Secret Baby (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 12
Tae Kyung furrowed his brows and stared intently at Hyun Young.
Hyun Young’s remark—that it was only natural for Min Seob to care about Min Jun—weighed heavily on his mind.
He felt a bitter ache in his stomach as the thought surged through him that he was like an intruding foreign object wedged between Min Seob and Seo Ha.
Hiding his true feelings, he asked dryly,
“Do other parents just stay quiet when a teacher seems to favor one particular child?”
“Some do express discomfort occasionally, but everyone understands. Plus, Mr. Kwak has been stepping in as Min Jun’s father during kindergarten events all this time—so that probably makes their bond even more special.”
“…….”
Tae Kyung felt an inexplicable sense of defeat toward Min Seob. He suddenly felt like an unwelcome intruder between Seo Ha and Min Seob, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.
“I’ll be going now. I’ll make sure to get back before class starts.”
“Alright. You’ve worked hard. Go ahead.”
Tae Kyung had come to the kindergarten hoping to see Seo Ha, but he left empty-handed, carrying only bitterness as he headed toward Emil Kindergarten.
He returned to Onnuri Kindergarten an hour before his afternoon coding class was scheduled to begin.
While setting up the classroom early in the creative studio, he noticed commotion outside.
When he stepped out, he found Seo Ha crouched on the floor, tears welling in her eyes, completely dazed. Her face was deathly pale, and her whole body trembled uncontrollably.
[This is the timeline separator]The children arrived at the swimming pool, excited and buzzing with energy.
Min Seob skillfully led the boys into the changing room. Since all the other teachers were women, Min Seob had to help the boys undress, shower, change, and get ready.
“Alright, kids! Put your clothes in the lockers, grab your swim caps and goggles, and come over here.”
Min Seob showed the children where the lockers were and changed himself into shorts and a white short-sleeve T-shirt.
Following Min Seob’s instructions, the children rinsed their entire bodies in the showers before entering the pool, then put on their swim caps and filed one by one toward the swimming area.
Min Jun wore his swim cap with his tiny hands, but tufts of hair stuck out here and there. Min Seob smiled gently and adjusted the cap properly on Min Jun’s head.
“You look so cool, Min Jun! Ready to go in?”
Min Jun grinned brightly and took Min Seob’s hand as they headed toward the pool.
The children sat neatly in a line in front of the toddler pool.
While the swimming instructor conducted the lesson, Min Seob and the other kindergarten teachers stood beside the toddler pool, watching the children intently.
Accidents at swimming pools happen in an instant—you couldn’t afford to let your guard down even for a moment.
Once in the water, the children splashed about joyfully like fish returned to their element. They looked adorable holding kickboards with their tiny hands and practicing flutter kicks.
In the middle of the lesson, Min Jun raised his hand toward Min Seob.
Min Seob walked over to him.
“Min Jun, what’s wrong?”
“Teacher, I need to go potty.”
“Got it. Then come out carefully. Let’s go to the restroom.”
“Okay!”
Min Jun scrambled out of the water. Clearly in a hurry, he didn’t even hold Min Seob’s hand and started running recklessly.
“Min Jun! It’s dangerous! No running by the pool!”
But Min Jun, as if he hadn’t heard the warning at all, ran as fast as his short legs could carry him.
“Ugh!”
Thud!
The little boy stumbled as he ran, and a loud crash echoed through the air.
“Min Jun!”
Min Seob rushed over to Min Jun immediately.
Min Jun had slipped on the wet pool floor and hit his head hard on the ground.
His face was completely drained of color, his lips turned blue, and the whites of his eyes showed through his half-closed eyelids.
Min Seob scooped Min Jun into his arms and shook him desperately.
“Min Jun! Min Jun, wake up! Someone call 119! Call 119 right away!”
Min Seob called out frantically, but Min Jun wouldn’t open his eyes.
Whether by fortune or misfortune, there was no visible bleeding.
“Hello! Is this 119? We’re at a swimming pool—a five-year-old boy just fell, hit his head on the floor, and lost consciousness. Please hurry! He hasn’t vomited, but his lips are turning blue!”
Min Seob tightly grasped Min Jun’s hand. The child’s hand felt icy cold.
Would he be okay until the ambulance arrived?
Why was 119 taking so long? Where were the rescue personnel?
“A blanket! Please bring a blanket!”
Min Seob shouted to the pool staff. He removed Min Jun’s life jacket, laid him gently on his side, and adjusted his posture to help him breathe more easily.
Min Jun’s small chest rose and fell with faint, shallow breaths.
The other children erupted into chaos as they watched Min Jun lying unconscious and Min Seob rubbing the child’s hands and feet.
“Is Min Jun going to die?”
“Really? No! Our friend can’t die!”
One child’s question sent the others into panic—some froze in shock, others sobbed loudly from the water, shivering violently, while a few threw tantrums, demanding to go home.
The accompanying teachers were overwhelmed trying to calm everyone down.
“Kids, it’s okay! Min Jun isn’t going to die. Don’t worry.”
“If anyone’s feeling unwell, you can come out of the water and wait on the side.”
Hearing the teachers’ words, several crying girls climbed out and stood shivering on the pool deck.
Meanwhile, Joo Ri, who had come along as a chaperone, immediately called the kindergarten.
“Oh, Principal! It’s Min Jun! Min Jun fell and lost consciousness! What do we do? What should we do, Principal? Please help us!”
—Calm down. As soon as you get him to the hospital, call me back right away. I’ll send Teacher Kim over there.
“Yes, Principal… Hic… sob…”
Joo Ri burst into tears, more shaken than she realized. But she quickly wiped her eyes and turned her attention back to the children.
Soon, paramedics in bright orange uniforms arrived. They placed Min Jun onto a stretcher and carried him out. Min Seob followed right behind.
Inside the ambulance, Min Seob held Min Jun’s hand tightly and prayed silently.
Please let this child open his eyes again with that bright smile.
The ambulance siren wailed urgently as it pulled up to the hospital’s emergency room.
Thankfully, Min Jun’s eyelids fluttered slightly and slowly opened.
“Min Jun! Can you see Teacher? Huh?”
Min Jun weakly turned his head toward Min Seob.
Seeing this, one of the paramedics shone a light into Min Seob’s eyes to check his pupils.
While checking Min Jun’s pulse and running a few quick assessments, the ER doctor began examining him—just as Seo Ha rushed in.
“Min Jun!”
“M… Mommy…”
“Yes! It’s Mommy!”
Seo Ha burst into tears the moment she saw Min Jun recognize her.
She had been terrified of what might have happened.
Her own hands and feet felt just as cold as Min Jun’s.
“Oh… Thank you. Thank you so much for saving my Min Jun. Sob…”
Seo Ha clutched Min Jun’s hand tightly, bowed her head, and wept uncontrollably.
Though she had no religion, in this moment she was profoundly grateful to every deity in existence.
She was thankful they hadn’t taken the child she’d protected with her life—the child she’d willingly give her own life for—and instead let him stay by her side.
Tae Kyung stood at a distance, watching Seo Ha for a long while. Then he followed Min Jun’s attending physician, who was heading off to complete paperwork.
“Doctor!”
“Yes? What is it?”
The doctor turned around, his wrinkled lab coat clearly revealing his exhaustion. Tae Kyung asked as politely as possible.
“How is little Min Jun doing after your examination just now?”
“Are you the father?”
“Oh, um, yes.”
Tae Kyung found himself telling a lie without even realizing it. The doctor didn’t seem suspicious at all.
“So the man who came with you is the teacher. I see. You and your son look a lot alike, Father and son.”
It made sense that Seo Ha and Min Jun resembled each other, but Tae Kyung had no relation to Min Jun whatsoever—yet they looked alike?
Seeing Tae Kyung’s face tense slightly, the doctor assumed he’d delayed his response too long and quickly changed the subject back to Min Jun.
“We’ll need to run tests to know the patient’s condition for sure. Since there’s a risk of cerebral hemorrhage, we’ll need to do a CT or MRI scan.”
“I understand. But he’s still so young—do we really need a CT scan? I’m worried about radiation exposure.”
Though Tae Kyung asked with concern, the doctor answered indifferently, as if such cases were routine.
“If it were my child, I’d get the scan done. We need to check for possible internal bleeding or fractures and monitor his condition closely. Right now, I can’t give you any definitive answers.”
The doctor pushed his glasses up his nose with a detached expression.
Tae Kyung gave a slight bow to express his gratitude. The doctor then walked away with heavy steps to finish the chart.
As Tae Kyung turned to go back to Seo Ha, he overheard the doctor muttering to himself.
“Genetics really are something else.”
Tae Kyung turned his head to look again at the back of the doctor’s head—just as the doctor glanced back and their eyes met.
The doctor felt a chill from Tae Kyung’s expressionless face.
What kept swirling in Tae Kyung’s mind, however, was a conversation he’d overheard between nurses.
While entering Min Jun’s patient information, one nurse had remarked in amazement to her colleague,
“Oh, Nurse Kim—this patient has a watermelon allergy noted in his file.”
“A watermelon allergy? That’s pretty rare. Any allergies to antibiotics or other medications?”
“None reported. His blood type is also Rh-negative.”
“We’ll need to double-check before administering any medication.”
The nurses kept their eyes glued to the monitor as they whispered quietly.
But their conversation made Tae Kyung freeze in place.
A watermelon allergy? He didn’t know much about it, but it was so uncommon that he’d never met anyone else with it—except himself.
Well, to be precise, he’d heard his own father had it, but no one else he knew did.
Blood type could be inherited, but could allergies be passed down too?
And on top of that, sharing the rare Rh-negative blood type—this felt too coincidental.
It sent chills down his spine how closely Min Jun mirrored his own traits.
He felt an inexplicable sense of kinship toward Min Jun for sharing such a similar constitution, yet it also unsettled him—because Min Jun was another man’s son.
Tae Kyung grew increasingly curious about Min Jun’s biological father.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts and walked over to Seo Ha.
Min Jun had closed his eyes again, and Seo Ha was watching over him, her face still damp with tears.
Soon, a nurse approached Seo Ha, explained the necessary tests, obtained her consent, and then moved Min Jun onto a stretcher cart.
Seo Ha’s hands still trembled violently.
“He’ll be okay. Min Jun is a tough kid. Please don’t worry too much.”
“Thank you, Teacher Min Seob.”
“It’s nothing. It’s my fault. I should’ve watched him more closely. I should’ve held his hand and walked with him.”
Regret filled Min Seob’s face as he wrapped an arm around Seo Ha’s shoulders.
Seo Ha’s shoulders shook as she couldn’t hold back her tears any longer.
Watching this, Tae Kyung felt intensely irritated.
How dare he touch her?
He strode over and yanked Min Seob’s arm away.
“Don’t touch her so casually.”
Male lead fell into her trap — and shattered when she walked away
This is also on my reread list!
This one is a slow burn, but when it burns, it burns hard.
Definitely worth a read, y’all!
The story follows a thousand-year-old seductive spirit who, on a bet, sets out to charm the male lead—a once-promising but unfortunate cultivator.
But just when she succeeds in making him fall for her, she heartlessly leaves, driving him to madness.
Determined to find her at all costs, he captures her, keeping her by his side no matter what, even if she hates him.
I love this kind of trope—I enjoy watching the male lead suffer in agony.
The ending drags a bit with unnecessary filler, but that’s fine.
As long as I enjoy the beginning, I’m good.
Intro
As an enchantress, Su Heng possesses captivating eyes and charming beauty, easily manipulating the joys and sorrows of living beings at her fingertips.
But to enchant a god, making him taste the bitterness of love’s separation, long-lasting resentment, unattainable desires, and inability to let go…
Do you dare?
Su Heng assists a divine lord in his cultivation, aiming to make him experience all the sufferings of love, so that he can attain the Great Dao.
Only after being chased down from the heavens by the divine lord, confined and completely possessed by him, does she realize how successful she has been.
The once gentle and polite youth has transformed into someone she no longer recognizes.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
Most Commented This Week
Who Spent the Night with the Tower Master (Completed Main Story)
I Decline the Ex-Boyfriend of the Regretful Male Lead (Completed Main Story)
Long Live the Emperor, Minus Me (Completed Main Story)
After Linking the Villainess and Male Lead (5 Chapters Left to Complete)
Captured into the Bedroom of the Enemy Emperor (1 Chapters Left to Complete)
I Became a Supporting Character in a Martial Arts Novel (Completed Main Story)