220. Time flies (20)

Being blankly in nature felt good. Is this what forest bathing is like? The sound of the stream flowing jjol jjol jjol was like white noise, comforting my ears. "It's nice to just be like this." I sat next to where Shi-hyun-nim was lying down. "Should I move Saet-byeol-i?" I said, looking at Saet-byeol-i who had fallen asleep on top of Shi-hyun-nim. "Just leave her." "It's nice to just be like this." "Really?" "Yeah, how did you even think of making a place like this...." "Right? It costs quite a bit of money and it's annoying because you have to constantly manage it." Is it like a villa? It's not that I don't have the money, but making and managing something like this would be annoying. "Mom, catch me a fish." Shi-u, who had come next to me without me noticing, asked me to catch him a fish. "Fish?" "Yeah." "Let's go." I got up and headed back to the stream. "You know you can't do that to Saet-byeol-i this time, right?" "Yeah, I won't." "Then I'll catch you one." I went near the water and focused again on the movement of the fish. Then, I enhanced my body with magic power and moved my hands quickly. It was hard to catch one in one go like before. "Too bad." Shi-u was disappointed when I couldn't catch one. "Just wait a bit." This is making me competitive, huh? After the 10th attempt, I was finally able to catch a fish. "Did you catch it?!" "Yeah, I caught it this time!" It was a smaller minnow than the one I caught earlier. "Should I give it to Shi-u?" "No, put it here." When I looked where Shi-u was pointing, he had made a small space by blocking the water with stones. "Here?" "Yeah." When I released the fish there, it started swimming again. "Hehe, it's a fish." Is he that happy? "Want me to catch you more?" "No, I'm going to catch them and make them friends." After speaking, Shi-u went back into the stream. I don't think he'll be able to catch any like that.... I wondered if there was a way for Shi-u to catch fish. I thought of a fishing rod or a plastic fish tank, but there was no way to get them right now. I looked at the fish swimming in the space made of stones. There must be a way.... A net? Could Shi-u do it with that? I went to the camper van first. There was a net used for cooking. This size would be big enough for the fish to fit in, and it wouldn't be too difficult for Shi-u to use. It was fortunate that the size was awkwardly large. If it was a small net, I wouldn't have been able to catch the fish. "Shall we go?" When I went back to the stream, Shi-u was still wandering around in the water. "Still haven't caught one?" "Yeah, it's hard to catch." "Should we use a tool?" "Tool?" I showed Shi-u the net. "Ta-da!" "Can I catch them with this?" "We'll have to try." I explained how to use it to Shi-u while showing him. "You scoop it up like this, got it?" "Yeah! I think I can do it!" "You have to be quiet when you catch them." "Quietly?" "If Shi-u moves in the water, the fish will notice, so you have to catch them quietly and secretly." "Quietly, catch them secretly." "Mom did that earlier too." "That's right, Mom did." "Yeah, Shi-u has to do that too." "Okay!" "Then good luck." I stepped back a little and watched Shi-u catch fish. Shi-u held the net in his right hand, held his breath, and slowly moved forward. Then, when he found a fish, he stopped and waited, then plunged the net into the water with a pak. "Eu." Judging by his reaction, it seemed like he failed. It was cute to see Shi-u grinding his teeth in frustration. Shi-u tried several times. He got annoyed, but he didn't give up, perhaps because he had a strong will to catch one. How many minutes had passed? Shi-u shouted loudly. "I caught it!" No way? Did he really catch it? Shi-u was coming out of the stream, holding the net high in the sky. Shi-u, giggling, put the fish in the fish tank (?) he had made. "Now it has a friend." "That's right, now there are two." Shi-u seemed very happy. He had finally done it after trying for hours. "Amazing." "I'm going to catch more." "Aren't you cold?" He had been in the stream for a long time, wasn't he cold? "Yeah, I'm okay." I was worried about Shi-u, so I wanted to prepare something warm to drink. When I checked the camper van to see what was available, I only saw coffee. "Isn't there any tea or cocoa?" As I rummaged around, I did find some hot chocolate. "Isn't this past its expiration date?" When I checked, it was past its expiration date. It was a powder, so it wouldn't be a big problem, but I was still worried about giving it to a child. "Give up!" If that's the case, I'd rather just put some sugar in milk and warm it up.... "Milk with sugar?" Why did I only think of that now? I put milk in a mug and microwaved it. If I microwaved it for too long, it would overflow, so I watched it and stopped the microwave as soon as I saw it boiling. I put in a moderate amount of sugar, tasted it, and stopped at a level that I thought was good enough. "Should I make it a little warmer?" After thinking about it, I put it back in the microwave and heated it up. When I thought it was hot enough, I took it outside. Shi-u was still playing in the stream, and Shi-hyun-nim was sleeping. "He's sleeping soundly." The sound of the stream flowing was very pleasant. "Shi-u-ya, come here." "Why are you calling me?" "Here, drink some milk and play." "Milk?" "Yeah, be careful, it's hot." Shi-u, who had come up from the water, blew on the milk and drank it. "Is your body getting warmer?" "Yeah." When I looked at the space where he had put the fish, he had caught two more and put them in there in the meantime. It was a small space for four fish. "Shi-u-ya, I think the fish are having a hard time?" "Having a hard time?" "Yeah, I think it's hard for them because it's too small." "What should I do?" "Let's release them now so they can play comfortably." Shi-u hesitated a little. He had barely caught them, but I told him to release them, so he must be worried. "I have to release them." "Yeah, the fish have to meet other friends too." "Yeah, fish, I'm sorry." Shi-u broke down the wall he had built with stones, and the fish escaped through the gap. "Goodbye." Shi-u said goodbye to the disappearing fish. "Shi-u-ya, let's rest now." "Yeah, I want to rest now." I wiped Shi-u's body, which had come out of the water, and changed him into dry clothes. "Okay, Shi-u, let's go to the tent too." Shi-u, who had entered the tent, looked at it with wonder. "Do you like the tent?" "Yeah, I like it." There aren't any blankets in the tent? Are they in the bag? When I opened the bag, I saw a blanket. "Shi-u-ya, do you want to cover yourself with a blanket?" "No, it's hot." Is his body already cold? "Your body is cold, cover yourself while you sleep." "It's hot." Shi-u was about to be stubborn, but he obeyed. Shi-u, who was lying down, fell asleep not long after. Well, he played so hard, it's no wonder he fell asleep. There was no room in the tent, so I came outside. "Hmm, should I take a walk around?" I was bored, so I walked around. I deliberately went down to the stream, and the difference between the decorated stream and the natural stream was significant. "I think I know what it means to decorate with money." I was about to go down the stream, but when I turned back, I heard Saet-byeol-i's voice. I was startled by the sound of her calling, "Mom, Mom." "Saet-byeol-a, Mom is nearby!" When I shouted, Saet-byeol-i shouted even louder. Oh dear, I didn't expect Saet-byeol-i to wake up in the meantime. I gathered my magic power and quickly went up the stream, and the moment I saw the tent, I greatly exploded my magic power and leaped. "Ta-da, Mom is here." Saet-byeol-i, who had come out of the tent, came to me crying. "Why are you crying when Dad and Oppa are next to you?" "Mommy gone." "I'm here." Oh dear, she's just a baby, I think I've been too engrossed lately. "What's wrong?" At that time, Shi-hyun-nim woke up, rubbing his eyes. "It's nothing." Shi-hyun-nim stretched and came out of the tent. "Did you sleep well?" "Yeah, I think I was a little tired." "You were driving, so it's understandable." "Saet-byeol-a, do you want to come to Dad?" Saet-byeol-i looked at Shi-hyun-nim for a moment, then turned her head away and burrowed deeper into my arms. "Why is she like this?" "She must have been surprised because I wasn't there when she woke up." "Really?" "Yeah, I went down there for a bit." "So Saet-byeol-i was surprised?" "Yeah." I comforted Saet-byeol-i. Then she smiled quickly. As expected, a child should smile! Saet-byeol-i was held in my arms for a long time, and when Shi-u woke up, she started playing with Shi-u. They played with the toys they had brought from the tent. "Summer is summer." "Yeah." Even though it was 6 o'clock, the sun was still shining brightly. "What should we eat for dinner?" "How about ramen?" Is that okay? It was an easy menu for me. "Ramen tastes good when you eat it in a place like this." Really? Has Shi-hyun-nim tried it? "Kids, we're going to eat ramen for dinner, is that okay?" When I asked the children, they all liked it. There's almost no one who doesn't like ramen! Our kids liked ramen too. Because Shi-hyun-nim was here, I had to cook five packs of ramen. Shi-hyun-nim said he could eat it with rice, but I still had to cook a lot of noodles. I'll eat one, Shi-u and Saet-byeol-i will eat about one, so Shi-hyun-nim will eat three packs of ramen by himself and still not be full, so he'll eat it with rice, right? After eating ramen for dinner, the sun gradually set. Shi-hyun-nim put firewood and charcoal back into the stove and lit a fire, installed a flashlight in front of the tent, and also installed a bug repellent machine nearby. "You even worried about bugs?" "Well, it's something you can install next to the camper van even if you don't sleep in the tent." "That's true." This must be quite expensive, did he buy it new this time? Is it better than the kids getting bitten by bugs? How long has it been since I turned on the machine? Ttak, ttak, I heard the sound of bugs dying. "What is this?" "This? It's something to protect Shi-u and Saet-byeol-i from bad bugs." "Bugs bad?" "Yeah, if a bad bug bites Shi-u, it hurts, right? It's to prevent that." "I see." Shi-u quickly lost interest and played in the tent. Saet-byeol-i was holding a doll on my lap. It was a comfortable atmosphere. When it was past 9 o'clock and it was almost time to sleep, I took the kids into the camper van. Shi-hyun-nim said he would take care of the cleanup alone, so I decided to take care of the children. "Shi-u is wet, so let's wash up." "Okay." "What about Saet-byeol-i?" "Go bed." I sent Saet-byeol-i to bed first and washed Shi-u. Shi-u tried to wash by himself, but I scrubbed him thoroughly. "Don't you feel refreshed?" "Yeah." When I went to the bedroom to see what Saet-byeol-i was doing, she was sleeping. "Was she tired?" It's too early, how is she already asleep? She must be tired because she rode in the car for a long time and cried. "Shi-u isn't going to sleep, right?" "Yeah." I turned on the TV in the camper van to show him and went out to help Shi-hyun-nim. "Is there anything I can help with?" "It's okay, you can rest." "I haven't even done anything?" "How are the kids?" "Saet-byeol-i was tired and already fell asleep, and Shi-u is watching TV." "Then let's clean up quickly." It was already almost all cleaned up, so there wasn't much for me to do. "Are you going to leave the tent up?" "Yeah, I think Shi-u will want it tomorrow morning too." That Shi-u kid is enjoying camping, he really likes eating outside. "I should make curry tomorrow morning." "Curry is good too." "Yeah, curry eaten outside, it reminds me of the old days." "The old days?" "Yeah, when I was pregnant with Shi-u." "Ah, at that sea?" "Yeah, it's a stream, but it's similar." After roughly finishing cleaning up, I took the luggage into the camper van, and when I went inside, Shi-u was already sleeping in the bedroom. "Shi-u is sleeping too." "He played so much in the water." "You sleep in the bed, I'll sleep in the front." "Are you sure you're okay?" It was a smaller bed than the one at home, and it was hard for Shi-hyun-nim to lie down with the kids. "Yeah, I'm okay." "I'm sorry." "There's nothing to be sorry about." Is this what a father's heart is like? I was proud of Shi-hyun-nim, so I hugged him once. "Where are you going to sleep?" "I'm going to sleep in the tent." "Are you sure you're okay?" "Yeah, you should get up early and you must be tired, go to sleep." Shi-hyun-nim said that and left the camper van with only a blanket.