chapter 6
chapter 6
Translated by POWERPUFF’
Semi-basement
I have something like a strange customer catalog that I’ve compiled over about six months of working part-time at a convenience store.
Of course, it’s not something I actually wrote down, just something I’ve kept in my memory. Still, it exists.
An elderly woman who brought a sack of rice and proposed a barter.
A middle-aged man who said he would only buy a 1+1 item if it was sold to him at half price.
There were countless other bizarre individuals like that.
Among them, at the very top tier, the most unusual person on the list is the man standing in front of me, Han Seunggi.
His behavior pattern was always the same.
He would occasionally stop by the convenience store, buy only alcohol and cigarettes, and leave.
Even so, there were two reasons why I thought of him as special.
The first was that he always bought me vitamin drinks or chocolate, and the other was… his appearance.
His gently curved eyes, fair skin, and relaxed smile gave off an endlessly pure and kind impression, and the unevenly styled part in his hair showed his lack of experience in grooming his appearance.
However, the beauty mark at the corner of his eye and the clothes he usually wore gave off a mature aura that felt disconnected from his face.
Even just looking at what he wore today, a sleeveless top that revealed his collarbones, short shorts, and a hoodie loosely thrown on.
He’s said to be younger than me, but honestly, there are far more moments when I feel the opposite.
Not in the sense that he looks older, but that he seems overly mature.
It’s like he gives off the atmosphere of someone I should be calling older brother.
On top of that, even if it’s only sometimes, he only buys cigarettes or alcohol.
When I look at his face while he’s choosing items alone, his expression is subdued, giving off a somewhat decadent feeling.
The problem is, when I think that way, the impression shifts again.
Han Seunggi is talking with me while smiling happily, as if he’s raised a pet dog, and this time he feels like a pure, innocent child.
After talking for a while like that, Han Seunggi eventually left.
How should I put it.
It’s strange enough that someone like him lives in a neighborhood that feels like it’s near the lower ranks in public safety in South Korea.
And just him as a person as well.
As expected, Han Seunggi is probably the most extraordinary among all the strange customers.
After returning home, I poured about one-third of the alcohol into a mug and cut a bit of bread to give to our Rina.
Opening the small box in the corner of the room reveals two packs of cigarettes.
Since I usually live with irritation, I smoke once every few days, and for me, it’s one of the few luxuries I have.
It’s a cost-effective luxury, since I can relieve stress at a relatively cheap price.
On top of that, even if I get caught by someone I know while smoking this, nothing really happens.
In my previous life, I was once caught by a teacher at school, but perhaps because my grades were good and they thought I was a kind person, it ended with a serious counseling session.
They returned the cigarettes to me, saying they trusted me to handle them myself.
They were quite a good person, but they must have been swept up in the reversal world too…….
Not being able to meet them after transferring schools might actually be a gain in some way.
My precious memories almost got subjected to a special assault.
After a modest yet grand party consisting of one-third of a mug of alcohol, I went into the bathroom to wash up.
It was small and shabby, but since I cleaned it thoroughly, it wasn’t dirty.
When I turned on the water, cold water poured out.
For a man like me, it’s not a big issue.
My showers don’t even take three minutes anyway. There’s no time to even feel the cold.
While I was showering as quickly as possible, a scream came from outside.
Judging by the volume, it seemed to have come from right across the bathroom window.
……
There’s a lot to say about this, but to put it simply.
Living in a semi-basement means you experience all sorts of things.
It’s hot in summer, cold in winter, bugs get in, and drunk people sometimes leave urine or vomit behind.
Among those, the most noticeable behavior since arriving in the reversal world is… people peeking into the house.
While cases of explicit sexual harassment or assault on the street are rare, the area I live in isn’t exactly what you’d comfortably call a “street.”
Well, if someone causes harm, that’s unfortunate.
And I’m confident that I could handle most situations myself.
But this is simply… a matter of my mood being unpleasant.
So I had taken special measures for the bathroom window, which seemed to be the biggest problem.
I assume that scream was because of that. No, I’m certain.
You see.
I once saw something like that on the internet.
An old man lying naked.
In my previous world, it was a woman, and in the reversal world, it was a man, but that’s not important.
It didn’t have much impact on me, but judging by other people’s reactions, it seemed to cause quite a psychological shock, so I installed one in my own home as well.
A photo visible if you slightly open the bathroom window.
I call this Old Boy.
A name inspired by the nuclear bomb Little Boy.
Using something like this is, of course, a bit unfair to the person involved.
Still, that person isn’t going to be looking into my bathroom window, right?
Anyway, after finishing my shower, I went into my room and lay down.
In the morning, I had been quite stressed, but the day passed without much incident, and I even had a reunion with Rina.
I hoped tomorrow would be a peaceful day as well.
I don’t think about much during my commute to school.
That’s because it takes over forty minutes to walk, and using my brain on top of that would be too exhausting.
Wouldn’t that just be a waste of energy?
As I was walking along absentmindedly, staring ahead, I heard laughter coming from behind me.
To be precise, the sound of someone trying very hard to suppress laughter.
When I turned around, I saw a beautiful girl with yellow hair and a sharp, striking appearance.
…… Why is she acting like that this early in the morning?
And it’s still quite early.
She seems like a very kind person, but she also has a tendency to put on a one-person comedy show.
She kept staring at her phone, making strange snickering sounds with a bizarre expression. Honestly, it was a relief that there was no one around besides us.
"What are you doing?"
"?!"
She jumped in surprise, her body trembling.
"Wh-why are you here?"
"Well."
What should I even say to that?
After hearing my answer, Min Arin seemed to realize the issue and slightly flushed her face.
Anyway, we naturally started walking together.
It would be awkward to walk separately in a situation like this.
Even though we had only met yesterday, we had already talked quite a lot, so it didn’t feel uncomfortable.
Today as well, we exchanged light conversation.
"By the way, what were you looking at earlier?"
"Oh, that? A webtoon."
"Really? You were smiling so stupidly."
"Stupidly…"
"Ah, sorry. I meant you were giggling."
Min Arin wore a satisfied expression and naturally began talking about the webtoon.
What she was reading seemed to be a popular comedy webtoon, but I didn’t know much about webtoons.
In fact, I had never even read one.
I know they’re available for free, but I’ve never really been interested.
"You don’t know that webtoon?"
"I don’t really know webtoons in general."
"Wow… aren’t you missing out on a lot in life? If you’re a modern person, you should at least watch what I mentioned."
I had no idea what kind of standard that was for a modern person.
"Try watching some during your breaks. Studying all the time must be tiring too."
"I don’t have data."
"Webtoon data doesn’t actually use that much."
"My limit is 200MB, so I don’t think it’ll work."
"200 gigabytes?"
"200 megabytes."
There was no response, so when I looked to the side, Min Arin was staring at me with wide eyes.
"Is that like a student phone?"
"What’s that?"
"You know, a phone with limited performance so you can focus on studying."
"Ah."
I had heard of it. Only heard of it.
"Is it possible to live a whole month with 200 megabytes…?"
"If you try, you can make it work."
"Wow… people who study well really live differently."
Well, that was a misunderstanding, since it had nothing to do with studying, but it worked out better this way.
If the conversation turned to not having money, the atmosphere would become awkward and explanations would take longer.
"If you need Wi-Fi, let me know. I have unlimited data, so I can even turn on a hotspot."
Still. No matter how you look at it.
I felt like I had found a good partner.
She’s really, genuinely kind.
The first period today was Integrated Society.
It’s taught by our homeroom teacher.
The class was quite good.
Partly because I like the subject of social studies itself, and partly because the teacher conducts the class well.
There wasn’t an excessive amount of note-taking either.
Of course, the girl sitting next to me didn’t seem to agree.
After class ended, during the remaining time, the teacher called Min Arin.
The content was that she would have to handle cleaning duty alone today.
In our class, cleaning is done by dividing into five groups, each group cleaning for one week, and after five weeks a new set of groups is chosen.
Apparently, a new group started cleaning from yesterday, Monday, and the teacher had already mentioned it.
However, Min Arin, a member of the group, had just gone home without doing the cleaning.
Now, during break time, she was in shock upon hearing that she would have to clean alone.
Since she had ignored the cleaning duty despite it being mentioned, she was scolded a bit for the seriousness of the offense, which seemed to have made her shrink back.
Looking only at her face, she gives off the impression of a delinquent getting nagged by a teacher and getting annoyed, but I know she’s not that kind of person.
"How did you forget about cleaning?"
"Huh?"
"You didn’t run away or anything."
When I said that, she began telling her story with tearful eyes, deeply moved.
She had made plans to go to a PC café with her friends, and she was so focused on that that she left after the closing ceremony without hearing anything.
She completely forgot about her cleaning duty because of that appointment.
……
No matter how I think about it, it did seem like she deserved to be scolded.
I strongly felt like saying something, but I held back.
Blaming her in this situation would be lacking even basic social tact.
And since she had truly forgotten and was now venting endlessly after being scolded for supposedly running away.
I simply closed my mouth and listened to her complaints.
Just listening to someone talk isn’t difficult.
After all, she was the one who had lent me a textbook yesterday.