16 – Episode 16
“Look over there!! It’s so cute~”
As soon as we arrived, we felt the reality of being at the zoo while looking at the flamingos right in front of us.
“What’s that? A flamingo?”
“Ha, you idiot. That’s a crane, not a flamingo!”
Seok-ho said that while looking at the crane, and it seemed like Park Seo-hyun mistook the flamingo for a different animal.
“Hey… Seo-hyun, the flamingo and the crane are the same, you know.”
“…”
“hahahahaha!!”
“Damn!”
“Oops!”
Are those two fighting for no reason?
Anyway, we watched Hong-hak for a while.
“They’re really pretty.”
“Yeah, they’re really pink, aren’t they?”
Park Seo-hyun and Seo-a looked at them with fascination, while we…
“Hey, who do you think is the best?”
“I think it’s that one over there.”
I pointed to a child in the distance, with missing fur and visible wounds.
“The one with missing fur? Ah… isn’t that flashy one over there the best?”
But Suk-ho pointed to another guy, a very neat guy.
“Maybe it’s because he’s strong and fought?”
“What are you talking about?”
“What are you discussing?”
“Oh… just talking about flamingos?”
“Yeah, look, Seo-a, isn’t that one over there pretty?”
“Huh…? Yeah, I guess so.”
Seok-ho and I glanced at each other and nodded slightly.
From now on, that pretty boy is the best.
“Where should we go next?”
“Oh! I’ll show you.”
As we planned eagerly from the car, Park Seo-hyun, who had told us about it, led us.
“Here! This is the Africa Pavilion!”
“Oh, look! There’s a giraffe.”
As we walked along the path, we saw giraffes and zebras.
I wasn’t particularly surprised, but the kids found it fascinating.
“Wow! Their necks are really long!”
“Yeah! It’s amazing!”
I’ve been to places like this often, partly because I’m not very interested.
“Wow…”
If I had to say what interested me, it was probably Seo-ah.
Seo-ah was looking at us with a gaze that said she found it fascinating.
“Was it just my imagination that she seemed like she had been here before?”
After exploring the zoo for a while, we started to get hungry.
“I’m hungry. Is there anywhere to eat?”
“Oh, there’s a place. Let’s go there.”
I sat on a bench with the food my mom had packed, and the other kids sat next to me.
“Mom made it for me.”
“Wow!!”
“Say thank you to the lady, please.”
“Um… to Mom…”
When I opened the lunchbox, there were delicious-looking kimbap and yubu-chobap.
And…
“What’s this?”
“It’s meat… I told you not to put it in.”
Mom had put beef in the insulated lunchbox.
No wonder she didn’t make many kimbap; she put all the meat in.
The meat was warm, as if it had just been cooked, probably because the insulated lunchbox had its own heating function.
“Wow… It… it must be delicious.”
“Oh, it smells good. Enjoy your meal.”
“…I’ll enjoy it.”
We all enjoyed our meal and chatted.
“By the way, wasn’t the crocodile amazing earlier?”
“Yeah, I wanted to throw you to it.”
“Oh, come on. I won.”
“What are you guys talking about?”
“Um… just everyday stuff?”
“Where do you see that as an everyday occurrence?”
“hehehe… You guys are entertaining.”
As Seo-a spoke with a smile, we all burst into laughter.
After finishing our meal, Park Seo-hyun made a suggestion.
“It’s nice that we all go together, but let’s each go see what we want.”
“What do you want to see?”
“Well, I want to go to a place with birds.”
“I want to go to a place with tigers and lions, like earlier.”
“Really…?”
I had a feeling it would turn out like this, but I didn’t expect to leave right after we finished eating.
“Well, I knew it.”
I had told them to be back by 4 o’clock at the main gate earlier.
“We have plenty of time.”
“Well, just in case, let’s bring a map.”
I handed out the maps I had brought and looked at Seo-a.
“Seo-a… Is there something you want to see?”
“Well… um…”
Seo-a pondered for a moment.
“hahahahaha… I don’t know what’s there, so could Jihun tell me?”
“Me?”
“I think I might get lost.”
Seoa said so and stuck by my side.
“What do you think?”
How could I refuse her request?
“Okay.”
I took Seoa and moved.
From Noble mtl dot com
“This is where the red pandas are.”
“Wow! They’re so cute, Jihun, look at this!”
As she pointed at the red panda, it reminded me of when I went on a date with Seoa.
“Don’t you think so?”
At that moment, one of the red pandas stood up and stretched its arms as if it were expanding its size.
“Wow, look at that, it’s so cute!”
Seeing Seoa like that, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“They also have a feeding area here. Do you want to try it?”
“Yes!”
That’s how I went with Seoa to the feeding area for the animals.
“This place has small and harmless herbivores for children to feed.”
Here, there are rabbits, turtles, camels, and various other animals for children.
“Wow, they’re small and super cute!”
“You can feed them here. Just wait a moment, I’ll get the food.”
“Ah… It’s okay, you don’t have to give it to me.”
“Huh?”
“Why? I’m not scared, it’s fine.”
But Seoa lowered her head, and I knew what she meant.
Future Seoa really liked this.
“Uwaaah!”
At that moment, I heard a crying sound in the distance, and when I looked over, I saw a young child crying alone.
“Jihun, over there.”
Seoa also heard the sound and looked towards where the child was.
“I don’t see any adults around… do you?”
“Yeah…”
“Just wait a moment.”
I approached the child.
“Um… Hello? Did you get separated from your parents by any chance?”
“Sob… Sob… Uwaaah!”
But the child didn’t stop crying and continued to sob.
“Uh…”
As the child cried even louder than before, other people started to take notice.
“Hello?”
At that moment, Seoa approached and matched her eye level with the child.
“Heu.. heuhuk”
The child stopped crying and looked at Seo-ah’s face with teary eyes.
Even though you’re a little one, you know what a pretty face is, huh?
“By any chance, do you know where Mom is?”
Doridori.
“Really?”
“Oh my, there’s blood..”
Looking at the knee, I saw that blood was flowing from somewhere.
“Oh no.. what should we do?”
Seo-ah looked at me, and I naturally took out a red medicine and a bandage from my bag.
“Seo-ah, let’s go to the bench first.”
“Okay.”
I took the child to the bench and applied the red medicine.
“Ahhhhh, it hurts! It hurts!”
Perhaps because of the disinfectant, the child cried in pain.
“It’s okay~ It doesn’t hurt~”
Seo-ah comforted the child and treated the wound.
“May the pain go away~”
While Seo-ah diverted the child’s gaze, I quickly treated the wound and finished by applying the last bandage.
“Never mind.”
“Phew… Thank goodness. But why do you have other things besides the medicine for wounds?”
“Well… I thought it would be good to have them prepared.”
Actually, among the things I had put in and taken out during the night, this was one of them.
I was worried about Seoa getting hurt! So while preparing this and that, my bag ended up being quite heavy.
“Really? Can you show me your bag?”
“Oh!”
And then, she quickly grabbed it and checked the contents.
“…Isn’t it too much to carry?”
“Well… yeah? hahahaha.”
“Ugh, you prepared too much!”
Seoa smiled slightly and hugged the child.
“Isn’t it heavy?”
“What’s heavy for the child? By the way, what’s your name?”
“Seojun… It’s Seojun.”
“Alright, Seojun, let’s go see Mom.”
“Yeah… Nuna.”
I feel a bit jealous…
Anyway, we looked around, calling the child’s name and searching for the parents, but they didn’t show up, so we went to the information center.
“Hello…?”
“Isn’t that the child?”
“Seojun!”
“Oh my goooood!”
We found their parents like that,
“Thank you! Thank you so much…!”
“No, we found the child because they were crying.”
“Seojun, you should say thank you too.”
“Thank you, unnie, hyung~”
The child bowed in gratitude.
“If you ever need any help, please contact us.”
The child’s mother handed me a business card and left, thanking us repeatedly.
“hahahaha, it’s just like Jihun.”
“Me?”
“Well, it’s nothing like that.”
“???”
Anyway, we left the information center and went to see other animals.
“You seemed like you were struggling with your bag earlier, should I carry it for you?”
“Nah, it’s fine.”
“Well… I just wanted to help.”
“Hmm…”
Honestly, telling Seoa not to feel burdened might actually be burdensome for her.
“Should we take turns carrying it?”
“Take turns?”
“Yeah.”
So, we decided to take turns carrying the bag and went to see other animals.
“Look, it’s a deer.”
“Is that so?”
“Is it the first time Seoa has seen a deer?”
“Huh? Yeah, it’s my first time seeing one in person.”
“I see. There are other animals over there too, let’s go see them.”
“Okay.”
That way, we walked together and admired the animals, and if someone saw us, they would probably think we were like a couple.
“Wow! Look, it’s an eagle!”
Seoa walked to see the eagle, and I followed, looking at her from behind.
Maybe she has a liking for me, and that’s why we’re sticking together like this.
Maybe if I have the courage to confess to her…
“Um… Jihun.”
“Yeah?”
“What time is it now?”
“…Ah!”
We checked the time and hurriedly ran.
As I ran, I thought to myself that maybe it would be good to confess to her when there’s a chance.