Chapter 4: The Aftermath of New Year’s: A Day of Play and Promises

“Happy New Year in advance.”
“Yeah. You too, Happy New Year.”
“Thank you. I’ll go in first.”
There was approximately one hour left until the end of the year.
The streets were filled with people enjoying the end of the year, but I wasn’t.
I was just delivering pizzas to countless happy-looking families, and it was a normal day as usual.
I put my hands in my pockets because of the cold wind and walked home.
I walked about 20 minutes and went up the uphill road in front of my house.
“It’s cold… I should turn on the electric blanket and go to sleep quickly.”
As I was going up the stairs of the villa after going all the way up the uphill road, the door next door suddenly opened.
“Giant Oppa~!”
“Ugh~! You startled me. Why did you suddenly pop out like that?”
“I was waiting for you~! Come on in-!”
“What? Why me?”
As I was bewildered, the grandfather came out from behind the kid.
“Hoho. Ji-eun said she wanted to celebrate the New Year with you. She kept staring at the front door, you know.”
“Yes?”
When I lowered my gaze, the kid smiled.
“There’s not much time left~! Hurry, come on-!”
As she tugged at my clothes, I ended up going into the kid’s house.
As I went into the room, the kid tapped the floor and told me to sit.
“Sit here. Here’s a blanket!”
I sat next to the kid, who kindly handed me a blanket, and watched TV.
In the old television screen, people were huddled together, waiting for the new year.
-2010 has about 30 seconds left. I hope you have a new year with only happy memories from 2010. From 10
seconds, let’s all count down together. Now, 10!
As everyone on the screen shouted the countdown together, the kid next door looked at the television with a bright smile.
And as soon as the new year began, she ran to her grandfather with a bright smile.
“Grandpa~ Happy New Year~”
The grandfather, holding his granddaughter who ran into his arms, also hugged his granddaughter with a happy smile.
Looking at that, my mouth went up without me knowing.
“Yeah~ Happy New Year to our Ji-eun~”
“Yes~”
The kid next door, who answered cheerfully, fell from her grandfather’s arms and looked at me.
“Giant Oppa! Happy New Year to you too.”
“You too, Happy New Year.”
As soon as I was encouraged by the two people, I returned it as it was.
“Yes. Thank you. Happy New Year. Kid. Happy New Year to you too.”
“I’m eight years old now. I’m not a kid.”
“If you’re eight, you’re a kid. Then are you an adult?”
“Then is Oppa an adult?!”
“At least not a kid.”
The kid filled her cheeks with air at my words.
“If you don’t want to be a kid, eat a lot of anchovies and go to bed early. Grandpa. I’m going home.”
“Okay. I’m sorry for bringing you here late at night.”
“It’s okay. Kid. I’m going?”
As I got up, the kid grabbed my clothes.
“Can we play a little longer?”
“It’s too late. Go to bed with Grandpa quickly.”
“I want to play with Oppa more.”
“It’s too late. Let’s play next time.”
It was just a greeting to end the situation, but the kid looked up at me with sparkling eyes.
“Then, are you going to play with me when you wake up?”
“U…uh?”
“If we can’t play because it’s too late, can we play tomorrow morning or afternoon?”
I see. It doesn’t work on kids?
I’m in trouble. But I couldn’t lie either.
Well, it’s okay if we play for a moment during lunch.
“Well, if we play for a moment during the day…”
“Wow-! You promised?! Then go to bed quickly! You must be tired!”
The kid who dragged me in before was now chasing me out of the house, telling me to go to bed quickly.
“Hey, hey. Don’t push.”
“No. You shouldn’t be tired, so go to bed quickly. I’ll go to bed quickly too.”
I shouldn’t have said that.
In the end, I was chased out of the room, put on my shoes, and came out the front door.
“Oppa! Sleep well~! Let’s play in the afternoon!”
The door slammed shut.
“Is this why you have to be careful with your words in front of children…?”
I muttered to myself and went into the house.
I changed clothes, washed up, spread out the blanket on the floor, and lay down.
Even an hour ago, I thought the end-of-year atmosphere didn’t suit me.
If the kid hadn’t dragged me, I would have gone to bed without even thinking about welcoming the new year.
Although it was only for a short while, I didn’t dislike exchanging New Year’s greetings with someone.
“Should I buy her a pizza…”

<2>
-Giant Oppa-aa-!
I opened my eyes to the noisy sound.
I felt light and like I had slept well somehow.
-Oppa-aa-!
I was feeling refreshed after sleeping a lot for the first time in a while, but the kid next door called me again.
I quickly removed the blanket and got up from my seat and walked toward the door.
As I opened the front door, the kid, who seemed full of excitement, was looking up at me.
“Ah! You’re up. Did you sleep well?!”
“Isn’t it hard to shout from the morning?”
“It’s afternoon now?”
“What time is it?”
“Twelve o’clock! I was going to wake you up in the morning, but I thought you wanted to sleep more.”
It seems that the refreshed feeling I felt as soon as I opened my eyes was because I slept a lot.
I usually wake up automatically at nine o’clock, but it was a strange thing.
“Thank you for your consideration. I’ll go wash up, so go to your grandfather’s house.”
“Grandpa is at work in the morning.”
“Huh? Wasn’t he working at night?”
Isn’t it? Because he was at home last night.
“He works from morning to evening for two days, and then from night to morning for the next two days! Then there’s a holiday for two days!”
Ah- they work in shifts.
That must be hard.
“Wait a minute. Then you eat? Did you eat breakfast?”
“I ate breakfast with Grandpa~!”
“Lunch?”
The kid next door said cheerfully.
“I eat what’s in the refrigerator. Ah! Grandpa made one for Oppa too. Let’s eat together.”
“For me too? Why?”
“Because we’re going to play with Oppa this afternoon.”
“You don’t have to go through so much trouble…”
I didn’t want to keep getting favors, but it was awkward.
Still, I should eat it since she prepared it today.
“I’ll wash up and go to your house. Go wait.”
“Yes~”
The kid’s back, going straight home, came into view.
I felt a little bit of sadness as I thought that such a small child was alone in the house for several hours.
I quickly washed in the bathroom and roughly dried my hair.
“Since the part-time job is at six… that should be enough, right?”
Even so, I wouldn’t be able to play for four or five hours.
After putting on thick clothes, I immediately knocked on the kid’s door.
Knock knock-! As I knocked, the kid opened the door as if she was waiting.
“Welcome-!”
“Yeah.”
As soon as I went through the door, there was a ding! sound.
“Ah~ it must be ready already.”
The kid ran to the microwave.
“What is it?”
“It’s for Oppa and me. The menu is kimchi fried rice.”
Well, a seven-year-old can’t heat food with fire.
The kid stepped on a small plastic chair.
“Be careful when you take it out.”
“Like this.”
The kid wrapped her hand with her sleeves.
It didn’t seem like it was her first time taking out the bowl from the microwave.
“Do you eat like this alone every day?”
“Not every day. Only on the days Grandpa goes to work in the morning!”
The kid, smiling brightly, put two containers on the tray.
After organizing her sleeves, the kid led the way into the room.
“Oppa. Come in~! It’s cold outside.”
“Ah- yeah.”
After taking off my shoes and going into the room, the kid immediately took out a small table from the corner.
Tock tock-! She unfolded the table legs and pushed the containers towards me.
“I feel like I’m being treated like a king.”
“You’re a guest~”
I burst out laughing at the cheeky words.
“Huh? Oppa laughed.”
I quickly restored my expression to its original state.
“I didn’t laugh.”
“You laughed?”
“I didn’t laugh.”
“Did you see? Oppa really laughed?”
“I really really didn’t laugh?”
“Really really reaaally laughed?”
It didn’t seem like it was going to end, so I finally admitted it.
“Yeah. I laughed. So what?”
“Just because. Hehe. It’s nice to see you laugh!”
I didn’t expect to be convinced so easily.
I feel like I lost.
“Okay~! Then let’s eat quickly and play!”
“Did you think about what to play?”
I asked, raising the spoon in front of me.
“Of course~ I’ve been thinking about it all morning.”
“What are you going to play?”
The kid smiled brightly and answered.
“From one o’clock to two o’clock, we’ll play drawing together with Oppa. From two o’clock to two thirty, we have to watch television, and from two thirty to three thirty, we’ll go to the playground with Oppa to ride the seesaw and swings and on the way home, we’ll eat fish-shaped bread with Oppa. Then it’s four o’clock! How is it? Isn’t it fun?!”
Damn.
So much.