3 — Baby Steps II

"He never plays with other kids."

Eun Ha's gaze followed Jae-il as he wobbled his way around the playground.

He never engaged with any of his friends; he'd be sitting somewhere out of harm's way, contentedly enjoying his own company. Whenever someone tried to play with him, he'd respond politely, but that's all he'd ever do. It wasn't like he was avoiding them; he'd engage with his classmates if he had to.

It was an unnerving trait that emerged out of Jae-il. Despite his age, despite the circumstances around him, Jae-il did not cry or make a fuss. Last time they'd been on the playground, he got a nasty bruise on the knee after a girl pushed him down for ignoring her, and yet he'd barely made a sound.

Jae-il hadn't been given an aptitude test or any of that sort; Eun Ha had been considering it because his development seemed to have been going faster than normal children.

After all, Jae-il spoke his first word earlier than either of his siblings did, and it was far from the babble-like noises that newborns usually spouted.

"My little angel is just special."

There was also the concern regarding social skills. The kindergarten teachers had mentioned his lack of interactions outside of learning activities. However, they were more surprised at his progress. At five months, he was able to walk, even if wobbly, without assistance, unlike a majority of babies his age, and at 15 months old, he could speak fluently, although with an understandable, childish tone.

Those qualities had caught the attention of a few mothers at the park. Most approached Jae-il with compliments regarding his cuteness, others wanted to ask questions regarding his advanced cognitive development.

Eun Ha was caught up in one of those conversations with three ladies who were asking her the usual questions.

"How do you raise him?"

"Do you feed him anything special?"

"What method did you adopt?"

"Ah, you're very lucky indeed."

One of the women remarked after Eun Ha shrugged and told her that there was no particular secret to raising her son. He basically raised himself.

"Yes..." Replied a lady, shaking her head in dismay. "My dear Lee Sang-hee can barely say her father's name and she's two years old!"

It wasn't only once or twice that this topic reemerged every time Eun Ha took Jae-il to playdates. She wouldn't mind conversing with them if there was useful advice to share, but there simply was nothing she could do about it. She was often left rather flustered at the barrage of questions those mothers would ask her, as if Jae-il's precocity was something out of a book that could be taught.

It was getting tiring after a while, though Eun Ha remained polite to the ladies, seeing as how they meant no offense whatsoever.

The children's laughter echoed across the playground. Not Jae-il's, of course.

"Aigoo." One of the ladies cooed.

"He's too adorable." Added another.

"He is! He really takes after your beauty!"

Another chimed in, grinning, her hands clasping together, as she watched Eun Ha's son carefully amble past her on his stubby legs.

Her cheeks pink, Eun Ha smiled, silently agreeing. "Thank you, Ms. Jung."

There were advantages to having such a well-behaved and independent baby.

Unlike some of the toddlers running wild at the park, he didn't require constant attention. Instead of spending hours watching his every move, Eun Ha could take a quick break to check in on Mia and Su Ah, who were playing on the swings and monkey bars nearby.

Still, she didn't like the fact that so many ladies seemed to be always eager to poke into the affairs of her son, as if they were birds of prey ready to take her son for themselves.

In fact, Eun Ha was slowly becoming irritated by the amount of attention Jae-il was receiving lately, but she managed to keep it hidden behind a veneer of friendliness.

Perhaps she should take Jae-il to another park? Maybe keep him at home? After all, to her it appeared that her son wasn't really that interested in playing with other children.

Nevertheless, she was concerned about his emotional growth.

Her husband, Yeong Gu, wasn't that worried about such matters. Instead, he was extremely proud, often remarking about how his youngest son was 'special.'

Even going as far as expressing, on multiple occasions, his interest in taking Jae-il with him on business trips. He believed he’d follow in his footsteps and create more generational wealth for the Cha Family; she believed Jae-il should be allowed the right amount of time to be the child he was.

Naturally, Eun Ha decisively turned that idea down, saying that doing so could potentially make him unable to form relationships outside of them.

The latter, as time passed, proved to be unnecessary.

Despite his young age, Jae-il demonstrated exceptional maturity and independence.

She was torn between admiration and concern for her little boy. While it was great to see him blossom so quickly, there were times when Eun Ha wished Jae-il would allow himself to lean on his family more.

“Come on, kids. Let’s go home~”

Eun Ha gently clapped her hands, gathering Mia, Su-Ah and Jae-il.

Mia made a bit of a fuss, wanting to stay longer, but Su Ah and Jae-il obediently followed their mother's instructions.

Jae-il reached for her outstretched hand, though one could see a surprisingly comical exasperated expression on his face at having to hold onto his mother for the rest of the walk.

She turned towards her youngest, smiling fondly. "Did you have fun, son?"

"It was tolerable."

"Tolerable?" Eun Ha giggled, finding her son's vocabulary endearingly cute. "That sounds like a big word for such a little boy."

Jae-il rolled his eyes. He had tried to match his speech with that of a five-year-old.

This time, he went overboard.

"I'll have you know, Mom, that I’m three already. Big boy."

"Mm." Eun Ha's smile widened. "You certainly are."

They walked home in comfortable silence.

xXx

I knew that I was setting off some alarm bells in people's heads. That's not exactly what I wanted to happen, since the best course of action for this reborn life should be the opposite: lay low, do your own thing, and become successful later.

It wouldn't be good to draw suspicion. Who knows, maybe those who reincarnate end up getting dissected in a lab. Even so, I just couldn't bring myself to pretend to be a three-year-old and babble nonsense.

I did try, for the first week. Then gave up when I noticed myself slipping back into my original speech.

Another reason was that life as a toddler was immeasurably boring.

The whole issue of getting stuck inside a toddler's body wasn't as cool as stories made it out to be. No, it was outright humiliating. You were treated as someone inferior, incapable of rational thought. Every single task was rewarded with excessive praise, as if I'd done the most outstanding thing.

At the same time, I had no access to electronics, nor any information aside from a few books my family would buy for me. The toys my 'parents' bought me were still in their original boxes—I had no intention of wasting what precious energy I had playing with colorful plastic bricks.

No… I had to find ways to pass the time until I was big enough to make my own choices, without having anyone hovering over me.

And only one thought was running through my mind.

‘I want to play football again.’

"Dad."

So, I approached my father.

Yeong Gu was sitting on the couch, a newspaper in his hands. It was his usual routine when he was idling—whenever he wasn't playing mini golf in the living room.

I waited until the newspaper was promptly folded and put aside. Yeong Gu looked at me expectantly. His voice was gentle. "What is it, son? Do you need anything?"

"I want to kick stuff." I replied, determined and straightforward.

"Kick stuff? Do you want a ball?"

"Yes."

Yeong Gu paused, apparently in deep thought. He rubbed his chin. "What kind of ball do you want?"

I turned around and pointed at the TV. There was a sports channel playing.

Specifically, I pointed at the image of a black-white football currently in mid-air, before landing straight in the net. Ironically, that very same net belonged to the South Korean team, which was losing badly against England in the group stage.

Yeong Gu's lips curved into a satisfied smile. He nodded. "Football, huh?"

I bobbed my head. "Yes."

"And you want it now?"

I bobbed my head once again. "If possible..."

In my previous life, I never asked my mother for anything—we simply couldn’t afford it. I wasn't used to making such requests to my new parents either. Plain old habits.

Yeong Gu laughed and ruffled my hair. "We can pick it up later. Getting active early will do you good."

It wasn't like I could replicate my skills from my past life.

The coordination of my arms, legs, and fingers, not to mention the control of muscles, balance, and overall weight management, were different in this body, and thus needed a whole lot of training to adapt my playstyle.

It would take a while until I reached the point I was before.

But my experience was there.

Meanwhile, in that brief interaction with my father, South Korea conceded another goal.

‘Is this the team I’ll play for in the future?’