The kids waited and waited. Their grandpa had closed his eyes while telling them the story. At some point, he just stopped talking. At first, they thought that was part of the story, but when they heard him mildly snoring, they took action.
"Grandpa! Don't fall asleep!" The kids loudly yelled at him. Some even shook him. The adults passing by chuckled at the scene. It had not been the first time the old man dozed off while talking to someone. Everybody in the family had gone through it. They just weren't as rough as the kids when waking him up.
"Eh? Ah? What? What's going on? Why's the ground shaking?"
The old man woke up startled. He looked around to see what was happening; if there was an earthquake, some calamity, or if his older great-grandsons were about to tear down his house. They were capable enough. Seeing nothing going on, he finally put his eyes on the kids in front of him.
"How come you've multiplied? Weren't there just three of you?" He looked at the kids with a puzzled face.
"They have been here almost from the beginning of the story." Eun Ji, the eldest of all the kids, explained.
Around them, everything was really noisy and busy. Many people walked from here to there, carrying many things from one place to another, greeting newcomers and ordering others to arrange things. There was obviously more people than before. All kind of people, with different nationalities or features specific to a country.
Close to one hundred people roamed in the house. And, they were all relatives of the old man, among biological and in-laws.
While he was recounting the story, a couple had arrived with their kids. The left a set of twins boys of 7 years and another boy of 3 years old. It was not only them and his other granddaughter who left the kids to him while they helped in the house. Other grandsons and granddaughters had done the same.
So, he was put in charge of a dozen kids between the ages of two and ten years old.
"Oi, gramps! Where are you?!" A noisy teen yelled from the entrance, startling everybody in the house. Among some scoldings from a few women, hurried steps filled the hallway until they reached the place where the old man was with the kids.
"Oh, if it isn't Ja 'Full of Charms' Ryung!" The old man teased the youth standing in front of him. His great-grandson. The teen had a smile almost similar to his when he was young. Now, with all the wrinkles on his face, it had changed.
Everybody in the family said that Ja Ryung was the carbon copy of the old man when he was young. The only difference was that the 17-year-old teen was paler and his eyebrows were thinner. Apart from that they were pretty much the same.
Due to that fact, grandfather and grandson created such a good relationship that every time they were together it was like seeing two mischievous kids. Of course, due to the old man's age, he couldn't get too involved in the pranks done around the house.
However, that didn't prevent him from being the mastermind behind all the mischief in the family. If the old man believed his grandchildren capable of blowing up the house, that's because he had unfortunately taught them. His daughter and her kids always scolded him for that.
"I'm way over that, gramps! It's embarrassing now," Ja Ryung said with a frown on his face. When he was younger, he was so full of himself, claiming he was a bag of charms. Hearing his grandpa remind him of that, always embarrassed him, regretting saying that in front of his grandpa. "By the way, since when you became the babysitter in the family?"
He returned the favor, making the old man's smile vanish. The two looked at each other with serious faces until they broke into laughter. The old man, though, couldn't deny the teen's words. It basically looked that way as there were many kids around him.
"Believe me that not even I know!" The old man chuckled. The kids only looked at the exchange with wide eyes. "Oh yeah, one of your aunts told me that she needs help with something back in that room." He pointed at a room on the other side of the courtyard.
The teen groaned, pondering which aunt was already starting with his torture that arrived every year whenever they gathered together like that. He sighed, but obediently walked to where the old man had pointed. Moments later, all that could be heard were the screams from several women and someone running away.
In the hallway, an old man was laughing to his heart's content seeing the flushed face of his grandson when he came back.
"You got me this time, gramps!" The youth said. The image of some of his young aunts and cousins changing their clothes to be more comfortable when arranging everything still lingered in his mind. He was going to be hated for some time by them. Thanks to his gramps. "And, what are you doing?"
"Ah, telling a story." The old man replied, wiping the tears that came out after having a very good laugh at the expense of Ja Ryung. He couldn't believe how the youth still fell for it
Ja Ryung perked up. "Don't tell me… it's that same story you told me back when I was a kid?"
"The same! You know my life has been so simple that there hasn't been anything interesting." The old man sighed. Ja Ryung was about to say something, but the voice of his mom telling him to unpack his things interrupted him.
"Well, I'll go slave away for my mom. And you, pay attention to the story!" He pointed at the kids who were attentively listening to the two talking. "Everybody in this family has grown up listening to that story." He winked before leaving.
"Ok, where was I?" Asked the old man, turning to look at the kids.
"The woman told him she was going to make him listen something good." Milly dutifully replied. She got more curious about the story as she realized that they were not the only ones who had listened to it.
"Oh, there... well, nothing of importance happens there, so let's skip that. After that first encounter, he couldn't see her again…"