I Raised My Brother From Childhood, but He Looked Down on Me for Being a Janitor Until the Truth Came Out

It was an intuition I had developed from witnessing various human relationships in corporate structure for over years working as a janitor. His claim of being a competent individual was just his vanity.

He must have been doing well in the beginning, at least. As I suspected, he might have been complacent and overtaken by his colleagues, tripped up when he least expected it.

I think it’s inevitable given his character. He looks down on others without any hesitation, but there’s no need to worry about him.

My brother wouldn’t need to rely on me, after all. We’re strangers who’ve cut ties.

After a few days of learning the truth, I saw my brother again while cleaning the main lobby. My brother came down the elevator with someone.

“Darn, I left the bag with the samples upstairs. I’ll go get it. You can wait here, sir.”

“No need. I’ll go. You’re useless anyway. But when you get promoted, you take care of me, okay?”

“Not again, sir. I told you I’ll go get it.”

The man who appeared to be his junior hopped back on the elevator to get his forgotten item. Ironic how he was nasty to me given his past claims of being competent.

I watched my brother shrinking in the corner of the lobby from afar, feeling pity as I wiped the leaves of the lobby’s decorative plants. With these thoughts in mind, my senior colleague who was cleaning the area with me quietly approached.

“Hey, isn’t that your brother?”

“Uh-huh. Yes. Seems like he messed up. Let’s just leave him be, okay?”

My senior colleague, looking worriedly at my brother, returned to her own cleaning duties.

An Unexpected Encounter

Whether bothered by our sympathetic gaze, my brother, who had been shrunk in the corner, sprang up and marched over to me.

“Hey, janitor! What are you doing?”

“I’m cleaning.”

“No, I mean why are you here?”

“I’m working.”

With my current reply, my brother became visibly angry and raised his voice.

“Don’t you dare tell my wife that I look pathetic at work! You got that?”

His workplace frustrations seemed to be vented on me. The gazes of those around us gathered on my loudly ranting brother.

Out of concern for the onlookers, I whispered:

“You’re trying—”

“Shut up! Don’t you, a lowly educated person, order me around!”

“People are watching. People are watching. Oh, dear brother, please. Can you please be quiet?”

As I attempted to calm him down by holding his hand, he recoiled.

“Ew! You’re filthy! Don’t touch me!”

He continued to aggressively wipe the part I touched and continued his string of insults.

“You’re threatening me, aren’t you? You want money, right? How much do you want me to cough up?”

“Threaten? Money? What are you talking about?”

I asked, dumbfounded.

“I told you not to tell my wife! Get it already, you idiot!”

“Wait, you’re even lying to your own wife?”

“Shut up! No garbage like you should speak!”

Garbage? What on earth? He didn’t care about the eyes around us; he just kept belittling me.

The stress from his job must be intense. He must feel better by looking down on me.

I’m not some punching bag for you to mess with. Just then, a voice came from behind.

“That’s rude to the cleaning staff.”

“Shut up! Huh? Who are you?”