episode_0062

After the chaotic yacht filming session ended, we returned to the beach and disembarked from the anchored ship, where we collected our belongings and bid farewell to the staff.

“Th-Thank you, hope to see you again.”

The staff blushed as they spoke, and I couldn’t even bring myself to meet their eyes as I bowed deeply and replied.

“Yes, yes. Until next time…”

And like a fugitive, I hurriedly left the yacht race venue, hopped into a taxi, and headed towards Busan Station.

Inside the taxi on the way to the station.

“Mom, let’s be honest. Are you starting to enjoy this now? Like, ‘Oh, this is how my body looks, so if I do this roughly, men will react like that.’”

Dayoung asked me with a mischievous grin.

“It’s not like that! How many times do I have to say it? It’s all just accidents.”

“Ugh~ Someone said once is a mistake, twice is thoughtless, and three times is a habit.”

“Are you saying I’m thoughtless to your mom?”

“Mom, it seems like what Nuna said is like a habit.”

No, when did I make so many mistakes!

“The soybean soup incident, Seungyoon’s bathroom ambush incident, Hwangryeongsan video call incident, hotel outdoor pool floating chest incident, and just now. There are five incidents in total, right? Looking at it quietly, it seems like you’re not just making a habit out of it, you’re actually enjoying it. That’s what it seems like. Mmhm.”

“No, that’s not it! Really!”

I knew Dayoung wasn’t being serious and was just teasing me. I should have retorted as Dayoung had suggested at Beach Land, but I couldn’t. It seemed like agreeing silently would lead to a positive outcome, so I had to defend myself vigorously.

“Dabin, can you say something to help me out a bit?”

I urgently asked Dabin for an SOS, but Dabin just turned his head away and looked out the window, saying, “Oh, the weather is nice.”

Traitor!

For over 30 minutes until we arrived at the station, I continued to be bombarded by Dayoung, and by the time we got out of the car, I was mentally exhausted.

“We have arrived.”

“Thank you.”

We got out of the car, carried our luggage, and entered the station. As I was about to put my suitcase in the station locker, Dayoung urgently stopped me.

“Mom, shouldn’t we change our underwear first?”

Come to think of it, she was right. Especially since there was no guarantee that there wouldn’t be any mishaps like my scarf flying off again. So I agreed to her suggestion and dragged my suitcase to the women’s restroom. There, I took out my underwear, changed, and put my swimsuit back inside.

“Whew! Feels better.”

After taking off the scarf, I realized how hot I had been. It was no wonder, as wearing such a scarf in this scorching sun was nothing short of suicidal.

“Mom, here.”

While we were in the restroom, Dabin handed me some wet wipes he had bought from the convenience store.

“Wow, son. Your sense is amazing.”

I took a few wipes and wiped my sweaty neck clean. Then, after putting the suitcase in the locker, we left the station and hailed another taxi to head to Songdo.

The travel time was about 10 minutes. We passed by two bridges on the way, one being Busan Bridge, also known as Yeongdo Bridge. The taxi driver explained that the bridge could be raised to allow ships to pass through if the timing was right. And the bridge that led from Yeongdo to Songdo was called Namhang Bridge. It was a beautiful bridge that overlooked the sea.

Upon arriving at Songdo’s Songrim Park, we were greeted by a row of seafood restaurants along the beach and the impressive small Turtle Island across from them.

“Shall we eat first? I’m hungry. I think I didn’t eat enough for breakfast.”

I suggested as we made our way to a restaurant.

Well, I did eat too much yesterday, so I reduced my meal size. Plus, I worked up a sweat taking pictures, so I got hungry, and as for the boy Da Bin, well, there’s nothing to say.

“Yeah, we can’t leave without having at least one plate of sashimi at the beach.”

We searched for a suitable restaurant among those in front of us and went in. It was a place with high ratings on blogs and review sites, and they welcomed us warmly from the entrance.

Looking at the menu, we ordered a decent amount of assorted sashimi. Well, since the prices in tourist areas are high, you have to rely on the service to feel satisfied, and luckily, it seemed to pass in that aspect. Usually, a place with delicious sashimi has low-quality side dishes, and a place with high-quality side dishes has tasteless sashimi, but fortunately, this place seemed to excel in both aspects.

“Mmm, delicious. Did you… go to the market?”

Da Young suddenly took a bite of the honey-glazed pumpkin that came out as a side dish and said.

“Well, the market? Why all of a sudden?”

Then, Da Bin, who was next to us, quietly spoke up.

“No, it’s that Young Ki’s mom grew sweet potatoes and pumpkins in the garden…”

“Pumpkin sweet potatoes.”

“Yeah, pumpkin…”

“Pumpkin sweet potatoes, pumpkin sweet potatoes! Pumpkin~ sweet potatoes! Pump! Kin! Sweet! Po! Tatoes!”

“No, what’s with all this nonsense? It’s not pumpkin sweet potatoes. It’s just pumpkin. Get a grip!”

Da Young and Da Bin gave me a cold look.

“No, Mom, you don’t know this either? Wow… really. If you don’t know pumpkin sweet potatoes, just leave.”

“Sigh. It was a trendy phrase on the internet once. It’s a scene from a sitcom that was famous when we were young.”

I don’t know about that.

“Was it really that famous?”

It seems like I lack not only common sense but also female knowledge.

“Well, our generation’s parents probably know less than those who don’t know… right! Am I the weird one here?!”

Feeling gloomy, the kids kept reassuring me that I wasn’t weird. This must be giving medicine after giving a disease.

After finishing our meal and taking a leisurely walk along the beach to enjoy the scenery, I felt a bit better.

“Busan people are lucky. They can always come to see the sea whenever they feel bored.”

Da Bin shook his head and said, “I heard from my friends the other day that Busan people don’t actually see the sea that often. When you can go see it anytime, you end up not looking for it more, right?”

People often don’t realize that what’s always close to them is truly precious. Even though they don’t know when it might disappear.

“Well, the sea won’t disappear, right?”

“I don’t know, but with global warming becoming more serious, the sea level is rising, so the beach might disappear.”

“Ugh, don’t say unlucky things, Mom. If that happens, will our neighborhood be safe? Will more than half of Korea be submerged?”

That might happen too. Hearing such things, the sea didn’t look as beautiful as before.

Anyway, we strolled along the beach and crossed a bridge to a small rocky island, where we briefly visited an observatory. From a distance, I thought it was just a bridge, but the fact that the bottom was transparent would surely scare those with acrophobia.

Yes, people like me.

“Da, Dabin. Mom will only look ahead, so you have to lead well, okay?”

“Ugh, she’s such a drama queen.”

“Well, what should we do then? It’s scary up high.”

It would have been less scary if the bridge had been made of solid wood. They shouldn’t have made the bottom transparent for no reason.

When we reached the end of the observatory, I stepped on a block that wasn’t transparent below and barely took a picture. Normally, I would have asked someone else to take a picture, but now I was in full scaredy-cat mode, so naturally, I handed the phone to Dabin, took a deep breath, looked around, and went to a group of three women to ask them to take a picture.

“Oh my, how cute. Are you in high school?”

“Oh, no. I’m in middle school.”

“Mom, look at her way of speaking. She’s from Seoul!”

“Are you here to have fun? With those girls over there? You’re showing off, huh!”

Dabin’s eyebrows raised.

“Showing off?”

“No, it means posing. That’s what they say in Busan. Sorry if it offended you.”

“Oh, no. I just don’t know Busan dialect well yet…”

“Haha, you’re really cute. Anyway, give me the phone. I’ll take the picture.”

With her face turning red like a radish, Dabin hurriedly ran towards us.

“Our son is popular.”

“Why are you saying that, Mom?”

Soon, one of the women approached us from the group and took a few pictures for us before asking.

“Hey, are you guys sisters?”

“Haha, she’s my sister, and I’m the mom.”

“Really?! You don’t look like it.”

“Haha… I hear that a lot.”

“I’m so jealous! Did you come down for vacation?”

“Yes. Oh! Is there anything else to see here? Something famous?”

She pointed somewhere and said.

“That, that. If you’re in Songdo, you have to ride the cable car at least once! And after going past Amnam Park, you have to try the grilled clams. So you can say, ‘Oh, I visited Songdo.’ and people will be impressed.”

“Oh… I see. Haha. Thank you.”

After getting back the phone and thanking her, we left Turtle Island and headed straight for the cable car.