What Was Missing From the Big Data, Part 2
I opened the app right away and ordered fried chicken.
"Half spicy, half original. How’s that?"
"Perfect. You’re paying, right?"
"With my stepmom’s card."
"...Got it."
I threw on my clothes in a hurry.
"Want to come with me to get beer?"
"No, bring it back for me!"
"The beer you always drink is Cass, right?"
Cass beer.
A top-tier brew with a sweet finish and a creamy head.
I liked it too, but my sister had practically lived on the canned stuff every day.
"Yeah. That’s it."
"Should I grab sixteen cans?"
"That many?"
"If there’s any left over, we can just drink it slowly."
"Do whatever you want!"
And so I headed out at a leisurely pace toward the convenience store to buy beer.
It was evening.
People were streaming home from work in a hurry.
The CX convenience store inside the apartment complex.
For some reason, going there at this hour always made my heart beat a little faster.
The part-timer at the convenience store looked like an anime character.
"Hey. The convenience store girl in front of your place is insanely pretty. She looks like the heroine from Armored Warrior Noru Wallet. Pink hair, emerald eyes. She’s ridiculously hot."
Namgung Seongtae had discovered her first and told me about her.
There was another store closer to home, so I’d never once bothered going there before.
If a guy with face blindness said she was pretty, then she had to be seriously, obscenely pretty.
"Like, eight out of ten? No, wait. She’s got wrist lettering tattoos too, so six points! I’m not into trash. She’s yours."
The man’s taste was fixed and unwavering.
That was the thing about a hopeless virgin with zero dating experience.
He’d judge a girl’s score and decide mine or yours before anyone had even offered her up in the first place.
After that day, whenever I had to buy something, I used the CX convenience store.
Because the pink-haired part-timer was pretty.
I pushed open the CX convenience store door and strode in with confidence.
"Welcome~"
She greeted me brightly.
Everyone who came in here flinched the moment they saw her pink hair.
Then they’d wind up thinking that the pink hair somehow dulled her beauty instead of enhancing it.
She’s absurdly pretty. Crazy pretty.
"Pffft~"
She covered her mouth and laughed.
Even the way her eyes curved as she smiled was lovely.
Was she laughing at me?
"Thank you for the compliment!"
She thanked me.
"Heh heh heh."
The people standing in line to pay laughed too. At me.
Ah. I realized I’d just said my thoughts out loud.
Ah, shit. That was so embarrassing.
I’d blurted out She’s absurdly pretty, crazy pretty without any kind of mental filter.
My face went red with shame.
Living without thinking.
After my mother died, I’d decided to clear my head and live that way.
I’d tried to strip complex calculations out of my brain and get used to a life where I, so to speak, just played with my brain turned off.
But this was an emergency situation.
If I went around with my brain turned off, I’d die.
I slapped both cheeks, steeled myself, and kicked my head back into gear.
The pink-haired part-timer always smiled brightly at customers.
Smiling while meeting someone’s eyes was a real heart-stopper.
When she rose onto her tiptoes to reach for a high shelf—
I caught sight of the tattoo on her wrist.
Just like Namgung Seongtae had said.
Black lettering.
What did it say?
By the time the checkout line had finally cleared out, it was my turn.
"Do you have Cass beer?"
"Yes~ I’ll get it for you!"
She turned toward the refrigerator, still smiling like she was on cloud nine.
Then she set four packs of Cass beer, four sets in all, onto the counter with crisp little taps.
As she scanned them, there was a faint lilt in her voice, almost sing-song.
"That’ll be forty-eight thousand won!"
For a split second, I had to keep my face under control.
I paid with the card my stepmom had given me, bowed politely, and walked out of the convenience store.
I’d noticed something strange, but there was no way I could ever let on that I’d noticed it.
Chills prickled all over my skin.
Shit. Was that cashier a colony too?
I’d asked if they had Cass beer, and she’d pulled out four packs.
Exactly sixteen cans.
And the fact that I wanted sixteen cans had only been something I’d told Minyoung.
I rubbed my arms as goosebumps rose.
Glancing back over my shoulder, I felt the cashier who’d been watching my back suddenly whip her head away.
Definitely a colony. No doubt about it.
"At this rate, pretty girls are gonna become extinct. Seriously, extinct."
The Flowers were a massive colony made up of a million people.
From the colony’s perspective, a pretty woman was the best weapon they had.
If you want to lure customers, you have to put out your best bait.
That’s how you get people to come in.
Clenching my fist, I realized that today’s alcohol operation was the biggest turning point in my survival.
Alone, I was fighting against the big data of a million people.
It would be hard to win, sure, but there had to be a crack somewhere.
And alcohol might be exactly what I could use to find it.
When I got home, Minyoung was quietly watching TV in the living room.
I raised my voice on purpose.
"Man, I’m freaking starving. Want a beer while we wait for the chicken?"
"Not yet, later! When the chicken gets here!"
Minyoung smiled at me, all soft and easy.
For some reason, her grin reminded me of the convenience store girl’s smile from earlier.
Flowers already surrounded me on three sides.
My stepmom, Minyoung, and the pink-brained cashier at the convenience store.
Ding-dong!
Thirty minutes later, the doorbell rang.
I set the hot chicken box and twelve cans of beer on the living room table.
The remaining four cans went into the refrigerator.
Those were for my stepmom.
Minyoung was sitting on the sofa in a crop top, legs crossed.
The dolphin shorts she wore clung to her thighs and showed off the soft flesh there.
"Here. First one."
I popped open a can and handed it to her.
Minyoung hesitated for a second, then took a sip.
"Mm... that’s refreshing."
The long movement of her throat as she swallowed made the beer sliding down look indecent.
A bead of sweat traced her neck, along her soft collarbone, and the faint glimpse of cleavage showing beneath the crop top.
I cracked open my own can and stared at her.
"Hey, drink it properly. If you act this timid in front of that bastard Seongtae, he’ll run for the hills."
"Okay, okay."
That was when it happened.
Riiing.
Minyoung’s phone rang.
The screen said Mom.
"Oh, Mom."
My mother’s voice crackled out softly through the receiver.
— Minyoung, you should disconnect before you get drunk.
"Right!"
It was an unbelievably tiny whisper, but my hearing, like my sense of smell, was better than the average person’s.
Was that telling her to disconnect from the colony?
Could that even happen?
I swallowed hard and strained my ears.
Minyoung shut her eyes tight, looking thoroughly startled.
Her long eyelashes trembled.
One second, two, three...
Then she opened them again.
In that instant, I caught the slight change.
Her hair puffed up a little, like it had been brushed by static electricity.
So subtle you’d miss it unless you looked closely.
And the musty, fungus-like scent around her body had suddenly faded.
...She disconnected from the colony.
I was certain of it.
"What did your mom say?"
I asked as casually as I could.
"Oh, just... she said I’m getting home really late today."
It was true after all that Flowers stayed away from alcohol.
Once they got drunk, the effect seemed to spread to all one million of them.
There were probably people driving, after all. It made sense that they’d have to disconnect from the network before getting completely plastered.
"Should we make a toast?"
"Yeah! Cheers!"
Now that she’d started drinking again, Minyoung raised her can high.
She was back to the Minyoung who actually liked alcohol.
Gulp, gulp.
Alcohol was sliding down her long throat.
"Down it!"
I kept cheering her on, urging her to finish the whole can.
"Kya-ha!"
After one can, Minyoung’s eyes were already starting to go glassy.
"Minyoung, you’re a total lightweight, huh? Your face is all red."
"Ah, this booze is sweet. Sweet. Sweet and sweeter, sweetest booze~ Hehe. Hic."
By the time Minyoung had emptied half of her second can and half of her third, her cheeks were starting to flush.
We tore into the chicken and drank beer.
The sweet-spicy kick of the seasoned chicken and the cold bite of beer.
"What does Seongtae oppa actually do at the research institute?"
Minyoung asked as she pulled meat off a chicken leg.
Her eyes were on me, and her ears seemed almost perked up.
I could feel how thirsty she was for information about an A-grade host.
"That bastard specializes in reverse-engineering alien tech the Reptilians dumped on us. He analyzes Ant weapons a lot, too. I heard he’s also researching Flowers in some way?"
"...Researching what?"
"I’ll tell you if you toast with one more can!"
Clink—!
The aluminum cans knocked together and dented slightly.
After another beer, Minyoung’s eyes started to blur.
"What’s he researching?"
"Can’t tell you for free, can I?"
"If not for free, then what, do I have to give you something? Hic?"
Her unfocused eyes drifted through the air.
She was already plastered off three cans of beer.
"Tell me, oppa. Don’t be cheap. Hic?"
She leaned forward as she asked.
Her chest pressed lightly against the table and looked even fuller.
The sweat-damp crop top clung to her skin, faintly outlining the shape of her nipples beneath it.
I deliberately slowed my voice down, making it as provocative as I could.
"Well... can I tell you with nothing on the table?"
Give me my first kiss!
My lips tingled with anticipation, but asking to jump straight to sex was a little much.
If I’m going to live with my brain turned off, this is exactly the kind of thing that goes wrong!
I needed to analyze what alcohol did to the colony and its hosts.
No matter how drunk they got, these people weren’t idiots.
"What are you even saying?"
Minyoung set down her can and stared at me.
She seemed to have slipped back into the Minyoung who liked alcohol.
She popped open her fourth can and started drinking.
"You two are both just the same lame, nerdy outsider type. Huh? You think I like Namgung Seongtae for no reason? Hic?"
Outsider and nerdy guy?
So that was what the colony thought—Namgung Seongtae and I were just outsider nerds?
Suddenly, Minyoung started laying bare her true feelings.
It was certain now. She’d disconnected from the colony.
Her unfiltered laugh—“Puhaha!”—was a little louder, a little more human.
"What the hell, did you get drunk and start ranting? You want an introduction? You don’t even like Namgung Seongtae, so why ask to be introduced? Or is there some other reason?"
Her face went bone-white in an instant.
She’d realized she’d said something she absolutely shouldn’t have while drunk.
To cover for her panic, I made up the reason for her instead.
This was my decisive play!
"You’re not asking to be introduced because you like Namgung Seongtae... you’re pestering me because you actually like me, aren’t you?"
"Ugh... hic. Hic. Does that even make sense?"
"Then there must be some other reason you want the introduction, right?"
Minyoung looked at me through half-lidded eyes.
It was obvious she was trying desperately to clean up her own slip of the tongue.
But the alcohol flooding her body had already made her go soft around the edges.
"I know, I know. Come here, come here. You like your oppa, don’t you?"
"I do! I do like oppa!! Hic!"
When I spread my arms wide, she slid right into them.
The drunk Minyoung giggled.
Her hand naturally found my arm.
I could feel the springy muscle of arms trained by dance practice and the softness of her skin beneath it.
As she fell into my arms, her upper body sagged and we ended up rolling together like one tangled mess.
"Kyaaaahaha!"
Once a drunk man and woman started clinging to each other, the mood changed in an instant.
We were hugging each other tight now, and both of our faces were red—mine and Minyoung’s alike.
"I... like Minyoung."
"Tch... don’t like me... You’ll get hurt. You pathetic oppa."
"Yeah, I am pretty pathetic."
Her hand slid into the inside of my thigh.
The heat of her body passed through the fabric of my pants.
Reason, gone with the alcohol. Sticky desire drifted between us.
I could feel my heart hammering like crazy as I lifted her chin slightly.
Her lips were plump and flushed red, and the tip of her tongue showed between them as they parted a little.
The deadly scent of breath mixed with milk, beer, and a faint trace of fungus spores.
No, the fungus smell had mostly faded.
"Minyoung."
My voice dropped low.
"That bastard Seongtae... he’s the same outsider nerd virgin as me, so he probably can’t even kiss properly. And if you can’t kiss properly, you can’t seduce anyone, right? I’m exactly the same—an outsider nerd virgin too... so what do you say? Want to do a practice run?"
"A practice run?"
Minyoung’s eyes flashed with filthy delight.
Instead of answering, she parted her lips a little and moved closer to me.
Her breath touched my lips directly.
"A practice run... that sounds like a good idea..."
And then I pulled her waist toward me.
Minyoung’s soft, hot lips came down fully over mine.
At first it was light, but soon her tongue pushed in boldly and wrapped around mine.
Beer, fried chicken seasoning, and her own sweet saliva all mixed together. Her full breasts pressed against my chest and swayed there.
The hardened point of her nipple could be felt through the fabric of her crop top.
My first kiss in my entire life was—
with my sister, who had become a monster.
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