"Noona! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"Your whole fucking attitude reeks of a pathetic loser! You little incel bastard. You wanna die for real?"
"Guh—hk! Cough! I'm being normalized!"
"You know how I am when I'm pissed… Ugh…"
Jimin released the headlock and fanned herself.
Huh? She's not as energetic as usual… Normally, she'd keep me in a joint lock for at least 30 minutes…
"Let's talk straight. What the hell are you planning to do?"
"If things get bad, I'll take out a loan using my organs as collateral—"
"You wanna keep talking shit?"
Thwack! Thwack!
I got two more strikes as punishment.
Noona's love-filled punches didn't hurt much now that I'd outgrown her, but…
Guh—hk!
Her blows reached my soul.
Struck deep in my spirit, I crumpled into a crooked shape, gasping.
"What's wrong with being from a remarried family? You worried about what people think? You gonna stay like this forever?"
"I don't care. It's obvious we're not blood-related just by looking at us."
"Then what, bullying in school? Dishonorable discharge from the military? What the hell made you like this?"
"All of it was EXP for me! I'm not unhappy. I've achieved enlightenment!"
"You're at that age and have never even had a girlfriend!"
Guh—hk!
She's really determined today…!
"Y-You don't have a boyfriend either at your age!"
"Actually, that's why I'm here. Noona's getting married in three months."
"What?"
Noona… has a boyfriend?!
I pressed a hand to my forehead.
"Erasus, Qiora."
"…What are you doing?"
"A memory-erasing spell."
Of course, it didn't work.
"Noona having a boyfriend… No way!! You always said you weren't interested! You're not even 30 yet!"
"Why are you whining so much? I didn't expect it either, but… it's time. The match seemed good—he's decent."
"But… getting married after just three months? Are you pregnant?"
"No. But, well, you know me. I don't care about the small stuff."
No, still…
"You should at least check if he's a divorced single dad or some kind of trash! What if you end up stuck with someone like me? Your life would be fucked!"
"I've frozen my eggs, and he was straightforward about setting a date. We'll plan the pregnancy carefully…"
"...."
Seeing me speechless, noona smirked.
"What, you this invested in my life? Worry about yourself first…"
"Noona…"
"So, you need to figure your shit out too."
Gurgle.
I felt my stomach churn.
I'd have to survive in this fucked-up world after all…
I knew reality would catch up eventually, but not this soon.
My sister went back to the table and sat down, taking out an envelope from her bag.
"Let's make this the last one."
Even at a glance, the envelope looked thick.
It seemed to contain at least ten times the amount she'd sent me so far.
But I couldn't feel purely happy about it.
"This is… the last?"
"Now that I'm going to be part of someone else's family, I won't be able to support you anymore."
"...."
"You'll wish me happiness, won't you?"
"Yeah… Of course I will…."
If this envelope held the amount I expected, I could max out the next limited gacha character.
That thought crossed my mind.
'It's a shame she's leaving, but…'
What matters is dopamine.
I still have my parents, after all....
I'll be fine.
This lifestyle won't end. If anything, it'll burn even brighter with her last dance.
I imagined myself telling her that I'd earned enough on my own to return the favor—even contributing to her wedding fund.
Wouldn't that be cool?
But I didn't have that kind of power. For a moment, I wondered what it would've been like if I'd been born a pretty girl.
Life would've been so much easier.
'Or would it?'
Selling my body might've been simpler, but honestly, there's no such thing as an easy life.
Even if I'd been reborn as a busty beauty, I'd still have to grind every day just to survive.
Most ordinary people live like that. And a select few don't have to lift a finger to have everything.
Even my sister, who I thought had been born pretty and blessed with everything, had to endure society's absurd pressures, forcing herself to blend in...
never experiencing burning love, just getting married off because her time was up.
'This world really is a doomed, fucked-up game, huh?'
The last update was billions of years ago, isn't that just unfair?
I'd rather everything be reset, rebooted for my sake, letting me reap all the benefits.
If the world's already like this, wouldn't it be fine if I were the one profiting?
"Still, Yujin. Don't get me wrong. I'll always think of you as precious family."
"You're cutting me off financially and saying that? This is severance pay!"
"What, you want me to support you for life? Not even Mom could do that."
Ugh. Honestly…
"I'd love it if you supported me forever, Noona."
"Then go make me some food. I'm hungry."
THUD!
The nonsense spilling from my lips was crushed under the weight of her loving side kick.
"Ghk! Seriously, you're getting married and you won't even cook for me…?"
"Hah? Why would I cook for you when you're not even my husband?"
"Husband…? The fuck kind of archaic term is that…?"
"Bring me something decent, not just frozen food. Or order some tteokbokki with that money."
"Aren't you supposed to be dieting for the wedding dress?"
"Ugh… Can't you see my waist? There's no woman with a figure like this at work."
Well… she wasn't wrong.
Maybe because it was the last time, Noona decided to relax a little, stripping off her top and stockings.
"Got any clean clothes? Sniff sniff…"
"Why are you smelling my shirt…?"
"You're better at laundry than me, huh? The fabric softener smells nice."
"This place gets a lot of sunlight."
The problem was, it got too much sunlight—without blackout curtains and an eye mask, I couldn't sleep.
As I turned my attention to my phone to order delivery, Noona slipped out of her clothes and pulled on one of my shirts.
The size difference made it hang like a boxy tee, but her ample breasts still made their presence known.
"This could pass as a dress. A dress. Lose some weight. You're all over the place."
"...."
I cought a glimpse of her apricot-colored bra...
Not a sports bra, not particularly fancy, but the kind of ordinary shade women usually pick. It turned me on more than it should have.
"Should I order beer too?"
"Yeah. Let's toast to my hikikomori little brother's future and farewell."
"Then give me more money."
"You little… Trying to suck me dry on the last day."
We siblings really got along.
Well, I was the one doing all the exploiting.
Noona's generosity, tempered by years of dealing with someone like me, was beyond words.
I realized then—I loved her so much, like a mother, that I wanted to stop her from getting married.
But most of my desires were doomed to fail.
I'd abandoned any semblance of a dignified life, shirked responsibility and duty...
...forever a whining, a man-child.
The only reason I didn't hate myself was that this world was just as messed up.
Looking around, there were plenty like me, some who'd realized even more than I had.
Some who'd bet everything on a miracle, leveraged every last resource, then died spectacularly.
In a hopeful timeline, maybe they'd have been rewarded, rising to the top instead.
Not something to say in front of Noona, but, the value of honest work was long dead.
"Alright. Let's toast. To our hopeless NEET, Yujin."
"You give the toast, Sis!"
"Bossy for someone who doesn't even have a job."
With tteokbokki in front of us and a beer can in hand, Noona clinked hers against mine and said:
"A toast to the idiot right here!"
With some alcohol in me, I finally asked the questions I'd held back till now.
"Noona. That job... It was your dream, wasn't it? Why are you giving up?"
"Huh? Ahh…"
"You always said it. That you'd become a top-tier career woman, live like a queen without sparing men a glance."
"Well… It wasn't what I expected, and this might sound funny, but… I got lonely."
"...."
"Just… work, home, work, home. Every day. Yeah… I got tired. I'm still a woman, you know?"
The fatigue in her voice, layered with years of disappointments, was a far cry from the hopeful tone she'd had in college.
"I didn't want to just grow old like this~~. So I started wondering what raising a kid would feel like."
"Did you freeze your eggs?"
"Yeah. About a year ago. It's trendy these days. Even if they're healthy now, they won't stay that way as I age…"
I see…
So she'd use sperm from her future husband to get pregnant…
Unlike in eromanga, it felt so sterile. Clinical.
"What? Jealous that you're losing your monopoly on me?"
"More like… I was thinking about the kid."
"Now that you'll be an Uncle, you should get a job so your niece or nephew won't be ashamed."
"...."
Honestly, it'd be better if they weren't born into this world at all.
But I didn't say it, didn't want to ruin Noona's happy mood.
She drank too much and passed out.
I, too, succumbed to the alcohol I hadn't had in ages, falling asleep without cleaning up.
'What I need isn't a job, it's normalization.'
The normalization of abnormality…
When I woke from a light doze, my phone was blaring loudly.
'Ugh.'
Had the outside flashed bright for a moment?
[Emergency Disaster Alert]
[Comet observed in XX XXX area, 4km southwest. Risk of impact. Refer to National Disaster Portal XXXXX.]
"That's near us…"
At first, I thought it was Noona's phone. Mine was always on Do Not Disturb.
But the emergency alert overrode it.
Looking outside…
No signs of an impact or anything unusual.
I turned off the bright living room lights and cleaned up the leftover tteokbokki and cans.
I thought the noise might wake Noona, but she was out cold.
"Mmm…"
"Noona. You don't have to go."
"...."
I shook her shoulder gently, but there was no response.
Damn it…
Knowing her caring nature, she probably couldn't just coldly toss me the envelope and leave...
so she used dinner as an excuse to observe my reaction.
Worried I'd self-harm that night?
She could've just cut me off and walked away.
But her sentimental heart kept her dragging me along, even when she should've abandoned me long ago.
"Noona. Let's get you to bed."