Chapter 5

5. Fear locks you in the crib.

"Bad news first."

"Let's start with the bad news."

The couple answered simultaneously.

"You two really match, don't you? That's why you live together, I guess."

Hijoo sat in a chair at the dining table, still holding Siwoo.

"Okay. The bad news! The CF offer we talked about before didn't work out. Well, we never officially received an offer, but Siwoo was consistently in the running. It seems they decided to use a 100-day-old baby instead of Siwoo at the last minute."

Dojin and Hyunju nodded in unison.

Hyunju said, "I didn't really expect much. We didn't receive any contact, as you said. And you heard it from someone, right?"

Dojin didn't seem to care much either.

"That was just your own hype."

Hijoo raised her voice, sounding indignant.

"Hype? It was a reliable source..."

Dojin chuckled.

"It's been proven unreliable now. Forget it. What's the good news? Not another pointless story, is it?"

Hijoo's eyes suddenly sparkled, and her expression changed.

"No, this is real. We received an official call. I gave them my phone number, and they said they would call Hyunju within a few days, maybe even tomorrow."

It was hard to understand what she meant.

Hijoo, realizing her mistake, quickly added an explanation.

"Movie! We got a movie offer! Siwoo made his drama debut at one year old, and now he's getting a movie debut at two!"

Unlike the excited Hijoo, Dojin spoke calmly.

"What movie? And we haven't said yes yet, right?"

Hijoo was very enthusiastic.

"What movie? Well, before that, our actor Yoon Dojin, what was your debut movie?"

Dojin corrected her in detail.

"I was never an actor, just an aspiring actor."

"Why do you always do this? Hyunju, why is your husband so negative?"

Hyunju said, "My brother isn't negative; he's cool. Humble-cool is the character he's pushing these days."

"Humble-cool... I can't believe it. Fine. Then, Yoon Dojin, former aspiring actor, what was your debut movie?"

Dojin, seemingly pleased with the new title, answered without hesitation.

"Alien School. It was an F-grade movie, worse than C. It flopped."

It was a movie Dojin had appeared in as an extra when he was in middle school.

"Sorry, I asked the wrong question. Not the one where you were an extra, but the one with lines. There was only one movie where you had lines, right?"

Dojin's mouth opened.

His magnum opus.

The only work in his career that everyone recognized when he mentioned it.

The only time he was given lines outside the theater, and it was only three lines.

"......[My Scary Girlfriend]."

Ten years ago, it was a sweet and terrifying romantic comedy that swept the nation's theaters.

At the time, Dojin appeared as a college friend of the male lead, Han Tae-soo, in a brief scene with a few lines.

It felt like the real start of his career when he was 22, but it turned out to be the end.

That moment, matching lines with Han Tae-soo, was Dojin's golden age.

Hijoo's voice rang out.

"Right! Your biggest hit, My Scary Girlfriend!"

"How is that my hit? It's Han Tae-soo and Lee Soo-jin's hit."

This movie also made the 20-year-old debut actress Lee Soo-jin a star overnight, thanks to her winning the role through a highly competitive audition.

"Anyway, I saw an article saying that a sequel to My Scary Girlfriend is coming out after 10 years?"

Dojin seemed unaware.

Hyunju spoke up.

"Yes, I know. My Scary Wife. It's about the two main characters from the first movie getting married and having a child. Oh! Could that child be...?"

Hijoo lifted Siwoo and placed him on the table.

"Exactly! Ta-da! The second child of the reunited Han Tae-soo and Lee Soo-jin couple is... our baby actor, Yoon Siwoo! Wow!"

"Really, did you get an offer for that movie? It was my life movie when I was a college freshman! Did Lee Soo-jin recommend Siwoo?"

"Originally, the director wanted to use a baby, but Lee Soo-jin said she didn't like babies and wouldn't act unless they used an older child. So they decided to use a five-year-old kindergartener. But then Lee Soo-jin changed her mind and said it would be okay to use a baby if Siwoo was cast. So they combined the original script with a new one to make it a story with two children."

Hyunju was very excited.

"It will be so fun! I want to see that couple again! I became a Lee Soo-jin fan because of that movie! And now, the couple I saw as a college student is getting married and having a child, and that child is my son? Wow, it's unbelievable."

"Right? Right? It's unbelievable. Siwoo is their child! I almost fainted when I got the call."

Hyunju asked Dojin, "What do you think? If I get a call offering Siwoo a role, will you support it or oppose it?"

"You want him to do it, right?"

"Yup! Siwoo didn't seem to struggle much during the last shoot, and he played really well with Lee Soo-jin and was very popular with the staff. Siwoo seemed to enjoy it..."

"Sure. I'm in favor this time."

"Huh? What's with the sudden enthusiasm?"

Hyunju was surprised by the unexpected answer.

"This movie is special to me in a different way. If Siwoo acts in it... I don't know, but it feels like it will be a good thing."

* * *

The next day, Hyunju received a casting call.

Hyunju, who had been hanging laundry while Siwoo was in the crib, finished the call with the casting manager with an excited face.

"Siwoo! We're going to shoot a movie? Do you remember Soo-jin's mom? She didn't like you at first, but later she really liked you... Let's go and have fun again."

Hyunju felt like a child the whole day, as if she were going on a field trip the next day.

She couldn't believe and was very excited that Siwoo would be in the sequel to My Scary Girlfriend, which was her youth movie.

It felt different from when she went to shoot Mr. Moonlight unexpectedly.

In the early morning,

Hyunju couldn't sleep and quietly got up to go to the living room.

Knowing she needed to sleep early to take care of Siwoo in the morning, she turned on the TV and paid for the VOD of My Scary Girlfriend.

She watched the movie twice, laughing and crying all night.

It was a small act of rebellion by a mother.

A few hours later, Siwoo, who had slept soundly, woke up and shook his head when he saw his mother passed out on the bed.

'She must have been watching TV all night and completely lost it. This is a problem.'

Her husband, who had just finished a night shift, was also lying next to her, one sock still on, sound asleep.

'He hasn't adapted to the night shift yet. What should I do?'

Siwoo was hungry.

A normal baby would cry to wake up their mother or father.

But Siwoo wasn't a normal baby.

Standing in the center of the crib, Siwoo spread his arms wide like the protagonist of The Shawshank Redemption, which his father had been watching.

He then recited a similar message he had heard from The Shawshank Redemption.

"Fear locks you in the crib, but hope sets you free."

Siwoo touched the end of the crib's railing.

It was a mechanism to lower the railing to prevent back pain when changing diapers or picking up the baby.

By manipulating this, he could lower the railing and, if discovered outside the crib, make it seem like his mother had forgotten to lock it, avoiding suspicion.

After unlocking the mechanism, Siwoo carefully lowered the railing and jumped out of the crib.

As Siwoo landed softly on the bedroom floor, Bokshil, who was sleeping on a cushion by the bedroom door, suddenly lifted her head.

Their eyes met.

"......"

– ......

Siwoo quickly showed his palm to Bokshil.

The skill 'Wait' that all family members were familiar with was activated.

Bokshil, who was about to get up, lay back down on the cushion.

Satisfied, Siwoo left Bokshil and headed to his parents' bed.

'Just in case.'

He gently touched his father's leg and his mother's leg with his small hands from under the bed.

A faint light lingered in Siwoo's small hands and then disappeared.

Siwoo, who had gifted his parents a deep sleep, gave one last instruction to Bokshil before leaving the bedroom.

"There's a saying, 'Even a dog in a school can recite poetry after three years.' You're three years old, right?"

– Woof.

"You're the school dog of our house. I trust your level of perception. If you see any signs of Mom or Dad stirring or waking up, run to the living room immediately. Got it?"

– Woof.

"No, not when they wake up, but when they seem like they're about to wake up."

– Pant pant.

"No. I'll play with you later. Now, focus on your task."

– Meow.

To enjoy some alone time, Siwoo went to the living room.

Although he saw the living room every day, the air felt different today.

It was freedom.

Sitting on the living room mat, Siwoo took off his wet diaper and put on a fresh, dry one.

He rolled up the used diaper and threw it into the diaper bin.

Feeling much fresher, Siwoo turned his eyes to the kitchen.

"I need to fill my stomach, right?"

What was the best way to eat without his mother finding out?

Siwoo opened the freezer.

He saw the frozen baby food his mother had made the night before.

"Should I melt it with magic?"

After a moment's thought, Siwoo gave up and turned around.

A beginner's heat magic might take a long time to melt it.

If he increased his magic power, his baby body wouldn't be able to handle it, and he would have to eat the baby food and go back to sleep.

Most importantly, if the number of frozen baby foods decreased, his mother would notice.

Ding ding ding!

Siwoo started running from in front of the refrigerator and jumped onto the kitchen counter.

Pfft!

Baby No-Trace Step!

The innate energy he had accumulated since birth gave strength to his legs.

Siwoo, hanging from the counter, managed to pull himself up after a few kicks.

Of course, with all his strength, he could have done it more easily, but his baby body couldn't handle it.

'If I overdo it, my joints will dislocate, so I need to be careful.'

Looking inside the sink, Siwoo saw a few cups and plates submerged in the dishwater.

'If I add one more cup, it won't be noticeable.'

Siwoo's formula-making operation began.

First, he picked up the electric kettle, which was only a third of his height, and ran to the water purifier to fill it with water.

He heated the water to a suitable temperature and, in the meantime, brought the formula container and a cup.

"Six teaspoons."

Holding the formula container like a bear hugging a honey pot, Siwoo scooped six teaspoons of formula into the cup.

The water in the kettle was just heated.

He poured the warm water into the cup and mixed it thoroughly with a coffee spoon.

Since his father often drank coffee, the coffee spoon was a frequently used tool at home.

It wouldn't be strange if one more spoon was in the dishwater.

Finally, Siwoo busily moved around the counter, putting the kettle and formula container back in their places, and then sat on the counter to enjoy his formula, more leisurely than an adult's tea time.

At nine months old, Siwoo was taking care of his own meals.

Holding the cup with both hands, Siwoo tasted the formula he had made for the first time and marveled.

"Does the cooking skill also apply to making formula? It's so delicious."

He had estimated the amount of water by eye, but as expected, a cooking expert's eye was more accurate than a measuring cup.

Gulp gulp.

Siwoo finished the 240ml of formula and stood in front of the sink, pondering for a moment.

"Since I'm doing this, I might as well... no, I'll clean up perfectly."

Siwoo turned on the water gently and lay down next to the sink.

Siwoo, who had almost half of his small body in the sink, dipped his tiny hands in dish soap and washed the cup and coffee spoon he had used, then put them back in their original places.

There was no trace left of Siwoo making and drinking formula on his own.

"Now that I've eaten, what should I do?"

Siwoo went to the living room after getting down from the counter.

"Maybe I'll look outside?"

He wanted to go out and explore, but that was impossible.

Siwoo opened the living room window.

Since only the inner window of the double window was open, he could see outside without the cold air coming in.

Siwoo's home was a multi-unit building on the first floor, so the view wasn't great.

Sometimes, the green security bars made him feel like he was in a prison.

Still, occasionally, cute cats would come and go, and children would play hide-and-seek.

Of course, sometimes delinquent students would gather to smoke.

It was winter, so there weren't many people around.

Sticking to the window, Siwoo was looking outside when a black cat suddenly jumped onto the fence in front of the house.

The cat that had jumped up seemed to miss a step and fell back down.

"What the, just now."

Siwoo almost burst out laughing at the cat's clumsy move.

But when he saw the face of the fallen cat, the smile on his lips disappeared.

Oh.