003. Regression (2)
003. Regression (2)
...Regressed.
Again.
Clutching my head, which was throbbing from a hangover, I looked back and forth between my phone and my futures account.
July 12th.
Sunday.
8:03 AM.
The same morning, for the third time.
"......."
I didn't fail this time.
I died and came back to life.
I saved my sister's money.
I even made a commendable resolution to live like a decent human being from now on.
But I've returned again.
...Why on earth?
Did God give me a chance for a do-over because I thought 260 million won was too disappointing?
Or... am I just trapped in these two days forever?
The moment that last assumption crossed my mind, goosebumps rose along my spine.
...Surely that can't be it.
If all else fails, I can just stay up all night.
I'm not trapped, probably.
There must be a reason for the return.
If there isn't, it gets a bit scary.
"...Let's think."
Let's think about the cause.
What did I do on the 13th?
Once I totally fucked up and drank, and once I hit the jackpot and drank.
...Is drinking and falling asleep the problem?
No, no, if that were the case, there were plenty of days in the last few days where I drank and fell asleep alone.
Then... is sleeping with my sister the cause?
Without any signs or precursors, I just got drunk with her, fell asleep, and when I woke up, I had returned to the day before.
...What if sleeping with Yeonju is the trigger?
Then,
Can I go back to yesterday if I get that drunk and sleep with her again?
"...."
...I multiplied my money by nearly 10 times just last time.
Can I earn that much every day?
Knowing the future, at least 5 times.
Definitively, one more time?
"...Nah."
Even though my brain told me it was a delusion, my heart kept pounding.
...I mean, this situation I'm experiencing itself makes no sense.
I've returned to the past twice.
Besides..., if this isn't the guess, it means I'm trapped in this timeframe.
Positive thinking is much better than such negative thoughts, right?
If so.
"Wait a second."
If there's a way to go back anyway.
Or, if I'm going to go back anyway.
...Do I really need to tell my sister?
The fact that the stocks will crash?
"...You never know."
First of all, this situation itself is unrealistic.
There's no guarantee that the future will be the same this time as it was last time.
If the future gets twisted and the stock price jumps in the opposite direction, and Yeonju suffers a loss because of what I said, it would be impossible to fix.
On the contrary, if I leave it alone, and it goes the opposite way of the future I saw, we can just eat a nice meal together, and if it drops, I can just fill in the gap.
It's only 60 million won.
...I can earn more than that this time around.
If I can really regress more, there's no need to think about it.
So, if I weigh the possibilities.... The answer here is not to tell her.
...It's too reckless not to hedge, but it's also too reckless not to do it when I've been given another chance.
So this time, I decided to survive on my own without telling her about the predicted disaster.
It's fine.
It's only a few tens of millions of won, anyway.
I can comfort her with money.
If..., my prediction is right.
I'll be making tens of billions easily, so there's no need to worry about that.
I can spare 10 billion, what the hell.
**
I endured the Sunday with no volatility.
The third July 13th.
Just like last time, I scraped together all my cash and pushed it into the futures account.
The only difference was that this time, I remembered not just the flow of the chart, but also the position and size of the rebound.
The first time, I failed because I didn't know the future.
The second time, I couldn't eat properly because I was scared even though I knew the future.
Then the third time?
"...I'm a total gambler now."
I clearly swore last time that I wouldn't do it again.
Am I crazy?
Is this number crazy?
Or is this world that keeps giving me chances crazy?
For me, I'm just..., grateful.
As soon as it reached the closing price I remembered, I closed the position without hesitation.
Click.
What was left on the screen was over 400 million won, even after paying back all the borrowed money.
Even though I earned much more than last time, strangely, I felt hollow rather than happy.
It might all disappear if I return again tonight.
And if I don't return, it might just be '400 million'.
Up to this point, the 13th flowed exactly the same without any changes, except for myself.
If so, surely Yeonju's 13th must have flowed the same way.
If the future doesn't change, she'll come over late at night.
...Should I prepare some alcohol?
Something expensive.
Knock knock knock.
As it got late at night, sure enough, I heard the sound of someone knocking on the front door.
"...She's here."
The time was a little past 11 PM.
I didn't even need to check who it was.
Beep beep beep beep.
The door lock opened, and Yeonju walked in, staggering and reeking of alcohol.
The same clothes as before I first regressed.
A hoodie that looked a bit tight and dolphin shorts.
The same unfocused eyes.
The same tightly set mouth.
Still short hair, the same sharp eyes,
The same height, 16cm shorter than me, and even the mole under her eye, exactly as I saw it back then.
"...Oppa."
I knew it, but the moment I saw that face, my heart sank.
It was worse precisely because I knew.
Seeing my sister, who was completely mentally broken right in front of me, I finally realized what I had done.
...My conscience hurts a lot.
"Did you drink?"
"...Can't you tell?"
"How much did you drink?"
"Not much."
Someone who didn't drink much couldn't even take off her shoes properly and slammed her shoulder against the entrance wall.
When I caught her staggering body, Yeonju didn't push me away and leaned on my arm for a moment.
...Huh, how come she seems drunker than last time?
Is it that not 100% of everything happens the same way...?
Or did the future change because I answered more calmly than last time?
"...Oppa. Sorry, but can I stay for just one day?"
"Sure. ...I don't know what happened. But you must have a reason for coming."
Filled with questions, I let my sister into the house this time without even asking why.
Yeonju walked across my house, which she wasn't even used to, like it was her own, and slumped onto the bed.
Maybe because I didn't pry this time, she didn't pretend to be calm and raid the refrigerator.
...It really is a little different.
Though, in a way, that's to be expected.
"Haa...."
A sigh that sounded like the earth was collapsing.
At the same time, brrr, her phone, which she had thrown on the bed, rang.
Once.
A moment later, once more.
Yeonju didn't even check the screen and flipped the phone over.
Then she looked at me instead of the screen.
"Oppa."
"Yeah."
"...I lost money."
"How much?"
"60 million."
She confessed more clearly than last time.
The number I already knew.
The money that disappeared because I kept my mouth shut.
"I lost half. I just held onto it, and in one day...."
"......."
"I'm such an idiot."
She said the last part with a bitter laugh, but her voice was a mess, cracking.
Yeonju rubbed her eyes roughly with the back of her hand.
She didn't seem to intend to cry, but they were already a little wet.
...It really is different.
Different from last time when she acted tough.
'...If I weigh the possibilities, isn't this the right decision?'
As the thought I had in the morning crossed my mind, my stomach churned.
Even so.
Was it really the right thing to do, to leave her alone knowing she would end up like this?
...I don't know.
But I did it because it's something I can take responsibility for.
I just need to take responsibility, that's all.
I can just give her that 60 million won.
"What do you mean you're an idiot. Mom gave birth to you pretty, why are you so negative? Just because you lost a little money."
"...Forget it. You don't have to force yourself to comfort me."
"Don't try to handle everything alone. ...I've lost money too. Much more than that."
"......."
"So I know exactly how you feel right now, okay? Still..., it gets a little better after a few days."
Half lie, half truth.
I crouched down next to the bed and pulled Yeonju's wrist down.
She wasn't tearing up, but the corners of her eyes were red and raw.
"Stop rubbing. Your eyes will swell up."
"...Mind your own business."
"You came here for me to mind it."
"...I came because I needed a place to sleep."
"You live in Bupyeong, and you came all the way to Bucheon?"
"You're noisy."
"Then I'll let you sleep without being noisy, so lie down quietly. If you stay awake, you'll just have weird thoughts again."
"Ah, seriously...."
Yeonju tried to retort, then stopped and shut her mouth.
Then, as if she had run out of energy, she tilted her body and curled up on the bed.
I brought a glass of water to the head of the bed, and when Yeonju tried to push away the thin blanket, asking why I was giving her a blanket in the middle of summer, I forced it over her.
When I patted her back a few times, she twitched her shoulder as if it were annoying at first, but soon she didn't react at all.
"...Oppa."
"Why."
"What do I do now?"
"It's fine. ...If all else fails, I can feed my little sister, what's the big deal."
"...Yeah, right."
"I'm serious. I can cover the few tens of millions you lost."
"Don't say empty words."
"Just listen to them."
Yeonju, who had calmed down a little, didn't get annoyed anymore.
As I slowly patted her hunched back with my palm, even breathing sounds began to be heard before long.
I don't know if she fell asleep, or if she just wanted to pretend to be asleep.
"...Sleep tight."
Leaving Yeonju, who didn't seem to have any more problems, I left the room and headed to the living room of my 1.5-room apartment.
...If I sleep with her again today, I might return to the 12th again.
But sleeping on the living room floor was also a bit unsettling.
Because I couldn't rule out the possibility of regressing just because we were in the same house.
Repeating the 12th and 13th again is too high a risk.
Just today, my one reply changed my sister's behavior little by little.
There's no guarantee that just because I succeeded twice, I'll succeed a third time, right?
Since I've only regressed by one day so far, I need to get past the 15th if possible.
Only then will the 400 million won seed be 'confirmed'.
I don't want to experience leveraging with debt ever again.
So..., for now, I'll stay up and hold out here today.
If I stay up all night, some kind of answer will come up.
**
While worrying about what to do with 400 million won, and what to do if I can regress again, time passed quickly.
14th.
3:42 AM.
4:18 AM.
5:07 AM.
Is it cleared after midnight?
Or is it the moment the sun rises?
Or is regression limited to two times, and there's no more luck from now on?
To rule them out one by one, I tried to hold out until dawn, but as my tension eased, my eyelids became insanely heavy.
Ha, damn it.
After repeating the transition from Sunday to Monday three times while being super tense, I feel like I'm going to die of sleepiness.
...It's almost sunrise anyway, so should I just sleep?
If I fall asleep and return, then I return, that's fine.
In the end, unable to hold it any longer, I leaned my chair back, crossed my arms, and closed my eyes.
And.
"......Gasp."
As soon as I opened my eyes, I took out my phone first to check the date.
July 14th.
Tuesday.
7:51 AM.
"......."
No matter how many times I rubbed my eyes and looked again, the numbers didn't change.
14th.
It was the first 14th I had ever faced.
"...It passes even if we sleep in the same house."
Without realizing it, I covered my face with both hands.
It had only been a day, but I felt like I had been miraculously rescued right before I died.
I'm not trapped in two days.
Of course, if you think about it the other way around....
It means the probability that falling asleep together with my sister is the trigger has become very high.
...What a strange condition, seriously.
A laugh escaped me.
Well, of course, it's not confirmed.
Maybe the luck ended at two times.
But I've already earned as much as I could.
Unlike 250 million won, 400 million won is..., honestly, enough to live without any shortage.
It's no big deal if there are no more opportunities here.
I just have to not do futures, just not do futures.
...Of course, if I regress, I'll do it again.
**
"Yawn, damn. Ah, I'm so stiff...."
After taking a short nap, I got up around 9 o'clock and went into the room.
Even though quite some time had passed, Yeonju was still sleeping soundly in the middle of my bed.
Looking at her like this, she has some cute sides.
Well, our family's looks are decent, after all.
"Hey, Yeonju."
"...Ung."
Thinking of waking her up, I snatched the blanket my sister was covering herself with.
...She must have been hot.
Seeing that she even took off her hoodie.
But she seemed a bit skinny when she was young, when did she get that belly fat?
Her arms are thin, is she skinny-fat like me?
Anyway, maybe because we're siblings, we even have the same sleeping habit of putting a pillow between our legs.
Damn it, I have to wash that later.
"Wake up."
"...What time is it?"
"9 o'clock."
"Ah.... Can't I sleep more?"
"Hey, hey, you're getting a call."
"...Ah, damn."
While I was teasing my sister, even my sister's phone was buzzing, bothering Yeonju.
To be precise, it didn't look like a call, but a text or a message, but anyway, seeing it come in multiple times, it must be a contact, not spam.
Still, she wouldn't wake up, so I picked up the phone and tried to poke my sister's cheek, but as soon as Yeonju saw me reaching for the phone, she kicked off the blanket and quickly pressed the phone down with her palm.
"...Don't look."
"What is it. Is it your boyfriend?"
"It's not like that. What are you saying all of a sudden, seriously...."
Yeonju, who twisted her expression as if she found it absurd, got up sluggishly, shoved her phone into her pocket, and got out of bed naturally.
Then she looked at her phone, let out a deep sigh, and stood facing me with unfocused eyes.
"I want to die, seriously...."
"Hey. I told you not to say that."
"No, just.... Talking to myself."
"Don't say that even to yourself."
Did she check her account again?
Are you like this just because you lost 60 million? This oppa has lost 700 million before.
Even now, if you really look at it, I'm down nearly 300 million from the high.
Still... I've been living just fine.
Even when I was down to 2 million won, I only thought about wanting to die, but I didn't actually die.
So, first of all, you need to stop looking at the numbers—
"Stop looking at the account. If it's really hard, I'll cover—"
"Don't look."
I approached to take the phone from my sister's eyes with that intention, but ironically, what my sister was looking at wasn't her account.
The app that was open was probably..., DisXord DM.
...I didn't see who the message was from or what the conversation was about.
But seeing her cover the phone, it definitely didn't look like positive content.
"Oh..., sorry. I didn't mean to peek."
"...Did you see?"
"No. What is it?"
"It's nothing."
"...."
Feeling awkward for no reason, I apologized honestly, and my sister hesitated for a moment, then shoved her phone into her pocket and shut her mouth.
...What on earth could be as stressful as losing 60 million won?
Come to think of it, in her memories from last time, she said she was some kind of YouTube editor, is the client acting like a total jerk?
Even without that, if you're stressed about work and lost money on top of that—
"...A stalker-like person is following me."
"What?"
...But the words that flowed from my sister's mouth.
Were words I hadn't even thought of.
Her?
Yeonju, who never leaves her room...?