Epilogue: Deciding on Titles
A long time, or perhaps a short time—either way, the meeting about names eventually came to an end.
And, of course. Time had passed.
For starters, I obviously knew the children’s names.
After all, we were the ones who chose them.
Let me organize this.
Two sons and three daughters.
Yu Daon, Song A-rin, and Eileen had daughters, and Jang Chae-yeon and Lee Ha-neul had sons.
Ah, suddenly having this many family members is making my head ache.
Not that I dislike it. Of course, I’m happy.
I am happy, but...
"Waaah!"
"..."
The sound of a baby crying made my eyes snap open.
It's strange about being a parent. Even with five children, I could tell who was crying.
And the one who cried the most was...
"She looks so much like her mom, but she didn't inherit a single bit of her quietness when it comes to crying."
Song A-rin, with dark circles under her eyes, muttered as she soothed the child.
In the end, we decided to take turns standing something like a night watch.
I'm not sure if you could call it a night watch, but you get the idea.
"But..."
Song A-rin trailed off, looking at the row of cribs.
"...Our baby is so quiet."
It was true.
The other children all had their baby-like qualities.
But Song A-rin's child was truly quiet.
Whether you'd call her well-behaved, or perhaps...
"..."
Song A-rin's gaze drifted elsewhere for a moment.
"It's not because of something I did, is it?"
"It shouldn't be."
"Are you sure?"
"...At least according to the tests, that's what they said."
That's right.
Because Song A-rin's child was unusually quiet, never made a sound, and rarely even cried, we remembered taking her to a doctor for a checkup.
And the doctor's diagnosis was that there was nothing wrong.
An answer that left you wondering whether to feel relieved or worried.
"...Hah."
Song A-rin sighed again.
"Well, it's not like anything will change by worrying about it."
"True."
"..."
Song A-rin silently watched the baby sleeping soundly.
"I'm really praying that it's not the case."
"It won't be."
"..."
After watching the baby with Song A-rin for a while, we held hands and fell asleep.
*
As the difficult childcare continued, some people eventually couldn't endure it and started compromising with sleep.
Mainly Eileen and me.
"...Yaaawn..."
Eileen yawned languidly while gulping down coffee.
"I'm so tired I could die..."
"Me too..."
I knew looking after children would be hard.
I'd heard from the Team Leader, and I'd looked into it myself.
But knowing and doing are ultimately two different things.
"Yaaawn..."
I couldn't help but yawn.
"I'll watch them today."
Then, Lee Ha-neul straightened up and looked at us.
"No, aren't you tired, Ha-neul?"
"I'm an ironwoman."
Lee Ha-neul raised both arms.
"I can survive without sleep for about four days."
"You don't seem human..."
"If I got pregnant and gave birth to a human, then I'm human, right?"
"No, that's not what I meant."
"Besides, our baby is also a bit... special."
"..."
It's not like any of the kids were ordinary, but Lee Ha-neul's child was quite special too.
Not that she had super strength or anything.
"...Her body is quite sturdy?"
"Seems so."
Whether she inherited Lee Ha-neul's sturdiness, or properly received the 'health' she mentioned, she was very healthy.
So healthy that we were told it was as if she was already vaccinated against every disease.
That was a good thing, but...
Thinking that, I looked at the crib and then turned my gaze away.
I didn't know.
Anyway, to cut to the conclusion, as of now, aside from Lee Ha-neul's daughter, none of the children have inherited their mother's abilities, or mine.
They haven't awakened any new abilities either.
Frankly, for now, I think of them as... ordinary people.
"Who knows what will happen to us."
Eileen sighed after finishing her coffee.
"Who's to say? Our baby might suddenly open her eyes wide and bright and start looking around."
"I didn't open my eyes wide and bright either, you know."
"Right. You just gazed sleepily over people's heads."
"Did I gaze sleepily?"
"No. You just looked handsome."
That's the first time in my life I've been called handsome.
"Ah, I'll help too."
Yu Daon, who had appeared out of nowhere, stood next to Lee Ha-neul.
"But you must be tired, Daon."
"Well, normally I would be. And to get rid of the fatigue, I, um. Anyway... I use my own method."
Yu Daon gave a wry smile.
"But it's a bit different now."
"Different?"
"Anyway, I found a way to recover from fatigue on my own."
I stared at Yu Daon, and she smiled softly.
"You trust me, right?"
"I do, but..."
"Come on, go get some sleep now."
"But, wait... I just had coffee..."
"Hey, drinking coffee or anything like that won't do."
Yu Daon laughed, pushed me on the back, and soon the Branch Chief picked up Eileen and shoved both of us toward the bedroom together.
"Now, now, off to sleep."
"Just sleep. Don't do anything weird."
"I don't even have the energy...?"
I'm human too.
After the two left, I lay down on the bed and made eye contact with Eileen.
"Well then..."
"Yeah, just a second..."
That brief moment of eye contact was short-lived,
as both of us fell fast asleep as if we'd made a pact.
*
"They're asleep."
"Indeed."
Yu Daon and Lee Ha-neul muttered to each other while looking at the cribs.
Honestly, the two of them could have taken on a bit more of the childcare.
Because both of them had bodies different from ordinary people.
But Kim Jae-heon insisted on making those two sleep and lie down as well, so they were both utterly exhausted.
"..."
"..."
Yu Daon and Lee Ha-neul's eyes met.
They had talked before, but they'd never had a conversation alone in such a quiet atmosphere.
"...Um..."
Lee Ha-neul cleared her throat and spoke up. Yu Daon turned her gaze to her.
"Anyway. You've been through a lot."
"...Ah, yes. You... too, Branch Chief..."
"Just Ha-neul is fine."
"..."
Yu Daon opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it.
If she had said more, Lee Ha-neul's hand would probably have covered her mouth.
"..."
"..."
The two fell silent again, and Yu Daon continued after a fake cough.
"Um, is your body... okay?"
"I suppose so..."
It was a bit odd for the two who were the most fine to be talking about health, but they really had nothing else to talk about.
"...Ah."
Then, Yu Daon, who had been still, turned her gaze to Lee Ha-neul.
"There's one thing I was curious about."
"Yes?"
"You used to tell me, 'If you join my team, I'll give you... whatever you want,' right?"
"...The nuance was something like that."
"Since that's all in the past now... what were you planning to give me?"
"Ah..."
With a thoughtful sound, Lee Ha-neul pondered for a moment.
"In the Management Bureau, correction is possible."
"Correction?"
"Well, correcting traitors."
"You mean killing them?"
"It's very different from killing."
Lee Ha-neul shook her head.
"It's about making them human."
"...How?"
"By using every method possible."
She continued in a calm voice.
"And originally, I was going to return your family to you, Daon."
"..."
"The family you should have had."
"To be honest, I don't need th-"
"I know. That you don't need it."
Lee Ha-neul gave a wry smile.
"I... um, underestimated you, Daon."
"..."
"I thought you were the kind of fool who would be satisfied just by having your family back, so I used them as bait."
"Um..."
"I'm sorry, Daon."
"No."
Yu Daon smiled at Lee Ha-neul.
"If Jae-heon hadn't been there, I probably would have taken it."
"..."
"I was missing my family that much."
Yu Daon said in a calm voice. Lee Ha-neul looked at her and slightly bowed her head.
"I'm sorry."
"I said it's okay?"
Yu Daon waved her hand dismissively and looked at the crib.
A black-haired baby, unaware of anything, was asleep.
The fruit of love between her and him.
"I don't miss them anymore."
"..."
"In fact, if I had seen my mom and dad again back then, I think I would have kept missing them."
"Really?"
"Because what I missed was ultimately an illusion."
Yu Daon gave a wry smile.
"Now that I know it was an illusion, I'm not envious anymore."
"..."
"And, be honest, look at me."
Yu Daon stood up and stretched both arms wide.
"I'm a cool mom, aren't I?"
"You seem like a scary mom, honestly."
"From my perspective, I think Ha-neul is the one who would cave in her son's head if he didn't listen."
"That's not true!"
"...Anyway, there's something else I was curious about."
Yu Daon looked at the children.
"What should they call us?"
"...Good question."
Now that I think about it, there wasn't a case of having multiple mothers before.
It's not like they could just call them 'my baby,' but they were connected by blood to their own child.
The two looked at each other with troubled expressions.
"In my opinion..."
Lee Ha-neul trailed off.
"How about attaching numbers? Like Mom 1, Mom 2, Mom 3..."
"Wouldn't that start a fight over who gets to be number 1?"
"Obviously me."
"That's a fight right there."
Yu Daon muttered, putting her hand on her chin.
"I think we can just go by what A-rin called us."
"What A-rin called us?"
"Brown Mom."
Yu Daon pointed at Lee Ha-neul,
"Yellow Mom."
"..."
She pointed at Eileen, who was sleeping over there,
"Black Mom."
And pointed at herself with her hand.
"....."
Lee Ha-neul looked at Yu Daon with a complicated expression.
"Well, I mean. I don't really mind."
"Okay."
"...Are you sure about that?"
"About what?"
"...Never mind. Let's put this on hold for a meeting."
"We should."
At the very least, these two weren't enough to decide.
So it was settled.
*
I looked at the Manual standing before me.
"..."
"..."
My eyes met hers.
"Hey, it's really my turn now."
The Manual muttered and threw a pillow at me.
There was a pillow with <YES> written on it.
"The kids are all born, so it's finally my turn."
"...But the kids are still a bit..."
"Ah, so noisy."
The Manual pushed me down.
"Lie down first."
"..."
My pitiful life.