Her World – 1

The girl who received the ball went back to the slide. Each time her feet touched the playground dirt, fine brown dust puffed up.

Watching it, instead of reminiscing about my childhood, I had the extremely adult thought, ‘That’s going to get all over her socks.’

Thump, thump, thump.

The girl bounced the rubber ball with considerable skill.

The yellow rubber ball repeatedly hit the metal of the slide, sometimes bouncing high, sometimes low, returning to the girl.

“Ah!”

Occasionally, the ball bounced at an awkward angle, rolling back towards me.

Each time, I caught the ball and handed it back to her.

“Thank you.”

The girl greeted me with immature pronunciation. She was a very polite child.

I sat on the bench and watched her play.

I couldn’t help but think it wasn’t a coincidence that I saw Lee Mina’s face in the girl.

At first, I even thought I had died again and moved to a new dimension.

But I dismissed that idea after seeing the scenery around the playground.

Outside the playground, there was nothing. It was a picture of a playground sitting alone in a desolate desert.

Knowing at a glance that it wasn’t normal, I began to think that this place was Lee Mina’s inner world rather than a new world.

Just like Chunhyang peeked into my memories, and my subconscious created worlds and women to reject them.

I had a feeling that this place was created by Lee Mina’s subconscious.

“It’s very alien.”

A playground in the middle of a desolate desert. No other children, only Lee Mina in a lonely playground.

Twee-lee-lee-lee.

A crude electronic melody sounded.

My head reflexively turned at the change that had come after several hours.

Something with an indistinct shape, resembling a person, was pulling a small cart into the playground.

The cart was familiar to me.

Balloons filled with helium, thin cones made of crackers, and a freezer containing soft ice cream that looked sweet and refreshing.

An ice cream cart entered the playground. Making a loud noise.

As the cart entered the playground, the girl stopped bouncing the ball.

“……..”

The cart slowly stopped at my feet, and the girl slowly approached the cart as if hypnotized by the flute sound.

“Hello~”

The owner of the indistinct cart greeted me cheerfully.

I thought I could see a merchant’s characteristic sales smile.

“Ah… yes.”

I was caught off guard and accepted the greeting.

“How about an ice cream for your daughter?”

The ice cream man pointed to the girl, who was close enough to bury her head in the cart.

“Daughter?”

He looked surprised at my question.

“Ah, not your daughter. Your uncle, then? Or older brother? Anyway, how about an ice cream in this hot weather? If you buy one, I’ll give you another one free. Especially, I’ll stack it in three layers.”

He seemed eager to sell the ice cream, continuing to try to sell to me, who was just standing there.

Three layers… that was quite a generous offer.

“……..”

The girl who resembled Lee Mina looked back and forth between me and the cart with sparkling eyes.

Even though I was a complete stranger whom he called ‘uncle’ or ‘older brother,’ the girl didn’t correct him.

“Ah… but, I don’t have any money…”

As I fumbled around to show that I didn’t have any money, I felt the texture of leather in my pocket.

Of course.

I took out money from the wallet that was somehow in my pocket and handed it over.

“Yes~ got it.”

Against the backdrop of cheap electronic sounds, the merchant hummed and opened the lid of the freezer.

He took out a cone and scooped out the soft ice cream with a scoop.

Perhaps because it was the first sale, there were no scoop marks on the ice cream.

“What flavor would the princess like? Chocolate? Strawberry? Vanilla? Or mixed?”

The merchant hummed and asked the girl.

“Mixed, please.”

The girl clearly expressed her wishes.

He scooped up a handful of ice cream and placed it on the cone. Then, he pressed it down firmly with the back of the scoop.

That was the first layer. The second and third layers were quickly added.

A small villa of strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla flavors stood tall on the yellow cone.

A broad smile spread across the girl’s face as she received the ice cream.

“What would you like?”

His gaze turned to me.

“I’ll have all strawberry…”

“Ah, you don’t like it mixed. I understand.”

“Actually…”

“Yes?”

“Could you make it four layers?”

When I shyly held up four fingers, the eyes of the merchant and the girl were fixed on me.

“The service is only up to three layers.”

The merchant was quite firm.

The ice cream vendor driving the cart disappeared suddenly, and the girl and I sat on the bench eating ice cream.

The sweet taste of refreshing strawberries comforted my dry mouth.

While I was cutting off the second layer, the girl barely finished the vanilla on the third layer.

“Thank you.”

The girl said with her mouth covered in vanilla.

“Why didn’t you say I wasn’t your family?”

I asked.

“Because I wanted to eat ice cream.”

I thought she was innocent, but she was quite clever.

“You’re smart, aren’t you?”

“Hehe….”

The girl laughed, taking it as a compliment.

After a short conversation, we focused on eating ice cream again.

The swing swayed forlornly in the wind, and the seesaw creaked from lack of lubrication.

“Do you come to the playground often?”

I didn’t like the silence, so I asked a question.

“I’ve been coming a lot lately. I didn’t come before.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I used to go to academy, but I don’t go to academy anymore.”

I crunched on the end of the crispy cone and observed the girl.

Munch, munch, munch.

The girl moved her legs, which didn’t reach the ground, and shook her head from side to side.

The sweetness seemed to make her feel good.

It took quite a while for the girl to finish the three layers of ice cream.

“Thank you for the meal.”

After snack time, the girl bowed politely.

“Uh… yeah.”

While I was wondering what to do next, the girl took something crumpled from her pocket and gave it to me.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a gift.”

When I opened the bright red thing, there was a chilling message written on it.

[Seized Item Label]

“The men put these stickers on things this time. A lot of them. I’ll give it to you.”

Because you bought me ice cream.

The girl smiled brightly.

I couldn’t bring myself to smile along with her.