The corner of his mouth twitch. He knits his brow slightly. Namgung Yeon-Sik narrows his eyes on Sin Jeong-Hyuk who is standing behind Chang Seol. He asks him in a low voice,
"What do you mean by adopting her as your goddaughter?"
Chang Seol stares at the corner of the room with a deadpanned face. Her life is shortening with every minute that she spends with this Old Mister.
"Jeong-Hyuk Hyung." Boo Bong-Su gapes at him. "Are you turning into a lolicon?"
Both Yeon-Sik and Jeong-Hyuk throw a deathly look at him. Boo Bong-Su closes his mouth. Why are they looking at him like this? Jeong-Hyuk Hyung's actions are too suspicious.
"Just…" Yeon-Sik raises his hand and asks with a strained voice, "What happened outside?"
"We had a heart to heart conversation." Jeong-Hyuk grins ear to ear. "From now on, everyone must be nice to our chicken. She's the most precious member of this house."
Chicken. He's still calling her a chicken. Chang Seol is too tired to talk. Why is it chicken? Before it was a duckling, then it was a kiddo. He is fixated upon a chicken now. If she's his goddaughter for real, is it normal to call her a chicken? The worst part is that she's getting used to this nickname.
Yeon-Sik is a little worried -- not about Jeong-Hyuk. He's worried about Chang Seol. "Why do you want to be a godfather of a nineteen-year-old girl? You are only six years older than her. Why don't you adopt her as a sister?"
Only six years? She looks up at Jeong-Hyuk -- thick beard and dishevelled hair but clear skin. He's super tall. His clothes are old and faded. Even his light brown eyes are a little… not bad looking. If she hadn't heard him saying that he was a music producer, she would have thought of him as some old and unemployed old geezer. But she hasn't seen him going to work.
His nose is ruined though. Though the bleeding has stopped, the bite mark is still there. Hopefully, it would leave a scar.
What it is like to be tall like him? He must have a good view of everyone's head. She has to stand on a couch to get a view that he must be seeing now.
All the nutrients went to his height; his brain is underdeveloped.
"Yeon-Sik, age is not about the number." Jeong-Hyuk strokes her head. The chicken's hair is soft like his father's dog. "You are two years older than I am, but I always treat you as my younger brother."
Yeon-Sik clicks his tongue in annoyance. "I have always told you to call me Hyung, but you never stopped using informal speech with me." And it grew on him.
"Exactly." Sin Jeong-Hyuk puts his fingers in her hair, unconsciously running them in a circular motion on her scalp. "It's the feeling that count. This child reminds me of a child that I never had."
Jeong-Hyuk Hyung is so young, but he acts like he's in his forties. Boo Bong-Su shakes his head slowly in disbelief. "You are a lolicon, Hyung."
"Don't use that word in front of children," Sin Jeong-Hyuk warns him with a dangerously low voice. "I feel better after making this declaration. I have to call my family and inform them that chicken… I mean, Chang Seol is my goddaughter from now on."
"Oppa, before that…" Mun Soyoon takes a step toward the couch. "Before that, Oppa…"
Startled, Boo Bong-Su looks at her with widened eyed. "Mun Soyoon, why do you always appear like this?"
"I have been here for a while." She waves her hand dismissively. She smiles at Jeong-Hyuk and gestures toward Chang Seol. "I think that you should take her to bed. She has fallen asleep."
The three men look at the girl. Chang Seol is standing with her head hanging low. Jeong-Hyuk raises her chin and looks at her face. "She's really asleep."
"It's a talent to sleep while standing straight." Boo Bong-Su snorts. "How did she fall asleep though?"
"Head massage." Mun Soyoon totters toward Jeong-Hyuk. "I also want a massage from your long and beautiful fingers, Oppa."
"You drunkard!" Sin Jeong-Hyuk carries Chang Seol with one arm and puts her head on his shoulder, stepping sideways when Mun Soyoon tries to grab him. "Do you drink every day?"
"I drink, therefore I am. I am, therefore I drink." Mun Soyoon squints her eyes on him. "But Oppa, is that a love bite on your nose?"
That's a chicken's bite. Yeon-Sik coughs, trying his best to hold back his laughter. Jeong gives him a cold look. Yeon-Sik clears his throat.
"Oh." Boo Bong-Su finally notices the teeth marks. "Hyung, you slept with a woman?"
"No, I didn't." When he yells, Chang Seol raises her head and looks at him with sleepy eyes. He runs his fingers on her head again, massaging her scalp lightly. "Sleep."
She closes her eyes and falls asleep again, not bothered with anything.
"That's…" Boo Bong-Su opens his mouth wide. "Hyung, you are a magician."
"Magic fingers." Mun Soyoon sits down between Yeon-Sik and Bong-Su. "You would make an excellent head masseuse."
"It's nothing, it's nothing." Jeong-Hyuk rubs his nose proudly. "Dani used to be the same."
Dani is his family dog. Yeon-Sik sighs. "Are you really serious about adopting her as goddaughter?"
"I have never been this serious." Jeong-Hyuk tells him with a serious look, "Yeon-Sik, since she's my goddaughter and you are like my brother, look after your niece at university."
His friend has gone crazy. But he was always crazy. He was a little normal for a while. Now, his craziness has returned tenfold.
Shaking his head, Yeon-Sik goes to his room. If he stays in the living room for another minute, he might become insane.