UAI Chapter 11

 Episode 11

 

Hajin was troubled, unsure of how to respond to the members' suggestions.

At first, he had planned to find a place to live with Sejin, just the two of them. But hearing the members' earnest words, he started to wonder if living together with them might not be such a bad idea.

However, he hesitated to answer because he worried about burdening the members.

Seeing Hajin’s hesitation, Sejin spoke up.  

“Uncle! I want to live together! I like uncles!”

‘Yes. It’s better to be with the members. If it’s just the two of us, it wouldn’t be good for Uncle. He sometimes seems lost when he’s alone. I need to make sure that doesn’t happen. It’s better to have lots of people around him so he won’t feel lonely!’

Sejin’s outburst made the members burst out laughing.  

“Hahaha! Sejin, you like the uncles? The uncles love you too!”  

“Right! If Sejin likes it, what’s there to think about? It’s already decided!”  

“Hajin, you don’t have a choice. If you say no, we’ll just live with Sejin without you. Haha!”  

Hajin smiled at their words.  

“Thank you. You all know how much I love you, right?”  

His somewhat embarrassing remark made everyone laugh awkwardly.  

“Geez, why are you saying the obvious again?” 

Hwan said, scratching his head.  

Seeing the older members feeling embarrassed, Hajin didn’t say any more. Instead, he turned to Sejin.  

“Sejin, do you really like living with the uncles?”  

“Yes!!”  

“You only spent one day with them yesterday. Was it really that good?”  

“Of course! I told you, the uncles are nice people!”  

“What? Pfft!”  

Sejin’s response made everyone laugh out loud.  

“Did we just get validated by a three-year-old? Haha!”  

“Yeah! Sejin has good judgment! Hahaha!”  

“Why does this feel better than winning an award?”  

“Can we brag about this? We’re pure enough to be recognized by a kid!”  

“But didn’t Sejin just say you’re nice, not pure?”  

“Ah, what does it matter? If pure Sejin approves of someone, that means they’re pure too. Haha!”

In the end, Hajin decided to live together with them.  

“Alright, since Sejin likes it so much, I’ll rely on you, guys.”  

“Rely on us? Don’t say it like that.”  

“Yeah, we’ve known each other for ten years. We’re basically family now.”  

Once the decision was made, Jaewon turned to Hajin.  

“Alright, before Sejin gets discharged, we’ll set up the guest room as his room.”  

“Ah, that’s nice, but won’t that be a hassle for you guys?”  

“What’s so troublesome about it? We just need to organize a bit and bring in some furniture.”  

“Right, Hajin. Don’t worry. We’ll make it look amazing!”  

“If it doesn’t work out, we can just get help from a professional.”

“Yeah, that’s probably the best option. No matter how good we are, we can’t compare to an expert.”

“Alright, let’s just decide on the design and leave it to a professional! If we ask Hyung Cheolhwan, he can probably find someone for us.”

“Wow! Then we need to think about how to decorate Sejin’s room.”

Excited, Roy pulled out his phone and started searching.

“Wow! There are so many cute kids' room designs. There’s a huge variety of furniture too!”

Hwan peeked over Roy’s shoulder and joined in.  

“Wow! This one is so pretty.”  

Hearing the two of them, the others also took out their phones and started searching.  

“Hajin, how are you planning to handle sleeping arrangements? Are you going to sleep with Sejin, or will you sleep separately?”  

At Joomin’s question, Hajin answered,  

“We’ll sleep together. Sejin is still young.”  

“I’m not!! I’m not a baby! I can sleep alone!”  

Sejin quickly jumped into the conversation.  

“What? You don’t want to sleep with Uncle?” 

Hajin asked, sounding a little hurt.  

“It’s not that. I’m a grown-up now, so I can sleep by myself.”  

“Aren’t you scared of sleeping alone?”  

“Nope. I’m a man!”  

Sejin’s confident answer made everyone laugh.  

“Right, right. Our Sejin is a man.”  

“Looks like Sejin can sleep alone, but maybe Uncle Hajin can’t. Haha!”  

“Seo Hajin, are you still too young to sleep by yourself? Haha!”  

Of course, they didn’t miss the opportunity to tease Hajin.  

“No, it’s not like that! I’m just worried that Sejin might get scared if he sleeps alone. Geez, you guys!”  

Joomin, stopping the teasing, offered a suggestion.  

“Then how about we put a bed in Sejin’s room and also replace your bed? That way, if Sejin doesn’t want to sleep alone, he can sleep with you.”  

“Hmm. That might work.”  

“Here, I found something. How about this? You could put a low-profile family bed in your room, and for Sejin’s room, a low bed with bumpers so he doesn’t get hurt. What do you think?”  

Joomin showed them the pictures he had found.  

“Oh! This looks great!” 

Hajin said, clearly impressed as he looked at the photos.  

“Hey, let us see too,” 

The others said, gathering around Joomin to take a look.  

“Oh, this is nice! Should we switch to something like this for ourselves too?”  

“Alright, we should change it. Sejin might want to sleep with us sometimes!”  

At Roy’s comment, Hwan scoffed.  

“Sejin? With you? Hmm, I don’t think so.”  

“What? What’s wrong with me?”  

As the two seemed on the verge of bickering again, Jaewon intervened.  

“Both of you, be quiet! Stop arguing and decide how to decorate Sejin’s room instead.”  

The two fell silent and went back to searching on their phones.  

“Wow! This wallpaper is beautiful.”  

“Seriously, there’s so much out there.”  

After a long time spent searching, the members finalized the basic plan for decorating Sejin’s room and started explaining it to him for approval.  

“Sejin, we’re going to set up your room for after you’re discharged. We’ll use this bed, this wallpaper, and this bookshelf and desk. Do you like it?”  

Jaewon, acting as the representative, showed photos to Sejin.  

Looking at the pictures, Sejin’s eyes sparkled with excitement.  

‘Wow~~ I’m going to have such a nice room. In my past life, I lived in a tiny one-room studio!’  

After contemplating for a while, Sejin pointed at the options he liked.  

“Hmm. I like this bed, not that desk, but this one instead. And for the wallpaper, I want the one with clouds!”  

“Is that what you like? Alright, Uncle will remember what Sejin likes and make your room amazing. Promise!”  

At Jaewon’s words, Sejin quickly extended his pinky finger.  

“Hey, I want to make the promise with Sejin!”  

“No way, I’ll do it!”  

“Come on, as the leader, it should be me. Back off!”  

“Alright, promise!”  

“Yep! Promise!”  

In the end, Jaewon made the pinky promise with Sejin and smiled warmly.  

While they were chatting, lunchtime approached.  

“Alright, Sejin, it’s time to eat lunch now.”  

Hajin placed the food tray on the coffee table in the living room.  

“Sejin’s going to eat lunch now. Aren’t you guys hungry?”  

“No, it’s fine. I don’t feel like eating much right now. If we get hungry later, we’ll order something or have some snacks we bought.”  

“Yeah, don’t worry about us. Just feed Sejin.”  

“Or, if you want, we can feed him while you eat with us now.”  

“By the way, isn’t the caregiver going to eat?”  

“Oh, she’s going to eat after we finish. She’ll head out to grab a meal and come back. We’ve been taking turns.”  

“Alright? Then eat your meal quickly.”  

“Okay. Got it. Sejin, come here and sit down. Let’s eat.”  

Sejin, who had been playing among the uncles, walked over to Hajin.  

Just yesterday, walking was still a bit difficult for him, but now he could easily manage short distances.  

When he approached, he saw that today’s lunch was bibimbap.  

The bowl was neatly arranged with various seasoned vegetables, stir-fried beef, and a glistening fried egg. Alongside it were nabak kimchi, grilled short ribs, and some fruits for dessert.  

Hajin mixed a small amount of gochujang, mindful of the spiciness, and fed a spoonful of the bibimbap to Sejin.  

Sejin, now completely comfortable being fed, took the food and shivered in delight at the taste of the bibimbap.  

“What’s this? Is the bibimbap so good that Sejin is shaking?”  

“Seems like it. Haha.”  

Despite the chatter around him, Sejin focused solely on eating.  

After quickly chewing and swallowing, Sejin opened his mouth wide to show Hajin.  

“Haha, okay, I’ll give you more.”  

Hajin scooped another spoonful of bibimbap into Sejin’s mouth and then used his chopsticks to cut the short ribs into smaller pieces.  

He fed a piece of the short ribs to Sejin.  

“!!”  

The salty and slightly sweet flavor of the soy sauce hit Sejin’s taste buds like a burst of flavor.  

“It’s delicious!!!”  

“Hahaha!”  

“Wow! Sejin could totally start a food vlog!”  

“It must really be good. Just watching him makes me hungry now. Haha.”  

The members laughed as they watched Sejin’s enthusiastic eating.  

Unbothered by the attention, Sejin continued eating voraciously and soon finished his meal.  

For a moment, he thought about how messily he had eaten, but he decided to ignore it.  

‘Having a young body is great in times like this. Besides, the food was just too good to care about others.’  

Sejin leaned back on the sofa, patting his full belly.  

“Hajin, hurry up and eat too. Your food must be cold by now.”  

“Yeah. Alright, I’ll eat now. If you guys get hungry, grab something to eat too.”  

Hajin started his delayed meal.  

As Sejin absentmindedly watched Hajin eating, he suddenly got up and began searching for something.  

‘Ah, there it is!’  

It was the toy sports car that Joomin had given him as a gift yesterday.  

‘Since I’ve eaten, it’s time for a drive!’  

“Uncle.”  

Sejin tugged on Hwan’s sleeve, who was sitting next to him.  

“Hm? What’s up?”  

“That!”  

Sejin pointed at the sports car.  

“Oh, does Sejin want to ride the car?”  

“Yes!!”  

At those words, Roy quickly brought the toy car over.  

“Our Sejin has great taste. Yeah, after eating, you definitely need to go for a drive. Haha!”  

Smiling, Hwan placed Sejin in the toy car.

Although Sejin could drive it himself, since they were in the hospital room, Hwan and Roy decided to push it for him.

“Alright~~ Starting the ride!”  

“Let’s go~~ Vroom~~”  

“Wait!! Bear too!”  

“Oh, you want to take your teddy bear for a drive? Got it. Uncle will put the bear in the passenger seat for you.”  

When Hwan placed the teddy bear in the passenger seat, a satisfied Sejin stretched out his arms and shouted,  

“Let’s go!!”  

Hwan and Roy carefully pushed Sejin around the living room, making a circuit while playing with him.

“Kya-ha-ha~~”  

Seeing Sejin wave his arms in excitement, the adults watched him warmly.

“Seeing Sejin like this is really touching.” 

 

“Right? It wasn’t that long ago he was lying in the ICU. It’s truly a miracle.”  

Joomin agreed with Jaewon’s comment.  

Looking at the child, who had been unconscious in the ICU after the surgery, now awake, smiling, eating well, and playing happily, made them believe in miracles all over again.  

The doctors had said there was no hope, but seeing him like this, it was clear that this was nothing short of a miracle.  

After playing for a while, a sweaty Sejin returned, stepping out of the car.

“Did you have fun, Sejin?”  

Joomin asked while pulling out a wet tissue to wipe Sejin’s face.  

“Yes. It was fun!!”  

“Alright. Once you’re discharged and living with your uncles, we’ll play with you every day.”  

“Yes. That sounds great!”  

The members of B-One regularly visited the hospital room, concerned about Hajin struggling alone, and played with Sejin every day.

Each visit, they brought gifts for Sejin, and before long, the hospital room was filled with his toys.

Hajin felt immense gratitude but also began to worry about how he would eventually transport all these items.

Eventually, he had to nag them to stop bringing gifts, which finally ended the barrage of presents from the uncles.  

But since they couldn’t bring toys, they instead started bringing loads of snacks. The fridge quickly filled up, and Hajin ended up sharing the snacks with the VIP ward nurses and staff, making it a regular occurrence.  

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