Recruiting a New Pa-ttak

The long weekend was over, and it was back to everyday life. Not that I got much of a break—I worked two days even during the holiday. Today marked my fourth consecutive day on the clock.

While I was working at the convenience store, I stole a quick glance at my phone. The gallery was in absolute chaos, but for entirely different reasons this time. It looked like my older sister had gotten so pissed off at all the trolls that she'd mass-deleted every post. The problem was she'd wiped out all the normal threads along with them.

The flames that had been slowly dying down suddenly roared back to life.

Thankfully, that sacred ground was still standing. But the fire was spreading in a very strange direction now.

The reason was simple: every single post that came after that one had been deleted too. My sister must've been too lazy to filter them one by one and just wiped everything. Though as far as I knew, there was a filtering function for that. Maybe she didn't know about it since this kind of thing had never happened before.

Even as new posts kept flooding in, Ju-ttak—my older sister—hadn't said a single word. She should've been off work by now. Had she seen the situation and completely lost it?

My sister wasn't the one being targeted, but her position as Ju-ttak was definitely in danger. It had happened in other galleries before—Ju-ttaks and Pa-ttaks getting replaced after causing trouble. I really didn't want the role falling into someone else's hands. The whole point of running an incest gallery was that my sister had to be the one in charge.

"Haa..."

I heard my older sister's sigh loud and clear. She was probably irritated because of this whole mess. I hated it when the gallery's atmosphere turned sour too. For now, I had to pretend I didn't know anything. It sucked that I couldn't help her directly.

"Come eat~"

"Already?"

Our family was one of the rare ones where Mom would call us out and the food would already be on the table. So when she said dinner was ready, we came right away. Of course, we still couldn't escape the sacred rule that it was already eight o'clock.

"Jisu, come eat."

"Just a minute~"

"Son, go call your sister."

"Yeah."

Knowing what my sister was probably doing, I knocked on her door even though it was already open.

"Sis. Let's eat."

"Okay. You guys start without me."

"Mom says to come out."

"Ugh, seriously."

Why was she puffing her cheeks like that? It was unnecessarily cute, and I almost smiled without meaning to.

"This is so good."

At least eating seemed to calm her down. But the moment she finished, her face scrunched up again like one of those hot-blooded anime characters. She was already busy with work—there had to be some way to help her.

What could I do…

I pushed aside the question of why I was even worrying about this and decided to look for ways to support her from afar.

My sister still hadn't come up with any countermeasures. If things kept going like this, her Ju-ttak privileges would really get transferred. There were two ways for a Ju-ttak to lose their position: voluntarily stepping down and handing it over, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠or getting reported to the official admins and forcibly replaced. Even if a new Pa-ttak took over, it wouldn't be the same if my sister wasn't Ju-ttak anymore.

When I clicked into the post, beneath a meme of a familiar character smoking a cigarette, something rather ominous had been posted.

……

In my heart, I wanted to run to my sister right then and tell her she was in big trouble. What was she doing right now? I needed to get home quickly and keep an eye on the situation—

"Welcome."

"Hi~"

"Why are you here again..."

"I can come, can't I? You don't like it?"

"No, I like it."

My sister appeared at the perfect moment. From the clothes she was wearing, it looked like she'd changed at home before coming out.

"What are you buying today?"

"The cup ramen Jiyun likes."

"Again?"

"Um… stockings?"

"……."

For a split second I imagined tearing the stockings off her legs, but I shook my head to snap out of it.

"Again."

"When do you get off?"

"One hour left."

"Still another hour?"

"We don't work nine-to-six here…"

And there was no such thing as a proper lunch break. Unlike regular stores with shift changes, the reality was you had to eat whenever you could find a spare moment. But that wasn't the important thing right now. The survival of the incest gallery was on the line—there was no time to be this relaxed.

"Jiyun."

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course. Ask away."

My sister had come to me on her own for once, and she asked with a serious expression. I answered while ringing up her items.

"What do you do when you need to use the bathroom during work?"

"I try to hold it if I can. If it's really urgent, I lock the door, put up the sign, and go quickly."

"Then what if… just hypothetically… you were the manager of this store… and people threw a fit because you left your post for a minute?"

"Hmm…"

Anyone could tell she was asking because of the gallery situation. She still didn't know that I'd found out she was Ju-ttak. Or that I was even a user of the incest gallery. The best move here was to speak in circles. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I was wondering how to phrase it when the perfect idea came to me.

Maybe I should tell her to recruit more Pa-ttaks.

As far as I knew, Pa-ttaks were usually office workers too. I wondered if they really had time to post nonsense while working, but then again, every other community was full of salarymen, so it was possible. Plus, seeing how they'd gone dark together, it seemed like she couldn't handle it alone anymore. It would be better to ask someone with more free time.

The real problem was how to get the message across to her without being obvious. I couldn't just come out and say she should recruit more Pa-ttaks, and I definitely couldn't reveal that I used the gallery.

"If it were me, I'd expand the store and hire two part-timers. A lot of bigger places have two people working together, right?"

"Really…?"

"Yeah. That way even if one person needs to use the bathroom, the store can still run normally. Wages would be an issue, but more people also means more profit."

"Then what about the people ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠complaining?"

"I'd apologize first and promise to fix it. Like, 'I'm so sorry for abandoning my post like an idiot.'"

I almost said "gallery" instead of "post." That was close.

"I see…"

"Why?"

"Nothing! Just… a friend of mine is getting flamed for something like this."

"Ahh…"

It was painfully obvious she was talking about herself, but I decided to play dumb and let it slide.

"I'll make you some ramen when I get home later."

"Oh. Thanks."

"You've only got me, right?"

"Sis is the best."

But it was true—I really didn't have any other women in my life. I'd talked to plenty of girls, but it was always just business talk or empty greetings like "Nice weather today~". The only woman I could talk to this comfortably was my sister.

"See you later~"

"Yeah."

Ramen made by my sister. For a second I had the ridiculous thought, Should I go eat ramen with her? But we already lived together and ate ramen together all the time. In a way, it was an even better version of that.

"You're back?"

"Where's Mom?"

"She said she's going to chat with Aunt Kyungsoon."

"She'll be late then."

As soon as I changed clothes, the smell of ramen hit me. It was the cup ramen she'd bought at the store earlier.

"Whoa. You boiled it in a pot?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Yeah. It tastes better that way."

"Aren't you eating?"

"No. I already ate."

Perfect timing. I needed to see what she'd done.

"Sis."

"Yeah?"

"……."

Her expression didn't look great. It was a face I'd seen many times before. I couldn't quite remember where, but anyway.

"…?!"

"What?"

"Why are you suddenly patting my head…?"

"Just because."

She looked so pitiful that I couldn't help myself. I hadn't personally experienced the weight of being a Ju-ttak, but I'd watched her struggle with it often enough to understand. That didn't mean I wanted to do it myself. I wasn't confident I'd be any good at it.

"Thanks for the food."

"Mhm."

She went back to her room. The warmth left my hand, and it snapped me back to reality. What the hell had possessed me to pat my sister's head? She was the one who got patted, so why was something else getting hard? Damn it… Had I freaked her out?

I'd deal with that later. I opened the app. The gallery was still burning, showing no signs of cooling down.

There was nothing I could do that would fix this. All I could do was hope my sister would post a notice soon. Speaking of which, where the hell had that Pa-ttak gone? Were they in private contact with her? I really wanted to see the face of someone who could spam random posts but disappear when it actually mattered.

Pa-ttak conscription, huh. I wondered who would apply. I definitely didn't want to do it. Managing was annoying. Plus, my sister might find out. But then—

…What?

No way. Absolutely not. There was no chance I was letting my sister meet up with some random weirdo. I'd do it myself.