I Hope I Get Selected
“That fucking bitch, talking shit to my sky-like precious oppa's friend…… What? An orphan?”
It's a trauma from my hypersensitive high school puberty days, so sometimes it torments me in the form of dreams like this. But in this second round after regressing, I haven't experienced it yet……
Makes my mouth taste bitter for no reason. I'm twenty-two, two years past adulthood, but if you add the five years I spent in the first round getting worked like a dog and exploited in every way……
My effective age is basically twenty-seven. Way past the point where I'd get all emotional over some trivial incident from about ten years ago that I can barely remember now.
So that's why.
I don't harbor any particular ill feelings toward that Shin Cheol-su guy, whose face and voice I can hardly recall anymore, or his rude little sister.
For starters, in this massive apocalypse disaster, it's questionable if they even survived.
“Still, that bastard could throw a punch pretty well……”
He was just your average ordinary guy you could find anywhere, someone from a totally different world who I'd never normally mix with.
But somehow, by going to school early one day and chatting to loosen up, or getting dragged to a soccer game and playing wingback to rack up a few assists, or grinding a few games of League together where I carried hard as my main jungler, or helping him study to boost his trash grades……
That innocent high school freshman year when we were in the same class, I spent pretty comfortably thanks to him.
“……I never planned to mention that he was an orphan from a nursery without parents.”
That slipped out unintentionally during my first taste of booze at his empty house when he invited me over for drinks. It just came out, against my will.
And his expression when he heard it.
It froze solid in an instant, and he seemed kinda sorry……?
“Kuh, what does it matter. He couldn't even control his precious little sister's mouth, the one the world fawned over as cute.”
Thinking back, it's a bit odd. He didn't hang with his usual delinquent crew every day, but called me over—someone he wasn't even that close with—to drink with his treasured sister.
……Well, maybe he figured I was better than the other delinquents? No good punching bags around, so he got bored?
“Well, personality and mouth aside, she was definitely cute on the outside. If I were him, I'd have babied her too.”
Most real-life little sisters are crawling pigs, but Shin Cheol-su's was…… well, even judging by looks alone, she was worth doting on. If she'd kept growing up like that, she'd have made plenty of guys cry.
Even though she was a second-year middle schooler two years younger than me back then, her base looks weren't going anywhere.
And the unfiltered crap spewing from that cute mouth of hers.
Considering it was the stormiest phase of puberty—middle school second year…… it was really nothing much.
“……Tch. Showing up in my dream and stirring me up like this…… She must be doing fine, right?”
We naturally drifted apart when the school year changed, just your typical high school classmate relationship.
I don't particularly worry about those two now, but since she's dragged me down memory lane, I hope they're scraping by okay in this shitty apocalypse.
“Um…… Da-hee. You sure you're okay?”
“Yeah, oppa. I'm fine now. Jisoo unnie and the others took good care of me…… And I can't just mope forever. It's not just me, anyway.”
Na Ho-guk swallowed hard inwardly as he watched Shin Da-hee flash a fresh, healthy smile that was worlds apart from when they'd first rescued her.
Whoa, Da-hee's smile is like…… No, no! Snap out of it!!!!!!!!!! I've got Soyeon!! You bastard!!! Na Ho-guk!!!
He'd vaguely sensed it when they first rescued her, but among the shelter's many women, Shin Da-hee's looks were overwhelmingly top-tier.
The place they were heading to now with her—the Apocalypse Hotel where his almost-girlfriend had been “kidnapped”(?)—was a spot where he could score some real progress with her.
Because of that, quite a few shelter guys were already subtly showing interest in Da-hee, trying to catch her eye.
But no matter how much they reined in their thoughts, Da-hee had nearly suffered a horrific ordeal as a woman.
So the shelter women, led by leader Na Ho-guk and Choi Jisoo, were guarding her tightly.
“……Yeah. Thanks. For holding up so well. Me and Jisoo too, right?”
“Of course. But hey, your eyes on our Da-hee look a bit lecherous? You wanna die?”
Choi Jisoo caught Na Ho-guk wavering for a split second at Da-hee's pretty smile through her awakening skill, and she scolded him in a cold voice.
Na Ho-guk frantically shook his head and made excuses.
“W-what?! What the hell……! Don't make baseless accusations. You, you know all about it……!”
Choi Jisoo's awakening skill was the shelter's top-top secret, known only to her and Na Ho-guk.
With Da-hee there making it three of them, he couldn't mention the skill directly and just bullshitted vaguely.
But hearing his vague excuse, Da-hee tilted her head in confusion.
“……What're you talking about, oppa? Unnie?”
“Huh? Oh, nothing…… Ahem. Da-hee doesn't need to know.”
Na Ho-guk panicked and pulled off his classic pushover move on women.
Choi Jisoo sighed deeply at the sight and quickly added,
“Sorry, Da-hee. This guy's just…… always that oblivious. It's not something you shouldn't know. Um…… The girl at the place we're heading to now, she was kinda like his…… lover? Yeah, playing pretend lovers or something. They were in that ambiguous almost-dating phase.”
“Ah……?”
“That's why he called it an accusation. I was just tossing it out there…… Sorry, unnie. I was trying to lighten the mood with a weird joke again.”
Then Da-hee quickly grabbed Jisoo's hand and shook her head.
“No way, unnie! I knew it was a joke, obviously. Our Ho-guk…… I mean, Ho-gu oppa…! Hehe. Everyone in the world would figure out his pure, innocent personality after just one day, right?”
Da-hee cutely stuck out her tongue a bit, immediately tagging “Ho-gu” as a joke while looking at Na Ho-guk.
The shelter's two leaders smiled, delighted.
A warm atmosphere filled Choi Jisoo's room for a moment with the three of them.
Then Jisoo checked the current time via her status window and said to the other two,
“Time to get going. Almost time.”
“But really, Da-hee too? You're turning twenty in just three days—couldn't you wait till the next business day……”
“It's fine, oppa. I need to help the shelter ASAP! I've been good at games like this since I was little. Great luck with thief tag or drawing straws too. If I just win the dice, I can be a huge help……!”
Da-hee clasped her hands in a fighting pose and replied spiritedly, then asked the two with a curious look again.
“Huh? But that…… Ho-guk oppa's almost-girlfriend at the hotel. What's her deal? How'd she end up there……?”
At Da-hee's mutter, Na Ho-guk and Choi Jisoo exchanged glances and made an oh shit face.
Na Ho-guk signaled with his eyes for Jisoo to handle it all.
This pathetic guy. Sigh…… Jeez.
Choi Jisoo inwardly sighed big-time again, then explained the basics about Lee Soyeon along with the last jackpot incident.
Da-hee listened intently with sparkling eyes, absorbing every detail into her head, and burned with even more determination.
“So if I hit the jackpot too, I could stay there a long time…… and bring back way more supplies than others?”
“Mm…… Yeah, probably? That's our guess too.”
Lee Soyeon supplying the western district wasn't public shelter knowledge yet.
So everyone assumed she was staying long-term via jackpot and expected her to return with far more supplies than regular winners.
Na Ho-guk and Choi Jisoo, who had already received one shipment to the western district, figured since Soyeon said she'd send one at the end of every month……
If she sent a second one at month's end, they'd slowly reveal the truth about Soyeon to the shelter then.
That's why Jisoo had personally interviewed every shelter member again, weeding out anyone with even a hint of malice or who wouldn't help the shelter.
“I really hope I get selected. I wanna help our shelter soon too!”
Having heard everything about Soyeon and the jackpot, Da-hee reignited her zeal for winning the dice.
Na Ho-guk and Choi Jisoo smiled and cheered her on.
“Alright, let's head out. Everyone else ready?”
“Yeah. Meeting at the main gate at 11.”
Besides Da-hee and Jisoo, the more people rolling dice the better.
Other shelter women with time before noon were naturally joining too.
The three rose from their seats, left Jisoo's room, headed to the main gate, and met the waiting women.
Together, they made for the Apocalypse Hotel in the middle of Gangnam Boulevard.