M 194

“Wooow!”

Hae-rim, who was nestled quietly in Ki Tae-jeong’s arms, widened his eyes like lanterns.

“An old man’s clumsy attempt at decoration, so there’s nothing to see and no fun to be had… but please, relax and enjoy your time here.”

Nothing to see? That was excessive modesty. The vast land, large enough to hold several mansions, was densely packed with all kinds of flowers and trees spanning different seasons. Even Ki Tae-jeong, who had zero interest in landscaping, couldn’t help but be impressed by the beautiful space.

Hae-rim, who had been chattering away on his own until they arrived, was now speechless and busy tugging at Ki Tae-jeong’s sleeve. There was so much he wanted to ask about, he seemed overwhelmed.

Lee Sehwa, standing next to him with a face that looked exactly like the child’s, was the same. His philtrum formed a sharp triangular shape as he rolled his eyes around… Honestly, who would see him as a father? He still looked like a young man barely over twenty. Many people would believe Hae-rim was his younger brother, not his son.

Suppressing the urge to kiss Sehwa, who kept moving his lips as if he had a lot to say, Ki Tae-jeong carefully surveyed the interior of the garden.

Or rather, could it even be called a garden? He understood General Oh Seon-ran’s awkward muttering before they entered, when he said he wasn’t sure whether to call this place a garden, a botanical garden, or an artificial forest.

Outside, it was pouring rain, but inside the garden, the sky was clear without a single cloud, and it was warm enough to make beads of sweat form. Conversely, if they came in the summer, it would be cool enough to forget the weather outside. The moisture-laden grass gently tickled his feet, and the faint sound of streams flowing here and there contributed to the peaceful and mysterious atmosphere.

But Ki Tae-jeong’s admiration ended there. This place was very strange.

The winding path from the entrance to here was designed solely for ease of plant care. There were no benches to sit and rest on, nor pavilions to leisurely enjoy the scenery.

Moreover, even the slightest bit of moss that should have grown on the rocks casually placed by the stream was nowhere to be found. No, not even moss, but it was difficult to find any traces of water splashing, and there wasn’t even a finger-sized frog in the clear water, let alone ornamental fish.

And that wasn’t all. With so many flowers, not a single bee or butterfly was flying around. Not even the sound of birds could be heard. It was as if all living creatures except for the beautiful flowers and trees had been completely excised.

And what about the hologram that dyed the entire glass ceiling? It was so natural, as if a real sky had been transplanted, that he wouldn’t have noticed it was a hologram if the weather hadn’t been cloudy today.

Above all, to fill such a vast ceiling with a hologram, there should be connecting lines or intermediate devices for internal circulation in various places… or at least seams connecting the domes. But even upon careful examination, there was nothing particularly noticeable. Beautifully decorated, yes, but this garden was General Oh Seon-ran’s iron fortress, meticulously crafted with a cleanliness and obsession that allowed for not even the smallest flaw.

He had maintained this enormous space for over twenty years, hadn’t he…? Ki Tae-jeong couldn’t even begin to imagine how much money General Oh Seon-ran had poured into this place.

No, this wasn’t something that could be done just with money. He must have constantly brought in the latest technology, which only officers of the Oh family could access.

Ki Tae-jeong gazed silently at Sehwa, who was spreading out a large mat on the grass and playing with Hae-rim.

It was here, in this concealed laboratory where even traces of the past could no longer be found, that Lee Sehwa was born and sent out, and his biological father died an unfair death without knowing why. It was said that everything was completely burned down, leaving not a single steel bar. It wasn’t just the building that was blown up, but all of General Oh Seon-ran’s aides at the time were also disposed of, he heard.

Ki Tae-jeong clenched his fist tightly and carefully took in the surreal paradise.

Ki Tae-jeong didn’t know, and probably never would, how General Oh Seon-ran had endured the long years, unable to kill the bastards who had spearheaded the closure of the laboratory, but instead continuing to interact with them whenever they were needed. He didn’t want to know how to commemorate someone as nobly and beautifully as General Oh Seon-ran, who held seedlings in his arms instead of guns and swords.

However, he thought he knew why General Oh Seon-ran had stubbornly tried to live. He himself would have likely chosen a different method than planting flower seeds, but still, he would have been unable to die in the end and would have wandered in search of the child. Just as General Oh Seon-ran had. Even if that child wasn’t his own blood, even if there were no clues, he felt he would have done anything, truly anything, to fulfill the fragile dream of the person he loved.

“I should have brought a chair yesterday…. I was thoughtless.”

General Oh Seon-ran said sheepishly as he sat down on the mat covered with dinosaur characters.

“Is our puppy okay? Not cold?”

“No, no! I like it, I really like it!”

Hae-rim, who knew that General Oh Seon-ran was calling him ‘puppy’, shook his head vigorously. Unable to withstand the strong headshake, his young body fell backward, but the child laughed, enjoying even that. The high-pitched laughter of the three-year-old cut through the vast and beautiful, yet tomb-like, silent garden.

“But Daddy, Big Daddy.”

Hae-rim, who had been lying on the mat and waving his arms for a while, tugged at Ki Tae-jeong’s pants. He was so excited that his cheeks were flushed red even though he hadn’t done anything.

“Here, dino…, dinothaur….”

“Dinosaur?”

“Uh-huh, are there dinothaur here?”

Hae-rim whispered in a voice that was hushed as much as possible, as if afraid someone would hear. It was strange that the child, who wanted to use accurate language like the adults around him, was showing his childish side without hesitation. But even so, he was still more mature and skilled than his peers.

Even though his pronunciation was still clumsy, Hae-rim’s speed of understanding and recognizing things was said to be faster than that of a six or seven-year-old. Captain Na had recently recommended enrolling in a gifted education program run by the Three Services Academy, but Ki Tae-jeong had refused outright. He hadn’t even told Sehwa on purpose, knowing that it would only make him think too much.

“Well, I don’t think there are any dinosaurs.”

“Really?”

Hae-rim, who had been rolling his big eyes around, lowered his densely grown eyelashes.

“But Apie lives here, uh, in a place like this.”

There he went again with Apie. He knew that young children were crazy about dinosaurs, but Hae-rim’s case was a bit extreme. He did prefer the animation featuring the dinosaur character Apie, but even if it wasn’t that, he loved anything with dinosaurs in it.

The child liked it, so he thought it must be good, but he still didn’t understand what was so attractive about the ugly reptiles. Perhaps it was because neither Ki Tae-jeong nor Lee Sehwa had ever spent their childhoods playing with dinosaur encyclopedias.

“Big Daddy.”

“Yeah.”

“I wish you would give Hae-rim a dinothaur.”

“…You want a dinosaur?”

“Yes. I want to play with Apie here….”

With cheeks as pink as white milk dyed with rose petals, Hae-rim shook Ki Tae-jeong’s pants back and forth. He hated being called young, but at times like this, he knew very well that Big Daddy was head over heels for him.

Of course, the smart child already knew that he couldn’t actually meet Apie. He was just hoping that Big Daddy would buy him any of the new Apie toys, avoiding Little Daddy’s eyes.

Ki Tae-jeong was once again amazed by Hae-rim’s transparently obvious charm. Lee Sehwa would sweat and hesitate even when asking for the smallest favor, and he himself tended to extort what he wanted rather harshly… Who on earth did he take after to be so fox-like?

“Daddy, give Hae-rim Apie, okay?”

“Daddy wants to give it to you too, but we came here suddenly today, so there’s no one here.”

“Eung….”

“Big Daddy will bring Apie next time..”

“Really? Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

Ki Tae-jeong leaned down slightly and whispered gently to the pretty thing that had appeared out of nowhere. It seemed like Sehwa shot a glare in his direction, but Ki Tae-jeong pretended not to notice and gently rubbed the tip of the child’s nose with his thumb.

“Then Apie and… uh, Neromi! Neromi too!”

Neromi? What was that? Something new must have come out. While he was guessing what kind of species Neromi was, the excited Hae-rim rubbed his chubby cheeks against Big Daddy’s big hand and showed off his charm to the fullest.

“Our puppy, aren’t you hungry?”

In the meantime, General Oh Seon-ran spread out the food he had personally packed for the child on the mat. As today’s main character was Hae-rim, there were many cute dinosaur-shaped foods, but Sehwa’s favorite side dishes were also occasionally visible.

“Wow!”

“Looks delicious, right? Shall we wash our hands and eat some snacks first?”

“Snacks!”

Sehwa, who had been smiling softly at the child who was moving his feet with excitement, soon glared at Ki Tae-jeong with a stern expression.

“Why did you say that earlier?”

“What?”

“You said you would bring a dinosaur to Hae-rim.”

With his hand on his hip, Sehwa began to nag.

“Hae-rim understands everything now, that you have to keep promises with other people. He knows and is begging like that, so you have to say no firmly at times like that… Lieutenant General. Lieutenant General…?”

“…Huh?”

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?”

Sehwa flinched slightly, as Ki Tae-jeong’s suddenly dazed appearance seemed somehow unusual.

“Lieutenant General…?”

Ki Tae-jeong had been lost in thought or something before, but this was the first time Sehwaa had seen him with such a hazy look. Was he really sick? It wasn’t even an important matter. He could have nagged later. He should have checked his complexion first…. With a worried heart, he reached out to Ki Tae-jeong’s forehead, and he obediently closed his eyes. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have a fever.