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Jaegal Lin looked at his disciple and pursed his lips. He turns to Yooho, and the redhead immediately speaks.
“I’m not sure what happened either, Sir. It seems that the Young Master woke up like this. I thought it was strange that the Young Master hadn’t woken up, so I knocked on the door and I heard him crying… and I found him like this,” Yooho says, sighing softly.
Jaegal Lin gently picks up the baby sitting on the bed, settles him on his lap and pats his back gently as the baby Jin Cheonhee sucks on his thumb.
“…Hee, how did this happen?” he asks.
Jin Cheonhee — well, he’s a baby at the moment — spits out his thumb and grabs Jaegal Lin’s hair before putting it in his mouth, his black eyes shining brightly.
“…Hee, you can’t eat that,” Jaegal Lin says, attempting to remove his hair from the baby’s deadly grasp.
“Nya,” Jin Cheonhee grips the white hair tighter, a frown etched on his chubby face.
“…So the Young Master has been de-aged?” Yooho muttered.
“Investigate what happened immediately,” Jaegal Lin says, rubbing his disciple’s back in a soothing motion. “We need to know how long Cheonhee will be like this, who did this, and whether he can turn back to normal or not.”
“Understood, Sir.”
“…Sir?” Yooho asked tentatively. “What if the Young Master stays like this?”
“As a baby, you mean?” Jaegal Lin gazed at the baby who was still chewing on his hair, spit and saliva dribbling down his chin.
“Even if Cheonhee’s de-aging is irreversible, it doesn’t matter. He is still my disciple. I will raise him,” Jaegal Lin declared.
“Uuuu…” the baby spat out Jaegal Lin’s hair and pat his shoulder as if asking him to pay attention to him.
“…Hee?”
“Yayaya~” Jin Cheonhee seemed oblivious to the mess he had made of his Master’s hair and babbled as he moved his hands up and down.
“…Yooho, prepare some milk and soft food for him.”
“Yes, Sir. Should I… take him with me?” Yooho asked. He knew how much Jaegal Lin adored his disciple, but surely Jaegal Lin wouldn’t want to take care of a fussy baby…
“No need. I’ll take care of him for now.”
“…Understood. Then, I shall take my leave.” Yooho bowed before he left the room, hoping nothing would go wrong.
Once Yooho was out of the room, Jaegal Lin took a closer look at baby Jin Cheonhee. His disciple was adorable as always, but the de-aging meant that his memories were lost…
“Hee, do you remember me?” He asked, bending down to be face to face with the baby.
Baby Jin Cheonhee paused for a moment, as if confused, and then broke into giggles.
“Mash-er~~” Jin Cheonhee called, reaching out for Jaegal Lin’s hands with his smaller ones.
Jaegal Lin felt sweetness blooming in his heart as he watched the baby’s antics.
“Hee, did you just call me Master?” He asked, patting the baby’s head. “Say it again.”
“Mash-er~~ Masher~~” Jin Cheonhee babbled, giggling and kicking his feet.
Jaegal Lin clutched his chest.
…Damn it. Baby Jin Cheonhee was adorable!!!
He had never had a son before, but really, his relationship with Cheonhee was so close that Cheonhee was practically his son, perhaps they even shared a closer bond. And seeing Cheonhee like this?
Jaegal Lin couldn’t suppress the urge to stretch out a hand and pinch the baby’s cheeks.
Once, twice.
…This feeling was nice.
“Uwaaa, no! No! Bad, bad,” the baby scowled, trying to push his hand away.
Jaegal Lin chuckled and did not stop, instead bringing up his other hand to squeeze Cheonhee’s other cheek.
“Hee, even if you do stay like this, I wouldn’t mind,” Jaegal Lin says, finally letting go of his disciple’s reddened cheeks.
“No!” Jin Cheonhee is pouting now, looking crossly at him, but Jaegal Lin finds his disciple even more lovable like this.
“Come on, let me bring you to my study,” he says, carrying Jin Cheonhee in his embrace and smiling when his disciple reflexively holds on to his neck.
Hehe, so cute.
Jaegal Lin had brought Cheonhee into his study and placed him on a cushion on his desk, a blanket draped over the baby and a bottle of milk in Cheonhee’s hand.
Jaegal Lin himself was reading reports from the various clinics spread around the country, from time to time penning down a reply.
Jaegal Lin was in the midst of writing when he felt a hand pulling his sleeve. Of course, he knew who the culprit was, and he grinned.
“Hee?”
“Masher…”
“Oh dear…” Jaegal Lin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he scanned his disciple’s face. Apparently at some point Cheonhee had dipped his whole hand in the ink, staining his hand black, and then touched his face and clothes too, leaving black drops of ink on his face and clothes.
Jaegal Lin looked down at the hand that was holding his sleeve, and sure enough, it was stained with ink too.
“Cheonhee…” Jaegal Lin said softly, and the baby immediately blinked rather slowly.
“Look, you made a mess of your face,” Jaegal Lin says, trying to sound stern but knowing his tone comes out as pampering.
Jin Cheonhee, though, doesn’t seem to register it, and starts to cry. It starts off as a small whimper, but then he starts crying in earnest, choking and sobbing as if the world is ending. Jaegal Lin is, of course, panicked.
“…Hee, don’t cry, don’t cry. It’s alright, it doesn’t matter, okay?” He coos, setting down his brush and picking up the baby, rocking him back and forth.
“It’s okay, Cheonhee, it’s okay, don’t cry…” he soothes.
“Waaaa—-” Jin Cheonhee continues to cry, his tears staining Jaegal Lin’s clothes, his small hands clutching Jaegal Lin’s clothes tightly, as if afraid to lose him.
“…Don’t cry, don’t cry,” Jaegal Lin chanted, for once feeling at a loss on what to do. His stoic face had melted and his eyes were fixated on his baby disciple, watching sadly as big fat tears rolled down Cheonhee’s cheeks.
After a few minutes of coaxing (during which Jaegal Lin simply repeated the same phrase again and again), Jin Cheonhee had calmed down significantly and laid his head on Jaegal Lin’s shoulder, hiccuping every few seconds.
Jaegal Lin placed his hand on Cheonhee’s head, stroking it gently. Crying so much seemed to have drained Cheonhee’s energy, and soon he fell asleep.
“Well,” Jaegal Lin whispered, “Now I know what it feels like to be a father, that’s for sure.”