Be My Baby - Vol.2 Chapter 4 Part 2
“What on earth… is he doing?”
Watching the bedroom situation transmitted to his phone screen, Eungyo clicked his tongue softly at the situation that seemed to cause déjà vu from exactly five weeks ago.
Just in case, he had turned on the security device before leaving, and when it went off, he saw Seonwoo standing in the room, poking around here and there.
After looking through all sorts of cabinets, he went back to the door, about to touch the doorknob, then shook his head and retreated, once again wandering around the room as if searching for something.
“…Is he hungry…?”
Thinking it was almost breakfast time, he was about to hurriedly call the housekeeper to ask his to come in earlier when the door of the stopped car opened.
And into it climbed Eunhyeok, dressed in a suit.
“What’s going on now? Suddenly wanting to go to work together.”
Eungyo, putting his phone inside his jacket, calmly replied to Eunhyeok, who had plopped down right next to his and asked anxiously.
“I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“Let’s start driving first, then I’ll tell you.”
At those words, as the secretary in the driver’s seat started moving the car again, Eunhyeok, leaning back in his seat, asked Eungyo anxiously.
“What is it? Is it about Eunho? Or Father?”
“No. It’s about me.”
“What’s the matter?”
“I’m pregnant.”
“Oh, is that so? That’s good. Congrat—”
Eunhyeok, about to reflexively and indifferently offer congratulations, suddenly stopped mid-sentence and turned sharply to look at Eungyo.
“Wait, what did you just say?”
“I said I’m pregnant. I’m holding off telling Father because he’d be too happy, so I’m reporting to you first. Just so you know.”
Eungyo’s attitude, speaking so nonchalantly, in such a truly calm and ordinary tone as if giving a report, made Eunhyeok confirm again with a surprised face.
“…You mean, really, a baby? A baby?”
“Yes, that baby. A baby.”
“How did this happen?”
“By chance. Well, let’s call it an accident.”
Judging by Eungyo’s calm face as he answered, it didn’t seem like he was joking.
No, knowing Eungyo’s personality, he wouldn’t joke about such a matter, so Eunhyeok scratched his well-set hair, seeming perplexed.
“This is, well, very surprising, but… Ah, should I say it’s fortunate? Come to think of it, Eunho has been chasing after women diligently these days…”
“It’s not a child because of that. It was really an accident.”
“Well, anyway, once a child is conceived, there’s nothing we can do about it… But will you be okay? If Father finds out, you’ll have to get married without any mercy.”
“I can’t get married.”
“Is that up to you to decide? Once Father knows, he’ll push for it right away. By any means necessary.”
“Unfortunately, no matter how much Father insists, it can’t happen.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s a man.”
“…What did you say?”
“The baby’s mother is a man.”
At this bombshell declaration from his brother who came to visit first thing in the morning, followed by such nonsense, Eunhyeok looked at Eungyo with a serious face.
“You, are you losing your mind because of stress from Father? It was you who told me not to talk nonsense about how a man could have a baby in this car, no, in my car, exactly a month ago. You said even that airhead couldn’t do it.”
“I thought so too, but he did it.”
“…What?”
“That airhead pulled it off.”
Eunhyeok, who had paused for a moment to reconsider the flow of the conversation in his mind, suddenly asked with a face that seemed to say ‘surely not’.
“…Wait, the baby’s mother you’re talking about, it couldn’t be…”
“That’s right. Lee Seonwoo.”
As Eungyo added with a sigh that it was a situation of a child having a child, Eunhyeok frowned deeply.
“Hey, that’s not right. Then it’s not a naturally born child!”
“It is. It’s a natural pregnancy.”
“How is that possible? Isn’t that artificial insemination and implantation?”
“It’s 100% natural pregnancy.”
“So, I don’t care about other mechanisms, and if it’s Dr. Lee Seonwoo, pregnancy might be possible, but for a natural pregnancy, you would have to…”
Eunhyeok, who was about to say that it couldn’t have happened, stopped speaking as he touched upon a certain possibility at his brother’s too-composed expression.
He felt a ‘surely not, maybe’ kind of feeling, but still, to assert 100% natural pregnancy, it certainly…
“…Did you do it?”
“I did.”
“…With airhead?”
“With airhead.”
“…Crazy…”
At Eunhyeok’s soft muttering, Eungyo remained silent.
He certainly felt like he might have gone crazy himself, so he didn’t bother to deny it. After a while, his brother, who had been staring at his side profile without being able to close his mouth, finally seemed to regain his composure and leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms.
“Well, okay. It’s okay. It doesn’t seem like a joke, and the accident has already happened. Nothing can be done about it. So, what are you going to do now?”
“What else? The baby has been conceived, so it needs to be born, and in the process, airhead will have to settle down too.”
“Hey, talk sense. Okay, if it were Father, he might collapse from high blood pressure when he hears the baby’s mother is a man, but he might also tell you to bring him over just to spite you. But the problem is this. That airhead’s father is our Father’s 500-year enemy.”
When Eunhyeok expressed concern that Dr. Lee Seonwoo’s father, Lee Woo-hyeon, was the genetic engineer who, 38 years ago, had given their already inferior-feeling father towards their mother an unforgettable sense of humiliation and disgrace, along with some unintentional teasing, Eungyo coolly replied.
“That’s even better. I hate it when things go according to Father’s wishes, but this has many risks.”
“Hey, no matter what, that’s not something to be happy about. What if Father has a heart attack?”
“It doesn’t matter. Anyway, I have to live with that airhead.”
“You’re going to live together too?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to separate from him anymore.”
It was a brief statement, but one laden with numerous implications.
Knowing his brother’s personality all too well, Eunhyeok couldn’t help but understand, whether he liked it or not, what it meant for that brother to say, ‘I don’t want to separate.’
Among the siblings, Eungyo was particularly cold and lacking in affection towards people.
Saying he couldn’t stand having family or anyone else getting in his way, he was the first to move out as soon as he became an adult, and even now, he hardly ever sets foot in the family home, disliking mingling with family members.
While not quite to the point of misanthropy, he basically found it bothersome and annoying to have someone by his side, and due to their parents’ never-ending war, he almost loathed the idea of marriage.
For such a person to say ‘I don’t want to separate’ was truly remarkable.
Knowing that for Kang Eungyo, saying ‘I don’t want to separate’ was even more difficult than expressions like ‘I like,’ ‘I love,’ ‘I want to be together,’ Eunhyeok asked again with a somewhat surprised face.
“…Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“You really intend to live with him?”
“We can’t get married, but I’m thinking of living together. He’s so unpredictable that I need to keep him in check. I’ve come to want that.”
At those words from someone who was cold even to his siblings, telling them to live their own lives, saying he would keep someone in check, Eunhyeok’s mouth fell open.
“Huh, they say there’s no tree that won’t fall after ten strikes, but… I thought you wouldn’t fall even after a hundred strikes, but have you finally succumbed to that airhead’s mischief?”
To Eunhyeok’s reaction, seemingly shocked as if he couldn’t have imagined this situation, Eungyo decided to answer honestly.
“Well, let’s just say it’s like Grandmother said.”
“What did he say?”
“That a child who’s a bit lacking and slow is more endearing and needs more attention than a perfect child.”
A gentle smile even played on Eungyo’s lips as he said this.
At this unlike-his-brother appearance, Eunhyeok clicked his tongue.
“It’s true that you live and learn. You used to be so averse to that rascal.”
“I thought his actions were so frivolous that it was just a joke, but when I realized it was sincere, let’s say my heart was moved. And, don’t call him airhead anymore.”
“Why?”
“I don’t mind if I call him that, but it’s a bit unpleasant when others do.”
“Oh ho?”
“So be careful. And keep your mouth shut to Eunsoo and Eunho. If Eunho finds out, who knows what he’ll do, and it’ll be noisy.”
“When are you planning to tell Father?”
“Depending on the situation. I still have things to sort out with that guy.”
“What is there to sort out? That guy has been chasing after you for 10 years because he likes you.”
“The situation has gotten a bit complicated… Plus…”
In the car smoothly driving down the road, Eungyo suddenly stopped speaking.
And seeing Eungyo’s side profile, seemingly thinking about something seriously, Eunhyeok also asked with a serious face.
“Plus, what? Is there something bothering you?”
Thinking there might be another problem, when Eunhyeok asked like that, Eungyo slowly turned to look at him.
“In early pregnancy… is it okay to do it?”
“What?”
“It’s fine in the early stages, right?”
At his brother’s very serious face, Eunhyeok, who had been seriously pondering what could be done in early pregnancy, realized what Eungyo was talking about after a moment and looked at him as if dumbfounded.
“Surely what you’re asking if it’s okay to do isn’t that, right?”
When Eunhyeok asked again as if to confirm, just in case, Eungyo calmly replied.
“It probably is. As far as I know medically, it’s possible… but this is quite an unusual case.”
Eunhyeok looked at Eungyo, who was asking for his brother’s sincere advice with a serious face, as if he were looking at a strange object.
“Are you really not sick somewhere?”
“It’s not that I’m sick, it’s that I’m too healthy, that’s the problem. Do you know any obstetricians?”
“And if I do? Are you going to go and ask if it’s okay for a man who’s pregnant to do it?”
As Eunhyeok shuddered, saying that was the most lacking thing he’d ever seen, Eungyo nodded as if understanding.
“That’s a bit off, I suppose. Well, it should be fine. It’s not directly connected anyway.”
Yeah, it’ll be okay, Eungyo arbitrarily concluded.
At his brother’s attitude, seriously asking for an obstetrician and then arbitrarily concluding, Eunhyeok looked at Eungyo as if wondering if this was really his brother.
“You… seem to be under a lot of stress lately.”
“To be honest, I am. I thought I was the type far from impulses, but these days I’m going crazy with want…”
At those words, specifically pointing out that it was Seonwoo, that sticky rice cake beagle, he wanted to see, Eunhyeok quickly raised his hand to stop Eungyo’s words.
“Enough. That’s enough. I don’t want to know about my brother’s sex life.”
“How do you handle it when you really want to do it with just one specific person?”
“You just do it.”
“The problem is making it happen. I need to somehow make that guy pounce on me, but it’s not easy.”
“Get him drunk. Doesn’t he become courageous and mischievous when he drinks?”
“He’s abstaining.”
“Why?”
“Because I said if he gets drunk one more time, I’d strap him to a spaceship and shoot him off.”
Eungyo, who seemed to be deeply regretting the words he had uttered with his own mouth about five weeks ago, sighed softly, and Eunhyeok provided an easy answer.
“Then get him drunk secretly.”
“He won’t drink. He’s dull, but sensitive to water. That’s why he turned down all the love calls from world-renowned universities.”
Although he said the problem was drinking, even the rice he ate was imported from Korea as far as he knew, so if even that didn’t suit him, it was ultimately a water problem.
The water for washing didn’t suit him, the water for drinking didn’t suit him, so he came back crying to Korea after just two weeks, which says it all.
Starting with Germany, which he first went to, he went to the United States and Switzerland, but ultimately gave up and returned because the water didn’t suit him in any country he went to.
He might be dull in other aspects, but he’s sensitive about what goes into his mouth, so he’d probably know it was alcohol after just one sip.
Thinking that he really was unhelpful in many ways, Eungyo clicked his tongue softly, and Eunhyeok next to him retorted, seemingly surprised.
“No matter how I look at him, he doesn’t seem like that type? He looks like he wouldn’t notice even if you fed him poison.”
“Do you know why that guy entered the low-paying National Genetic Engineering Center?”
“Why?”
“Because the cafeteria food and water taste good.”
“No way…”
“I heard it through Hye-su. Their company tried to scout him, offering an enormous salary and all sorts of special benefits, but he refused, saying he’d stay there until he dies because the water there is good. Additionally, because he said the food there is delicious, the auntie who cooks in that cafeteria can’t even retire. I heard this directly from the director of the National Genetic Engineering Center. He said they have to keep that auntie at all costs.”
He doesn’t go study abroad because the water and food don’t suit him, and he enters the National Genetic Engineering Center because of the water and food.
He’s good at memorizing words but lacks language skills, so he can’t speak English and doesn’t bother submitting papers to foreign journals, finding it annoying, and writes all his research results only in Korean.
Nevertheless, everyone treats him well, and overseas companies and research institutes each employ separate Korean translators to quickly obtain his research results and papers, saying “Just throw anything our way”… What an enviable life.
Lee Seonwoo was really living an easy life.
“That guy really lives fantastically. Somehow, it seems like he lives more comfortably than a chaebol?”
“They say he’s the greatest intellect since the beginning of history. Of course, if you actually see him, you wouldn’t say that.”
As Eungyo made a very harsh assessment, saying that from afar he might look like a clean and ethical genius scientist practicing noblesse oblige, but up close he’s just an idiot, Eunhyeok nodded as if understanding.
“Well… Even Eunsoo was full of expectations when he went to his high school entrance ceremony because Lee Seonwoo was coming to that school, but after seeing him in person, he frantically searched online asking if that was really the Lee Seonwoo.”
“Anyone would have done that. More importantly… Is there no other good way? To make that guy pounce first?”
As Eungyo looked at Eunhyeok with a serious face, returning to the main point, Eunhyeok frowned as if irritated.
“Why rack your brains so much? Just pounce on him yourself.”
“No, I can’t do that.”
“Why? Is it beneath your pride?”
“Pride is part of it, but the important thing is hierarchy. When raising a dog like a beagle, you have to clearly establish the superior-subordinate relationship. If I make the first move on that guy who’s already lacking and can’t tell right from wrong, life will become difficult from then on. I need to clearly distinguish the hierarchy.”
At this incomprehensible logic, Eunhyeok stared silently at Eungyo.
Then he quietly dropped a single remark.
“But you know what?”
“What?”
“Training doesn’t work on beagles.”
At those words, Eungyo firmly shut his mouth.
Seeing that he too didn’t deny such a possibility, Eunhyeok continued.
“First of all, remember this. Whatever you do, I don’t really care, and anyway, since a child has been conceived, it’s good news for now… But that Moji- no, that human beagle probably won’t go according to your plan.”
“Don’t curse him.”
“It’s not a curse, it’s a fact. Simple kids need to be approached simply. No matter how much you rack your brain and beat around the bush, he’ll never understand what you mean until the day he dies. That type absolutely can’t understand metaphors or analogies. It has to be a straight ball. He can’t hit a breaking ball. It’s because his brain structure is simple, so it’s not something that can be learned.”
At this objective assessment of Seonwoo from Eunhyeok, the more experienced elder, Eungyo slowly nodded.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
At that brief answer, the car that had already arrived at the company entered the entrance of the underground parking lot.
As the view gradually darkened, Eunhyeok, leaning back in his seat, sighed as if there was nothing he could do and roughly summarized the situation.
“Well, anyway, this resolves one issue. For the time being, I’ll just have to watch Eunho desperately racking his brains without knowing anything.”
“So keep your mouth shut tight.”
“Don’t worry. My grudge against that guy is deeper than yours.”
Having said that in the car that had stopped after entering the private parking space, Eunhyeok got out of the car as soon as the lock was released.
Eungyo too, after getting a definite answer from his brother, immediately got out of the car and headed towards the elevator with Eunhyeok.
And so, a new day was beginning.
***
