episode_0002

“Woo, space~above… ! Where are we going? If I go out on my own, my grandfather will scold me… !”

“It’s okay, if you go quickly, grandpa won’t even know!”

“But, still, grandpa is scary… .”

“If you get scolded, I will scold you instead, just trust me. And Aki, it’s stuffy when you stay inside, isn’t it?”

“Ah, uh… .”

I didn’t know much at the time because Aki said he was my grandfather, but I found out later that Aki’s grandfather was a man named ‘Fujiwara Kenichiro’ who was the Japanese ambassador to Korea. And the Japanese ambassador to Korea was a shortcut to a key position in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is equivalent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea.

To put it simply, the person who would become a very high-ranking person was Aki’s grandfather, and I had the confidence to say that I would scold him instead.

It’s a shame that I didn’t know that when I was 6 years old. If I had known, I wouldn’t have been able to take Aki out and we wouldn’t have been able to get close to him so easily.

No, even if I actually knew, ‘Japanese ambassador to Korea? ‘What is that?’ I think the result would have been the same. Anyway, at the time, I had no way of knowing such a complicated situation, and I just wanted to go out with a pretty girl, so I secretly left the Japanese Embassy in Korea holding Aki’s hand.

The destination is a nearby amusement park.

When I was young, I loved going outside and playing with my friends. Thanks to that, I knew the geography around my house well, and I also knew that there was a playground that few people visited just a short distance from the Japanese Embassy in Korea.

The reason I chose a playground that wasn’t frequented by many people was a decision based on a bit of selfishness and an honest desire to play alone with a pretty girl.

Of course, if I said something like that to Aki now, I would never say it because it would be obvious that she would make fun of me and say something like, ‘You really liked me from then on~?’

“Now, here it is!”

Anyway, 6-year-old me stood at the entrance to the park, stretched out my chest, and spoke to Aki.

“Universe~Sang, what are we doing here… … ?”

“Huh? It’s a playground. Are there any playgrounds in Japan?”

“Oh, it was a playground… ! Yes, there are playgrounds in Japan too. But I didn’t know it was a playground because there were no people.”

“Really? Aren’t there usually a lot of people in the playground?”

“No, when I was in Japan, there were a lot of people at the playground. From here to the end, it was full of kids who came out to have fun?”

“Wow, really? I’m so jealous. My friends don’t show up when they touch their phones. I also want to go and live in Japan.”

“Wooju~san, do you want to come to Japan to play later? I’ll take you to a playground with lots of friends!”

“Really? Is it real? You won’t later say it was a lie?”

“Ugh, I won’t lie. Because Woo-sang is a close friend of mine… … .”

As if shy, as if embarrassed. Aki cooed, her cute face slightly blushing.

I couldn’t understand everything because the translator couldn’t recognize the voice that was too quiet, but I definitely heard ‘Ugh.’ I smiled brightly and gently took Aki’s hand.

“Aki, I promised. Don’t forget that you decided to play with me at the playground later, okay? Oh, no. You can’t just say it with words. Aki, do you have a cell phone?”

“Mobile phone? Yes, there is, but not now. Why?”

“Really? Then tell me your cell phone number. I’ll contact you later when I go to Japan!”

“Oh, wait a minute. My number is… … .”

“… … Okay, I saved it. Now let’s go play!”

“Ugh, but what are we doing playing… ?”

“Aki, is there something you want to do? A swing or a seesaw ride?”

“Me? I… … .”

Aki looks around the playground, which looks like a good place to roam around as there are no people around, and then glances at a chair that looks perfect for two small children to sit on.

“Aki, do you want to sit down? Do your legs hurt?”

“My legs don’t hurt… … . I want to sit there and play house.”

“Playing house? Isn’t that something girls do together?”

“Ugh, but I… … . Ooh, I think it would be nice to do it with Uju~san. … … No?”

“… … .”

It’s not just me, it’s the same for all boys, but I can’t refuse a request that a girl my age makes with bright eyes.

“… … okay? okay. Then let’s play house together.”

“Oh, really? Wooju~san, thank you… !”

So I answered right away without much hesitation, and after receiving Aki’s thank you on his return, I felt so proud that I secretly snorted.

“Then I will play the role of Mama, so Uju~sang will play the role of Papa!”

“Yes, but what should I do to play the role of Papa? Because I’ve never played house before.”

“Wooju~Sang, just stay still, Aki will take care of everything. … … Ugh!”

Aki, uncharacteristic of a child, clears his throat by clearing his throat.

Aki, who must have learned this from watching dramas, skillfully adjusted her voice, closed her eyelids once, and then opened them.

“… …ねえ、あなた？(Hey, you?)”

He patted the seat next to me in a slightly more serious mood.

“こちらに来て座ってみてください。(Come here and sit down.)”

“Huh?”

“あなたに言いたいことがあります。(There is something I want to say to you.)”

“Ah, yes.”

As I carefully sat down next to him as I was told, Aki puffed out his cheeks with a sullen expression.

It wasn’t the kind of sentiment one would think of in this kind of atmosphere, but at the time, I was momentarily entranced, thinking that even Aki’s expression looked pretty.

When I think about it now, I think my heart was pounding as I looked at Aki for the first time.

“あなた、またお酒をを飲んでぅく帰ってきたでしょう？ (You came home late after drinking again, right?)”

“… … Huh?”

Aki’s next words took away all my excitement.

“I told you to drink in moderation, didn’t I? (I told you to drink in moderation, didn’t I?)◦# ◦

“Hey, Aki. Because you talk so fast… .”

“あなたがお酒を適当にむと言ったじゃないですか。たとゃないですか。私と約束もしたのに、何度もこ(You said you would drink in moderation. You made a promise to me too. I did it, but you’re not going to keep your promise like this?)”

“The translator cannot translate,… … .”

“アキもりませんか？ (Aki is also watching. Aren’t you embarrassed to have become an adult?) ”

The translator couldn’t keep up with Aki’s speaking speed, so less than half of it was translated, but I could tell from his nuances and facial expressions that Aki was scolding me.

“Starting the first day, I started eating, I started eating, I started eating, I started eating, I started eating, I started eating, I started eating, I started eating, I started eating, I started eating, and I started eating. It’s okay to drink without drinking it. (I’m not saying you shouldn’t drink it at all. It’s just that you should moderate it in moderation. The head of the household shouldn’t always come in drunk and speechless.)”

‘… … Is this how playing house is done in Japan?

As far as I know, playing house involves a husband and wife feeding each other food and kissing each other, but something is strange.

It was very strange, but since Aki is Japanese, she probably plays house in Japanese style, not Korean style.

At the time, I truly thought so, and for some reason, I bowed my head in harmony with Aki’s performance, which seemed to be deeply filled with his own experiences.

“Okay, I’ll adjust it next time. I’m sorry, honey.”

“口先だけですか？(Just words?)”

“Huh? What?”

“Private and private. 。”

Perhaps by coincidence or fate, Aki’s speaking speed gradually slowed down, so his last words were fully translated by the Papago automatic translator.

What Aki said to me in Korean was, ‘You promised me, if I did something wrong, I would kiss you to apologize.’

In other words, Aki meant for me to kiss him, and of course I thought it was a joke at first.

“What are you doing? Are you not going to keep the promise you made to me again?

However, while Aki urged him in Japanese, he turned his face and showed one cheek.

Even when I hesitated, he closed his eyes and waited for me, as if he wouldn’t say anything more if I didn’t kiss him quickly.

“Hey, Aki? At this point… .”

“ I won’t talk to you until I kiss you.

‘Do I really have to do this…? … ?’

“… … .”

Hey, I don’t know.

Thinking like that at the time, I moved my upper body slightly and kissed Aki’s right cheek.

-side.

“Okay, okay?”

In fact, it should be called a kiss rather than a kiss, although it was literally just a contact between lips and cheeks. It was the first time in my life that I had physical contact with a woman other than my mother, and my heart pounded incredibly hard because of it.

“Wow, the universe!”

“Uh, huh?”

“From hesitating so much before speaking, to not being able to move from Mama, to even kissing her carefully, he was really like our Papa!”

However, Aki, who actually got the courage to give me a kiss, seemed to be okay, with her big eyes shining brightly, admiring my acting, which was not my acting. Maybe that’s why I felt a little resentful at the moment, feeling like I was the only one who felt this way.

Hoseungsim, not. Jealousy is a really ambiguous emotion… … . Actually, even now, I don’t know what that feeling was.

“Well, did you do that?”

“Yes! That always happens when my dad comes home late after drinking. But the last one was a little different!”

“What was different?”

“After Papa kisses Mama, they hug each other tightly, and then Papa hugs Mama and goes to the living room. And then, after a while, Mama gets really sick!”

“What do you mean, it hurts? Akine, is your mom sick?”

“No, you are very healthy! So Aki doesn’t really know why it makes that sound.”

“Really? What kind of sound does it make specifically?”

“I don’t know, but it’s very strange. Is this the sound of breathing heavily, like saying, ah, ah?”

“Uh, really? My mom does that sometimes too!”

When I think back, I probably shouldn’t have said this at the time, but there was no way my 6-year-old self would have had such a clue, and we ended up making promises we shouldn’t have made.

“Eh, Uju~Sang’s mom is in pain every night too?”

“Sometimes, when I wake up at night and go to the living room to drink water, I hear noises from Dad and Mom’s room. That’s what Aki said, the sound of not being able to breathe!”

“Wooju~Sang, are moms naturally very sick?”

“Well, I’m not sure. Should I ask my mom later?”

“Oh, can you do that? Thank you, universe~san!”

“Yes, just trust me. Aki!”

* * *

… … And that evening, not knowing anything, I asked my mother an innocent question with the sole intention of keeping the promise I made to Aki.

“Mom, why do you make noises of pain every night?”

“… … ?!”

The mother in question turned bright red and said, ‘Wooju, you must never go anywhere and say something like that. What he asked me to do, ‘Okay?!’ is another story.