## Chapter 36 – Free Time (4)
“Haa, this is already the second time doing this, but I can’t get used to it. Why?”
“Just think of it as planting seeds in a pot. Why are you making it so difficult?”
After Seohee went home, I immediately prepared to plant the seeds, taking out the pot and soil I had bought before, but I just couldn’t get used to this act.
It’s just planting seeds in a pot,
just such a simple thing, but it feels awkward.
These seeds are, in a way, my children,
thinking about it gives me a strange and peculiar feeling,
it’s not that I dislike it, but I can’t say I like it either…
“I don’t know.”
I use my finger to dig a small hole in the middle of the soil in the pot, put the seed in the small space,
and then gather the surrounding soil to cover the seed again.
“Done.”
“Oppa, you’re so sentimental.
You’ll treat your real children well later.”
“Don’t tease me.”
“I’m not teasing you, I told you.
Someday, I want to have your real child.”
Chaeyoon gets up from the bed and approaches me.
“…Want to try making one today?♡”
Chaeyoon, who is already showing a lot of bare skin, slightly lifts her pajamas,
revealing the underwear hidden under that thin clothing, tempting me.
“…Okay.”
“…Just a moment.”
Just as I’m about to kiss her lips that have gotten close to my face,
she smoothly passes by me and looks at the pot.
“…Seed.”
Feeling embarrassed for no reason, I blush,
scratching my cheek with my finger, I ask.
“Why, what is it?”
“…It’s strange.”
“What is?”
Already sitting down and holding the pot, she’s looking here and there at the place where the seeds were planted.
What’s wrong with her?
I stop talking to her, who isn’t answering my question and is only focused on the pot,
and I lean over Chaeyoon’s shoulder to look down at the pot with my own eyes to see for myself.
“…Huh?”
I could easily find the reason why she was doing this.
A small and energetic sprout was rising from the spot where I had planted the seed earlier.
Our gazes are solely focused there.
That’s not all,
the sprout is growing visibly larger even at this moment.
It’s growing at an unbelievable speed, like a sped-up observation camera from a nature documentary.
The stem is getting longer, the leaves are changing from light green to vibrant green,
and a flower bud is forming at the end of the stem.
“…This is impossible.”
It wasn’t me, but Chaeyoon who said those words.
She is now experiencing something for the first time in this world that doesn’t make sense with her common sense.
These guys are originally fast-growing.
I thought it was really unbelievable speed when I planted the seeds for the first time.
It was strange that it bloomed in 24 hours,
but the flower bud is gradually opening in less than 5 minutes, no, not even 2 minutes after planting.
“…Is this how it’s supposed to be?”
“No.”
I said it thinking that maybe I don’t know well, but it seems that’s not the case either.
As I keep watching, before long,
the fully blooming flower has a slightly different appearance from the pure white flower that bloomed before.
It’s a little different while being not so different.
The petals, which originally shone purely white without any color, were tinged with a subtle blue light.
Seeing the appearance of that flower, Chaeyoon frowns.
“…What is this?”
That’s what I want to ask.
In the quiet room, Chaeyoon is carefully examining the flower,
and I also can’t take my eyes off that flower.
“…This blue light.”
I’ve seen it somewhere, recently too.
Rummaging through the short past in my head,
it didn’t take long to find the blue light that remained in my mind.
The shining apple I got from breaking the machine that the black men were transporting,
the blue light that the apple emitted is exactly the same.
It feels like puzzle pieces are falling into place one by one.
I ate that apple, and after eating it,
I gained a strange power.
After gaining that power, it was none other than Seohee who conceived the seeds, and the seeds that Seohee gave me also bloomed the blue flower that bloomed in the pot now.
It’s my influence.
Probably.
“…It’s amazing, I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“Not even your ancestors?”
“…At least, it’s not in our genetic memory.”
Even Chaeyoon doesn’t know,
it seems there’s no way to know how to find out at the moment.
“Then that’s settled, Oppa, try using this.”
“What?”
Saying that, Chaeyoon picks a petal with a blue tint and hands it to me.
“Find a suitable person and try using it.
I think it’s easier to find out directly than to let it rot like this.”
“You’re right.”
I receive the petal she’s holding out and observe it closely on my palm.
But I still don’t seem to know anything.
“Aren’t you going to the gym tomorrow anyway?”
“Ah, that’s right.”
I decided to go to the gym that Chaeyoon introduced me to on the weekend to get a consultation.
Chaeyoon smiles at me, looking back and forth between me and the petal.
What on earth is she thinking,
I feel like I know, but I don’t.
The next morning.
I’ve only lived for 20 years, but I never imagined that exercise, which I thought would never be related to my life,
would lead me to a professional gym, raising the hurdles from casual soccer or basketball in the neighborhood.
The intense atmosphere felt from all directions and the smell of rubber mats that I’m smelling for the first time fill this place.
“…Wow.”
First of all, I don’t know what to do in a place like this.
Just standing blankly and looking around the inside of the gym,
I feel gazes looking at me here and there.
I guess they’re just looking at me once because they think I’m a new face.
“Ah, are you Lim Chanwoo who called?”
As I was being pierced by the gazes of the people in this gym,
a really tall man suddenly popped out from the side and started talking to me.
“Yes, I’m Lim Chanwoo.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Hong Hyunchool, the owner here.”
“Ah, yes.”
Smiling with a really likable face,
he bows politely and extends his hand to me, and I accept the owner’s kindness by grabbing his hand, which is about 1.5 times bigger and more rugged than mine.
“As you said yesterday, you’re just planning to exercise simply?”
“Yes, I heard you also take hobby classes here.”
“That’s a shame, you seem to have a really good body for exercising.”
Glancing at my body from my toes,
the owner touches my forearm with his thick hand.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
“No, not really…”
Realizing his rudeness, he’s startled and takes his hand off my body,
taking two steps away from me.
I don’t know about anything else, but he seems like a really sociable guy.
“Then, shall we talk in detail in the office?”
“Yes.”
The place I followed the owner into, called the office, is a space with really simple facilities.
It’s a small space with only a computer and desk in the corner,
and a wall-mounted TV and a sofa for guests, except for the exercise equipment.
“So, if you register for the hobby class…”
Sitting on the sofa and looking around the office,
I was listening to the owner, who had already handed me a cup of coffee, explaining about the gym.
“…So, just tell me the time you want to come out.”
“Weekdays afternoon, and can I come out on weekends too?
I was wondering if the people exercising outside now are athletes,
so I was wondering if it would be a nuisance if I came out on weekends…”
“Yes, it doesn’t matter if you come out on weekends.
Not all those people are athletes,
there’s only one person preparing for a competition.”
The owner, who answered kindly every time, thought that was enough and got up and asked me.
“Then, would you like to exercise today?”
“Is that okay?”
Following the owner who left the office with a smile,
he hands me a jump rope.
“Since it’s your first day, let’s start with some simple cardio.”
Jump rope, I haven’t done it since elementary school.
“How many should I do?”
“Until you’re tired and can’t do it anymore.”
“….”
I think I can recall a little bit of why I hated exercising when I was young.
I let out a breath that I don’t know if it’s a sigh or a deep breath,
and start jump roping.
When I was young, even 10 jump ropes were hard,
but doing it again after a long time as an adult doesn’t feel that difficult.
30, 40… 70, 80.
Already 100, I don’t know if it’s that hard yet.
120, 130.
I felt something strange when I did almost 200.
I realized that the reason why I, who had terrible stamina, wasn’t tired at all wasn’t because I was getting older, so I acted appropriately,
intentionally tripping on the rope to stop.
“….”
“Chanwoo-ssi, keep going.”
“Yes?”
“You don’t look tired at all.”
Awkwardly touching my cheek,
I run my hand over my forehead.
Not a single drop of sweat.
“I, I can’t do it because I’m tired.”
“Really…?”
The owner looks at me, swallowing his saliva.
I really can’t act.
While scratching my head and organizing the jump rope,
I heard a familiar voice from behind.
“Dad, is noona here?”
“Isn’t your sister at home?”
“I came here because she’s not there,
where else would noona be if she’s not here or at home?”
“You look for her, Dad’s busy.”
Is he the owner’s son?
But this voice isn’t very welcome to me.
Thinking that, the moment I turned around.
I regretted not turning around.
“…Lim Chanwoo?”
“…Nice to meet you.”
We don’t know each other’s names, but we’ve already met.
I didn’t know his name or what he did,
but he was the person who hated me more than anyone else.
“What? Do you know him?”
“…He’s my junior at the same university, Dad.”
Chaeyoon’s ex-boyfriend.
I should have known from the moment Lee Chaeyoon introduced me to a gym like this.
“…Nice to meet you, sunbae-nim. I’m Lim Chanwoo.”
“…I know.”
Damn it, I’m screwed.
