Chapter 5 – Episode 5. Nayoung Hannah
Seeing her crying Na-young, her mother couldn’t come back to the living room because she felt sorry for her.
Just as she was preparing dinner as if she was sitting on a thorn cushion without even changing her clothes, I brought Na-young, who showed no sign of stopping her crying, to my room.
“Are you feeling better?”
Maybe it was because she had been stroking her back until she calmed down, holding her in her arms and making her bury her face in her chest. Nayeon’s face turned red.
I tried to hide her face with her long bangs, but I had already seen everything.
“My mother didn’t say that with a bad heart. So don’t mind.”
“Uh, uh…”
I let out a deep sigh as if I was disappointed in my mother.
In fact, it was a secret that I wanted to run to my mother right now and give her a high five and hug her tightly.
“I don’t care… More than that, Jihoon-ah…”
“Huh?”
“I, Joe, likes me… No…! Nothing…!”
If he had overheard all of my conversations with my mother, he would have heard all of my confessions.
That’s why Nayoung’s face was filled with strange anticipation, but she soon shook her head, saying that there was absolutely no way she would like herself for being fat and ugly.
Wouldn’t love made easily be easily broken?
On top of that, imagining the scene where Nayoung, whose appearance was rising to the point where the water rose, gains confidence and confesses, made her excited already.
So, if possible, I would give her room and wait for her confession, so I didn’t question and question her.
Growl
“…”
A cute sound flowed from Nayoung’s stomach.
In a different way than before, her face blushed and she lowered her head.
“Are you very hungry?”
Of course you have to be hungry.
It was because it was not enough that it was dinner time when she was hungry, and she moved her body so much even though she pretended to lose weight.
In addition, even if you stay still, your energy is consumed quickly, so you are at an age when you are hungry.
“I think you’ve probably finished preparing dinner by now… Shall we go out?”
Carefully, she spoke out.
I was resentful for overhearing what she said earlier, but I nodded her head wordlessly, wondering if it was nothing compared to hunger.
When I came out to the kitchen, dinner was prepared as expected.
Perhaps her mother doesn’t want to eat, she only has two rice bowls full of rice and spoons placed accordingly.
“Let’s eat.”
I feel sorry for taking away her mother’s dinner without knowing why.
She ate dinner, forcibly convinced that she couldn’t help it… She couldn’t help it.
After she finished eating.
“Go into the room. I’ll clean up and go in.”
“Huh…”
I returned Nayoung to her room first, removed her table, and then started washing her dishes.
“I’ll leave it alone. Mum will do it.”
After washing and changing her clothes, her mother came out and said to me while she was washing the dishes.
“No. More than that, mom don’t have to eat it?”
“Whoa… I have to eat, but today I’m not pulling.”
I took off my rubber gloves after washing and putting the last bowl of foam on top.
“You should eat it though. Can I do something for you?”
“What is the child doing?”
Most people don’t cook because it’s annoying, but I was the one who cooked and ate by myself to save money.
Even if I’m not as good as my mom, I can still make something good to eat, but I don’t think it’s time to show it today.
“Jihoon-ah.”
“Yes.”
“Since my father’s company is having a hard time these days, it seems that my mother has been having a hard time as well, so I think she said something strange. So, don’t pay attention to what I said earlier and tell my friend… Nayoung to have a good time.”
“Yes.”
I thought I had come to the kitchen to fill my hungry stomach, but I smiled bitterly and turned away, as if I had come to say that.
I had no weight to lose, but I couldn’t leave her mother starving.
“I’m sorry. Wasn’t it too late?”
“…?!”
When she opened the door and went inside, Nayoung was startled and hid her hand behind her back.
Was there anything I could hide in my room? I do not know.
“Nayoung, what are you so surprised about?”
“Ugh, ugh… Nothing… Nothing.”
“It’s nothing. What are you hiding behind?”
“…”
Nayoung hesitated.
“I don’t get angry when I see or touch anything.”
“Really…?”
“Of course. There’s nothing to be angry about.”
I might not have been proud when I was young, but I was really proud now.
“I’m sorry for touching this…”
In the end, Nayoung showed what she had been hastily hiding.
Again, it wasn’t a big deal…
“Huh? Why is this here?”
Literally nothing, but at this point, she had a ridiculous object in her hand.
When I saw that, my body stiffened.
Putting aside the unbelievable thing, just in case… I was excited to see the possibility that our desperate family situation would get better.
“My phone…”
That is, before returning. My smartphone was like a companion for more than half of my day.
Why is a smartphone that is absolutely unacceptable in this era and boasts absurd performance is here? And I wondered why I hadn’t found it so far.
“Nayoung…”
“Mi-I’m sorry…!”
Nayoung just closed her eyes, as if she thought she was getting angry because she carelessly touched things.
But far from being angry, I just want to hug her big body as hard as I can.
Previously.
“Where did you find this?”
“Under the bed…”
So I couldn’t find it
“Give me that.”
“Huh…”
Handed over the smartphone.
When I turned it on, the black screen was filled with bright lights.
A familiar background screen welcomed me, and a smile spread across my lips.
The time and date did not move, stopping at the starting point of the day they returned.
“The Internet is working, but it seems that there is no update.”
So is the internet. No new posts have been updated since that day.
Excited, I went to the lottery site and looked up this week’s round number, which has not yet been released.
A six-digit number came to mind.
Haha… Haha!”
Indeed, this week’s lottery numbers might not be like these, but it was worth a try.
If only this lottery number is correct.
“The stock graph is still there.”
Looking for stocks, the corners of my mouth caught in my ears couldn’t stop.
“Nayoung!”
“Ji-Jihun…?!”
I hugged Nayoung while laughing heartily and ran around.
At first, Nayoung was flustered, but at some point, her face turned red and ran in line with her movements.
*
Returned her to her home before her sun completely set.
Originally, I would have taken her to the front of the house even if it was annoying, saying it was dangerous for no reason, but now I couldn’t afford to do that at all.
I went to her mother’s room with a light step.
“What…? Buy a lottery ticket with this number?”
My mother looked at me with an incomprehensible expression when I suddenly said the six-digit number in the lottery.
“Just once! Buy this number just once!”
“The kid suddenly said that he won the lottery.”
“Something has sprung!”
“Pm…?”
“There is such a thing! Can’t you pretend to be cheated and buy it?”
Even if I wanted to buy it, I had no choice but to ask my mom to buy it because there was an age limit.
“Lotto… Lottora… Haa… I can’t afford it, but it wouldn’t be bad to buy it with the feeling of grabbing a straw.”
I am a mother who does not like to gamble.
I don’t like the lottery because it has some similarities with gambling, but I nodded in desperation as the family situation was so difficult.
I smiled happily, wrote down the six lottery numbers, and put them in her mother’s hand.
Mom bought a lottery ticket without much expectation.
One thing I bought was the lottery numbers I said. The other four were randomized.
My mom isn’t even expecting much, but I was so excited that I felt like the weekend didn’t go too far.
On the day of the lottery.
Mom forgot to buy a lottery ticket and was doing her housework. She forced her mother to sit on her couch and turned on her lottery broadcast.
Later, people’s interest in lotto grew, and there were nearly 10 first-place winners per round.
However, at the present time, the word lottery is a scam, so there were often cases where it was carried over without first place because it was not bought well.
“It won’t work anyway.”
So, Mom had no expectations.
However.
“Uh…? Huh…?”
The number gradually appeared on the screen, and all the numbers I had asked me to buy came out without missing a single one.
Mom was blankly staring at the TV screen, then at the lottery paper in her hand.
At some point, I even carefully straightened the lottery paper.
“Jihoon-ah… Isn’t your mother’s eyes wrong?”
She said that she sincerely congratulated the winners of this episode and the broadcast was turned off, but her mother couldn’t come out.
The lottery paper, which has all seven numbers in total, including the basic six digits and one additional number, was just a simple piece of paper in just a few days, but now it is valued more than any family heirloom.
“1st place. That’s 11,471,863,140. After taxes, it will fall below 10 billion won, but it’s amazing.”
As a result of the smartphone, the first place in this round did not come out.
Then, he eats all of the prize money after tax.
“Jihoon Ahh! I love you! I love you!”
Her mother, who had an astronomical amount of money close to 10 billion in an instant, fell in love with her bright smile and kissed me with her face full of tears of emotion.
