The kids ran off towards the harbor where fishermen worked, regardless of the hot weather. Despite the majority of elderly people reaming in the shadows, there were still some of them in spite of the playful sun, who spent their time on a shore, fishing. 
But along with them was a young man, that also enjoyed fishing as a nice time - spent. The play of the water on the sun, the gentle breeze, and the distant cream of seagulls was just something Seo-jun loved. The float gently swayed on the shining water.

"It sure is hot this year," the old man on Seo-jun's right said as his expression did not change, reaming on the float. "Feels like last year was not that hot, at least in June".  The other man on his left nodded at the previous remark hm-ing in agreement. 

"That's your pure imagination, old man. Last year June was as hot as this one. I can tell," Seo-jun said calmly, turning his gaze onto his right arm that was tanned "cuz I got sunburned that year, and it was annoying". It is worth mentioning that Seo-jun was a young man who was tanned, sun-kissed, or sun-blessed, whatever you may call it. 

"Don't ya get sunburned every year? You're always dark!" The man on the left said, chuckling. 

"Yeah! I don't remember seein' ye pale, at all!" The man on the right agreed. 

"That's cuz I'm always in the sun," Seo-jun murmured, unbothered by the old man's remarks. The breeze blew stronger and Seo-juns hay hat slightly leaned forward, blocking his vision. He simply hm-ed. 

"We can tell. Ye mostly wear nothin during summer, or some ragged shirt." The man on the left said, and the one on the right nodded. Seo-jun plastered a lazy smirk on his face, correcting his hat back.

 "Oi, you two!" He pinched both of them gently "Don't get too jealous that your wives spent time in my tea shop! Can't play off on me like that!" Seo-jun tried to sound dramatic, lifting his left hand to his forehead for extra emphasis.

"Oh, you think that's a problem, boy? If anything that's a blessing!" The right man exclaimed with a burst of excitement. 

"Yeah! Take them for as long as you want! The longer the better. At least we'll have some peace!" The other old man said, laughing. 

"Oh I see how it is, you two are douchebags" Seo-jun murmured with a laughing smirk. The two men were always goofy and a little bully, but always in a caring and lovely way. 

The neighborhood that lived near the shore happened to treat one another like family. They trusted each other. And talks like that were nothing out of the ordinary. 
The district where the neighborhood was located, belonged to the 'working class' part of the city. But despite the troubles, people managed to stay warm and open to each other. They realized that they had no one but each other to relate and support. It created a strong sense of 'family'. Not everyone was like that, but most of them were. 

When two of the men were about to reply, the seashore heard the fearful scream of a child. It echoed throughout the harbor as well, capturing the attention of fishermen. 
Seo-jun jerked his head in the direction where the cream came from. Indeed, the girl fell off from the cliff road into the water. Her friends who remained paralysed on the spot, pinned their eyes where the girl hit and went underwater. The young man left his fishing rod and hat, as he ran to the place where kids stood. He was fit and had long legs, it took him a few seconds to get to the spot.  The kids who saw him felt relief because, for them, Seo-jun was like an old brother. The little girl cried out "Big brother help us! Sun-hee is in trouble! She's fallen into the water, please help us!" 

As he rushed to the edge of the cliff road, Seo-jun carefully pushed the kids back, so they wouldn't fall as well. "I will save her, Mi-hi. So please stand back and wait."  Seo-jun quickly took off his sandals and jumped into the water.

The elderly men who witnessed the fall with Seo-jun forgot about the fishing and proceeded to watch the whole action. They sat on the edge of their seat, waiting in anticipation for Seo-jun to jerk out of the water with a kid. 
"I give him two minutes," said one, betting spared change from previous grocery shopping.

"Nah, I give five" The other man did the same and pulled out some sparred cash. 

Seo-jun was a great swimmer. Growing up close to the water had its impact and the boy swam every time he had the chance (and when the weather was warm). During middle and high school he also was a part of the swimming club, where he was a representative and participated in competitions. 

And by the time Seo-jun appeared on the surface with the little girl in his arms, it was indeed around the time the first man bet. Both of them had timers, though it's a mystery as to why they had them in the first place.

"Ha! See?-" The first man jumped out of his place as triumph kicked in "I won, you old goblin!" 

The other man hissed and sighed in defeat, rubbing his face with his hands. "My wife's gonna kill me for this money..." 

"Say 'Hi' from me to Jae, I'm sure she'll be -" 

"Oh, piss off cheater!" the man didn't let another one finish. 

Seo-jun swam to the sandy beach, that was below the cliff road (though it was a few meters away). The kids followed the big brother and ran down the path towards the beach, where Jeo-jun and Sun-hee lay on their backs and deeply inhaled oxygen. 
It's been a while since Seo-jun had such a rush of adrenaline. He remembered it was during military service when he had intense training and adrenaline kicked as a bonus or during competitions in high school. He was overly a gentle and calm giant! But despite the circumstances of rush, he ended up looking at the beautiful blue sky, with some faint formations that used to be clouds.

Little Sun-hee coughed out the bits of water that got stuck in her lungs, as she as well, remained there with big brother, admiring the sky. Though it was scary before, but now it was ok, because she was with Seo-jun. And it was nice.

"Big brother! Sun-hee!" The three running kids stormed onto lying Seo-jun. The impact was heavy as he let out a stuffed grunt. Boy, the kids were heavy!

"Careful there ya'll! you'll squash me and Sun-hee." Seo-jun laughed, patting their heads in comfort. He noticed that kids had teary eyes. Seo-jun disliked when they cried "Now now, it's alright now. She's safe and so am I-"

"WE WERE SO SCARED, YOU AND SUN-HEE WERE UNDERWATER FOR SO LONG! WAAH-" Little Mi-hi cried out the most. She wrapped her arms around Seo-jun's neck, hiding her face in his collar. Sun-hee, who observed the situation also felt sorry for herself and Big Brother, so she jumped onto Seo-jun's neck as well, crying. 

It melted and ached the young man's heart at the same time. His expression softened as he gently rested both of his hands on each of the girls' heads. The two remaining boys felt too confused by such flud of tears, so they stopped crying and stepped back, mumbling "Oi hyeong, do something about these two"

"Mi-hi, Sun-hee look at me" Seo-jun spoke softly. His voice held a tender note that was warm and comforting yet pleasing to the ear. It seemed to work because the two girls stopped crying and looked up into Big Brother's crimson eyes. Despite his long and dark hair, his eyes shone with warmth and worry. It made girls stop crying completely, and only sob. "I know playing is fun, especially a game of Tag, but you have to be careful on the cliffs! it's not safe, especially on our road. I'm not always here, so please be more careful, will ya?" 

The thumps on both hands on each of the girls' heads rubbed their foreheads, comforting them. The girls felt a little sorry but still relieved that Seo-jun spoke with them. They giggled and nuzzled their faces into his chest saying "We will, Big Brother! We promise!" before they finally let go of him, stood up, and ran off with the boys. "Thanks again hyeong! We will head off to Sun-hee's house now! We'll be careful this time!"

Seo-jun waved them off before sitting back on the sand. The sun shone bright, and seagulls flew high. Seo-jun could faintly hear them in the background. The waves kissed his feet as the breeze played with his wet hair. The sunlight jumped on his face making him chuckle and wrinkle it, saying "Damn! It is actually hot today."