“Ah, then could you share the most important lesson you learned while raising a child?”
Hm, Joo-rim tapped the table. He stared intently at PD Seo with pitch-black eyes.
PD Seo felt as though he were the one being observed.
Soon, Joo-rim spoke as if genuinely offering him advice.
“As an adult, you must properly recognize what your priority is and act accordingly. And as a parent, it’s important to know whether the signal you’re sending your child is stubbornness, protection, or merely wanting to look away from a troublesome matter.”
While PD Seo faltered for some reason, Joo-rim continued speaking.
“If you don’t keep your priorities straight, it’s easy to make a mess of things. Saying with your mouth that it’s for the child, while prioritizing work with your actions….”
“….”
Thud. A sharp pain stabbed through his chest.
He couldn’t understand why it felt like a message directed at him.
PD Seo moistened his dry lips and continued asking questions as if nothing were wrong.
“May I ask who the Guild Master’s priority is?”
Joo-rim wiggled his left hand.
“I’ll say it’s the child who harbors the Black Flame Dragon in her left hand.”
“You’ll need to stay strong. It seems like it would be very troublesome if the Black Flame Dragon were unleashed when she enters second year of middle school….”
“It would be troublesome. Though I don’t think it’ll even take until middle school second year for the seal to break.”
Joo-rim laughed hollowly, and then PD Seo burst into laughter as well.
“If you could say a word to your priority?”
Hm, Joo-rim lowered his eyes. After mulling it over briefly, he soon smiled and fixed his gaze straight ahead.
“I love you more than could ever be fully conveyed without loss, no matter the method.”
Just then, Gru dashed onto the set.
“Dad!”
Smiling as if he had already known, Joo-rim scooped up the child running over with a bright swing.
The camera lens lingered long before the father and daughter gazing at each other with affectionate eyes.
*
After filming ended, smiles had risen across all the production crew’s faces.
“The father and daughter are so lovey-dovey, it really feels like we’re filming a parenting variety show. Right?”
When Writer Jeong spoke to him, PD Seo finally nodded.
“Yeah, yes. That’s right.”
“You’ve been strangely spaced out today. Is something wrong?”
“Huh? Have I?”
PD Seo was someone who worked passionately every day. Especially now that filming was underway, it was quite puzzling to see PD Seo so distracted.
“Is it because you like it so much? The vibe is already great. I have a feeling this will be a huge hit.”
“Yeah, maybe so.”
“Will you start editing right away today? Or a company dinner?”
PD Seo, who didn’t go home.
Since he was the one in charge of the broadcasting station’s never-extinguished lighthouse, it was only natural to think he would choose either editing or a company dinner.
Because that’s how it had always been until now.
“Editing….”
And just as PD Seo was about to answer accordingly.
Gru, who had approached unnoticed, asked PD Seo.
“Mister, is Woo-joo sick again today too?”
“H-huh?”
PD Seo blinked his eyes as if suddenly waking from a dream.
What had Woo-joo’s condition been like?
Because he had been so absorbed in editing the VCR footage to show Joo-rim, he hadn’t been able to go home for some time.
Faced with the child’s round eyes that seemed to be waiting for an answer, PD Seo spoke with somehow deflated momentum.
“I’m not sure. I’ve been busy lately, so I haven’t been able to pay attention to Woo-joo….”
He trailed off.
“Lately?”
It was an excuse he had unconsciously spat out to cover his mistake.
In truth, he hadn’t known what Woo-joo’s condition had been like the entire time.
For so long that he couldn’t even measure when it had started.
Joo-rim approached Gru and PD Seo.
“Woo-joo plays so well with our child that we’re always indebted.”
“Ah, was that so? Our Woo-joo….”
“You didn’t seem to know.”
When Joo-rim replied blandly, PD Seo’s face flushed bright red.
The woman who hadn’t paid attention to the child at the amusement park. The father who sent the child to the amusement park with that woman without knowing any better.
Despite being friends who constantly visited each other’s homes when there was no filming, PD Seo didn’t even know who the child was close with or how close.
The earlier interview had indeed been a sniper shot directed at him.
Joo-rim looked at PD Seo and spoke indifferently.
“I think the child is tired, so we’ll be on our way now. Today was enjoyable.”
Joo-rim exited the bustling set carrying his child. Gru greeted the staff and then looked back at PD Seo.
PD Seo simply stood there blankly.
*
Woo-joo clambered down from the bed and rubbed his eyes.
The fever hadn’t gone down easily.
His father’s lover had left after barely paying attention, and the manager was struggling to find a pediatric clinic where they could be seen immediately.
These days you had to line up before the doors opened just to get seen at a pediatric clinic, so finding a hospital was like plucking stars from the sky….
Because of that, Woo-joo had to be alone in the spacious house.
He really hadn’t expected anything at all.
Beep-ririk—
Seeing his father bursting open the front door and gasping for breath was truly….
“Dad?”
He had never expected it.
PD Seo had run so urgently that he was breathing roughly; he bent deeply at the waist before meeting eyes.
“Woo-joo… *huff* I heard you couldn’t go to kindergarten today. Hm.”
Woo-joo hunched his shoulders as if he had been scolded.
Had Gru told him everything during filming today?
“I’m fine. More importantly, Dad, aren’t you busy?”
“I’m busy. *Huff* I am busy….”
PD Seo, straightening up, distorted his face.
A small child stood alone in the spacious living room.
His wet hair was stuck to his forehead from the fever, and his pajamas were soaked with sweat.
Self-loathing gripped his chest at the thought that his sick child couldn’t even act spoiled toward his father and had to speak like that.
If Gru hadn’t been there, would he have tried to film in that state?
And had he considered that a relief?
He felt like someone who had been caught up in a strange delusion and was only now facing reality.
“I’m busy, but you’re sick.”
“Huh?”
Woo-joo blankly opened his mouth.
Seeing the child’s surprised face, his chest ached even more painfully.
“I think I’ve been thinking wrong until now. So I gave you the wrong signals.”
PD Seo knelt before Woo-joo and met his eyes.
“My priority is you.”
Woo-joo, who had been moving his lips, lowered his eyes.
He didn’t know how to respond to those ticklish words.
The lines he had memorized well for filming dramas had long since evaporated from his mind.
“I wanted to become famous so I could help you…. No, it’s all just excuses. I’m sorry.”
“That’s what I wanted to say.” Woo-joo swallowed the words that had risen to his throat for fear of bursting into tears.
“I wanted to become famous and help you too, Dad. That’s why I worked hard.”
“So even when I was sick, I tried to work. I wanted you to notice that, Dad.”
“I feel like everything’s become a mess, but I want to fix it even now. Dad is really sorry.”
Woo-joo pressed his lips tight before stammering. He wanted to take advantage of being sick to act spoiled for once, something he rarely did.
“I-I was sick. Lately I’ve been… running a fever….”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry Dad didn’t even know that.”
Woo-joo pressed his lips tight again before answering.
“…It’s okay.”
PD Seo scooped Woo-joo up and moved him onto the bed.
“Can you eat some porridge? I bought some just in case. Should I warm it up?”
Woo-joo nodded.
Then he smiled, laid Woo-joo down, and covered him with the blanket up to his neck.
Just as Gru had said, it felt like worms were wriggling ticklishly in his chest. It also felt like fireworks were bursting into the air.
One thing was certain: it was far happier than receiving an award for acting.
Even if I don’t succeed, he can still look back at me.
Ticklish. Erupting in intermittent bursts of laughter like sneezes, Woo-joo pulled the blanket over his head.
He wanted to tell Gru quickly.
It was then.
[Updating....... 77%]
The text that suddenly appeared before his eyes was so unfamiliar that Woo-joo blinked.