Chapter 1609: Pushing Forward (4)

Flinch.

Flinch.

Kang Jin-Ho couldn’t help but furrow his brow slightly after noticing how much the kids flinched and fidgeted nervously.

That was when Choi Yeon-Ha elbowed him in the side.

‘Mister Jin-Ho, your expression! Stop scowling!’

‘Mm.’

Kang Jin-Ho sighed softly, his gaze still locked on the children before him. He knew he must smile, but his face refused to obey his commands. The sight of the kids’ skinny arms sticking out from below the short sleeves only made him furrow his brow more and more.

I didn’t think it’d be this bad…!

He had been using Seongsim as the “standard” for what an average orphanage should be like.

He had seen plenty of instances of the Seongsim orphans being discriminated against because of who they were. But never had he ever seen those kids get discriminated against or even not receive enough food within the orphanage itself. However, this was…

I’ve been too lackadaisical.

He shouldn’t be blamed, though, as humans generally interpreted the world through preconceived notions built on what they had seen and experienced in life. That was why, even after hearing about some of the bad orphanage directors and their conducts, Kang Jin-Ho believed they would still not cross that minimum line.

However, the state of these children facing him was far worse than he had imagined. Not only were they emaciated, but…!

Kang Jin-Ho grimaced again. Those are eyes of fear. Fear of other people…!

He had seen those eyes before. Far too many times to count, as a matter of fact. But those eyes shouldn’t belong to these young kids. Renewed anger began welling up from deep within his gut.

That was when Choi Yeon-Ha elbowed him in the side again.

“…! Kuh-hmm!”

Kang Jin-Ho fake-coughed to clear his throat.

Choi Yeon-Ha realized Kang Jin-Ho wouldn’t be much of a help in this situation and decided to handle it by herself. While smiling brightly, she stepped closer to the children.

“Hi?”

“H-hi… ma’am… Hello.”

The children quickly bowed and greeted her. They were still scared, but it seemed they were taught to greet back unquestioningly when an adult greeted them.

Even Choi Yeon-Ha sighed under her breath at the sight of these poor kids fidgeting and nervously bowing back.

“I guess you guys are surprised by what happened.”

Choi Yeon-Ha cautiously approached the children, but that only made them flinch and take a half step back.

“…”

Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow again. He had come across many kids in his life, but this must be his first time meeting a group of kids who displayed such wariness toward strangers.

“Hmm…” Choi Yeon-Ha also furrowed her brow while thinking, This will get us nowhere. She glanced behind at the caregivers behind the kids. “Ladies?”

“Yes, Miss Choi?”

Choi Yeon-Ha gestured at the caregivers. “Take them all to the dining room!”

“Yes, Miss Choi!”

As the children followed the caregivers into the dining room, Lee Hyeon-Su, who had been observing the situation, sighed softly. “This is terrible, sir.”

Kang Jin-Ho grunted. “Mm!”

“I generally don’t like kids, but still… I don’t feel so great after seeing how rough those kids look, sir. Kids their age shouldn’t be making those faces…”

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Lee Hyeon-Su, his face expressionless. “Those orphanage directors and managers, are they still in Korea?”

“…No, sir. I’ve already shipped them off. Please calm down.”

“Bring them back here.”

“No, sir. You can’t!”

Lee Hyeon-Su sighed deeply again.

Although Kang Jin-Ho was making an unreasonable demand, Lee Hyeon-Su fully sympathized with his boss. He also wanted to rip those bastards into pieces with his own hands, after all!

He thought he had tormented those bastards enough, and where he had shipped them, there should be plenty more opportunities to make them regret what they had done. But the gloomy atmosphere of those kids made him think that maybe… he hadn’t done enough!

“Geez. Maybe I should have listened to you and cut off one of their limbs or something,” Lee Hyeon-Su tutted loudly.

Kang Jin-Ho ignored that and asked another question. “Those caregivers just now. They are originally from this orphanage, right?”

What he meant by that question was, “Why are those caregivers still around when they knew what was going on?”

Lee Hyeon-Su replied, “It seems they were unaware, sir. No, let me rephrase that. Some of them knew what was happening, but the ones remaining had no idea.”

“But doesn’t that mean they are utterly incompetent?”

From Kang Jin-Ho’s perspective, he just couldn’t understand it.

These caregivers were supposed to look after these kids like their own children. However, they didn’t notice a single thing even though the kids were clearly in pain? They didn’t even bother to investigate the reason, and even dared to turn a blind eye?

Wasn’t that the height of incompetence? People like that didn’t deserve to be caregivers.

Lee Hyeon-Su replied, his voice carrying a lot of bitterness. “I wanted to fire them right away, but Jo Gyu-Min said we shouldn’t, sir.”

“Why?”

“He said that the kids would become anxious if their environment changed too suddenly. Their orphanage changing would be traumatic on its own, so the caregivers they are familiar with getting fired all at once would only worsen the trauma.”

“Hah…” Kang Jin-Ho’s expression crumpled. That reasoning sounded annoyingly logical, didn’t it? “Fine. I’ll let it go this time, but know this. I do not want to keep such people around.”

“I totally agree, sir. Don’t worry, I’ll remember it and handle it later down the line.”

Kang Jin-Ho weightily nodded.

Choi Yeon-Ha glanced at the two men. “Are you two done?”

“Yes,” Kang Jin-Ho nodded. “However, why the dining room?”

“We can talk all we want, but none of it will get through to those kids, you know? They obviously won’t believe us even if we promise them to treat them right from now on. Everyone they’ve met until now probably said the exact same thing, after all.”

“Yes… you’re right.”

“In that case, it’s time to show them instead.”

“Really? How?”

Choi Yeon-Ha grinned confidently. “A full tummy makes a person a lot more agreeable, you see?”

***

“Can we really eat all these?”

Choi Yeon-Ha enthusiastically nodded. “Of course! Eat as much as you want, okay?”

“B-but, I don’t think we can finish all these…”

“It’s fine! You don’t have to finish them all.”

“R-really? We can leave some behind?”

Choi Yeon-Ha grinned brightly. “Of course you can! From now on, you don’t have to force yourself to eat something disgusting. And eat what you want to eat, okay? However! You mustn’t stay cooped up inside. You gotta promise me that you’ll go outside and exercise, too!”

“Okay!”

Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Su dazedly stared at Choi Yeon-Ha.

The former thought, “How can she be this good at making friends…?” Meanwhile, the latter was thinking, “Kuh~uh, now that’s a first-rate actress for you.”

A mountainous amount of food was piled up on the dining room table. They were dishes specifically designed to appeal to children: various hamburgers and pizzas, plus pasta dishes, bulgogi, steaks, and fried chicken.

Foods that had armed themselves with the frightening combat power called excessive calories worked wonders while conquering the fortress called wary children.

“Hurry and enjoy yourselves! Don’t mind us and stuff your faces as much as you want!” Choi Yeon-Ha gleefully shouted.

At first, the kids were too wary to move, but eventually, they began reaching out to the food one by one. And once they realized that the adults wouldn’t scowl at them for eating too much and became happier instead, the speed of the food disappearing into their mouths exponentially increased in no time at all.

Choi Yeon-Ha shouted again, “Hey, you! Drink water, too! And Cola! Mister Jin-Ho, Chief Lee! What are you two doing! Get the drinks ready!”

“Huh…? Yes, ma’am!”

“We’ll get on it right away!”

“…What are you doing! These are little kids! Don’t you know they need straws, you pair of childless bachelors?!”

Kang Jin-Ho almost retorted, But you also never had kids before?

Even though he had plenty of things to get off his chest, Kang Jin-Ho dared not challenge Choi Yeon-Ha’s authority this time.

While carrying a small child in one arm and feeding him french fries, Choi Yeon-Ha walked around the table and chatted with other kids.

The two men watching couldn’t help but whisper under their breaths.

‘Looks like this was her calling all along.’

‘It seems she had one more talent hidden up her sleeve, sir.’

Spending a few months as a fixture in an orphanage had properly turned her into a max-level caregiver. Such was her mastery of the craft that even Kang Jin-Ho, who was adept at handling young children in his own way, could only watch slack-jawed from the sidelines.

This is why one must diligently polish oneself constantly, isn’t it?

Kang Jin-Ho gained a new epiphany, more or less, regarding martial arts today from this seemingly mundane activity.

He could see the kids approaching Choi Yeon-Ha, despite still being wary. Even the shy, awkward kids didn’t pull away when she approached them.

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head. That’s odd. I don’t remember her being this sociable, though…?

Now that he had thought about it, Choi Yeon-Ha had changed a lot too, hadn’t she?

At first, her kindness was half an act, but these days, no one could accuse her of faking her kindness.

“Even though her personality still needs a lot of work…”

Choi Yeon-Ha snapped her head in Kang Jin-Ho’s direction. “Did you say something?”

“…”

Kang Jin-Ho sneakily turned his head away and pretended to be innocent.

Geez, why is her hearing so sharp?

Besides, he didn’t even mention her name, so how did she even know he was talking about her in the first place?

Thankfully, though, she quickly changed her expression when the children nearby got scared of her ax-murderer-like glare.

“It’s okay, everyone. It’s because we have a very naughty uncle with us, you see? Do you know what happens to a naughty uncle, everyone?”

“He will get scolded, noona?”

“That’s right! He should get scolded, right?” Choi Yeon-Ha smiled brightly while staring at Kang Jin-Ho.

Why couldn’t she at least shoot him a glare instead? Her current smiling expression only made this situation feel like a scene straight out of a horror movie instead.

Choi Yeon-Ha continued to wander here and there to interact and care for the kids. If a child dropped the food, she wiped their mouth clean. If another child hesitated with the food, she even fed them personally.

Outwardly, her actions didn’t seem all that special. Indeed, there was nothing extraordinary about it, yet… Yet, the more Kang Jin-Ho watched, the more profound his realization got.

In order to soften the wall around a person, you didn’t need to do something extraordinary. With those children, they only needed the assurance that the trio of people who had shown up randomly today were not here to hurt them. That was all they needed.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Lee Hyeon-Su. “We should help out, too.”

Lee Hyeon-Su pointed at himself. “Me too, sir?”

“…Mm, on second thought, you should stay out of it.”

“…? Hold on, sir? Assembly Master? What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing. Just stay still and don’t say anything.”

“…”

Kang Jin-Ho stepped forward and emulated Choi Yeon-Ha by looking after the kids.

Unsurprisingly, the children were initially wary of Kang Jin-Ho. Soon, though, they began trusting him more, and around the five-minute-mark, some kids even began clinging to his legs too!

Lee Hyeon-Su’s expression fell slightly.

Right. These kids must’ve been starving.

Not starving as in not getting enough food, no, but starving of human affection; children needed bulwarks that would shield them from the elements at all times regardless of what happened. They needed adults’ embrace so that they would have a place to hide if they got scared. And they needed people who could help them find their courage when they were unsure about life’s challenges.

Even though these orphans remained wary, they still sneakily got closer to Kang Jin-Ho and Choi Yeon-Ha after realizing that these two strangers were here to care for them and protect them.

A couple of very young kids even began hitting Kang Jin-Ho, too.

Lee Hyeon-Su panicked slightly. “W-what the…”

“It’s okay. Don’t step in.”

Lee Hyeon-Su was about to stop the kids, but Kang Jin-Ho firmly pushed him back. Because he knew these kids weren’t doing that to hurt him.

In fact, they were doing this because they were afraid. Although, their fear wasn’t of Kang Jin-Ho, but more like they were afraid of him suddenly getting angry and shouting at them after they made a minor mistake.

Their actions were nothing more than them testing the boundaries, to figure out how far they could go.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at the small child hitting him. “When you hit people, they will get hurt.”

“…Ng.”

“That means you mustn’t hit them, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Come here.”

Kang Jin-Ho reached out to the child and hugged him. The child pouted slightly and backed off a little, but he stopped hitting Kang Jin-Ho in the face.

Kang Jin-Ho sighed inwardly. This will take a while.

These kids clearly distrusted people. Their hearts wouldn’t open up just because Kang Jin-Ho and Choi Yeon-Ha showed up and treated them nicely once or twice. A child’s heart, once shuttered from the world, was harder to prise open than an adult’s, after all.

Still… It’s not too late to change that.

If they were treated well and cared for over a period, these kids should gradually become as bright as Seongsim kids. Even the Seongsim orphans didn’t start off as the brightest, happiest kids, after all.

Turning them around would undoubtedly take a lot of effort, but it was too early to get discouraged by the prospect. After all, this was not a question of if he could, but more like he must.

While he was taking care of the children, a little girl waddled toward him. She then presented a can of Cola to him.

“Do you want it?”

“…” Kang Jin-Ho glanced at the girl. “…Sure.”

“Here.”

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly accepted the can, then took a gulp. When the icy-cool carbonated drink traveled down his throat…

“…! Would you look at this guy?! We bought that Cola for the kids, yet look at him chugging it away! How could he be so thoughtless!”

Choi Yeon-Ha’s yell froze Kang Jin-Ho on the spot.

“You dummy! Were you so thirsty that you just had to steal soda from a little kid?! Get out of my sight!”

“…”

The little girl who gave Kang Jin-Ho the Cola leaned in closer and whispered, “Sorry.”

“…No, it’s fine.”

That was when Kang Jin-Ho inwardly swore something to himself.

If… If I really end up getting married to Miss Yeon-Ha… We will never have kids of our own!