TL/Editor: looloo
Status: ongoing
Illustrations: posted in discord
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Sarang finally fell asleep, exhausted from crying. Her mother sat beside her, comforting her with a face on the verge of tears.
Watching them, Lim Sunhee - mother to Heena and Heeseong, grandmother to Sarang - thought to herself:
'It's not like my son-in-law went off to war...'
She understood her granddaughter's reaction to an extent. Yeonho had been spending more time with Sarang this year, and the child had always been oddly attached to her father.
At that age, even a few days apart could feel like an eternity.
But Heena's reaction seemed excessive. Their affectionate relationship was nice to see, but this was too much.
Heena wasn't a high schooler anymore. She was a grown woman with a job. To be this distraught over her husband's 5-week boot camp stint seemed ridiculous.
Sunhee had plenty to say, but held her tongue. With her daughter looking ready to burst into tears, it didn't feel right to voice those thoughts.
As soon as they got home...
"Mom, Mother. I'm going to put Sarang to bed and rest a bit myself..."
"Alright, get some sleep too."
"Don't worry too much about Yeonho. Just rest well."
"Thank you..."
After Heena took Sarang into the bedroom, Sunhee immediately spoke up. She couldn't hold it in any longer.
"Seriously, you'd think he was deployed to Iraq. I know she's my daughter, but still..."
"Don't say anything. Sarang might start crying again."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
"Of course. I'm really worried about Sarang... She'll probably start crying for her dad when she wakes up."
"It's a good thing he's doing alternative service. If he had to do active duty, I don't know how Heena would cope."
Sunhee wasn't alone in her thoughts. The other two shared similar opinions. The couple's lovey-dovey behavior was sometimes sickeningly sweet, but also over the top.
After discussing Heena's excessive affection, the topic shifted to Sarang.
"Heeseong, do you have any big cat plushies?"
"Of course. Should I buy one? I haven't gotten anything too big since there are so many people at home."
"If you see one, buy it."
"Got it. I'll look for one later on my date."
Sarang's favorite was her dad, Yeonho, but cats were a close second. Well, her mom Heena was probably somewhere in between.
As Sunhee thought of ways to comfort her granddaughter, she looked around the house and sighed.
"The house does feel empty without Yeonho..."
"Well, he was always at home, so that's to be expected."
"That's part of it, but... Sis, do you know how nice it is to see Yeonho's smile? When he greets me, it makes me feel so good. It's comforting."
"Yeonho does have that effect. His voice is pleasant too, isn't it? Not exactly melodious, but there's something about it."
"Right? Plus, with Yeonho always home lately, it's been convenient for me to run errands."
Of course, she wasn't as heartbroken as her daughter. But you don't know what you've got till it's gone. Thinking about tomorrow already filled her with a sense of loss.
Heeseong, however, had different thoughts.
'Hmm... Sarang will probably only be like this for a few days... Once Heena goes back to work, I'll have her all to myself, right?'
He was worried about his brother-in-law, sister, and niece to some extent. But the situation didn't seem that serious.
After all, Yeonho had just gone to boot camp for 5 weeks. If he had been deployed overseas, that would be cause for real concern.
Honestly, seeing his sister today made him think some time apart might be good for them.
He had gotten so used to Yeonho being stuck to his sister that he took it for granted. But today, it really hit him how little time Yeonho had to himself.
Helping with housework, looking after Sarang, never allowed to go anywhere alone when Heena got off work - he was always tied down by those two.
Of course, being a father meant giving up some freedom, but this seemed excessive.
Anyway, he was thinking about monopolizing Sarang's attention during this time. No matter how well he treated her, Sarang would only respond briefly before going back to following Yeonho around.
But now, if he played with her at home and helped with daycare drop-offs, he might get closer to her.
He wanted to become Sarang's number one uncle.
'First, I'll get her attention with a huge cat plushie, then when Heena's not around, I'll treat her to some tasty snacks. Winning over one kid should be a piece of cake.'
Heeseong smiled, imagining Sarang playing or sleeping in his arms.
So that evening, he bought a massive cat plushie as tall as himself while on a date with his girlfriend, Cha Rin.
"Really?"
"Of course~ Here, shall we write down how many nights are left until forty? Sarang can do it."
Other family members probably couldn't bring up Yeonho for fear of triggering Sarang's tears.
She had cried so much on the first day. Crying until exhausted, falling asleep, waking up and crying again. Only after being told multiple times that Daddy would come back later did she finally stop crying.
Of course, since then she had been like this, as she was today.
I praised Sarang as she carefully wrote down the numbers from one to forty without missing any.
"You wrote them so well~ Now, we'll count one number together with Mommy every day. Okay? When Sarang finishes counting all of these, Daddy will come running to hug Sarang."
"Sarang will! Sarang will count every day!"
"That's right, shall we start from today? Sarang, what's the very first number?"
"One!"
"My Sarang is so smart~"
Feeling the energy return to her voice, I played a video on my laptop. Inside the folder were countless videos. Videos that he had recorded in advance, for me and for Sarang.
And in the first video I played, thankfully, Yeonho's face immediately appeared on screen. My heart ached as soon as I saw him. I missed Yeonho so much.
But if I showed my pain now, the comfort I had just given would be meaningless. Though Sarang wasn't looking at me, I maintained my smile as best I could.
[ Heena, did you press the record button? ]
[ Yeah, I did! ]
[ Really? Sarang~ Come here! Daddy will give you a hug! ]
[ Okay!! ]
[ Oof! That body slam was a bit... ]
"It's Daddy! Mommy! Daddy's there!"
"Who's there with Daddy?"
"Sarang! Daddy and Sarang together!"
"But look how beautifully Sarang is smiling there? Can you see how happy Daddy is looking at Sarang's smile? Can our Sarang smile like that too?"
"Yes! Sarang can smile prettily!"
I gently hugged Sarang from behind as she bounced excitedly in her seat, watching Yeonho in the video. From then on, we slowly watched the video together.
Engraving in our eyes the image of Yeonho, who always showed us his beautiful smile - though we couldn't see him now.
Yeonho must be struggling much more than us, both physically and mentally. I couldn't stay dejected.
Not just Sarang, but I too had to smile prettily like I did in the video.
On the day my husband, Sarang's father, returns to us, we must greet him with smiles as beautiful as blooming flowers to put his mind at ease.
"I miss Daddy..."
"Mommy misses Daddy so, so much too. So let's smile prettily together so Daddy can come back quickly. Okay?"
"Okay... Sarang will smile prettily..."
"Yes... Our Sarang is so good and pretty..."
So please.
Stay healthy and safe.
Come back to us.
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Raei Translations
---
At that moment.
While Sarang regained some of her spirit, Heena did her best as a mother, and the rest of the family breathed a sigh of relief.
Oblivious to all of this, I was...
"Damn, this is delicious. What's it called again... Wa? It's called Wa? Don't they sell this outside? I don't think I've seen it before."
"Holy shit, it's so good... It tastes even better after getting chewed out at lunch."
"You idiot! You got caught eating MSG and that's why you got chewed out! Oh man... If only we hadn't been caught!"
"Come on, Yeonho. Don't be like that. You took a bite too, it's not fair to just blame me─ mmph!"
"Shut up!"
I was bickering with my bunkmate.
Since we couldn't use the PX yet, we weren't eating something bought there, but rather some MSG seasoning this guy had smuggled in when he enlisted. We got caught and chewed out for it.
But damn, it was tasty.