DASH-Chapter 29Vol 2. : Side Story -

When Jiheon came home from work, he spotted a familiar pair of flats sitting by the entrance.

He opened the inner door and called out right away.

“Mother, you’re here?”

Before Shim Yeo-sa could answer, Jini wriggled out of her arms and shouted, “Daddy!” racing toward him like he’d been waiting all day.

Watching him charge toward Jiheon, Shim Yeo-sa rolled her eyes fondly. “Aigoo, no one beats his daddy.”

Jiheon scooped his son up as the boy clung to his coat collar, planting kisses all over Jini’s cheeks.

“Did you have fun today? I bet you were happy Grandma came over.”

“Daddy, ham! Yes! Today—today we went to the store with Grandma and saw a hamster!”

Just a few months ago, Jini could barely string together two-word sentences—Jini want, Daddy good, This scary, Grape more—but since turning three, his speech had suddenly taken off. His pronunciation was still fuzzy, but he was chattering nonstop now.

“Really? Hamsters are cute.”

“Yeah! So, so cute, I kept watching, and, and—we saw a bunny too!”

Jini was practically vibrating with excitement, stumbling over word order but still sneaking kisses onto his dad’s cheek between phrases. Jiheon let him smother him in kisses for a while, then finally set him down again.

“Jini, Daddy’s gonna take off his coat and wash his hands first, then I’ll hug you again, okay?”

“Okaaay.”

As soon as he answered, Jini trotted right back over to Grandma, who was sitting on the couch. If it had been Jiheon’s father, he’d have joked, “What, going back to Grandma already? Grandpa’s jealous.” But Shim Yeo-sa never said anything that might upset the child, even as a joke.

“Did my little puppy come back to Grandma?” she asked sweetly, pulling him into her arms again, showering him with unconditional praise—Our Jini is so good. So pretty. Such a good boy.

Maybe that’s why, even after Jiheon changed clothes and came out again, Jini was still cuddled up ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) in Grandma’s lap. Only when she gently prompted him—“Look, Daddy changed so he could hug you”—did Jini quietly get up and go back to him.

But just as he reached for Jiheon’s lap, the front door keypad started beeping. Jini’s head whipped around.

“Daddy!” he yelled again and bolted toward the door.

“Busy little guy,” Shim Yeo-sa said with a laugh.

The front door opened, and Jaekyung stepped inside.

“Kwon Jini.”

The moment he saw the boy waiting at the door, Jaekyung scooped him up and spun him around—once, twice, then tossed him into the air and caught him in a dizzying blur. Jini squealed with delight, giggling uncontrollably as if this was the best moment of his life.

While Jaekyung played with him, Jiheon went to get dinner ready—not that there was much to do. Their housekeeper had already cooked and left the dishes in the fridge, so Jiheon just needed to plate them. But Shim Yeo-sa came into the kitchen anyway to help.

“Oh no, Mother, please—just relax.”

“It’s fine. I’m hungry. I want to eat and get going.”

With that, she had the food out in seconds, reheating what needed reheating and arranging the rest. In the center of the table sat japchae that hadn’t been there yesterday. Jiheon figured she’d taken Jini to the store today just to get ingredients for it.

Shim Yeo-sa had once declared she wouldn’t lift a finger in the kitchen after Jaekyung retired, but since his retirement never came, she still cooked for them now and then—and even helped out with their child. Especially when Jiheon had just returned to work, she’d practically commuted to their place every day. Babysitters were one thing, but having family around made a world of difference. Jiheon remained endlessly grateful.

These days, now that Jini had started going to daycare, Shim Yeo-sa didn’t come by as often, but she still picked him up on days when both dads had to stay out late—like today.

“So what took you so long today?”

She asked as Jaekyung came over to the table with Jini in his arms. Unless it was right before a competition, Jaekyung’s afternoon training usually ran from three to five, so pick-up duty normally fell to him. But not today.

“I’m just getting back from Busan.”

“What for? Olympic stuff?”

“Yeah, some kind of shoot.”

Jaekyung had been chosen as one of the official ambassadors for next year’s Summer Olympics. The reason he’d ended up in that role was simple: the 2026 Games were being held in Busan.

“Now that I think about it, I saw that guy on TV recently. You know, the other national athlete who got picked as an ambassador with you? The taekwondo one.”

“You mean Kim Myeonghwan?”

Jiheon chimed in, and Shim Yeo-sa lit up. “Yes! That’s him. I saw him on a show with his son. The kid looked about Jini’s age—so cute, so sweet.” freeωebnovēl.c૦m

They’d heard before that a national athlete was doing a parenting reality show, but neither of them had realized it was Kim Myeonghwan.

Then again, the dad was handsome, and if the kid was around three, it was the perfect age for TV. These days, even the rumor of a celebrity pregnancy was enough to have producers lining up with offers. There was no way they’d let someone like that slip by.

“You two aren’t doing a show like that? Haven’t the producers called?”

As she spoke, Jaekyung spooned japchae onto Jini’s dinosaur-print plate and glanced sideways at Jiheon. Jiheon ignored the message in that look and answered casually.

“We’ve been getting a ton of offers, actually.”

Of course they had. Probably every parenting show on every channel—network and cable alike—had reached out.

“Really? Then why not do one? Just once.”

Shim Yeo-sa wasn’t being subtle. She clearly wanted them to appear. This was a far cry from her attitude years ago when Jaekyung filmed that “Join the Enemy” reality show and she’d fretted about whether he’d get criticized for his behavior.

“Our Jini would get so many compliments on TV. Right, Jini?”

Jini was slurping up a tangle of noodles but paused to glance up at her, big eyes blinking. He nodded along even though he probably didn’t understand a word, and as soon as he swallowed, he chirped, “Yes, that’s right!”

Shim Yeo-sa was practically glowing. Even in the middle of eating, Jini made an effort to respond to his grandma’s every word, and she clearly adored it.

She was so enthusiastic about Jini doing a variety show because, unlike her son, she had zero doubt that the public would fall in love with such a sweet, lovable grandchild.

Sure, it was probably all a bit biased—but Jini really was a gentle, even-tempered child. He’d been calm as a baby, but now that he could talk, he was even easier to manage. He topped the empathy scale in every developmental test. As long as you explained things calmly and clearly, he rarely threw tantrums.

Jaekyung insisted it was because Jini took after Jiheon, but Jiheon figured this had more to do with Shim Yeo-sa’s quiet, thorough influence.

She was someone who deeply understood the importance of early childhood socialization. In her view, Jaekyung’s social ineptitude stemmed partly from his personality, but also from growing up with very little exposure to other people.

“Jaekyung’s father was one of those rare types for his era—a guy who studied abroad. Got his master’s in France, ran a publishing company, taught college courses. A real intellectual. But he was dead set on educating his grandsons himself, so neither Jaejoon nor Jaekyung ever went to daycare or preschool. I think that’s where it all went wrong.”

While other kids were being told, “We don’t fight with our friends,” and “Kind kids know how to share,” Jaekyung was hearing lectures about how David Hume said morality was driven by feeling, not reason. Not exactly toddler-friendly.

His grandfather, full of ambition, turned his study into a classroom and taught them all sorts of things. But as far as Shim Yeo-sa was concerned, the only thing Jaekyung came away with was a neat handwriting style—from all the calligraphy practice his grandfather made him do. That said, Jaekyung did have beautiful handwriting. So pretty, in fact, it didn’t seem to match him at all.

Anyway, Shim Yeo-sa was determined not to let her grandson follow the same path. The moment Jini turned thirty-six months, she enrolled him in daycare. Before that, she’d taken him everywhere—parks, museums, community centers—so he could meet different people and experience different things.

Despite all that, Jini still tended to be shy around strangers or unfamiliar places. But at least he answered when people spoke to him. That had been Shim Yeo-sa’s number one goal—<When an adult calls, you respond clearly>—and she had drilled it into him.

So even if Jini was a little shy, he always answered. If people called his name from three different directions at once, he’d still chirp, “Yes! Hello!” even if he had no idea where it was coming from.

His speech was still a little clumsy, but it was sweet. He wasn’t picky with food and ate just about everything. Though, like his father, he had a huge sweet tooth and lost all focus at the first taste of sugar—but he didn’t reject other flavors and had a solid appetite overall.

He was exactly a head taller than kids his age. Though shy for his size, Jiheon and Jaekyung found that a relief—especially now that he was in daycare. Better to be a gentle giant than a pushy kid who used his size to boss others around.