to stop him.

“Levinas?”

I followed Levinas outside with the kids.

Since Levinas had taken the elevator down first, I took a different elevator and followed behind.

Thus, we arrived back at the place where the clown was.

The clown was still handing out balloons to the kids from the same spot, while Levinas was watching from a short distance away.

“Levinas, what are you doing here?”

“I’m keeping an eye on the clown!”

“Uh…”

Was he still shaken by the clown he saw in the movie?

The clown in the movie and the one in reality were a bit different.

As I pondered how to explain this, Levinas charged at the clown.

“Yah!”

With a shout, Levinas ran in circles around the clown, stretching his arms out to the sides.

He spun so fast that an ordinary person would have a hard time catching up, but Gaeul followed Levinas closely.

“This is how you keep circling around to confuse him! You must never get caught!”

“Ah…!”

Haneul joined in the spinning, and Bomi, seeming to find it amusing, giggled and ran along.

Saebyeok, who had been watching cautiously, also started jogging around, causing the clown to look increasingly flustered.

The clown raised his hands, appearing bewildered, but he didn’t say a word.

Even in his confusion, he managed to maintain his professional persona.

“I’m sorry, the kids were so happy to receive balloons that they went home and watched a clown movie. But it turned out to be a horror film?”

I whispered this to the clown, and he exaggeratedly gestured as if he understood.

Then suddenly, he flashed a wicked smile without making a sound.

“Ah…!”

“He smiled…!”

The kids froze at the clown’s wickedness.

As a result, their wariness grew even more.

“He’s a bad clown…!”

Levinas clenched his small fist tightly.

Just when I thought he might charge at the clown, the clown crouched down and then jumped up.

Boom-! Pop-pop-!

With a small explosion, colorful balloons floated around the clown.

It seemed like a unique festival magic of the clown.

“Wow!”

Levinas relaxed a bit at the pretty balloons, and Gaeul clapped her hands with wide eyes as if to say, “When did this happen?”

Then the balloons created by the clown began to swirl around the kids.

It was a beautiful magic that made anyone watching feel happy.

It was enough to understand the clown’s kind heart.

“Is the clown a good clown?”

The clown nodded.

“Yes, Levinas saw a scary clown and got confused. I’m really, really sorry.”

He bowed.

Levinas sincerely apologized.

The other kids also placed their hands on their bellies and apologized to the clown.

One of the good things about our kids was that they could reflect on their mistakes and apologize.

“……!”

At the kids’ words, the clown stomped his feet on the ground.

With a huff, he seemed to be getting angry, causing Levinas’s ears to droop down to cover his eyes.

“I’m s-sorry… Levinas is holding out his hand…”

Swoosh-swoosh-swoosh-

Seeing Levinas holding out his hand, the clown began to look flustered.

If he wasn’t angry at the misunderstood Levinas, then surely…

“Levinas, the clown is angry at the fake clown, not you.”

“Ah! Is that what it was?!”

“Yeah. The clown is a good being, but the fake clown made the real clown seem bad, so he got angry.”

At my words, the clown nodded in agreement.

He even threw a punch at the air with an angry expression.

“Fake clown! If Levinas meets the fake clown, I’ll give him a good scolding!”

“Me too…!”

The kids followed the clown’s lead and threw punches at the air.

I was relieved that the misunderstanding seemed to have been cleared up.

**

Haneul learned how to make balloons from the newly made clown friend.

From cats to rabbits.

With her good dexterity, Haneul quickly learned how to make balloons.

“Hehe.”

She wanted to make pretty balloons for her family.

Haneul sat on a park bench, practicing balloon making.

She wanted to repay her family, who made her happy, in this way.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m practicing making balloons… I want to make my family happy with pretty balloons…”

“Huh…?”

Gaeul wagged her tail and watched Haneul making balloons.

Just then, Dahee, a neighborhood friend, came running over in a hurry.

“Haneul! Haneul!”

“Dahee…?”

“I have a favor to ask. Can you help me? Oh, hi Gaeul.”

She seemed rushed but didn’t forget to greet Gaeul.

Haneul liked that about her neighborhood friend Dahee.

“What kind of favor is it…?”

“Our school is participating in a local festival, and we decided to do a play together, but the person who was supposed to handle the equipment is hospitalized.”

“Do you want me to handle the equipment…?”

“Yeah. You’re a machine expert, right?”

A machine expert, huh.

I wasn’t quite at that level.

Haneul smiled awkwardly.

“Are you looking for someone to handle special effects like lighting for the play…?”

“Yeah. Just like I thought. Can you do it?”

“Yes. I think I can manage that…!”

Haneul’s eyes sparkled as she looked back at Gaeul.

Gaeul was making a blank expression at the complicated conversation.

“Gaeul, shall we prepare a wonderful play together…?”

“Gaeul too?”

“Yes, we’ll secretly prepare it and show it to our families…! They will definitely be so happy…!”

“……!”

At Haneul’s words, Gaeul imagined their family being happy about the surprise play they prepared.

Just imagining it made her tail wag.

Gaeul answered with a big laugh.

“Okay. Then I’ll ask you to prepare a role that Gaeul can do. It’s a sudden replacement, so there’s not much time, but I believe Gaeul can do it.”

“Huh…!”

Gaeul imagined herself standing on stage.

More precisely, she imagined her family watching her on stage.

They would surely give her lots of compliments, right?

Gaeul was already starting to feel excited.

**

After becoming friends with the clown, we returned home to rest.

However, something felt off about the atmosphere between Gaeul and Haneul.

“Huh?”

While I was smiling at my family, they exchanged glances and made a shushing gesture.

It looked as if they had a secret just between the two of them.

“Haneul, what was that just now?”

“Y-yeah…? What do you mean…?”

“You just shushed Gaeul.”

“Uh, I don’t know…? I don’t really remember…”

Not remembering, huh.

They had just done that a few seconds ago.

I looked at Gaeul with a puzzled expression.

“Gaeul, didn’t you just shush?”

“Ah, no?”

Gaeul shook her head, denying it.

She seemed to be trying to mumble something.

‘What is it?’

There was definitely something, but why were they trying to hide it?

I quickly moved my head back and forth between the two of them.

“Is it a surprise party or something?”

“Cold!”

At my question, Gaeul smiled brightly and nodded.

Then, realizing she had made a mistake, her eyes widened in surprise.

“Really a surprise party…”

“Chuin!”

Before I could say anything, Gaeul suddenly shouted loudly.

Her sudden action made my ears perk up.

“Why?”

“Chiso! Chiso!”

“Cancel? Are you canceling what you just said?”

“Cold… I didn’t say that.”

‘Chin’ is what Gaeul says when she surprises her family.

I realized a new fact while watching the flustered Gaeul and Haneul.

That Gaeul and Haneul were not good at lying.

“I see. So it wasn’t a surprise party?”

“Y-yeah…! It’s definitely not a party…!”

“Magic…”

Watching the flustered Haneul and Gaeul made me feel playful.

I could understand why Bomi loved to play pranks.

“Okay, but what kind of surprise party is it?”

“Singdaeran…”

“G-Gaeul…!”

When I asked, Gaeul tried to answer without any resistance.

Then, startled, Haneul covered Gaeul’s mouth.

Gaeul’s eyes grew wider as her mouth was covered.

Thinking they were about to get caught, Gaeul waved her arms up and down while looking at me.

“Chuin, Singdaeran na aniya!”

“Uh, yeah…”

Gaeul ran to the toy box and pulled something out.

It was a coin that Levinas had made in the past to use for hypnosis.

“Ju-in, ko~”

Gaeul tried to hypnotize me to make me fall asleep.

Was she planning to turn everything that just happened into a dream?

Gaeul never did this kind of thing to me.

Maybe it was a surprise party that was more important than I thought.

What should I do?

After a moment of contemplation, I finally decided to lie down on the sofa.

Since I had teased Gaeul, I decided to just go along with it.

By the way, Cinderella?

Why was Cinderella having a surprise party?

I was puzzled, but for now, I decided to wait.

A word from the author (Author’s note)

Thank you so much for reading today, PIA1747014585384!

Thanks for the comments and recommendations! They always give me strength!

I met someone with the nickname “Mundeong” while playing a game…

It’s a common nickname, but it caught me off guard…!

───

Thank you, Kim Ipali, for the 200 coin donation!

Thank you, Sosososo, for the 2 coin donation!