Ch.188Epilogue. Meanwhile (1)

Tap, tap, tap, tap······

On a bench in a desolate park.

Jake, wearing a thick padded jacket, had his hands shoved in his pockets while repeatedly tapping the ground with his foot.

He’d already checked the time ten times.

Almost every minute, he’d open a hologram to look at the clock.

“······!”

Just then, someone wearing thick clothes plopped down beside him.

When Jake looked up at their face, he flinched in surprise.

A silver-haired girl······.

“Ugh.”

He’d seen wrong.

It was a girl with dark skin and braided hair.

Of course that person wouldn’t be here.

Jake took a small envelope from his pocket and placed it on the bench.

Similarly, the person sitting next to him took out an envelope, and they naturally exchanged them.

Jake’s hand trembled as he held the envelope.

He had arranged this secret meeting, away from his family’s eyes, just to get his hands on this.

For this alone, he had been secretly setting aside small amounts from his allowance.

He had been waiting all this time just for this.

Trembling, Jake opened the envelope and peeked at the contents inside.

“Wow······.”

The corner of a Polaroid photo was sticking out.

The contents were none other than photos.

A picture of Cuss wearing a thick padded jacket with the hood pulled down, arm in arm with a Black girl, taken on a snowy day.

Cuss’s expression resembled that of a determined terrorist, giving the photo a rather peculiar atmosphere.

Jake couldn’t help but chuckle.

“What’s this? You included an extra dollar?”

“For your trouble.”

“Come on. A one-dollar tip for a five-dollar photo?”

“······.”

The Black girl next to him fluttered the bills to count them while complaining.

Jake didn’t understand why they bothered exchanging envelopes if they were going to check the contents right away.

Though he wasn’t one to talk.

“Why did you want paper photos anyway?”

“To avoid leaving records. My parents would get angry if they found out.”

“Ugh. Your parents check your phone? What a suffocating household.”

There was nothing to say.

It really was a suffocating household.

On the day Cuss flew into space with Uncle Jinsoo, Jake’s father had come home after finishing his investigation and said something unforgettable while laughing heartily: “I knew this would happen”······.

Jake had respected his father in some ways, but after that day, he became completely disillusioned.

Flick······

“Aren’t you a minor?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

The girl next to him boldly put a cigarette between her lips and lit it.

As Jake stared at her with an incredulous expression, she frowned as if his reaction was the strange one.

“Won’t your parents smell it on you?”

“I have permission to smoke.”

“What? They gave you permission to smoke?”

“Yeah. But they say I can’t have more than two cigarettes a day. Something about my lungs rotting.”

It was a culture shock.

Is this daily life in the slums?

Or maybe this was actually better than smoking in secret.

Jake felt confused.

He wasn’t sure what was right or wrong anymore.

“Want one?”

She held out a cigarette to him.

A convenient cigarette patented by Walter Company.

Just remove the sticker at the end and it lights itself automatically.

Jake reached out to take it, but······

“Sigh······.”

He gave up and dropped his hand.

Maybe it was because he lacked courage.

He wasn’t sure.

He should ask today too.

If he could smoke.

SLAP!

“Jake. Are you crazy?”

“······.”

His cheek was slapped.

Quite hard too.

His cheek didn’t hurt so much as his teeth did.

They felt loose.

“Why are you hitting your child!”

“He’s asking to smoke! Is that how I raised him? Where did you learn to talk like that? Huh?”

“What! Are you saying he learned it from me?”

“I’ve told you countless times I couldn’t fix your old habits! Because of your trashy background, even my child······. Damn. I should have listened to my father.”

“Are you done? Who was it that was in and out of the police station for sexual assault!”

“Why bring that up now! That’s in the past! Should I bring up all your old stories too? Huh?”

Jake had taken Tom and left the house for a while.

Recently, their fights had become more frequent and intense, sometimes escalating to throwing objects.

After Tom was almost hit once, Jake naturally learned the technique of quietly slipping away.

“Do you think Mom and Dad will get divorced?”

“I don’t know. They might not just for image management. Besides, Mom has more money.”

“Really? But Dad’s a politician.”

“He’s finished now. He’ll have a hard time in the next election.”

Even if they separated, they probably wouldn’t divorce.

While his father had political power, he didn’t have much wealth.

Jake didn’t know how much hidden funds he had, but it would be less than his mother’s, who ran a shopping mall bringing in tens of billions in revenue every month.

Even if this incident was quietly resolved, there were numerous lawsuits lined up waiting, so his father’s chances of making a comeback were practically zero.

Though he was still acting like it was nothing······.

“Brother, don’t you miss Cuss?”

“Of course I do······.”

How could he not?

When he first learned she was an alien, he was shocked, but that was all.

Rather, he felt relieved to know that the thing between her legs wasn’t a male organ.

So I’m not a crazy person who likes futanari, he thought.

He had discovered shemale porn, which was similar to futanari, and only watched that until he learned they were actually transgender, which made him vomit.

Now he felt unburdened, no longer needing to worry about his identity.

But Cuss had disappeared without a trace.

She left without giving him another chance to express his feelings.

Since that day, Jake had been plagued by a strange sensation.

A feeling as if Cuss was breathing somewhere nearby.

It wasn’t just once or twice that he’d had visions of silver hair fluttering at the edge of his sight.

If she had died, it might have been different.

Knowing she was alive somewhere far away in space made his heart even more unsettled.

“Brother, I’m going to start a space travel company someday.”

“That’s a total red ocean.”

“I know. I’m not doing it to make money, but to fly a spaceship and bring Cuss back.”

“You······.”

What childish thinking.

Did he think the United States Space Force’s air defense network, which had intercepted two asteroids, was a joke?

Any spacecraft approaching the expelled module would be suspected and subjected to thorough inspection when entering Earth.

“Why? Don’t you think it’s possible? They say that module is moving away really slowly, right? So if I start a company in a decade or so and go looking for her, I could catch up, couldn’t I?”

“Yeah······. I think you could······.”

Jake grabbed Tom’s small head and started stroking it.

He thought perhaps Tom was better than himself, who couldn’t dream because everything seemed impossible.

“Hey······. When you start your company, will you hire me?”

“Of course! I’ll make you vice president!”

“Thanks.”

Now he had a dream.

A dream to share with his brother.

***

Alice was deep in thought.

Not the kind of trivial worry that adults would laugh at, but a serious concern that would make her shudder whenever she recalled it.

“Hey! Tom! I heard your dad went to prison? It was on the news! Sexual assault, embezzlement, bribery······.”

“Sounds like he’s in big trouble, huh?”

The gloomy atmosphere that had dominated the school for a while had somewhat lifted.

And now, Tom had become the new topic among the second graders.

They had started teasing him about his father’s political career crumbling in real-time.

If it had been the old Tom, he would have been unable to respond, his face turning red with anger.

“So what?”

“Huh?”

“The charges against my dad are true, but what do you want me to do about it? Why are you following me around muttering about it?”

“Oh, no. I was just worried.”

“Yeah! Just concerned about how you’re doing!”

“I’m doing very well. Got it? Thanks for your concern, friends.”

“······.”

Tom had grown stronger.

He was no longer the old Tom who relied on his parents’ influence and worried about what others thought.

Had he become more manly?

Or perhaps more mature?

Neither term quite suited a 7-year-old child, but Tom had clearly matured beyond his peers.

“Alice!”

“Hmm?”

“Want to have lunch with me? Actually, I have a plan. Look at this. This is my roadmap. I’m going to graduate early at 18 and enter university······”

Of course, he still had many childish aspects.

During every break, Tom would visit my classroom and tell me about his future plans.

I don’t remember exactly, but it was something about building a spaceship to bring Cuss back.

Out of all his friends, he only told me about it.

He said something about security being vital.

“Tom, why don’t you play basketball anymore?”

“I need to study. If I want to graduate early, I need to secure credits in advance.”

“But you’re already at the top of your class.”

“Not good enough yet.”

Coming from someone ranked third in the entire school, that didn’t make much sense.

Since entering second grade, Tom had been scoring almost perfect marks on every test.

I heard he had quit all his academies, which was truly remarkable.

“I used to study to show my report card to my parents, but not anymore. I realized that’s all meaningless. I study for myself now.”

“Hmm······. That’s all fine, but why are you studying next to me instead of in your own classroom?”

“I can concentrate better here.”

“······.”

That was a lie.

The sunlight was shining in such a way that it interfered with the screen, so it was hardly conducive to concentration.

With the noisy sounds coming from outside, Alice stretched her arms back.

Sitting alone with him in this spacious classroom was incredibly boring.

When Tom was focused on his books and screen, Alice would take a nap beside him, chat with him, or just contemplate.

And that would always lead her to significant concerns.

Major concerns that would greatly impact Alice’s life.

Alice slightly turned her head to look at Tom’s profile.

He was definitely included in those concerns.

This boy who pretended to focus on studying but secretly glanced at the seat next to him.

“When are you going to confess?”

“Wh-wh-what?!”

“I don’t like being strung along. Since your chances won’t increase or decrease no matter what you do here, why not just confess? I’ll give you an answer right away.”

“D-don’t be ridiculous! Confess? Ha! Do you actually think I like you? This is absurd!”

“······.”

This guy.

Running away so unmanly.

Alice was so annoyed that she sharply turned her head away.

“D-damn······. This wasn’t in the plan······. Alice!”

“Yes?”

“I like you! I really like you! So be my girlfriend!”

“······.”

When she turned her head back, Tom was shouting with his face bright red.

A terrible atmosphere with cheap lines······.

She didn’t think he would actually confess just because she told him to.

Alice smiled slightly and spoke.

“The cowardly Tom has improved. Maybe I should be brave too.”

“Who are you calling a coward······.”

“Tom. I’m only telling you this.”

She had just made her decision.

She decided to end her serious contemplation.

“I think I like girls.”

“······.”

Silence fell over the classroom.