Chapter 4 – 4. Sense of Distance
… I never thought I’d get scolded for sleeping in a bed at this age. I slept in a bed even in the army…
Lying down next to her brother, she took a couple of breaths out and passed out.
I was still hugging the blanket and sleeping soundly… To plug in the charger, my eldest aunt came in.
I woke up with her younger brother and heard the elders say what they were doing while all the elders were sleeping in the restaurant.
… It must have been my uncle’s eldest son who slept in the bed before me and my brother.
More than anything, he said he went home and slept.
I was going to die of sleepiness, but when I got a kusari, my high school personality almost came out in an instant.
I endured it because my mom and aunts covered it… Even thinking about it now makes me angry.
I really wonder if I have to blush her face until the funeral.
Thanks to that, you were stigmatized as someone who stole your sister’s blanket and covered it by herself.
Apart from that, the funeral went off without a hitch.
After serving his grandmother next to his grandfather, having dinner at his great aunt’s, he called the deputy and went home.
All three of them stretched out as soon as they arrived, and after sleeping for more than fifteen hours, the sun was heading toward mid-heaven.
Grasping the vibrating mobile phone, there was a call from her mother.
“Oh, Mom.”
“Are you awake now?”
“Ah. Yes. Where is your mom?”
“It’s just a school. I missed three days, but I can’t not go to work.”
It’s amazing to see that the person who drank so much yesterday, cried and laughed, got back to normal after just closing his eyes for a while.
“Are you sleeping in winter?”
“… I don’t know Didn’t you call?”
“He always throws his phone on silent, so he won’t pick it up.”
“Is it so?”
Other than that, he answered the phone just fine when I called.
He woke up still wanting to sleep and knocked on the door next door, but there was no answer.
“Looks like you’re sleeping.”
“Then wake me up and make some rice.”
“… Yes.”
“My mom is going home late today, so she’s eating dinner too.”
“Yep.”
… It seems like my treatment is gradually becoming a babysitter for my little brother.
She cautiously turned her doorknob and went into her brother’s room to find a lump on her bed.
Seeing my little brother sleeping soundly, hugging a dolphin-shaped cushion, made me feel very sorry to wake him up.
She poked her cheeks, but there was no sign of getting up, so she covered herself with the half-rolled blanket and left the room.
I have to cook or order food anyway.
She briefly washed her body and came out to open the refrigerator.
It was a bit miserable, probably because it had been neglected for three days.
There are many pickles, but… No matter how much I like home-cooked food, I need to organize a main menu.
I wrote that I was steaming eggs the other day.
I wanted to order something, so I picked up my cell phone, and just then the phone rang again.
Someone said it was a high school friend.
When I was in the army, I didn’t even make a single phone call, but when I came out, I called right away.
“Is that Kim Ga-eul’s cell phone?”
“Then wouldn’t it?”
“If you get hit, you are discharged, so why are you diving? Will you fall behind?”
“What kind of diving, I was busy and didn’t have time to look at my phone.”
“What are you doing when you are discharged, are you busy?”
“What… I was packing some stuff.”
She wasn’t in a situation where anyone other than her relatives could come to visit her condolences anyway, so she didn’t bother telling her friends that she was a maternal grandmother.
She didn’t even share a deep friendship enough to let her know.
“Are you coming to Hongdae? I heard that Man-shik and Jeong-hyeon are coming.”
“What time?”
“1 o’clock. After lunch, I will go to the board game room.”
Umm… Right now, the belly skin is sticking to the carapace.
It would be difficult to wait here for an hour or more.
I’m sooooo tired. It’s annoying to go out.
“Sorry, I can’t go today because I have a prior appointment.”
“Even if it’s a phrase, treat it as something fucking reliable.”
“Really. I have to buy my brother food.”
“Did you have a brother?”
“Uh.”
“If it’s a promise to you, you can break it.”
“No, only my sister took care of me when you guys were chatting on KakaoTalk. Do you chew on that?”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Well, see you later. I can’t go today.”
“Then, let’s see it next Friday or Saturday.”
“Draw.”
… First of all, I didn’t lie.
It’s cocky and not nice, but anyway, I hung up on my friend, and went into her brother’s room.
You’re still sleeping
I had to ask her what to eat, so I grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her awake.
“Hey, Kim Winter, wake up.”
“… Yes…”
My brother sank his head into the cushion and scratched his neck, barely opening his eyes.
The nape of my neck was swollen in places, as if I had been bitten by a mosquito.
“Ah, brother…”
“It’s 12 o’clock. Wake up.”
“Huh…”
“What do you want for lunch?”
“Anything…”
“Nothing. Korean, Western, Chinese, Japanese, choose what you want to order.”
“Porridge…”
“Porridge?”
What’s killing me all of a sudden?
Are you not feeling well?
“I want to eat porridge…”
“What porridge?”
“Anything…”
Conversing with my younger brother, whose language skills have significantly deteriorated, made me feel strange.
A kid who was normally fine is like that, so… Hmm.
Umm…
I must say I feel a bit of an age difference.
I can’t express myself well.
“Then I’ll make you porridge, so wash up first and come to your senses.”
“Huh…”
She sent out her sister, who was rubbing her eyes, and ordered abalone porridge and beef vegetable porridge.
I was boiling water, hoping to have some coffee until I arrived, when I heard a voice calling me from the bathroom.
“… Brother. Turn on some warm water.”
Her sister, soaked in water, stuck her head out and asked me.
Earlier I washed and turned off the boiler. Really.
Thanks to that, he seems to have come to his senses, perhaps because he was hit with cold water.
“Oh, wait a minute.”
“Oh, wait, bro. That… Can you bring me some clothes?”
“Clothes?”
“Huh…”
Come to think of it, I went to wash right after waking up, so there’s no way I took clothes or anything with me.
I can bring you a t-shirt and pants…
“… I’ll just be stuck in my room, so wash up and go to your room and change.”
“Ah… Huh.”
… Even so, I felt reluctant to go through her brother’s closet and bring her underwear.
It’s not like they’re ten years apart.
***
“Why did you suddenly ask to eat dead?”
“I don’t feel very good.”
“I couldn’t come to my senses because I was sleepy. How did you know that I was not feeling well?”
“… What will my older brother say when he gets drunk and steals his blanket?”
After finishing a bowl of porridge, I was about to sit down on the sofa, but my brother, who was lying down first, hit me with a word.
My aunts teased me so hard not to ruin the atmosphere, so the truth was distorted.
It’s not that I stole it and covered it, it just covered me from the beginning.
That’s what it is
“Originally, I was going to throw you away, but shouldn’t I be thankful that you laid me down on the bed?”
“… Is it normal for us to sleep next to each other?”
“But you can’t sleep on the ground. My back hurt.”
“You woke me up for no reason because of my brother.”
“Is that my fault? And only I was scolded, you weren’t scolded.”
I’d rather, I’d understand if I heard someone say that I covered myself with a blanket.
Is it so wrong to sleep in bed for a while to keep the incense? It’s unfair to think about it again.
“I didn’t get scolded, but the atmosphere was very bloody.”
“What am I?”
“… It’s because my brother doesn’t know, but he opened his eyes very frightened.”
“I?”
“I thought she would say something to my uncle if me and my mother didn’t stop.”
Wow, that’s really embarrassing.
How many people like me are trying not to cause trouble.
Eyes, you were born that way from the beginning.
“Do I look like that?”
“Not now.”
“… Does that mean that it would have been like that in the past?”
“You think no?”
“Hey, I wasn’t cheap when it came to school lunches. Still, you took good care of me. But are you like that too?”
“No, that’s what it is. Oppa, you get really excited when you’re stressed.”
“You don’t have an accident just because you’re excited.”
“Look. Excited again.”
“Hey, really… No, that’s it.”
Where did you learn the skill to scratch your heart?
It is a cancellation that I said that I did not communicate well. It works damn well
“… Are you mad?”
“I’m not angry.”
“What, then are you mad?”
“No, what are you crying about? Don’t say anything strange.”
“I’m pissed off.”
I was very pissed off when I saw my younger brother who was a puppet and touched her leg while being a puppet.
Lying on the sofa and poking my toes with my toes is just disgusting.
“Hey, don’t touch me.”
“Why? Are you upset?”
“I mean, don’t do it.”
“Oh, don’t touch it!”
I hated my brother who didn’t listen to me today, so I snatched his foot poking his side.
As the saying goes, if you get hit on the right cheek, slap the left cheek of the one who struck you, so if you attacked first, you should have thought about counterattacking.
“Oh, tickle me! Seriously, don’t!”
“I didn’t even do anything, but it’s already like that.”
“I was bitten by a mosquito there!”
“Oh yeah?”
Upon closer inspection, there was a red, swollen mark in the middle of the sole of his left foot.
Oh my, this must be a weakness.
He squeezed his foot with his right hand and gently tickled his foot with the other finger, then he twisted his whole body and began to push me away.
“Don’t do it! Oppa, really!”
“You got into a fight first.”
“Don’t do it!”
“Hey, it hurts!”
“Let go!”
He kicked me with his free foot, so I stopped tickling for a moment and grabbed both of his feet at the same time.
I barely restrained the struggling and caressed him gently with his thumb, and I screamed and struggled to stop him.
There was a limit to holding it only with his arms, so it was more comfortable to hold it with his legs and tickle it.
“Haa… Ha… Oppa, stop…”
“Why did you touch me first?”
“I’m sorry, stop…”
“Surrender?”
“Surrender, surrender. Please…”
I was sweating profusely and couldn’t scream anymore, so I accepted the surrender thinking that this was enough.
When I loosened up, I was a little sorry that I was a bit harsh because I covered my face with my arms that were hanging down and exhaled roughly.
“… Are you okay?”
“… I’m not okay, so lend me a hand. I can’t get up.”
I grabbed her hand and gave her a push, and then she came up and slammed her head into me.
She was contemplating whether she should apologize for thinking she had been too much, but she was suddenly overcome with intense pain.
“Yes.”
“Evil! Hey, what are you doing!”
“Puff… Plural.”
“Yai-san, it hurts!”
“I was very sick too?”
I was seriously bitten.
It’s not some kind of vampire, how did you cut the scruff of the neck so hard?
If I had applied a little more force, I think I would have chewed it.
I was about to lose weight.
“Ah, there are teeth marks left.”
“What?”
“Sorry.”
Considering the size of the pain, it’s strange that it doesn’t remain… What would you do if you bite your neck in midsummer?
It’s a real big deal if you get bruised.
“… Are your marks bad?”
“… I don’t bleed.”
“After… Okay.”
I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t say it wasn’t my fault, so I just sighed.
… I hope it ends at the level of swelling.
“… Sorry.”
“No, what… No. I was bad too.”
“… Why did we fight?”
“… I know.”
The cause is that my younger brother made fun of me.
If you go upstairs after arguing, you’ll talk about being scolded while sleeping like yesterday, and that’s what happened.
… Something is weird
“… I need to study soon.”
“Yes.”
“If you need ointment, it’s in the drawer under the TV.”
“If you need mosquito repellent, use it because it is on the desk in my room.”
“Huh.”
The younger brother disappeared towards the room.
Just in case, I rummaged through the drawer and took out the ointment and applied it.
… It’s bitter.
It’s nice to be close with my brother, but I think I crossed the line today.
… I’ll have to play around with it a bit in advance.
