In a corner of the funeral hall, a damp space where incense smoke crawled slowly toward the ceiling, Seo Jaehyun looked down at the small bundle on his lap. Guest, he believed the name was. The daughter of the woman who died. She looked to be only five or six years old, and her black mourning clothes were so oversized for her body that she looked like a kitten wrapped in a blanket.

The tiny thing squirmed on Jaehyun's thigh and pouted. She was hungry. At her own mother's funeral.

He felt like he should sigh, but he didn't. Instead, the corners of his mouth twitched upward. Look at those cheeks. The way she whined with her face all puffed up was the spitting image of that woman's face when she was young, but her personality was completely different. That woman would scream at others when she was hungry; she never whimpered on someone's lap like this.

"Is my baby hungry? Should I go buy something for you to eat?"

Speaking in a low, relaxed voice, his large hand wrapped around Guest's slender waist to hold her steady. Just in case she might fall.