After finishing a lunch that left a lingering sense of discomfort, I found myself wandering around the amusement park with Siyeon.
Perhaps it was due to lunchtime, but the lines for the rides had flowed toward the restaurants, leaving the place a little less crowded.
Still, even though Siyeon and I were encouraged to have fun together…
There wasn’t really any specific ride that I felt compelled to try, so we just strolled through the park, swept along by the crowd.
Since just walking around felt a bit pointless, I subtly asked Siyeon a question.
“Is there a ride you want to try?”
“Um, anything!”
The response I got from Siyeon was the answer I least wanted in this situation. Anything, anything…
I considered bumper cars? That’s a fairly safe choice in my mind.
Besides, it was a ride that Siyeon had been on once, and these days bumper cars seemed to lack that thrill they used to have.
Eventually, I turned my gaze toward other attractions.
What else could we ride together? Rollercoaster? Viking ship?
Oh well, I shrugged it off. When did I even enjoy those things?
Then suddenly, I spotted a ride above the park that was creaking along the overhead rail.
The sky bicycle.
‘Wow, it’s been ages since I’ve seen that.’
“Let’s ride that!”
As I stared at the sky bicycle, Siyeon seemed to notice my gaze and pointed it out with an outstretched arm.
It was a two-seater, and it seemed like Siyeon wasn’t keen on riding it alone, so she hadn’t tried it in the morning.
“Alright, let’s do it.”
Nodding in agreement, I proceeded along the rail in the air and stood in line for the ride.
Because of the lunch break, the line was quite short here too.
Was there only about ten people? On the other hand, the line didn’t seem to want to clear up at all.
It must be that the ride wasn’t automated, requiring us to pedal manually, and since it could only accommodate one to two people at a time, we ended up waiting even longer.
Some of the folks near the entrance had gotten so fed up they turned around to go grab lunch.
After waiting for nearly 30 minutes, it was finally our turn.
As usual, during the ride, a mic blared out safety information and seatbelt instructions.
Hearing the standard precautions with one ear and letting it pass through the other, we sat closely together and started pedaling.
“Should we see what we want to ride next while we’re here?”
“Sure!”
With a creaky sound of the pedals, the sky bicycle leisurely took off.
Either way, no matter what ride we picked, we’d be waiting at least 30 to 40 minutes.
Like pedaling a four-legged bicycle, we took our time with it, leisurely enjoying the scenery from above, looking down at the spring flowers, and taking pictures…
“Yaaaaaah!”
“Gwahhhh!”
I was about to take a picture when I heard strange groans coming from behind us at a similar height.
“…?”
Caught off guard by the loud groans amidst the bustling Children’s Day crowd, I turned to look behind us.
Rushing in at an incredible speed was the sky bicycle right behind us.
The passengers? Two adult men whose faces I didn’t even recognize.
For some reason, they were frantically pedaling like cyclists just before the finish line, their bodies bouncing up and down.
At this rate, it seemed like they were going to crash into us at a speed rivaling those old bumper cars, so I tapped Siyeon, who was leisurely pedaling next to me.
“Siyeon, let’s hurry, behind us…”
“Huh?”
I increased my pedaling speed, showing her the reality of the situation behind us, and we abruptly kicked off into a frantic race, forgetting the sightseeing.
As we picked up speed, the sky bicycle in front of us, and then the one in front of that…
The 30 minutes we spent waiting soon became meaningless, as our journey, now including us, was rushed to a finish in just 10 minutes thanks to the two rear-end racers.
And saying it took only 10 minutes was one thing, but continuously pedaling those relatively heavy pedals for the entire duration was no easy feat for two middle school girls.
“Ow, my legs…”
I stepped out near the exit to rest my trembling legs, sitting on a bench while behind us those two were madly, frantically pedaling.
“Next up, the spinning cups?”
“Let’s go all out on the full rotation!”
They didn’t care one bit about the suffering inflicted on those in front of them and were plotting their next plan to enjoy the amusement park with pure male enthusiasm.
Well, maybe that’s the right attitude to have.
Even if it wasn’t intentional, thanks to those two, our excitement had risen.
Determined to make the most of our remaining ride tickets, we trailed behind them…
With our already exhausted legs, I still tried to catch up.
Then after that, on the spinning cups…
“Yaaaaaah!”
‘…Centrifuge?’
On the duck boats of the lake that might be a bit overdone…
“Pedal harder!”
‘Wait, does that boat have a motor or something?’
Even on the bumper cars, where we suddenly found ourselves respecting the speed limit…
“Wooo!”
‘Wait, so that actually accelerates?’
Thanks to the remarkable performances of those two guys, at least it wasn’t boring.
You know how when you watch animals at the zoo, it’s just amusing for no reason?
It was unfortunate that, due to restrictions on the number of rides, including the Ferris wheel, we couldn’t tag along any longer, but I realized that even with such a childlike mindset, I could still enjoy the amusement park.
By the way, two grown men at an amusement park on Children’s Day…
Setting aside how they enjoyed themselves, what on earth brought them to this place together?
It was almost 5 PM, the time to finish up all the fun.
Sadly, I spent a total of 10,000 won on two 5,000 won hot dogs, which I enjoyed biting into while comfortably waiting to join Ji-eun and the others.
In any case, it was a day filled with fun and enjoyment.
After joining them, I spotted Juwon in Ji-eun’s arms, peacefully napping with his eyes closed.
“Juwon is… asleep?”
“He did run around a lot, so he must have had fun.”
Dragging my tired body into the car, Ji-eun asked us casually.
“Yeah, we managed to use all our ride tickets somehow…”
It was too fun for me to simply say it was just “okay.”
Besides, it wouldn’t be polite to say it was just “okay” to someone who had paid for everything, plus I mentioned we used all the tickets while stretching inside the car.
“What was the most fun?”
The question from Uncle Dae-han about which ride was the most fun.
Even if he asked about the most fun one, we had ridden around five attractions.
“Um…”
A long groan followed as I remembered the five rides we had experienced today.
The Ferris wheel, where Juwon cried his eyes out, was honestly far from fun…
I began recalling the sky bicycle in a sequence.
But the most memorable thing from the blurry memories were the two crazy men.
Oh no, aside from the rides, I couldn’t even remember the names or faces of anyone else.
“…The zoo?”
“Huh? Was there a zoo?”
With confusion evident in Uncle Dae-han’s inquiry, I thought to myself.
Yes, there was. Inside the amusement park, there were two less evolved apes known as Homo sapiens…
But seriously, they rode rides and even spoke like real people.
In any case, enveloped in satisfaction, we returned home.
Though separate from that, I was utterly worn out from the exhausting schedule fit for a student, and just collapsed onto the mat laid out in the living room.
‘All in all, we had fun….’
“I’ll go wash up first!”
“Uh….”
Having safely returned, it was time to unload the things stored in our clothes.
I took out my wallet and smartphone from my left pocket, then I reached into my right pocket for Gomteng….
Gomteng…?
I fumbled around, my fingers aimlessly roaming through the pocket that didn’t feel the weight of the plushie.
As soon as I stuck my hand in, I realized something was off when I didn’t grab what I was supposed to.
‘Huh?’
That’s when I sensed that something was amiss.
A chill crept through my blood.
My legs trembled as I abruptly hopped up from the mat, slapping my palm against the area around my pocket in a state of empty panic.
But the mascot that wasn’t supposed to be missing couldn’t have just appeared elsewhere.
‘Where did that little guy go….’
Did I drop it in the car? I called Ji-eun to check.
“It’s not in the car either…”
“Oh, is that so….”
Hearing her answer filled with uncertainty, my anxiety deepened.
I couldn’t just sit on the mat anymore, bewildered about what to do when suddenly…
Siyeon’s mascot came flying towards me from her room.
“Hey, Mari?”
“Why, Sea Snake.”
I replied curtly to the creature that swam through the air toward me.
I was already stressing about it, so why did it come to deliver news?
But, the little one seemed to have the answer I needed right now.
“Gomteng… is at the lost and found.”
“Why tell me that only now?”
“They just contacted me to check if you’ve forgotten it…?”
As if it didn’t seem to have known either, Siyeon’s mascot spun in circles in the air.
Sure, this was technically my fault, but it was way too much of a hassle to go back there now that I had already returned home.
“…Tell them to send it over discreetly at night.”
“Eh….”
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