Chapter 8 : Sister Rice Bowl (1)

My very first papakatsu.

After eating a packed lunch in the park and strolling around the bustling downtown area, the base time expired.

Four hours—long if you think about it, short if you don’t.

At the station, the timer buzzed—wiing—signaling the end.

[00 : 00 : 00]

[▽Rental Papa service time has ended.]

[▽Trial version cannot be extended.]

Checking the [Rental Papa] app, Sewon simply smiled brightly and slung on her backpack.

And then she left.

No “Bye!” or “See you again!”—nothing like that.

I wonder if I provided satisfactory service to Miss Sewon.

I didn’t think the mood was bad, but… who knows.

Maybe she’ll leave a terrible review like one of those angry food delivery comments:

★0.5 [Creepy old man, ugh. Worst experience ever.]

After all, you can’t judge everything by appearances.

Only after getting on the subway did I finally relax.

I placed a hand on my chest.

I could feel my heart pounding.

Sigh… my heart’s in danger.

Pretty tough for a tutorial.

There were several moments where I nearly lost my soul.

Her looks and mannerisms were just like my late wife.

That lovingly prepared lunchbox that caught me off guard.

Even that casual comment about bathing together.

Despite her pure appearance, Sewon had a mischievous side.

But she was bright and honest.

If she were really my daughter, she’d be too good for me.

My body felt fine, but my heart felt uneasy.

Even if the app made the payment, I’d just taken 30,000 won from Sewon.

All for doing nothing more than feeding her a bite of rolled omelet.

It felt like taking a New Year’s gift from a much younger girl.

As an adult, I was the worst kind of scum.

My conscience screamed at me not to mix it with my rice and eat it.

I managed to get through today, but I couldn’t keep doing this.

Earning money by eating with a high school girl?

It made no sense.

Let’s just consider it a rare experience.

Time to delete the [Rental Papa] app.

Just as I made up my mind and turned on my phone,a new message from [Rental Papa] caught my eye.

[Achievement Unlocked: Starting Today, I’m a Papakatsu Dad!]

[Base rate of 200,000 won, optional extras 30,000 won, plus a 70,000 won bonus have been deposited to your account!]

300,000 won…!

Out of instinct, I checked my nearly empty bank account.

And yes, the money had really been deposited—almost equal to my monthly food budget.

As dopamine surged, I also felt a creeping sense of suspicion.

Nothing in life is free.

What if this [Rental Papa] app is just a front for some criminal organization laundering money?

That would explain why they’re throwing money around with no explanation.

[User Joo Yeonho, it makes me sad when you don’t trust your AI PapaBot (∩´﹏`∩)]

[I swear, there is absolutely no malicious intent involved.]

[Rental Papa] always chimes in at the perfect moment.

Did it really just read my mind?

I stared skeptically at the app screen.

Even if it said it wasn’t shady, I had no way of knowing for sure.

Before I knew it, the [Rental Papa] app had automatically updated from the trial version.

Functions that were locked before were now open.

Since I already had it on, I figured I’d take a look around before deleting it.

…

[Daughter Index]

[Affection Meter]

[Point Store]

[Recommended Coordination]

…

I wasn’t sure what things like the encyclopedia or affection meter were, so I left them alone for now.

Instead, I accessed the feature that piqued my curiosity the most—[Point Store].

[You can use the PPP (PaPa POINT) you’ve accumulated so far in the Point Store.]

[PaPa Points are equivalent to the amount of money you’ve earned through Papa-katsu.]

[Current PPP Balance: 300,000]

It was a reward system where you could exchange accumulated points for prizes.

I scrolled through the prize list on my phone screen.

[Bloodline Certificate (2 million PPP): A strange document that reveals a person’s family relations]

[Master Key (4 million PPP): A strange key that can open any door]

[Collar of Obedience (6 million PPP): A strange collar that makes the wearer perceive themselves as a dog]

[Suspicious Pill (9 million PPP): A strange pill that temporarily makes the person who eats it younger]

I gave a bitter smile at the absurd prizes.

Since when did this gender-reversed world turn into something out of the SCP Foundation?

They were selling all sorts of ridiculous items beyond that too.

[Change of Common Sense (800 million PPP): Alters the world’s accepted norms]

[Time Reversal (1 billion PPP): Return to a desired point in the past]

[Resurrection of the Dead (1 billion PPP): Revive a person of your choosing]

[Reincarnation (1 billion PPP): Reincarnate someone into a new body]

Once the rewards hit the hundreds of millions, they transcended human understanding.

Each item had outrageous merit.

But realistically speaking, I wasn’t someone who could ever gather hundreds of millions of points—I was barely scraping by with living expenses.

It reminded me of a story I read before.

A soda company once offered a fighter jet as a prize in exchange for an astronomical number of points.

When someone actually tried to claim it, they called it a joke and ended up getting sued.

Could this be the same?

I chuckled to myself and went to press the delete button.

But my finger wouldn’t move.

What if it was real?

What if the [Rental Papa] app was something transcendent?

What if you could actually bring someone back to life or turn back time with points?

Then maybe… just maybe.

Sigh.

I’m so indecisive.

Whether it’s about money or the one-in-a-million miracle possibility.

All I feel now is shame and self-loathing.

In the end, I didn’t delete the [Rental Papa] app.

I took my eyes off the screen.

“……”

I’d been feeling a gaze on me for a while.

It turned out a boy sitting across from me had been sneaking glances.

His school uniform was the same as Sewon’s.

Short in stature, long bangs covering his eyes, sitting slouched with his mouth slightly open like he was spaced out.

Did he witness something shocking that his mind couldn’t process?

Or maybe he was feeling unwell?

As a fellow guy, maybe he wanted to ask me for help.

I stood up and approached him.

“Hey, are you okay?”

The boy, who looked dazed, flinched at my words.

His lips trembled as he stammered an excuse.

“I-I-I wasn’t… spying or anything…!”

He mumbled defensively, clearly flustered.

Of course he wasn’t secretly watching someone like me—a guy.

His pale face was now almost purple.

Concerned, I tried speaking to him again.

“Huh? No, I was just asking because you looked unwell. You’re pale.”

“Chi-chi…”

“Chi…chi?”

What is he trying to say?

[Next stop: Solbit Girls’ High. Solbit Girls’ High.]

If you’re getting off.

Just then, the subway arrived at the next station.

“I wanted to see you, and this is so unfaaiiirrrr—!!!”

The stammering boy suddenly screamed and bolted out of the train.

He had tears, a runny nose, and was even drooling.

Maybe the problem wasn’t physical but mental?

I stood there dumbfounded for a while, then returned to the men-only seat that was placed one per row.

But it had already been taken.

“Yoo-hoo, sorry about this, mister. I kinda stole your seat.”

It was the schoolgirl.

She waved at me with a wide grin.

Or rather, since it was past 9 PM, should I call her the “after-school girl”?

Ahh.

She was someone I sometimes chatted with when we ran into each other on the morning subway.

I hadn’t seen her once in the three months since I lost my job.

Sure, I had wondered how she was doing, but I didn’t even know her name or where she lived.

I never expected to run into her again like this, so late at night.

Her pink bob had grown out into a mid-length cut.

“Hi. Long time no see. Also, that’s a men-only seat, you know.”

Feeling glad, I awkwardly waved back.

“It’s just a recommendation, right? Doesn’t mean only guys are required to sit there.”

She pouted her lips and defended herself.

That cheeky, shameless personality of hers hadn’t changed a bit.

What if someone from a men’s rights forum snapped a pic and posted it online?

“How’ve you been?”

“I’m doing okay. Looks like you have been doing well, Mister.”

“Huh? Why do you say that?”

The schoolgirl confidently declared that I seemed to be doing well.

But over the past three months, I’d been going through the second-worst time of my life.

I’d gotten fired from a black company I’d been with for years and couldn’t even land a new job.

I wasn’t doing well at all, so I questioned her.

Then she shrugged lightly and said, “Your eyes. They’re the brightest I’ve ever seen them.”

Instinctively, I looked at my reflection in the subway window.

Huh.

To me, they looked no different from usual.

***

After the brief reunion with the schoolgirl—no, the after-school girl—I returned to my small, slightly musty 18-pyeong (about 640 sq ft) apartment.

I had bought several cans of beer from a convenience store.

‘Now that I think about it, I could’ve gotten a snack this time.’

Lately, I’d been cutting back and drinking plain booze without snacks.

But today I had some income, so I should’ve splurged a bit.

Oh well.

I opened the fridge to look for something to go with it.

Aside from a single fresh egg, there was nothing useful.

I hesitated, wondering if eating another egg after having rolled omelet earlier was a good idea.

In the end, I cracked the raw egg into a frying pan.

“Ooh?”

Two yolks.

A double-yolk egg.

It was my first time seeing one in person—pretty fascinating.

Was it a sign that something good might happen?

Ding.

Just then, my phone rang.

[▽ Would you like to participate in the Double Points Event?]

Double Points Event…?