Chapter 19

19. CF Shooting

While Kyeongho was rolling around hugging a rabbit plushie, Siwoo and Youngjun left the train house.

Youngjun, who still didn't know their destination, looked happy just to be holding his friend's hand.

Siwoo slowly and secretly moved his feet toward the slide to avoid startling Youngjun.

The two babies, walking diligently, finally reached the slide.

When Siwoo stopped, Youngjun, who had been following with his eyes on the ground, lifted his head.

“……”

Youngjun's expression froze the moment he saw the slide.

When Siwoo tried to climb up the slide, Youngjun pulled his hand away.

“Sire... Scary... Slippery... Sire...”

A strong refusal.

A staff member from the kids' cafe, who had followed the babies, spoke to Youngjun.

“Are you scared and don't want to go on it? Then let's do something else? If we go over there...”

The staff member pointed to a ball pit for infants.

Youngjun immediately turned his body, attracted by that direction.

However.

Thump.

Siwoo grabbed Youngjun's arm.

“Come on~”

“Sire... I don't want to...”

In fact, Youngjun's reaction was exactly as expected.

A child who doesn't want to ride with his mother wouldn't want to ride with Siwoo, who is younger than him.

Siwoo decided to solve it scientifically.

Here, Siwoo's "science" was magic, which to others was a supernatural phenomenon.

Complex magical formulas quickly flashed through his mind, and a faint light began to emanate from the hand holding Youngjun.

Youngjun's face, which had been filled with anxiety and fear, gradually became more stable.

“Hooong...”

Instead of pulling his hand away, Youngjun glanced at the slide.

Although the small slide for infants didn't even reach an adult's waist, it seemed incredibly high to Youngjun.

However, unlike before, Youngjun's body wasn't trembling, and his fear of running away had lessened.

Somehow, he felt energized.

“Sire...”

Although he still kept his center of gravity behind him and said he didn't want to, Youngjun was being led closer to the slide by Siwoo.

‘He’s whining but still following. What a cute kid.’

Siwoo smiled and put his foot on the slide steps first.

Then he turned to Youngjun and held his hand again.

‘Just in case, should I do it a bit more?’

A gentle light appeared and disappeared again in the hands of the two babies.

In fact, what Siwoo did was simple.

He just infused a little mana into Youngjun.

People's actions change according to the energy in their bodies.

“Baba~!”

Siwoo waved his hand and climbed the steps.

Youngjun watched Siwoo from below with wide eyes.

When Siwoo reached the top and slid down with a whoosh, he laughed.

“Kyaah-!”

Siwoo screamed excitedly as if on a roller coaster, coming down to the bottom.

Due to static electricity, Siwoo's hair stood up straight.

The staff member couldn't help but smile like a mother at the sight.

With his hair standing up, Siwoo climbed the slide again.

“Kyaah-!”

When Siwoo had gone down the slide three times, Youngjun finally moved.

Youngjun, looking at Siwoo and the staff member, cautiously placed his foot on the steps.

From a little distance away, Youngjun's mother watched the scene with a pounding heart and quickly took out her phone camera.

Holding the handle, Youngjun climbed the steps one step at a time with trembling legs, then looked down from the top of the slide and sat down.

“Hueeng... Uu...”

Siwoo called to him from the end of the slide.

“Come on~”

Youngjun, who was about to call for his mother, saw Siwoo waiting for him at the bottom and, somehow finding the courage, sat back on the slide.

The hand Siwoo had held was still warm.

“Hooong...”

With his younger brother Siwoo, the baby mothers, the staff member, and Kyungho peeking out of the train house window cheering him on...

Finally, Youngjun slid forward.

Whoosh-!

“Waaah-!”

Youngjun's scream echoed through the kids' cafe.

* * *

“Kyaah-!”

“Waaah-!”

Although they were screaming, their faces were full of smiles.

Youngjun, who had belatedly discovered the fun of the slide, was riding it endlessly with Siwoo.

Kyungho eventually joined in.

Watching the babies play happily on the slide, Youngjun's mother turned and secretly wiped away her tears.

To see Youngjun playing so joyfully, and with his friends, too.

It felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest.

After playing for a while, the babies, with their heads drenched in sweat, came looking for their mothers.

“Mom~!”

Siwoo called for Hyunju.

“Mom.”

Youngjun also dove into his mother's arms.

And then—

“Eoma...”

Kyungho, who was following Siwoo and Youngjun unsteadily, uttered a strange word.

“...!!”

Kyungho's mother doubted her ears.

“Kyungho, what did you say?”

Kyungho, hugging his mother's legs, repeated.

“Eoma...”

To others, he might look like a big bear, but to his mother, Kyungho was a small prince who could fly.

Kyungho's mother felt a surge of hot emotion at hearing the word "mom" for the first time.

“Yes. I'm here. Your mom is here. Come here, my baby.”

Held in his mother's arms, Kyungho, seeing Siwoo sucking a pacifier, added another word.

“Mama...”

“Oh, my. What do we do? Mamma? Did you just say Mamma?”

Hyunju smiled and said to Kyungho's mother.

“See, he suddenly started saying it. Congratulations. It's the first time you've heard it.”

“Yeah... It's so touching.”

“Phew, our Siwoo said 'mom' for the first time during a drama shoot. I don't know...”

Hyunju, noticing the red eyes of Kyungho's and Youngjun's mothers, deliberately brought up the past.

When those words came out, laughter spread among the friends.

“Among us, the one we envy the most is Hyunju, and the one we feel the most sorry for is also Hyunju.”

Jina's mother said.

* * *

Jeongtae's mother said,

– Receive many gifts and grow up healthy~!

Siwoo, looking at the boxes in front of him, recalled Jeongtae's mother's final words.

As the perfume auntie had said, the gifts kept pouring in.

A few days ago, Youngjun's mother, Auntie Mijoo, who had played with him at the kids' cafe, sent summer clothes and new bottles out of gratitude.

Unlike Jeongtae's mother's gifts, they weren't particularly expensive but were still pretty clothes.

The bottles, which his mother had planned to replace because of the recent scratches inside, were the brand Siwoo usually used, as given by Auntie Mijoo.

‘And next month, Sujin's mother's custom-made dollhouse bed for my first birthday will arrive. I might as well become rich from gifts.’

Siwoo, changing into the new clothes and making a victory sign for a photo, thought.

* * *

A few days later.

The family's car stopped in front of a building near Petworld headquarters.

Dohjin, carrying two carriers in both hands, led the way.

Hyunju, holding Siwoo, followed Dohjin while looking around.

The Petworld marketing team leader came out to greet the family.

“Hello! Mr. and Mrs.! Thank you for coming. The weather is nice today, so it feels great.”

After some introductory remarks, the team leader got to the point.

“How are the kids doing?”

This was a question Hyunju had been hearing every day for the past three days.

Hyunju gave the same answer.

“Yes, they're doing well.”

Despite the positive answer, the team leader still looked worried.

Babies and animals.

They are the most challenging participants in filming.

If it goes well, it's a big hit; if it doesn't, it's a nightmare.

Even if a great video comes out, the filming process is still a nightmare.

So, regardless of the quality of the final product, today will be a nightmare.

Hyunju, following the team leader's guidance, entered the set.

“Mrs., please let our animal friends out here. We've blocked the area so they can't escape, so you don't need to worry. Once the kids get used to the place, we'll start styling them here.”

“Okay, I understand.”

Hyunju put Siwoo down and opened the carriers for Boksil and Nero when a man with a neat appearance and glasses approached and greeted Dohjin and Hyunju.

“Hello.”

The man looked to be in his late 30s.

“Yes, hello.”

Dohjin and Hyunju, receiving the greeting, were curious about the man's identity.

Just as the marketing team leader was about to introduce him, the man spoke.

“I am a rising star in the advertising industry. I am the director of this CF, Choi Satbuel. Please call me Director Buel.”

Dohjin shook hands with Director Buel.

“Nice to meet you. I'm Siwoo's dad.”

“I'm Siwoo's mom.”

Director Buel shook hands with Hyunju and continued.

“It's a pleasure. Mr. Moonlight. That tearful ending scene. I was really impressed. It's an honor to work with actor Yoon Siwoo.”

“...Yes?”

Hyunju, surprised, responded.

She had heard of actors Lee Sujin and Han Taesu, but Yoon Siwoo... actor?

“Ah, I... Yes.”

Hyunju started to say something but stopped.

After seeing Boksil and Nero exploring the floor, Director Buel said,

“With actors Boksil and Nero as well. It's going to be a fun day today.”

The director had a unique and somewhat strange aura.

Dohjin and Hyunju, slightly flustered, watched as Director Buel left, saying he had more preparations to make.

“Hahaha!”

The marketing team leader's laughter lightened the mood.

“The director is a bit of an artist. He has his own world. The atmosphere is different, isn't it?”

“Very... different.”

Dohjin replied.

“But he's very skilled. He'll do a great job.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Dohjin and Hyunju decided to focus on ensuring the children completed the shoot safely rather than on the director's skills.

“Our Siwoo, can you do it?”

Dohjin, touching Siwoo's cheek with the back of his hand, asked.

“Yes!”

Siwoo answered confidently.

Seeing the shooting set in person, which he had only heard about from his wife, was quite exciting.

He didn't expect to feel this way...

A father is a father, after all.

Dohjin tried to calm his racing heart by rummaging through the bag he had brought.

As he found a water bottle, opened the cap, and took a few sips,

A memory flashed through Dohjin's mind.

“Puuup-!”

Suddenly, Dohjin sprayed water on the floor.

“Cough! Cough!”

“Brother, what's wrong? Are you okay?”

Hyunju patted Dohjin's back.

“Mr. Siwoo, are you okay?”

The team leader looked worriedly at Dohjin.

Dohjin, wiping the water from his mouth, straightened his bent back.

Then he asked the team leader,

“Is the director, by any chance, someone who used to do theater?”

The team leader's eyes widened.

“How did you know? He did theater in his 20s...”

“Oh...”

That's right. Choi Satbuel.

Although he had never met him, the name Choi Satbuel was firmly etched in his memory.

Hyunju, sensing something, asked the team leader secretly,

“Do you know him