“Oh no, how could you!”

Ji Hoo was startled and made a grumpy expression.

“I’ve already taken the photo. What should we do?”

Min Je laughed with a troubled expression. He knew Ji Hoo didn’t particularly like having his photo taken, but he didn’t expect him to dislike it this much.

“Should I delete it?”

He asked while gauging the child’s reaction. Ji Hoo sighed deeply and then said as if doing a favor:

“It’s fine.”

Then he quickly disappeared to look in the mirror. It seemed he was shocked by his toothless face, having been so confident in his appearance before.

Ha Yeon smiled at the deflated child’s retreating back, then casually said to Min Je:

“Sir, please make sure to send me that photo too.”

Her gaze was so earnest that Min Je couldn’t help but laugh. Why was she pleading like this over such a small thing?

“Alright.”

Unable to ignore her pitiful gaze, he immediately sent her the photo.

After confirming the photo, Ha Yeon smiled happily with a beaming face.

“Isn’t he so cute?”

A blush rose to her cheeks. Seeing that, Min Je somehow couldn’t focus on Ji Hoo’s photo anymore and cleared his throat awkwardly.

As he was trying to figure out how to respond, Ha Yeon suddenly exclaimed as if something had just occurred to her:

“Ah! We need to throw the fallen tooth onto the roof!”

Ji Hoo, who was coming back to the living room after looking at his face in the mirror, heard this and asked:

“Throw the tooth on the roof? Why?”

“They say if you throw an old tooth on the roof, a magpie will take it and bring you a new tooth.”

As Ha Yeon kindly explained to Ji Hoo, Min Je’s eyebrows twitched. She really believes such superstitions in the 21st century.

“Does the magpie really take the old tooth? What happens if you don’t throw the tooth?”

Ji Hoo was already completely absorbed in this new story he was hearing. Ha Yeon patted the child’s head once and said with a gentle smile:

“Our ancestors have been doing it since ancient times. And if you don’t throw the tooth on the roof… well, I suppose a new tooth might not grow.”

Ji Hoo’s expression hardened at Ha Yeon’s playful explanation.

“The tooth might not grow?”

The child’s face clouded over with shock at the thought of living his whole life without front teeth.

Min Je, who had been listening to the conversation from the side, groaned and held his forehead. What on earth was she teaching the child?

“We’ll go outside and throw the tooth on the roof. There’s no need to worry like that.”

Ha Yeon gently patted Ji Hoo’s head. The child seemed to have made up his mind, nodding with determination in his eyes.

“Okay, let’s go throw it now.”

Even though a decision had been made, Min Je flinched when both Ha Yeon and Ji Hoo turned to look at him simultaneously. What was that gaze for?

“Do I have to go out too?”

“Of course!”

“You weren’t planning to come with us?”

Ha Yeon and Ji Hoo exclaimed almost in unison. Min Je let out a short sigh at the two who were so in sync. They may have forgotten, but he had just come home.

“Alright, I’ll go.”

Hearing Min Je’s answer, Ha Yeon and Ji Hoo excitedly went outside. Min Je briefly suspected they might be conspiring to tease him.

Draping his coat over the sofa, Min Je followed them out the front door.

But something seemed a bit off about the two’s mood?

Just moments ago they had been excited to go out, but now both their faces were stiff.

“What’s wrong?”

Min Je asked, finding it strange. Ha Yeon and Ji Hoo pointed at the roof in unison, as if they had planned it.

“Oh, for goodness sake…”

He chuckled, finding it absurd. Of course the roof would be high for a two-story house.

“It’s too high, we can’t do it. What should we do?”

Ji Hoo’s face fell. He looked like he might have nightmares about his front teeth never growing back if he fell asleep.

Ha Yeon was also fidgeting, feeling responsible for the words she had carelessly spoken. Why hadn’t she thought about this house being two stories?

Moreover, the modern-style building was just a square shape, with nothing that could really be called a roof visible.

Should she say all the magpies had moved to the countryside and don’t come here anymore? Or that it can’t be done because there’s no roof? As Ha Yeon was rolling her eyes trying to figure out what to say to Ji Hoo, Min Je spoke up.

“I’ll do it.”

Min Je held out his hand, asking for Ji Hoo’s fallen tooth.

“What?”

Ha Yeon looked up at him with wide eyes, startled.

“Don’t you think only I can do it?”

He tilted his head quite arrogantly as he spoke. It was just throwing a tooth on the roof, yet he was so confident.

Still, she couldn’t argue because her heart started racing, finding his demeanor attractive. Moreover, saying only he could do it? Impure thoughts kept trying to surface, completely unrelated to the current situation.

So Ha Yeon quickly handed Ji Hoo’s fallen tooth to him, pretending to be nonchalant.

“Here you go, then.”

Min Je looked up at the building, as if gauging the distance. And just as he was about to throw it-

“Ah, w-wait a moment!”

Ha Yeon shouted, stopping him. Min Je’s eyebrow twitched for a moment.

Ha Yeon glanced at his face, cleared her throat, and then said:

“Before throwing the tooth, you have to si-sing a song.”

Even though she wasn’t making it up, she didn’t know why her face was burning so hot. Somehow feeling embarrassed, she kept her gaze fixed only on Ji Hoo.

“What kind of song?”

Ji Hoo’s eyes widened curiously.

“W-well, ahem… There’s a song that goes ‘Magpie, magpie, I’ll give you an old tooth, give me a new tooth.'”

Ha Yeon felt the urge to turn around and run back into the house right now. But she tried hard to calm herself, muttering inwardly.

Raising a child is difficult. Come on, stay calm. Eye-level education, eye-level education…

Min Je pressed his lips together tightly to keep from laughing as he watched Ha Yeon’s lips move.

‘She’s not cursing, is she?’

Judging by her expression, she might be muttering some terrible curses.

“Then let’s sing it together.”

Ji Hoo said with a bright smile, oblivious to everything.

“Oh, um, shall we?”

Ha Yeon still didn’t look in Min Je’s direction as she sang with Ji Hoo. It was almost a solo by Ha Yeon since Ji Hoo didn’t know the song.

Ah, I think I’m going to start hating magpies from now on. As she finished the song with a pale face, Min Je asked as if he had been waiting:

“Are we done now?”

Their eyes met briefly. Seeing his eyes smiling, Ha Yeon bit her lip hard.

Damn it, I’m so embarrassed I could die! But she nodded without showing it.

“Yes, you can throw it now.”

He took a step back, then stepped forward with a big stride and made a full swing towards the building’s rooftop. It looked like watching a pitcher on the mound during a baseball game.

“Wow…”

Ji Hoo let out an exclamation of admiration as he looked up at Min Je.

“No need to worry anymore, right?”

Min Je said with a gentle smile as he patted Ji Hoo’s head.

“Yes!”

The child answered in a bright voice.

“Now, it’s time for bed.”

Since it was already past Ji Hoo’s bedtime, Min Je took care of the child and went inside.

Ha Yeon, following behind them, narrowed her eyes.

‘Did he really throw it? It doesn’t seem like he did.’

No matter how she thought about it, it didn’t seem like anything had flown from his hand. Of course, Ji Hoo’s front tooth was very small and might be hard to distinguish in the dark garden.

But nevertheless, her intuition was telling her so.

‘Well, he must have some plan.’

Ha Yeon decided to settle her thoughts like that for now and helped Ji Hoo get ready for bed.

After Ji Hoo had fallen asleep, Ha Yeon came downstairs and noticed the door to the studio was open, so she headed in that direction.

Min Je was deeply lost in thought. And in front of her unfinished work, no less!

“Ah, it’s not finished yet.”

Before she knew it, Ha Yeon had stepped in front of him to block her work. Her intention was to hide her piece, but since Min Je was standing so close to the work, the distance between them ended up being closer than she expected.

Ha Yeon was flustered when those eyes, which seemed to penetrate a person’s inner thoughts, calmly looked down at her. Those sharp eyes seemed to reproach her. Saying she had no talent for painting. Asking if this was all she was capable of drawing.

“It’s a painting that isn’t even fully colored yet, so if you judge it hastily… I was planning to show you when it was done.”

She spoke incoherently and then lowered her gaze. Though she had loved drawing since childhood, after entering the art department in college, she couldn’t enjoy it like before. Instead of drawing for enjoyment, all her nerves were focused on being evaluated.

She felt the same way now. It felt as if he would give her painting a score.

“Do you think there’s a correct answer in expressing objects?”

At Min Je’s question, Ha Yeon slowly raised her head and met his eyes. She didn’t quite understand why he was asking such a question.

“Well…”

Ha Yeon thought her answer sounded quite foolish, but the moment she saw his eyes, her mind felt like a blank white sheet of paper, and she couldn’t give any other answer.

“However you express an object, that’s the artist’s heart. Isn’t that right?”

Ha Yeon nodded slowly. She felt quite bewildered to see Min Je’s expression, which she thought would rebuke her, softened gently.

“You seem to like butterflies?”

Min Je asked, casting his gaze over Ha Yeon’s shoulder. Ha Yeon realized it was meaningless to keep blocking her painting and stepped aside slightly as she answered.

“Yes, I think no creature emits such a mysterious light as butterflies.”

As she stepped aside, the unfinished painting revealed itself. On the canvas was Ji Hoo smiling brightly with large butterfly wings attached to his back.

Min Je carefully took in the painting that wasn’t yet fully colored. The way of using colors was a bit unique.

“Is this ebru?” (ebru: Turkish traditional painting technique using water and oil)

“Yes, I tend to like oil marbling.”

Ha Yeon answered while still watching his reaction. He was rumored to have a natural eye for art in the art world. There was even a rumor that any artist who caught his eye would definitely become a master.

Even as her fingertips trembled with nervousness, she couldn’t help feeling a bit of resentment. According to their agreement, she was supposed to show him the painting after it was completed. In other words, she could have experienced this awkward situation a bit later.

Whether Ha Yeon sent him resentful glances or not, Min Je was focused only on the painting. Since oil marbling uses the repulsion between water and oil, the shape changes drastically depending on how the paint is stirred and dropped.

But the oil marbling Ha Yeon had created resembled traditional Korean mother-of-pearl patterns. He became interested in whether it was a coincidence that she had created such colors, or if she could consistently create such colors in the future.

No, not just the colors, but her work itself interested him. The expression of Ji Hoo drawn on the canvas had been imprinted in his mind since earlier and wouldn’t leave. The brightly smiling face was almost believable as an angel.

The power to capture people’s attention, and the energy to make viewers happy. That’s what he felt from Ha Yeon’s painting.

“If you don’t mind, how about a short-term intensive tutoring?”

“What? What did you say?”

Ha Yeon had a blank expression at Min Je’s completely unexpected words. Just earlier he had looked like he was going to make severe criticisms, but now what? Short-term intensive tutoring?

Ha Yeon, doubting her ears, asked again.

“So, you mean I would receive tutoring from you, sir?”

Then he answered in an irresistibly charming voice:

“Yes, you’ll be very satisfied.”