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chapter 08
Smirk (2)
Ahn Hee-soo sat on the edge of the desk in the study and handed me a red apple.
“Teacher, here.”
I took the apple and tilted my head.
I had asked her to teach me acting, so why was she suddenly giving me an apple?
“…Huh?”
“Now, try acting out eating an apple.”
“Acting out eating an apple? Hmm.”
I stared at the apple for a moment before taking a bite.
Crunch, munch munch munch.
Crunch, munch munch munch.
“Mmm, it’s delicious. It’s sweet. Is this a Cheongsong apple?”
Crunch, munch munch munch.
I glanced at Ahn Hee-soo. She was silently watching me eat the apple.
“……”
“Ah~ They say an apple in the morning is like medicine. I can feel all those vitamins coursing through my body.”
Crunch, munch munch munch.
Finally, Ahn Hee-soo spoke.
“That’s enough.”
I placed the apple back on the plate and waited for her feedback.
I wasn’t particularly nervous.
She had told me to act like I was eating an apple, so I had simply eaten an apple.
Ahn Hee-soo put on a serious expression and said,
“What is this? Why was that so natural?”
“I’ve always liked apples.”
“No! That’s not what I mean. Normally, when you tell beginners to act like they’re eating an apple, they eat it really exaggeratedly, you know? Because they’re conscious of acting. But just now, Teacher, you simply… ate an apple.”
“You told me to eat an apple, so I ate an apple.”
Ahn Hee-soo stared intently at my face.
“That’s not as easy as it sounds. Teacher, why are you so natural?”
“Maybe because I’m the eldest of thirteen siblings?”
“Tsk. Could that really be it?”
I asked Ahn Hee-soo,
“Am I good at acting?”
“Haha? I don’t know yet. I was planning to teach you how to relax first. But… since you’re already relaxed, I guess you’re good at relaxing…?”
Ahn Hee-soo squeezed her eyes shut and began thinking about something.
A moment later.
Her eyes suddenly opened wide, and she quickly pulled open one of the desk drawers.
Rattle—
“My dear Teacher~ What kind of work should we use for you to practice lines? Sandstorm~ is out of the question. The Scent of Hydrangeas would be too much, too. Hmm. This one should be good.”
Ahn Hee-soo took out an old-looking script and handed it to me.
The title written on the very first page was—
“Have you seen this movie? If It Could Be Erased.”
“Of course I know it.”
It was a romance movie that had come close to ten million viewers.
Though I hadn’t watched it in a movie theater. I had seen it when it aired on television during a holiday.
Back then, all ten of us siblings, including me, had sobbed our eyes out while watching the movie, with tears, snot, and even drool everywhere.
Ahn Hee-soo pointed at the script.
“You should play Young-joo here. Do you know who that is?”
I nodded.
“Of course. That’s the male lead’s name.”
“Ahhh~ Young-joo won’t work. Young-joo has symptoms of dementia in the story. I think that setting would be too difficult for a beginner.”
“It’s fine. I’m just doing this as a hobby. I’ll give it a try.”
Ahn Hee-soo thought for a moment before grinning.
“Okay. Hmm~ Then~ Which part should I give you~?”
She quickly flipped through the script.
At that moment, I noticed the little Maengkkong wriggling around on the tablet’s home-camera screen.
I urgently pointed at the tablet.
“Ms. Hee-soo! Maengkkong is awake. Give me the script.”
“Gasp! He’s already awake? Why?!”
“Quickly, please.”
“Yes, yes! Here, here!”
I grabbed only the script, turned around, and waved my hand as I headed out.
“Ms. Hee-soo, get some rest. We can worry about the hobby later. For now, I’ll focus on taking care of the baby.”
“Yep! Fighting, Teacher~!”
The city view of Dogok-dong stretched out beyond the window.
The afternoon sunlight wrapped the world in a warm embrace.
It was beautiful.
Of course, the baby Maengkkong in my arms was far more beautiful than that.
His face was so adorable as he slowly blinked his eyes that I felt like kissing his cheeks.
“Rock-a-bye~ Rock-a-bye~ Rock-a-bye~ Rock-a-bye~”
“Eee~”
I held Maengkkong in my arms and bounced him around as I walked through the living room for quite some time.
I desperately wanted to look at the script, but it made no sense to do something else while taking care of a baby.
I had to focus entirely on the baby so that nothing dangerous would happen.
“Hieee~ Hiee~”
“Huh? Maengkkong! Did you just smile? Did you smile at your big brother? Haha! Oh, you’re so cute.”
Maengkkong gave me a big grin.
It was probably just an instinctive newborn smile, but there was nothing I could do about how warm and fuzzy my heart felt whenever I saw a baby smile.
I spoke to Maengkkong.
“Maengkkong. Your aunt says she’s going to teach big brother how to act. Isn’t that nice?”
“Ah-choo! Ah-choo!”
“Haha, Maengkkong sneezed?”
“Hee~ Heehee~”
How could a baby be this cute?
Of course, all of his actions were instinctive.
But even the smallest things a baby did became meaningful moments and sources of happiness to their caregiver.
I had felt that countless times while raising my younger siblings.
And now, once again, I felt completely filled with happiness in this moment.
Then Maengkkong smiled at me again with another instinctive newborn smile.
“Eee~ Mmmme~”
“Huh? You smiled again? Maengkkong, did you just smile at big brother?”
“Eeee~”
“Haha. You’re so cute. Our Maengkkong~ You’ve been smiling a lot more often lately, haven’t you? Let’s see. How many days old are you now?”
Wondering if he had reached the stage when social smiling began to develop, I checked the BabyTime app, where I recorded the baby’s daily routine.
The app also contained detailed information about Maengkkong.
“Huh? Maengkkong was born fifty-nine days ago? Then…”
It was time for the vaccinations that were required at sixty days after birth.
No way. Still, he’s my nephew.
Thinking that Ahn Hee-soo must have prepared everything, I glanced toward the study, but soon shook my head.
“Of course Ms. Hee-soo wouldn’t have prepared anything. She probably doesn’t even know he needs vaccinations.”
After putting Maengkkong to sleep, I immediately went to the study.
When I explained the situation, Ahn Hee-soo tilted her head and blinked rapidly.
“What~? Vaccinations??”
As expected, she had no idea.
“He should be due for his two-month routine vaccinations. Ask your older sister about it.”
“Ah!”
Ahn Hee-soo bit her lip as if she had just remembered something.
“Ugh.”
“What is it?”
“I remember now. That’s right. My sister told me. She said Maengkkong needed to get his shots within a few weeks.”
I nodded with a smile.
“Then we need to get ready. I’ll tell you what you need to check. There’ll also be a lot of things to ask your sister.”
“Hmm. But what exactly does he need to get vaccinated for?”
When a baby is first born, they receive the first hepatitis B vaccination and the BCG vaccine for tuberculosis, followed by the second hepatitis B vaccination one month later.
At sixty days after birth, they need vaccinations for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, and rotavirus.
When I explained everything in detail—
“Gasp! How many shots is that?! You’re saying he has to get all those shots at once? Maengkkong isn’t a target, so why are you trying to stick that many needles into him? Into that tiny little body?!”
“Haha. He doesn’t get every single one as an individual shot. He gets two injections total, one in each thigh. And the rotavirus vaccine is given as a syrup-like medicine that he takes by mouth.”
“Ahhh~ I see. Got it. I’ll ask my sister.”
I cautiously asked,
“Your sister can’t come, right?”
“Of course not! She’s in Hong Kong right now, haha.”
“Then you’ll have to take Maengkkong to the pediatrician yourself?”
Ahn Hee-soo’s eyes widened as though the thought had never even occurred to her.
“Me??”
“Yes. You’re Maengkkong’s guardian right now.”
“That’s true. Ah, I see. This is bad. What do I do?”
Ahn Hee-soo nervously bit her fingernails.
I silently watched her, and soon her face became increasingly filled with worry.
“Ugh. Teacher, then what am I supposed to do? I’ve never taken Maengkkong outside before. What if people recognize me when I take him out?”
“Fighting!”
“Sigh. You really don’t understand the life of an actress. Instead, come with me. I really can’t handle things like that by myself.”
“It’s not difficult for me to come with you. Hmm. But the vaccination process isn’t as complicated as you think.”
Ahn Hee-soo spoke confidently.
“You may not know this, but without my manager, I can’t do anything by myself.”
“…I see. That’s quite unfortunate.”
“So the three of us—me, Maengkkong, and you—are going together to get his vaccinations.”
In fact, that had been my plan from the beginning anyway.
I nodded.
“Haha, all right. I’ve taken my younger siblings many times, so it won’t be difficult. But there are a lot of things we need to bring if we’re taking Maengkkong out.”
“I’ll just tell Su-ho oppa everything we need!”
“Okay. I’ll tell Manager Yang. Then we just need to let your sister know about the hospital appointment.”
Ahn Hee-soo immediately contacted her sister and made a vaccination appointment at a pediatric clinic for two days later.
When I checked the time, it was already getting close to the end of the workday.
I asked Ahn Hee-soo,
“About the script you gave me earlier. Would it be okay if I took it home and looked through it?”
“The script? What script?”
“Seriously. You gave it to me earlier. The script for If It Could Be Erased.”
“Ahhh! That’s a very precious script to me!”
“And yet you already forgot that you gave it to me?”
“It’s the script from one of my mega-hit projects, haha. Let me brag about that once. Sure, Teacher. Take it home and read it. When I have time, I’ll listen to you practice your lines.”
At that moment, my heart began pounding happily.
Ahn Hee-soo herself was going to watch me act.
I eagerly nodded.
“Great. I’ll memorize it and come back prepared. Oh, but in exchange, I’ll give you some childcare lessons too.”
“Very good!”
Somehow, I safely made it through my second day at work.
On the bus ride home, I diligently went over the script, muttering the lines to myself.
“…This is really fun.”
Becoming someone else through acting.
The more I thought about it, the more fascinating it seemed.
Pssshhh—
“Thank you, driver! Take care!”
When I got off the bus in the village where I lived, the sky had already grown dark.
I entered the country road and walked along while muttering the lines I had memorized.
Then, from a distance, I heard the sound of dogs barking as they came running toward me.
“Woof! Woof!”
“Woof woof woof!”
“Bark bark, pant pant pant.”
Seolgi, Hwanggu, and Kkamsi.
The three dogs of our village.
They ran circles around me, happily welcoming me home.
“You’re here~”
I knelt down on one knee, took some dog treats from my bag, and handed them out one by one.
“What will become of me? What will become of us?”
“Woof?”
“So I know exactly what I have to do.”
“Woof?”
“That’s why I had no choice but to pretend I didn’t know.”
“Woof woof?”
I continued reciting the lines I had memorized on the bus.
“I hope that’s what happens. I hope it becomes something that never happened. Even if I don’t want it to, for me, it will become something that never happened.”
“Pant pant pant pant!”
The three dogs stared blankly at me with their tongues hanging out as far as they could manage.
I looked at them and gave a big grin.
“How was big brother’s line just now? Was it cool?”
“Woof woof woof!”
“You thought it was awesome? Haha!”
I looked up at the sky.
The stars seemed to shine even more brightly, as if cheering me on along the road ahead.
“This is really fun~!!”
It had been a long time since I had looked forward to tomorrow.
