Chapter 3: Prediction

Tick tock.

I hear the sound of the clock hands ticking.

Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve slept so comfortably.

If I close my eyes, I’ll fall asleep right away…

‘…Yeah, right. What time is it?’

I turned my head to check the hour hand.

4 o’clock.

“Hah, I can’t sleep.”

I’m exhausted now.

No matter how hard I tried to sleep, sleep didn’t come.

Is it because my sleeping place has changed?

Gurgle~

Furthermore, I was incredibly hungry.

It was natural since I hadn’t eaten anything since arriving on Earth.

‘Shall I eat some ramen?’

I went to the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboard to see if there was any ramen.

But forget ramen, there weren’t even any instant noodles.

‘Right. Mom hated it when I ate ramen.’

‘What should I eat?’

This time, I opened the lid of a pot.

Inside the pot was cold doenjang jjigae.

‘Looks delicious.’

Coincidentally, it was doenjang jjigae with beef in it.

I picked up the meat with my hands as I saw it and put it in my mouth.

I opened another pot next to it.

“This is…!”

It was seaweed soup.

And it was seaweed soup with beef in it.

This time, too, I picked out only the meat as I saw it and put it in my mouth.

Click.

“……?”

The light turned on.

Who turned it on?

When I turned around, Mom was looking at me with a pathetic expression.

‘What is this feeling of being a thief?’

“What are you doing?”

“Just hungry, so some meat….”

“Didn’t you eat before you came?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Oh dear, you should have said so earlier! Why are you eating with your hands! Wait, I’ll cook for you!”

Our Mrs. Kim pushed me out of the kitchen and started cooking, and the cooking was done in an instant.

I checked the side dishes on the table.

Doenjang jjigae, seaweed soup, kimchi, grilled cutlassfish, rolled omelet, and finally, warm white rice.

“Wow, f*ck, it tastes so good!”

I moved my spoon and chopsticks simultaneously and ate hurriedly.

F*ck, this is why I came back!

Now I really felt like I was back on Earth.

“Ugh, what….”

Haim came out of my room, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

“You’re awake.”

“Yeah, because of the smell, I want to eat too.”

Our Mrs. Kim also served food to the bi*ch who looked like a gorilla, and before I knew it, there was only one rolled omelet left on the table.

Two sets of chopsticks moved simultaneously and picked up the last remaining rolled omelet.

“Let go quickly.”

“What are you talking about? Older Brother, you let go first.”

“Can’t you yield to your older brother whom you haven’t seen in a long time?”

“I’ll return the favor. Yield a little to your younger sister whom you haven’t seen in a long time.”

The battle of nerves continued, but what cut off the tension was our Mr. Lee.

“What is it? Looks delicious.”

Mr. Lee, who suddenly intervened, picked up the rolled omelet with his hand and put it in his mouth, and we could only watch with expressions of despair.

“You’re eating very early today.”

“Yeah, Seongwoo said he didn’t eat, honey, do you want to eat too?”

“No, it’s okay. I just came out because I was curious about what you were doing.”

Mr. Lee went back to his room wearing a running shirt and trunks and went to sleep.

“……”

“……”

We looked at each other.

For some reason, we both felt embarrassed.

***

After Mr. Lee left for work and Mrs. Kim went grocery shopping, only the two of us were left at home.

But soon, I will be the only one left.

“Where are you going?”

“Where?

I got a request, so I’m going to take care of it.”

“A request?”

“Ah, Older Brother wouldn’t know.”

Haim explained what she did.

She said she got a job as a mercenary after being confirmed as an Awakened One two years ago.

Even though she was a mercenary, there was nothing special about it.

It was just handling the jobs the association requested.

“What kind of job is it?”

“Basically, it’s about dealing with the monsters coming over the 38th Parallel.”

“The 38th Parallel means definitely North Korea….”

“Yeah. North Korea fell.”

“Huh? Really?”

North Korea is said to be one of the countries that collapsed due to its failure in initial response.

Well, it was a natural result for a country full of corrupt politicians.

However, there was a problem.

After that, North Korea became a habitat for monsters and kept trying to cross south.

Because of that, the South Korean government was also struggling.

“I’m going to go alone─”

“Don’t go.”

“Huh, suddenly? Surely you can’t even stay home alone?”

“No, you have a major misfortune today.”

Haim made a bewildered expression.

Did I say something I shouldn’t have?

“Seriously? Just because of that?”

“You’re really in danger today.”

I can see it clearly.

Today, Haim’s fortune was bad enough to die.

“Cancel it quickly. You’ll die if you go there.”

“No, you keep saying ridiculous things…”

“Cancel the request.”

“Don’t joke─”

“Cancel it.”

“…….”

Lee Haim felt wronged.

It didn’t make sense to cancel a request just because her luck was bad, she thought.

But the older brother she knew wasn’t the type to joke about something like this.

“Then take responsibility!”

“……?”

“Because of this, I also canceled my shopping appointment with my friends! Shop with me!”

Shopping, huh….

“…Okay, let’s go.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, to save one younger sister, can’t I even take her shopping once?”

I quickly put on clothes and got ready to go out.

This is all my fault for having a lacking younger sister.

“Let’s go quickly.”

Lee Haim looked at her older brother going out the door from afar.

‘Is something really happening today?’

It’s strange.

The older brother she knew hated troublesome things the most.

He was by no means the kind of person who would go shopping for her.

“Aren’t you coming?”

“Oh, oh, I have to go….”

Haim awkwardly followed behind me, and we first stopped by a department store.

“I’ve never been to a place like this before, what should I buy first?”

“Let’s buy underwear first.”

We went to the women’s underwear section.

Numerous bras and panties were displayed on the shelves.

“But do I really have to wear underwear? It seems uncomfortable.”

“Why are you asking the obvious? How about this?”

My sister showed me a flashy black bra.

No matter what, this is a bit much….

I picked up a random sports bra and showed it to her.

“No. The moment you wear something like that, you’re a slut. I’ll just wear this.”

Haim sighed.

“Anyway, only something like this will fit Older Brother’s size. Let’s measure this time. Excuse me, can I get measured for size here?”

“Yes.”

The clerk brought a measuring tape, and I was inevitably measured for bust size.

The moment the clerk checked the size, she gasped in admiration.

“Wow, your chest is really big, customer. 75E!”

“75E? Is that big?”

When I asked my sister, she gave me a look of annoyance.

I just asked because I didn’t know.

The clerk explained instead of Haim.

“Of course! Not only is it very big, but you have a glamorous figure. This is what suits the customer.”

The clerk showed me the bras around.

However, they were flashier than the one Haim had chosen.

“Uh, isn’t there something plainer than this?”

“Something plain? I’m sorry, but it’s difficult to find something plain in your size even at other stores.”

It was like a bolt from the blue.

Do I really have to wear underwear like that?

“Can I pay while wearing it?”

“Ah, yes. You can.”

“Wait a minute, wearing it? Just at home…”

“Just wear it now.”

Haim handed me the black bra she chose earlier and pushed me into the fitting room.

‘…Sigh, I have no choice but to wear it.’

Unable to do otherwise, I put on the underwear Haim gave me and came out of the fitting room, and my sister was already paying at the counter.

‘The price is….’

I craned my neck to check how much the price was.

Total: 650,000 won.

“……!”

The price was beyond imagination.

Was women’s underwear really this expensive?!

Furthermore, Haim swiped her card without batting an eye.

No, why is a 22-year-old girl swiping her card so carelessly?

I collected the shopping bags with the underwear inside and left the store.

Just in case, I asked.

“Do I have to pay for this?”

“It’s okay. I have a lot of money.”

No, even if she works as an Awakened One, isn’t she buying too much? I was worried.

“It seems Awakened Ones have good welfare.”

“Probably so, because of that ‘incident’.”

“That incident?”

“Yeah, there was an incident where a Korean returnee went to the United States.”

It was commonly called the ‘Returnee Escape Incident’.

If it was just a normal returnee, they wouldn’t have become this famous.

The escapee was none other than the one called the Sword Saint.

“How did that happen?”

“Because the treatment was like sh*t.”

The Sword Saint suffered.

Severely.

At that time, there were no laws related to returnees or Awakened Ones, so everyone was at the mercy of the higher-ups’ whims.

Just as his spirit was gradually becoming worn out, the US government contacted the Sword Saint.

-“If you just sign here, you can acquire US citizenship.”

The US promised.

They wouldn’t treat him like Korea did.

After that, it was simple.

The Sword Saint accepted the US offer and fled to the US with his family.

As a bonus, he also exposed the corruption of the higher-ups to the public.

“After that, it seems they sensed that things were f*cked up and released the laws for Awakened Ones and returnees.”

“Really, that’s strange.”

A lot happened while I was gone.

‘Anyway, the Sword Saint….’

There are Sword Saints on Earth too.

I remembered the kid Sword Saint from the other world.

‘I wonder if they’re doing well. The last news was that they were missing.’

We stopped by a women’s clothing store and chose various clothes.

“A skirt is a bit….”

“Wear it. I’m here playing with Older Brother, even canceling my work.”

“…….”

I absolutely didn’t want to wear a skirt, but my sister forced me to, so I had no choice.

After shopping, we left the department store carrying over 10 shopping bags.

Haim stretched happily and enjoyed the sunlight coming down from the sky.

“Ugh, it was worth canceling the request!”

‘It took about 5 hours.’

Spending 5 hours to save my sister’s life, that’s cost-effective.

“Let’s go home quickly─”

Squish.

There was a sound like stepping in sh*t.

It wasn’t the sound of my shoes.

It was the sound coming from my sister’s shoes.

“Kyaaaayaaak!!!”

Haim screamed, her face pale.

The sound was so loud I covered my ears.

“These are new shoes!”

“I told you. You have a major misfortune today.”

“Don’t lie! This is a coincidence! What kind of major misfortune just because of this?!”

Haim tried hard to ignore the fortune I had told and returned home in a gloomy mood, different from before.

“I’m home.”

Just as I was about to take off my shoes, I heard the news from the living room.

“Today’s news. It is reported that a Class 1 monster has crossed the 38th Parallel. All 14 mercenaries who received the request have died and…”

Thud.

At the news, Haim, who had ignored the fortune, trembled and dropped the shopping bags.

As expected, my fortune-telling is never wrong.