# Chapter 21
As soon as they got off the boat, the two of them returned to their usual atmosphere as if nothing had happened. Iyeon, who looked like a drowned rat, stole glances at Sano while drying himself with Mirae at the hot air blower set up near the exit.
Thanks to Iyeon’s great sacrifice, Sano, who came out almost unscathed, was leaning against a nearby pillar with his arms crossed, looking around at the surroundings. His smooth face was, as always, expressionless.
I got unnecessarily tense over nothing. Iyeon deliberately shook his body as if to shake it off.
“So warm~”
“Don’t get too close.”
Mirae, who had been wriggling as she diligently dried herself, stretched out both arms as if basking in the fire. Her chubby cheeks turned red as they warmed in the heat. Finding that cute, Iyeon set aside his concerns and smiled warmly.
“Having fun?”
“Yup!”
Mirae, who nodded vigorously like a dangling car ornament, soon muttered glumly.
“I wanted to come with Mom too.”
By the looks of it, this wasn’t the first time her mom had broken promises and run away. Despite being an adult. When he crouched down to meet Mirae’s eyes, her dejected face looked back at him.
“You can come with your mom later.”
“Mom won’t come. She doesn’t like Mirae very much.”
See that? She’s completely lost the child’s trust. This is what happens to the boy who cried wolf. Iyeon grumbled remotely at the distant D.S while stroking Mirae’s hair. The soft hair gradually wrapped around his fingers. It wasn’t something a child whose skull hadn’t even fully hardened should naturally say out loud.
“Uncle will push your mom’s back if needed to make her come with you.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
“But… but. What if Mom still doesn’t come?”
“Hmm…”
Even knowing she was being serious, her hesitant appearance was cute. Deliberately drawing out his response as if thinking, Iyeon smiled playfully.
“Then uncle will come with you again.”
“Uncle?”
“Yes. We played today, so now we’re friends.”
“Friends?”
“We’re close now, right?”
Mirae smiled brightly. Her large eyes, somehow fitting on her tiny face, curved happily.
“Friends!”
“Yes, friends.”
That sight was so pretty, as if shining, that Iyeon smiled along.
“Ah, uncle. It’s not dry here yet!”
“Where?”
As he turned his body this way and that according to Mirae’s words, the moisture quickly dried. Basking in the strong heat, he easily forgot things like Sano’s body temperature.
The three of them rode all sorts of rides together. Next was the roller coaster, then the carousel, and then bumper cars.
They bought a commemorative photo clearly showing Je Sano with an expressionless face during the roller coaster drop, Mirae with both hands raised high, and Iyeon’s face looking pale from the wind. On the carousel, Mirae enthusiastically waved her hand toward the back from atop a large white horse, while Iyeon, riding a pony, smiled and waved back. Beside them, Sano sat like an emperor with an indifferent face in a carriage. In the bumper cars, they raised reasonable suspicions about whether Je Sano, who was suspiciously flying around, was using his superpower, but they were magnificently ignored.
They stopped by the souvenir shop and gave Mirae a magic wand that garishly sparkled in all kinds of colors. Iyeon, wearing heart-shaped lens sunglasses, put a blow toy in his mouth and blew it toward Sano, causing the toy to break apart. While throwing away the shattered toy, he grumbled about whether Sano was like the Blue Tiger, but Sano lightly brushed it off and headed to the next ride.
Seeing that he seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit despite pretending not to, Iyeon smiled proudly from behind.
“Let’s ride this next!”
Even though they had ridden quite a few rides, Mirae didn’t know how to get tired. Still, it was much better than the gloomy face she had when they first met. There wasn’t a trace of shadow on Mirae’s face as she bounced around.
“C-coming…”
The problem was the adults. Iyeon, who had almost exhausted his prepared stamina, followed Mirae with shabby steps. Sano didn’t hide his face that showed how pathetic he thought this was.
“Your stamina is worse than a child’s.”
“Hey, do you think it’s easy to beat a child? I used to fly around when I was young too…”
Sano snorted as if that was unlikely. It was the first time he’d heard such an arrogant sneer, but Iyeon didn’t have the energy to get upset.
It was only after they had been roaming the amusement park like this for quite some time that they realized their appearance might be misunderstood in some way.
It started with the employee at the snack bar they stopped by to buy drinks.
“Your daughter is really pretty.”
“What? It’s not like that.”
“It’s okay. In today’s world, what’s wrong with that?”
While their thinking was free of prejudice, they had fallen into a swamp of misunderstandings.
The faces of the two who were suddenly treated as a couple distorted at the same time. Despite their strong denial, the employee ignored it and handed the drink to Mirae with a bright smile.
“Here you go. You must be happy having such handsome dads~”
Mirae, distracted by the pretty colored drink, answered carelessly while keeping her gaze fixed on the cup.
“Mmm. Sano’s handsome!”
The cheeky little one was selectively saying things that could be misunderstood. Earlier she had pretended not to pay attention to Je Sano’s face, but she had been watching all along. As if keeping up with the excited child, the employee chatted with Mirae throughout the checkout process.
“Your dad’s name is Sano? Why don’t you call him dad?”
“Sano said to call him Sano. But Iyeon uncle told me to call him uncle.”
“Ah…”
An awkward atmosphere suddenly swept over the four people. The temperature of the employee’s gaze, who had let their imagination run wild, dropped instantly.
“It’s not like that. Mirae, I really am your uncle, right?”
No matter how much Iyeon told the truth, the atmosphere didn’t recover.
“Right… uncle… have fun with your… uncle…”
“It’s really true. I just met her today for the first time. I’m just playing with her because I was asked to.”
“Yes…”
Eventually, the employee glumly avoided eye contact. This was infuriating.
Realizing that further conversation was futile, Iyeon hurriedly followed Sano and Mirae, who were striding out of the snack bar. Why do I feel like I’m the only one at a disadvantage when we were both misunderstood as gay? It was an inexplicable outcome.
After having such an experience once, the gazes of people looking at them gradually began to register in Iyeon’s vision. Strangely warm gazes, kind attitudes, even words of comfort for their hardship… It was an uncomfortable warmth.
I thought all that was because Je Sano is handsome. That reason probably isn’t entirely absent either. Iyeon, who had suddenly gained a husband and child, crossed his arms sullenly.
The unfounded misunderstanding wasn’t welcome. Already on the Nile cruise… didn’t things get weird? If he hadn’t caught Mirae’s eye midway, he would have stayed like that the whole time, like a bird caught in a trap. That was a great thing to do in front of a child. Even though nothing special had happened, Iyeon continuously avoided the situation as if he had committed a crime.
“Getting a bit hungry now.”
They had been dragged around so much that they didn’t even realize it was past dinner time. Once they thought about being hungry, they rapidly began to feel famished, so the three entered a nearby Western restaurant.
After roughly ordering at the counter and sitting down, their legs felt stiff. Only then did they somewhat realize how much they had been walking around all day.
“After dinner, we can go to the workshop. Mirae, shall we go to your mom after eating?”
“Yup!”
This was enough playtime. If D.S had any conscience, she couldn’t complain. Should I try to negotiate a discount on the price? While making such worldly calculations and picking up the menu, suddenly an employee with a loudspeaker appeared from the kitchen with loud music.
[Hello! Are you having a pleasant evening? We’re now starting our evening event.]
Events or whatever, I’m starving to death. Iyeon ignored it and opened the menu.
[The event will proceed as a simple team game, and specially! We’ll only accept couples. The winners of the event will… that’s right, receive a 50% discount on all your dinner today!]
Mirae glanced occasionally but wasn’t very interested, and Sano originally didn’t pay any attention to such things.
[Then please raise your hand if you’d like to participate!]
There was a buzz around the restaurant as people began raising their hands one by one. How noisy. As Sano slightly frowned and glared at the rowdy crowd, a calm voice was heard nearby.
“I will.”
Somehow the voice was familiar. Looking to the side, Iyeon was raising his hand high.
“What are you doing?”
“You hurry up and raise your hand too.”
In Iyeon’s urging eyes, the soul seemed about half gone. Why is he doing this? Looking around, the reason couldn’t be found. Sano fiercely scolded him.
“Are you crazy?”
“What’s crazy are the prices here.”
In Iyeon’s other hand, the menu that he hadn’t even flipped through one page was held pitifully as he muttered like that.
While stores doing business inside amusement parks are notorious for their evil pricing, among them, this restaurant’s pricing was at a level where conscience had evaporated. Paying this much money for a meal was impossible in Iyeon’s life philosophy. His arm was as firm as his resolute face as he held it up.
“I’ll pay for it.”
“You have money?”
Sano didn’t carry a wallet.
“I can procure some.”
It wasn’t a peaceful tone.
“Sano, think about it. When there’s a peaceful way to save money, there’s no need to waste unnecessarily, right?”
As Iyeon said that, there was a kind of madness in his eyes. There was a glimpse of his determination to participate there and save on the food cost no matter what.
“When you come to an amusement park, you should try experiences like this at least once. It all becomes pleasant memories.”
He was pulling all kinds of scams just because it was Sano’s first time at an amusement park.
