The Adventures of Lee Felix in South Korea

Part 1. Happy Birthday*

It was a warm autumn day when Daddy Bang Chan went out into the garden near his small house in Seoul. He watered the flowers and cut chrysanthemums into a bouquet. Walking back into the house and into the kitchen, he placed a bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums in a vase on the table.
He was often called that - daddy - for his character, caring, kind and sympathetic, despite the fact that he was quite young - not yet 30. He's already used to it. Although his real name was Christopher. And very soon it's his birthday.
Then his phone rang. Daddy Bang Chan looked at the screen - it was his best friend Seo Changbin, who lived next door. Unlike Bang Chan, Changbin lived in an apartment.

-Hello, Channy. Let's meet today.

-Hello Binny. Something happened? - Channy got excited.

-No, I just wanted to offer you to fry kebabs, drink soju or beer, – Changbin hastened to reassure Chris.

-Oh, great idea. Let's.

The guys agreed to meet at Bang Chan's.

Soon Changbin came running. The guys decided to go to the store for meat and soju.

Having bought everything they needed, the guys returned to Chris's house to kebabs in his yard.

Daddy Bang Chan was a good cook, so he started cooking kebabs himself. He chopped the onion and marinated the meat. Meanwhile, Changbin had to assemble the grill. It was then that he discovered that there were no coals. There was no firewood either.

-I'll run to the store for coals, - Changbin said. He left. And Daddy Bang Chan continued to cook, singing a song that he and Binnie composed - Cookin' like a chef I'm a five star Michelin... Channie and Binnie were musicians, often performed on the streets of Seoul, playing musical instruments and singing songs that they themselves and composed.

Soon Changbin returned empty-handed: there were no coals in the nearby stores.

The guys thought about it.

-Come on, I'll chop some wood, there's a forest nearby, - suggested Changbin, who had a lot of power.

-Let's borrow it from our neighbors, - Bang Chan suggested. -They also recently cooked something and maybe they had coals or firewood left over.

-Well, I'll go, - Changbin ran away again.

And indeed, he soon dragged a log with a long branch from his neighbors.

Armed with an axe, Changbin began chopping the log for firewood. But it was not there. The log jumped back and hit him on the head. Changbin screamed in pain.

-What's happened?! – asked Channy who ran up.

-But I can't chop wood - the log jumps off, - answered Binny.

-Let me try. – Bang Chan took the axe. In fact, they had never chopped wood in their lives. Bang Chan began to chop the log, but suddenly it squeaked in a human voice:

-Oh-oh-oh!!! Hurt! – and jumped out from arms Bang Chan and hit him in the head too. It was a magic wood-log.

The guys were very surprised.

-Oh, let's make a little man out of this impudent log? – Seo suggested.

-Let's. -I'll try right now, - Channy agreed.

He hewed the log with a hatchet and soon it began to take on the features of a human. At the same time, the log squeaked displeasedly. Bang Chan planned to make a long nose of a human out of a knot, but using an ax he made the nose shorter and shorter. As a result, the nose turned out to be small and snub-nosed. But very cute. There was also a problem with the handles - they didn't work the first time. Bang Chan had to tinker with them. As a result, the human's palms turned out to be small. Changbin watched.