This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 570

The last time I visited the family house was three months ago, but stepping into the storage room was almost a year since I last did so.

The roughness transmitted through my hands felt unusual.

Maybe that’s why, as I pushed the door open, the wheels attached to the bottom of the door screamed out in agony.

However, that was just the beginning.

Perhaps it wanted to vent its frustrations from over a year of neglect.

As soon as I entered the storage room, dust erupted like a cloud and smacked me right in the throat.

“Ugh…”

Thanks to that, I couldn’t help but cough repeatedly, hastily covering my mouth.

I figured there would be some dust since it had been left unattended for so long, but I didn’t expect it to be this severe.

Had I known it would be this bad, I would’ve worn a mask or something before coming in.

“Don’t come in, Sis. The dust is ridiculous in here.”

“Forget it. I’ve already inhaled all of it anyway.”

Saying that, Chae-rim, without hesitation, suggested we buy some grilled pork belly and minari after finishing our work, stepping boldly into the storage room.

Then, just like I had done moments earlier, she began to cough softly while covering her mouth with her hand.

She must have stepped in fully aware of how overwhelming her superior physical abilities were compared to ordinary people like me; if Chae-rim was already coughing, staying here longer wouldn’t do us any good.

So, I headed towards where the unused computer units were kept, and just like everywhere else, they greeted me with a thick layer of dust.

Among them were a couple that I had relied on when I was younger.

‘At first glance, they seem fine…’

To be honest, that was a bit surprising in itself.

Considering I was affiliated with the World Hero Association, I thought it’d be worth trying to poke around just in case.

And given that this house had been almost empty for nearly three months, it didn’t seem too far-fetched.

Of course, with Chae-rim looking out for me, she had introduced me to a security company that would manage the house safely in my absence…

But still, if it was the World Hero Association, fooling a single security company wouldn’t be a big deal at all.

So I thought maybe it had already been cleaned out, but to see it still intact like this was surprising.

I wondered if it wasn’t just an outer façade, and the insides were all hollowed out…?

Feeling a sense of unease, I opened up the side of the unit before taking it out and was relieved to find the hard drive securely in place.

The same went for the others.

Well, there was a possibility they looked fine but were actually empty shells.

Regardless, with the confirmation that the hard drives were intact, it was time to take them out and check.

It must have been at that precise moment when Chae-rim’s face suddenly popped up beside mine.

“Is this one and this one?”

Startled, I responded, “Huh? Oh, yes.”

“Then I’ll carry the white one.”

Saying that, Chae-rim reached out and grabbed the unit she had pointed to and swiftly exited the storage room before I even had the chance to say anything.

Carrying the remaining one, I followed her outside, where she welcomed me with a smile.

“Is it okay to take this home like this?”

“No, let’s check it right here instead.”

Even though we didn’t live here, all the utilities were still functional.

The computer I used before was still there in my room.

One downside was that the internet had been disconnected, but that could be sorted with a hotspot, right?

So I led Chae-rim to my room, and aside from a bit of dust, the view was just as it was the last time I visited.

“It’s been a while here too.”

Chae-rim casually plopped down on my bed, reminiscing as I pulled out the power cord connected to my old computer.

Then, I connected it to one I had brought from the storage room, but after being left unattended for nearly several years, it seemed that one of the components had malfunctioned.

No matter how many times I pressed the power button, there was no blue light coming on.

The same went for the other one.

Thinking it might be a problem with the power cord, I tried reconnecting it to my original unit, and that one turned on just fine.

“What’s wrong? Is something not working?”

“Yeah, it seems both are old, so the motherboard might have failed.”

“So, we can’t check it?”

“No, since the data is stored on the hard drive anyway…”

We could just separate those and check them out.

In that regard, I began searching for where I placed the screwdriver…

Just as I started to retrace my memory, I rummaged through the desk drawer and found the mini tool kit.

Using a small screwdriver, I detached the hard drives from the units I had brought from the storage room.

Connecting those to my original computer wasn’t too difficult.

That’s because I had a habit of saving up computer-related cables that seemed unnecessary at the time, so I had plenty lying around.

“I’ve connected everything, but could you take a look with me, Sis?”

“Huh? Me?”

“Yeah.”

Although I planned to examine it thoroughly, I figured that Chae-rim might spot something I miss.

So I pulled over a spare chair for her, and after noticing it, Chae-rim immediately got up from the bed to sit on it.

After just confirming that, I activated one of the hard drives I had connected to the unit and began to check the contents stored inside.

Perhaps because it was an extremely old model.

There were all sorts of documents in there.

Among them were hundreds of photos that weren’t even included in albums.

Mostly, they captured my childhood moments with Yoonseo.

What particularly caught Chae-rim’s eye were the photos from my toddler years before I met Yoonseo, and even I could see the pure innocence radiating from that version of myself.

With my pale face and sparkling eyes, I had beauty that could rival any child model.

Could that have triggered Chae-rim’s nurturing instincts?

“Could you possibly copy the photos and send them to me?”

In that brief moment, perhaps forgetting our original goal, Chae-rim sparkled with her dark brown eyes as she asked that.

“Huh? You want these?”

I felt a bit shy about it and hesitated to agree.

The issue was—

“Yeah, they’re cute.”

Her desire was much stronger than my reluctance.

What could I do?

It was clear that if I didn’t comply, things would get messy.

“Still, sending all of them seems a bit much… Just pick a few.”

“Why, I want to keep them on my phone and look at them all the time.”

“I don’t want to because I’m embarrassed!”

What was there to say?

Among the photos Chae-rim wanted, there was one of me as a one-year-old (at least in real terms), blissfully smiling without a care in the world, completely unaware of my exposed lower body.

And she wanted me to send all of those?!

I would rather bite my tongue and die than do that!

“So… how many are you going to send?”

“How many do you want?”

“Hmm… twenty?”

“Impossible.”

“Oh, why not?!”

Was she really that clueless?

Considering that among the hundreds of photos, there were a ton taken in succession, asking for twenty was practically asking for them all!

And yet she had the audacity to demand twenty without shame.

Where on earth was her conscience?

“Twenty is too much…”

“Then how about ten?”

“Let’s do five.”

What the heck were these photos that the co-chairman of the association was making a face like she lost a country over this?

“S-six is…”

“Let’s stick to five.”

“Aww, why! If we’re at it, why not just add one more!”

“If you keep that up, I’ll drop it to four.”

“Tch…”

In that chaotic exchange with Chae-rim, I was completely oblivious.

I had no idea what the five photos I sent to her would unleash.