Chapter 11

Translator: True Detective

Chapter 11: Return (2)

My brother has changed a bit recently. No, not 'a bit', but very much.

If you ask ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in what direction he changed... He's more active than before when he was stuck at home not even making a breathing sound, which is better...

Honestly speaking, he became very weird.

First of all, how should I say it... his confidence pierces the sky. Originally, my brother was someone who couldn't make eye contact and stuttered even with me, his family, let alone women outside. But now he looks straight into my eyes and says everything he wants to say.

No, he doesn't just say what he needs to, sometimes he acts like a crazy person.

There are times when he acts like someone with sudden dementia. Asking "What's our dad's name?" (we don't have a dad), forgetting the password to the house he's lived in for over 10 years. He doesn't even know how he usually ate his meals.

I scrutinized him closely wondering if the person really changed, but his face, voice, and even his chopstick habits when eating are definitely my brother.

As expected... did his brain overload due to entrance exam stress?

And decisively, there was an incident last night.

1 AM when everyone was asleep. I stopped my steps hearing a sound coming from my brother's room while going to get water.

—Kyakakak... Kyakakakak...!!

"......?!"

My spine chilled. What is this sound? Thinking I heard wrong, I listened closely, and it was heard once more.

—Uheheheheheheheheh!!

Not a beast's roar, nor a human's laughter... it was too filled with madness. Like the sound of Joker laughing.

"What the...?"

I clutched my surprised chest and came out to the living room. But Mom was already out in the living room. It seems Mom heard that sound too.

"Mom?"

"Ji-hye? Did you hear it too?"

Mom and I whispered facing each other in the darkness. Mom's face was also full of worry.

"Brother... is okay right?"

"Well... I wonder if getting accepted to college is something to be that happy about... or if he's mentally unstable..."

We stared at my brother's room door for a long time, but couldn't bring ourselves to open it and returned to our respective rooms.

Because that laughter was so eerie, we felt like a different world would unfold if we opened the door.

But then. That's not the only strange point.

While seemingly crazy, on the other hand... how to put it... he became reliable.

It's connected to the 'groundless ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠confidence' mentioned above, but his demeanor became strangely tough.

Just sitting at the dining table eating with us is a miracle. Originally he ate hiding in his room. Moreover, even when the delivery person came, he stopped me from going out and went out himself to pay.

In this rough world, doesn't he know how dangerous it is for a man to open the front door late at night? It was like he was shouting 'I am the head of this household' with his whole body.

Not only that. Suddenly saying "Going to meet a friend" and going out alone. Without a guardian! To that street teeming with women!

I was stamping my feet at home worried my brother might get kidnapped. Worried my brother would become a victim of the 'Male Kidnapping Confinement Incidents' on the news.

But 3 hours later, my brother returned perfectly fine. Holding a bright yellow toy hammer in one hand.

"......"

Just what did he do meeting a friend. Did they play a toy hammer game? I wanted to ask, but my brother's expression seemed to say 'Don't ask further', so I shut my mouth.

And the most decisive change.

My brother praised me.

"Pretty good. Edible."

Scraping clean the Kimchi Fried Rice I made, and throwing that one indifferent remark. When he held out the empty plate and said "Give me a bit more," honestly I...

Thought my heart stopped.

The brother of the past was a timid person who couldn't make eye contact saying "Thank you...", but the brother now demands confidently, and praises confidently.

I don't know why that rough tone, that rough action... looks so cool.

"...He really changed a lot."

I muttered rolling on the bed.

He seems crazy, seems to have amnesia, and sometimes seems like a beast, but.

The certain thing is, the current brother is much more... attractive than before.

"...What should I make tomorrow. Would he like Soybean Paste Stew."

I buried my face in the pillow and started contemplating tomorrow's breakfast menu. For some reason, I didn't hate this change.

I am in my room right now. Sitting cross-legged on the bed.

A black smartphone is held in my hand. On the outside it's an ordinary lump of machine, but to my eyes it looked like a grenade with the safety pin pulled, or a Pandora's Box that shouldn't be unsealed.

This is not my phone. It's the keepsake of the native of this world, room-corner loser Fake Jin-hyuk.

'Just what kind of devil's den unfolds inside this phone.'

Hikikomori, Male, and Gender-Reversed World. Just imagining the result created by this terrible trinity makes my stomach churn.

Porn? Manga? Or bizarre fetishes he couldn't tell others? Whatever pops out, it's certain to deal damage to my mental state.

But I have to check. I need to know what this guy usually thought about, if he had any debts, or if he had any bizarre fetishes he couldn't tell others, so I can handle it.

"Phew... Let's go in."

I unlocked it with grim determination. Fingerprint recognition passed at once. Since the physical specs are identical.

The place to check first is, of course, the place where a man's instinct is revealed most nakedly.

I touched the browser 'Chrok' icon with a trembling finger. A white screen appeared, and below the search bar, recent visit history and search terms were listed in a row.

And I squeezed my eyes shut in 1 second.

"......"

"Huh..."

Wow.

He's a real r*tard.

I admired sincerely. This goes beyond being a loser to the level of art.

Why on earth did he search 'How to make eyes moist'? To wear lenses? Or to cry and induce sympathy?

And 'Peach scent tone-up cream'? Crazy bastard. While stuck in the corner of your room, who are you trying to look good for emitting peach scent? Dating the wallpaper?

[How to die without pain]

This is a bit sad but... looking at the state of the search list, the smell of an attention seeker crazy for attention is stronger than a lack of will to live.

"Erai, moron."

I clicked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my tongue tsk tsk.

To think this guy was the 'me of this world'.

Even if it's a parallel world, the fact itself that a guy with the same face and same DNA as me lived like this is shameful. It's not something I committed but I'm so embarrassed I can't lift my face.

Pitiful bastard.

"But that is that, and this is this."

A man's instinct operates separately from sadness. This Fake Jin-hyuk guy, no matter how much of a loser, is a man.

How did he enjoy the cultural life of this world?

If the search history is the 'Realm of Light', now it's time to explore the 'Realm of Darkness'.

A man's true desire. Porn.

I took a deep breath once and entered [ P ] in the address bar. The orange logo popping up via autocomplete. Enter.

As soon as the screen appeared, I almost threw the phone reflexively.

"......F*ck?"

My eyes are rotting.

The thumbnails are quite a spectacle.

In the original world, naked women should be posing alluringly, but here, bulging muscular older sisters (ladies) were swarming.

On the opposite side?

Sickly men with expressions screaming "Save me!" while crying snot and tears are tied up, or pushed against a wall, anyway being done in.

The titles are even more spectacular.

"Ah, crazy."

This is... not porn but feels like watching a nature documentary <World of the Wild> beast hunting episode. The predator-prey relationship is too clear.

I hurriedly pressed back.

"Right... Western tastes might not fit. Let's trust the mystery of the Orient."

This time entered [ h ]. Connecting to Hitomi.

But my hope shattered into pieces the moment I saw the tag window.

"......"

No, rape aside... pregnancy? F*ck, why is the male tag attached to that?

How does a man get pregnant. Is he a seahorse? Do men in this world get born with wombs?

I looked at the cover of the #1 popular work.

It was a drawing of a hulk-like female general carrying a crying pretty boy on her shoulder like a sack of rice. The boy's dialogue was a single line.

"......"

Let's stop finding out.

If I watch more, my precious gender identity seems like it will collapse.

This Fake Jin-hyuk bastard comforted himself watching this crap every night? Watching a man going 'Hiiiek'?

This crazy.

I pressed the [Delete All History] button with trembling hands. No, I spammed it.

Confirm!! Confirm!!!! F*ck Confirm!!!!

The screen became clean.

Peach scent tone-up cream, moist eyes, pretty boy kidnapped like a sack of rice, all disappeared into the digital backstreets.

"Phew..."

I closed Chrok and threw the phone into the corner of the bed. I want to go to the bathroom and wash my hands right now. No, I want to rinse my eyeballs in bleach water.

They say 'Hope' remained at the end in the Pandora's Box of myth. In this Pandora's Box... there was no hope I could enjoy.

"Goodbye, Fake Jin-hyuk."

I will bury your embarrassing history.

Please, in the next life, become a peach-scented man and be loved. Big brother has given up.

I pulled the blanket over my head.

Tonight... I think I'll have a nightmare.