Christmas brings down emotional white trash from the sky.
Everywhere, it’s the culprit of increasing traffic accidents and is like a landmine in everyday life, laying down icy patches that could make you fall and crack your head.
Despite being such a nuisance, it’s popular with the kids, and as the snow covers the world in white, Siyeon’s nagging has also grown along with it.
Thanks to this, the playground we were dragged to in the middle of the night.
I thought being dragged out because of snow would only be a military experience.
“Hey, Jaehyun! Can we not play with the snow piled on the car?”
On a late holiday night, a sudden white Christmas.
Hearing voices around, I looked around.
Out of nowhere, white fluffy snow fell.
I wasn’t the only one drawn out to the playground due to complaints.
Flower beds, railings, roads—everywhere the white snow piled up thickly.
Watching Siyeon packing snow with her mittens nearby, I joined in and started packing some snowballs too.
The sounds of boisterous kids could be heard near the playground and parking lot at midnight.
“Siyeon, look at this?!”
Among the kids gathered at the playground, a girl who was relatively friendly with Siyeon came over to talk.
I think her name was Hayaan?
Anyway, she brought a strange-looking plastic clip and started boasting to Siyeon.
As I squinted in the darkness, I could see that the clip had a duck-shaped mold on the end to fill with snow.
If you fill that mold with snow and just pop it off—
“Wow!”
It was a perfectly white and smooth snow duck that even Siyeon would admire.
It was the snow duck clip that had been trending among the kids, even making it to the news.
Kids who love snow are thinking of clearing the snow with it and even making money.
Business requires smarts too.
“Do you want to try it, Siyeon?”
Hayaan, seemingly wanting to share the fun experience, handed the plastic clip to Siyeon without hesitation.
If it were boys, they would have teased each other saying, “Don’t you have something like this?”
The soft world of girls just gives me a sense of comfort for no reason.
“Yeah!”
Siyeon had no reason to refuse and immediately grabbed the clip, starting to search for a suitable place to pile snow.
And at the end of Siyeon’s steps was the snow piled neatly on the hood of a car, untouched by anyone.
Suddenly surprised, I hurriedly stopped Siyeon.
“Oh, you can’t touch the snow on the car!”
“Why?”
Siyeon asked back, puzzled by my refusal.
How do you explain to young kids who don’t know the value of a car?
If they scratch the hood, they could buy dozens of snow duck clips with just that!
But rather than trying to instill a financial concept in them, instilling a bit of fear seems to work well for now.
“If you scrape the snow with the clip and scratch the car, the Owner Uncle will come out and get you.”
“Yikes!”
As Siyeon was about to bring the clip closer to the snow gently piled on the car, my words startled her, and she pulled the clip away.
This strategy only works with kids; I wonder how many more years I can use it.
Thus, in the middle of the night, mixing around with kids and adults, snow ducks began appearing all over the apartment complex.
At first, I wondered why we were doing this, but as the numbers started piling up…
“An army of ducks…?”
On railings, stairs, and car hoods, as soon as everything flat was piled up, it formed quite a grand shape.
In a playground already lacking in clear lighting, with a lack of distinct brightness, the vacant white snow eyes of ducks started widening from everywhere, creating what could almost resemble a scene from a horror game.
The snow duck party, hastily organized by the kids, began to dwindle as dawn approached.
With Hayaan, who had borrowed the snow duck clip, heading home first, even those kids who had been squealing with joy gradually found themselves dragged off by their parents while yawning.
As I held her hand and walked home, Siyeon muttered about her plans for the next day.
“Let’s come out and see the ducks tomorrow!”
“Sure.”
While I affirmed her, I glanced back at the snow ducks piled up on the playground, flower beds, and stairs.
Were those ducks originally looking this way?
At night, their gazes can be chilling, but they might look a little different during the day.
However, the promised observation of the ducks the next day did not happen.
Not because the temperature suddenly rose and melted everything.
Some twisted human being smashed all the snow ducks that the kids had made with pure intentions overnight.
Honestly, when I saw the smashed snow ducks, my mood plummeted.
“The ducks….”
What was supposed to be a joyous day began with Siyeon tearful and sulking.
With a distorted expression, Siyeon was about to leak out watery tears like chicken droppings.
“W-whoa….”
“Don’t cry, don’t cry… we can make more.”
Hurrying to console Siyeon, I pondered deeply over who would have smashed all the snow ducks, leaving not even one behind.
However, I couldn’t simply grab anyone by the collar and yell at them, as there are more than just a few units in the apartment complex.
Fortunately, it snowed more than before without stopping, so there was enough snow piled up.
I managed to calm Siyeon down, and then we headed towards the convenience store.
Seeing her sniffle painfully made me want to buy not just snow ducks but a variety of clips as well.
Returning to the apartment with different heart-shaped, snowman-shaped, and duck-shaped clips that cost around ten thousand won.
“Look! It’s a heart shape!”
“It’s pretty.”
Siyeon proudly showed off her heart-shaped snowball, made with the clips I bought instead of borrowed ones, grinning brightly.
Since they weren’t borrowed, her gestures were even bolder than yesterday.
This time, to prevent some mysterious someone from breaking them, we decided to actually take them inside and put them in the freezer.
“Let’s put them safely in the freezer.”
“Okay!”
Siyeon carefully placed the finished snowballs like treasures in the nearby flower bed.
As long as they’re in the freezer at home, they’re safe.
Naturally, since it’s a given, Siyeon began making snowballs one by one with the clips.
The apartment complex, a mess because of the broken snow ducks, and the snow that piled back up.
During this vacation period, kids are coming out day and night with no distinction to play in the snow, quickly filling up the playground.
“Siyeon! What’s that?”
“It’s a heart shape!”
Yesterday, Hayaan, who had lent Siyeon the snow duck clip, today was borrowing a heart or star-shaped clip from Siyeon, starting to play with it herself.
When lunchtime came, she began heading home with the clips she had borrowed.
Siyeon walked inside holding snowballs of various shapes.
Opening the fridge, all that greeted us was emptiness.
The freezer where there were no frozen foods, just ice trays.
Only after placing the ducks, hearts, stars, and snowman-shaped snowballs in there did Siyeon beam brightly.
Now, no matter what season comes, she can show off these cute snowballs.
“Well then….”
After skillfully tapping her smartphone to order lunch, I delved into deep contemplation about what to do with that twisted brat who made Siyeon tear up.
To smash all the effort the kids put into making those snow ducks must mean they’re seriously twisted.
If that’s true, then surely they wouldn’t be able to resist kicking a huge snowman built with care.
The plan began late at night when Siyeon was deep in sleep.
“Hmm, looks sturdy.”
The stone bollards that are usually placed to prevent cars from entering.
There are some anchored into the ground and others that can be moved.
Fortunately for our apartment complex, we had movable ones.
“Sun.”
After transforming into a magical girl at home, I buried my distinctive frilly outfit into my padding so it wouldn’t be seen.
Hiding my long hair behind the padding, I pressed my head down with a cap, making sure my bangs weren’t visible.
Stacking the heavy stone bollard into two layers and starting to scrape snow around it.
As I scraped all the snow that looked like long planks piled onto the hood into a pile, soon the first layer was complete.
Once I rounded up the snow to completely cover the head down to the second layer around the bollard, it was complete—a snowman-shaped machine meant to break the legs of that unidentified brat.
“Perfect.”
It was a size, that although I am now an adult male, I would have been panting if I had built it alone.
Just thinking of that mysterious someone kicking this makes me swell with achievement and pride now that I completed the snowman.
From here on, I just had to go inside once everyone cleared out to make it easier for them to kick the snowman.
“Phew.”
I took off my transformation, yawned, and slipped inside the house, collapsing onto the bed.
On a night when I could hardly fall asleep, I turned on my smartphone to play games, thinking it was a pointless thing to do in the middle of the night, right at that moment…
“Ahhhh!”
A half-dampened scream echoed from outside my window, and I realized the time spent making the snowman was not in vain.
That day, I was able to fall asleep with a smile brighter than ever.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.