Ants Keep Going Today, Too - 2
The table outside the convenience store.
I wolfed down the cup noodles and hot bar in no time.
By then it was fully night, and darkness had settled over everything.
The shabby little convenience store, with no one coming through its doors, was wrapped in silence.
“...”
And yet I couldn’t bring myself to leave. I just stood there, one hand around a 2-liter bottle of water, drumming my fingers against the sticky cheap outdoor table to pass the time.
The headlamp in my hand kept time for me.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
And in rhythm with that beat, I heard someone dancing behind me.
“...”
-One, two… three… turn. One, two…
Let me correct that.
It was actually the music she had on that I was tapping along to. After listening to it for thirty minutes straight, I’d unconsciously picked up the rhythm too.
“...Hoo.”
In the end, I stole a glance back.
-One, two, three… again, one…!
There she was: the part-timer in a baseball cap, her yellow hair swaying as she practiced her dance moves. After noticing me eating ramen and gauging my mood, she’d left the counter to start rehearsing on her own.
I recognized her voice.
-Welcome.
-Thank you.
-Bagg… bag need?
-Oh, are you eating? I’ll bring it over!
Just four lines.
Four lines were enough to spray red pills everywhere.
No matter how I look at it, that’s Aki-chan…. Was she even trying to hide it?
Of course, the real her was different from her VTuber illustration. Her impression was astonishingly similar, but in person her face held exhaustion, boredom, and a kind of quiet stillness.
“...”
Even so, it was obvious.
That woman was Aki-chan.
Matching your real hair color to your VTuber RP is pretty damn unhinged.
-Hoo…!
“!”
Her practice came to a brief stop.
I turned my head away again, and for no reason at all, took a gulp from the 2-liter bottle in my hand. With the headlamp in my other hand, I kept drumming the table.
Tap, tap.
Tap.
Tap, tap….
...
Once the music stopped,
the beat grew scattered.
At the same time, my thoughts grew scattered too.
“...”
One billion won.
I had donated one billion won.
Of course, I wasn’t naïve enough to think all of that money would go to Aki-chan. After the company and taxes got done tearing into it, I figured maybe around two hundred million would actually end up in her hands.
And given the circumstances, some of it probably got kicked back to the company too, so she may not have even gotten the full two hundred million….
Still, I figured she must have at least a hundred million left.
On top of that, I’d kept donating 2.5 million won every day for a little over ten days. Even being conservative, she would’ve taken in somewhere between seven and nine million won.
No matter how low I cut the estimate,
it wasn’t money that would leave her struggling to survive.
“...”
And yet she was working a part-time job right now.
Alone, a young woman guarding a deserted convenience store at night. During the slow hours, she was investing every spare moment in practice, never letting herself stop.
Like a star that kept shining,
bright and unceasing.
“...”
It had only been thirty minutes or so.
But that was enough for me to understand what her life had been like.
And something about it felt off.
If she already has that much money, wouldn’t it be okay for her to take it a little easier…?
I found myself curious about her story.
Why was she burning herself out like that, as if she were an idiot?
...What kind of life has she even been living?
At that moment, I thought of the old man in the park.
The way he’d stared wistfully at the girl on his phone.
The thick spiral of regret whirling through him like an abyss.
An emotion common enough to belong anywhere.
“...”
I kept my distance from that feeling. So I wouldn’t get sucked into the vortex, and so it wouldn’t interfere with my regression….
I had to decide which feelings I could carry with me.
Emotions reset anyway. If I bring something too huge across with me, I’m the one who loses.
But now.
Yellow starlight was glittering behind me. I’d let that foolish brilliance into my eyes.
She’d come too close.
I found myself wondering whether it would be better if she could step outside that unfairness….
Once I watched her broadcast,
I’d probably remember this shabby convenience store.
“...”
Tap.
Tap.
Tap, tap….
“...”
Tap, tap….
Should I just ignore it?
If I left this shabby convenience store behind right now, forgot everything, and became Bigman again, I could support ABCD as they worked toward their 3D debut.
That alone would be enough for them, especially when they were on the verge of breaking down.
It had always been that way until now.
My eternal ninety-two days were too short to watch someone’s success or happiness unfold.
So I had to ignore it.
“...”
I switched on the headlamp in my hand.
Click!
For the dead who had died within eternity,
it was time to disappear back into the dark.
Just as I was getting to my feet, someone tugged at me from beside the table.
“Um….”
“!”
I turned.
She was looking at me with concern,
offering me a yellow handkerchief.
“You seemed uneasy since earlier… and you were sweating, too.”
“...”
“Are you okay?”
“...”
I looked at it without thinking.
Ah.
Too late.
And I asked her a question without really meaning to.
“...Isn’t life hard?”
“Pardon?”
“Life. Isn’t it hard?”
“...?”
“If you’re struggling on your own in a place where nobody notices you… isn’t it sad? Isn’t it exhausting? How do you keep clawing your way through it like that?”
“...”
“Wouldn’t it be better to ease up a little, take it slower?”
“...”
She hesitated for a moment.
She looked flustered by the sudden question.
Then, with the handkerchief still in her hand,
she wiped the sweat from my forehead.
She smiled casually and said,
“I’m fine.”
“...Why?”
“Because I’m happy.”
“...Why?”
“Because it’s all for my dream. And besides, there are people like you who notice how hard I’m working, right? Things have been kind of shaky lately, but I do have part-time work like this where I can take it easy….”
“...”
She fumbled in her pocket. Then she pulled out a crumpled ten-thousand-won bill and pressed it warm into my hand.
“Just take this. I’m buying your ramen.”
“...Why?”
“Because you looked like you were having a hard time….”
“...”
I stood there blankly, clutching the bill.
She gave a little bashful smile and headed back to the convenience store.
“Then I should get back. Hang in there.”
“...”
Her yellow hair swayed as she moved.
The light from my headlamp caught it, and gold sparkled in the strands.
Watching her, I said,
“Your name.”
“Pardon?”
“What’s your name?”
“...”
After a brief pause, she answered.
“Lee A-yeong.”
“...”
Lee A-yeong smiled like an idiot,
answering with pure sincerity.
The truth hidden behind her persona.
“I’m an idol trainee.”
“...”
“What about you?”
“Bi….”
“Bi?”
“...”
I hesitated, then said it.
The real name I had never once told anyone directly during my regressions.
My true name.
“Seonwoo Taek.”
“Woo Taek?”
“No.”
“?”
“My family name is Seonwoo. My given name is Taek.”
“Th-that’s unusual….”
It was a familiar pattern.
A pattern I had gone through countless times before the regression began.
One that no one ever called me by anymore….
A-yeong said to me,
“Hang in there, Taek!”
“...Yes.”
Then she turned and went back inside.
“...”
I stood there, dazed.
In my hands were a ten-thousand-won bill and the headlamp.
“...”
The light from the headlamp
was now sparkling toward the shabby convenience store.
Today, Seonwoo Taek received a ten-thousand-won donation from the part-timer, Lee A-yeong. She didn’t even know I was Bigman; she was just offering kindness, pure and simple.
Beyond the screen,
sincerity had come back to me.
After dozens, hundreds… an uncountable number of regressions.
“...”
I realized it then.
The moment I took the ten-thousand-won bill, my curiosity became sincerity.
I could no longer simply let the regression pass and go by without learning about Lee A-yeong’s unfairness. To finish this cycle, I would have to return what I had received.
I had a dream I wanted to protect.
But by the time it’s July 31st….
Ninety-two eternal days were too short to watch someone succeed.
“...”
I gripped the bill tightly.
“!”
But still.
Money could pull dreams closer.
It could make them shine as brightly as possible.
“!”
I have money.
Within my eternal ninety-two days, I was invincible.
My wealth kept growing with every stock trade and investment, as naturally as breathing.
...I’m Bigman.
I made my decision quietly.
There were eighty days left.
I had 7.1 billion won left.
That would be enough.
First, I should repay the ten-thousand-won bill.
What I received from her,
I had to return, or I wouldn’t be able to rest easy.
-A star in your heart! I’m Aki-chan, an aspiring idol—!
“Then….”
I’ll make you,
into an idol.
This is no longer a game. It’s a promise.
In that case, the first thing I need to do is….
“...”
I looked at the sign for the shabby convenience store. The building had clearly been left alone for a long time; dust coated every corner. A banner on the window advertised Lease Inquiries Welcome.
“...”
Just standing there was tiring.
First, I should make the space beneath the stage comfortable.
*
The following Monday.
I said in a real estate office,
“I’ll give you three hundred million won. I’ll take over this convenience store.”
“Y-You will—?! Th-this place?!”
“And another six hundred million on top. I’ll buy the building too. I don’t care what condition it’s in. I’ll renovate it myself.”
“W-What—?!”
For a moment, they went blank, then hurriedly nodded. It didn’t seem like the cursed land and rights that had become such a headache would ever again be sold at a fair price to some lunatic who wanted them.
After signing the contract,
the former owner said to me,
“Th-then what should we do about the convenience store part-timer? There’s only one woman who comes in on weekend nights to work…. It’s such a slow place that I’ve been covering the weekdays myself.”
“Keep her on. Just tell her the manager has changed.”
“Y-Yes….”
I gathered the contract and documents and slipped them into my briefcase. Then I left the real estate office.
The interior company that helped me in the round where I was playing make-believe and building a paradise apartment….
“!”
I remembered it.
There was a company that was idle at this time of year.
I called them immediately.
“Yes, hello. I’d like to move forward with an urgent project. Within a week, if possible. The thing is….”
I already had the estimates and goals worked out in my head.
I’d even thrown in a generous premium for speed.
A convenience store shouldn’t be a place people go just to survive. It should be a place that feels comfortable simply by existing.
“...”
Red pills and blue pills had to be separated.
A one-billion-won donation was light enough to toss around,
but a single ten-thousand-won bill in my pocket felt heavy.
First,
I had to make her “place.”
And the way to save time was something….
I knew better than anyone.
*
Friday came around again.
Aki let out a sigh after finishing her daytime stream.
“Haa….”
Last Friday,
it had felt like everything in the world was finally going to go right.
But somehow, things kept slipping sideways.
-Live Future’s people are being a pain, trying to corner Bigman… Still, the conversation went well enough that we should be able to announce the platform transfer by next week.
The announcement of the platform move had been delayed.
-Ms. A-yeong? Well… someone’s buying the convenience store, so I think I’m done here. Just keep coming in at your regular hours like always and working as usual.
The convenience store manager had changed.
Creak, creak.
Things kept changing.
The only thing that hadn’t changed was….
【Big123456Man has donated 2.5 million won!】
“...Pfft.”
When she thought of that ridiculous alt account,
a smile naturally appeared at the corner of Aki’s lips.
“I should head to work.”
As always, she passed through Hangang Park and made her way to the shabby convenience store tucked away in a corner. But the closer she got, the stranger it felt.
“Huh?”
It was clean.
The convenience store was spotless, like it had just been built.
That eerie, haunted-looking scenery was gone, replaced by a place that looked as though it had been finished just yesterday. As an added bonus, CCTV cameras were installed everywhere like an iron wall of protection.
I only heard that the manager changed…?
Aki opened the door carefully and slipped inside.
“E-excuse me…?”
“Welcome.”
“!”
The voice that answered came from a young man.
A man in his mid-twenties was absentmindedly organizing the store. His back looked oddly familiar.
“Wh-who are you…?”
“...”
He turned around.
It was a familiar face.
Aki’s eyes widened.
“Ah…! Last week! Your hair was all shiny!”
“It’s not hair loss.”
“N-no, that’s not what I meant…! Taek!”
“I’m not a taxi either.”
“Th-that’s not—.”
The man gave a small chuckle and walked over.
Then he held out his hand.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Seonwoo Taek, the new owner of the convenience store.”
“!”
“From now on, please call me manager.”
Seonwoo Taek said,
“I look forward to working with you, Ms. A-yeong.”
“...!”
Lee A-yeong said,
“Yes, I look forward to working with you too… manager.”
Big hand and small hand.
The two hands crossed the screen
and held each other tightly.
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