(32 months)

It was time for the third filming and all the casts were gathered around the filming location- the zoo. The coordis were helping with the mikes and the VJs were adjusting the cameras.

Ji-ohn has already recognised the strange furry thing hanging on her collar as a mike and she let her coordi put it on for her.

“Are the strange samchons coming with us today?” Ji-ohn asked her mother, tugging her clothes. She thought that they were funny because they only followed them around but never spoke to them.

Jihyo laughed, caressing her daughter’s hair. “They are called VJs and yes, they are coming today.”

“Why are they always following us?” Jiyoung asked, struggling to push away the coordi that was helping him adjust her mike. Unlike Ji-ohn, he wasn’t comfortable with these strangers yet. Gary saw that and signalled to the coordi that he will help him instead.

“Because they need to film us,” he replied his son as he adjusted the mike, so it doesn’t tickle his skin.

“What’s film?” It was Ji-ohn’s turn to question.

Gary pondered for a moment, before replying, “It’s like taking videos of us.”

“What for?” Jiyoung asked.

“So that people can see us,” Gary replied again.

“Why?”

Gary sighed in exasperation, looking at Jihyo for help. Their children, on average, asks about 100 questions a day and it was tiring to answer all of them.

Jihyo shook her head at him as she answered her son. “Because, now, we are filming a programme, like those you watch on TV. So it’s their job to follow us around and then let people watch us on TV, too.”

The kids nodded, a signal that they have decided to stop temporarily stop their interrogations. Gary and Jihyo smiled at each other in relief.

Right at that moment, the PDs signalled for the opening to start. The casts gathered round the entrance. Once again, Jaesuk briefly introduced the place and soon, it was time to select the zoo mission. Each family had 3 to complete. Gary let Jihyo, Ji-ohn and Ji young choose the cards.

Jihyo went up first. She didn't spend much time thinking and just picked one based on gut feeling.

"Tokki ya!!" She squealed happily, waving the card in the air.

Gary smiled. The goddess of luck never chooses wrongly. Rabbits are good animals to do missions with.

Then it was Ji-ohn's turn. Jihyo guided her hand over the cards.

"Mwoya?" The little girl asked, unsure of what's going on.

"These are cards. Take one," Jihyo encouraged here.

She nodded. Like her mother, she didn't spend much time thinking. She couldn't see anyway. Alas, she picked the fish card.

"Mulgogi," the pd announced for her.

"Whoa, jalhada!" Jihyo cooed as she patted her cheeks. She giggled in delight.

Finally, it was Jiyoung's turn. He took his time to decide, his fingers brushing past every card. Unsure, he looked up at his mother for advice.
Jihyo bent down to his height. "Just choose one," she said, putting her hands around his small body.
Apprehensively, he reached out to choose a card.

"Saja," he said, turning the card around.

"Aigoo, why did you not inherit your eomma's luck," Jae Suk laughed, along with other members.

Gary took a deep breath out of nervousness. "Saja.. eotteokhae?" He murmured.

Jiyoung looked at the card blankly, then at Gary. "Did I do wrongly," he asked softy.

Gary smiled and picked him up. "Aniya," he whispered, pinching him on his nose playfully.
Ji young smiled shyly and put his hands around Gary's neck.

"Ja, now each team can leave for their missions. The fastest team gets an advantage for tonight," the pd repeated the rules.

"Should we do the hardest one or the easiest one first?" Gary asked Jihyo.
"Saja," she laughed.
"Ahhh waeee!?" He whined.
She laughed again. "Why did you ask me when you already know what I'd say!"
"The same reason why I married you when I know you'll have complete control over me," he teased, glad that he came up with a comeback.
"Yah!" She smacked him in the arm.
He pretended to be in pain and whined, making the kids giggle.

Soon, they reached the lion's enclosure. There was a zookeeper carrying a cub in his arms.
"Your mission here is to feed the baby cubs their milk," the PD announced.
"Mwo?!" Gary and Jihyo looked at each other, alarmed.
Usually, Jihyo wouldn't be afraid of this mission, but now, it involved her children, of course she was worried.
"Do they have teeth?" Gary asked the trainer.
Amused by his question, the trainer laughed lightly while nodding. "Don't worry, they won't bite. Unnecessarily."
"The trainers will be watching carefully, we've tried it ourselves. They're tame," the PD said calmly.

 
"Do you want to feed the baby lion?" Jihyo asked Jiyoung and Ji-ohn, hoping that they'll not be afraid. As far as animals are concerned, the only ones they interacted with were dogs.
Ji-ohn was rather lost and did not reply, but Ji young nodded a small nod.

"Jjinja? An muswo?" Jihyo asked, quite surprised. "Igeo gae ani-lang, saja ida!”

Jiyoung nodded, reaching out to pat the baby lion, which remained tame.

“An muswo,” he said confidently.

“Can you feed the lion?” the trainer asked him, smiling at the child. Most children would be afraid of the lions, and he was pleasantly surprised that he wasn’t.

Jiyoung nodded, eyes fixed on the baby lion, as if making a connection with it. Gary and Jihyo stared at each other in shock, but quietly proud of their baby.

The trainer sat down on the bench with Jiyoung and instructed him on how to let the lion rest on his legs, and how to position the milk bottle, which he watch and learnt carefully. Gary sat beside Jiyoung to make sure he’s safe.

“Mani meogeoyo,” he said softy as he fed the baby lion its milk. The trainer sat beside him, holding his hand. Usually, he would push any strangers away if they got too close, but this time, he was calm and continued feeding the lion.

“Do you want to try giving mam ma to the baby lion?” Jihyo asked her daughter, brushing her hair. She turned to rest her head against her mother’s shoulders, meaning ‘no’.

“Ji-ohn irriwa,” Jiyoung looked up from the feeding.

Jihyo smiled as she carried Ji-ohn over and passed her to Gary.

“Eomma,” she whimpered a little, but still let Gary carry her. He sat her on his thighs and she leaned against his chest.

“Igeo-neun, agi saja ya,” he taught her, taking her hand and placing it on the lion.

Like reflex, she withdrew her hand immediately. It wasn’t something that she was familiar with, so she was quite afraid.

“Muswop-da?” Gary asked. She didn’t respond. He patted her head, and didn’t force her to try again. But Jiyoung gently held her hand and guided it towards the lion.

“An muswo ya,” he said. “It’s like Daeyang,” he said.

She let Jiyoung guide her hand across the lion’s fur. Seeing that they are both interested, Gary let Ji-ohn sit on the bench, beside Jiyoung. The trainer guided her hand to the bottle to let her try feeding it. She giggled as the cub inched towards her for the milk. Before long, the milk in the bottle was gone.

“Ok, you’ve completed the mission,” the PD announced.

“Jalhada, jalhada,” Gary said, ruffling their hair, glad that it went well.

Next up, it was the fish mission. It was a fairly easy mission, as compared to those in running man. They only had to catch a few fish and place them in the tank.

The kids squealed as the fish glided through their hands; it was their first experience with live fish. Like before, it took a while for Ji-ohn to warm up to the animals while Jiyoung was all excited about it already.

“It’s oily!” Ji-ohn commented as the fish slipped in her hands again.

Jihyo laughed. “Not ‘oily’, Ji-ohn. It’s ‘slimy’,” she corrected. “Or ‘slippery’.”

“Slimy,” she repeated, nodding.

The kids were struggling to catch the fish because it slips through their hands too easily. Gary caught one and passed it to Jiyoung. He caught it at first, but because it was wriggling to violently, he dropped it in surprise.

“Mian-hae,” he apologised, shocked at what just happened. Gary just laughed. “It’s ok, we’ll catch another one,” he said. True to his words, he soon caught another one. This time he held it in his hands and instructed Jiyoung to touch it.

“Bi neul,” he said as Jiyoung touched the scales. Jihyo guided Ji-ohn’s fingers onto the wriggling fish and repeated, “Bi neul.”

She squirmed a little but still touched the fish.

“It’s what makes the fish slippery,” Jihyo mentioned to the kids and they nodded.  

Gary and Jihyo were the ones who did most of the catching while the children played with the water. Nonetheless, they completed the mission and moved on to the final one, the rabbits.

The mission there was to feed the rabbits. It was another easy mission, but after all, these missions were created for the kids to have fun and learn from the experience.

The trainer there passed Jihyo the carrots as he briefed them on the mission.

“There are 7 rabbits here and 7 carrots…” he began, but was interrupted by Jiyoung who was tugging onto Jihyo to get the carrots.

“Listen first, Jiyoung,” Gary said, pulling his hands down.

“… so you’ll have to feed each rabbit a carrot.”

They nodded. Jihyo took 4 carrots from the basket and passed 3 to Gary. They each took one kid- Jihyo with Jiyoung and Gary with Ji-ohn.

Jiyoung was visibly excited to feed the rabbits. He held her hands and led her towards the a pair of rabbits and squatted down to pet them.

“Tokki-ya tokki-ya,” he said in a sing-song manner. Jihyo smiled at him looking so hyped up.

“Their ears are so long!” he said, amazed.

“Keulae. Jiyoung ah, do you know how to rabbits move?”

He looked up at her, expecting her to show him. She smiled as she made a ‘v’ sign with both her hands and placed them on her head, so that it looked like the rabbit’s ears. Then, she jumped lightly on the spot. “Irreokae,” she said.

Jiyoung immediately tried to copy her, but he couldn’t make a proper ‘v’. Jihyo laughed as she helped him adjust his fingers.

Meanwhile, a little further away, Gary was trying to get Ji-ohn excited about the rabbits. Like Jihyo, he also taught her to imitate a rabbit’s ears by making ‘v’ shapes. He then carried her up and down so it felt like she was jumping very high. She laughed and he laughed too, both having a fun time.

He passed her a carrot. “Danggeun,” he said.

Recognising the word, she tried to put it in . “Aniya aniya, this is for the rabbits,” he said, stopping her, flustered and amused at the same time.

Soon, both pairs got around to feeding the rabbits. When the carrots for Ji-ohn were used up, she whined for more, so Gary went over to Jihyo to take one.

“Jiyoung ah, give me the last carrot ok?” he asked as he took it from the basket.

He snatched it back protectively.

Gary was shocked that Jiyoung actually snatched it back. “Ok, then you should say it properly. Did we teach you that you can snatch things away?”

Tears welled up in his eyes. “It’s mine,” he wailed. “The carrot is for my rabbit,” he cried.

“Let Ji-ohn feed the last rabbit, ok? You had a lot of fun feeding the lion just now,” Jihyo tried to coax him, petting his back.

He clung on tightly to the carrot. “Andwae, andwae….”

Ji-ohn also started to cry too. “I want to feed the rabbit,” she sobbed.

Their parents sighed.

“No fighting,” Gary said, rather sternly. “If you cry, no one gets the carrot,” he added, forcefully taking the carrot from Jiyoung’s hands.

But that of course, made the boy cry even louder.

“Kang Jiyoung, I’m going to give Ji-ohn the carrot if you continue to be like this,” he said firmly.

The boy turned to Jihyo and raised his hands up, wanting to be carried. She carried him up and patted his back to soothe him down.

“Kwenchana, kwenchana, you’re the oppa ya. Let Ji-ohn feed, ok?”

He sobbed into her shoulders. “I want to… feed the rabbit… too….”

His protests shocked both Gary and Jihyo. Usually he would be the better listener of the two kids, and would obey what his parents said.

Suddenly, it hit his parents that he was also a baby too. He was just a few minutes older than Ji-ohn, but they’ve always treated him like he was a few years older. They took his silence and obedience for granted. But he was just a kid, as young as Ji-ohn.

Gary took him from Jihyo’s arms. “Arrasso, arrasso,” he said. “You can feed the rabbit first, okay? You two take turns ok?”

He sobbed for a while more before managing a small nod.

“Do you think we neglected him too much for Ji-ohn?” Jihyo asked softy. “I feel so sorry towards Jiyoung, oppa. I…”

Gary pulled her into a hug, and brushed his fingers through her hair. Neither of them said anything, but both knew the other felt guilty in their hearts.

When the kids where done feeding the rabbits, they came towards their parents.

Gary and Jihyo bent down to their heights.

“Jiyoung ah, mian-hae. Appa shouldn’t have took your carrot away without asking properly. And we shouldn’t always ask you to give in to your sister. Next time… we’ll think of you too..okay… ? Mianhae...” Gary said, his voice cracking slightly.

To his surpise, Jiyoung only responded by giving Gary a peck on their forehead and hugged his neck.

He carried him up while Jihyo carried Ji-ohn.

The parents smiled at each other. Their kids were never upset for long.