OMH Chapter 80
by Volare80. Change (3)
“Do you really have to go? Can’t you just rest for today?”
Cha Woojin said to me with a pleading look.
He looked as pitiful as a bruised and battered wren, and as helpless as a deer with its antlers caught in branches, but I had to hold firm this time.
I endured the stinging in my heart and said to Cha Woojin,
“I can’t. This is also for the relationship between the Research Center and the Esper Guide Association, so you can’t skip it. It’s also important for you, Woojin, to lead this as a team leader, so you can’t be absent.”
I tightly closed my eyes and refused Cha Woojin’s request.
It was really hard, but I had no choice for Cha Woojin’s sake.
To steadily build a cooperative relationship with the Research Center, avoiding absences due to personal reasons was necessary.
The people at the Research Center have a very strong tendency to disregard personal privacy.
They wouldn’t even bat an eye if a seven-year-old child was sick.
“Then are we going to the Research Center now?”
The child, who had been lying in the Medical Center until just now and was discharged, asked while eating.
“Not right away, but we have to go when we finish eating and it’s time. You get to be with your brother all day today, isn’t that great?”
“Yeah, I love it! I wish it could be like this every day.”
Cha Wooreen tightly held the spoon she was eating with and hugged Cha Woojin sitting next to her.
She just said it casually, but seeing her so happy while saying she really liked it made me feel strange.
-Beep! Beep!
The monster I had put in my bag reacted to Cha Wooreen’s voice and started crying.
But this was a restaurant attached to the Medical Center, so it would be troublesome if they found out I brought a monster.
I shook the bag, intending to quiet the monster.
-Squawk! Squawk! Bwee-ah!
The monster in the bag cried even louder and wriggled as if protesting.
It only had the opposite effect, so I’ll have to think of another way to quiet the monster next time.
“Hana! You haven’t left yet. Are you eating here?”
Of all moments, Lee Hwayoung appeared at this moment.
“Oh? Oh, I just have afternoon schedules, so I came here to feed the kid too. Are you having lunch now?”
“I had some free time today. I don’t remember the last time I had a meal on time.”
Lee Hwayoung greeted me happily and sat next to me. Right next to the bag containing the monster.
‘She didn’t hear the monster’s cry, did she?’
I glanced at Lee Hwayoung, feeling preemptively guilty.
The more senior an Esper is, the more dedicated they are to reporting things, so I couldn’t rest assured.
Even Cha Woojin became a Guide at the Association because of my ten-year friend Kim Sanghyuk’s report, so there was no one I could trust.
I desperately hoped the monster would be quiet and lowered the bag under the table.
“It’s okay~ It’s just a small kid’s bag. Is it Wooreen’s bag? Hope Kindergarten? Are you going there?”
“Yes, it’s mine. I got it the first day I went to kindergarten with my brother.”
Lee Hwayoung smiled kindly and had a friendly conversation with Cha Wooreen.
Before I knew it, Cha Woojin had joined in and they were chatting happily about their recent activities.
It seemed like I was the only one feeling anxious.
“Wow, so Wooreen knows all the letters now? You didn’t know any until recently. That’s amazing~”
“I can write my name now too. I can write my name, my brother’s name, and Hana’s brother’s name too. My brother and I have the same ‘Cha, Woo’ in our names. The last letters are similar too, so I can change it a little bit.”
Cha Wooreen, excited to have learned to read Korean, began to enthusiastically explain the names she could write.
Indeed, both Cha Woojin and I had names with easy-to-write letters.
When she was just learning how to write her name, she was so happy to find out that Cha Woojin’s and her name differed by only one consonant. It was really cute back then.
I was lost in memories, but Cha Wooreen started bringing up unnecessary things.
“And I can write Pippi’s name too. I can write the names of everyone who lives in our house.”
“Huh? Who’s Pippi?”
‘What should I do? Should I pass it off as a person? But a person can’t have the name Pippi. Should I say the kid was deeply impressed by Pippi Longstocking?’
I frantically racked my brains in that fleeting moment just before the question of who Pippi was came up and the conversation continued.
And I tried to come up with a suitable excuse, but Cha Wooreen was faster than me.
“Our house’s puppy.”
“Huh? You have a puppy at home? How?”
Puppies were as much of an endangered species as humans, so it was hard to see them in today’s world unless you went to a wildlife sanctuary.
It was only natural that Lee Hwayoung found it strange.
“I went to the Research Center with my brother and got him. They said I could raise him.”
“Oh, really? That’s very unusual. They never entrust animals to individuals at the wildlife sanctuary.”
The wildlife sanctuary often took away animals that individuals had, but they never gave them away, so it was understandable that she was confused. If it were me, I would have checked the truth to see if they really adopted a puppy from the Research Center.
Still, Lee Hwayoung, who was very kind to children, didn’t press the child.
Lee Hwayoung smiled at the child and turned her head to whisper to me.
“Really? You got a puppy from the wildlife sanctuary?”
She didn’t press the child, but only pressed her friend next to her.
“Well, kind of. It’s not the wildlife sanctuary, but I got a special sample from the Research Center.”
“Ah~ That makes sense. There’s no way they would give away animals at the wildlife sanctuary. So which Research Center did you get the puppy from? Can I bring one too?”
Lee Hwayoung asked, her eyes shining, as she liked animals.
This was a bit dangerous. If we exchanged a few more words, she would find out the Research Center and that what we received wasn’t a puppy but a monster.
‘What should I do? What should I do?’
While I was sweating behind my back, Lee Hwayoung’s medical pager rang.
“Ah, I haven’t even finished eating… I’ll go now. It was nice talking to you today. Enjoy your meal.”
Lee Hwayoung quickly got up, tidied up her seat, and left the restaurant.
The medical pager saved the day.
*
“Wooreen, are you okay? Can you walk? You can just have your brother carry you.”
“Uung… Then carry me.”
Cha Wooreen reluctantly got on Cha Woojin’s back at his urging.
The child’s condition seemed fine, but Cha Woojin was restless and couldn’t even bear to see his sister walking on her own.
Cha Woojin, who has a tender heart, seemed to have been greatly shocked by his sister’s appearance of being sick for two days.
Cha Wooreen seemed to sense that, and she rested on Cha Woojin’s back with a dejected face.
Cha Wooreen, holding Cha Woojin’s shoulder tightly with her hands while being carried, looked unusually small.
Cha Woojin was tall, so Cha Wooreen always looked like a doll when she was with Cha Woojin, but she felt even smaller today.
The small child said listlessly.
“Brother, I’ll listen to you, so don’t abandon me.”
At the sudden shocking words, Cha Woojin and I stopped walking and stood still.
“Wooreen, why are you being like this since yesterday? Why would we abandon you.”
I tried to lighten the mood for Cha Woojin who was embarrassed.
As if rewarding my efforts, Cha Wooreen replied.
“The men said that I’m a nuisance, and if I don’t listen and cry and make my brother tired all the time, my brother will throw me away.”
But the answer the child gave was too heavy.
The atmosphere became even heavier.
But they say that even if the sky falls, there’s a way out. I quickly found a place to change the flow of the conversation.
“Men? When did you meet the men? You haven’t met many men today, have you?”
No matter how strange the EGA Association people are, they wouldn’t spew out harsh words to a child who is with their guardian, saying they would abandon them. The researchers from last time said that because they thought Wooreen was alone.
Since coming to the EGA Association, Cha Wooreen has always been with an adult to take care of her, and she has never gone alone to a place where mean men are gathered.
So those words must have been heard when she was living outside.
“Um… I met them a long time ago when Hana brother wasn’t there.”
I knew it. Now that I’ve found a way to change the subject, changing the mood is a piece of cake.
“You met bad men a long time ago. If you met them now, your brother would have scolded them, right?”
“Really? Will you scold the men now?”
“Of course. I won’t let them get away with saying bad things to Wooreen. Your brother will teach them a lesson, so don’t worry. Just have fun and run around, okay?”
I said, stroking Cha Wooreen’s head.
The light in the child’s eyes, which had been gloomy, began to brighten.
“Then will my brother not listen to the men either? You won’t abandon me?”
“Your brother scolded the man who said he would abandon you last time too. I said I won’t abandon you.”
“Then I don’t have to listen? You won’t abandon me even if I’m sick? Even if I’m loud?”
“I said I’ll never abandon you? But it would be nice if you listen well…”
“I’m sorry.”
Cha Woojin, who had been standing blankly without saying anything, suddenly apologized.
“I’m sorry for saying that if you don’t listen or are loud, I’ll abandon you. It was all a lie… You can cry and you don’t have to listen, so… so… so, don’t be sick.”
Cha Woojin sobbed and apologized to his younger sister.
Cha Wooreen and I stared at such Cha Woojin in silence.
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