Five Grains Reboot

Chapter 1

—–CROW—– 

I concealed the onahole with a blanket and greeted my sister with an awkward smile.

I hadn’t had time to wipe off the lube, so my underwear was still damp…

“…”

My sister, Shin Ji-min, looked up at me with distrustful eyes, as pretty as a gacha game character.  With her features, if only her eyes were red, she wouldn’t have looked out of place as a noble vampire hiding in modern society.

It was still her work hours, so how…?

“It’s clean. As if you were expecting someone.”

“I just clean often.”

“…Sniff, sniff.”

My sister sniffed lightly as soon as she entered.

“Why? It shouldn’t smell like a bachelor’s pad? I have scented candles burning…”

“A single man’s room being fragrant and clean is even more suspicious!”

She seemed appalled by my comfortable NEET lifestyle.

It did take a certain level of shamelessness to live so well off someone else’s money.

I observed Ji-min.  I could tell she’d come straight here from work, without even stopping by her own place.

Her stockings, seemingly damp with sweat, clung tightly to her healthy thighs.

My sister took after our mother, so unlike a failure like me, she was successful and beautiful.

Unlike her vibrant college days, after becoming a working adult, she was often tired, had dark circles under her eyes, and spaced out with a blank expression. But her characteristically, almost vulgarly large breasts and buttocks remained the same.

Especially her butt, even covered by her pencil skirt, looked like it was about to burst.

Oh, my dick was getting hard.

No. No. I’d be disowned and left out in the cold. Then I’d have no choice but to work!

“Hey. Get me some water.”

“Yes, Noona! It’s hot out there, isn’t it?”

“If you know that, why do you keep making me come here?”

Although irritable, my sister spoke in a measured, reasoned tone, not raising her voice.

“Mom and Dad keep telling me to check on you because they’re worried. You don’t answer your phone, what are you doing?”

“I’ve been busy with something lately…”

“Doing what? You?”

“…”

This was bad…  It felt like she wasn’t going to let it go easily today.

I kept my mouth shut and brought her some water.

“Do you have any certificates you’ve been studying for? Bring them here.”

“…”

“What are you doing? What are you doing right now? You’re not gambling or anything, are you? Like Sadari or crypto?”

“No.  Gambling? What…”

“…What about gacha in mobile games full of busty women?”

Silence.

My sister sighed in disapproval. From her perspective, it had been three years since she started supporting me in the city.

We didn’t live together, but part of my allowance came from her wallet.

Money from my parents, money from my sister.

By not using it for my future, for work, I had created an ideal utopia where I could do whatever I wanted, a world built on my own “constraints.”

Hehehe!!

“So, you’re not doing anything right now?”

“I’m thinking about what to do.  A few good ideas have popped into my head…”

“Forget it.”

Usually, my sister didn’t pry too deeply, but today the atmosphere felt different.

“You seem strangely happy?”

“Huh?”

“It’s been three years since you were discharged. Whether you’re going to job interviews or studying, you’re not doing anything and just playing at home, so why do you seem so happy?”

“…”

“Do you even feel guilty? Do you know how hard Mom, Dad, and I are working to take care of you?”

Guilt…

I didn’t feel guilty.

It wasn’t my fault, it was this world that didn’t make me want to put in any effort.

“You have to at least pretend to be doing something so I can trust you and give you money…  Sigh.”

“I’m sorry. This time, I’ll really do it right.”

“You kept saying that last time too. I’m really worried about you, Shin Jang-seok.”

“…”

I muttered quietly.

“Are you saying I have to pay back what you’ve invested?”

“What?”

“That’s what you’re saying.  Work as much as the money you’ve given me… and pay it back, right?”

“That’s not it.  I’m asking you to become a responsible adult. How are you going to get a girlfriend like this? How are you going to get married?”

“Don’t nag me. Do you, someone born as pretty as you, understand the life of a shitty Hannam?”

“…Hannam? Shitty?  You stay cooped up at home, so you only learn those ugly words. Go out and meet some people.”

From my sister’s perspective, it must have been frustrating that I was such a failure.

“You’re just a stepbrother Dad brought along after remarrying, anyway.  Doesn’t it matter what happens to me?  Do you want to cut me off already?”

For a moment, silence hung in the air.

“…How dare you talk to your sister like that?!  It’s been a while since you’ve been hit!!!”

“Gah!”

Ji-min lunged at me and put me in a headlock.

Her breasts were so big!!

Rather than the blissful feeling of being buried in their softness, the primal fear ingrained in me from being beaten since middle school made me dizzy.

“Noona! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

“Your heart is so twisted, every word you say is so damn loser-like! You little loser. Do you want to die, really?”

“Ugh!!  Gah!  Normalization in progress.”

“Knowing my temper…  Ha…”

Ji-min released the headlock and fanned herself.

Huh?  That wasn’t like her usual stamina…?

Normally, she’d have me in a joint lock for at least 30 minutes…

“Let’s be honest. What are you planning to do?”

“If things get tough, I’ll use my internal organs as collateral for a loan…”

“Are you going to keep talking nonsense?”

Whack, whack!

I earned two more hits.

My sister’s loving punches didn’t hurt as much now that there was a weight difference…

‘Ugh!’

But her punches reached my soul.

My soul-stricken body bent into an L-shape as I gasped for breath.

“What’s wrong with being a blended family? Are you worried about what other people think?  Are you going to do nothing forever?”

“I don’t really care. It’s obvious we’re not blood-related just by looking at our faces.”

“Or is it about being bullied in school?  Being dishonorably discharged from the military? What made you like this?”

“All of that has become my experience points! I’m not unhappy. I’m an enlightened human being!”

“You’re that age and you’ve never even had a girlfriend!”

Ugh.

My sister was really going for it today…!

“N-Noona, you don’t have a boyfriend either at your age.”

“I was just about to talk about that.  I’m getting married in three months.”

“What?”

My sister… had a boyfriend?!

I put my hand on my forehead.

“Equras, Quora.”

“…What are you doing?”

“Memory erasure spell.”

Of course, it didn’t work.

“My sister having a boyfriend…  That’s impossible!! You said you weren’t interested in that kind of thing! You’re not even 30 yet.”

“Why are you whining? I didn’t know it would turn out like this either… But as I reached marriageable age, I started getting blind dates. The guy seemed decent.”

“No…  Marriage in three months? Is that even possible? Are you pregnant?”

“I’m not. But, you know. I don’t really sweat the small stuff.”

But still…

“You need time to figure out if he’s a divorced dad with kids, or a loser!  If you end up with someone like me, your life is screwed!”

“I’ve frozen my eggs, and he was pretty straightforward about setting a date. We plan to have children strategically…”

“…”

Seeing me speechless, my sister smiled slightly.

“What? You were this interested in my story? You should worry about yourself…”

“Noona…”

“So, you need to figure out your path now.”

A wave of nausea washed over me.

That I had to live in this messed-up world…

I knew that reality would come someday, but this soon?

My sister returned to the table, placed a cushion, and sat down.  She took an envelope out of her bag.

“Let’s make this the last one.”

The envelope looked thick.

It seemed to contain ten times the amount she had sent me so far.

But I couldn’t be purely happy.

“Is this… the last one?”

“I’m becoming part of someone else’s family now. I can’t take care of you anymore.”

“…”

“You’ll wish me happiness, right?”

“Uh… Of course, I will…”

If this envelope contained the amount I expected, I could max out the next limited-edition character.

That thought crossed my mind.

‘It’s a shame my sister is leaving.’

Dopamine was key.

I still had my parents…

I’d be fine.

This life wouldn’t end.  Rather, it would burn even brighter with my sister’s final last dance.

I imagined myself giving her money in return, enough to contribute to her wedding fund, saying I’d earned enough thanks to her.

That would be pretty cool.

But I didn’t have that kind of power.  I suddenly wondered what it would have been like to be born a pretty girl.

Life would have been so easy.

‘Would it, though?’

Selling my body might have been easier, but honestly, there was no such thing as an easy life.

Even if I were reborn as a busty pretty girl, I’d still have to pedal every day to survive.

Most ordinary people lived that way. And some enjoyed everything without having to do that.

Even my sister, whom I thought had everything because she was born so pretty, lived in this society burdened by various social pressures and unreasonable demands, striving to fit in with the crowd.  Far from experiencing a burning love, she was being sold off into marriage like this because she’d reached marriageable age.

‘This is a hopeless, broken game.’

The last balance patch was hundreds of millions of years ago, wasn’t that a bit much?

I wished everything would be flipped, rebooted for me, so that I would be the one unilaterally benefiting.

If the world was like this anyway, wouldn’t it be okay if I was the one benefiting?

“But, Jang-seok. Don’t misunderstand. I’ll always think of you as my precious family.”

“Saying that while you’re cutting off financial support? This is severance pay!”

“So what? Should I support you for the rest of your life?  Even Mom can’t do that.”

Ugh.  Honestly, though.

“I’d like it if you supported me for the rest of my life, Noona.”

“Make me some food. I’m hungry.”

Bam!

My wishful nonsense was shattered along with my sister’s loving side kick.

“Oof!  You’re getting married, and you won’t even cook for me…”

“Huh? Why would I cook for you, who’s not even going to be my husband?”

“Husband… Sounds so old-fashioned… Damn.”

“Bring me something decent, not frozen food.  Or order some tteokbokki with that money.”

“You should be dieting to fit into your wedding dress.”

“Tsk… Can’t you see my waist? No working woman has a body like this.”

That… That was true.

Perhaps because it was the last time, my sister decided to relax and took off her top and stockings.

“Do you have any clean laundry here? Sniff…”

“Why are you smelling my shirts…?”

“You seem to do laundry better than me?  The fabric softener smells nice.”

“The sunlight is good here.”

The problem was that it was so good I couldn’t sleep without blackout curtains and an eye mask.

As I turned to my phone to order delivery, Ji-min took off her clothes and put on one of my shirts.

Because of our size difference, it practically swallowed her whole, like an oversized t-shirt.  Even so, her large breasts made their presence known.

“This is like a one-piece dress.  Lose some weight. You’re huge.”

“…”

I glimpsed her apricot-colored bra…

It wasn’t a sports bra.  It wasn’t fancy lingerie, but the fact that it was the most common color women chose made me horny.

“Should I order beer too?”

“Yeah. Let’s toast to the future and well-being of our hikikomori brother.”

“Then give me more money.”

“This kid… Trying to suck me dry because it’s the last time.”

We had a good sibling relationship.

Considering I was unilaterally exploiting her, that is.

My sister’s generosity, honed by years of dealing with me, was beyond words.

I relied on her like a mother, and I realized I loved her enough to want to stop her from even getting married.

But most of my desires were frustrated.

I had abandoned a human life of responsibility and duty for shamelessness.

Forever a baby, a man-child.

The reason I didn’t hate myself, even like this, was probably because this world was messed up.

Everywhere I looked, there were guys like me, guys even more enlightened than me.

I wondered if the guys who pulled every lever for a life-changing divine move and then died coolly wouldn’t have been rewarded and risen to the top in a more hopeful worldline.

It wasn’t something to say in front of my sister, but the value of honest work was dead.

“Here’s to our hopeless NEET, Shin Jang-seok.”

“You should give the toast, Noona.”

“You’re not even working and you’re ordering me around.”

With a can of beer in front of the tteokbokki, my sister clinked cans with me and said,

“Here’s to the idiot here!”

After a few drinks, I was able to ask the questions I hadn’t been able to before.

“Noona. That job was your dream, the thing you really wanted to do. Why are you quitting?”

“Huh? Oh…”

“You always said you wanted to become a capable career woman, and live like a queen without even glancing at men.”

“It was… different from what I expected, and this might sound funny, but I got lonely…”

“…”

“Every day, home, work, home, work, living like that… Yeah… I got tired. I’m a woman, too.”

My sister’s voice, once full of dreams and hopes during her college days, now carried the accumulated fatigue of small disappointments.

“I don’t want to just keep getting older. So I wanted to see what it’s like to raise a child.”

“After freezing your eggs?”

“Yeah. I froze them about a year ago.  It’s the trend these days.  My eggs are healthy now, but that won’t always be the case as I get older…”

I see…

So she would receive sperm from her future husband and get pregnant…

Unlike in ero-manga, it felt so dry and clinical.

“Why? Are you jealous because you’re losing your monopoly on me?”

“I’m more concerned about the baby that will be born.”

“Now that you’re going to be an uncle, you should get a job so you’re not an embarrassment to your niece or nephew, right?”

“…”

Actually, I was thinking it would be better if they weren’t born into this world, but I didn’t say it.  I didn’t want to upset my sister, who seemed to be in a good mood because of the alcohol.

My sister drank too much beer and fell asleep right there. I, too, was drowsy from the alcohol after a long time, so I fell asleep without cleaning up.

‘What I need isn’t a job, it’s normalization…’

Normalization of the abnormal…

When I woke up briefly, my phone was ringing loudly.

‘Hmm.’

I thought I saw a flash outside for a moment.

[Emergency Alert]

[Comet observed XX XXX 4km south-southwest, beware of impact. See National Disaster Safety Portal for response XXXXX]

“That’s near us…”

At first, I thought it was my sister’s phone. I always kept mine on Do Not Disturb.

Ignoring that, the emergency alert rang.

Even looking out the window…

There didn’t seem to be any impact or anything unusual.

I turned off the bright living room light and cleaned up the leftover tteokbokki and cans.

I thought my sister might wake up from the noise, but she seemed to be sleeping more deeply than I expected.

“Mmm…”

“Noona. Are you okay to stay here?”

“…”

I gently shook her shoulder to wake her, but there was no response.

Honestly…

Knowing my sister’s caring nature, she probably couldn’t just throw the envelope at me and leave coldly. She probably wanted to stay and observe my reaction under the pretense of having dinner.

Was she worried I’d hurt myself that night?

She could just draw a line, say she didn’t care what happened to a loser like me, and get married.

It was because of her kind heart that she hadn’t abandoned me already and had dragged things out like this.

“Noona. Let’s go to bed.”

—–CROW—–