THE LAST memory Nikolai had of Neoma from the future wasn't a pleasant one.
It was before his daughter entered the operating room.
["Keep your promise, Abeoji. Save my group. Then let's not meet each other again."]
Those were Neoma's last words before she died.
And his daughter did really keep her promise about them not meeting each other again.
[But thanks to the miracle that brought me back here, we finally met each other again, my precious daughter.]
Nikolai wanted to hug Neoma, but he didn't want to startle his daughter.
[This is enough… for now.]
"N-Nikolai-ssi," Mona said worriedly. "Why are you suddenly crying?"
Huh?
Nikolai's hands automatically reached for his face. And, much to his surprise, his cheeks were actually soaked with tears.
[I… cried?]
Neoma hid behind Mona– and it turned out to be an adorable sight because Neoma, despite being only sixteen, was now taller than her mother.
Ah.
This time, he felt his tears fall like waterworks.
[Neoma grew up well without me– then and now.]
"Eomma, this is scary," Neoma "whispered" to her mother. "Did Appa cry because I said a bad word?"
Huh?
'Appa?'
[Not 'Abeoji?']
Did Neoma only start calling Nikolai formally when she became an adult?
[Right. Neoma is only sixteen now. She's still a minor…]
"Neoma, what did you call me?" Nikolai asked, toning down the excitement in his voice as much as he could. "Please say it again."
"Do you hate me calling you 'Appa?'" Neoma asked nervously. "Then should I call you 'Ahjussi' from now on?"
'Ahjussi' was too distant since it meant 'mister.'
Nikolai suddenly felt 'demoted' from a father to a random mister in the street. He'd be lying if he said it didn't hurt.
"Please don't call me 'Ahjussi,' Neoma," Nikolai begged. "Please call me 'Appa' again."
"Eomma, he's really acting strange," Neoma said. This time, it was obvious his daughter was avoiding calling him anything as if he was just a stranger. "Why is he saying 'please' to me? Is this a new form of harassment?"
Mona just patted Neoma's head. "Nikolai-ssi, can I tell Neoma about your condition?"
Nikolai immediately nodded. "Of course, yeobo."
"What? What's happening?" Neoma asked curiously. "Is something wrong with Appa– I mean, that man? And why is he calling you 'yeobo,' Eomma?"
"Neoma, your father has regained his memories."
Nikolai nodded enthusiastically when Neoma looked at him with a surprised look on her face. "I remember everything now, Neoma."
Despite the good news he shared, his daughter's face remained indifferent.
"Ah. Good for you, Ahjussi," Neoma said indifferently, calling Nikolai 'Ahjussi' now instead of 'Appa.' "Anyway, I need to go." She then hugged her mother and kissed her on the cheek. "See you later, Eomma." Their daughter gave them a double thumbs up. "I'll bring home the bacon!"
After saying that, Neoma immediately ran towards the elevator without looking back.
"Today is an important day for Neoma," Mona explained when their daughter was gone. "She entered a contest."
"Oh? What kind of contest?" he asked excitedly. "Are we allowed to watch?"
"It's an eat-all-you-can contest."
"Huh?"
"A sushi restaurant that Neoma discovered recently is holding a contest today. To attract customers, the owners held an eat-all-you-can contest," Mona explained, smiling tenderly. "The contestant with the most plates of sushi eaten after an hour wins."
That was… pretty random?
[But as long as Neoma is happy, I'll support her.]
"Does Neoma like sushi?"
"Neoma likes anything tasty," Mona said, laughing softly. "And she really has a huge appetite. That's why she enjoys doing mukbang when it's not exam season."
"Mukbang?"
"It's what they call a live eating broadcast," his wife explained. "Usually, the host of the mukbang eats a large quantity of food while interacting with the audience. Neoma would do that when she's doing a broadcast."
"Ah, I think I've heard about that before," he said, nodding while making a mental note to look his daughter up on the internet later. "Is our daughter famous?"
"Neoma only started doing it last summer vacation, but she already gained one hundred thousand followers," Mona answered proudly. Then her face suddenly lost its brightness as worry replaced it. "Ah, but don't worry, Nikolai-ssi. Neoma will be a high school student in a couple of months, but I know that she's still too young to be on social media. That's why I only allow her to post every weekend, and do her broadcast during school breaks. Fortunately, Neoma isn't addicted to social media. She still prefers studying and playing with her friends."
Nikolai smiled at his wife's explanation. "I know, yeobo. I know that you're doing a great job raising Neoma on your own."
His wife didn't say anything, but her face lit up.
[Ah, Mona really loves being a mother to our children.]
"I'm envious of you, yeobo."
"Why would you be envious of me, Nikolai-ssi?"
"I think I'm failing as a father to Nero," Nikolai said in a slightly bitter voice. "I raised him just like how I was raised by my father when I lost my memories."
Mona looked at him with sympathy in her eyes, then she let out a sigh. "Neoma's contest begins in the afternoon," she said. "If you're going to watch it with me, then should we meet up an hour before that and talk? I'm also curious about how Nero has been doing these days."
Ah!
There was no way he would miss that opportunity for the world.
Nikolai nodded enthusiastically. "Then it's a date, yeobo."
Mona's face turned red, then she glared at him half-heartedly. Well, it was because her face was so angelic that she didn't look intimidating even when glaring. "It's not a date, Nikolai-ssi– it's called 'co-parenting.'"
[Yeah, for now.]
***
<"BABY GIRL, I have a meat here for you to eat.">
<"so fucking pretty. look at that little mouth… it makes me want to destroy it!">
<"When does this kid turn nineteen so I won't get in trouble? Kekeke.">
<"LOLolol there's no way a middle schooler could be that pretty~ That kid obviously got her face done~~~">
<"oh, she's Korean? then she definitely got plastic surgery! ^^">
Nikolai almost threw his phone after reading all the lewd, malicious, and racist comments under Neoma's broadcast.
He was fluent in English, Chinese, Japanese, and German. He could also speak Russian, Italian, French, and Spanish. The other languages that he didn't understand were easy to translate using the internet.
Hence, he was able to monitor all the lewd comments in Neoma's video.
"Glenn Jang!"
Glenn, who was in his walk-in closet because he asked him to prepare his outfit for his date with Mona, came out in a hurry. "Yes, President?"
"I sent you the screenshots of the users who left bad comments under Neoma's videos. Track down the real people behind those usernames," Nikolai said, seething. "Bring me all the users who left lewd comments, and I'll punish them personally. Then make the others pay by sending the screenshots of their comments to their school, company, family, or wherever it is that could potentially ruin their lives."
Taking legal action would take time.
[And I don't want Neoma's name to be all over the media if they find out that the Moonasterion Group has sued the trolls leaving comments under her videos.]
Hence, dealing with those bastards directly would be more efficient.
"I'll look into it, President," Glenn, who was already used to his random orders, said calmly. "Geoffrey is a good hacker, so I'm sure he can help us with this matter."
Geoffrey was a team leader in the smartphone division of their company.
"Alright. I'll leave it to you and Geoffrey."
Aside from the lewd comments directed at his underage daughter, there was another type of comment that made him angry.
Nikolai clenched his hands tight. "How dare those jobless trolls accuse Neoma of plastic surgery?"
"President, don't be judgmental," Glenn scolded him lightly. "There's nothing wrong with plastic surgery."
He knew that his secretary was right, but he was still mad.
"My daughter is a natural beauty," Nikolai insisted, slamming his hands on the table. "She inherited her mother's good looks! If I bring Neoma and Mona to a flower field, I would easily lose them because you cannot tell them apart from the flowers around!"
"President, I understand that you love your wife and daughter dearly. But please," Glenn begged him with a 'sweet' smile on his face. "Have mercy on my ears."
***
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