episode_0008
by fnovelpia
#8
Shoot-
The day after delivering a famous drunk hero to my house, I woke up to the sound of rain hitting the window.
“Ugh…what is it? Is it raining?”
How long have I slept? I checked the clock, rubbing my heavy eyes.
‘What? It’s already one o’clock?’
I usually wake up at 10 AM, but I slept longer than I thought.
Well, that makes sense, since so many things happened yesterday.
… but even though it was broad daylight, it was dark outside the window.
Because of the dark clouds, the dark gray light has descended. It’s almost as if I had drawn the blackout curtains.
Come to think of it, I think the weather forecast said it would rain until this evening… .
“I don’t know.”
I was planning on closing the store today anyway, so I thought I’d take another nap, and that was the moment I turned over and covered myself with the blanket again.
Tiring.
My phone vibrated and made a clunky electronic sound. It was a text.
‘I feel like it’s deja vu…’
Now I should put my phone on silent mode while I sleep─I seriously considered this while checking my phone, and saw that I had a text message from an unexpected person.
[Oppa. I’m on vacation ^_^. I’ll stop by sometime soon.]
The name of the person who texted me was Minah. She was my younger sister.
Not my real blood-related sister, but a five-year-old girl I met at an orphanage.
“Dohan Oppa. I ran away again.”
“What?”
Unlike me, both of his parents are alive, but… he was a child who was left in the orphanage I was in due to various circumstances.
“Why did you come out this time? The teacher must be worried.”
“…I’m so frustrated.”
Mina, who followed me very well, would come to the house where I lived whenever she ran away from the orphanage.
I also knew that the orphanage’s financial situation and living environment were not very pleasant, so whenever Mina ran away, it was routine to let her stay for a few days.
‘I think it was two years ago that Min-ah went to college.’
Unlike me, Mina was quite smart, and she managed to advance to college despite the not-so-great environment of the orphanage.
After that, I was busy with my own days, and Minah was also busy with her college life, so we rarely met in person.
[My room is still the same? See you later 0_0]
‘It’s not your room.’
Even so, we still keep in touch often, and we even meet up during vacation seasons like this.
I told him that it’s okay if he doesn’t come. Every time we meet, he asks if I have a girlfriend, and I think he’s worried that I might be lonely.
[Call before you come]
‘Okay. Send it as is.’
After replying to Minah’s message, I got out of bed. I was a little sleepy and starting to feel hungry.
‘Is there any ramen left?’
I scratched my head and opened the cupboard, only to find it completely empty.
The same goes for the refrigerator. It’s a bit too bare.
‘Well… it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen Jang.’
Why does it have to be like this when it rains? I don’t feel like going out… .
“Sigh… .”
I struggled to get up from my heavy bed, grabbed my umbrella from the front door, and headed to the convenience store outside my house.
***
“Thank you! Come again!”
After grabbing a quick bite at a convenience store and buying a bag of ramen and a salad, I left the store only to be greeted by rain that had gotten even heavier.
Swaaaah-
‘It’s raining more.’
It was relatively less rainy when I entered the convenience store.
“But it’s okay if I’m with my partner.”
When you press the button, the umbrella opens with a refreshing sound. It’s a blue umbrella with a cute cat drawn on it.
If a grown adult were to scold me for carrying something so disgusting, I would have nothing to say.
Still cute though, cat.
“… What do I do now?”
I absentmindedly listened to the sound of raindrops hitting my umbrella and pondered my next destination.
I could go straight home, but…
‘…I should stop by the store.’
I think I did a bit of a sloppy job of organizing things yesterday.
Food residue left on the table gets stuck if left on for a long time, making it more difficult to clean up. It can also attract bugs.
Plus, it’s about a 30-minute walk to the store, so it’s just the right amount of time to take a walk.
After deciding on a destination, I headed to the store.
Thud thud.
When people walk down the street, they naturally look at the faces of the people passing by.
“…”
Among them, what caught my eye was a couple of women.
A girl who appears to be in elementary school and a man holding her hand.
“Dad. Let’s go home quickly. I miss Mom.”
The father, who is holding his daughter’s hand, is holding a box of chicken in his other hand.
“Yeah. Since it’s Hye-rim’s birthday, let’s stop by the bakery and buy a cake. ”
“Wow! I love you, Dad!”
“…”
I’m jealous.
‘Should I eat some chicken after a long time? Hmm?’
After that, I arrived at the alley where the store was.
Someone was seen sitting on the wall of the alley.
“What is it?”
A girl crouching with her head buried between her knees, getting caught in the pouring rain without an umbrella.
Anyone can see that I have a story. I am asserting it with my whole body.
The uniform I’m wearing looks familiar. It’s the uniform of a high school not far from here.
…It really annoys me that you’re sitting right on the way to the store.
What was a little strange was that she was wearing her school uniform even though it was the start of summer vacation, and that she was wearing her school uniform on a summer day.
Well, there might have been summer supplementary classes, and since the daily temperature range is so large these days, it wasn’t that strange.
The question is, why are you doing that over there?
‘Let’s just let it go.’
Why, maybe I just feel like getting rained on today. It’s definitely not because I don’t want to get involved.
“…”
I was a bit worried, but fortunately he didn’t stop me as I was passing by, so I was able to safely enter my store.
*
“Wow… This is a mess.”
Maybe because I cleaned up so hastily yesterday, the chairs, tables, and other things aren’t in their proper places.
Plus, the window is slightly open, so the surrounding area is soaking wet.
‘I should wipe my tears before I hit the floor…’
If you hadn’t come today, it would have been a disaster. The curtains weren’t even drawn, so if a thief had broken in, it would have been a disaster.
At that moment, I was about to put down the luggage I was carrying and start cleaning up around the window.
“…”
Through the glass window, the silhouette of a girl was visible. She looked like an abandoned cat.
I stopped wiping the moisture off the window and stared blankly at the girl outside the window.
Swaaaah-
I wish the weather had cleared up, but the rain is getting heavier.
‘Should I report this to the police?’
Is it even okay to report something like this in the first place? What should I say?
“Sigh. Let’s not worry about it.”
This damn troublemaker. I guess I’ll just have to finish what I was doing.
I wiped the moisture from the window and the floor with the rag I was holding in my hand.
After returning the crookedly placed tables and chairs to their original positions,
“AC.”
… I took my favorite umbrella and went out of the store.
***
Swish.
Even now, as the raindrops become heavier and wet the ground, the girl is still crouching in that spot.
‘I hope he’s not dead.’
As anxious thoughts crossed my mind,
“Etchu.”
… the girl’s cough was heard, signaling her survival.
‘He’s not dead.’
As I approached with an umbrella, did I sense a presence?
A girl looking up at me.
Long, flowing black hair.
She was a girl with impressive golden eyes that contrasted with hers—as if she were looking at the stars in the night sky.
“… What are you looking at, sir.”
cancellation.
‘I’m not at an age where I should be called uncle…’
Twenty-eight is on the young side… Well, a kid that age would probably think of him as an old man.
I spoke to the girl with a slightly bitter heart.
“Hey, you’re going to catch a cold… ”
“Get out. I don’t feel like talking to anyone.”
Oh, my.
“Still rain… ”
“Get out. Before I call the police.”
… He was a bit of a rude guy, no, he was a prickly guy.
Well, my behavior is a bit suspicious.
Since I came here on the way to the convenience store in front of my house, my clothes are all shabby, and since I slept late last night, my overall condition is terrible.
And what’s more, if you’re the kind of person who approaches situations like this, it’s more problematic if you don’t have your guard up.
‘… What should I do now?’
I kept thinking about it so I just came out, but if you are so stubborn, there is nothing I can do.
‘I don’t know.’
I was holding an umbrella so that the girl wouldn’t get wet any more, so I put the umbrella down next to her and said.
“… Excuse me, I’m the owner of the cocktail bar over there?”
“Don’t listen to me telling you to get out… ”
“I’ll leave the umbrella here, so you can take it home, or if you want to return it, come to the store.”
I’ve done enough.
After leaving my last words to the girl, I quickly turned around and headed back to the store to avoid the rain.
.
.
.
After that, Dohan went into the store.
When only a girl and a blue umbrella with a rather funny looking cat on it were left in the alley,
“… … Sir, what are you saying?”
A somewhat nervous girl’s voice echoed faintly among the sound of the rain.
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