To be honest, I’ve always been a bit of a cynic.

    Whenever my birthday gets close, I find myself wondering, Why do people even celebrate birthdays?

    All I think about is how to get through the day as quietly as possible.

    Of course, I have no desire to throw a party myself.

    And I’m not used to people noticing on their own and handing me gifts or favors out of nowhere.

    I guess my parents were the biggest influence on that.

    They always believed that the birthday person should be the one giving back to the people who came to celebrate.

    I don’t really remember when it started, but at some point, birthdays in our house stopped including gifts altogether.

    Instead, the birthday person had to cook seaweed soup, prepare a cake, and send out an announcement like, "Let''s meet at this time, this place." It became an unwritten rule.

    [Daughter! How have you been? Seriously, why is it that you only call me on your birthday unless I call first?]

    That word, daughter, still felt unnatural to me.

    But after being bombarded with Komari''s "unnie" massages lately, it didn’t take long to adjust.

    "And yet you don’t even bother coming to Korea for your own child’s birthday, Mom."

    [That’s because you don’t like it when I come. Besides, is nagging your mother the first thing you do when you call?]

    "Whatever. Did you have seaweed soup?"

    [Your dad somehow figured it out and made some. We were actually waiting for your call, expecting it.]

    "...Waiting for me?"

    October 6 – Find RainOctober 13 – Rain, Momo, and Magia’s Battle Colosseum collabOctober 18 – Dora’s horror game streamOctober 27 – Komari’s Naore Coaching Challenge

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