Epilogue Chapter 4 - Wedding Anniversary (2)

It was likely different for each household, but a wedding anniversary held special meaning in the Oh Kang-Woo family. An unspoken rule was spending quality time alone with his wife all day; preparing thoughtful gifts and events so sweet that it would rot one’s teeth was a bonus.

Spending a whole day with the wife was rather ordinary. Others might find it lacking but circumstances in Kang-Woo’s family were different since he had not one, not two, but three wives.

‘And it’s not like they don’t get along.’

Although Han Seol-Ah, Cha Yeon-Joo, and Lilith acknowledged each other and maintained a harmonious family for a decade, they likely had some desires to monopolize their husband. Kang-Woo knew better than anyone that desires couldn’t be eliminated so easily.

‘That’s why I try to spend private time with them on their wedding anniversaries.’

However, he couldn’t believe he had forgotten about it no matter how busy he was with the massive rise in the frequency of Rifts opening— the tenth anniversary, no less.

“I-I’m sorry, Tae-Soo! I need to head home!”

“H-Hyung-nim?!”

Kang-Woo turned away from the confused Kang Tae-Soo and ran out of the bar. He had to prepare gifts and special events for his wives in three days.

***

Three days passed in a flash. Kang-Woo frantically prepared anniversary gifts without coming home, making the excuse that he was too busy with his job as the guardian deity. He then took his children to school so that Seol-Ah could relax and prepare for their date.

Clack.

The car door opened and the three children got off.

“Thank you for driving us to school, Father.”

“Yeah, have fun at school.”

“We’re off, Daddy!”

Kang-Woo also got out of the car and patted Kang-Hyun, Kang-Hee, and Lilia’s heads.

“Beloved Father! Please give me a kiss!”

Lilia got on tiptoes and jumped like a rabbit. Kang-Woo clenched his chest from his youngest daughter’s cuteness and kissed her on the cheek.

“

Whine

. Please kiss me on the lips.”

“Nope, I told you I can’t.”

“No fair! You do it all the time to our mothers!”

“Kisses on the lips are only done between married couples.”

“Then I want to marry you too, Father!”

“Whoa, there. That’s a no-go. I’ll tell Seol-Ah.”

“Eek! A-Anything but that!”

Lilia turned pale at the mention of Seol-Ah and furiously shook her head.

‘That’s super effective.’

Kang-Woo wondered what kind of person Seol-Ah was in Lilia’s mind.

‘I mean, I have an inkling.’

“Urgh...”

Just then, Kang-Woo noticed Kang-Hee softly stomping her feet agitatingly, hesitant to enter the school gate.

“What’s wrong?” Kang-Woo asked.

“N-Nothing! Nothing’s wrong, Daddy!” shouted Kang-Hee as she flusteredly shook her head.

But as her father, Kang-Woo knew she was lying.

‘Does she not want to go to school?’

Kang-Hee was the most shy among his three children. He had pulled some strings in the school to get Kang-Hee in the same class as Lilia but it was only natural she would feel reluctant about going to school since she had no friends besides Lilia.

‘Maybe... it was a bad idea to put her and Lilia in the same class.’

Kang-Hee might have felt a sense of relative deprivation as she watched the sociable Lilia making tons of friends. Although only by a few months, Lilia was younger than Kang-Hee. The feelings of a child falling behind their younger sibling in something were more impactful than what the shallow imagination of an adult could fathom.

‘But it’s too late to separate them now.’

That wasn’t true— Kang-Woo could easily pull some strings to get Kang-Hee and Lilia into different classes despite the school semester having already begun.

‘But that won’t resolve anything.’

Kang-Hee’s shyness wouldn’t go away just because Lilia was put in a different class. Rather, it might worsen.

“Urgh...” Kang-Woo groaned as he watched Kang-Hee.

Kang-Hyun carefully approached him and said, Don’t worry, Father. Kang-Hee hasn’t made friends yet because she’s shy, but it’s not because her classmates shun her. Rather, it only makes her more popular because they find that side of her cute.”

“How do you know that, Kang-Hyun...?”

Kang-Hyun was in Grade 2 while Kang-Hee and Lilia were in Grade 1.

Kang-Hyun fixed his glasses and smiled. “I have a responsibility to look after Kang-Hee even if she’s in another grade. I’m her... big brother, after all.”

A hint of sorrow lingered in Kang-Hyun’s eyes as he said that for some reason.

“Kang-Hyun...?”

“Y-Yes? Haha. What is it, Father?”

Kang-Hyun smiled brightly as if nothing happened and shrugged.

‘I guess Kang-Hyun has worries of his own.’

Kang-Woo sighed softly and shook his head. As he had thought, raising kids was difficult.

“Anyway! Today is your tenth wedding anniversary with Mother Seol-Ah! I’ll take good care of Kang-Hee, so don’t worry about us and think only about spending a wonderful day with Mother Seol-Ah!”

“I will. Thanks, son.”

Kang-Woo was moved by his son caring about his parents at an age where it wouldn’t be weird for him to throw temper tantrums.

“And...” Kang-Hyun approached to whisper, “I told Lia and Kang-Hee last night that you couldn’t come home today because you’re busy, so have a good time with Mother Seol-Ah.”

Kang-Hyun raised his glasses and smiled.

“Kang-Hyun, you...”

‘Are you sure this isn’t your second life, my son?’

“Lia, let’s head inside. You too, Kang-Hee.”

“Haaa. Okay, Brother.”

“O-Okay! I’m coming, oppa!”

Kang-Hyun walked into the school gate with Kang-Hee and Lia.

“Hah...” Kang-Woo chuckled as he stared at his children’s backs getting further away and entered the car.

He was worried about Kang-Hee fitting in school and why Kang-Hyun made such a sorrowful expression but he decided to set his worries aside for today.

“Today is Seol-Ah’s day, after all.”

He erased any conflicting thoughts from his mind and started the engine.

***

“Ah, honey! Over here!”

Kang-Woo heard a cheerful voice once he arrived at the meeting place. He turned to see a dolled-up Seol-Ah. She was wearing a white trench coat, a beige belted dress, and heels that weren’t too high. She was so blindingly beautiful that no one would think she was a mother of a child old enough to go to elementary school.

“Did you wait long, Darling?”

“Not at all. I also just got here. What about the children?”

“I dropped them off at school.”

“Fufu. thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me. It’s my job as a father.”

Kang-Woo smiled and held out his arm toward Seol-Ah, who smiled and embraced it. A large mass pushed on his arm through his clothes.

“Ahem,” Kang-Woo coughed awkwardly, pushing the corners of his mouth down with all his might.

“Are you still embarrassed after over ten years?”

“

Embarrassed

wouldn’t be the word I’d use.”

“You fondle them every day as if they’d disappear.”

“S-Since when?!”

Kang-Woo couldn’t endure the frustration.

‘What do you mean, every day?! I can barely touch them once every three days lately because I’m so busy!’

“But I’m happy that your heart still flutters for me.”

Seol-Ah hugged Kang-Woo’s arm harder and smiled. She had slept with Kang-Woo constantly for the past ten years of their married life— even before that when they were just a couple. There was no point in trying to count how many times they had done it at this point.

‘But he always reacts so adorably.’

A regular couple would no longer feel embarrassed over such a regular skinship after such a long time but Kang-Woo’s face reddened each time they locked arms as if it was the first time.

‘I’m sure you have no idea how happy that makes a woman, Kang-Woo.’

Kang-Woo was extremely dense when it came to those things.

“Thank you so much, honey.”

Seol-Ah slightly got on her tiptoes and kissed Kang-Woo on the lips.

“Ahem. Right, is there anywhere you want to go? Or anything you want to eat?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Fufu. In that case, shall we go have some kimchi stew?”

“No, not what I want to eat. What you want to eat.”

No matter how crazy Kang-Woo was for kimchi stew, he was not insensitive enough to have it even on their wedding anniversary.

“What you want to eat is what I want to eat, honey,” Seol-Ah answered without hesitation.

“But it’s our wedding anniversary...”

“It’s exactly because it’s our wedding anniversary. Simply spending time with you alone like this brings me the greatest joy.”

“Ngh.”

‘I’m happy to hear you say that, but that only makes choosing impossibly difficult. Saying anything is fine only makes it harder!’

Kang-Woo sighed after some thought and shook his head.

“Then let’s decide later as we walk around,” he remarked.

“That sounds good.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Oh, we have to stop by the department store.”

“Do you have to buy something?”

“Some clothes and shoes for the kids.”

“Eh?”

Kang-Woo didn’t understand why Seol-Ah would think about shopping for their children’s clothes on their wedding anniversary.

He said, “We don’t have to do that today—”

“No! The sale only lasts until today!” Seol-Ah interjected as she handed Kang-Woo a flyer from her handbag.

It said

“Clothes for children up to 777% off!”

.

‘What the hell does 777% off mean?’

Kang-Woo took a closer look and saw a tiny dot between the second and third sevens. It was 77.7% off.

‘Yeah, I guess they have some shame at the very least. I would’ve bashed their heads in as a special jackpot if it was 7.77%.’

Whatever the case, the ad was not important right now.

“Is there a need for us to buy clothes during a sale...?” Kang-Woo wondered.

They had more money than they could spend. They didn’t need to spend their precious wedding anniversary time chasing sales when they had far more than enough money to buy the entire department store.

“This is different! And I told you before, didn’t I? We need to get into the habit of spending like an average household for our children’s education.”

“That’s true, but...”

“Or do you want our children to grow into spoiled brats who don’t understand the value of money?”

“Urgh...” Kang-Woo had no way to refute Seol-Ah. “Okay, let’s go.”

“Okay!”

Seol-Ah smiled and pulled Kang-Woo by his arm.

***

“Get the hell out of the way, old lady!”

“What?! Who are you calling an old lady, bitch?”

“Argh! Screw off!!”

The children’s clothes section had become a battlefield. Hundreds of people had gathered to fight for the clothes, likely because it was the final day of the sale.

“Beige! Is there a beige one for this?!”

Seol-Ah was also among them, confidently taking part in the battle in the crowd.

“Darling...”

Seeing this side of her hit home that she had become a mother. Kang-Woo waited in an area away from the crowd for Seol-Ah to return.

“Fuuu! I’m sorry for making you wait, Kang-Woo!”

Thirty minutes later, Seol-Ah approached Kang-Woo with large shopping bags in each hand.

“Nice work, Darling.”

“Fufu, this is nothing. Having three kids sure makes a lot of clothes for us to buy at once.”

“Give them here. I’ll carry them for you.”

“Oh. Thank you, honey.”

Kang-Woo took the shopping bags and peeked inside them.

“Hm...?”

He noticed something weird among the children’s clothes.

“Why did you buy these?”

There was a pacifier and a baby bottle the size of a palm. Such items were only used for babies; they were no longer needed in Kang-Woo’s household where their children had entered elementary school.

“Oh, these...?” Seol-Ah smiled and slowly approached Kang-Woo. She tiptoed and whispered in Kang-Woo’s ear, “You’ll be using them tonight.”

‘What...? These? Me?’

“Why...?”