CHAPTER: 003 You’re Telling Me to Buy a Lotto Ticket?!
CHAPTER: 003 You’re Telling Me to Buy a Lotto Ticket?!
Thud—
His older brother collapsed.
Startled, Garam’s eyes went wide as he slightly turned his head.
The person he had been seeing was no longer in view.
Ah—
Wind Information.
A one-circle spell that grasped the situation through the wind.
Whoooo—
A breeze stirred through the room.
What the wind told him:
Yoonseul—his older brother—had collapsed from overwork.
If he stays like that…
He rotated the circles in his heart as much as he could.
Even in my previous life…
Garam recalled his past life.
When he was learning magic, he remembered practicing until he collapsed.
Back then, his master had taken care of him.
Now it was the opposite.
His body was that of a weak baby, but his mental age was higher than that young man lying there.
He looked cold, but his heart was warmer than anyone’s.
Garam thought of the person who had collapsed.
This person… I’ll protect him.
A golden light shimmered at Garam’s fingertips.
Ahh—
He couldn’t use powerful magic.
If he used any more than this, his older brother would end up holding him and sprinting to the ER again.
Flash—
The golden light spreading from Garam’s fingertips wrapped around Yoonseul.
After confirming his older brother’s condition through Wind Information, Garam let out a breath.
Thank goodness…
With that thought, he fell asleep.
“Huh?”
Yoonseul jolted upright and looked around.
He was gripping the medicine spoon in one hand.
“What the…?”
Did I fall asleep?
He looked at the crib.
The baby was asleep, breathing softly.
His body felt strangely light.
Inhale— exhale—
Listening to Garam’s even breathing as he slept, Yoonseul got up and grabbed the thermometer first.
He checked Garam’s temperature while he slept.
Beep—
37.3 degrees.
Normal.
A normal temperature for a newborn to one-year-old was 37.5 to 37.7, so—
Yoonseul touched the baby’s bottom.
It didn’t seem like he’d pooped.
While the baby was sleeping, he should probably wash up.
For some reason, it felt like he had sweated a lot.
Click—
When the door closed, Garam opened his eyes.
He left.
When the young man got up, Garam had woken too, but he kept his eyes shut.
Tremble— tremble—
His hands were shaking.
It was because he had overdone it.
For the sake of his older brother, who ran to the hospital at full speed for him, it was fine.
He had sworn he would protect him.
Inhale— exhale—
Breathing in and out, he piled the mana in the air back into his heart.
This… house. The mana density is a lot higher than I expected.
If his body weren’t a baby, he wanted to investigate what was causing this.
Ugh—
He could only lick his lips.
If only he could walk—or at least crawl—soon…
.
Garam didn’t know that his wish would come true before long.
Shhhhhh—
Yoonseul turned on the shower water.
A sigh came out on its own.
Intern life.
On top of that, his mother’s funeral and send-off.
And then suddenly having a baby.
All of it must have piled up into exhaustion.
Because he hadn’t expected to fall asleep without realizing it.
Haa—
Yoonseul’s body felt light, but his head was still a little foggy.
Splaaash—
Washing his hair with cold water snapped him awake.
After finishing a hot shower and coming out, both his body and mind felt a bit lighter.
Grrr—
His stomach growled.
He was hungry, but the baby sleeping in the room would be hungry too.
He took out the sterilized bottle and started mixing formula.
Shake— shake—
He shook it until the powder dissolved completely.
A pale, milky bottle of formula was ready.
He carried the bottle into the room.
“Kyaa—!”
At the sound of him entering, the baby turned his head.
Their eyes met—his and the baby’s, now wide open.
What was he so happy about?
“Those eyes are really clear.”
Muttering to himself, Yoonseul set the bottle down.
He picked up his younger brother, who was rolling this way and that on the bed.
“Kya-ruk—!”
A baby’s bright dolphin sound.
Holding the bottle up to the baby’s mouth, he said,
“Milk— let’s eat.”
It felt a little awkward to say something he’d never said even once.
Suck— suck—
Holding the bottle with both hands, the baby drank contentedly in his arms, expression peaceful.
How much time passed?
When the baby pushed the bottle away, Yoonseul held him upright and patted his back to help him burp.
“Keuk—”
When the baby’s face—just smiling happily a moment ago—twisted, Yoonseul felt like he knew what it meant.
“You pooped? I’ll change your diaper right away.”
He rushed to the living room, grabbed a diaper, came back, and changed it.
“I guess it’s easier now that I’ve done it once.”
“Kyaang— kya-ruk—!”
What was he so excited about?
“I’ll give you a massage. Stretch— streeetch—”
He kneaded the baby’s arms and legs with a bit of pressure.
Maybe it felt good—the baby smiled brightly.
“Does it feel good?”
“Kya-ruk—”
Hearing that laugh as an answer, Yoonseul covered him with the baby blanket, sat on the chair, and quietly looked down at him.
“You know—”
Yoonseul started to speak while looking down at the baby, then stopped.
“What would you even know… Honestly, I never thought that crazy—no, your mom, the one who brought you to my mom’s funeral, would hand you to me and disappear.”
As the story went on, the baby—Suho, no, Garam—opened his eyes wider and wider.
What kind of insane woman is that? So what you’re saying is she abandoned me with you. Huh? That’s what it is, right?
In a baby’s body, the sounds of anger only came out as squeaks and giggles.
Haa— seriously. My brother’s amazing… If it were me, I would’ve just closed my eyes and sent him for adoption…
From his older brother’s perspective, it must have been lightning from a clear sky.
His mother died after getting caught in a crime.
And in the middle of the funeral, he ended up taking on a baby—me.
How absurd, shocking, and suffocating must it have been?
Garam looked at his older brother again.
Whooo—
“Huh?”
When Yoonseul looked at the baby, he saw him flailing and taking big breaths in and out.
“Does he have a fever? What’s wrong?”
He pulled out the non-contact thermometer and checked his forehead, but the temperature was normal.
“Kkaat— kkiyu—”
The baby flailed, making sounds like he was trying to say something.
Seeing that, Yoonseul poked the baby’s chubby cheek with his index finger and said,
“Garam— if your older brother has to go to the hospital for work… I’ll have to leave you at a daycare. Do you think there’s even a daycare that would take you?”
While the baby lay there flailing, Yoonseul held his phone and searched for daycares that could take him.
After searching and searching, Yoonseul put the phone down, leaned back in the chair, and stared at the ceiling.
Haa—
There weren’t any.
Even if there was a daycare that accepted infants, it was unbelievably far.
Without a car—on foot—leaving the baby and making it to the hospital, and on top of that doing intern life… that felt impossible.
“If I won first prize in the lotto, I could hire a babysitter, but… haa— seriously.”
After his parents divorced, Yoonseul knew his mother did every kind of job to raise him alone.
So he worked hard to get a full scholarship in college.
And he earned living expenses tutoring, giving the money to his mother.
After all that effort—getting a medical license—and right when his internship was about to end, it was like the world was out to screw him over: his mother died, and then the child of his divorced father—out of nowhere—landed in his arms.
“Damn—.”
He wanted to curse freely, but his eyes met the baby’s.
“So I was thinking maybe I should go buy a watermelon you can eat the damn seeds out of…”
Yoonseul gave the baby an awkward smile.
The baby’s gaze darkened slightly.
I know you were about to say “damn it”… I’d be cursing too…
The state of the house he saw through Wind Information.
Seriously.
Like his older brother said, unless he won the lotto, it would be hard to solve this situation.
Then—
Garam turned his head, saw the date displayed on Yoonseul’s phone, and his eyes widened.
It’s… December 2024?
He had died in 2036.
As someone who knew the future, Suho might have a way to help this half-brother.
•
One month later.
In the end, his older brother quit the hospital.
After many twists and turns, he left Garam somewhere and went to work, but the police kept contacting him because of his mother’s case.
Thinking he was causing trouble for others, Yoonseul ultimately quit.
At least one good thing was that the hospital issued him an internship completion certificate.
If things improved, his older brother could go through residency training.
Thunk—
Garam laughed at the sound that came from his older brother’s stomach as he opened the fridge.
Grrr—
The fridge was empty.
He had to go to the mart and buy groceries.
“Garam— want to go to the mart with your older brother?”
•
“Kyaoo— ahoo—”
He was on the way to the mart in his older brother’s arms.
“Oh my— that baby’s dad is really handsome.”
“How is that baby so pretty?”
“Kyaaak— I want to bite him. He’s so cute.”
“Is it the power of genetics? The dad’s handsome, so the baby’s pretty too.”
At the whispering, his older brother rubbed his face.
Pat— pat—
A small maple leaf patted his chest as if comforting him.
“Huh? Are you comforting your older brother?”
“Kyaoo—”
With the baby hanging against his chest, he patted his chest.
Watching that, Yoonseul muttered,
“Yeah… I really want to shout that I’m not his dad—I’m his older brother…”
Which was true.
But the problem was that the world wouldn’t see it that way.
In one month, a lot changed for Garam.
He managed to create three circles while stuck at home.
Of course, every time he formed a circle in his heart, his older brother panicked and took him to the hospital.
When his older brother was asleep, if he pooped big or small, he used “Clean Magic.”
His older brother’s voice drifted over.
“If I’m making doenjang jjigae tonight… I need carrots, tofu, zucchini… potatoes are at home, so that’s fine.”
While his older brother mumbled as he shopped, Garam turned his head and spotted a lottery shop.
Glance—
How was he supposed to get him to go there…?
Hmm—
When his older brother finished paying and lifted the grocery bag,
“Kyaaah— buaa— chuuu—!”
he screamed and bounced wildly.
With a baby carrier, the baby faced you, so if the baby moved big, you naturally looked down.
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“Kyaat— kaa—”
Garam flailed only one arm.
“What’s wrong?”
As Yoonseul looked at him in confusion, a middle-aged woman watching them opened her mouth.
“Oh my— looks like the baby wants to go that way.”
At her words, Yoonseul turned his head.
“You want to go that way?”
At the question, the baby in his arms tapped his chest.
“That way is the lottery shop… Don’t tell me you want me to buy a ticket?”
“Kyaa— kaaah—!”
When his older brother understood his actions, he got excited.
He wriggled and bounced in his arms.
After a few bounces, he was exhausted.
Ah— I’m tired. This damn body.
Fatigue washed over him.
At least his older brother started walking toward the lottery shop.
It was good up to the point where they entered the shop.
But stopping him from buying automatically and forcing him to pick manual numbers…
A painful road.
No— it felt like walking through hell.
In the end, after a full-blown struggle, his older brother had no choice but to write the lotto numbers manually.
And whether it was coincidence or not, the manual numbers and the automatic numbers were the same.
Hoo— it was hard.
He didn’t realize how much he had battled with his older brother.
On the way home, he fell asleep in his arms without meaning to.
“If it hits first prize, I’ll have to think it’s thanks to you, Garam…”
A nice voice drifting from far away.
Garam traveled into his dreams like that.
When they got home, Yoonseul set the grocery bag down, then laid his sleeping younger brother on the bed.
Whine—
When Garam started to wake, Yoonseul patted his chest.
Garam relaxed and fell back asleep.
When he’s sleeping, he’s a complete angel…
In the kitchen, he started cooking rice and prepping ingredients to make doenjang jjigae.
If you boil doenjang jjigae with rice-wash water, it tastes clean and savory.
Knowing that, Yoonseul had set aside the water from washing the rice.
Scrape— scrape—
He peeled carrots and peeled potatoes too, setting them aside.
Chop— chop—
After cutting everything for the stew, he portioned out two spoons of doenjang, half a potato, one-third of a carrot, a bit of green onion, a bit of onion, and tofu into zip bags.
You could freeze them and boil them later.
What he would eat today, he put into the earthenware pot, added the rice-wash water, and set it on the stove.
The pink sausage he saw at the mart.
Seeing it for the first time in a while made him want to eat it.
Hiss hiss hiss—
When the small one-to-two-person pressure rice cooker made noise, he turned on the stove.
It was to boil the stew.
He sliced the sausage and dipped it in beaten egg.
By the time the rice steamed, he could fry the sausage.
Once the kitchen work was mostly organized, Yoonseul cracked his bedroom door open.
The baby was still sleeping.
He felt relieved.
Worried he might be limp again from a fever, he checked his temperature with the non-contact thermometer.
Beep—
37.5.
Normal.
He closed the door quietly and went back to the kitchen.
The pressure cooker spun strongly.
He moved the pot off the heat, set a pan on the lit stove, and poured in oil.
Szzzz—
The sausages soaked in egg took over the pan.
He lowered the heat.
When they browned nicely, he flipped them and browned the other side too.
Beside that, the stew bubbled as well, filling the house with a savory smell.
Waaah—
The baby’s crying.
Yoonseul quickly turned off the stove and rushed into the room.
“Garam, you woke up?”