“Dallae, you’ve grown a lot.”
“I wonder how the teacher has been.”
The two won exchanged icy smiles, and cold sweat trickled down my back.
Sharing soone you loved was unimaginable to .
Seeing them being affectionate with soone else—if jealousy didn’t arise, wouldn’t that make you question your own love instead?
It was an overwhelming love, and yet, Lee Seyeong and Jin Dallae allowed our relationship to continue despite knowing it.
“…So. Who’s that kid?”
Seyeong pointed at Shiba, who was snuggled tightly in my arms. Her nervous expression, sweating with anticipation, was endearing.
“R-right! Who is this child?”
Byeol, who had been subdued until now, suddenly raised her hand as if she had sothing to say about this.
“Bbi?”
Shiba, drawing the two won’s attention, clung to , looking up as if asking, ‘Dad, what should I do?’ I lifted her and nuzzled her cheeks.
“Bbiheehee!”
Her soft cheeks blossod with a bright smile, instantly dissipating the tension.
“She’s my daughter.”
“…Daughter?”
“W-wait, huh? Shiheon, you’re a dad? Why didn’t I hear about this?”
Seyeong’s face froze, and Byeol banged on the desk in shock.
-Bang!
Jin Dallae, watching the scene, only smiled.
Dallae gently took Shiba from my arms and began to stroke her head. Shiba, imdiately responding to Dallae’s touch, tilted her head and happily accepted the cake Dallae offered her.
“Mom?”
Smirk.
Dallae smiled at the other two. I understood her psychology.
She expressed her affection more deeply than others and had a jealous streak, but this was the ti to intervene.
Seeing Seyeong’s stiff expression, I hurried to explain.
“Seyeong, you rember the potted plant I was raising, right?”
“…Oh. So, you’re saying that is a child now? Hold on… if that sprout turned into this, when exactly did you ‘create’ a child?”
“It’s a long story.”
Everyone knew I was a candidate to beco the husband of the World Tree.
Ignoring Dallae’s slight dissatisfaction, I calmly explained the situation.
I told them about the tree that had taken an unusual interest in , gifting its seed. How, after nurturing it, the seed grew into a child, and how Dallae helped care for Shiba, who now considered Dallae her mother.
“Legally, she’s my daughter. And we’re living together.”
“What?”
Seyeong glared at with suspicion. I had no way out.
“It’s true.”
“…Sigh.”
A heavy sigh escaped her lips. Dallae’s triumphant expression irked , so I flicked her forehead lightly.
Thwack!
“Pffft.”
She laughed as if to say, Annoying, wasn’t it?
To reinforce the family bond, Dallae lovingly petted Shiba, who rested in her lap. Watching this, Seyeong murmured coldly.
“Hey, Dallae.”
The atmosphere chilled. The clinking sound of lting ice in coffee echoed in the air.
Byeol, startled, pattered over to tap Seyeong’s shoulders. Even I, caught off guard, didn’t know she’d react this way.
“Se-Seyeong, I an, co on. Picking a fight with a twenty-year-old kid is….”
Byeol timidly tried to calm her down, sweating as she glanced between , Dallae, and Seyeong.
Seyeong’s sharp gaze turned to Shiba.
With a serious expression, she asked,
“Did you give the kid anthrax prevention shots?”
“…What?”
Caught off guard, Dallae, who had been preparing for an argunt, blinked in confusion.
“Did you or didn’t you?”
“Uh, not yet…”
“What? Shiheon, why didn’t you do anything?”
It seed I didn’t fully understand the biology of tree people.
After checking our reactions, Seyeong clicked her tongue and rested her chin on her hand.
“…I’m sorry.”
Dallae murmured, bowing her head.
Seyeong continued glaring at , still displeased.
“You just beca adults, and now you’re playing mom and dad? At least cover the basics. Especially you, Shiheon. You disappear every chance you get, don’t you?”
“….”
“What about kindergarten?”
“We have a ho tutor.”
“Well, that’s sothing, at least.”
Though she was also young, Seyeong had far more life experience than freshly twenty-year-old Dallae. She’d gone through hardships since childhood and knew what truly mattered.
Byeol, relieved, sighed.
“And you, Byeol? What are you sighing about?”
“I didn’t know anything!”
“Never have kids. You’d just stay ho gaming all day.”
“That’s not true! I’d be a great mom! Besides, how are people our age supposed to be perfect parents? You act like an old lady taking care of everything.”
“What?”
“…Eek!”
Frightened, Byeol scooted her chair closer to . I patted her head, and she quickly brightened up.
“Shiheon, you’re not blaless here.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Judging by her size, you used a Tree Circle Pill, didn’t you? It’s obvious she’s grown too fast. You need to alternate between watering and fertilizing her while regularly returning her to her plant form. That’s the basics.”
The basics.
“Have you… worked with this sort of thing before?”
Dallae, for the first ti, lowered her hostility toward Seyeong and asked.
It seed her earlier reprimand had motivated her to improve.
“Plenty. From nomadic World Trees to caring for young tree people….”
I rembered when I first t Seyeong.
“You’ve got sothing good there, huh?”
She had approached out of nowhere, asking for a Tree Circle Pill. She clearly knew her way around the market.
“When you were looking for the pill, it was….”
“Exactly.”
Seyeong nonchalantly replied and reached out to Shiba. Without protest, Dallae handed her over.
Right now, Seyeong was the goddess of parenting.
“Shiba, do you rember ?”
“Bbi? I rember!”
Shiba, who had been cared for by Seyeong during her sprout days, stretched her hands out happily.
Seyeong observed Shiba closely, her body radiating a faint magical glow.
“Let’s see. No major issues, but she’s growing too fast. Watch out for growth-related illnesses.”
“What kind?”
“If you overuse the Tree Circle Pill, the body can’t handle the rapid growth, leading to fatal fevers.”
“Fatal fevers—”
“Shiba isn’t there yet, but you should be careful. Vaccines are necessary.”
Shiba tilted her head.
“Vaccine?”
“Yes, a vaccine. It stings a little, but it’s good for you.”
“Vaccine!”
Taking this seriously, Dallae began jotting down notes in her notebook.
Watching her, Seyeong chuckled softly and patted Shiba’s head.
“I ca here worried about Shiheon, and this is what I find. Seriously. Are these the only girls you’re dating?”
“The only ones?”
“…There’s one more.”
For now, anyway.
Lee Seyeong stared intently at my face before sighing.
“So, how many won have you slept with?”
“……”
“Answer.”
“Well, uh… I think it’s probably a lot more than you’d expect.”
“Co here, I’ll give you a smack.”
“A punch? That’s such an outdated joke….”
“Glad you understand.”
“Ugh!”
I was hit squarely, hard enough to make my head spin. Shiba, who had been sitting on Seyeong’s lap, scread in shock.
“Bbi!? Don’t hit Dad!”
“Your dad deserved it this ti, Shiba. Hey, Mom, what do you think?”
“He deserved it, Shiba.”
“Bbi? Bbi???”
Shiba, looking confused, hopped down and scurried over to .
She climbed onto my lap, grabbing my forehead, and started blowing on it.
“Baaa….”
“Honestly, you’re the only one for .”
If angels existed, surely Shiba was one of them.
Who on earth nad this child Shiba?
She was so lovely her na could have been Angel.
To prove how adorable Shiba was, even Byeol, sitting nearby, had been fidgeting, her fingers itching to interact with Shiba as she gazed at her.
“Hey, Lee Shiheon.”
Seyeong spoke up.
“Take your kid out for a bit—go eat sothing like eel or whatever. Tonight, get ready to die. Byeol and I have synced up our birth control schedules.”
“What? Huh? Wait, what?”
“We’ve got things to discuss with Dallae.”
“Just go, honey.”
Faced with such assertiveness, I had no choice but to stand up.
Honestly, I was a little glad for the excuse to escape this tense atmosphere.
And I had a lot of calls to make, anyway.
Lifting Shiba in my arms, I reluctantly left the room.
What would marriage be like for ?
“Oh, by the way.”
Still, I had to say sothing before leaving.
I glanced at Seyeong, Dallae, and Byeol.
“Don’t fight, okay?”
For now, we were just in individual relationships.
But having them all connected to , this kind of situation was bound to happen eventually.
When I said this seriously, only Seyeong seed to understand my underlying aning. She smiled softly.
“Okay.”
-Sizzle, sizzle.
‘Why is there even an eel restaurant on campus?’
I begrudgingly entered the eel restaurant, following Seyeong’s suggestion.
She had repeatedly warned not to eat things like Job’s tears, which supposedly decreased stamina.
Although her love for wasn’t based on my physical health, she had once dramatically declared that if her affection for diminished, my life would be over.
Recalling her intense expression gave chills.
“Won are so scary, Shiba….”
“Bbi?”
Shiba tilted her head as she took a sip of miso soup with her spoon.
“My daughter, you must grow up to be kind and angelic.”
“Shiba is a good child! I even won an award!”
“Oh, really? Let’s take a look at it when we get ho.”
Thus began our ti alone.
I hadn’t spent much ti with Shiba recently, so I planned to dedicate most of my future holidays to her.
Just watching Shiba eat was enough to make ti fly.
‘I had planned to eat with Sansuyu after work.’
But she wasn’t answering my calls.
She hadn’t read any of my ssages, either. After the incident at the Cradle, she had beco much quieter, which worried .
I’d even asked Seong Jiho if he knew what was going on, but there was no response yet.
‘Maybe I need to investigate this myself.’
If it involved Sansuyu, it was a serious matter.
‘Enough. Thinking about work while my kid is eating is inappropriate.’
I recalled what I’d learned from talking with Seyeong.
Children are far more sensitive and delicate than we think. Parents must teach and protect them without rest for them to grow properly.
In my case, I spent so little ti with Shiba that this was even more important.
I patted Shiba’s head as she sat next to .
“Shiba.”
“Bbi?”
“You know Daddy loves you, right?”
“……”
She put her spoon down and looked up at .
Her green eyes sparkled like a cat’s, wide and bright. Her hair, light enough to shimr under the light, frad her face, and her adorable animal-thed sumr shirt added to her charm.
The distance between Shiba and could grow anyti in the future.
If we were apart, even known affection might be doubted. I’d feel lonely, even though the love wasn’t gone.
That’s just how people’s minds worked.
Distant feelings turned into beautiful mories, filtering out everything but the good parts. Sotis, those distant mories seem better than the slightly bitter taste of recent ones.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking: Wasn’t I happier back then?
Why was it different now?
“Shiba loves Daddy too!”
Shiba’s radiant smile brimd with affection.
Ever since her sprout days, her love has been unwavering.
I regretted not being able to give her more attention.
But instead of dwelling on regrets, taking action was the way forward.
-Heh.
“Alright, Shiba. What’s the na of this fish?”
Being a dad for the first ti, I don’t know what my daughter likes.
I was young, inexperienced, and my father wasn’t exactly a great role model.
“Eel!”
“Oh, my daughter is so smart!”
“Heeheehee! Shiba is very smart!”
I didn’t know if I’d be a great dad, but I hoped I could at least be a dedicated one.
Picking a perfectly grilled eel, I placed it on Shiba’s plate and smiled contentedly.
My daughter was truly amazing.
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