Yokai Come to the Countryside Café

Chapter 48: Elementary School Debut Ceremony (1)

Five days passed quickly.

They say time moves slower when you’re waiting, but when that wait is filled with worry and anxiety, it becomes a whole different story.

Was this how all parents with daughters felt?

Would she be able to adjust well? Would she be ostracized because of her appearance? What if someone found out she wasn’t human?

Even when I tried to dismiss it casually, the worry that Ria might get hurt often left me unable to focus on anything.

But since we had decided to raise her like an ordinary child, we couldn’t keep her tied to this tiny café forever.

Even if I wasn’t her real parent.

“You can do it on your own, right?”

“Yes!”

“You remember to wait at the school gate when it’s over?”

“Yes!”

“Alright, let’s go in.”

After parking the car in the temporary lot on the playground, we followed the bustling crowd headed for the auditorium.

“Mister, did you go to elementary school too?”

“Yeah, but it was so long ago I barely remember. Still, it was fun.”

“You just said you don’t remember.”

“But if I still remember it being fun, doesn’t that mean I had a really good time?”

“You’re right! When I dream, I don’t always remember everything, but I’ve had dreams that were super fun!”

It seemed Ria finally felt reassured, and she started swinging our joined hands energetically and walked faster.

Apparently, Ria had been just as worried as I was.

(We will now begin the 64th entrance ceremony of Geumhyo Elementary School. Parents, please take your seats on either side of the auditorium, and students, please sit in the central area according to your class and assigned number.)

At the speaker’s announcement, parents let go of the children they had clung to as if for the first time letting them out into the world.

“Alright, go ahead. You remember your class and number, right?”

“Yes! Class 1, number 16!”

“Okay. I’ll be up there, so go and sit down.”

And so I stood there for a long time, watching Ria walk into the auditorium alone.

It might’ve been the first time she stood alone since coming to the café.

At the café, she had always been stuck to me, and on the days I went to work, she spent time with the Elder, Sanyi, and the shamans under the excuse of guarding the Divine Tree.

I captured that historic moment on my phone screen.

“Yeeun! Look over here, here!”

“Siha!”

Other parents weren’t much different from me.

Even though their children were just walking into the auditorium, they kept calling out names, hoping for one last glance.

And when Ria, who hadn’t even been called, turned and waved cheerfully, the noise of everyone calling out their children’s names died down for a moment.

Sure, everyone thinks their own child is the cutest, but Ria’s smile was clearly in a different league from ordinary kids.

Even the video I had just taken was good enough to cause a stir in the group chat.

“Who’s that kid? She must be mixed-race.”

“Oh my, she’s adorable! Her parents must be head over heels.”

Was it too much after all?

We had rushed to cover her blonde hair with dye, but there was nothing we could do about her eyes.

She couldn’t wear colored lenses every day either.

I had comforted myself that it wasn’t that noticeable at a glance, but to think she’d attract this much attention at the entrance ceremony...

In front of Ria's seat in the auditorium.

A girl in an overly frilly pink outfit lifted her chin high, scanning the surroundings.

‘Just like Mom said. There’s no one prettier than me. Everyone’s shorter too. Class president is mine!’

“Oh my, that girl’s so pretty.”

“Isn’t she a model or child actress?”

The murmuring of clustered adults pierced the noise and reached the girl’s ears clearly.

There was no chance she’d misheard. She could feel most of the adults in the auditorium looking at her.

In fact, she was quite used to compliments about her looks.

At her regular hair salon, ballet academy, and violin lessons—

No matter where she went, someone always told her she was pretty.

One of her dad’s subordinates had even suggested introducing her to an entertainment company, saying debuting early was crucial in the industry.

If not for her mom insisting on focusing on academics first, she might have already been a child actress.

That’s what she had believed—until she heard the cute voice from behind.

“Wow! There are so many people. Right?”

Turning around without thinking, she found a dreadful calamity waiting behind her.

Straight, smooth hair. Pale skin. A beaming smile that made her unconsciously smile back.

The girl felt like she had encountered a natural disaster so overwhelming she couldn’t even think of running away. She realized too late that the attention she thought was hers was actually directed elsewhere.

“Hi!”

“H-hi.”

“Oh, right! You’re supposed to introduce yourself when you say hello! I’m Kim Ria. What’s your name?”

“Park Saerin.”

“Nice to meet you! We’re in the same class, so let’s be friends!”

“Y-yeah.”

Saerin instinctively understood she needed to keep her distance from Ria. She was the perfect comparison target, wasn’t she?

After sizing up the situation, Saerin subtly got up from her seat and moved to an empty chair further up.

‘Good. If I sit this far, someone else will sit between us, so it’ll be fine.’

But once a calamity had found you, it never gave up easily.

“Sitting here gives me a better view!”

That chilling voice came from behind.

‘Don’t tell me she followed me?’

Ria, who had never had a humanoid(?) friend besides Sanyi, clung to Saerin and wouldn’t let go.

(That concludes the entrance ceremony. Homeroom teachers, please lead your classes to their assigned rooms.)

And Ria wasn’t the only one who caught attention.

One more gaze looked disapprovingly at Saerin walking to her classroom, stuck close to Ria.

“Saerin’s mom, do you know that kid?”

“No.”

“They don’t even look like they’re in the same league. Why is she stuck to her like that?”

“That bag’s not even a brand. Just one you’d find at a supermarket.”

“You shouldn’t let your kid make friends with just anyone at the start of the school year.”

“Maybe her mom told her to. Everyone knows Saerin’s mom is the CEO of a first-tier partner company of Daecheon Group.”

“That’s right! How shameless can she be!”

Parents who had been watching Saerin’s mom for cues now chimed in one by one.

However, the frown on Saerin’s mom’s forehead did not ease as she watched her daughter disappear into the classroom with a child she had never seen before.

She had already formed a group centered around those from English kindergarten.

Families that could afford over three million won per month until elementary school entry were already considered above average, so the children naturally grew close to each other.

Unfortunately, the children's gathering extended only as far as attending the same school.

Class assignments were handled by computer, leaving no room for intervention.

And so, her daughter ended up in a separate class.

That alone had already unsettled her, but now a child in cheap clothes and a discount bag was clinging to her daughter.

“Oh! By the way! Did you all take pictures of the entrance ceremony? I accidentally hit the video button and ended up recording the whole 30 minutes, can you believe it? Ho ho ho.”

“I need to pick out the best ones quickly and upload them to the family group chat. Look at me, I completely forgot!”

One quick-witted parent changed the subject to break the cold atmosphere.

Only then did Saerin’s mom relax her expression and take out her phone from her bag.

But once she checked the photos, her face twisted in a way that made her previous expression seem mild.

Her daughter, who always exuded elegance, looked oddly rustic.

The reason was the child standing next to her.

That unknown child, smiling brightly in every photo, had turned her daughter into a mere extra.

It was the third time she recited the word “patience” in her heart.

“Everyone, please look into that child and find out where she rolled in from. Especially where she lives. That part’s important.”

This was the last chance she was giving that child.

There were sometimes people like that.

Those who dressed their children in cheap clothes under the guise of frugality and later used it as a heartwarming anecdote. Most were public officials or politicians, so if she made a misstep, it could backfire.

But if not, she intended to make it clear—

Attending the same school didn’t mean living in the same world.

About thirty minutes after Ria had entered the classroom.

With cheerful laughter, the children came pouring out of the building.

Then, as if prearranged, each ran toward their waiting parent and threw themselves into their arms.

“Mister!”

“Did you have fun?”

“Yes! I got paired with Saerin! I told the teacher I wanted to sit with her, and she made us partners!”

“That’s great. You already made a friend.”

Apparently, my worries that her eye color might get her ostracized had fortunately been unfounded.

“There are so many desks and chairs at school! They go all the way from here to there! And you can hang your bag like this on the desk. And also…”

Ria looked ready to recount everything she had seen and heard during that short 30 minutes in class.

And since she never forgot anything she saw or heard even once, I had the joy of learning a large quantity of stories I hadn’t even been curious about.

Including the fact that there were 19 students in her class but 50 shoe lockers outside the classroom.

“Did you get anything else?”

“The teacher said to give you this!”

It was the school note.

Even with time passing, this format of school note hadn’t changed.

After class, children copied down what the teacher had written on the board into this note, often in wobbly handwriting.

It was partly a learning method for those who hadn’t fully learned Hangul yet, and partly a way for children to prepare things on their own and build a connection with their parents by writing just a few lines.

『Monday, March 24, 2025

(Teacher’s confirmation: ), (Guardian’s confirmation: )

Bring the basic student survey form.

Prepare indoor shoes (not slippers).

Bring a jump rope.

Submit a picture diary.』

Receiving this school note with the guardian’s confirmation box finally made me feel like a real parent.

And Ria had many guardians like me.

“Let’s go home and show it to the Elder and the shamans too. They’ll be happy if we tell them you wrote it.”

“Really? Then let’s go home quickly!”

“Hmm, we might have to wait a little.”

“Why?”

“Look at those cars. It’s going to take a while for them to leave.”

I pointed to the cars lined up at the playground entrance.

Not only was it a child protection zone with a 30km/h speed limit, but both left and right turns had short green lights. It would easily take over 20 to 30 minutes for all the cars in the playground to get out.

“Shall we wait while looking around? We need to buy a jump rope anyway. What do you think?”

“Yes! Sounds good!”

Since we were stuck anyway, I figured we might as well explore the school a bit, but what really caught my eye was the stationery shop in front of the school.

It wasn’t like the all-purpose stalls from my school days with all sorts of goods laid out, but it was nostalgic enough.

And there, I ran into something I really shouldn’t have.

Other parents who, like me, had the same idea of heading to the stationery shop.

They had plenty of time,

the financial means to pick out whatever they wanted from the displayed goods,

and vivid memories of their school days.