Chapter 38: This is my Joy (2)
Lair’s largest children’s toy store, ‘Baby toy’.
The female owner was busy welcoming the incoming customers.
It had been ten years since she operated the business and she gained the ability to distinguish customers. Just like a fortune teller, she could discern whether a customer was someone who would be using a lot of money or not based on their faces.
“Welcome!”
As the door was pushed open, a cadet and a guardian walked in.
The green-haired cadet was pretty enough to surprise her. Her elaborate nose, eyes and crimson lips supplemented her innocent yet difficult-to-approach aura.
According to her physiognomy, she was most likely a type of person who wouldn’t spend much money.
Then, what about the guardian?
A thick pair of eyebrows and a stiff gaze. He appeared extremely frightening and his tall height and large build made him appear huge. Judging from his atmosphere, he looked like someone who had been in a war until recently.
There were sometimes such guardians.
Looking at the man’s face…
…It was scary.
However, she was a veteran.
The fact that a man like that was interested in children’s toys meant that he had returned from the battlefield to a daily life, and those customers tend to open their wallets relatively easily.
After sharing a short conversation, the cadet and the guardian soon split up.
Leaving the store, the green-haired cadet disappeared off to a distance. Seeing that, the owner made a tight grip.
Her opportunity had arrived.
The man threw a glance around the surroundings, before carrying his hand over to a blue teddy bear. It was one of the least popular teddy bears of the store, which cost roughly $20.
“Hello dear customer.”
His hazy gaze faced her – it was a frightening pair of eyes. In an instant, she could feel her fingertips turning stiff, but the owner decided to have a bit more courage.
“Are you perhaps thinking of a gift for a child?”
“…Yes.”
As expected, his voice was likewise scary. But this was merely the beginning. His mouth had opened, which was half the work done already.
“How old is the child?”
“Around… four years old.”
“I see. And was that your daughter?”
“No, not a daughter.”
“Ah, I see. Then are you perhaps the uncle?”
After some hesitation, he gave a nod.
“For a four-year-old child, toys that require more thinking are better than plushies. How about the role play sets over there instead of a teddy bear? Would you like to follow?”
The man obediently followed after her. From this point onward was her area of expertise.
The owner showed a role play toy set.
“This here is a kitchen set. It can be played with her uncle.”
“…”
“When they reach four, children start forming a social nature. So, you can create a deeper bond by cooking with the child.”
Saying that, the owner slashed a replica of a fruit with a toy knife.
Without saying a word, the man stared blankly at the set. It seemed to her that he was imagining the four-year-old child playing with this playset.
As she had expected, after staring blankly for a long time, the man made a hazy smile.
“I would like that please.”
The owner gained courage from those words.
It would work for this customer.
This man who lived in a large world consisting of dungeons and wars, did not care about small things like children’s toys.
The owner formed a brighter smile.
“…Haha. By the way if you buy the kitchen role play set now, other playsets will have a 10% discount. Would you like to have a look at the hospital role play set over there as well?”
Once again, the man obediently followed her until they could see a toy stethoscope, an automated external heart defibrillator, syringes, a nurse cap, medicine containers and a thermometer.
“As you would probably know already, role play is the starting point of an indirect experience right? So although normal toys are good, it is better to have them experience things that are difficult to normally encounter. It can increase their creativity and attentiveness. Very good for their development.”
She continued speaking like she was on a roll. Yet again the man showed a faint smile, perhaps due to imagining the cute ‘four year old’ child.
“That as well please.”
It worked!
“Ah, then there’s also…”
Grabbing onto that opportunity, the owner suggested four playsets in total and the man said he would buy them every single time.
Good. Everything was now perfect.
It was when the owner was about to receive the card from the man, for the payment.
The door of the store was pushed open, as a green-haired cadet walked in. In one of her hands, was a shopping bag of a luxury store.
“Huh?”
The name written on her nametag, read Yu Bom.
She opened her eyes wide open.
“Ahjussi. What are they?”
“Toys.”
“Are you going to buy all that?”
“…They looked good.”
With a pair of olive-coloured eyes which had the same colour as her hair, the cadet looked back and forth between the owner and the playsets. The cadet’s voice going, “Hmm…” made the owner feel a strange sense of anxiety.
“I don’t think we should buy these.”
Sure enough, the cadet started moving her hands.
“We shouldn’t?”
“Yes.”
“Why.”
“Gyeoul won’t feel any interest in things like these.”
After saying that, the cadet returned everything which the owner had somehow finished promoting.
“Ah, you see dear customer. If you buy them together now there is a 10% discount…”
“Oh, 10%?”
“Yes yes.”
“That’s fine.”
As expected, she wasn’t easy just like what her physiognomy suggested. Rejected, the owner licked her lips in regret.
“I don’t know much you see.”
When the man said that, the cadet returned a smile.
“But that looks quite good. It looks similar to the other one and it won’t make her confused.”
Yu Jitae was carrying the blue teddy bear from the very start. Taking it from his hands, the cadet stretched it out to the owner.
A $200 worth sales had been reduced to $20 in an instant!
It was when the owner was licking her lips yet again in regret.
“Ah, you take discounts right?”
The cadet held out and showed a hologram display of her watch.
– Baby toy membership discount
“Yes. After the 8% discount, that will be $18.40 please.”
Wearing a bitter smile of defeat, the owner was about to take the payment. That was when the cadet once again shared the display.
“Yes. And these ones as well.”
“…?”
Seeing the display, the owner doubted her own eyes.
– VIP household discount. 10%
– Lair guardian discount. 10%
– Borson membership discount. 5%
– 17th Block coupon discount 20%
…
Discounts that could be overlapped were right before her eyes as if they had thoroughly prepared beforehand.
Before long, the $20 teddy bear was discounted until it reached $9.13. A drop of cold sweat flowed down the back of the owner’s spine. At this point, she wasn’t making any profit by selling it.
That was when the female owner realised.
‘To think that she was planning for this many discounts. This cadet…’
She was a pro.
More so than most housewives.
Although baffled, the owner was about to receive the card from the cadet but while saying, “Oh right,” the cadet flicked her wrist and raised the card back up. Then, she asked with a smile.
“I can earn reward points right?”
Suppressing her tears, the owner gave a nod.
***
“When did you buy all that.”
He asked while staring at the shopping bags in Bom’s hand.
“You must have lost track of time.”
While Yu Jitae was in the middle of being ‘business’ed, Bom had gone to a luxury store inside the department store for Kaeul’s wallet, and had bought a handcuff and a whip for interpersonal use from the armoury.
They were real products, and not toys. Lair was after all a military facility and all cadets were permitted to carry weapons so there weren’t any problems.
In any case, the shopping session was a success. At least that was what he thought.
“Yu Bom. Not bad.”
Bom replied nonchalantly with the usual expression.
“Ahjussi is a pushover.”
Speechless, Yu Jitae closed his mouth. Seeing that, Bom went, “Uhu,” and suppressed her laugh.
“It’s fine. Since it was all for Gyeoul, you are a pushover in a good way.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course? So please buy a police role play set for Yeorum now.”
“…?”
“Ah, did you know? If you buy it now, you can get a 10% discount!”
She was clearly making fun of him.
It was when Yu Jitae was struggling to find an answer – after glancing at his face, she started quietly laughing again.
“It’s a joke.”
He gave a nod.
“But you need to be grateful. If I wasn’t there, ahjussi would have bought a whip, a handcuff, ropes, candles, chains and all sorts of stuff for Yeorum’s gift.”
“Even I won’t go that far.”
When he made a straight face, Bom widened her eyes into circles and raised two fingers up.
“Even with a 20% discount?”
“…”
Yu Jitae couldn’t find any words to reply with, as Bom bursted out into laughter yet again. He was teased all the way back to the house, and Bom continued laughing while gasping for breath.
“Ah, ah… my stomach hurts…”
*
By the time they arrived in front of the residential area, a savoury smell halted Bom’s feet. It was a street vendor selling delimanjoo, and Bom showed interest to the sweet smell of the bread.
“One big bag please.”
She seemed to have been attracted by the smell. It was Yu Jitae’s first time seeing her buy and eat something in the streets like this.
“Here you go.”
As they resumed walking down the road, Bom picked up a few pieces and threw them into her mouth.
“Mhmm…”
But after eating just a few pieces, she seemed to have lost interest.
She started shoving the snack to his mouth one by one. It appeared as if she was gesturing him to eat it off her hand but he didn’t want to and thus picked it up with his hand before placing it into his mouth. Although Bom didn’t seem to be bothered by it, her hand passing the delimanjoo did not stop.
Due to that, Yu Jitae had to consume the soft snack until the sweet smell of pastry cream remained in his mouth.
While staring at that, Bom opened her mouth.
“How was it today?”
“How was what.”
“Was it fun?”
The only thing he remembered was him being teased by Bom. Yu Jitae therefore decided to ask back.
“What about you.”
“Since it was my first time playing around with ahjussi, I was worried that it would be awkward, but it was fun. What about you ahjussi?”
She spoke with a nonchalant tone.
He remembered that he had gone shopping with her straight after bringing her here. After some thought, he likewise replied with a nonchalant voice.
“It was good like last time.”
That was when Bom’s feet came to a stop. Yu Jitae didn’t care too much about it and continued walking but looked back when she remained on the spot for a long time.
“What are you doing, standing there?”
Wearing the same indifferent expression as always, Bom shook her head.
She then followed after him.
***
Looking back, it was very scary back then.
A man who abruptly flew over to Firenze looking for herself. That suspicious man was stronger than herself who was a dragon, and seemed to know her very well. He reeked of danger.
The man seemed to be living a daily life like everyone else by sleeping and eating. However, Yu Bom knew that it was close to an act. Despite the inability to fall asleep, the man pretended to sleep and took meals despite not needing it.
It was an action which would sometimes give her goosebumps.
That was why Yu Bom thought to herself, that she too must act.
Act in order to get rid of that dangerous man’s suspicion against herself. It was because she thought that the dragons including herself might all be killed if she didn’t do that.
Ever since the first day she met him, Yu Bom acted naturally. She suggested that they go shopping together and created a meal for him. It was because she remembered from a certain book that sharing a meal together could reduce their tension.
When the man said that he would be bringing other dragons as well, she cooperated as much as she could. It would be impossible to stop him if he so desired anyways, and thus Yu Bom helped him so that it would be as peaceful as possible.
Even when she sometimes felt a strange sense of comfort, she didn’t ease her caution.
It was still unsure, so let’s not be at ease and act out an everyday life, while observing him.
But the current Yu Bom was no longer acting. Although she couldn’t remember when it was from, Yu Bom had already become her honest self with not a single falsehood.
‘Good like last time.’
That one sentence from Yu Jitae had reminded Yu Bom of those things and she stood still on the spot. She blankly stared at his back, just like when she had gone shopping with him for the first time.
But now, he wasn’t scary.
“What are you doing, standing there?”
That was when he looked back from a distance. She shook her head and started walking towards Yu Jitae.
Bom, liked today better than the other day.