I Became the Lousy Side Top - Chap 35
Jaewoo bought the tickets first. Hyunjin tried to only get ride passes for the children, as if it were natural, but Jaewoo stopped him.
“I don’t have to ride.”
“The kids need an adult to ride with them. Are you just going to let them go by themselves?”
When Jaewoo hit him with that logic, Hyunjin seemed like he understood. In the end, he stood there with four ride passes in his hand, looking at them with a strange expression on his face.
‘Huh?’
When Jaewoo saw that, something belatedly occurred to him. It was Hyeonu and Woohee’s first time coming to this amusement park, the kids had said as much. But what about Hyunjin? Had Hyunjin ever been to an amusement park? He was pretty young when his mother left home and his father became addicted to gambling. His family situation was difficult, and he’d needed to search for part-time jobs since he was in middle school. Did he ever go to an amusement park and have a good time?
As soon as Jaewoo’s thoughts reached that point, his mouth became dry for some reason. Today, he was responsible for guiding the three of them so that they could have fun together. Jaewoo spoke in the brightest voice possible.
“Then shall we go in?”
How many years had it been since Jaewoo had been to an amusement park? Looking at the crowd of people and the colorful, flashy rides, it felt like he was seeing it with new eyes. Alright, he was going to do his best so that Hyeonu, Woohee, and Hyunjin could have fun today! Jaewoo was determined.
“Then what should we ride first?”
In his hand, he had a map to the park already opened.
“The bumper cars are fun, so is Aladdin’s Adventure…”
Jaewoo asked the children to think of rides they had been on before, and the children exclaimed with sparkling eyes.
“Merry-go-round!”
“Yes, let’s go on the carousel!”
Jaewoo thought that the carousel was a slow ride, and not particularly fun, but the kids seemed to want to ride it. Well, the outside of the carousel did look fun, with its colorful paint and flashing lights. Jaewoo nodded his head and moved towards the ride. But first, there was one thing they needed to do…
“Wait just a second!”
Jaewoo stopped and entered a small but fancy store next to the road. He carefully selected some items and came out with three of them.
“Here you go.”
First, he put a headband with mouse ears on Woohee. Then for Hyeonu, he put one with rabbit ears, and finally for Hyunjin…
“Can you please lower your head?”
“Me too?”
“Yeah, it’s like an amusement park ritual.”
Hyunjin looked suspicious at those words. Then he put Woohee down and went into the same store Jaewoo had gone to, before coming back out again. In his hand was a headband with raccoon ears, identical to the one Jaewoo was holding.
‘Oh…’
Hyunjin easily put the headband on Jaewoo’s head.
“For me too?”
“Someone told me it’s an amusement park ritual.”
A raccoon ear headband at his age! Jaewoo was in despair. But sacrifices needed to be made so that everyone could have fun. Jaewoo had no choice but to accept his headband with tears in his eyes.
Hyunjin smiled and lowered his head, and Jaewoo put the other raccoon headband on him, completing the set of four. It was quite cute. Hyeonu and Woohee seemed to be even more excited to see Hyunjin and Jaewoo participating. Jaewoo also passed out some lanyards that he’d bought along with the headbands. They were the type that had a transparent pouch on the end where you could put your ride passes.
‘What scary tactics these stores have!’
Jaewoo clicked his tongue, but decided not to worry about money just for today. When he put on the necklace, the children’s smiles became sky high.
“Let’s go!”
“Hurry up!”
The two of them held Jaewoo and Hyunjin’s hands and walked briskly until they arrived at the carousel. Gorgeously decorated horses and carriages were moving up and down and spinning around. The four of them stood behind a long line.
[15 minutes from here]
The wait time was written on the sign. Fortunately, it seemed like the line moved fast.The time passed quickly as Jaewoo watched Hyeonu and Woohee fidgeting with excitement. When it was their turn, the children showed the attendant their necklaces containing the ride passes.
Jaewoo held Hyunjin’s hand and showed their ride passes as well.
“Is it okay if we ride too? Wouldn’t the kids prefer it on their own?”
“What are you talking about? The kids will love it if you ride with them.”
Then, when the two of them glanced at the children, they saw that they were both waving their hands excitedly.
“Brother, you come too!”
“Uncle, ride in the carriage with me!”
So the two split up and got on the merry-go-round. Hyunjin chose a horse and rode with Hyeonu, while Jaewoo rode in a carriage with Woohee.
Follow me~!
Soon, the cheerful sound of a music box started playing, and the merry-go-round began to move along with it.
“Wow!”
Woohee looked out of the carriage and clapped his hands excitedly. It seemed like he was so excited that he couldn’t control himself. Jaewoo watched Woohee for a moment, then looked over to where Hyunjin was sitting on the back of a carousel horse right in front of them. He couldn’t help but laugh as he watched Hyunjin’s wide back moving with the horse.
Suddenly, Hyunjin looked back. Jaewoo saw him and gently waved his hand. Hyunjin returned his wave awkwardly.
‘Cute…’
It was really cute.
“For your safety, please don’t look back while the merry-go-round is in motion~”
After hearing the employee’s instructions, Hyunjin awkwardly returned to his original position. Seeing him wave his hand while in that state made Jaewoo burst into laughter.
“Pwah-hahaha!”
As Jaewoo laughed, Woohee, riding next to him, also laughed out loud. The first ride experience was a success.
“What should we ride next?”
Because it was the weekend, many of the rides had long wait times, but even those times were fun. Jaewoo curled up his legs to fit on a small train, and he rode in a spinning coffee cup. In Aladdin’s Adventure, he screamed a lot during the falling part. Hyunjin’s expression, which had been so confused at first, gradually relaxed.
The four of them had so much fun that they got hungry quickly. They settled down in a suitable place and took out Jaewoo’s lunch boxes. Hyeonu and Woohee, who had been confidently exploring the park, started to drool as soon as the gimbap appeared.
“Thank you for the food!”
The children shouted urgently and rushed forward with their chopsticks. They quickly filled their mouths with gimbap, puffing out their cheeks, but they didn’t care and just continued eating. For a while, no words were spoken between the four of them as they concentrated on their meal.
How long had it been since he’d last felt this hungry? Jaewoo also eagerly ate gimbap and sandwiches. Today, the gimbap was made perfectly, so he was constantly coming back to it. A combination of fluffy rice, savory seaweed, and salty ingredients; the more you chewed, the sweeter it tasted.
“It’s good.”
Of course, Jaewoo didn’t forget to take care of the children in between. He was afraid that they’d make themselves sick if they ate too quickly, so he warned them to slow down and gave them drinks. Then he made a sly suggestion.
“Next time, should we go to the zoo?”
The eyes of the children, who had been eating eagerly, widened at Jaewoo’s words.
“That’d be great!”
“I’d like it too!”
Not to be outdone, the children raised their hands and shouted.
“I want to see pandas!”
“Giraffes!”
“Pandas and giraffes are both cute.”
Jaewoo happily listened to them. But when he looked at Hyunjin, he saw that he was looking at Jaewoo with an unreadable expression.
“Are you planning another trip?”
The children, who’d been squealing with excitement at Jaewoo’s words, fell silent for a moment. They’d said they wanted to go, but they were nervous because they didn’t know how their brother felt about it.
“Sometime, yeah.”
When he answered softly, Hyunjin slowly blinked.
“The four of us?”
“The four of us.”
Hyunjin pursed his lips as if he wanted to say something more, but in the end, he didn’t speak. It seemed like it was because his younger siblings were so excited. Jaewoo had a feeling he might know what it was about, but he didn’t say anything more. He just changed the subject.
“Okay then, let’s eat some fruit now.”
After eating the bananas, peeled oranges, apples, and grapes that Jaewoo prepared in advance, their stomachs were full. Jaewoo wanted to rest a moment before they moved on to the next attraction, but as soon as they finished eating, the chicks jumped up. It seemed like they wanted to quickly get on the next ride. And if the kids wanted to ride, then Hyunjin and Jaewoo needed to go too.
“Let’s see. Should we go on the mini viking ship this time?”
It was a smaller version of the viking ship ride and was suitable for children. It might look a little funny to see Jaewoo or Hyunjin on it, but who cared? It was an amusement park, so why not get a bit silly? Jaewoo and Hyunjin held the children’s hands and headed off, returning to their enjoyment of the amusement park.
They fed the kids snacks like churros and squid from the vendors in between rides, and as they played, the sky started to get dark. Around that time, the amusement park parade began.
Behind the exciting music and the parade of colorfully dressed characters, huge fireworks exploded. Hyeonu and Woohee were staring wide-eyed at the parade, their mouths open. Hyunjin was no better. He managed to keep his mouth closed, but he also didn’t seem able to look away from the spectacle.
The light from the parade reflected off his black, focused eyes. Jaewoo was lost for a moment as he looked at Hyunjin. The atmosphere today felt different, and it made his heart pound.
The parade felt long, but it eventually ended, and the lights came back on in the dark space. At the same time, Hyunjin looked back at Jaewoo. Jaewoo, who was only looking at Hyunjin instead of the parade, asked with a sheepish expression.
“Did you have fun today?”
At those words, Hyunjin’s dark eyes went round as he smiled.
“It was fun.”
Jaewoo’s heart skipped a beat at those words. It was just an ordinary statement, so why was he reacting this way? Even though he rubbed his chest with his hand, he couldn’t figure out the reason. As Jaewoo fell silent, not knowing what to say, Woohee, who looked very excited, intervened.
“I want to come here again!”
“Me too!”
Hyeonu, who used to be quiet, seemed just as excited as Woohee.
“Okay, let’s come here again someday.”
Jaewoo held out his little fingers toward Woohee and Hyeonu. After hooking their little fingers together and shaking their hands up and down, the children’s expressions became brighter. Jaewoo, who had been laughing along with them, held out his hand towards Hyunjin this time.
“You too?”
Hyunjin hesitated for a moment and then held out his little finger. Their fingers curled together, and they shook their hands. Jaewoo had done this with Hyeonu and Woohee before, but doing it with Hyunjin made him feel strangely excited.
