Transmigrated as the Side Top used as an Emotional Trash Can - Chapter 73.1
Whiiir-.
The sound of the hair dryer felt far away.
I thought only my body had gotten younger, but was my biological rhythm following along too? So it’s nap time now, is that it.
“My mom’s handwriting was really pretty before she hurt her hand….”
Now, stories started spilling out of my mouth even when Cha Gwonhyeok didn’t ask. At the same time that I thought this was getting a little dangerous, I also had the complacent thought that it should be fine since I was ‘Baek Haneul’ right now anyway.
“Was your mother a writer?”
“Yees…. Children’s stories….”
I think I found everything Mom wrote on paper fascinating and wonderful. Whether she was writing a shopping list or hurriedly writing down the names and bank account numbers of people I didn’t know on receipts. That was why I felt so bad when, after she got hurt, even typing on a phone keyboard became difficult for her.
“You must really love your mom.”
“Yes. Before she got hurt, Mom wrote me a letter every year on my birthday, so maybe that’s why it doesn’t really feel like my birthday unless I get a letter.”
“What did they say?”
“Happy birthday. That she was glad she met me. That every day felt like a miracle….”
As I kept talking, my eyes kept falling shut, and it really felt like I might end up sleeping here, so I snapped myself awake with a Hup!
“-ah, sorry! Hyung, you can stop drying it now!”
(T/N: Until now ‘Haneul’ has been speaking informally in his half dazed state, and he barely corrected himself again)
“Haneul-ah.”
I shook out my hair, got up, and was about to go to Kim Jihwan, who was waiting in the living room, when Cha Gwonhyeok called me. I turned around.
“Can Hyung get a letter too?”
Cha Gwonhyeok asked me an odd question.
I couldn’t tell why he was asking. Did he want a letter from Baek Haneul or something?
“When’s your birthday?”
“February 29.”
“Then you don’t have a birthday this year or next year?”
Right, Cha Gwonhyeok answered. His expression looked no different than usual, but for some reason, it bothered me.
So I added something for no real reason.
“Hyung, do you know Alice in Wonderland?”
“Yeah. It’s a novel. Was it Lewis Carroll?”
“They have something called an unbirthday in it, you know? It means the 364 days out of the year that aren’t your birthday.”
I told him there was even a song in the TV animation, then lightly sang a line from it as I placed both my hands over Cha Gwonhyeok’s.
“A very merry unbirthday to you!”
Merry unbirthday!
I lightly shook Cha Gwonhyeok’s hands up and down as I sang whatever lyrics came to mind.
Songs I had learned as a child tended to come back naturally without any effort, and this song was like that for me. The scene and melody from the animation back then came vividly to mind.
A day no different from any other, but one you could celebrate if you wanted to. A magic spell that turned every single day into a special anniversary.
“Now blow the candle-.”
I pursed my lips and lightly blew, Huu-, toward Cha Gwonhyeok’s face. Then, as if telling Cha Gwonhyeok to blow on my face too, I closed my left eye and held out my left cheek.
I had done it because the Korean lyrics to the part I had just sung meant, ‘If you blow out the candle, your wish will come true.’
Huu-.
Cha Gwonhyeok played along and blew on me as though blowing out a candle, and I smiled, squeezing both eyes shut. When I opened them and looked at Cha Gwonhyeok, he copied me by squeezing both eyes shut and smiling.
For no reason at all, neither of us could stop the corners of our mouths from rising. Laughing made it funny, and finding it funny made me giddy.
“Hehe, what did you wish for?”
“It’s a secret. They say it won’t come true if you tell.”
“Ah, then I guess I’m going to the military-.”
“Haha!”
Don’t they say that while a four-leaf clover means good luck, a three-leaf clover means happiness? Rather than putting all your hopes into a single special day, isn’t it more important to live every ordinary day happily?
Our meeting was a coincidence, and every day is a series of miracles, so happiness will settle upon us as though it were inevitable.
“Baek Haneul, if your hair’s dry, let’s go now.”
“Ah! Yes-!”
I ran over to Kim Jihwan, who came into the room wearing his coat and carrying Baek Haneul’s little padded jacket.
The birthday party for the tiger, the great hero of the mountains, was coming to an end.
“See you again.”
“Bye, Gwonhyeok-hyung-.”
Cha Gwonhyeok came all the way to the front door and waved goodbye. I waved my hand widely back at him.
“Watch where you’re going.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kim Jihwan gave me a light warning, and I immediately snapped to attention and looked straight ahead.
In truth, I still wasn’t used to this body, so my steps were very unsteady. I concentrated on walking so I wouldn’t fall.
“Jihwan-hyung, did you have fun today?”
“Fun, my ass….”
Kim Jihwan walked while staring straight ahead with his usual sullen expression. As I looked up at his face, I suddenly remembered the piece of paper catching against the cargo pocket of my pants.
“Hyung, your present.”
We had stuck candles in the cake and caused all that chaos, yet I hadn’t even given him the important letter. I nearly let his birthday pass without properly celebrating it.
Kim Jihwan took the letter I held out.
“He said you absolutely have to read it when you’re alone.”
“Baek Hanrim did?”
“Yes.”
“He says that every year without getting tired of it. Who the hell would I show it to?”
He casually shoved the letter into his pocket.
And just like that, we walked down a street thickly covered with dry, faded leaves, crushing them underfoot and releasing the scent of grass. My legs were shorter now, so I moved slowly, but walking with Kim Jihwan wasn’t particularly difficult. Was he matching his pace to mine?
Crunch, crunch-.
I playfully scattered the fallen leaves with the tips of my feet and breathed out a faint but clearly visible puff of breath. It had gotten really cold. My hands were freezing.
I blew, Huu, onto my cold fingertips too.
Poke.
Kim Jihwan poked my cheek again. Then he held out his hand.
“Hold on.”
At Kim Jihwan’s indifferent words, I simply smiled faintly and took his hand. Kim Jihwan firmly clasped our joined hands and tucked them into the pocket of his jacket.
I smiled and said it was warm.
Kim Jihwan scolded me for stating the obvious, but a faint puff of breath fluttered from his lips as the corners of his mouth lifted ever so slightly.
That autumn, it was your birthday, when I was glad to have met you and every day felt like a miracle.
It wasn’t until I returned home, slept, and woke up that I was able to return to my original body.
So the keyword actually did get cleared the next day.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
