Buying Home Appliances!
"Whirr..." I groped around with my hand. Nothing was there. Of course not. No one was in bed with me.
Mom and Dad seemed way too diligent. I'd never seen them sleep in. That made sense, though. Dad went out for day labor, so sleeping late would be a disaster for him, and Mom had to support a husband like that.
But things were different now. I was the one earning money, and Dad wasn't heading out to work anymore. We were a family that could sleep in without any issues.
Even so, Mom and Dad got up early. I rubbed my eyes and glanced at the clock. It wasn't even 8 a.m. yet.
I was an early riser myself. Going to bed at 10 p.m. was natural. The proper sleep time for humans was seven to eight hours, after all. Kids needed a bit more, but right now, my ideal seemed to be around ten hours. When I was a baby, I'd slept almost the whole day...
I climbed down from the bed in my pajamas. It was brand new and so fluffy. Until recently, our family had slept on the floor. It wasn't luxurious, but sleeping on a mattress felt refreshing. No matter how weird the mattress was, it beat the floor. Of course, we hadn't slept directly on the bare floor—we'd laid down blankets underneath.
I padded over and opened the door to the living room. Mom and Dad were there.
"Sora, you're up?" Mom spotted me first. Even if I snuck up quietly, she always knew. Was this the power of a mother?
Dad noticed me a bit later but soon flashed a meaningful smile and charged over.
Whoosh—!
I bolted at the sight of Dad rushing toward me. But there was nowhere to run in the house.
"Eek!"
"Sora~"
I ended up in Dad's arms. Luckily, no beard attack this time. I stayed still in his embrace. Dad stroked my head and said,
"Our cute little Sora~ Who do you take after to be this adorable and pretty?"
"Hmph..."
Me, cute and pretty? Unthinkable back when I was a guy. But now it was fact. I really was cute and pretty.
"Honey! Sora needs to eat breakfast—let her go!"
"Alright..."
Mom's firm command freed me from Dad's arms. I sat at the table. The food quality kept improving. Mom was a pro-level cook. Our poor circumstances had just held her back before. She could've been on a cooking show.
I polished off the meal Mom made and patted my belly. Full and with a rare weekend ahead, I planned to relax.
I went over to Dad. Men were simple creatures. Just being close made him happy. Spoiling him with affection would've been even better, but I held back. It made my hands and feet curl up in embarrassment.
We watched TV together. The programs were a bit different here, which made them fun. If this parallel world matched my old one exactly, I probably wouldn't have cared.
"Haha!"
"Hehe!"
Dad and I savored the weekend leisure while watching TV. That unique weekend vibe filled me with joy. The sunlight felt warm, the breeze gentle—like that. Weekdays and weekends had totally different atmospheres, for sure.
I kept watching TV with Dad until lunchtime. Mom joined us after finishing chores, of course.
Things finally felt stable. We were happy even in that single room, but it wasn't a place fit for living. The apartment changed everything. The spacious home lifted our spirits right away. Objectively, it wasn't huge, but compared to the single room, it was massively bigger.
Still, the tiny TV hurt my eyes. We were still using that junker scavenged from the secondhand shop.
I told Dad. No way could we keep that small screen. For eye health alone.
Watching such a tiny display would land me in glasses later.
"Dad! Let's go buy a TV. This one's too small—it's hard to see."
"You think so?"
Dad brightened at my words. Mom nodded too.
"Listen to Sora, honey! We have plenty of money now...!"
Our family embarked on an impromptu home appliance shopping spree. It was a rare outing, but I pouted. My plan to go in just a T-shirt and shorts was ruined.
Now I wore a skirt—and a kid's T-shirt with an animated character on it. Total elementary schooler look. The kind a mom dresses her daughter in.
But I couldn't refuse. Mom would get that sad face, and it tugged at me. If I said no, she'd guilt-trip me with those puppy eyes. I always caved in the end.
"Wow~"
00s home appliances didn't impress me. The tech gap of over twenty years was too glaring. And TVs were mostly bulky CRTs. No slim, ultrathin models here.
CRT TVs dominated, though some slimmer ones existed. An era where CRTs and LCDs coexisted, basically. CRTs would phase out soon enough.
"Hey, this one's nice?"
"Oh! You're right, honey. The screen's huge~"
Mom and Dad kept marveling at the TVs. After our tiny junker, these big screens blew their minds.
Me? No awe—just counting down the time. The demo screens were dull and grainy. No crisp, clear picture—just fuzzy pixels.
Honestly, my old era's smartphone screens looked sharper than these TV panels.
"Sora, like this one?"
"Yeah. It's great."
To me, they were all the same. But Mom and Dad loved it, so I played along. I wasn't a clueless kid.
Holding their hands, I checked out various models. We ended up buying the first one we'd seen. 2 million won. In my old world, no one would've paid 10,000 won for that trash TV.
But here, it was cutting-edge. Slim, not bulky CRT—about 4-5 cm thick, though.
"Wow~ Awesome!"
Mom and Dad grinned at their new treasure.
"Can't wait to get it set up, honey!"
"Yeah? Hehe...!"
They acted like kids, bubbling with excitement. Made sense at their age—late twenties. In my past life, that'd be fresh out of college.
"Hehe!"
I smiled watching them. Their joy was contagious. Old tech or not, the big screen was a win. We could upgrade later.
With the TV bought, we headed home. But something caught my eye: computers.
Dad noticed right away. He was quick like that.
He looked at me and said,
"Come to think of it, should we grab a computer too?"
"A computer...?"
Mom blinked in confusion but soon nodded, glancing at me.
"Yeah, honey! Sora goes to Songi Media every day because we don't have one!"
"Right. With a computer at home, Sora won't need to go there anymore."
"Uh..."
I panicked at their words. A home computer meant no more daily trips to Songi Media. I could work from home.
But Mom would hover. To her, it'd be watching her darling daughter work hard. To me? Distraction city. Not burdensome, just... my focus would shatter. I couldn't work properly.
That's why some students skip their comfy homes for study halls. At home, work would take a backseat to playing with Mom.