Chapter 37 – My Sister That Year.

“Wow! Minwoo, look outside! It’s snowing!”
“Really?”

Just as my sister said, when I looked out the window, a pure white landscape caught my eye.

In the cloudy gray sky, a small white crystal falls from 10km above.

Because it was the first snow, it did not fall as heavily as the first snow, but it was still enough to cover the black asphalt road in white.

Side.

My sister suddenly headbutted my lips and then fell.

“What is happening all of a sudden…”
“Commemorating the first snow.”
“Everything is a memorial.”
“Yes. Everything I do with Minwoo is a memorial.”
“…”

As I kissed, I remembered what happened last time.

─I might not be able to do it without my sister…
─Then you won’t abandon me… ?
─Yes. I won’t throw it away. Who abandoned their sister?
─Then promise.

A promise not to abandon my sister.

In the first place, I had no intention of abandoning my sister, but I don’t know where I was feeling anxious, but my sister became quite anxious.

Is it because our parents abandoned us?

Still, I will never abandon my sister.

“Oof…”

When I gave her a kiss in return, my sister protested by waving her arms.

“S-Stop! I don’t want to do it in the morning…”
“Who said… I didn’t mean to do that…”

I really didn’t plan on doing that… Are you looking at me like a horny monster? .

Of course, I was willing to do it if my sister asked me to.

“Minwoo, you used to really like snow. Remember?”

My sister asked me, blowing on her window.

“I remember. We also made a snowman.”

When I was young, I made a snowman outside, brought it home, and stored it in the freezer to preserve it.

Of course, I completely forgot that I had put a snowman in and didn’t even know that it was gone.

It was that pure back then.

How did it get so corrupted?

“Do you still like it now?”
“Not so much now. When I see it, all I can think about is cleaning it up.”
“Why? Ah, I thought you got rid of so many things in the military?”
“Huh.”

Because the place I went to was Gangwon-do, it was hot in the summer and hell in the winter.

I don’t know how nervous I was when the news came on TV that there was record-breaking snowfall.

Fortunately, it was not our area but a different area.

Still, the fear of snow removal was terrible.

Especially the heavy snow that falls on the weekends is so scary.

“My sister hates snow. She fell at the sledding hill.”
“Yes, that’s right. I remembered it.”
“Of course.”

When I was young, while waiting for the sled at the sledding hill, my older sister was playing alone and fell forward, breaking her nose.

Because it was artificial snow, not natural snow, it was not that soft, so it was quite serious.

Fortunately, the scar is gone now, but my sister suffered from eye trauma for a while because of it.

… Now that I think about it, it has nothing to do with eyes. It’s all my fault.

“It’s fine now?”
“Yes. It’s okay. I just went out last year when it snowed.”
“Aha. …Last year?”
“Huh.”

I’ve been curious about this before, but I never asked.

“Now that I think about it, I have a question.”
“What?”
“What did I do when I went to the military?”

What did my sister do when I went to the military?

What did my older sister, who couldn’t live without me, do when I went to the military?

How did I survive that year and a half without even a single visit?

“A lot happened.”
“Okay…?”
“I can’t tell you how hard I worked. I had no money.”
“…Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I live with Minwoo now. It doesn’t matter.”

What on earth happened, I wasn’t even home when I went on vacation?

“Um… I mean… What happened is…”

The time goes back two years from now.

♥

“I’m going.”
“Where…?”
“Army.”
“What?!”

Sudden notification of younger brother’s enlistment.

I haven’t even shaved my head, but I’m in the military.

“What are you talking about?”
“What are you talking about, sister? You’ve been saying that for a few months now that you’re going to the military today.”
“Lie…”
“Ha… So Dad just left.”
“What are you talking about to your sister?”
“Just listen to what people say!”
“Why are you angry…”
“You don’t look angry!”
“…!”

This is the first time I’ve seen Minwoo look so angry.

He was usually a quiet kid.

“Ha… It was my fault again.”

Minwoo sighed heavily and said.

The reason, at that time, I couldn’t figure out.

“Anyway, I’m leaving today, so I’ll receive the package. You can send it in person or not.”
“…Wait for a sec!”
“Why.”
“It’s not April Fool’s Day today. Is it true?”
“…No, it’s true. Let’s go.”

Just like that, Minwoo went away.

Without even revealing his military number or where he was enlisting.

Just like my dad, and like my mom, he left me without telling me why.

I was abandoned again.

I thought Minwoo wouldn’t leave.

“Huh, huh…!”

Just like when my dad went out, like when my mom went out, Minwoo was always next to me.

I cried next to Minwoo.

Minwoo, who supported me while I cried next to me.

I joined the military today.

♥

“Huh? What is this?”

It’s been 3 days since Minwoo enlisted.

A package arrived in the name of Minwoo.

He left it unattended all day wondering if it might be a scam, but eventually opened it because he couldn’t find anything to be curious about.

“…”

What was in the delivery box were Minwoo’s clothes.

The white short-sleeved T-shirt, blue shorts, black sandals, and even underwear I wore that day. There was nothing missing.

And a paper letter placed in the center.

[To my sister.

The military sucks. I want to go home.
Still, I’m glad there weren’t any strange people.
I’m sorry for getting angry this morning. I just did it because I was upset about going to the military.
I thought cell phones work these days, but they say we don’t have them anymore.
I’ll call you later.

Minwoo.]

It finally dawned on me that Minwoo wasn’t by my side.

And I sighed with relief at the fact that Minwoo didn’t abandon me.

Even on this day, the tears did not stop.

“…What time is it?”

I kept eating cup ramen, sleeping, eating, sleeping, and it got to the point where I didn’t know what time it was or what day it was.

However, the sound of cicadas outside the window told me that it was midsummer.

[Your account balance is insufficient, so payment cannot be completed.]

And the money ran out.

Before that, I was using it as a form of pocket money for Minwoo, but Minwoo is no longer there.

Again, my heart ached.

I cried endlessly.

There are no more tears left to cry out.

“It shouldn’t be like this…”

Okay. Minwoo has already gone.

I can’t live as an unemployed crybaby forever.

Now it’s time to graduate from college and escape from being unemployed for half a year.

Make sure to make a lot of money and give a lot of money to Minwoo when he comes back.

Then Minwoo won’t abandon me either.

Because both mom and dad abandoned us because of money.

“Hello!”
“Uh… Who are you?”
“This is Lee Min-young!”
“Ah, you’re here for an interview. Would you like to wait over there for a moment?”

So she started looking for a job.

After posting my resume here and there, I surprisingly got a lot of calls.

“You graduated from university.”
“Do you know how to do this?”
“Um… Could you please introduce yourself for a moment?”
“Ah… Uh… About that…”

I’ve only played the violin my whole life, and I didn’t know how to do anything else.

I had no idea how to get a job in the music field, so I just looked for other jobs that seemed easy, such as office work or accounting, through job search sites.

[Sorry, you… ]
[Sorry.]
[Interview result ‘failed’… ]
[… ]

I failed every interview. There were many cases where no contact was made.

After all, there is no way I, who only knew the violin and had no social life, could become such a high-class person.

So I decided to lower my standards.

Not something noble, but something you can learn and do right away.

For example… Something like packaging a delivery box.

“Hello!”
“Ah, Minyoung?”
“Yes!”
“Okay, thank you.”
“Yes~”

Literally, the task of putting contents into a delivery box and packaging it.

We repackage items whose boxes are severely damaged.

Besides me, there were several ladies who looked to be in their mid-40s.

“Did our Minyoung graduate from college?”
“Yes! I majored in social welfare!”
“It came out good~”
“Ehehe.”

The ladies were good to me.

Even if I made a mistake, he let me know and even comforted me.

But that doesn’t mean I keep making mistakes, so I hope you don’t misunderstand…

Anyway, thanks to this, money started flowing into my account, which solved the backlog of rent and various other financial problems.

“Uh, until today?”
“Yeah… The contract is over…”
“Oh my… We should at least have a farewell party.”
“Okay, what are you going to do with that? I’ll just say thank you and leave.”
“Sister…”

Three months later, the ladies who had become close enough to call me sisters began to quit one by one as their contracts expired.

And, that time has come for me too.

“CEO!”
“Uh… Minyoung, that’s…”
“…Is this going to end for me too?”
“No! Not at all! Minyoung still has her contract left. If anything, she could extend it. I don’t have anyone.”
“Sure?”
“It’s just that the workplace has changed.”
“It’s work, right?”
“Yes. This time, we are moving our office to Daejeon. That’s why I asked Minyoung if you could come along…”
“Uhm…”

It’s not even Gyeonggi-do, it’s Daejeon.

Even on field trips, I had to commute to places I had never been to…

“Oh, if you go instead, Minyoung, you don’t have to do this. You can work in the office.”
“Really?!”
“Yes. There will also be accommodations. Of course… It won’t be better than where I live now.”

A series of worries.

I go down to Daejeon, but I don’t have to commute.

Above all, the salary is also higher.

What this means is that it can be of more help to Minwoo.

If I bring more money, Minwoo will be satisfied and accept me.

“Yes, I understand. I’ll go.”
“Thank you so much, Minyoung! No, should I call you assistant manager now?”
“Me? The agent?”
“Of course! You have to treat me like this to make a profit. Please continue to treat me well in the future.”
“Thank you!”

I didn’t know at the time.

With a substitute like this, I thought that when Minwoo came back, he would be a career woman who would come back occasionally.

“I’m sorry, Assistant Manager Lee.”
“Yes…?”
“Well… I decided to go bankrupt.”
“Representative, what do you mean…!”
“I’m sorry. I still have a long way to go to apply, right? I’ll pay the rent. If you don’t have a house, you can stay here.”
“That’s not it…!”

I never thought that the company would go bankrupt and I would be left here as a beggar.