Jurim, who had been quietly listening to even his friend's stories about visiting the amusement park, suddenly blurted out.
“Haven't you been to an amusement park?”
“Nweh.”
Well, it wasn't like the orphanage only had one or two children. They probably didn't have the leisure to take everyone out individually.
That was likely why she was chattering away without being able to hide her envious expression.
“What about you, Guild Mastew? Have you been to an amuwement pawk?”
“I have.”
“Did you wike it?”
Not at all. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd gone. Had it been back in high school?
To Jurim, an amusement park was a place where everything he hated had been gathered in one spot. Noisy, chaotic, childish, crawling with kids…….
A place with countless reasons to hate it and none to love, no matter how hard one looked. But the moment the thought that the child might like it crossed his mind—
“Shall we go?”
“Nweh?”
Geuru's eyes went wide. They were so full of unstoppable surprise and excitement that Jurim smiled gently.
“Let's go. To the amusement park.”
*
The long-awaited weekend arrived.
Geuru pulled up her tights (long socks that came up to her waist) in the dressing room and bounced out.
Having moved on one foot, she lost her balance and was about to fall, but Jurim approached and swooped her up, setting her back on her feet.
“Ta-da!”
Geuru spread her arms magnificently like a gymnast and stuck the landing, and at the sight, Jurim let out a low laugh.
“Geuru's all dwessed!”
“Are you?”
Jurim looked down at the child who hadn't finished pulling up her tights and whose clothes were damp because she hadn't even dried her hair.
“Yweh!”
So excited was she that her face had flushed bright red.
Geuru followed Jurim's gaze down to herself, then quickly tugged her tights up.
“All weady!”
“You haven't dried your hair, and you haven't even dressed properly. How are you ready?”
“Uh, um, Geuru's…… heart!”
Quite the impressive answer.
But Jurim, letting out a hollow laugh, pulled down the hem of her skirt that had gotten tucked into her tights and picked her up.
“Let's eat first.”
“Hing.”
“We don't have to eat.” As Geuru whined, the lady helped Jurim out.
“Geuru, you have to eat before you go so you can play properly.”
“Nweh…….”
When Jurim glanced toward Yeongran with a silent thank-you for the help, she smiled softly, taking a breath.
Jurim seated Geuru beside him and spoon-fed her rice.
Wide open, Geuru opened her mouth like a baby bird and gobbled it down.
Geuru chewed her rice thoroughly, then felt the lady's gaze and a question mark popped up above her head.
These days, Jurim seemed to have taken a liking to feeding Geuru with his own hands, and the lady found it fascinating every time, seemingly never getting used to it no matter how often she watched.
Why was that?
Chew, chew.
Wide open.
Chew, chew.
Then Jurim smiled faintly and lowered his head.
Black hair slid down before her eyes; he was so handsome that he looked like someone straight out of a movie, and Geuru's mouth fell agape.
She thought she finally understood why people sometimes stared at Jurim's face.
When Jurim wiped away the grain of rice at the corner of her mouth, Geuru gave a thumbs-up. It meant he was handsome today too, but Jurim answered by lightly flicking her forehead.
“Hing!”
Yeongran, watching the two of them with satisfaction, asked,
“Geuru, where did you say you were going today?”
Geuru's eyes sparkled.
“To the amuwement pawk!”
*
According to “Mama Papa and Bebe,” Korea's largest parenting community, there were a few things in this world that drove children under five absolutely crazy.
Magical fairy Tiniping, Level 999 English Hunter, Mecha, dinosaurs…….
Jurim stared at the amusement park where a children's festival was in full swing.
‘Fairy Mechanic Saurus Land.’
It was a place that had collaborated with various brands targeting children, and it seemed hell-bent on making sure that whatever a toddler liked, they would fall head over heels for it.
“Kungjjak kungjjak! Happy Happy Saurus Island~”
Jurim, wearing a bear headband, gazed at the amusement park with vacant eyes.
The song echoed thunderously inside his head.
Countless children were running wild as if in a state of berserk frenzy.
If he put on a dinosaur costume and waved his hand, he could probably kidnap every child in the amusement park.
And the four-year-old beside him was no exception.
“Fairy Sauwus!”
The thing the four-year-old girl beside him particularly loved was a hybrid.
Geuru, wearing a bear headband and a peach-colored dress, looked around everywhere with excitement, letting out exclamations.
It was her first time at an amusement park in her life, and the child was endlessly looking around, surprised and laughing, completely beside herself.
Jurim watched Geuru with a spaced-out face, then soon curved the corners of his mouth.
‘Not bad.’
He'd had to layer sensory blocking several times over just to come here, but if she liked it that much, it was worth it.
“Honey. That kid is so cute, look over there.”
“Wow, really. So pretty.”
“Wouldn't it be nice if we had a baby like that too, right?”
“Right? As long as the baby looks like you, honey.”
“Oh~ stop it~”
As the couple giggled and passed by, Jurim pressed his lips into a straight line.
He'd worn a mask because he hated standing out, but a mixed-race baby as cute as a doll inevitably drew attention.
Attracting attention meant inevitably attracting all sorts of people as well.
He'd thought hiding his skills would be enough, but he'd never expected to have such a hard time because the child was too pretty.
Parenting was a continuous cycle of agony in every way.
What was even more troubling was that he didn't feel entirely bad about the child being praised here and there.
In a situation where there was nothing good about it, why did his chest itch so subtly?
As he was wondering where on earth this feeling of satisfaction was coming from—
Geuru's eyes filled with sparkling stars, and she shouted in ecstasy.
“Pwincess Hunter Sauwus!”
What the hell was that mongrel.
He searched it up and found that it seemed to be a type of dinosaur-fairy animation character.
A dinosaur but a fairy but a hunter? It was a world that adult logic could not comprehend.
The mongrel—said to be the princess of Saurus Island but awakened as a hunter—wore a tutu skirt (a multi-layered skirt worn by dancers) and waved her hands about.
As Geuru dashed over, the bear headband she was wearing fell off.
Jurim picked up the bear headband and slowly followed behind.
The dinosaur was caressing Geuru's face, gesturing that she was very pretty.
Jurim noticed this belatedly and raised his eyebrows with a displeased look.
‘Tch.’
People easily touched the child because she was pretty, and endlessly offered to take photos. They had no idea what a nuisance it was.
Whenever he wanted to ignore them or chase them away with insulting words as per his usual nature, he held back his anger, minding the four-year-old's reaction.
Whatever preconceived notions Geuru had about Jurim, that four-year-old nagged him endlessly about minding his manners and greeting people properly, so Jurim was becoming a polite human being for the first time in his twenty-six years of life.
“Photo! Take one, pwease!”
Geuru grabbed onto the mongrel's tutu skirt and shouted, and Jurim dragged himself over to take the picture.
Click.
“Pwincess Hunter Sauwus, bye-bye! See you watew!”
Geuru grinned broadly and checked the photo.
“Guild Mastew, Geuru's eyes awe cwosed.”
“……They look prettier shut.”
“Ehh…….”
Geuru scrunched up her face.
She wasn't falling for it; the child really must be a prodigy after all.
Jurim lifted Geuru into his arms to divert her attention.
“Want to eat something? Saurus popcorn?”
She shook her head side to side.
“My tummy's fuw.”
Having stuffed her face so much at breakfast, Geuru was still full and sighed, “Ehyohyo.”
“Then where do you want to go now?”
As Jurim unfolded the map, Geuru tapped his shoulder with her small fists.
“Geuru has somewhere she wants to go.”
“Where?”
When Jurim showed her the map, Geuru narrowed her eyes and looked over every inch of it.
‘I'm sure they said it was in the castle.’
The place Geuru had been waiting for today and had looked up in advance was the toy exhibition hall!
It was a place that displayed toys the chairman of the amusement park's parent company had collected over a lifetime, and they were apparently running a month-long treasure hunt program.
‘Though the treasure is nice and all…….’
Geuru threw a glance at Jurim.
The eyes visible above the mask looked especially tired today.
‘As expected, he must be tired…….’
Even the blog she had excitedly searched to see what to do at the amusement park had said so.
The treasure hunt program at the toy exhibition hall provided parents with time and space to escape from the hardships of childcare, if only for a moment.
Geuru wanted to give Jurim some time to rest.