Chills creeping up the backs of two public officials, and arriving at a villa in Sokcho with sighs of lament.
Not a bunk bed, but a spacious villa with simply a second floor.
An air conditioner, and a refrigerator that looks to be three times the size of a key.
A long sofa that looks fluffy, with a monitor that dwarfs the TV at home.
A second-floor balcony that could fit six combined verandas.
A pristine interior that appears dust-free, with a view of the sea to boot.
“Kkyah-!”
Siyeon, darting around the villa with short strides.
Having learned that this would be our place for two weeks, she seemed unable to contain her excitement.
‘But she still has homework to do.’
As I was calmly considering Siyeon’s unrealistic enthusiasm, a public official uncle extended a business card towards me.
The card bore the name of the National Safety Agency and the uncle’s name, along with a neat personal phone number.
I never expected to receive a business card in this body.
“If you need anything, call this number. While we’re in Sokcho, we’ll help out,” he said.
“Yes, thank you. Take care.”
“Sure.”
After closing the villa door, the two public officials left.
“Wow….”
Once the two had left, I gazed in pure admiration at the expansive view of the villa.
While Siyeon was in the restroom, I asked the uncle who had stayed in the car about it; he mentioned that it was occasionally used by high-ranking officials for vacation.
The words proved true as the level of amenities was fitting for a place like home.
Counting how many air conditioners were in this villa.
One on the first-floor ceiling, two next to the TV, three in the kitchen.
Then, four and five up on the second floor.
Just the cost of the air conditioners here would likely surpass all our home furniture.
Perhaps sensing the absence of other people, the mascots stealthily revealed themselves.
“Wow, this house is nice.”
“Indeed.”
I briefly affirmed the absurdly improved living conditions over the past two weeks.
I thought I’d only see houses with two floors in Japanese cartoons.
I may not yet be double digits in age, but this feels like a long life.
A sofa just about big enough for two of me to lie down on.
As I nestled onto it, adjusting my position comfortably.
“By the way, why didn’t you all say a word?”
Suddenly reminded of the mascots’ silence in the car.
No matter how many other people were around, they should have recognized our status as magical girls.
So if they knew we had mascots, it seemed odd they hadn’t uttered a single word, prompting me to ask.
I expected to hear them naturally say, “Of course we didn’t know.”
However, I received an unexpected answer from Gomteng.
“Well, adults talking is just a bit awkward for us. Reacting to everything seems bothersome…”
“What a crazy guy.”
So it was just out of sheer dislike then.
Crazy.
As I lay back on the sofa for a while, having finished exploring the villa, Siyeon approached and asked.
“Mari, when are we going to the sea?”
“Uh…”
I momentarily pondered, trailing off.
I was so comfortable on the fluffy sofa that I had completely forgotten.
The car ride had taken about three hours.
Now, having invested three solid hours on the road, it was late afternoon.
If we went to the sea now, it would soon be getting cold.
We might catch a cold, so it won’t work today.
There’s nothing more sorrowful than getting sick while on vacation.
“You can’t go today.”
“Why! I want to go to the sea! I’m going!”
Siyeon was persistently pleading.
She was probably just thrilled to be far from home.
How could I brush this off and postpone it for tomorrow?
As I thought for a while, the essentials for a beach trip came to mind.
‘Ah.’
“Don’t we need swimsuits and a float? We have to go to the mart today.”
I realized I didn’t even have the essentials to go to the beach in the first place.
“Ah!”
Only then did Siyeon’s eyes widen in understanding.
After getting ready to go, we changed our destination straight to the mart.
I powered on a map app to familiarize myself with the area.
Although it might need public transport, it’s still a hundred times better than no mart at all.
In the deep rural areas, even a large mart shows up like beans in a drought.
Regardless, asking those public officials with scraggly beards to buy a first-grade girl’s swimsuit felt impolite, so I decided to go buy it myself.
If I did ask, I could just imagine the suspicious gaze of the employees watching as they escorted two girls dressed like that.
Luckily, I’m not that shameless of a boy—no, girl.
An upstanding child who takes care of her own responsibilities.
Arriving at the ground floor of the big mart via taxi.
As fitting for the scorching summer heat, the mart is decorated with whale-shaped floats and symbols of the sea.
I’ll check the floats later; for now, focus on clothing.
“Swimsuits, please!”
“Oh, welcome!”
Siyeon ran excitedly to the swimsuit section and immediately asked for swimsuits.
The aunty seemed charmed by the sight of little guests, adding short remarks while slowly getting up from her seat.
She seemed a little awkward not having any parents around to accompany the children, glancing around.
Naturally, there were no adults who looked like parents, so she turned towards us.
“Where are your mom and dad?”
“Well…”
Just as I tried to conjure a decent excuse.
“We came by ourselves!”
‘Ah.’
Siyeon’s bold answer made the aunty’s expression stiffen.
I should have kept her quiet.
Her follow-up questions wandered in a slightly different direction.
Though born from kindness and goodwill, it was a question that might hurt the tender hearts of children.
“Do you know your parents’ phone number?”
“Uh, that, uh…”
Siyeon was flustered.
To break through this silence, I could only force the number I remembered to be Dad’s.
The business card tucked in my pocket.
“I know my dad’s phone number.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“012…”
As soon as I read off the number, the aunty, perhaps to convey something troublesome, dashed off to contact the public official uncle.
After a few rings, the sound ceased.
As the aunty moved away, the voice carried over.
“Is this the children’s dad? Why would you send your kids shopping for clothes?”
While I couldn’t catch the entire mumble, I heard the voice of a man sounding distressed on the other end of the phone.
“What do you mean!? Two kids are here to buy swimsuits; what are you doing? Hmm? Eating sashimi? Sashimi?”
The public official uncle had unwittingly become a complete fool, unaware that his two elementary school daughters were out shopping at the mart while he was busy eating sashimi somewhere in Sokcho.
‘Oh, I’m sorry about that.’
I didn’t intend to inconvenience anyone, but now it turned out like this.
About twenty minutes passed, perhaps?
While oblivious to everything, the uncle had come to the mart, arms crossed, being lectured by the upset aunty.
Once the situation was roughly sorted out, I could have a chat with the uncle.
“What on earth is this sudden calamity?”
“…I’m sorry.”
After asking the cheerfully innocent Siyeon to choose a swimsuit she liked.
I made the expressions of guys dragged out by clothes shopping and sat on a backless chair near the checkout.
“Mari! How about this one?!”
“Looks pretty.”
“What about this one?”
“That one is pretty too.”
Siyeon, blooming with excitement, kept offering this swimsuit and that.
I turned into a pretty parrot, repeating “pretty” like an echo to her keen inquiries.
A solid blue swimsuit, a raccoon character swimsuit against a pale pink background.
Being someone who values practicality, I thought I’d just grab something that wouldn’t only last for the first-grade girl growing fast.
The pattern didn’t really matter…
“What about this one?”
…I thought, but that one didn’t seem right either.
Among the swimsuits Siyeon displayed, she pulled out one particular one.
“That one doesn’t seem right.”
Dark purple background with blue and pale pink flowers.
Seeing a swimsuit with colors that look like something an old country grandma would wear while farming, I shook my head.
Just because it’s not, it simply is not.
What kind of demand could possibly result in the production of swimsuits like that?
Leaving behind a vague doubt, we each picked out a swimsuit, paid, and headed straight toward the tube section.
Two tiny swimsuits for kids costing 70,000 won, and four tubes at 20,000 won each, totaling 40,000 won.
Feeling the emptiness of spending 110,000 won for just two weeks of fun at the beach.
‘With that money, I could get three sets of summer clothes for a year….’
Shaking off my increasingly housewife-like shopping sense, we left the mart ready for summer.
The uncle came in a taxi instead of his public work vehicle, having rushed over.
As I approached the very first taxi in front of the long line, a shrill, unpleasant alarm rang out.
It had seemed quiet lately, but sure enough, an alarm was blaring before even a day had passed.
I remembered that the monster appearance rate was particularly low around here.
“Ugh, crap….”
“Oh, looks like we need to hurry.”
Finishing a pleasant shopping outing only to be thrown back into a job right away?
The uncle expressed sympathy with a quick “oh no,” almost as if he understood the plight.
It felt like being told to report to work while comfortably sitting on a computer over the weekend.
I handed the bundles I was holding to the uncle and said.
“Uncle, could you please take these to the villa with Siyeon?”
“Huh? Aren’t you going with us?”
“There’s a reason; I usually clear things out alone now. Please take care of it!”
Once that message was conveyed, I bolted to where there weren’t any people around.
Coincidentally, it was near the mart, and people were just half-heartedly pretending to flee.
Anyway, the place where the monsters appeared seemed quite far from the mart.
Citizens were thinking of it as a civil defense alert, strolling out of the mart and just huddling in the shade from the sun.
‘This is what you call a safety complacency.’
Typical of a country that thinks fire alarms are just malfunctioning when they ring in the middle of school.
At this rate, something big might truly happen one day.
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