Mommy and Baby

Five-3

After the summer vocation in 2021 started, Choi Hun-ae went to Daegu, pretending to meet her youngest uncle but actually to meet Choi So-dong, who told her: “I have been wanting to climb Palgong Mountain with you, mommy. But I’m afraid that it’ll be too dangerous to you.”

Palgong Mountain is a large mountain in the northern suburb of Daegu City. There are many pine trees on this mountain, causing its surface to be always dark green. Moreover, there are some places of historic interest and scenic beauty on this mountain, encouraging Choi So-dong to lead her lover to enjoy them together. The problem was that Choi Hun-ae’s heart was after all weaker than the normal; as a result, Choi So-dong wondered whether she could accept it.

Having considered for a short while, Choi Hun-ae replied:

“OK, baby, I’d like to climb the mountain with you. You know, to avoid damaging my heart, my classmates in the university never ask me to climb any mountain with them. But now I guess it’s unnecessary. As long as I don’t move too quickly, climbing a mountain is unable to endanger my life so easily.”

“Great!” Choi So-dong cheered and laughed, as happy as a kid whose parents had bought her favorite toy for her.

Unaware of the unusual relationship between his daughter and the distant niece, after knowing that they would go to climb Palgong Mountain together, Choi Jin-moo told Choi So-dong: “Of course I’m happy to know that Hun-ae and you are so friendly with each other, So-dong. However, because of Hun-ae’s illness, you must be very careful when protecting her.”

“No problem, dad,” promised Choi So-dong. When Choi Hun-ae and herself went to climb the mountain, she specially carried all baggage, while the former merely needed to carry herself.

According to a geographical record, the altitude of Palgong Mountain is more than one thousand meters. In South Korea, such high mountain is rare and therefore attracting; let alone it was in the summer now, when the weather was suitable for climbing a mountain. This was why besides Choi Hun-ae and Choi So-dong, there were hundreds of persons who came to climb Palgong Mountain. To let themselves feel as cool as possible, many of these persons were wearing short clothes specially designed for athletes. Looking at them, Choi Hun-ae could not help guessing: “Maybe I and baby should be the same as them, wearing such clothes.”

Right after this, however, she negated this viewpoint of herself:

“While I’m impossible to climb the mountain quickly, baby must be also slow, as she isn’t only responsible for carrying our objects but accompanying with me. In this way, we won’t feel too hot.”

After climbing the mountain for several minutes, Choi Hun-ae saw there was a long chair beside a path; at the same moment, Choi So-dong asked her: “Do you want to have a rest, mommy?”

Choi Hun-ae laughed and answered: “Oh dear, baby, do you have any witchcraft? You’re always able to know what I’m guessing.”

As a result, they sat on the long chair to have a rest, drinking some water. Suddenly, Choi So-dong demanded: “Tell something about your Chinese classmates to me, mommy.”

“You’re interested in them, aren’t you?” Choi Hun-ae asked.

“Of course. In the past I didn’t ask you, because I want to spend more time in talking about our things. But I have changed my mind now.”

“OK, let me tell you something about my high school classmates,” replied Choi Hun-ae, who firstly mentioned Wang Junjie and introduced: “When we were classmates, he had a nickname ‘Lin Junjie’ in Mandarin, namely the standard form of Chinese language.”

“Why did he have such nickname?” Choi So-dong did not understand and therefore consulted.

“Lin Junjie is a citizen of Singapore, but his ancestors were Chinese people from Fujian, a province,” explained Choi Hun-ae. “What’s more, he’s a handsome pop singer. When we were high school student, he’s already not so famous; however, some classmates of mine still knew and admired him. As Wang Junjie’s give name was the same as that of Lin Junjie, these classmates gave such nickname to him.”

Having understood, Choi So-dong asked: “Is he as handsome as that singer?”

Choi Hun-ae could not help laughing and then answered: “Although it seems to be impolite to my classmate, I have to admit: he’s less handsome.”

Although Wang Junjie was less handsome than Lin Junjie whose official name in Singapore was Josephson Junction Lam, and some neighbors in his hometown had ever abused at him due to believing he was with the virus of Covid-19, fortunately, he was never attacked by this disease. As another classmate of Choi Hun-ae, however, Gao Zihan, whose university was also located in Wuhan, suffered from Covid-19. Although he was recovered from his illness soon, what injured him more seriously was the discrimination against him.

“Someone regard me as a virus library, after knowing I have ever suffered from Covid-19,” he once told Choi Hun-ae, when chatting with the latter on Internet. “If the violence were legal, they would necessarily beat me.”

“It’s not your fault, Gao Zihan,” Choi Hun-ae comforted him. “Don’t let these fools injure your own emotion.”

“But I’m not as brave as Gao Zihan,” Choi Hun-ae wanted to mock herself. “While he dares to let others know that he has ever been a patient of Covid-19, I never dare to let others know that I am a lesbian.”

However, Choi Hun-ae did not speak these words to Choi So-dong, who told her: “Last month, So-mong told me that he wanted to guard Dokdo Islands.”

Two years younger than Choi So-dong, So-mong whose full name was Choi So-mong was her younger brother. In 2021, when he was 19 years old, the same as what his elder sister did two years ago, Choi So-mong started his undergraduate period as a police in the future. More exactly, different from Choi So-dong, he dreamed to be a maritime police that worked in Dokdo Islands, a disputed territory between South Korea and Japan, each of which insisted that herself was the only legal owner.