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A recent trend had taken place in the Murim — well, rather than calling it a trend in the Murim, it was more like a trend amongst families with babies and toddlers.
Parents would place a plate in front of themselves and their baby, and on the baby's plate there would be two pieces of food.
One parent would get one piece of food, and the other parent would have nothing on their plate.
Then, they'd wait and see the child’s reaction — would the child share their pieces of food? Or would they do nothing?
Wang Gakyeon, who often strolled around the marketplace and listened to idle gossip, happened to hear about this one day. She heard several ladies talking about how adorable their children had looked, how one baby refused to share his food (it was candy), and even stole the candy on his parent’s plate, much to their amusement.
As she listened to their words, Wang Gakyeon's thoughts drifted towards the baby at home… namely baby Cheonhee.
What would he do? Would he share his food? Or would he keep it to himself…?
Wang Gakyeon couldn't wait to see Cheonhee's reaction — the adult Cheonhee was very kind, but what about his baby self?
A few days later, when baby Cheonhee was dropped off at Wang Gakyeon's place, she realized her time had come.
As usual, the minute baby Cheonhee was left in Gakyeon's place, he withered like a sad puppy, his doleful eyes trained to the door as if his Master would suddenly return.
Wang Gakyeon was used to this, and she patted the baby soothingly as he cooed for his Master.
Jaegal had promised that be would only be gone for a while, and so Cheonhee was eagerly waiting for his return.
After a few minutes of coaxing, Wang Gakyeon managed to cheer up baby Cheonhee, who had turned to look at her and was even smiling a little.
Seeing that Cheonhee had been coaxed, Wang Gakyeon sneakily set the stage for her “experiment” — she set up two plates, both covered with a cloth, and placed one in front of Cheonhee and one in front of herself.
As expected, baby Cheonhee tilted his head curiously and asked, with his slurred pronunciation, ‘what’s this?’.
Wang Gakyeon smiled.
“I brought us snacks, Cheonhee,” she said. “Let's take a look at what it is, okay?”
“O-ki!” Baby Cheonhee replied, looking at the covered plates expectantly.
Wang Gakyeon removed the cloth and revealed the plates.
The plate in front of Cheonhee had two tofu pieces, and the plate in front of Gakyeon was empty.
Gakyeon had chosen to use tofu — Cheonhee was recently eating more solid foods and not just milk (he had grown a tooth, after all), and she figured tofu would be a great choice.
Wang Gakyeon looked at baby Cheonhee expectantly, watching how his eyes landed on the tofu, the way his eyes brightened, how he turned and his eyes landed on her plate….
Wang Gakyeon held her breath.
“Hm?” Baby Cheonhee seemed confused.
“What's wrong, Cheonhee?” Wang Gakyeon asked, feigning innocence.
“You, no, to-fuu?” Baby Cheonhee asked.
“Oh my… you're right!” Wang Gakyeon pretended to just realize. “Oh dear… what should I do?” She murmured with faux sadness.
Baby Cheonhee looked at his plate, then at hers, and then back at his, before he reached out one hand, grabbed a tofu, and placed it on her plate.
“Der! You, eat al-so…” baby Cheonhee declared, rubbing his hands in satisfaction.
Wang Gakyeon, who had seen the way baby Cheonhee shared his food without hesitation, couldn’t help rubbing his head affectionately.
“Even as a child, you’re so nice…” She murmured, her eyes crinkling in delight as she watched baby Cheonhee hold the small tofu piece and plop it into his mouth. The tofu was soft, and baby Cheonhee didn’t even need to chew for it to become mushy and for him to enjoy it.
Wang Gakyeon also took the piece of tofu and ate it, smiling back at Cheonhee.
“What were you two doing?” A voice broke the comfortable silence, and Wang Gakyeon nearly jumped out of her skin.
Cheonhee, though, turned around and smiled brightly.
“Mash-er~~”
“Hee-ya,” Jaegal Lin grinned, stepping forward and gently rubbing Cheonhee’s bulging cheek. Behind Jaegal Lin stood Yooho, who was dutifully watching them in silence.
“Are you eating?” Jaegal Lin asked, and Cheonhee nodded.
“…Where did you come from?” Wang Gakyeon asked wryly.
“Oh, I just arrived,” Jaegal Lin replied nonchalantly, as if he hadn’t just popped in unannounced.
“Scared the life out of me,” Wang Gakyeon muttered.
“So, what were you two doing?” Jaegal Lin asked, looking pointedly at Wang Gakyeon.
Wang Gakyeon explained what she had done, and Jaegal Lin listened with interest, one hand stroking Cheonhee’s head as baby Cheonhee tugged on his sleeves.
“That’s an interesting idea,” Jaegal Lin mused, and he turned around to give Yooho a look.
“…Understood, Sir,” Yooho, who was capable of understanding Jaegal Lin’s intentions without any words, immediately prepared two more plates and placed it on the table.
“Instead of tofu… use tangerines this time,” Jaegal Lin whispered towards his right-hand man, and Yooho nodded.
“What are we doing now?” Wang Gakyeon asked, watching as Jaegal Lin smoothly carried baby Cheonhee aside and Yooho set the table.
“The Master wants to try that ‘experiment’ again, but this time with all four of us… Ah, and he wants to use tangerines instead of tofu this time,” Yooho explained.
“Oh,” Wang Gakyeon nodded in understanding.
As expected of Jaegal Lin — he probably wanted to see baby Cheonhee’s reaction for himself…. Cheonhee’s Master was really….
Wang Gakyeon sighed inwardly and helped set the table, watching as Yooho seemingly pulled tangerines out of thin air, cut it into four small pieces, and placed them on the plates. Afterwards, Wang Gakyeon covered the plates with a cloth.
“It’s ready, Sir,” Yooho spoke.
Wang Gakyeon watched Jaegal Lin walk closer to the table, setting baby Cheonhee in front of a plate.
“Mash-er?” Baby Cheonhee cooed in confusion.
“Yooho prepared some food for us, Hee,” Jaegal Lin explained. “Let’s eat together, okay?”
“O-kay!” Baby Cheonhee smiled brightly, making the other three people smile as well. Cheonhee was so adorable, and his smile was simply infectious!
Baby Cheonhee was sitting between Jaegal Lin and Wang Gakyeon, and on Jaegal Lin’s side was Yooho. Each one of them had a covered plate in front of them, and Wang Gakyeon could feel a wave of anticipation rise in her chest.
Placing tangerines instead of tofu was an interesting idea — Cheonhee loved tangerines, and ever since he grew his first tooth, Jaegal Lin had been feeding him small pieces of tangerines, letting baby Cheonhee happily gnaw, nibble, and suck on the fruit. It was his favorite, and since he loved it so much, would he still be willing to share it like how he did with the tofu? Or would he keep it to himself…?
The three of them lifted the cloths, and Wang Gakyeon quickly scanned their plates.
Baby Cheonhee had two pieces of tangerine on his plate. Yooho had one piece. Wang Gakyeon had one piece, and Jaegal… Jaegal had none.
…Wait a minute, Wang Gakyeon thought. Wasn’t this too easy? It was obvious what Cheonhee would do — he would share his piece of tangerine with his beloved Master! Yooho should’ve made it more challenging… If Jaegal had a piece of tangerine but Yooho or Wang Gakyeon had none, wouldn’t that be more difficult? After all, Cheonhee’s obvious love for his Master was too much—! He would definitely share with his Master, but would he still share his favorite food with Yooho or Wang Gakyeon?
Yooho should’ve made this experiment more challenging… In Wang Gakyeon’s eyes, the outcome was pretty obvious — Cheonhee would share his tangerine with Jaegal Lin….
Jaegal Lin himself had been watching Cheonhee’s reaction intently, watching how his little disciple’s eyes brightened at the familiar sight of tangerines and how baby Cheonhee was even drooling a little.
“Mash-er~~” baby Cheonhee cooed happily, but then his eyes landed on Jaegal Lin’s plate, which was conspicuously empty.
“…Wat.” Baby Cheonhee frowned, and everyone in the room held their breath, waiting for his reaction.
“Mash-er, no, food?” Baby Cheonhee asked, tilting his head to look at Jaegal’s face.
“Oh dear… You’re right, Hee,” Jaegal Lin said, purposely putting on a sad face. “It seems like we don’t have enough food for me…”
“Wat?!” Baby Cheonhee’s stunned expression was both funny and endearing. He looked as if he had been struck by lightning, and he looked at Jaegal Lin with sad eyes.
“Mash-er…” Baby Cheonhee’s eyes landed on his plate, and his eyes lit up.
Grabbing a piece of tangerine, baby Cheonhee placed it on Jaegal Lin’s plate.
Wang Gakyeon let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding.
See? Wang Gakyeon thought, as expected, Cheonhee shared his tangerine with his Master…
Baby Cheonhee, though, was not finished.
He turned to his right, grabbed Wang Gakyeon’s piece of tangerine, and swiftly moved it to his Master’s plate.
Even that wasn’t enough, because baby Cheonhee stretched out his hands, grabbed Yooho’s piece of fruit, and plopped it victoriously on Jaegal Lin’s plate.
Cheonhee’s movements were so quick and easy that for a moment, the other three people couldn’t respond. There wasn’t a hint of hesitation in Cheonhee’s movements, no remorse and absolutely no shame. In fact, baby Cheonhee had even thrown a glare at Yooho when he grabbed Yooho’s piece.
Now, Jaegal Lin had three pieces of tangerines on his plate, Yooho and Wang Gakyeon had none, and baby Cheonhee had one piece.
“…What the.” Wang Gakyeon muttered.
She knew that Cheonhee was partial towards his Master, but she didn’t think he was this partial!!!
“Why did you do that?” Wang Gakyeon asked, the words leaving her mouth before she could stop them.
She just couldn’t understand — wasn’t it fine if he simply shared his piece with Jaegal Lin? That way, everyone had one piece each… Why did he have to take hers and Yooho’s fruits too!! And he gave them all to his Master—!!!!
“Wat?” Baby Cheonhee threw her a glare. “Shawing is cawing, Gak-yon!” Baby Cheonhee declared, as if it was a mattter-of-fact, common knowledge. “You too bad!”
Wang Gakyeon almost spit out blood. Sharing is caring??? Is that how you share?!
To Yooho, baby Cheonhee made an angry face.
“BAAH!” Baby Cheonhee grumbled, before turning to his Master sweetly.
“Hee, ish, smat, Mash-er~~”
“Yes, yes Hee… You’re smart,” Jaegal Lin had a large smile plastered all over his face, clearly satisfied with his disciple’s actions.
“Hee is so kind,” Jaegal Lin continued, “Of course you’re right… Sharing is caring, after all.”
Jaegal Lin stroked his disciple’s head, watching as baby Cheonhee took his piece of tangerine and put it inside his mouth, chewing in satisfaction.
“Of course,” Jaegal Lin smirked, “I will share everything with my disciple only… hahaha!”
Wang Gakyeon and Yooho, who were standing on the sides of Jaegal Lin and Cheonhee, shared a look.
Crazy… these two were fucking crazy!!
But then again, what could she expect of these two…?
One Master was crazy about his disciple, and the disciple was also crazy about his Master…. A perfect duo.
Wang Gakyeon rolled her eyes as Cheonhee’s self righteous words rang through her head once more.
“Sharing is caring”?! More like, “Everything is for my Master~”.