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The first thing Jisung does after stepping into the water park is push his sunglasses up like this is a strategy meeting and not a place filled with screaming children, and artificial waves.
“Alright,” he announces, clapping his hands once. “We’re starting strong, and organized.”
Seungmin squints at his brother. Minhee already looks entertained. Hyunjin is filming something on her phone.
The kids, meanwhile, are vibrating.
Hyejin has already escaped her slippers and is halfway toward a shallow pool before Jeongin catches the back of her rash guard like a professional reflex. Jihan follows immediately, because of course he does. Chan stands close, clutching his towel like a shield, eyes wide as he watches a group of kids scream their way down a twisting slide. Yongbok is hopping in place, chanting something about water monsters, while Changbin is pretending he’s not impressed while very obviously impressed.
“This place is awesome,” Changbin says. “So... big slides first?”
Hyunjin laughs. “You’re not dragging my little children onto a death spiral before lunch.”
Minhee tilts her head. “Actually,” she says lightly, “I kind of want to try the big ones.”
Jeongin’s eyes light up. “Same.”
There’s a pause.
Jisung straightens. “Okay. So. New plan.”
Seungmin sighs. Quietly. Deeply. Like a man who already knows how this ends.
“We split,” Jisung says. “Men's team. Women’s team.”
“That’s a threat.” Seungmin mutters.
The kids immediately latch onto the words team and split like it’s the best idea anyone’s ever had.
“I wanna go with Appa! Jijin belongs to team men!” Hyejin declares.
“Me too, me!” Jihan adds, already clinging to Jisung’s leg.
Chan hesitates, glancing between groups. Hyunjin gets on her knees, and opens her arms. Without a word, he moves to her side automatically, relieved. Yongbok, however, plants herself firmly between Minhee and Jeongin and looks up.
“I go where fun is,” she announces solemnly.
Minhee laughs. “That’s… ominous.”
Changbin crosses his arms, assessing both sides like this is a battlefield. “Men’s team,” he decides. “Obviously.”
Jeongin raises an eyebrow. “You sure?”
Changbin grins. “How bad can it be?”
Seungmin makes a sound that is somewhere between a cough and a warning.
“Okay,” Hyunjin says, clapping once, mirroring Jisung earlier but with far less delusion. “Rules. We meet back here in two hours. Nobody loses a child.”
Jisung nods confidently. “Easy.”
Seungmin looks at him. Then at the twins. Then at Changbin already sprinting toward a sign labeled EXTREME SLIDES. Then at himself.
“We are doomed,” Seungmin says flatly.
Jisung throws an arm around his shoulders. “Relax, lil one. We’ve got this.”
Seungmin stares ahead, deadpan. “You said that when we assembled the bookshelf last week. We still have one extra screw.”
“That screw was for... uh... extra support.”
Hyunjin laughs as the women gather themselves, herding Chan, the only boy of the group, gently. Jeongin already checking the map, Minhee reapplying sunscreen with the calm efficiency of someone who thrives in chaos, Yongbok copying her mommy's moves.
Their team looks… organized. Dangerous, but organized.
The men’s team, meanwhile, stands in a loose circle.
“So,” Jisung says brightly. “Who wants slides?”
Hyejin shoots her hand up. “ME.”
Jihan mirrors her instantly. “ME.”
Changbin jumps. “ME TOO BUT ONLY THE FAST ONE.” then he cracks his knuckles. “All of them.”
Chan peeks from behind Hyunjin, whispering, “I think I made the right choice that I'll stay with Mumma.”
Seungmin pats his shoulder like a survivor. “Wise choice.”
Jisung grins at the remaining group. “Alright. Big slides it is.”
Seungmin closes his eyes.
Somewhere behind them, the women’s team waves, already walking away, laughter floating back like a warning siren.
Yongbok waves happily, “Have fun!”
Chan joins, “Have a lot of fun!”
Minhee calls out, cheerful as she held her daughter's hand, “Try not to drown!”
Hyunjin adds, sweetly, “Or cry!”
Jeongin grins. “Or lose a child!”
Jisung waves back confidently.
The moment the women disappear around the corner, little Hyejin bolts.
“WAIT FOR ME-” Jisung shouts, immediately running.
Jihan follows his sister, and Changbin screams something triumphant, whoops and sprints after them.
Seungmin stands still for half a second longer, staring at the chaos unfolding. Then he sighs, adjusts his towel, and jogs after them.
“Two hours,” he mutters to himself. “Just survive two hours.”
The first thing Seungmin loses is the map.
He swears he put it back in the waterproof pouch. He remembers folding it carefully, because folding things is one of the few illusions of control he has left in this amusement park life. But somewhere between Hyejin sprinting ahead like she’s been personally challenged by the concept of gravity and Changbin yelling about a slide shaped like a dragon, the map is simply… gone.
“It’s fine,” Jisung says, already walking in the wrong direction with dangerous confidence. “We don’t need it.”
“We absolutely need it,” Seungmin replies, scanning the crowd, counting heads. “We need many things. Map. Plan. Structure. A whistle. Possibly backup adults. Most preferably... our women.”
Changbin, ten steps ahead, turns around. “Why are you walking like that?”
“Because I’m herding,” Seungmin snaps. “You herd children. You do not let them roam free like-”
Hyejin squeals and barrels straight past Changbin, sandals slapping wet pavement. Jihan follows her instantly, arms windmilling, laughing like this is the best day of his life.
“TWINS!” Seungmin shouts.
“They’re right there,” Jisung says, pointing vaguely.
“They are always right there until they’re not,” Seungmin mutters.
Changbin stops in front of a towering slide structure, eyes lighting up. “This one.”
Seungmin looks up. The slide twists into the sky, long, narrow.
“No,” he says immediately.
Jisung squints up, then grins. “That one looks fun.”
Hyejin reappears at Seungmin’s side like she teleported. “Me first.”
Jihan nods seriously. “Me too.”
Seungmin opens his mouth to object, and then closes it. He rubs his face. “Okay,” he says carefully. “Rules. We stay together. No running. No-”
Little Hyejin is already climbing the stairs. Jisung claps his hands once. “Alright! Big slide it is!”
Seungmin stares at him. “You didn’t even listen.”
“I heard ‘okay,’” Jisung says cheerfully, following the kids.
Changbin laughs and jogs after them. “This is gonna be awesome.”
It takes exactly three minutes for regret to set in. The stairs are steep. Wet. Endless. Hyejin is climbing like she was built for this. Jihan is half-running, half-slipping, giggling every time he nearly falls. Changbin stops every few steps to dramatically announce how high they are.
“This is very high,” the litte girl declares.
“Yes,” Seungmin says, breathing heavier than he’d like. “That’s what slides do.”
Changbin leans over the railing, peering down. “Wow.”
Seungmin grips his arm instantly. “Do not lean.”
“I wasn’t,” Changbin protests.
Jisung laughs, then abruptly stops laughing when he looks down himself.
“Oh.”
Seungmin gives him a look. “Welcome to reality.”
At the top, an attendant explains the rules. Jisung nods enthusiastically. Changbin nods too. Seungmin listens like his life depends on it.
Hyejin volunteers first, fearlessly sitting on the mat. Jihan plops down beside her.
“Together,” Hyejin says decisively.
The attendant hesitates, and Jisung beams. “They do everything together.”
Seungmin wants to argue. Instead, he watches the twins disappear down the kids' slide in a blur of screaming laughter.
Changbin grins at Jisung, pointing at the bigger one. “You’re up.”
Jisung hesitates. “Maybe I should... supervise from the bottom.”
Seungmin crosses his arms. “No. You started this.”
Changbin laughs as Jisung reluctantly sits, screaming the entire way down. Seungmin goes last. He does not scream. He regrets choosing to be part of team men.
At the bottom, the twins pop up laughing, soaked and victorious. Hyejin is bouncing, demanding to go again. Changbin is laughing so hard he has to lean over. Jisung emerges looking… traumatized.
“That,” Jisung says breathlessly, “was… intense.”
Seungmin wrings water out of his shirt. “We have lost all authority.”
They don’t even make it ten steps before the next problem arises. “Where are your shoes?” Seungmin asks suddenly.
Silence.
Hyejin looks down. Bare feet. Jihan copies her. Bare feet.
Changbin looks at them. “Huh.”
Hyejin gasps. “GONE.”
Jisung stares at the ground like the sandals might reappear if he believes hard enough.
Seungmin closes his eyes. “Okay,” he says calmly. Too calmly. “Nobody move.”
But...
Within minutes, Seungmin is holding two tiny sandals, one towel, and a half-open snack pack he does not remember approving. Chnagbin is bribing the twins with ice cream. Jisung is apologizing to a lifeguard for something unclear.
And the kids?
The kids are glowing.
Hyejin beams up at Seungmin. “This is fun.”
Jihan nods. “Best team.”
Hyejin grabs Seungmin’s hand. “Can we do more?”
Seungmin looks at their soaked clothes, messy hair, and wide smiles. He exhales. “Fine,” he says. “But slower.”
Jisung grins at him. “You’re doing great.”
Seungmin shoots him a look. “I am surviving.”
And somewhere, far away, he hopes the women are having a very calm time.
Hyunjin insists on a plan.
She says it out loud, very calmly, standing near the park map with sunglasses pushed into her hair and absolute confidence in her posture.
“We’ll start here,” she says, tapping the gentler side of the park. “Wave pool, lazy river, then lunch. After that-”
Chan immediately raises his hand. “Can we go on the tall one?”
“Not now, sweetheart.” Hyunjin answers without missing a beat.
Minhee hums thoughtfully beside her. “Which tall one?”
Jeongin, leaning against the railing with a bottle of sunscreen, watches the exchange with quiet amusement.
“You already lost,” she tells Hyunjin.
Hyunjin sighs but continues anyway. “We are being efficient today. No running. No separating. No-”
Yongbok tugs on Minhee’s hand. “Mommy, if we finish early, can we do extra rides?”
Minhee smiles down at her daughter, eyes soft, calculating absolutely nothing. “Maybe.”
Hyunjin snaps her head around. “Why would you say maybe?”
“Because maybe is hopeful,” Minhee replies serenely.
That’s when Yongbok decides rules are, at best, suggestions. She doesn’t run. She walks very fast toward a twisting slide nearby, turning.
“I’ll be right there!”
Jeongin clicks her tongue. “There she goes.”
Hyunjin starts after her immediately. “Bokkie!”
Chan gasps, delighted. “She’s fast.”
Hyunjin shakes her head, and laughs, already following. “She gets that from someone.”
“I don’t run in public places,” Minhee mutters, speed-walking.
The wave pool is supposed to be calm. But it is not. The girls are shrieking, clinging to floaties, daring each other to step closer to the deeper end.
Yongbok squeals every time a wave hits her knees like it’s the most thrilling thing she’s ever experienced.
Chan stands chest-deep, arms crossed. “No splashing.”
A wave crashes. Minhee splashes back without hesitation.
Hyunjin stares at her. “You-”
Minhee grins. “What? I didn't start it.”
Jeongin laughs openly now, sunscreen forgotten. “I love this team.”
Lunch happens late because Yongbok negotiates one more ride with the intensity of a tiny lawyer, and Minhee backs her up every single time.
“Just one,” Minhee says, already handing out towels. “I’m supporting their joy,” Minhee adds, unapologetic.
By the time they finally sit down to eat, everyone is damp, hair tangled, faces flushed with laughter.
Somehow, despite everything, no one is lost. No shoes are missing. Snacks are intact.
Hyunjin exhales, surveying the scene. “We look functional,” she admits.
Jeongin raises an eyebrow. “From a distance.”
Chan bites into his food, triumphant. “Best team.”
Yongbok nods seriously. “We’re winning.”
Minhee leans back, smiling at them all. Hyunjin watches the girls laugh, then softens, just a little.
“Okay,” she says. “One more ride.”
They cheer like she’s just declared victory.
By the time both teams drift toward the central water park, whatever structure existed earlier in the day quietly dissolves.
It starts small.
Someone forgets the locker number. Someone else swears they definitely put their slippers right there. A towel goes missing and then reappears on the wrong child. Sunscreen is passed around again even though everyone is already wet, and Jisung is holding three things that are not his while asking, vaguely, “Whose is this?”
The men arrive first, soaked, hair plastered to their foreheads, confidence thoroughly wrung out of them. Changbin looks exhilarated. Jihan looks like he has been reborn through fear. Hyejin are laughing like she could do it all over again.
Then the women’s team turns the corner.
Hyunjin stops dead. Minhee bursts out laughing. Jeongin takes one look at the men and claps slowly. “Wow. You look… defeated.”
Jisung squints at them, dripping. “You look suspiciously fine.”
Minhee grins. “We followed rules.”
Hyunjin clears her throat. “Mostly.”
Yongbok doesn’t wait. She runs straight into the middle of everyone, water splashing everywhere, words tumbling out about slides and waves and who screamed the loudest. The kids collide into one loose, chaotic group, immediately deciding the day is not over.
The adults exchange looks.
Then a splash hits Jisung square in the chest. That’s it. From there, everything blurs into shared survival. Everyone ends up soaked properly this time, no dry hair left to protect.
The teams stop being teams and become a tangled unit of herding, laughing, and calling names across water and noise.
Hyunjin holds towels, Minhee sits on the edge with her feet in the water, watching the kids with a soft, satisfied smile. Seungmin leans back beside Jisung, exhausted, sun-warmed, resigned.
“We lost,” Seungmin says quietly.
Jisung hums. “Yeah.”
But neither of them sounds upset.
By late afternoon, legs are tired. Voices are hoarse. The kids curl against whichever adult they reach first, damp and happy and heavy with sleep. Towels are draped everywhere, over shoulders, over laps, over heads.
On the ride home, no one talks much. There are just half-closed eyes, the occasional sleepy complaint about sunburn or hunger.
“That was chaos.” Chan says.
A pause.
“But it was fun.” Yongbok announces, sleepy.
No one argues.