“Do you have a good idea?”
“Yes.”
As if he had something to say, Kei’s eyes sparkled, and color returned to his face. Kim Chan leaned in close to Kei’s ear and whispered his idea.
As Kim Chan’s words continued, the worried expression that had clouded Kei’s face quickly cleared away.
“It seems you’ve come up with a good idea.”
PD Shimjun wasn’t worried even if Blue Team failed their mission—it would make for good footage either way.
Even capturing their confusion would entertain viewers.
In variety shows, it’s always more interesting when things don’t go off without a hitch; a slip or two makes for good fun.
He’d been wondering how they’d get through this difficulty, but Kim Chan had brought a solution.
“We will!”
Kei’s strong voice drew everyone’s attention.
The children, who’d been whispering among themselves, and the other teams all turned to look at Kei.
“We’ll play with our bodies!”
Standing tall with both hands on his waist, Kei exuded confidence. In the past, when proper toys didn’t exist, fathers would choose to entertain their children with physical play when they grew bored. Airplane rides have such a long tradition that even today, all children love that game.
“Hahaha. That’s an unexpected approach.”
In truth, PD Shimjun had planned to have Blue Team look after the children as safety supervisors if they failed the mission.
That was better than them just standing around.
“I’m really looking forward to this.”
But Blue Team had managed to overcome the crisis themselves. As Hunters, he was already eager to see how they’d entertain the kids.
“First, let’s turn this collapsed part into a huge dirt mound. To keep everyone safe, get the rocks out of there, quick.”
Blue Team had one hour to play with the kids.
After that hour, the children would spend time on the playground equipment built by Yellow Team, and finally, play with Red Team.
After playing with each team once, the children would pick the team they had the most fun with.
The order was chosen by each team’s leader. The last team to play with the kids would likely leave the strongest impression.
Yoo Jaeri, who finally managed to pick a good order this time, had already received a round of compliments from her teammates.
“Kids, come here.”
While Kim Chan and Irian tidied up the mound, Kei, Song Doyoon, and An Jin-ho gathered the children together.
“What are we playing?”
“I’m bored! Let’s play already!”
Nearly twenty children’s chattering voices erupted in a chorus of noise.
Kei wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand and raised his hand.
“Who wants to ride an airplane?”
“Me! Me!”
“Me first!”
They decided to start with the airplane ride.
The problem was, except for a few shy kids, everyone shot up their right hands and started bouncing in place.
“We can take up to three kids at a time.”
Song Doyoon quickly thought it through. One on their shoulders and one in each arm would work.
“Let’s line up in order, okay? The uncles will take three kids at a time for the airplane ride.”
An Jin-ho soothed the children and got them into a line. Luckily, a teacher came over to help, and the chaotic scene settled down quickly.
“Which brave child wants to climb on uncle’s shoulders?”
Song Doyoon got right into it. Using his friendly voice, he spoke at eye level, and a hesitant little boy stepped forward. The boy’s straight-cut bangs were striking, and his nametag read ‘Song Yeonho.’
“Yeonho, we have the same last name. If you get scared, you can pull my hair, okay?”
“Okay.”
After seating Yeonho on his shoulders, Song Doyoon picked up a child in each arm. The other kids just stared wide-eyed.
“Now, we’re going to move. Should our two friends stretch their arms out like Superman?”
Doing everything he could to make things fun, Song Doyoon racked his brain.
As soon as the two hesitated, then stretched their arms forward, the air seemed to change.
“Wow!”
“So fast!”
“Kyahhh—!”
The skeptical children soon burst into wide smiles. This airplane ride was on a different level than the kind their dads sometimes gave them, the kind that usually just made their bellies sore from being bounced on dad’s heels.
Every blink brought new scenery whooshing past. It really felt like being a hero flying through the sky.
“All done.”
“Shall we try sliding with the kids in our arms for this one?”
At that moment, Kim Chan and Irian finished shaping the dirt mound into a hill. They’d moved the brick wall made of rocks to the side so no one would get hurt.
Irian nodded at Kim Chan’s suggestion.
“Who wants to ride a human sled?”
Since there was no sled, they’d become the sleds themselves. The kids waiting for their airplane turn crept over to the two of them.
The laughter of the first airplane riders had made the others even more impatient.
“Hug uncle.”
“You seem more like an oppa.”
“Nope. Call me uncle, please.”
A girl with her hair in two braids tilted her head at Kim Chan’s words.
“My name is Kim Ria, uncle.”
“Ria, your face is pretty, but your name’s even prettier.”
Kim Chan gently patted her on the head and took her hand, leading her up the hill.
The dirt mound was tall enough to seem high from a child’s perspective.
“How do we go down?”
“Like this.”
Kim Chan sat down on the ground, holding Ria in front of him. He honestly wasn’t sure how well it would work.
A rice sack would be ideal, but there wasn’t one around. Then Kim Chan looked down at his jumper.
It had a sleek, slightly shiny surface. Being a windbreaker, it would probably work well as a sled.
“Just a second.”
He hurriedly took off his jacket and spread it under his bottom.
“Ready to go down?”
“Yes!”
Ria was already so excited she was stamping her feet. Just as Kim Chan pushed off with his feet, shoving away the dirt mound—
Instinctively adjusting to slide faster, Kim Chan and Ria shot down the hill in an instant.
“Kyahhh—!”
The delighted child’s scream echoed through the air. A big smile spread across Kim Chan’s face as well.
“Blue Team is doing better than I expected.”
“Right?”
Roy, floating on the sea like a boat for Yoo Jaeri, watched Kim Chan in wonder. He used to hate even touching seawater, but now he was practically a swimmer.
“Go faster!”
“We have to win!”
Blue Team was now swimming with two or three kids each riding on their backs.
With their broad backs, the kids’ feet and legs dangled in the water, making it feel like a little boat ride.
For fun, they’d even put a buoy at the turnaround point and were racing to see who could get back first. The kids were all smiles.
“Pororu.” (Looks fun.)
Aqua wagged her tail, looking bored.
With Aqua’s abilities, she could have entertained the kids far faster than Blue Team was managing just by moving her body.
Still, even now, the kids were laughing so hard they might tip backward at Blue Team’s speed, which was nothing to sneeze at compared to playground rides.
“One minute left! Time to wrap it up!”
At PD Shimjun’s call, the kids’ faces fell noticeably. The games had ended just when they were having the most fun.
“Aww, I wanted to play more……”
Some kids even teared up in disappointment. PD Shimjun quickly drew their attention to the playground equipment built by Yellow Team.
“We’ll keep playing over here! Next up is Yellow Team’s playground!”
Luckily, the kids’ eyes brightened with curiosity as they headed over.
A wooden castle appeared before them.
“What’s that?”
“Silly, it’s a castle! Where the princess and prince live.”
It was hard to believe it had been built in such a short time.
“Cheolhee’s parents work in construction. That’s why Cheolhee knows all sorts of random things.”
Han Honghyun kindly explained Yellow Team’s creation to Roy, Lee Doha, and Kim Jaewoo, who were looking at it in amazement.
“It really does look like it came out of a fairy tale.”
Kim Jaewoo’s awe was understandable. The three-story castle even had a pointed spire on top, easily four meters high.
It looked tall even to an adult; to the children, it must truly have seemed like a castle.
“We’re going to play hero now~”
“Hero?”
“I want to be the hero!”
“Me too! Me too!”
With Kim Taejin’s kind voice, the kids were all fired up. Just hearing the words “hero game” made their little hearts thump with excitement.
“Now, this uncle will play the princess~”
“……Kids, please be nice to me.”
The one chosen to play the princess in Yellow Team was Lee Hajun.
‘Hajun, I’m counting on you.’
Looking around at his teammates, Lee Hajun figured he was the most fitting for the princess role.
Everyone else’s shoulders were so broad, there was no way the kids would buy them as a princess.
“I’m… Princess Hari.”
Lee Hajun smiled with a face that looked like he might cry. Fortunately, there was a long-haired wig among the staff’s props, so he put it on.
He kept his regular clothes on, but with a scarf tied as a ribbon, he looked the part.
“But princesses wear skirts.”
One of the kids pointed at Lee Hajun’s pants with his finger. Even with the ribbon, the kids had a fixed image of what a princess should look like.
“Well, these days, princesses wear pants too!”
Lee Hajun, flustered, said the first thing that came to mind. On reflection, it wasn’t exactly wrong.
“Yeah. I saw a princess wearing pants on the phone the other day.”
One of the kids spoke up in Lee Hajun’s defense. Lee Hajun and Yellow Team breathed a sigh of relief.
“And this uncle and I will play the monsters.”
Now that the kids accepted Lee Hajun as the princess, Kim Taejin pointed to himself and Han Jihoo.
“I’m the monster!”
“Waaah!”
“Run!”
Han Jihoo raised his hands like a monster, pretending to scare them, and several children scattered away.
Kim Taejin and Han Jihoo had hastily borrowed lipstick from a staff member and painted under their eyes bright red.
“We’ll play heroes together.”
Min Junyoung and Hong Chulhee smiled and waved at the kids. They wanted to make sure they were on the kids’ side in case anything happened.
“Now, princess, please take your place at the top of the spire.”
At Kim Taejin’s signal, Lee Hajun climbed up the spire.
He worried for a moment that the tower might collapse, but thankfully, it held steady under his weight.
“Heroes, run around up here and keep the monsters away~”
Kim Taejin and Han Jihoo busily helped the children up into the treehouse. The monsters split up and got into position.
Summoning just a bit of magical power, they looked frightening enough to be real monsters to the kids.
“Eek.”
“Wait, don’t we have any swords? Heroes need swords!”
At that moment, the scared kids started searching frantically for weapons.