Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: I Picked Up a Part-Timer (4)
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That day, my parents had a huge fight, worse than usual.
Why did they fight? I can hardly remember anymore.
After the fight ended, while Dad was out drinking, Mom packed a small bag with the few things we had in the house and said to me,
"Ji-ah. If Dad asks where I am, tell him I went out to work. Got it?"
'...A lie.'
Mom had never been good at lying. Especially not to me.
"I'm sorry, Ji-ah."
Finally, she hugged me tight and left the house. That was the last image of her in my memory.
"That fucking bitch. Let's see how well she's living after abandoning her kid."
After that, Dad's alcoholism got even worse.
There were almost no days when he wasn't drunk.
'I'm hungry...'
I had to survive alone in that place.
Crash!
The number of empty bottles rolling around our tiny room—less than ten pyeong—kept growing.
"Fucking bitch. You're gonna run off like your mom too, huh? All you do is eat my food."
Thud.
Even on sweltering summer days, I had to wear long clothes, and those days kept piling up, but I endured.
'It's okay. Someday...'
A day would come when I could laugh and say, "Remember when that happened?"
Fortunately, by the time I started high school, Dad hardly ever came home.
At least I could go to school. That meant lunch was taken care of.
"Ji-ah. You'll help me out, right? We're friends. After all I've done for you."
...Ever since that day in middle school, I'd deliberately kept my distance from classmates, so no one found out about my home life.
The problem was holidays when school was out, or weekends.
"You're a student, right? Sorry, but to work here, you need parental consent."
"I-is there no way...? I'll work really hard!"
"...Sigh. Fine, but I can't give you a proper work contract."
"Yes!"
Finding a part-time job wasn't easy, and even when I did, I usually got fired quickly.
But there was no choice. I had to survive.
Then one day...
Screech.
"Fucking bitch. Your dad's home and you don't even greet me."
The man who returned home after months.
As always, I didn't respond and pretended to sleep under the covers in the corner.
Normally, he would've just passed out drunk—
Thud. Thud.
—but that day was different.
For some reason, I heard his footsteps coming closer and closer to me,
"... ."
Until the foul stench of booze hit my nose.
'N-no way...'
...Something repulsive was trying to crawl under the blanket.
The moment that sickening touch grazed my body, I jumped up and slapped him across the face as hard as I could.
"Aaaagh! You fucking bi—!"
That night, I fled the house.
.
Tap, tap.
Outside, the rain poured down in the darkness, coldly lashing my face.
I hadn't been able to grab an umbrella, of course. At least I'd managed to take my school uniform.
'Is that even lucky?'
Before I knew it, I'd reached a back alley with a single streetlamp, and I collapsed there.
"Hic... sob..."
I was scared. So incredibly scared.
The darkness choking me, that man, these hopeless days.
"What did I do so wrong...?"
But I didn't have the courage to die, so I just huddled there, sobbing.
Wishing I could die right there in the rain.
And then,
"...Um, miss? I'm the owner of that cocktail bar up ahead."
A man holding a comically oversized umbrella approached me.
*
'Ah...'
Where am I?
Unfamiliar ceiling, unfamiliar blanket, unfamiliar bed...
"Oh, right."
I'd come to that man's house...
I must've dozed off while staying alert for him sneaking into the room at night.
The door is...
'Locked.'
...Looks like he didn't try to come in during the night.
So maybe he really brought me here out of pure kindness?
'No way.'
I shook off the momentary soft thought.
Even if that man seemed decent now, who knew when he'd show his true colors.
But if... it wasn't like that?
"...Yeah, right."
I recalled the hazy faces from my memories.
A part-time coworker who'd somehow learned about my situation.
"Hey, fuck. Sigh... You think I was just helping you out of the goodness of my heart? Use your brain. I wanted to hook up with you. You're such a tease."
The girl I thought was a friend.
"Ji-ah. You'll help me, right? We're friends. After all I've done for you."
It was all lies.
And the one thing I realized?
—No one offers kindness without a reason.
"That guy's probably..."
The same.
As I forced down the tiny spark of hope in my chest and tried to close my eyes again,
'Ah.'
...Of all the bad luck, I needed to pee.
What now? I don't want to go out there.
'He's probably asleep... I'll go quick.'
But like anyone, I couldn't hold back a bodily function forever.
Reluctantly, I opened the door quietly and headed to the bathroom he'd told me about.
Screech.
'This is the bathroom, right...? Oh, yeah.'
"... ."
A bathroom so clean it felt wrong to even compare it to ours.
As I looked around, forgetting my original purpose for a moment, I spotted two toothbrushes on the sink.
One must be his... and the other,
'Belongs to the owner of these clothes I'm wearing...?'
He said he had a little sister. They must visit often enough to leave a toothbrush here.
That realization made the suspicion inside me start to fade a bit.
—Logically, a guy with a sister coming and going wouldn't do anything weird at home.
"So, maybe for real..."
After finishing up and stepping out of the bathroom,
"... ."
—Through the half-open door, I saw the man who'd brought me here, sleeping soundly.
"If you don't have anywhere else to go, want to work part-time at my place?"
"If it's okay with you, come stay at my house. I've got an empty room."
"... ."
'Really...'
Thud, thud.
I quietly entered that moonlit room,
"Hic, sob... I-is it... real...?"
huddled up beside him as he slept,
"This time... sob, can I... believe it?"
and whispered words that wouldn't reach him.
The day after picking up a cat—no, a part-timer.
'Huh...?'
"Phew..."
There she was, the girl Ji-ah, curled up at the edge of my bed, breathing softly in her sleep.
"What's with her?"
Why's she sleeping here? Does she sleepwalk?
'Your Honor, I did nothing.'
I carefully crept out so as not to wake her and headed to the kitchen.
I had no idea why this girl, who hadn't left her room since last night, ended up in mine like that... but first, I needed to feed her something.
'Good thing I bought this yesterday.'
I rummaged in the fridge and pulled out two eggs and some rice packs. Plus soy sauce and sesame oil.
"First..."
I lightly oiled the pan and waited for it to heat up.
Then cracked the two eggs, tossed in the pre-soaked rice.
Seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil—and soon, the savory aroma filled the kitchen and spread through the house.
'Whoever invented soy sauce egg fried rice deserves a Nobel Prize.'
Is it Nobel? Anyway, this dish has saved many lives.
"Kyaa?! Wh-what am I doing here...? Oh, no way, last night...?"
Ji-ah, who'd been sleeping soundly in my room, must've smelled it and woken up.
Soon, I heard thudding footsteps coming toward me.
"U-um!"
Ji-ah stood there, face flushed bright red, fidgeting like she had something to say.
What's up with her?
"I-I must've mistaken the room in my sleep!"
Oh. I thought it was something serious.
...I wasn't thinking much of it, but seeing her like this made me want to tease her.
"Well, if you had a scary dream, that could happen."
"F-for real!!"
Eek. Maybe she thought I really didn't believe her, because her face scrunched up in a pout as she continued.
"A-and."
"And?"
She seemed to have more to say. What was it?
Lips twitching like something still bothered her, Ji-ah finally spoke, saying something unexpected.
"Call me Ji-ah. You can speak casually... "
Then, embarrassed, she bowed her head deeply.
"Get out. Before I call the cops."
"... ."
Her demeanor was so different from our first meeting that I couldn't help but chuckle.
"Wh-why are you laughing...!"
The day Ji-ah and I shared our first breakfast together.
"Heh. If you're scared to sleep alone, I'll buy you a doll next time."
"I swear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
That day, the relentless rain that had lasted for days finally stopped—a summer day.