Chapter 29

“Hehehehe…”

I looked at the TV stand holding up the TV. And there, I was staring at Tiny Ping placed on top. I thought to myself that buying Tiny Ping was a great decision. It looked pretty good placed in front of the TV. I was grinning ear to ear, admiring it.

Then, Ha-yeon, sitting next to me, looked at me and said, “Mom, do you like Tiny Ping that much?”

“Uh… uh? It’s not like I like it THAT much…!”

“Really? Then what’s this, Mom?”

Ha-yeon was holding Tiny Ping and speaking. I had no choice but to explain to her.

“This is Hachu Ping… the protagonist from Tiny Ping… and her ability is to charm people by spraying perfume…”

I rambled on about Tiny Ping’s abilities. Ha-yeon was listening intently to my words. Her interest fueled me, and I couldn’t help but continue. When you have such a good listener, you just can’t stop talking.

“Plus, there are other Tiny Pings too…”

After a few minutes of explanation, Ha-yeon nodded her head and said, “Mom! Can we go buy another Tiny Ping?”

“Th-that’s…”

Considering the outrageous price of just one Tiny Ping, buying another one felt like a luxury. Honestly, it didn’t make sense that this tiny figurine cost tens of thousands of won. It probably didn’t even cost a few thousand won to make.

I swallowed my tears and had to tell Ha-yeon, “We’ll have to buy it next time, Ha-yeon… This month, we’ve already exceeded the budget by buying Hachu Ping…”

Of course, if I pushed myself, I could buy more. But it felt a bit wasteful to spend the hard-earned money from working at the café on these Tiny Ping figurines. If Ha-yeon had insisted more strongly, I might have caved, but even now, she didn’t seem too interested in the Hachu Ping in front of the TV.

I was sure it was Ha-yeon who had led the charge to buy it, but now I felt more excited about it. It was clear Ha-yeon liked Tiny Ping too… If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have asked me to buy it at the department store last time. She wasn’t the type to ask for something she didn’t really want.

I fiddled with Tiny Ping’s head in front of the TV.

Still, it looked good.

—

The weekend arrived. I was sprawled out on the bed, sleeping. On weekends, it wasn’t me who woke Ha-yeon up, but rather Ha-yeon who woke me up. Well, even on weekdays, Ha-yeon was the one waking me up… but at least I got up in the mornings. Weekends were different. Maybe because I naturally slept a lot, I woke up much later than Ha-yeon on weekends. And Ha-yeon didn’t even bother waking me up.

Ha-yeon was too mature for her own good. Other kids would wake their moms up first thing in the morning, but Ha-yeon was different. Instead of waking me up, she just went to the living room to watch TV. And the TV was always on the news or documentaries, which were so boring they made you yawn. She did watch variety shows, but the ones in the morning were never fun.

So, it was hard to cater to Ha-yeon’s tastes. I really wanted to watch children’s animations like other parents, though it wasn’t for my own enjoyment. It was purely for Ha-yeon’s sake.

Stretching, I headed to the living room. There, Ha-yeon was fiddling with my phone. I had no idea what she was doing with it.

Come to think of it, I needed to get Ha-yeon her own phone. It was a problem not being able to contact her when we were apart. What era is this where someone doesn’t carry a phone? Watching Ha-yeon use my phone, I made up my mind. Today was the day to buy Ha-yeon her own phone.

I said to Ha-yeon, “Ha-yeon!”

“Mom, you’re awake?”

“Yeah, I’m up. By the way, Ha-yeon, don’t you want a phone?”

“I do, but… it’s a waste of money…”

Seeing Ha-yeon like that, I steeled my resolve. I remembered hearing about a policy that supports phone bills for single-parent households. Of course, there was also a discount on the phone itself. So, I said to Ha-yeon, “Don’t you want to stay in touch with me, Ha-yeon…?”

Seeing my sad expression, Ha-yeon looked surprised and shook her head vigorously. “No, that’s not what I meant…!”

Isn’t it normal for kids to want a phone more? Ha-yeon seemed a bit special. Even when I offered to buy her a phone, she refused. Was there some other reason?

“I prefer borrowing Mom’s phone…”

Come to think of it, my phone was practically Ha-yeon’s. I didn’t know what she did with it, but she was always fiddling with it. Of course, I trusted that Ha-yeon wouldn’t do anything weird, so I wasn’t too worried.

In fact, she might be better at it than me.

“But if we can’t contact each other like last time, it’ll be a big problem.”

In modern society, not having a phone is a huge disadvantage. Even as an adult, living without a phone is almost impossible. Most tasks are handled through phones, and various internet authentications and payments make phones an indispensable item.

It’s no exaggeration to say that humans are becoming cyborgs. Seeing how we can’t live without these machines called phones, it’s a somewhat valid statement.

“Okay, Mom…”

Fortunately, Ha-yeon didn’t argue further. I took her hand and said, “Then let’s go buy a phone?”

“Okay…”

I took Ha-yeon to the mobile phone store. Buying a phone wasn’t too difficult. The staff explained everything in a way even someone like me could understand. The best part was the discount for single-parent households, making the phone cheaper. Plus, there was communication fee support!

I was worried about spending too much on Ha-yeon’s phone, but thankfully, it didn’t cost much. Of course, I bought Ha-yeon a really good phone. I couldn’t bear the thought of my daughter carrying a budget phone. I heard kids these days care about status, and I didn’t want Ha-yeon to be seen with a lousy phone among her friends.

“Hmm…”

“Do you need help, Ha-yeon?”

“No, I’m fine, Mom.”

Ha-yeon was playing around with her phone. Since it wasn’t her first time using a phone, she handled it like a pro. There was no awkwardness in her actions, probably because she used my phone often.

She was doing some kind of authentication, and I could only watch in awe. Ha-yeon was handling it all by herself, so there was no need for me to interfere. I only helped with the parent authentication parts.

“Mom, give me your phone!”

“Okay…”

I handed my phone over without a word. When it came to phones, Ha-yeon knew better, so it was best to leave it to her. Ha-yeon fiddled with my phone for a bit, then handed it back to me.

Curious about what she had done, I asked, “Ha-yeon, what did you do with my phone?”

“I installed a location tracking app so you can know where I am.”

“Huh?”

I saw a new app on my phone. Clicking on it, a map appeared with a red dot.

“Uh…?”

“This is your location! And this is mine!”

Ha-yeon showed me her phone, which displayed the same map with the same red dot. I exclaimed in admiration, “That’s amazing, Ha-yeon!”

“Hehe…!”

Now, there was no way I’d ever lose track of Ha-yeon. In fact, this was great. A location tracking app… I wondered who came up with this.

The app description said it was made for couples, but it seemed more useful for parents with kids.

Though it’s something that should never happen, if Ha-yeon were ever kidnapped, I could track her location in real-time with just this phone.

Nothing could be better than this. Normally, tracking someone’s location requires a complicated process, but with this app, you just turn it on, and the location appears in real-time. No worries at all.

Ha-yeon continued to fiddle with her phone.

—