Chapter 55: A Day with Siyeon

“Wow, you only brought those dog snacks… kehp!”

“Stop just eating the braised short ribs, you crazy bastard.”

The remaining three days of the holiday.

While spending time with the mascots and finishing the leftover holiday food, I grabbed the crazy bear’s hair who was only eating the braised short ribs, and while looking at an empty space on the calendar, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

‘Siyeon’s birthday is…’

Birthday.

Unlike this body of mine, which has no known origin, Siyeon definitely had parents.

Unlike me, Kim Mari, who was reset like some sort of default date, with the year set to January 1st, Siyeon had a more plausible backstory.

A believable date like October 2nd.

Siyeon’s birthday, about two weeks after Chuseok, the Korean harvest festival.

Of course, I need to buy a birthday cake, and since we eat delivery food less often, it wouldn’t really become anything special.

The real issue is the birthday gift.

I shouldn’t feel frustrated by this, but Siyeon rarely asks for anything.

Whether it’s a toy, a doll, or even something everyone else has like a game console or electronic gadgets…

Normally, kids ask for things, throw tantrums, and lie down in the store to wrestle with their parents.
But not Siyeon…

“Siyeon.”
I called out to Siyeon while eating, and she turned her face, buried in the bowl, toward me.
“Uh?”

“Is there anything you want?”

“Nothing!”

A quick, almost immediate reply, confirming that choosing a birthday gift or anything else is a real struggle.

At least when I ask about food, I get a clear answer, but when it comes to toys or stuff, she doesn’t seem to have any desire for them.

So, she usually just uses my old stuff.

In the meantime, since my mental age isn’t at a stage where I should be playing with dolls or robots, I soon found myself looking for entertainment on my smartphone and computer.

‘It’s probably about time I get her one….’

Since Siyeon doesn’t want anything specific, I eventually decided it was time for her first smartphone.
It’s a bit early for a first grader, but I couldn’t just not get her one.

Looking around at her classmates, unless they have super strict parents, more than half of them already have smartphones.

Even if it’s early, it’s better than her not being able to join the conversation with her friends, so I made the bold decision and placed the order for a pricey one.

Fifty chickens easily flew out the window, but at least I didn’t have to worry about a birthday gift anymore.

“Mari, let’s go out!”

“Uh, okay… I should go out.”

It’s autumn, just when it starts to cool down.

When Siyeon hears the kids playing outside, she almost instinctively pulls me out to follow her.

Even though our apartment is a bit tucked away in a corner, I guess it’s still in the metropolitan area.

Even in the playground with its peeling paint left over from the holidays, kids still gather.

Since I haven’t been getting enough walking lately due to not having to deal with monsters, I’ve been spending some free time with Siyeon filling in this gap by playing in places like this playground.

Come to think of it, among the other magical girl seniors, if they were thin, they were thin, but I’ve almost never seen anyone who was chubby.

Boys playing soccer using rice sack-like recycling bins as goals. Meanwhile, some kids still mix freely on the same slide at the playground without any regard for gender.

Even though we live in the era of smartphones, many kids are still out playing like this.

When the neighborhood kids, including Siyeon, keep climbing the steep hill and sliding down, I just run around them in circles. Sometimes, I dodge a shot from Han Gwon’s flaming shot flying in front of me—though dodging it is a workout in itself. If I get hit, it’s just bad luck.

“Jaehyun, come inside!”

“Nooo-!”

“Even Kangwon, come inside, I made hamburger steak.”

“Really?!”

As the sky darkens, the kids start heading home, tugged along by their parents. Siyeon, too, breaks away from the kids she was playing with on the slide. Shortly after, she comes running toward me, exhausted from playing.

After we get home, we promise to take a shower right away. While Siyeon showers, I think about what to make for dinner, considering what fits the darkening evening.

Today, I suddenly crave a hamburger. There’s no particular reason—sometimes you just feel that way. Even though I think eating just two small bulgogi burgers would be enough, I instinctively reach for the set menu.

But as soon as I open the app, I hesitate upon seeing the message:

[Due to an unexpected issue in the supply chain, we are temporarily unable to provide French fries. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and will do our best to resume sales quickly.]

‘Ah.’

I had to pause and think for a second—it turns out French fries are just fried potatoes. But having a hamburger without fries is a major issue. Still, I really wanted the burger.

I ended up looking for another burger place, straying from my usual. The days of joking about cheap hamburgers are long gone.

A single item for 5,000 won is normal now, and anything under 3,000 won is hard to find. Even though it’s not a handmade burger, it still costs more than you’d expect, and when I see a burger that costs over 10,000 won, I can’t help but think, “For this price, I could…”

Anyway, I ordered two bulgogi burgers in a set and one shrimp burger as a single item from a different fast-food chain. I’ll just share the shrimp burger.

At that exact moment, Siyeon, having just gotten out of the shower, approached me with damp hair. It was my turn to go next. Slowly,

I stood up and picked up the underwear and white tank top that were loosely hanging on the drying rack, rolled them up, and held them in my arms.

I told Siyeon in advance, “I ordered hamburgers, so when they arrive, can you bring them in?”

“Hamburgers!”

Once I entered the bathroom, I leaned against the wall, quickly stripped off my clothes, and threw them haphazardly onto the closed toilet lid. I then placed the clothes I would change into on top of the rolled-up ones. I usually try not to be too conscious of the fact that we are of different genders.

While washing, I couldn’t avoid looking at my body, and in the end, I had to embrace my own body that I would have to carry.

Even so, given that I had the memory of a man, a strange sense of guilt inevitably arose.

It still felt like this body wasn’t mine, a sense of alienness.

For a moment, I thought about that.

Now, even washing my long hair had become familiar, and I no longer startled when my wet hair touched the back of my neck.

As soft bubbles covered my body, the dirt and sweat mixed with the smoothness and artificial scent of the body wash, masking them.

I picked up the dry towel and first let my long hair fall forward.

Then, using both hands, I squeezed and rubbed it from the top down, giving it a light slap to shake off the water.

This way, at least, the water droplets wouldn’t fall from my long hair and wet the floor.

Sitting on the toilet lid, I wiped my body with the towel.

Then, I grabbed the clothes I had set aside next to me and put them on, my small limbs squirming.
“Phew.”

As I left the bathroom, I exhaled a sigh of freshness.

When I stepped out of the steamy bathroom, where my body had been enveloped by hot water, it felt as cool as could be, even in the middle of summer.

Moreover, now it was slightly autumn, with the heat having passed.

The sudden chill that covered my whole body was so refreshing, it was beyond words.

It felt like having worked in the middle of summer, then wrapping my body with warm water in the shower and waiting for personal maintenance.

A feeling of refreshment with no worries.

Beyond that refreshment, a sudden ominous thought poked its head out.

‘No way, it won’t happen again, will it…’

Just as this thought crossed my mind, I heard loud knocking at the door.

“Hamburger!”

There were very few people who would knock on this door.

Naturally, it was a delivery person, and just as expected, I waited patiently, only to shoot up like a rocket when I heard the name.

Checking the smartphone I had with me in the bathroom, I saw a notification that the delivery had been completed.

Sometimes, the riders who were in a hurry seemed to press the delivery complete button from the first floor, and it seemed that this was one of those types.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw a plastic bag with a paper bag containing hamburgers.

I carried the crinkling plastic bag over to the low table.

Inside the paper bag, small hamburgers, which would be finished in five bites for an adult, were stacked one on top of the other.

On the other hand, fries had spilled out of their paper cup and were scattered around.

I tossed the plastic bag to the side, then took out the hamburgers from the paper bag, tearing the paper bag open to use it as a dish for the fries.

After squeezing out some ketchup packets wrapped in plastic, I was finally ready to eat the hamburgers.

“Is it tasty?”

“Yep!”

Perhaps because our bodies were small, the bulgogi burger seemed especially large.

Normally, I could finish a macaron-like burger with just four bites, but today it felt particularly big.

A bite of the burger, followed by a bite of fries.