I Ended up Raising the Children of the Protagonists

Before I start the story, I hoped for happiness, and wished for your happiness.

 

[John cried as he looked at the twins who were born. The daughter’s eyes were purple, resembling violets, just like Syrena’s.

 

Tears form in thechild’s clear eyes and she soon bursts into tears. John comforted the child and let out a small laugh.

 

“Her daughter’s name is Riev.”

 

“John.”

 

“Because I want to remember your name completely.”

 

John smiled at Sirena.

 

Sirena Liev.

 

John gave her daughter the name ‘Riev’ in advance, which would be inherited by one of the two children at some point. John sat down by Lena’s side and saw his son, whom she was holding in her arms. His older sister was crying, but it’s amazing how he slept without worrying about the world. Sirena held back her tearful laughter as she stroked the cheek of her sleeping son.

 

“Then, my son’s name is Josef.”

 

The voice that came out was trembling. John held Sirena’s hand, as if he was about to burst into tears, and cried on her behalf. Before he knew it, Riev had stopped crying and had fallen asleep along with his younger brother. The children who were born in this blessing fell into a deep sleep without even knowing that they had names.

 

Sunshine filled the family. Happiness was over, greater happiness had arrived.]

 

“Finished”

 

I recited the last sentence, pressing it with my fingertips.

 

“Happiness was over, greater happiness had arrived…”

 

It was a sentence that lingered in my head without me knowing why. A perfect happy ending worthy of the title <One Greater Happiness>. A smile came naturally. Was it because I saw a happy ending for Sirena and John? I closed the book and looked out the window. Instead of sunshine, there were dark clouds and it was raining.

 

* * *

 

“Sister, don’t go to work today and rest.”

 

“That’s right, sister. Just rest today. We’ll help you.”

 

My younger siblings struggled to get me to rest as I was feeling achy. Fortunately, the owner was considerate and told me to rest since it was raining heavily and there would be no customers. He was thirteen years older than me. My younger siblings, who were born before I graduated from elementary school, were soon old enough to graduate from middle school, but they were still young. At least that was the case for me. When I entered high school, the flower I saw before spring had even arrived was chrysanthemum. Full of white chrysanthemums, and a picture of my parents visible through them.

 

My younger siblings held my hand and smiled. Mom and Dad were just smiling over there through those smiles on my siblings’ faces.

 

It was an accident. Accident caused by a drunk driver. The perpetrator did not remember the time of the accident. He too was seriously injured and passed away shortly after attending his parents’ funeral. I couldn’t even complain. I couldn’t go looking for him because I felt like he would be on his knees begging me to save him. That’s why I held the young hand that held mine. I gathered my composure as a voice called me anxiously. At first, I moved from one relative’s house to another. However, when I saw my younger siblings being scolded and punished for even the slightest mistake, I immediately ran out to find a home.

 

One room. I cried as I looked at my younger siblings sleeping in the house that I barely bought with borrowed money, with names that were too funny to call my relatives. How many days have I gone to sleep asking that question: Will I ever be happy? The answer to that question could not be answered until my younger siblings graduated from elementary school.

 

“Sister! We’re here!!”

 

“Sister, it’s raining heavily outside.”

 

The quiet house was soon filled with noisy noise. I put the book aside and stood up to greet the children.

 

“Lee Yebin, Lee Yeban. Both of you wash your hands.”

 

“Are you feeling okay?”

 

“Hey, wash your hands first.”

 

My younger siblins, who were fraternal twins, often fought because their personalities were as different as their faces. Yeban dragged Yebin’s bag and took her to the bathroom. Two children clinging to the sink begin to wash their hands, rubbing them back and forth.

 

“Sister, today’s grades came out, and Lee Yebin is in last place again.”

 

“Hey! You said you’d keep it a secret!!”

 

When Yebin splashed the water, Yeban frowned and put his head back. I smiled and took out a towel for Yeban.

 

“Yebin has been in last place for not even a day or two.”

 

“Still, I did better than last time?”

 

“Okay, well done.”

 

Yebin pouted her lips at my voice mixed with laughter. It seemed like she was preparing hard this time, but she seemed upset because her grades weren’t as good as she expected. I felt that talking more about grades would only hurt my sister’s feelings, so I decided to change the topic.

 

“Yebin, the book was interesting.”

 

“Have you read everything, right? Isn’t that fun?”

 

<One Greater Happiness> was the book Yebin gave me to read. I felt fortunate to see Yebin’s face brightening and nodded my head.

 

“Yeah. It was fun.”

 

“I’ll leave you to sleep. What did you give me to bother you?”

 

After drying her hands, Yeban asked, handing the towel over to Yebin. Yebin said she didn’t know anything and fed chestnuts to Yeban’s forehead, who was a head taller than her.

 

“Lee Yebin!”

 

Yebin was just held by me.

 

“Sister! I’ll make you porridge!”

 

There was no sound of rain. All I could hear was the laughter the children were making.

 

* * *

 

I thought it would be okay if I rested, but I guess not.

 

“Sister, are you okay?”

 

The hand that touched my feverish forehead felt cool. I nodded my head vigorously and tried to make my voice as loud as possible.

 

“…It’s okay, sister.”

 

It would have been better for me not to raise my voice. Yebin’s face contorts as if she is about to cry at the sound of my horribly cracked voice.

 

“Yebin.”

 

“Lee Yebin, I’m looking after you.”

 

I was calling Yebin, and I could hear her voice that had just gone through a transformation. When I turned my head slightly, she saw Yeban gathering her clothes and getting ready to go outside.

 

“Yevan, where are you going?”

 

“I’ll get some medicine.”

 

As soon as Yeban finished speaking, Sky began to cry fearfully. The inaudible sound of rain was hitting the window hard. The rattling window makes my head pound. I let out a small sigh and called Yeban.

 

“Yevan, just stay. Sister is okay…”

 

“No. I should have talked to the pharmacist when I came.”

 

“That’s right, sister. I’ll go out with Yeban and then come back.”

 

“You should stay with big sister.”

 

Yeban snapped, but Yebin immediately went into the room, put on her outerwear, and came out. Yeban frowned at the sight of her trying to follow in some way.

 

“Yebin, Yeban.”

 

It’s really okay. She tried to get up to say that, but Yebin pulled up her blanket and made me lie down to prevent me from getting up. My body was already hot and heavy, but with the blanket covering me, a drowsy feeling of weight pressed down on me.

 

“Sister, I’ll be back soon.”

 

A young voice was heard above my slowly closing eyelids. I’m not sure if I answered that voice.

 

* * *

 

The twin brother and sister walked without paying attention to the rainwater seeping into their sneakers. Raindrops falling from the tip of the umbrella scattered as they walked.

 

“You should be next to big sister. Why did you follow me?”

 

“I will bring her something she likes. You wouldn’t know even if I told you.”

 

“You know? I know better than you, right?”

 

“No, it’s not. You’re so stupid that you don’t know!”

 

Yebin was holding her old, worn-out handbag tightly as if it was precious. It was her purse that her older sister, Yehee, had bought her as a gift for entering middle school. It was a gift from her most precious person in the world. Yebin looked around her, trying to find the pharmacy among the unlit signs.

 

“Is there a 24h pharmacy? It’s too late.”

 

“If there’s no one, we will have to buy it at a convenience store.”

 

Was it because it rained so heavily, or is it because it was past evening? All pharmacies were closed. The same went for places where they have walked for a while.

 

“What do we do…”

 

“There, the door is open.”

 

Yebin looked where Yeban was pointing and she smiled brightly.

 

“Thank goodness! Let’s buy it quickly and go back! I’ll worry about my sister.”

 

“What does sister like?”

 

“Buy that too!”

 

Yebin ran straight to her crosswalk, not caring about the mud splashing on her sneakers. She accidentally steps in a puddle, causing muddy water to splatter onto the pants she is wearing. Yebin seemed unaware. It was Yeban who looked at it.

 

“You’ll have a hard time doing laundry later.”

 

“You’re on duty this time.”

 

Yeban twitched his lips at Yebin’s words. In front of the crosswalk where Yebin and Yeban were standing alone, a person with a large umbrella walked towards them. Yeban pulled Yebin to his side.

 

“Why?”

 

“The person next to you, you idiot.”

 

Just as Yebin was about to open her mouth to say that he was the idiot, the red traffic light turned green. The rain was falling hard, hitting the umbrella and scattering. The twins walked a little faster. Raindrops flowed down the umbrella and fell at the end. Inside a brightly lit pharmacy, a pharmacist wearing a white coat was turning off the lights. 

 

When the lights that illuminated the pharmacy went out, the twins started running. The wind did not blow. It was just heavy rain falling. So, the umbrella the twins were holding fell on the road. The raindrops that were scattering as they reached the end of the umbrella fell onto the road and met with blood. It was an accident.

 

* * *

 

I still have someone to blame, but I just sit there blankly with my knees on the floor. It’s the same as the day I lost my parents. My younger siblings were smiling with youthful faces among the white chrysanthemums. My younger siblings, those little children.

 

I begged and begged for them to be saved. No one saved anyone.

 

“When I arrived at the scene…I couldn’t hear the final ending. Maybe I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t want to think about the children who closed their eyes in the strong rain. So I probably covered both my ears.”

 

Even when Yebin and Yeban’s friends cried and shouted why they were there, it didn’t matter. I was okay with the teachers at school holding my hand and telling me that I needed to cheer up. It wasn’t until late at night, when no one was visiting, that I felt the children’s absence and pressed my knees together.

 

“Don’t do that.”

 

The marks on the hem of the black skirt were visible. I blinked slowly to focus my blurry vision. I raised my head towards the direction where I heard the voice. The woman was not looking at me, she was looking at the children. The woman who placed chrysanthemums in front of the children in her photo then turned her head towards me.

 

“Miss Yehee.”

 

“…?”

 

The woman in front of me was someone I had never seen before. But she thought she might have met children. She was about the same age as me or looked a little younger.

 

“Kids, don’t you want to see them?”

 

The question that came out of the woman’s mouth was different from the countless words the children had heard after leaving. It wasn’t comfort, encouragement, or anything else. I lifted my hand from my knee and grabbed the woman’s wrist.

 

“What are you?”

 

The voice came out ungainly, as if it were letting out all the crying it had been holding in for so long. The woman let out her calm voice again.

 

“Kids, don’t you want to see it?”

 

Tears were now flowing down my cheeks as I heard the same question again. A strange crying sound came out of my mouth as I tried to say my sentence. The woman slowly knelt down in her seat and she made eye contact with me. I was seen crying in the woman’s black eyes. The woman slowly opened her mouth.

 

“If you could meet the children… If only you could.”

 

“I’m going. Wherever it goes, I’ll go. I am coming. No, please let me meet you at the store.”

 

Now I held the woman’s hand as if praying. She prayed, spitting out her sentence through whimpering breath sounds. My younger siblings were everything to me. 

 

It was a ‘dream’. It would be nice if my younger siblings could be happy. I grabbed the woman’s hand and pounded her head. As if praying.

 

At my crying-like voice, the woman said nothing and wrapped her hand around the back of my hand.

 

“Miss Yehee.”

 

Even though my vision was blurred by my tears, the broken woman’s face was clear. Her eyes, which I thought were quietly locked, were smiling sadly.

 

“I want you to be happy.”

 

Happiness was over, greater happiness had arrived.

 

What came to mind was the last phrase I recited while pressing it with my fingertips. Yeah, it was a really strange thing. At the end of the muffled voice, I closed my eyes.

 

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Translator Note:

New story here!! Maybe you know the manga hehe I liked it so much that I could not wait to read the story. I will start releasing a chapter a week but… I will try to release more from time to time.