Union Babysitters

finding a babysitter

Donald found him by complete happenstance.

His executives were all busy with their respective duties, so he had no choice but to survey the place himself along with his secretary.

He went here because of business, so he hadn't quite expected to come across someone who could take up the vacancy in one of his departments.

Calling it a department was a little wrong, considering it had no real importance to his Union, but due to some rather unfortunate events, all his executives found themselves obtaining custody of their newly orphaned nephews.

Who were all, coincidentally, toddlers.

It was a headache for his executives but, surprisingly, they never once considered putting them in an orphanage.

Which then became his headache because his Union couldn't afford the simultaneous paternity leave his executives asked for.

Because again, for some fucked up coincidence, his executives all became the proud fathers of their respective nephews within such a short moment from each other.

Donald also never thought that his executives would all end up as overprotective fathers.

It was another headache convincing them that "yes, all of you can't be absent at the same time", "yes, if you're so worried, I can create a babysitting section for them", and "yes, the babysitters I plan to hire will act as bodyguards as well".

Ben Park and Alex Go were strong individuals with amiable personalities fit for dealing with children.

They were freelancers recommended by the owner of Naksung Firm, a security company operating in Yeongdeungpo and a close associate of his.

His Union babysitters, as jokingly dubbed by his executives, did their jobs as bodyguards under the guise of babysitting admirably well.

Once it was leaked that his executives were all idiots for their adopted sons, Ben Park and Alex Go successfully thwarted attempts of kidnappings and assassinations, all the while managing to shield the toddlers from witnessing something traumatic from the prevention.

However, their enemies soon learned to be smart and just decided to overwhelm Ben Park and Alex Go with numbers.

Alex Go, under the orders to get the toddlers away from the commotion, did so but it also left Ben Park on his own.

It would've been fine, Ben Park was more than capable of dealing even with such a number on his own, but the enemies resorted to dirty tactics and it left Ben Park in critical condition.

Thankfully, backup had arrived before anything drastic could happen but it left the toddlers with no one to supervise them.

Well, he employed several men from Naksung Firm, but they weren't exactly fit to deal with kids, as evident from the crying fest that the little ones did when they faced their new bodyguards.

As it was, he just ordered them to guard the toddlers from the shadows.

But that still left the babysitting department understaffed because Alex Go couldn't deal with seven toddlers on his own, especially since the man also needed to visit Ben Park at the hospital.

Honestly, at this point, he didn't even need a bodyguard to pose as a babysitter. He just needed an actual one to give Alex Go a hand.

However, his Union wasn't exactly legal and that caused finding a babysitter to be more particular than normal due to restrictions and such.

Then when they did find a few, they all ended up quitting when faced with his executives and their ridiculous threats of they better not see one hair out of place on their kids or else.

It had been a week now and they still didn't have an acceptable babysitter.

That was when he found him, sitting on a busy park bench reading a well-worn book in his bony hands.

Donald hadn't noticed him at first, busy as he was surveying the place, but he did when the young man shut the book close before he proceeded to stare at nothing.

It wasn't the young man's androgynous looks that caught his attention, nor the malnourished, borderline emaciated frame he possessed.

No, the thing that caught his attention was how dead his eyes looked despite his status as alive and breathing.

He didn't see any further need to continue observing the young man, there were plenty of people like that. People whose lives went in total shambles they no longer found any will to find purpose in life.

Once upon a time, that could've been him, but unlike them, he was stubborn and kept on rising until he got where he was today.

Donald Na never once gave the impression that he was kind and compassionate.

Charismatic, yes, but never kind.

He gave out second and last chances to people who made mistakes against him, but they were always with a price.

He would only go out of his way if he needed them for the prosperity of his Union, which the dead-eyed young man wasn't.

At least, that was what he thought.

Just when he was about to drag his eyes away from him, a brightly coloured ball rolled towards the young man's feet before a bright-eyed kid came running to fetch it.

It was obvious the kid wanted to strike up a conversation and Donald almost thought the young man would ignore the kid, but he grew surprised when the dead quality to his eyes grew enough light to talk with the kid.

The kid was clearly overjoyed an adult was 'going along with his childish whims', but Donald could see the young man was genuinely listening and even the kid noticed it as their conversation kept going.

Then the young man smiled, his barely lit eyes gaining such life and the kid was instantly smitten by it.

The kid then shouted something before running off and he thought that was that, but the kid came back again minutes later with five kids in tow and it was like watching a wilted flower steadily gain life by the little lights the sun was providing past the shadows that hid it.

All the kids were smitten and Donald was as well, though not for any romantic reasons.

No, because he just found the perfect babysitter.

He just hoped this one could survive his executives' overprotectiveness because he was honestly running out of options.