TGMND 55

Ding dong.

Hearing the doorbell that had been ringing, Yeo-woon took off his headphones and turned his head.

“A delivery?”

He wasn’t expecting anything. Yeo-woon tilted his head in puzzlement and left his room. Ding dong! Ding dong ding dong! The doorbell kept ringing incessantly, but even when he checked the intercom, he couldn’t see anyone. Yeo-woon decided to check the condition of the doorbell to see if it was broken and opened the front door.

“No one… huh?”

“…”

Yeo-woon lowered his head as there was no one in front of him, and stopped what he was saying when he saw a small boy coming up to his waist. The chubby-cheeked child was looking up at Yeo-woon, holding a yellow umbrella tightly in his hand.

“Hello. I am Yoon Yeong, a four-year-old from the Azalea class at Miso Daycare Center.”

“… Hello.”

The child put his hand on his belly button and bowed. Yeo-woon squatted in place to make eye contact with the child and asked.

“Is it raining outside?”

“Uh-huh. It rained a little earlier. But I came by car.”

“Did you come alone? Where are your mom and dad?”

“My dad dropped me off, but I can take the elevator by myself. I even pressed the button for the ninth floor with my umbrella.”

Yeo-woon wondered how he had pressed the button when he couldn’t reach it, but it seemed like he had pressed it with the end of an umbrella.

“By the way. Is Yeong-i’s uncle here?”

Despite speaking quite articulately for his age, his pronunciation was still developing like a young child’s. Yeo-woon slipped on the slippers haphazardly left in the middle of the shoe cabinet and took the child outside.

“This is unit 902, your uncle lives in 901. Can you read numbers?”

“Numbers. Up to ten!”

Yoon Yeong spread out his hands and showed his ten fingers. It meant he couldn’t read it yet. His tiny hand clutched onto Yeo-woon’s sleeve. It seemed like he was the little child that Yoon Ji-hyuk had asked Yoon Ji-gu to take care of on the weekend.

Yeo-woon led the child to the neighbor’s door and pressed the doorbell for him.

-Not interested. I don’t read newspapers.

The voice coming through the intercom sounded annoyed. There was a crackling sound and the intercom connection was lost. Even if he couldn’t see Yeo-woon’s face on the camera, brushing them off as door-to-door salespeople just like that… Yeo-woon let out an incredulous chuckle.

Ding dong. He firmly pressed the doorbell again, hoisting the child up by the armpits right in front of the intercom camera. The child let out a bright laugh and rapidly pressed the doorbell. Dingdong, dingdong, dingdong! The successive ringing was sure to thoroughly annoy Yoon Ji-gu.

-Sh1t, what is it…

“Uncle!”

-… Oh right.

The front door opened with a small sigh. The sound of the keypad unlocking accompanied Yoon Ji-gu’s appearance. Perhaps it was still early in the morning as his hair was disheveled. He looked at Yeo-woon’s face alternately with Yeong in Yeo-woon’s hand.

“Uncle(Samchon)!”

In a pronunciation that sounded close to ‘Samchun,’ the child muttered while pointing to Yoo Ji-gu. When Yeo-woon put the child back on the ground, Yoon Ji-gu tried to take the child’s hand and pull him inside, but the child whined and resisted.

“Yoon Yeong. You’re not listening again already. I’m telling your dad.”

“I don’t want to be alone with Uncle because he’s ugly!”

“What?”

“Uncle, you’re ugly! Yeong-i wants to play with this uncle.”

Yeong shook off Yoon Ji-gu’s hand and stretched out his hand to Yeo-woon, throwing a tantrum. Yeo-woon turned his head, curling his lips inward and biting them. Calling him ugly, when the child looked just like a mini version of Yoon Ji-gu.

“Are you laughing right now?”

Yoon Ji-gu turned his head around to look at Yeo-woon accusingly.

“No, I’m not laughing.”

Yeo-woon barely suppressed his laughter and shook his head. Meanwhile, Yeong was whining that his uncle was ugly.

“I’ll get going then. You can get him inside and calm him down.”

“Bye, Yeong-i. Listen to your uncle.”

“Waaahhhh!”

Yeo-woon waved goodbye to the child being dragged inside by Yoon Ji-gu, then went back to his computer.

‘Ji9moon has logged out.’

Earth Moon left the game without saying anything. Maybe he’ll log in on his main, Ji9star. Yeo-woon started searching for market prices to list the equipment he wasn’t using on the auction house. Around that time, faint cries could be heard from the neighboring house. It seemed that Yoon Ji-gu was failing to soothe the child.

‘The item <Helmet of Chaos+9> has been registered in the auction house.’

‘The item <Stockings of Chaos+6> has been registered in the auction house.’

Yeo-woon placed the equipment at a slightly higher price than the market price and left the auction house. After depositing half his funds at the bank, he checked his accumulated balance and smiled. Quite a sum had built up. Just the thought of using this money for new gear lifted his spirits.

First, should he raise his level to 230 and set the starting tree? CatMeowMeowMeow’s level, which used to be similar to Yeo-woon’s, was now nearing the 240s. At this rate, they might hit max level within the month. As far as he knew, no one had maxed out the Valkyrie class yet…

Ding dong.

Then, the doorbell rang again. The face confirmed through the intercom was that of Yoon Ji-gu. The sound of a crying child could still be heard from next door, and Yoon Ji-gu rang the doorbell again with a face that could not hide his distress.

Today was the first time he came to his house. As Yeo-woon opened the front door and came out, Yoon Ji-gu pursed his lips and let out a sigh. His hair looked like it had been ripped out by the child, and it looked like a total mess.

“Excuse me, are you busy right now?”

Busy.

“I’m not busy… Why?”

“…My nephew is being stubborn.”

That made sense. They resembled each other.

“Well, he’s going to take a nap right after he eats. Just until then….”

“Just until then?”

“… Please have lunch at my house.”

Yoon Ji-gu continued speaking hesitantly. For someone who invited him to eat with them, his expression looked as if he had eaten something bitter, but Yeo-woon had no reason to refuse. It relieved her of the burden of preparing lunch separately!

After telling Yoon Ji-gu to wait for a moment, Yeo-woon went back inside, grabbed his phone, and shut down his computer. There was nothing else to bring, so Yeo-woon grabbed his slippers and walked back out into the corridor.

“Ha… He really does take his time.”

“Should I go back in?”

“I was just talking to myself.”

Yoon Ji-gu blocked Yeo-woon’s view with his large body and timidly pressed the password to open the door. It was too messy and unsightly for Yeo-woon to want to look.

“Come in.”

Yeo-woon walked into Yoon Ji-gu’s house. A faint vanilla scent wafted from the front door. As Yeo-woon sniffed the scent, Yoon Ji-gu glanced at him with trembling eyes and walked two steps away.

As soon as Yeo-woon came into view, the child stopped crying as if by magic. Tears that had hung on the long eyelashes fell down the child’s white cheeks with a trickle. Yoon Ji-gu quickly wiped away the tears with his fingers and pinched the child’s cheek lightly.

“Are you done now?”

“I hate uncle.”

“Stupid Yoon Yeong.”

They got along well. Bickering relentlessly with a little kid determined not to lose. Yeo-woon watched the two spitting doppelgangers calling each other stupids.

Speaking of which, the apartment was unusually spacious. There were three bedrooms, and a small staircase leading up to a loft space in one corner. Wasn’t this too big for one person…? Yeo-woon had assumed it would have the same layout as his own place, only now realizing why there were only two units on the 9th floor.

“What was the uncle next door doing?”

“I came from playing a game.”

“My uncle plays games too!”

“Yoon Yeong!”

Yoon Ji-gu suddenly raised his voice. Yeong whispered “Ack, so loud” as he covered his ears. Just for mentioning games? Yeo-woon found his overreaction puzzling. …Though he did reveal quite a bit in front of the child. Yeo-woon inwardly shook his head at Yoon Ji-gu.

“What game do you play?”

“…I don’t play games!”

“Okay.”

Of course… If you can’t even be upfront about it, why do it in front of a child? Yeo-woon decided that if given the chance later, he would advise Yoon Ji-gu not to act suspiciously in front of children as it could be harmful.