One Day, I Picked Up a Mom - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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One Day I Picked Up a Mother – Episode 1

“You little bastard!”

Iban’s collar was roughly grabbed as he turned around after stealing a fist-sized piece of bread from the stall displaying bread.

“You thieving bastard! How many times is this now? You think I’m a pushover, huh?”

“No, sir. I was going to buy this.”

Iban cursed inwardly as he hurriedly put down the bread he was holding.

He had clearly confirmed the owner went inside the store, so what was this bear-like man doing here again?

“My mom went ahead and told me to wait and look around. That’s why I was choosing.”

Iban hurriedly made excuses, putting on the innocent expression typical of a flustered child.

“Hah? You beggar brat, who do you think you’re fooling?”

Thud.

Before he could even lament his bad luck, he was already face-first on the ground. With one gesture from the man, Iban’s view dropped to the floor.

“You think I didn’t see you rolling your eyes around trying to steal?”

The man grabbed Iban’s head forcefully and shook it back and forth. Iban instinctively knew he was in serious trouble.

“Because of you little shit, I can’t do business!”

“It hurts!”

“I’ll make sure you never come near this area again!”

He tripped Iban’s legs to knock him down. Then it was the same pattern repeated.

Grabbing the head of Iban who was face-down on the ground, pulling him up, tripping his legs again, and pulling him up again.

Damn it.

Being shaken senseless by the brutally flying punches, Iban looked around at the people surrounding him.

And he found her.

Among the people standing with indifferent faces, a foolish woman frowning as if in distress.

Iban recognized her immediately upon seeing her.

She was the type who extended hands to pitiful things and showed off their nobility.

The moment he fell again and escaped from the man’s grasp, Iban used all his strength to run to the woman who was just gaping and hugged her waist.

“Mom!”

Hugging tightly the body that had stiffened with tension as if unaccustomed to violence, Iban shouted.

This woman couldn’t pretend not to know me. She would surely save me from this place.

“Mom!”

“What, you’re saying you’re this thief’s mother? Is that right?”

Iban looked up at the woman while urgently tugging at her clothes with force, as if asking her to play along.

The woman frowned slightly as if flustered.

“Mom…”

But soon, as if having made up her mind, she nodded while embracing Iban’s head.

“If you’re just trying to cover for this thieving brat, stop it. He’s trash that doesn’t know how to reflect anyway.”

The store owner said with a grumpy face, looking the woman up and down.

“He was the one rolling his eyes trying to steal bread while lurking around. And then he shamelessly spouts lies trying to deceive adults.”

“Mom, I’m sorry. I’ll never do it again. Okay? Don’t pretend you don’t know me. I really won’t do it again.”

The man once again grabbed Iban’s collar strongly and pulled him.

“Enough with the lies. So you can never fool adults again…”

“Stop it, I said he’s my child.”

The woman who had kept her mouth shut for so long finally spoke.

Though her voice shook pathetically, relief washed over him in an instant. She pulled Iban close and hugged him once more.

It was a clear sign not to touch the child anymore.

“Tsk, then pay up. All the money for the bread that brat has stolen so far.”

“I’ve never stolen bread from here! This is my first time.”

“This bastard is still…”

When he raised his hand as if to hit again, the woman forcefully embraced Iban’s head.

“Stop it. I said I’d compensate, so why are you hitting the child again?”

“Then give it quickly. 90 roks.”

Worn skirt and wrinkled shirt. No matter how you looked at it, this woman didn’t seem to have that much money.

“Hey, what I was trying to take was only worth 1 rok! You pig bastard! Why are you extorting others for your failed business!”

Iban was afraid the woman, scared by the large sum, would abandon him and run away, so he tightened his arms around her waist and shouted.

The bear-like hoodlum reached out his hand to grab Iban again.

“Sir, please stop.”

The woman’s lips hardened stiffly.

She pulled Iban’s arm with a bit of force and took out a money pouch from inside her clothes. Then she handed the man a 100 rok coin.

“No, I said it was my first time!”

Seeing the gruff man’s mouth stretch to his ears, Iban urgently grabbed and shook the woman’s skirt.

Why was she just handing over that large sum of money?

“Is it really your first time?”

“Yes, I don’t even live here, so how could I steal!”

The woman’s eyes trembled finely.

“…Then why did you try to steal just now? You could have just told mom.”

Iban almost let out a sneer.

He thought she would demand his 99 roks back from the man.

Who would have thought she’d spout such foolish words, thinking educating him came before money.

If it could be solved with just words, who would try to steal?

“You can’t steal other people’s things.”

Stupid woman.

“I understand. I won’t do it again next time.”

Iban roughly wiped his eyes while pretending to be obedient and nodded his head.

“Look, you’re bleeding.”

“I’m okay.”

As cool hands kept stroking Iban’s face.

“Got it well. Here, your change.”

Along with the store owner’s snorting laugh, coins dropped carelessly from the air and rolled messily on the ground.

“Hey!”

The woman who had been staring at the money rolling on the ground for a moment turned red in the face. Then she immediately chased the man into the store.

Without even glancing at the 10 roks rolling on the floor.

Unlike her dressed appearance, she seemed quite wealthy.

Though he didn’t see clearly, her money pouch also looked quite full…

Iban considered picking up the money on the floor and running away immediately, but soon changed his mind.

If he appealed to her sympathy, she would surely give him a large sum too.

Yes, it seemed better to wait for the money the woman would give him rather than picking up 10 roks and running away.

Iban wiped away the flowing tears again and began picking up the money that had fallen on the ground.

If he returned this money saying thank you for helping, she would surely give him a few more coins while telling him not to do it again.

Iban checked whether he looked pitiful enough right now.

His worn clothes that he hadn’t changed once during the week since coming to the capital, and his disheveled hair roughly combed with his hands.

Below his short sleeves, his wrists showed bones protruding from hunger.

“Ahem.”

Iban, who was about to touch his wound regretting that the bleeding had already stopped, suddenly looked up at the shadow cast over his head.

“What’s your name?”

When had he come outside? The man was awkwardly rubbing his apron with his large hands, subtly avoiding eye contact.

When their eyes met again, the man forced his lips into a smile.

What was he trying to do?

He wanted to shout at him to stop the stupid act and just hand over the money, but adults didn’t like fierce children.

“…Iban.”

Iban glanced to confirm the woman standing behind the man and obediently opened his mouth.

“Yes, I thought you were the one who had been stealing bread from this store all this time. No, no. I mean, I’m sorry for hitting you.”

“…What?”

Iban’s head, which had been glancing sideways to watch the woman’s movements, turned back to the man.

The gruff man who had just been beating him with a red face, cursing and swearing, was now apologizing.

And not to the woman, but to him.

He apologized to him, a mere seven-year-old who had nothing.

Iban quietly looked up at the woman who had returned to his side.

“I’m sorry. Truly….”

“….”

“Ah, wait. Try eating these. And next time you stop by here, I’ll give you more things you like for free.”

The man glanced at the woman and apologized once more, then put several pieces of bread from his stall into a bag and handed it over.

Iban, who had suddenly found himself holding a bag full of bread, looked up at the woman again.

It seemed this woman had chased the man inside and done something.

What on earth had she done to make that man apologize?

Tightly pressed lips and unwavering eyes.

The woman, who had been staring at the man in that state, suddenly let out a soft sigh and withdrew her gaze.

“Well then, take care.”

As if that were some kind of signal, the man hurriedly hid himself inside the store without looking back, as if being chased by wild dogs.

The people who had stopped to watch also began to move away one by one.

“….”

When their eyes met, the woman extended her pure white hand in front of Iban.

“…Here.”

Iban looked at that white hand for a moment, then handed over the coin he was holding.

The woman silently put all those coins into her pocket and extended her hand again.

“Let’s go home now, Iban.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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