Again, Sokcho.
The morning broke after the monstrous misunderstanding of the monsters.
In the room adjacent to where Siyeon was sleeping.
Mari was soundly asleep, breathing in colorful puffs.
The one who entered that room was none other than Siyeon.
Shake shake, shake shake.
Siyeon, who wouldn’t wake up unless she was roused first, was shaking Mari, who was nestled under the blankets.
Thinking about the usual routine of going to school, the roles were clearly reversed.
“Mari, get up…”
“Ugh…”
Hearing Siyeon’s pitiful voice, I barely gathered my wits.
With a strange groan, I slowly propped myself up.
There was no way Siyeon woke up early, I thought while fumbling around for my smartphone.
No matter how much I tried to blindly reach my smartphone, which had rolled out of reach by my pillow, I couldn’t touch it.
With one eye tightly closed and the other blinking open, I fumbled for my smartphone.
‘Did the alarm not go off…?’
When I pressed the power button, the unusually bright light of my smartphone illuminated my face.
That light, which normally didn’t seem very bright, felt blindingly so in the morning.
Squinting with my barely open eye, I looked at the screen.
It was 6:48 AM. The alarm was set for 7.
Siyeon had really woken up super early.
‘…Did you really want to go that badly?’
With one eye shut and the other barely open, I glanced at Siyeon.
Instead of looking tired, she seemed to have been up for hours, looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
Kids are really selfish.
They wake themselves up on the days they’re looking forward to.
I wish they would do the same on school days.
“Mari, if you’re awake, let’s go to the sea!”
“It’s too cold right now… Let’s have breakfast first, okay?”
Siyeon was tugging at my arm, insisting we head to the beach right away.
Feeling a bit dazed, I replied that we should at least eat breakfast first.
No matter how summer it is, the morning air is cold.
If we went out now and caught a cold, that would complicate things even more.
“Ugh.”
Siyeon puffed her cheeks in disappointment.
She was adorably cute enough to snap me back to reality, but no means no.
I poked her inflated cheek to let the air out.
“Pff.”
The moment I poked her cheek, a silly sound escaped.
That showed how much she was looking forward to the beach.
Having come all the way to Sokcho, I had to let Siyeon have her fill of fun and food while we were here.
“Let’s eat a little for breakfast.”
“Okay!”
Even saying we’d eat a little, we wouldn’t end up eating just a little, looking at our bodies.
As soon as I opened the refrigerator, I was greeted with various drinks and instant foods that could be heated in the microwave.
Among them, I took out a vacuum-packed carbonara spaghetti and read the instructions.
Nowadays, refrigerated foods are so well made that you don’t even need to poke a hole; you just stick it in the microwave as it is.
Beep, the microwave lit up in orange.
The vacuum pack puffed up like a jellyfish’s bell, wobbling as if about to burst.
Beeep, beeep, beeep.
Along with the three bland beeps, the vacuum pack, which had puffed up inside the microwave, rapidly shrunk.
With my thumbs and index fingers, I grabbed the hot plastic bowl and quickly brought it to the table.
The corner of the plastic bowl I wasn’t holding tilted downward, threatening to collapse.
“Ouch!”
After enduring the unexpected heat that enveloped my fingertips, I brought it to the table.
I felt the heat of the object again, which I couldn’t sense while it was transforming, and brought my fingers to my earlobe.
Next, I grabbed two forks from the holder and sat down, sharing one with Siyeon.
As soon as I tore the vacuum pack, white steam billowed upwards.
Just then, the 7 o’clock alarm rang on my smartphone.
In less than three seconds, I turned it off and slurped up a spaghetti noodle that was as thick as udon.
“Yummy.”
Siyeon and I, with our thick udon-like spaghetti in our mouths, were having a delicious time.
It was a small portion, but for kids, that’s enough.
Once we were done preparing, the sunlight began to warm the ground.
Finally, as Siyeon wished, we headed out to see the sea.
“Wow.”
“It’s the sea-!!”
A bustling beach, brightly lit by the sun, was completely different from the night sea we saw while fighting monsters.
Siyeon, excited, changed into her swimsuit at a nearby changing room and then jumped around on the sandy shore.
The swimsuit, which covered just up to her chest, felt oddly uncomfortable to me.
It felt like an unnecessary tightness enveloping my upper body.
I’d rather not know, but I longed for a swimsuit that only covered the lower half.
While I paid the rental fee for the pre-set umbrella for shade, I placed our various belongings under that overly spacious shade.
Though I was worried about Siyeon and felt we should go to the sea together, we had no one to watch our things.
That glorious mission would be entrusted to our mascots.
After all, it was a crowded beach during the holiday season filled with noise and chaos.
Even if people saw me talking to mascots, they’d just think kids were talking to dolls.
“Hold on to this wallet as if it’s your lifeline… If anyone besides me or Siyeon touches it, scream like there’s an alarm bell and make sure everyone hears you, got it?”
Though I didn’t receive an answer from the mascot, I received a nod from Gomteng, which seemed to acknowledge my command.
“Okay.”
Still in our swimsuits, with the wiggly tube in hand, we headed to the air pump station.
They demanded 3,000 won just to pump it once.
‘What the hell.’
I cursed under my breath while thinking about the 6,000 won that was disappearing with a few pumps.
Is this a world where you make money by blowing air?
Is this the so-called creative economy? Three thousand won for pumping a few times?
Lucky for them that making money is easy.
While some fight in the night sky, others get their wallets thoroughly emptied in the name of vacations and play.
After returning my wallet, which had been thoroughly drained, to its rightful place, I was dragged off to the sea by Siyeon, whose smile bloomed like a flower.
“You know you have to hold onto the tube tightly, right?”
“Yep!”
“Also, get wet slowly.”
As I latched the tube around my waist and got wet at the juncture where the crashing waves met the sandy beach, sea water splashed up to my chest.
While it seemed somewhat satisfying from a distance, it was also an odd scene.
A kid warning another kid.
Despite the hot weather, the sea water was cold.
Well, perhaps that was what made it fit.
‘This feels nice.’
It was like stepping out of a sauna and plunging straight into a cold plunge pool.
Though it was kind of a cheap feeling, how long has it been since I soaked myself in the ocean at the beach?
Thinking back, I had only been to places like this a few times during my childhood with my family from my previous life.
“Yay-! Hehe!”
As Siyeon joyfully submerged in the sea, she laughed brightly, splashing around as if she were having the time of her life.
Reflecting on it, I wished I could have had the same joy.
Siyeon was just feeling the same excitement I had once felt.
“Do you like coming to the sea?”
“Yep!”
The simple question was met with an immediate and cheerful response.
Yeah, as long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters.
Leaning against the tube while holding onto the handle, I enjoyed the warm sunlight on my upper body.
The cool flow and dampness of the sea enveloped my lower body.
This was a harmonious balance that was perfectly appropriate.
Just one thing: if only my long hair didn’t get soaked in the seawater, it would have been perfect.
“Waaaah-!!!!”
And so, floating like jellyfish near Siyeon, I heard an unusual sound from the sandy beach.
‘What was that?’
Looking up to see where the noise came from, I found it was from the area under our umbrella where our belongings were.
It must be quite loud, as a chubby, balding uncle who had been fussing around our things jumped back in surprise and swiftly fled the scene.
Even while escaping, the man garnered curious glances from everyone around.
If you saw what just happened and his suspicious behavior, anyone would think he was a thief.
The unwanted guest, targeting the holiday bustle, exited dramatically thanks to Gomteng’s efforts.
As I lounged against the tube, I applauded Gomteng’s alarm sound with satisfaction.
‘Nice job.’
And so, two hours passed without me even realizing how much fun we had.
Siyeon, full of energy, splashed around in the water and then, according to her small amount of breakfast, was suddenly clutching her tummy, saying she was hungry.
“I’m hungry…”
At Siyeon’s plea, we took our tube and trudged back under the umbrella, setting it down at a suitable spot.
With Gomteng’s triumphant expression, a thumb was raised from a tightly clenched fist.
When you get hungry at the beach, there’s only one thing that comes to mind.
I retrieved the wallet that Gomteng had tightly held on to and bought two small cups of instant noodles at the stall set up on the beach.
The uncle there handed me hot water, then stacked the cups of instant noodles one over the other with chopsticks on top.
Carefully holding the cup noodle tower in my chin so it wouldn’t topple over, I successfully made my way back under the umbrella.
“Let’s eat noodles!”
After soaking my body thoroughly, I would eat this little cup noodle.
It would be a memory that I could never forget, so I decided to share this special taste with Siyeon.
Pulling apart the folded plastic at the entrance caused the lid of the cup noodle to pop open.
Peeking beneath, the bright red broth and white steam emerged.
Slurping, slurping.
I was moved by the noodles that disappeared down my throat in an instant.
Why is it that this cup noodle tastes so remarkably delicious after soaking in water?
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