Chapter 5: Would You Like To Adopt Me?

I wake up from a very deep and long sleep.

The headache and dizziness I had before I lost consciousness are completely gone, and a refreshing feeling washes over my whole body.

The first thing I saw when I woke up from a pleasant sleep was the IV drip connected to my thin arm.

And below that, the calendar on the table.

“Ah.”

I had turned 13 in the hospital room.

“Ahhh-“

“Hmm, you’re okay now. You can be discharged.”

The doctor, who came for rounds, checked my throat, took measurements, asked questions, and nodded.

The director, who was standing next to me, looked relieved and bowed to the doctor.

“Oh, thank you so much, doctor.”

“The child is a little weak. Her height and weight are also lower than other children her age… It’s not malnutrition, but she still needs to eat a lot of everything. Does she have any medical conditions?”

“Well..”

The director glanced at me and then turned back to whisper to the doctor.

I was also curious about my body, but I knew it was an adult’s concern for a child, so I looked away.

At the end of my gaze was a certain person who appeared in my hazy memory.

“Why are you here, Mister?”

‘…He seems different from when I first saw him.’

“Illness changes people.”

“Is that so.”

In my hazy memory, I knew I had done something wrong when I wasn’t thinking straight.

Something very embarrassing.

This memory must be erased.

I faced him with a brazen attitude.

“So why are you here?”

“I went to volunteer and played with a kid for the first time, and she fainted in my arms and was taken to the hospital. I heard she woke up, so I had to come and see her. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be called a person.”

“That’s true.”

“So, as a proper person and a fine adult, I came to see the kid despite my busy schedule.”

“You’re such a fine adult. I’ll show my respect by calling you an elder, a more respectful term.”

Lee Seongbeom laughed out loud at my words.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he clutched his stomach, desperately trying to suppress his laughter so as not to disturb others.

“……What’s so funny?”

“You’re such an old soul, aren’t you? You’re completely different from your first impression.”

“The sick me is not me, elder.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it. The little girl named Seo Sua who said, ‘Mister, hug me~’ is not the Seo Sua lying in the hospital bed now.”

“Ack!”

How could he bring that up when I was trying to avoid it!

My face flushed instantly.

I threw the pillow next to me, but Lee Seongbeom easily caught it with one hand and gave me a sly look.

Then, chuckling, he lightly threw the pillow back at my face.

My body’s motor skills are not very good, so even though I tried to block it with my hand, my hand just swiped through the air, and the soft pillow hit my face and fell.

“……Mister, a normal child would have cried.”

“Sorry.”

He seemed to realize that he had gone too far, as he apologized readily.

He threw it lightly, and the pillow was soft, but my face still stung.

Our flushed faces cooled down quickly, and we started talking again awkwardly.

“Ahem…, I’m sorry. Somehow, we clicked so well, like people who have known each other for a long time…. Are you feeling better now?”

“You could say that. I’m fine. I’m completely healthy now.”

“That’s good to hear.”

He smiled genuinely.

-Joyeon, you finally found what you want to do. Do you know how worried I was?
-I’m glad.

The person in my memory also smiled genuinely.

Unlike the memory, he doesn’t have a messy beard, wrinkles around his eyes, or a lot of white hair.

Memories, whether they are from the past, recollections, or delusions, flow out on their own and overlap with reality.

I swallow something that was about to come out of my mouth.

Instead, I smiled and said casually.

“Putting aside whether you’re a proper or fine adult, you came because of what I said, right?”

What I had said.

He approached me after hearing the little secret I whispered to him so no one else could hear.

Logically, if a stranger child said that, it would be dismissed as nonsense.

But Lee Seongbeom’s logic was different from ordinary people.

I introduced myself again.

“I’m Seo Sua, 12 years old…, now 13. I recently uploaded a video titled [Editing Practice] under the nickname Dancing Raccoon. You came to our orphanage to find me, right?”

“Did you really edit that?”

“If you don’t believe me, I can show you. You brought your laptop, too.”

Lee Seongbeom always carries his laptop.

It’s so that he can work on script ideas or edit whenever and wherever he is.

He took out his laptop from his bag and placed it in front of me.

Then he opened the editing program.

It was a proper paid program that I hadn’t seen in a long time.

A video project, seemingly for YouTube, was open on the screen.

“Then can you do as I say?”

“Of course.”

I nodded confidently.

This program was more familiar to me, after all.

He opened his mouth with a dubious expression.

“Copy the project and work on it there. I’ll just tell you the camera angles, and you can do the rest.”

“First, keep it on camera 3 and zoom in. Immediately switch to camera 5 for a full shot, and while keeping the tracking on each face without covering them with these photos, switch to cameras 2 and 4.”

“Increase only the staff’s voice in this part, and since it’s too dark, adjust the white balance so it doesn’t break. For the next cut, crop it to 21:9 and make it look noir. Then, zoom in on the people—”

Is this reality I’m seeing?

Lee Seongbeom couldn’t help but think that.

It’s somewhat understandable that an elementary school student can edit videos.

Nowadays, unlike in the past, children play with computers from an early age.

That’s not what’s surprising.

‘She’s doing it so easily?’

It’s often said that if someone makes something look very easy, they are a true expert.

They have such extensive knowledge and mastery of the field that they can do it effortlessly, making others think, ‘I could do that too.’

Just like that, the girl’s work looked too easy.

The instructions I gave didn’t require significant technical skills in terms of functionality, but if you didn’t know the functions, you would have to do things multiple times to achieve the same result.

But she used all those functions and followed the instructions without any hesitation.

But what surprised him even more was something else.

‘The technical stuff can be learned through memorization and repetition, but this sense….’

The sound effects added whenever a subtitle appeared.

The background music that fit the scene.

The effects that made it look more dynamic.

They were all so appropriate and harmoniously integrated that there were no issues.

No, it felt refreshing.

It was the same feeling he had when he watched that video on YouTube, and it came back to him vividly.

“You really did it.”

“I don’t lie.”

Due to the nature of his job, he inevitably meets many talents.

He mostly meets comedians, actors, singers, and idols, and occasionally, he meets people from other fields, such as athletes, who appear on TV.

Meeting so many people naturally led him to distinguish between two types.

Those who have blossomed with talent and those who have built up their abilities.

Not everyone in the entertainment industry is talented.

There are comedians who have succeeded without a talent for comedy, and actors who have succeeded without a talent for acting.

Of course, it took a lot of effort compared to those with talent, but in the end, there wasn’t much difference.

But among them, there are exceptional people.

For example, if we divide ability into 100, those with talent start at 50, and those without talent start at 0.

They both develop their talent or work hard to reach levels of 80 or 90.

And at that point, there’s a wall they can’t seem to cross.

I call those who break through that wall exceptional people.

Those who have blossomed with talent and built up their abilities.

Through my long career as a PD, I have gained the ability to distinguish these people.

This girl, who is making a triumphant expression in front of me, was such a person.

‘Skills can be accumulated, but this sense can only be seen as talent.’

Along with her incredible skills, her sense of video composition is also excellent.

A desire to keep such a genius by his side and help them grow even bigger surged within him.

But the girl’s situation made it impossible.

“…To be honest, I came to cast Dancing Raccoon on my team. After watching the video on YouTube, I felt a certain potential. The potential to make more interesting videos with this person.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. But I have to give up, there’s nothing I can do.”

“Why?”

“How can I cast a minor, an elementary school student at that. Besides, if an Mister who went to volunteer tries to suggest this to a young girl, he’ll be in handcuffs.”

It was impossible, both morally and legally.

He had high expectations, but now he could only sigh.

Is there no choice but to wait until this child grows up?

She’s in 5th grade now… no, she became 6th grade… so 6 years until she’s an adult, and even if I hire her as a part-timer, she has to be at least 15, so about 4 years.

It’s too much of a waste no matter how I think about it.

As he was scratching his head and thinking about that, the kid spoke hesitantly.

“Um, then….”

As if she finally said what she had wanted to say all along.

She said with an expectant expression.

“Will you… adopt me?”

Thud-

As soon as the two words “adopt me” reached his ears, his head felt like a huge bell being struck, and it rang loudly.

Adopt? Me?

I, a bachelor who has been single for over 40 years, have a child?

“…Well, that’s….”

He couldn’t continue speaking.

At the same time, his mind raced.

If the kid becomes his adopted daughter, he can achieve what he wants.

Moreover, she seems quite mature, so unlike what his seniors who had children said, raising her doesn’t seem difficult.

He also has no place to spend his money, so he has a considerable amount of savings.

Money is not a problem.

And if he ever gets married and has a child, he wanted to raise a daughter.

Then what are the disadvantages?

“…Mister?”

The kid, who had been watching his silence, tilted her head with an uneasy expression.

“Hmm, alright.”

I raised my head and said.

“From now on, call me Daddy.”

I guess having a daughter in my bachelor life wouldn’t be so bad.