My Favorite Has Started A Live Broadcast!

Like a traditional birthday party, our family lit a small cake and blew out the candles. We all sat around the table.

“……Bul…”

Seo-ha, who was the main reason we came down today and the star of the day, was still in my arms, staring curiously at the lit candles on the cake.

“Those are hot, so you shouldn’t touch them~”

“…Hot..?”

“That’s right, they’re hot.”

“Hot…hot~ hot~”

Seo-ha lightly tapped my arm with both of hers, making a gesture as if she fully understood.

“Unnie… hot…”

“Huh?”

“Hot… un…nie eyes hot?”

Seo-ha’s tiny finger pointed at my sunglasses.

“No way… does she think your eyes are hurting because they’re red, so she cries every time she sees you?”

“…..!”

With the situation and my sister’s accurate guess combined, I suddenly realized why Seo-ha cried every time she looked at me.

“…..Unnie’s not hurt. I don’t really know why, but they’re just red.”

“Not hot…?”

“Not at all! Unnie’s not hurt one bit!”

I slowly took off my sunglasses, flashing the brightest smile I could muster.

“……Un…nie! Not hot!”

Click—

“Huh?”

“Oh, nothing. Don’t mind me, just keep going… I’ll take the pictures today.”

“Oh…okay…”

I hugged my sweet little sister, who was already worrying about me, while trying to ignore her unusually proactive attitude about the pictures today.

“Uwuh…”

For the next few minutes, as I played with Seo-ha, the sound of the camera shutter didn’t stop.

“We should blow out the candles soon… they’re almost completely melted.”

“Yes~”

When I snapped out of it, the single candle was already more than halfway burned. I adjusted Seo-ha so she was facing the cake again and encouraged her to blow out the candle.

“…Hot…”

“That’s right, it’s hot. So, Seo-ha, blow on it to get rid of it…!”

Hearing my explanation, Seo-ha briefly looked at me, then made a determined expression and stared at the candle stuck in the cake.

“Fwoooosh…!”

Rather than blowing the air out, she almost spit on the candle to put it out, but with the whole family laughing together, we shared the cake. Even while eating, I could faintly hear the camera’s shutter from time to time.

“Yaaaaaawn~…”

After a day filled with emotional highs and lows, I woke up in the room my sister and I used to share. The curtains were still drawn, making it hard to see.

“Umm….”

If I mindlessly turned on my phone in this situation, I knew my eyes would be blinded for a few minutes, so I squinted, surveying the room around me.

The blanket spread out on the floor, the old pillow, the warm duvet, and for some reason, my sister is sleeping in my bed instead of hers, along with a faintly visible baby crib.

“……”

The peaceful darkness was so serene that I almost laid back down to sleep again, but I heard sounds coming from outside the room.

Chichichichi—

The loud noise of the rice cooker running, along with footsteps coming toward the room. Judging by how light they were, it was probably Mom.

Creeeak…

“Suyeon… are you awake?”

“I just woke up… what time is it?”

“A little past 10… wake up the kids for me, will you?”

Mom left me with the mission to wake up the kids and went back.

“Okay~ Minyoung… wake up… it’s past 10.”

“Ughh…mmm…”

My sister groaned but soon sat up.

“Yaaawn~…”

“Go wash your face…”

“Okay…”

She went outside to wash up, and I stretched once before groping around to turn on the light.

Click—

“……Kooo…kooo….”

Still tired from all the playing yesterday, Seo-ha was quietly snoring. I slowly shook her awake.

“Mmm…”

“Seo-ha… time to get up…”

“Hmm…”

As I was eating breakfast for the first time in a while, Mom brought something up.

“We have to go to work now, so can you drop Seo-ha off at kindergarten?”

“Hmm… I can, but do they accept kids on Sundays…?”

“Of course! This area hardly has any kids, so they keep the kindergarten open even on weekends so the children can play together.”

“……This neighborhood has been here a while… When I become successful, I’ll buy us a nice house, maybe not in Seoul, but somewhere nice.”

“Oh, come on…”

“I’m serious… I’ve been earning a lot of money lately.”

“Weren’t you just working part-time?”

“Well, my boss has been giving me a lot of bonuses, and I even did a stream once. I don’t know exactly how much I made yet, but it’s a decent amount. It’s fun too.”

“Hmm… as long as it’s fun, that’s what matters.”

“Nom nom.”

“……Wow, that’s nostalgic…”

Through the window, I could see the large kindergarten outside.

“Hmm… I feel like I’m starting to remember…”

“We’re here. Let Seo-ha play for a bit, then we’ll head back?”

“Hmm… It’s been a while since we’ve been here. I guess it’s okay to look around a bit.”

“I’m curious too.”

“Then… go grab the stuff from the trunk.”

“Huh? I didn’t bring anything.”

“Just the side dishes and a housewarming gift. It’ll be hard to match the timing next time.”

“Alright… got it!”

“See you later, my daughters~”

Thud—

“……Unnie, are you okay…?”

I couldn’t wave as I watched the car drive away.

“Ughh…”

Both my arms were weighed down with bags full of side dishes Mom had packed for us.

“Uchi-ahn…!”

Seo-ha, knowing we were at a fun place, grabbed my sister’s hand and pointed at the kindergarten.

“Yes, we’re going there now… unnie, are you really okay?”

“I’m fine…! Let’s just go inside!”

Feeling my trembling arms, I led us into the kindergarten.

Beep-beep-beep-beep—

Every time Seo-ha walked, her shoes made a cute squeaky noise, but sadly, we had to take off her shoes at the entrance. I helped her take them off and placed them on the shoe rack.

“Wow… there are really a lot of them, unnie…”

As my sister said, the shoe rack was already filled with shoes, and the faint sounds of children’s voices could be heard from further inside.

“Waaah…!”

Seo-ha, now excited, dashed into the kindergarten as if it were a familiar place.

“Wait up…!”

When Seo-ha opened the large door where the children’s voices were coming from, the sound became much clearer.

“So, the Blue Dragon appeared here…! Kuaaaang…!!”

“Kyaaaah!”

“A dragon!!”

“……Should we go in…?”

“Yeah…”

“……Oh my…”

As soon as we opened the door wide, the children’s gazes turned toward us, but mine stopped at one spot.

“……….An angel…”

In the kindergarten I used to attend, there was a teacher who the kids called ‘Angel.’ She earned that nickname because she was incredibly kind and loved children. She was also so pretty that the boys in my class would occasionally confess to her in cute ways. If that teacher had grown older, she might look just like this…

“…….It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that nickname… could you be… Su-yeon?”

“…..!!”

I was so startled that I dropped the bags I was holding.

“Oh…”

Thankfully, nothing breakable was inside, so nothing shattered. I quickly picked up the bags and set them in the corner of the classroom.

“……What brings you here?”

“…Angel teacher…”

“Hmm… there’s something familiar about you… that pretty face, too…”

“……”

“Haha… sorry… are you Minyoung?”

“Oh, yes!”

“Our kindergarten’s leader grew up to be so graceful…!”

“Leader…?”

“Of course! Don’t you remember? The kids always followed you around, calling you their leader!”

“Uh… I don’t really…”

“Hmmm~ so, who’s that mysterious person over there?”

Angel-teacher pointed at me.

“…….Can we talk for a bit?”

“Of course. Mr. Ko! I’ll be back for a moment!”

“Yes!”

Angel-teacher handed over the children to another teacher and called us into the principal’s office.

“……So, what brings you and Seo-ha here?”

“Well… it’s a long story…”

“I’m Su-yeon, by the way. Nice to meet you again, Angel-teacher.”

“…….Oh my… really?”

“……”

I nodded my head.

“Hmm… I honestly didn’t expect it to be true…”

“I understand that…”

“Fufu… don’t worry, I believe you. So, how did this all happen? Is it just your taste?”

“No! It’s not like that! Phew…”

I briefly explained the things that had happened to me and why I came to the kindergarten. After hearing my story, Angel-teacher’s expression became unreadable.

“…It must have been hard, right?”

“Huh…?”

“Don’t worry. Saying it wasn’t hard would be weirder… I wonder how our sweet Su-yeon ended up going through all that…”

She didn’t react with shock or questions. What I received instead was a small comfort, but even that was enough to feel overwhelming.

“…Thank you…”

“Are you staying to play with Seo-ha, or heading back soon?”

“Oh… no, we have to leave soon since the bus will arrive. And I have some things to take care of…”

“What kind of things?”

“Well… I need to check out some houses since I’m moving…”

“Really? Want me to come with you? I know quite a lot about houses.”

“Uh…? But what about the kindergarten…?”

“I was about to head out anyway. I was planning to visit my daughter after a long time.”

“Oh… you have a daughter…”

“Yes, but… ha… I wish she was half as responsible as you guys… or even a quarter…”

“Haha…”

“Shall we go, then?”

“Oh….”

“Hm… in that case, want to keep me company while I drive?”

“Uhm… sure…”

Angel-teacher’s energetic suggestion left me and my sister with no choice but to accept. After saying goodbye to Seo-ha, we left the kindergarten.

“Let’s load up the stuff in the trunk first~”

“Yes..!”

Even from the outside, the car looked fancy. After awkwardly getting in, the car quickly started moving.

“Teacher… are you rich?”

My sister, sitting in the back, looked around the car and asked.

“Hmm… not really, but I did marry well… my husband’s abroad right now, though. I should call him today.”

“Ohhh…”

“Oh! Minyoung!”

“Yes?”

“Should I tell you stories about when Su-yeon was little?”

“……!!”

“Yes!!”

“Nooo… how could you…?”

On our way back to Seoul, the topic of most conversations was me. From my embarrassing past stories to various anecdotes, Angel-teacher didn’t stop talking about me until we reached Seoul.

“…Sorry, sorry… so, where’s the house you’re looking at?”

“Uh… it’s OOB Villa, where my sister lives.”

“…Interesting…”

“Huh?”

“Oh, nothing! I actually know the landlord there! I’ll talk to her, so let’s go check it out now!”

“…Was this Minyoung’s house…?”

“Yes.”

“Hm~ The empty room is on the other side! Over here!”

Angel-teacher, who seemed unusually excited, grabbed the doorknob of the room opposite my sister’s.

“Yaaawn… coffee… coffee…?”

At that moment, I made eye contact with the landlord, who was coming down the stairs from the upper floor.