Chapter 33

33. First Day at Kindergarten

‘I can’t hear it. I can’t hear it. I can’t hear anything right now. Especially not the sound of children crying. This place is as quiet and peaceful as a kingdom of second-hand goods...’

Siwoo recited the words fervently.

However...

“Waaah!”

“Hic! Hic!”

“Mom! Mom!”

He could hear everything.

In the end, a sigh escaped Siwoo’s lips.

“Sigh...”

‘...I wanted to save some mana for today’s busy schedule.’

Is the first day of kindergarten this difficult?

During the past week, when they came to practice with their mothers, everyone played happily.

There were even children who cried, saying they didn’t want to go home.

But the barrier of formal attendance was indeed high.

Just the act of getting into the car without their mothers made the children cry as if the world had ended.

‘Don’t be too scared, kids. You’re going to meet a new world.’

Perhaps because he had been living as a baby for a while, Siwoo had a softer heart towards the children.

Siwoo raised his hand towards the crying children, including Kyungho, but after a moment of hesitation, he lowered it again.

Putting the children to sleep with a sleep spell was a temporary solution.

When they woke up, they would cry for their mothers again.

A loud voice, like when Siwoo shouted “Papa,” burst out.

“Woo! Ji! Ma! Ah!”

The teacher was startled and looked at Siwoo.

The baby’s voice... was incredibly loud.

The charisma he had seen in the CF was still there.

Siwoo shouted again.

“Woo! Ji! Ma! Ah!”

Siwoo’s voice echoed strongly inside the car.

Instantly, the children’s cries stopped as if by magic.

The crying children opened their eyes wide, wondering what the sound was, and looked around.

‘Come on, kids. It’s time for a fun music session.’

Sound Kung Fu was originally a martial art that used sound to harm the opponent.

Conversely, it could also be used to calm the opponent.

‘It’s quite inefficient in terms of internal energy consumption, but...’

Siwoo infused his voice with pure internal energy and produced a sound.

“Eeeeee~ Aaaaaa~”

A mysterious melody, which could be pansori or something else, flowed from Siwoo’s mouth.

Kyungho, swallowing his tears and snot, turned to look at Siwoo sitting next to him.

The song strangely soothed his sorrow and made him feel calm.

Feeling as warm as if he were in his mother’s arms, Kyungho started sucking his thumb.

“Eeeeee~ Aaaaaa~”

The other children gradually calmed down as they listened to Siwoo’s song.

‘Is this enough? Sigh... Using Sound Kung Fu to sing such a lullaby.’

Siwoo cast a wide-area healing spell to help the children, who were exhausted from crying, recover their strength.

The children’s tear-streaked faces gradually brightened.

Kyungho, who had been blinking his big eyes, suddenly grabbed Siwoo’s hand and spoke.

The catchy melody he had just heard continued to echo in the ears of the baby bear Kyungho.

“Eeeeee~ Aaaaaa~”

It was the sound that came from Kyungho’s mouth.

This started a chorus, with no distinction between older and younger children, inside the bus.

“Eeeeeee~ Aaaaaaa~”

The driver in the front seat said,

“Wow, what’s going on here?”

“Y-Yeah, I know.”

The teacher looked at Siwoo in amazement.

Siwoo, feeling the teacher’s gaze, closed his eyes quietly.

He needed to rest, both physically and mentally.

There was a lot to do at the kindergarten.

Siwoo got off the car last, holding Kyungho’s hand.

He carefully checked to make sure no one was left behind.

Inside the kindergarten, the children who had arrived earlier were standing with the teachers.

The youngest children were held in the teachers’ arms.

Siwoo spotted Jin-a there.

Her eyes were red from crying.

Jin-a, spotting Siwoo and Kyungho, waddled over.

Siwoo also held Jin-a’s hand.

‘This is the first time I’ve been so far from my mom. I’m fine, but the kids must be sad and anxious.’

Siwoo helped Jin-a, who was exhausted from crying, recover her strength and quickly looked around the kindergarten.

He was already familiar with it from the one or two hours he had spent there with his mother over the past week.

Siwoo touched Jin-a and Kyungho’s cheeks and whispered,

“You don’t need to cry because your mom isn’t here. There are teachers here. I’ll protect you. Got it?”

Jin-a and Kyungho, understanding the meaning, clung closer to Siwoo.

“Yeah. Just have fun like we did last time. Your moms will come to pick us up later.”

Siwoo, patting the heads of the two children, followed the teacher into the 2-year-old class.

Technically, Siwoo was 22 months old, Jin-a was 21 months old, and Kyungho was 19 months old, so they were not yet 2 years old. However, to skip the process of changing classes a few months later, they were placed in the Star Class, one of the 2-year-old classes from the beginning.

Siwoo entered the brightly colored classroom and sat down in front of the cubbies.

‘Hmm? There’s mine.’

Seeing the cubby labeled “Yoon Siwoo” at the bottom, Siwoo glanced around to see if the teacher was watching, then quietly opened it.

The personal items he had put there with his mother before were neatly arranged.

Kyungho, who had followed, saw Siwoo’s actions and tried to open any cubby and take out the items inside.

Siwoo grabbed Kyungho’s arm.

No, no.

Siwoo shook his head.

Kyungho put the toothbrush of another child back in its place.

“Good. You’re a good boy.”

Siwoo, praising Kyungho, gently pressed his puffy white cheeks with both hands.

The two teachers in charge of the Star Class said to the children,

“Everyone~ Let’s have a good time with the teachers and friends~”

“Yeah~ Let’s have lots of fun and be nice to each other~”

The children just stared at the teachers blankly.

Siwoo, sitting blankly with Jin-a and Kyungho, finally got up when the other children started moving.

Siwoo walked cutely to somewhere.

Jin-a and Kyungho, like puppies following their mother, followed Siwoo closely.

Jin-a, who had been crying when they arrived at the kindergarten, now looked at Siwoo with curious eyes, feeling reassured.

“Siwoo~ What are you doing~?”

Jin-a, who could speak quite well, as her mother had often compared her to Kyungho, had good pronunciation.

In response to the cute question from the 21-month-old Jin-a, the 22-month-old Siwoo whispered,

“Babies like us need to be careful of fine dust.”

Siwoo touched the air purifier, which was taller than him, in the corner of the classroom.

As Siwoo quickly calculated complex formulas and recited the spell, a gentle light from his hand seeped into the air purifier.

It had several effects.

It improved ventilation.

It also removed mold.

It was a versatile magic that could be used in various ways depending on the user’s intention.

‘I’ll have to do it again in an hour when the effect wears off.’

Jin-a, not knowing what Siwoo had done, stared at the air purifier with her mouth open, while Kyungho stuck his face in the air purifier’s air outlet, letting the wind blow through his hair and smiled happily.

‘And also...’

Siwoo walked around the classroom and did a few more things.

It was still chilly in March.

The classroom wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t warm either.

To make the children more comfortable, Siwoo raised the temperature of the classroom, just as he had done at the sledding field for Jiyeon.

Then, to counter the dryness caused by the increased temperature, he used a water-based spell to supply moisture and adjust the humidity appropriately... and before he knew it, he was back to his senses.

‘...Wait. What am I doing? I didn’t come to attend kindergarten, I came to work. I need to stop. My mana is draining.’

Siwoo walked towards the mats to rest.

At that moment, a boy suddenly started coughing.

It might be a tickle from swallowing saliva...

‘...Ah, really.’

It could be a cold.

Siwoo turned towards the boy.

A healing spell was quickly set up in Siwoo’s hand.

The first day at kindergarten, or rather, the first day of work, passed smoothly.

It was a process of the children and teachers getting to know each other and playing without their mothers.

About two hours after arriving at the kindergarten,

“Friends~ It’s time to go home~”

The schedule for the first day ended in the blink of an eye.

Of course, this was Siwoo’s impression, and for the other children, it was probably a very long time.

The children who attended kindergarten for the first time left the classroom under the teacher’s guidance.

Some children stayed until the afternoon because their parents worked, some were picked up by their guardians when they got in the car, and some were picked up directly by their guardians at the kindergarten.

Siwoo, Jin-a, and Kyungho were in the third category.

“Siwoo~!”

“Jin-a~!”

“Our Kyungho!”

Hyun-ju, Eun-hye, and Hye-young were waiting for the children at the entrance of the kindergarten.

“Mom~! Ahh~!”

Kyungho, who had been strong until now, ran to his mother first, crying.

Next was Jin-a’s turn.

“Mom! Mom! Mom!”

“Oh, that’s right. Our daughter! Come here! Good job.”

Seeing the two children run and hug their mothers, Siwoo confirmed his mother’s face.

His mother was sitting with her arms wide open, looking expectant.

Siwoo... unlike the two children, ran to his mother with a big smile and hugged her tightly.

Hyun-ju, hugging her son tightly, looked at Siwoo’s face and asked,

“How was it, Siwoo? Was it hard?”

It was quite hard.

He had to take care of the children and use a lot of magic.

Instead of answering, Siwoo said briefly,

“It was fun~!”

* * *

Time passed quickly as Siwoo diligently attended kindergarten.

Early April.

Although the spring chill still lingered, it was already a full spring.

Siwoo prepared to go out with Hyun-ju.

“The time flies. It feels like it was just a few days ago when I first met Director Lee Honggyun before Christmas, and now it’s already the script reading day.”