Chapter 264: Colorful (6)

The anger was fleeting. Ati stroked my head and spoke.

"Right. Then now... there's nothing more to talk about, right?"

"Yes. That's right."

"Then, Lucius. Won't you try sleeping comfortably today?"

"Comfortably?"

Ati grabbed my hand and pulled me up. I followed her obediently to the bedroom. Even though it was called a bedroom, the bed was right next to us, so we only took a few steps. It was a plush, massive bed, just like always. Why did we fuck on the sofa yesterday? It would have been fucking amazing if I had surged and thrust hard into her here like I was swimming.

Ati also seemed to realize the bed was better. She lifted me up effortlessly and tossed me onto the bed.

"Waah!"

Startled out of my wits, I screamed as I fell onto the bed. A soft sensation enveloped me. Flustered, I pushed myself up. What was it? Was today a reverse rape play? That was a bit terrifying in its own right. If Ati applied force incorrectly, my pelvis and shoulders would be crushed without a trace, like a smashed egg snack.

"Hold on, could you wait for me?"

Ati said that and began rummaging through the cupboard next to the bed. As she raised her arms, the hem of her dress lifted. Her thighs were provocatively exposed through the short skirt. Getting a slight glimpse of the edge of her panties, I stroked my erect cock with my hand.

"Found it. Here, lie down."

"Ati. Are we not having sex today?"

"I don't want to give you the impression that I only want your body, Lucius."

Since she put it like that, I couldn't just pounce on her for sex. She had the expression of a young child itching to boast about her invention at an invention contest. I simply couldn't reject that expression. She was holding a small crystal sphere in her hand. What was this? Were we finally moving on to a lewd play involving a visual recording sphere? Perhaps a scenario where she recorded yesterday's sex and we rewatched it today?

"This is a sphere that helps you sleep well."

"A sphere that helps you sleep well..."

"Oh? Do you not like it?"

"No. I think it's great. I felt like I was lacking sleep too, actually."

I slightly reflected on my own depravity for only thinking about sex. She looked a bit puzzled by my reaction. I massaged Ati's buttocks and spoke.

"Then, Ati. How do you use this?"

"Try lying down right here."

Ati placed the crystal sphere between us, held my hand tightly, and chuckled. Her smiling face looked so incredibly happy that I found myself smiling as well. Ati infused magic power into the crystal sphere and spoke. Because the bed was plush, the crystal sphere was half-buried in the mattress.

Ati stroked my head. Then, she caressed my cheek and lightly tapped the crystal sphere. A subtle fragrance spread out as the crystal sphere began to emit a bizarre light.

"I wanted to lie still and sleep like this for at least one day. Falling asleep while holding hands tightly with the one I love."

"That's nice. What kind of effect does this have?"

"It's a sphere that immerses you in nostalgia. It lets you recall your childhood or memorable events once again."

"Past events?"

My eyes felt hazy. Exhaustion poured over me as my head bobbed, and I rubbed my eyes. It seemed Ati was also getting sleepy. The sound of music reached me through a foggy haze. The light radiating from the crystal sphere enveloped everything. Ati's faint voice drifted to me.

"When you weren't around, I used this to always dream of the day I first met you. Lucius. Will you dream of me too?"

Along with her voice, I fell deep, deeply asleep.

** **

Beep— Beep— Beep—.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm. 4 AM. It was time to go out for my newspaper delivery. I scratched my head and looked behind me. My younger sister lay in bed there, fast asleep. Her face was gaunt and emaciated. Her pale skin showed obvious signs of sickness, as if she were saying, 'There is no hope for me.'

I silently closed the hospital room door and left the hospital. The man from the newspaper company who assigned me my route for the day was warming himself by the stove, puffing away on tobacco. I loaded the newspapers onto my motorcycle and rode through the early morning streets.

By the time I shoved the last newspaper into a mailbox, the sun began to rise. At that moment, I slumped down on the stairs of the neighborhood at the top of the hill and faced the sunrise head-on. In the clear weather, just like always, the sunlight illuminated the city, full of hope.

"Fuck."

The morning arrived, fading the chill of dawn. I changed my clothes to go to work at the convenience store. The clothes I had haphazardly taken off yesterday were still piled up in the washing machine. I pressed the washing machine button and crouched as I entered the bathroom to start my shower. In this cramped space where the sink and the toilet were practically overlapping, I always had to shower while bowing to the sink.

There was no shampoo. I had to roughly wash my hair with soap. The mirror had water stains wedged in every corner. I thought about how I should do some cleaning here someday, but I had never once cleaned those stains. People would say having no time was just an excuse, but to me, it was reality.

9 AM. I walked into the convenience store. The night shift part-timer greeted me with a haggard face. He haphazardly passed on the handover notes, and the moment I finished counting the cash register, he vanished into the crowd of pedestrians like a ghost. I grabbed a rag and wiped down the display stand and the dining tables. A callous text from the store manager annoyed me.

[Work Report]

[Yes. I have clocked in and am currently cleaning. Boss.]

"Fuck."

I shoved my phone into my pocket and started wiping with the rag again. Around lunch, a mister working at the nearby construction site came in asking for some weird tobacco. A cigarette brand I'd never heard of in my life wasn't on the counter. He hurled insults at me, claiming I just didn't know how to find it.

"Wow, fuck. You don't even sell cigarettes here? Fucking awful. Hey. Just give me a coffee."

He tossed coins at me as he said that. 1000 won. The price of a single can of canned coffee. I silently stepped out from behind the counter and handed him a canned coffee. The construction worker looked at the coffee I held out, tilted his head, and spoke.

"Hey, if you're handing it to an adult, you should use both hands, punk."

"I'm sorry."

I bowed my head and offered an apology. In my mind, I wanted to smack him, but I couldn't. It was because the store manager had said he would fire me if I fought with a customer one more time. The worker spat on the floor and clicked his tongue before leaving. I had to wash the rag again. Filthy footprints were left next to the mark of his yellow phlegm.

"Fuck."

5 PM. The owner arrived. The owner always watched the store from 5 to 10. True to a person of this modern era, he was incredibly poor at trusting others, so he distrusted both the night shift part-timer and the day shift part-timer. He tapped on the calculator with a rigid expression and subtly glanced at me again. That gaze. He stared at me with eyes itching to cut my monthly pay.

"What's with this cleaning?"

I couldn't figure out what the problem was. The store manager himself probably didn't even know what his criticism was aimed at. It was obvious he would just haphazardly fabricate a problem based on whatever I said. The reason he was angry today wasn't about the cleaning, but rather a higher-level issue, likely rooted in some complex personal situation I knew nothing about.

Perhaps he had lost terribly in a card game and lost another million won, or he performed poorly in bed and got cursed out by his wife. Once again today, I was nothing more than an outlet for the store manager's anger. Finally, he checked the expired items. After counting the expired items one by one, he asked me.

"You didn't take any expired food, did you?"

"I didn't."

"You punk. If you're going to take it, scan it, pay for it, and then eat it. Got it? Why is a man trying to eat expired food so pathetically?"

He grumbled as if muttering to himself, then glared his eyeballs at me and spoke.

"Answer."

"Yes."

My shift at the convenience store ended. It was 5:15 PM, later than I expected. I just took off my uniform and immediately ran to the bustling street. I started this serving part-time job at the bar for the sole reason that it was close to the convenience store. They were already busy preparing ingredients in the kitchen. The restaurant owner was smoking tobacco outside, watching me arrive.

"Hurry up and move faster, you bastard."

"I'm sorry."

I hurriedly changed my clothes and stood before the customers. Exhaustion rushed in, but I had to endure it. If I worked until 1 AM, my daily routine for today would be over.

If there was a strength to working at the tavern, was it that I didn't have the leisure to think about anything else? People busily called my name and made gestures, and I wrote down the menus they relayed, passed them to the kitchen, and moved my footsteps to the next table. Smiles always spread across the faces of the customers sitting at the tables. As if ordering food was the happiest act in this world, they drew numbers with their fingers and spoke in lively voices.

"Hey, why are you so lifeless when talking with the customers? Hey. Smile. I said smile."

The owner's hands pressed firmly on the corners of his mouth and forced them upwards. I forcibly smiled back. Seeming satisfied with my expression, the owner spoke.

"That's right. Just like that. Good job."

The call bell rang. I went back to the customers.

"Yes, how may I help you?"

"Yes. We'll have one Cajun salad here. Hey, do you guys want to try this? Excuse me. Is this tasty?"

"Ah... Yes. Everything in our store is delicious."

I flashed a smile. As I smiled, my body began to tremble. I felt like I had become a broken person somehow. When did it start? I had no idea.

1 AM. Quitting time.

"Fuck."

I headed to the hospital. The hospital was closer to my newspaper delivery route than my home. Inside the hospital room, my younger sister lay there with her eyes closed again today. There was no improvement in her sickness. I often heard the phrase meaningless life-sustaining treatment. Those words were incredibly laughable to me. Meaningless life-sustaining treatment? Then what have I been living for?

Since my younger sister collapsed, my life became entirely filled with meaningless things. Meaningless anger. Meaningless early morning newspaper deliveries. Meaningless serving, a meaningless store manager, a meaningless smile, meaningless nursing. She didn't even need nursing. She was nothing more than a meaningless existence who only received IV drips and excreted waste. I turned on my phone and looked at the time.

The current time was 1:30 AM. If I went to sleep now, I could sleep for 2 hours and 30 minutes. I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep again.

"Fuck."

** **

"Aaaagh!"

I woke up screaming. Terrible memories of the past were rummaging through my mind. A terror intense enough to make me break into a cold sweat dominated my body. She, who had been sleeping deeply beside me, woke up startled by my scream.

"Lucius? What's wrong? Eung? Why are you like this?"

"Ah..."

This was reality. Just in case, I pinched my cheek several times. This was undeniable reality. I exhaled and looked at her. She was worried that the crystal sphere she gave me had made me recall a bad memory.

"I'm fine. It's just, I recalled a rather bad memory."

The memories were still vivid. I felt like shit. So incredibly much.