Chapter 212 |
[Please take care of Eunha in the future.]
January, 9th year of the Sun.
Eunha was bustling from the early morning. Not only him, but his family members were also busy.
«No! Eun! Ha!»
Here he comes.
As soon as Eunha heard the voice that had been inspecting the upstairs house, he rushed out to the veranda.
A truck carrying belongings was entering the parking lot.
The boy leaning out of the passenger seat was waving excitedly.
Even without looking into the car, you could see his wolf tail wagging eagerly.
At the end of last year, the kids were notified of their acceptance to the Player Academy.
Including him, his friends were scheduled to move into the academy dormitories starting from February.
And when that happens, grandmother, who lives with Parang, will be home alone.
«Grandma, welcome home!»
«Hi, Eunha, what have you been doing that your clothes are so dusty?»
«I’ve been doing some house cleaning.»
Realizing that his grandmother would be lonely once Parang entered the Player Academy, and that there was a room upstairs that would be vacant at the right time, the family convinced her to move in with them in Seoul.
As a result, his grandmother moved to Seoul on the condition that she keep the house she lived in in Incheon.
I didn’t realize how important that house was to her before the regression.
«Eunha, what’s wrong?»
«…It’s nothing, go inside, Grandma.»
«Hey, No Eunha, why don’t you say hello to me!»
«Oh, hi, Parang hyung.»
Greeting his grandmother, Eunha couldn’t hide the bitterness in his heart.
Before his regression, his grandmother had passed away around the time he entered the Higher Academy.
She had left him an inheritance so that he could live comfortably at the Player Academy without being sponsored by any group.
An insurance policy left to him by his parents, who died in a disaster called the Kraken.
Until the day Grandma closed her eyes, she carefully preserved the money that he should rightfully inherit.
In addition to that, Grandma personally gathered money and the house.
I sold the house…
After sending Grandma away, Eunha put up the house where he lived with Grandma for sale.
It wasn’t for the need of money.
It was more like a resolution.
Signifying that he no longer had a home to return to.
After parting with Grandma, he never visited the house that Grandma cherished and sold without any emotions.
15 billion.
He used the inheritance Grandma left to live in the academy, buy potions and equipment, and purchase the building for the Mist Flower Party.
At that time, Eunha didn’t try to recall the memories of Grandma who had supported him in place of his parents.
He moved forward only to kill monsters and to alleviate his hatred towards them.
So, living one life and releasing the hatred for monsters, whenever he saw Grandma, his heart became tender.
He felt remorse for the action of selling the house that Grandma cherished without any emotion.
«Hey, why do you keep spacing out? If you have nothing to do, help me with my luggage, and while you’re at it, clean my room too.»
«Why should I clean your room? I’m going to help Grandma, so you take care of your room.»
Eunha responded to Parang, who walked past him with a box.
Parang, with his tongue out, wagged his wolf tail and climbed the stairs.
There wouldn’t be anything to put in his room anyway.
Eunha felt a bit absurd.
Why bother organizing when the person moving into the academy dormitory from next month had nothing to do with it?
It would be more reasonable to pack only what was necessary and leave the rest in the box.
The next month, he’d be grumbling and unpacking again.
None of my business.
I had no intention of helping when that time came.
Eunha decided to pack what he could carry up the stairs.
Approaching the truck, he couldn’t close his mouth.
«Wow! Noona, you’re amazing!»
«It’s convenient to move with magic.»
Even the staff who were trying to move the luggage using their internal mana were surprised.
Because Euna was using magic to move the luggage to the third floor without them having to move a muscle.
Wardrobes and refrigerators were flying in the air, entering the third-floor veranda.
«…Are you a caster? It would be nice to have someone with this kind of skill in the company….»
«No! I’m a supporter!»
Euna corrected the employees who were standing in the distance watching the flying furniture.
«…There’s nothing for me to do here.»
It looks like the move will be over soon.
Bruno, who was bringing in furniture alone on the third-floor veranda, seemed to finish the task.
Wearing only a short-sleeved T-shirt in the middle of winter, he lifted the furniture as if handling tofu.
«Captain! We’re here!»
«Euna unni is moving things. It might be difficult to move heavy things one after another…. Amazing.»
«…I guess we won’t be of much help?»
Eunha called his friends who knew how to manipulate mana just in case.
But there was no need to call.
Since Euna and Bruno were exerting their strength below and above, there wasn’t much for them to help with.
«Hey, hello. You guys are friends with Eunha and Parang, right?»
«Hello, Grandma!!!»
When they went up to the third floor, Minji was helping to organize the dishes.
Grandma, who was chatting with his mother, suddenly appeared and smiled at the kids who came out of nowhere.
The kids decided to help Parang, who was organizing the room alone.
«Hey, Jung Hayang! Is this a library!? You came to help me tidy up my room, not read books?»
«…Wait a minute, Oppa. Let me read this page a bit…»
«Parang hyung, it’s no use talking to her when she’s like that, where do I put this?»
«I’ve been thinking about this since last time…, do you really like floral patterns?»
The kids helped with organizing while wearing masks.
Eunha was soon out of the room and grabbing things for his grandmother.
He had no intention of making his grandmother lift a single small item.
She ended up giggling and gesturing with her hands.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Jung Geum-Joon sighed heavily.
«…I want to play games. I want to play games…. Why am I doing this here, helping and all.»
«Hey there! You need to clean here properly!»
«Yes, yes, I understand.»
Despite his grumbling, Jung Geum-Joon did as Julieta asked and cleaned the kitchen.
He got emotional when Avenier, carrying a toy plane with a dusty foot, passed by, but he wiped the floor to make it shine.
«It’s all for lunch….»
The money in the safe had also decreased significantly. In the meantime, Eunha, who was helping with the move, offered to treat everyone to lunch.
«»I’ll show you what gluttony really is, khahahaha…, eh?»
Jin Parang, who was going into his room with his other luggage, and Geum-joon, who was scrubbing the kitchen floor, made eye contact.
Two people who met for the first time today.
Despite this, they somehow felt like they would get along well together.
«…Sweet and sour pork.»
«Sliced. Chicken.»
«Fried, not boneless.»
«Why?»
«Because that way, it’s more fun to tear it apart.»
«Ooh.»
Minji clicked her tongue as she watched the two of them talk in code.
There was a chemistry between the two.
Now, it seemed like they were going to see the lower floor and the upper floor Parang every day.
«I need to move into the dormitory quickly. Oh, but Parang oppa is also moving in… Well, whatever. Anyway, the male and female dormitories are separate.»
Minji couldn’t help but laugh at how Eunae was treating them like puppies.
Add in Avernier, and they were puppy triplets.
«Hey, guys, do you want anything to eat?»
Packing was almost done.
It was the perfect time for a snack.
Mother held various store flyers in her hands and asked the children.
The answers from the children were all different.
«There was no need to ask from the beginning.»
Today was a good day.
On such days, it wouldn’t be bad to eat whatever they wanted.
Without paying much attention, Mother called various places while the children were drooling over the smell of food.
After a while, the delivery motorcycles lined up and entered the parking lot, emitting the scent of food.
«Wow…!»
Chinese food was a given, and there were also pizza, chicken, pig trotters, pork belly, tteokbokki, and gimbap.
In addition, the endless procession of deliveries continued.
«Are you sure you didn’t order too much? Can we eat all this?»
«If it’s for the kids, they can eat it all, right? If they can’t, they can put it in the refrigerator and eat it later.»
«Hey, food tastes better when it’s eaten right away, so why did you order this much and take it to….»
Behind the children, who crowded around the food and gobbled it up, the adults stuck out their tongues.
Still, mother didn’t mind and welcomed the person who delivered the shaved ice.
«…Yes, just in time.
It’s good. You should share it with the neighbors.»
As soon as grandmother finished moving, she planned to distribute rice cakes from house to house.
In the meantime, she decided it would be a good idea to distribute some food.
«You guys go ahead and eat. I’ll go say hello to the other houses….»
«Mom, I’ll go with you.»
Mother put a wrap in Father’s mouth.
With the food in his mouth, Father, who gurgled, helped Grandma and went outside to greet the neighbors.
The people left behind quickly grabbed this and that to eat to satisfy their hungry stomachs.
«I… I can’t eat anymore…!»
«If you eat more, you might gain weight.»
Starting with Hayang and Seona, people gradually walked away.
Even so, there were still people who were gagging and moving their chopsticks around─.
«─There were three ice balls, not two. No Eunha, what did he have in his stomach….»
Minji was dumbfounded.
Because Eunha was devouring food with his cheeks swollen, and Jung Geum-joon was playing with chopsticks next to Jin Parang.
He was steadily eating.
«This is… How can he be full…?»
Eunha clicked his tongue at Mokminji, who had abstained earlier.
He was 14 years old and growing up.
It was time to grow taller.
☆
Until a few years ago, the house felt spacious and eerily quiet.
It felt like being left alone in a world where the cold wind was blowing.
The house, where a daughter who had been sent off to marriage, came to visit with her with her husband and grandchildren, and Parang appeared.
The house, which felt too spacious to live alone, became a joyful instrument echoing with laughter.
The house was no longer just a place of memories for me and him, and the memories shared with our daughter, her husband, lovely grandchildren, and Parang were also deeply embedded.
Therefore, when leaving the house where I had lived for a long time, there was a feeling of regret.
However, the desire to spend the remaining years with loved ones took precedence.
Although the elderly tend to want to reminisce about past memories in the remaining years of life, I wanted to accumulate new memories with the people I love.
«…I’m relieved. Honestly, I was worried that Eunha might not have many friends.»
«Mom, what are you talking about? Our son is so popular.»
«Being popular and having friends are different, honey. Having friends means having someone you can open your heart to. Fortunately, Eunha has friends.»
Eunha was truly a mysterious child.
He seemed to act cute but appeared to be hitting a wall somewhere in his heart.
While few people in the world had the same outward and inward aspects, sometimes I couldn’t shake off the feeling that Eunha was wearing a mask, a mask of pretense, whenever I looked at him.
Perhaps the child would never confess his feelings to someone else in his entire life.
Such thoughts crossed my mind.
So I was relieved.
Watching Eunha interact with the children, my worries seemed to be unfounded.
I hoped that the child would live happily like this for the rest of his life.
Even though he seemed not to suffer from loneliness, he was, in fact, a child who suffered from loneliness a lot.
Even though he seemed not to be afraid of anything, he was, in fact, a child who showed vigilance like a cat, raising his feathers like an owl.
He was an enigmatic child to an elderly person whose life was almost over, and even if she reached out with her hand, it seemed too far away, and even if she reached out, she needed to be careful not to break him.
«Mom, you must be worried too.»
«…It’s okay. Eunha will only have good things happen no matter what he does.»
«All moms probably think the same way. Don’t you think so, Mom?»
My daughter asked with a suspicious look.
The way she asked, narrowing her eyes, was not much different from the way the child used to glare at me whenever there was a dispute in the past, as if asking for agreement with my words.
There was no need to think that my mom wouldn’t think that way, right?
There was no need to say it.
«There’s a saying that life has its ups and downs. You can’t have only good things, and you can’t have only bad things.»
«But even if you say that….»
«That’s why you have to meet good people. Life is unpredictable, and you just have to meet people you like.»
I wanted him to meet good people and go out into the world as he is now.
It wasn’t just the him.
I hope that Parang, who was playing with his friends, will also live a happy life, surrounded by people he likes.
Parang… probably has no worries.
Eunha played a prank on Parang, who was much older than him.
From Eunha’s actions, I could sense that he had affection for Parang.
«Hey, No Eunha! You’re really going to be like this!?»
«Yes, the next prank is for Parang! Kids, run!»
«Parang.»
The children were playing in the parking lot.
I leaned over the railing of the veranda and called out to Parang, who was whining about being caught by Eunha and made a fool of.
Even though he was acting like he wasn’t, it was clear from his face that he was enjoying the moment.
«Grandma, yes? I have to go catch them now.»
«…Have fun.»
«…Why are you suddenly saying that?»
Parang made an expression that said it was out of the blue.
It was a bit out of the blue, but I actually wanted to say this.
«Take good care of Eunha in the future too.»
«….»
My daughter probably knows more about Eunha than I do.
But I still felt uneasy about him.
I wondered if he would have dangerous thoughts if I left him alone, if he would disappear somewhere, if he would go far away.
So I told Parang to take care of him.
Please take good care of Eunha.
If it’s Parang, even if Eunha is in danger, even if he disappears somewhere, even if he goes far away, I thought Parang would chase after him.
The world is harsh.
You can’t live alone.
I hope Parang and Eunha’s friends will protect Eunha.
«…Grandma, instead of just taking care of your grandson, how about taking care of me too?»
This guy.
I burst into laughter.
Of course I should take care of you, Parang.
But you, Parang, will be fine.
«Parang, you’ll be fine.»
«Wow, that’s a little harsh, huh?»
Because Eunha will take care of you.
Even if there’s a limit to his body.
So, Parang, take care of Eunha so that such things don’t happen to him.
Even if Eunha walks the path alone, stay by his side, Parang.
I entrusted those wishes to him.
Take good care of Eunha in the future too.
<End of Part 2>