episode_0011

Hamshik, who ate half of the food that was given to us, then half of the remaining half, then half of the remaining half, then half of the remaining half, then half of the remaining half, coveted Nalin’s plate too, but there was no food left.

No matter how hard Hamshik-i ate, it was dozens of times bigger than him… …? I don’t know exactly how many times bigger, but in any case, it couldn’t be faster than the speed at which the large Narin ate.

If Narin had made up her mind to eat slowly, it would have been different. Narin, who wanted to spend her limited lunch time meaningfully, didn’t have a very long meal time.

Of course, it was a bit long for me as I was full after eating a few grains of delicious rice and a few mouthfuls of meat.

It wasn’t boring to watch Na-rin eat, or to see Ham-sik sniffing Na-rin’s empty plate after eating all of his.

I guess that’s why I watch mukbangs. No, this is a mukbang that only I can watch. Other people watch life-size mukbangs, but I watch mukbangs like I’m watching them in a 4D movie theater.

It was fun to drink the water from the plastic water bottle lid, and it was also fun to see Hamshik wiping his mouth and hands while flicking his tongue.

Of course, the purpose is not to clean the corners of the mouth and hands, but rather to thoroughly lick up even the little bit that gets on them.

But that was the end of the fun. We went back to Narin’s desk to do some boring work.

Narin works, and Hamshik and I sit quietly at our desks. The time before lunch is still short, and it passes quickly thanks to our drinks.

The afternoon is long, and I slept earlier, so I can’t just sleep through this again.

“Keeek… … . Hmmm.”

“Is Na-min sleeping? Ham-shik seems to be sleeping too… … . What if I just take him and he gets surprised?”

… … I think it was just a little while ago that I thought that. For some reason, it seemed like my name was mixed in with Narin’s mumbling.

When I opened my eyes in a daze, a large, pretty hand was wrapping around me.

But it didn’t matter because it was warm. With that thought in mind, I closed my eyes a little more and opened them, and this time it was a dark, warm, and soft place.

Especially, judging by the way the hair touches the soft flesh, it seems like it’s a hamster. And judging by the vaguely bright light shining above, this was Narin’s embrace.

Sometimes, when I saw Narin’s chest shaking and trembling, I felt like I was riding in a car somewhere. I wondered where I was, so I tried to stick my head out from under the hem of Narin’s coat.

But maybe I closed my front door a bit more than when I went to work. I thought it would be difficult to see where the light was coming from just by extending my hand.

“Hamshik-ah, can I step on you for a bit?”

“Tick.”

“ is that okay? Thank you.”

Even though he probably wouldn’t understand what I was saying, I got Hamshik’s permission and climbed up on his back. Wouldn’t this be a sufficient and amicable agreement between the parties involved?

Of course, you don’t have to step on the hamster wheel to get up, you can still reach Narin’s chin if you jump high enough.

But I don’t know how much Narin’s chest would hurt if she ran that much. So I decided to just step on Hamshik and go up.

If I stop, I can reach Narin’s sleeve. If I do that, I can pull up my chin and peek outside.

I thought the lights were shaking, but when I looked outside, it was Narin shaking. I guess it’s easy to shake inside a bus.

So the light coming towards us was not constant. With that realization, I looked around and made eye contact with the person sitting next to Narin.

He had a young face, but perhaps it was because his face was full of fatigue. Or perhaps it was because of the suit he was wearing. He looked like someone who was worn out by the world and had a hard time.

If it were just a little while ago, I would have been worried that it would be a big problem if people found out I was in Narin’s arms.

Now I know. In a world where lizard people, ghosts, and tentacles roam, a short person like me is considered quite ordinary.

So I greeted him brightly.

“Hello! Good morning… …not really. But good evening! Are you getting off work? My sister is getting off work too!”

“Uh, uh… … . Hello.”

A smile appeared on the face of the person who had been worn out from fatigue. As expected, the atmosphere is contagious. When I greeted him cheerfully, he smiled back.

And the people sitting in other seats were also looking in our direction. Maybe it was because the bus was so quiet despite the large number of people. Maybe my voice was particularly loud.

I glanced around and saw that everyone was looking in our direction with a faint smile on their lips. Then, when our eyes met, they would slowly turn their heads away as if nothing had happened.

Hoot. Everyone fell for my cuteness. I thought I was cute myself, so it was only natural that everyone would fall for it.

This isn’t narcissism or anything, it’s just an objective fact. People usually think that small things are cute.

If it’s big, it’s threatening, but if it’s small and looks harmless, we let our guard down. Scientifically, we may see ourselves as a threat to such an object, so we smile to let our guard down.

I don’t know, science is laughing anyway, it’s good. Even though he abandoned Hamshik and me, when I think about the fact that he was always the one who smiled at us, I think there must have been some unavoidable circumstances.

If that guy had beaten us and starved us, we would have just thought he had abandoned us because we were annoying.

Anyway, since smiling is good, I smiled back at people and waved my hand loudly.

“Good night everyone!”

“Ahaha, sorry. I guess Nami woke up and got really excited.”

Was I embarrassed by that? Narin quietly covered me with her hand and apologized. Her lips were slightly protruding, as if there was something wrong with greeting me.

“Hey, sorry. You’re just cute.”

“That’s right. Your younger sibling is very polite and nice.”

Hearing other people complimenting me made me feel better, so I shrugged my shoulders at Narin.

Even so, I didn’t think she’d be able to see it. Even if she just did, she wouldn’t be able to see it, and Narin wasn’t even looking at me because she was busy stretching out her arm and pressing the red button.

The stop button. The device that signals the bus driver to get off at the next stop lights up and makes a beeping sound as Narin presses it, and Hamshik screams underneath me at the same time.

“Keeek!”

Suddenly, people nearby who were nearby Hamshik’s screams looked around in bewilderment, while others went back to what they were doing without thinking much about it. Reading books, looking at their phones, or listening to music with their eyes closed through earphones.

It seems that Hamshik’s cries were drowned out by the ringtone. Thanks to that, I wasn’t suspected, but now that I had greeted her, I understood why Narin was embarrassed, so I quietly went into her arms.

And he kneaded the ham.

“Hamshik-ah, this is the sound of the bus. Don’t be scared.”

It doesn’t seem like he’s scared anyway. Hamshik was washing his face with his hands after waking up, and he was wiping his face with saliva on his hands.

Then the bus stopped, and as Na-rin’s chest heaved as she got up, Ham-shik grabbed Na-rin’s sweater in a panic.

I couldn’t even open my eyes properly because I hadn’t washed up yet, and my wrinkled face was funny.

As I got off the bus, a cold air came down from above my head, which had become very dark. But, being in Narin’s arms, I just felt like I was getting some fresh air.

While I was enjoying the cool air thanks to Narin and munching on ham, I heard Narin’s voice from above.

“Oh my, it was cold for the first time in a while so I got on the bus and suddenly people started staring at Na-min so I was surprised.”

It seemed like she wasn’t particularly upset about what happened earlier. I was worried that she might be upset when Narin suddenly started apologizing, but with that kind of tone of voice, I thought it was okay not to worry.

So I just bragged about it. Anyway, if no one got in trouble, I did a good job because I made other people laugh.

But then am I a comedian?

“Hehehe. People laughed at me!”

“Yeah. I’m glad everyone is nice to me. By the way, Namin-ah. I couldn’t shower yesterday because I was so busy. Let’s shower together when we get home today. Even though the purifier is running, it doesn’t get rid of things like dust.”

Shower. Come to think of it, I showered every day before I got dumped.

It was a bit hot when I was showering, but I felt refreshed and cool afterward. There was no reason to refuse it.

In my previous life, when I was young, I went to the bathhouse with my father and scrubbed my butt. That’s what it was like.

“Like!”

On the way home from the bus stop. Narin would be bored if she walked alone, so I stuck my head out to look ahead with her even though I wasn’t walking.

When Hamshik and I were abandoned, we were in a box, so this was the first time we were looking outside like this. But somehow, we saw a familiar telephone pole.

As soon as I saw it, I realized something. Ah, this is where we were abandoned.

But since I met a good person like Narin, I was blessed. From now on, we will live happily and enjoyably.

They said they’d give out subsidies so that Narin wouldn’t have to worry about it. So Hamshik and I just have to make Narin, who’s tired from working all day like the person we saw on the bus, smile while looking at houses.

If it were a pet, it would just eat the food I give it, but I have an obligation to do so because I am Narin’s younger sister.

I pledged to our happy future.