“Okay, Haerang, take care? Yiseon, you be careful too. You have to let me babysit Haerang again next time, okay? Got it?”
He repeatedly expressed his thanks to Sohee noona, who tried to lighten his burden until the very end.
Noona, thank you. Really, truly thank you. As he wore a bitter smile on his lips, she nodded as if she understood everything.
The farewell ended like that. Sohee went into her house, and the two people left in the hallway just waited for the elevator to arrive.
“Daddy, daddy, Haerang wants to hold hands when we go down.”
“You want to?”
Haerang, who couldn’t stay still for even a moment, kicked his feet as if tired of being held. When he put the small body down on the ground, the child laughed “hehe” and came to hold his hand. The child’s cute little hand caught in his palm was warmer than usual.
“But daddy, what should we do when we get home? Hm? Hm?! Daddy.”
Let’s see. What should we do when we get home? Just as he was about to answer the child’s question, the elevator arrived.
Yiseon, who hurriedly closed his mouth, warned the child: Shh! He couldn’t cause trouble for the residents when this wasn’t even the apartment he lived in.
About two weeks ago, there was a case where a resident who rode the elevator together expressed discomfort saying it was noisy, so Yiseon had to be even more careful.
—The door is opening.
Inside the elevator stood two men so tall it was startling.
One of them was tall enough that his height seemed to reach the ceiling, and his build was extraordinary too. Unlike the man next to him who was armed with a hat and mask, he was dressed in a brown suit and even wore sunglasses, and he had an appearance that made you think he was no ordinary person at a glance.
Yiseon, who instinctively shrank at the man’s presence, took a spot in the corner as soon as he got on the elevator. Haerang also seemed surprised by the suddenly encountered large figure and stood quietly stuck close, watching carefully.
—The door is closing.
Soon the elevator door closed with a smooth announcement.
Was it his imagination? The descent seemed slower today. It felt even more so because Sohee noona’s place was on the 40th floor, a high floor.
While this time was suffocating for Yiseon, young Haerang didn’t seem to feel that way. The child, who had become accustomed to this environment, couldn’t stand the wait and started moving.
One step. Two steps. Carefully extending his feet while rolling his eyes round and round, Haerang observed the man wearing the hat closely. It was something he did while tense Yiseon was only looking at the elevator’s number panel.
And a moment later, Haerang opened both eyes wide as if he’d realized something tremendous.
“Uh…?”
After briefly pondering, poking his temple here and there with his short index finger, the child unhesitatingly hummed the melody that flashed through his mind.
“Cheese, cheese, healthy cheese, when we share round cheese, happiness multiplies! Cheese! Cheese! Let’s be together, cheese cheese!”
“…?!”
Yiseon’s body jerked at the song suddenly ringing out. Whether daddy was startled or not, the child, whose excitement had reached its peak, was already opening the curtain on verse 2.
“Cheese, cheese, savory cheese, when you eat round cheese, you grow faster! Cheese! Cheese! You grow tall, chee-oop!”
“Haerang-ah! You, you have to be quiet. You can’t suddenly start singing…!”
Why is he suddenly acting like this? The kid who listens well to daddy’s words, why, why is he singing…
Too surprised, Yiseon covered the child’s mouth first and bowed his waist repeatedly toward the men.
“I’m so, so sorry because of my child.”
Unlike them, Yiseon and Haerang in shabby clothes were clearly not residents of this apartment, and they hadn’t kept elevator etiquette. So they had nothing to say even if they heard complaints from the residents.
The ahjumma he encountered last time openly showed her discomfort with Yiseon’s presence, saying things like the security wasn’t doing their job properly, and today the kid even sang a song, so he must have gotten on the men’s nerves.
So whatever was said, he’d have to apologize—Yiseon firmly prepared his heart.
Yes, that’s what he did, but…
The man in the brown suit quietly watched the child before lifting the sunglasses he was wearing up over his head. Then he smiled a gentle smile.
Pulling up the corners of his mouth refreshingly enough to form dimples, he gestured with his chin toward the man standing next to him and offered:
“Kid, do you know Cheese hyung? Want an autograph? Or maybe a photo?”
It seemed both men were celebrities, which explained why they were different from ordinary residents.
The face of the man who spoke directly to Haerang was splendid, befitting a celebrity. When the elevator door opened, he was first shocked at seeing his tall, well-built stature, but his appearance was equally outstanding.
His sun-tanned skin and well-groomed dark eyebrows, masculine face shape and high nose bridge, and his deep yet cold eyes reminded one of a foreign movie actor on screen. Even to Yiseon, who had no particular interest in standards of beauty, he was a nearly perfect human being.
This man, whose very existence stole others’ gazes, even had a voice imbued with a heavy charm.
When no answer came from the child, he bent his index finger repeatedly, mimicking pressing a shutter. Asking if he wanted to take a photo.
Haerang, who had been frozen like a doll, perhaps not expecting the man to suddenly talk to him, shouted out a vigorous answer a moment later.
“Yes! I like it!”
At the cheerful voice, Yiseon snapped back to his senses.
“Haerang-ah, you can’t do that…”
He stopped the child with his eyebrows drooping. Yiseon’s mind became tangled in an instant. What on earth is Cheese hyung? Seeing that Haerang’s gaze was directed at the man wearing the hat, that person seemed to be that Cheese hyung.
Since the time he spent watching TV with the child had decreased recently, Yiseon couldn’t know the source of the song or the identity of Cheese hyung.
However, what he could tell for certain was that the expression of the man called ‘Cheese hyung’ had darkened… It was a face that clearly didn’t want to take a photo.
It seemed the child had made the situation uncomfortable, so Yiseon tried to refuse.
Just before he could open his mouth, the man who had spoken to Haerang bluntly issued a command.
“What are you doing? Photo.”
At the forceful and rough command, Mr. Cheese Hyung rolled his eyes back once. Haaah, immediately letting out an irritated sigh, he took off his mask.
“No, no. Really, it’s fine. You really don’t have to take it—”
“Wow! I’m taking a photo with Cheese hyung! Daddy, hurry and click-clack!”
“Haerang-ah, shh…! Come here to daddy, okay?”
It was no use even forcibly pulling the child’s arm. The man who cheerfully offered to take a photo even though he wasn’t the one taking it even extended his hand toward Yiseon. It was a gesture asking for his phone.
If he refused here, it seemed Mr. Cheese Hyung, who had taken off his mask and was standing by, would also be put in a difficult position, so he eventually placed his phone on the man’s palm. Then the man, who was familiar with it, turned on the camera and captured the child’s image in the frame.
“Kwon Haseong, smile properly.”
So Mr. Cheese Hyung’s name was Kwon Haseong.
At the man’s threatening words, Kwon Haseong showed an artificial eye-smile. Only then did the man press the shutter as if satisfied.
“Kid, say chee-se.”
“Cheese!”
Click. Click. Click. Click.
The camera shutter sound rang out several times inside the narrow elevator. The child, who stuck close next to Kwon Haseong, even struck a V-pose properly with his mouth wide open. Though it should have been embarrassing to take photos in front of a stranger, there was no sign of intimidation at all.
Yiseon could only look at his outgoing son with worry.
Our Haerang. It’s really fortunate that unlike me, he has a lively personality and isn’t shy around strangers. But at times like this, it’s really troublesome…
After taking a round of photos, the man who returned the phone to Yiseon spoke to the child as if it wasn’t over yet.
“Kid, how old are you?”
“Six years old!”
Even at the characteristically sly question from an adult, Haerang answered boldly. When he proudly shouted six while spreading five fingers, the man laughed with a chuckle. Laughing while finding the child cute, he made another unilateral proposal this time too.
“You’re cute. Want to ask Cheese hyung to give you an airplane ride?”
“Waaah! Yes!”
At the conversation passing by in an instant, Yiseon’s mind became hazy. After photos, now an airplane ride? Could that man really not see Kwon Haseong’s expression?
“No, you don’t have to do that. Um, I…!”
Even though Yiseon, unable to watch any longer, earnestly stopped him, the man didn’t yield. He lightly picked up Haerang and passed him over to Kwon Haseong’s arms.
