My Younger Sister Was My First Love

54. Festival and Deal

As a result of pretending to be sick for a few days…

The golden Sunday turned into a special lesson time for Jihee.

“Look, look. This is how the function graph is drawn. Then, what can we know from here? This is it. So, if we take this value and…”

Although my younger sibling often teased me, Jihee never took their eyes off the problem set when teaching me.

It was clear that they were focused.

Do people have a DNA for studying as well?

Jihee had a mindset of doing what needed to be done, and they thoroughly absorbed their weaknesses and made them their own.

“So, in this case, we can’t approach it like this, and we need to do it like Oppa did to solve it?”

That’s a precise summary.

“Do you really have talent?”

“Yeah. That’s why it’s important to draw the graph first. Then, you’ll get some hints.”

In Jihui’s letter, there was an expression that said I sounded like a teacher when I explained things.

I never realized it before, but after knowing that, I started to reflect on my explanations.

Am I really talking like that teacher?

I guess it’s because I’ve been attending the same teacher’s lectures for two years.

Why am I so concerned about this?

“Wow, finally, math is over.”

Jihui stretched her arms wide.

It was already lunchtime.

Considering we started at 9 am, time had flown by incredibly fast.

“You worked hard. How’s English? Do you have a lot of questions?”

“It’s better than math. Math was a bit tough this week.”

“Really? Then let’s take a short break, eat, and continue later.”

I sat on the couch in Jihui’s room, taking out my phone.

I thought I’d play some mobile games before preparing lunch.

A familiar black shadow fell across my knees.

“……Why.”

“I have something to ask.”

“Is it about studying?”

“No, not that. When is your school festival?”

“School festival?”

“Yeah, my friends keep telling me to come and have fun.”

“It’s next month, around the middle, I think…?”

This was the first festival I’d attend since enrolling, but I didn’t have high expectations.

Leaving everything else aside, the Korea University festival was notorious for being boring.

I’m not sure if it’s just a simple frame of mind or the truth, but since I’ve heard so many people say that, I’ve started to think that way too.

Even seniors who had experienced it before didn’t have a good reaction.

“Will there be celebrities?”

“Yeah, I heard a girl group is coming too.”

“Who?”

“Just a minute.”

I turned off the game and searched through our group chat, finding the festival lineup that Jihui had previously shared.

“Here.”

As soon as Jihui saw the list, her eyes widened in excitement.

“I want to go too!”

“You can’t just go. It’s a weekday.”

“Oh, I want to go! Are you going to go alone and leave me behind?”

“I won’t go if there are too many people.”

“No, why wouldn’t you want to see it? You’re in college! Let’s go together. Okay?”

“Studying is whatever.”

“I said we’d play on Sunday, but now you’re going back on your word.”

It’s not like we’re at some fancy restaurant, and you’re going back on your promise.

I was taken aback by the unfamiliar concept.

“No way.”

“No, look, oppa. We can have fun together on Tuesday, and then study hard on Sunday without taking a break.”

“But then we’d have to study straight for about ten days the following week. We’d get too stressed out, and our rhythm would be disrupted. Let’s just wait until next year.”

Speaking firmly like an adult who doesn’t give out candy, Jihee’s lips puffed out.

“Do you think the only university festival in the world is the one at your school?”

“What’s with that? That’s not it.”

“There’s also Sehwa’s school and Minji’s school. If we want to go, we can just go to theirs.”

“You keep saying it, but it’s not me who’s taking the college entrance exam, it’s you. If you don’t do well, it’s not my loss, right?”

“That’s true. But if you don’t take me, they’ll drag me along somewhere else.”

“Where would they take you?”

“If some guys come along and suggest drinking, what would you do? My friends aren’t like that.”

Jihee stuck her bottom to the floor beside me.

The memory of the meeting that had slowly faded away resurfaced.

Sehwa, Minji, Park Saerom. Those scoundrels.

It was annoying that they had pulled off a group scam that day, but Jihee’s friends were all owners of benevolent exteriors.

“Haa… from the start, you didn’t have to go to the university festival. Do you really have to go?”

“You’re going to play too, and all your friends are going to play, and they’re all posting about it on SNS. Are you telling me to stay home alone?”

Who’s going to listen to that?

You have a good head on your shoulders.

Jihee’s re-education was like a punishment where she did everything others did during study time.

It wasn’t that one problem was lacking, but rather the entire studying itself.

“I understand your feelings, but I think it’s better to study calmly. I’ll just stay home with you and not go to the festival. That should be fine, right?”

What’s the big deal about watching celebrities?

I don’t even know many people.

If I say so, you usually listen well, so I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal… but…

“Take me with you.”

Ugh… the resistance is strong.

When words don’t work, the teacher starts to use physical force.

Jihee’s white feet started tapping my shins.

“Jihee.”

“I’ll set a condition since you’re not going to let me go anyway.”

“A condition?”

If it’s an unfair demand, the answer is obvious rejection.

“Yeah. We have the 4th mock exam coming up next week, just like we did at home last time.”

“Yeah.”

The mock exam was scheduled for the following week.

“Let’s make a deal that if you surpass a certain target score, I’ll take you out. Since it’s May, we’ll see the results later.”

“Who sets the target score?”

“Hmm… how about we raise it by one grade level based on the previous test scores?”

“All subjects?”

“Yes, all subjects.”

“Does that include exploratory courses?”

“Hmm… let’s exclude that. We’ll deal with that in June.”

It was a pretty tempting offer.

No matter how low my current grade is, it’s not easy to raise it.

Especially for the three main subjects: Korean, English, and math.

Ah, I can exclude Korean since I already got a 1.

“…Is it possible?”

One month is too short.

I, who knew Jihee’s learning situation, nodded my head, thinking it was doable.

“Ah, but I remember I got 4th grade last time? To do this, I need to get 3rd grade.”

Getting 3rd grade isn’t easy.

It’s the range from 23% to 11% of the top tier.

Although I’ve never gotten 3rd grade before, I thought this would be a competition among people who have studied hard.

It was like I had to get 2nd place out of 10 people.

“Honestly, that’s a miracle. And you’re not even in the top tier of 4th grade, you’re just barely passing.”

There’s a clear difference even within the same 4th grade.

“Hmm… let’s start from scratch then!”

“How many points?”

“56 points for math! And for English… hmm… 65 points?”

“Hmm…”

The scores of 56 and 60 may seem realistic based on Jihee’s standards, considering the varying difficulty of each mock test.

“Let’s make it 60 for both. No compromise.”

“Really? You promise?”

If I can ignite her academic passion with this, it wouldn’t be bad.

And even if I actually pass, I wouldn’t lose anything.

I’m just going to go to school with Jihee and enjoy the festival, that’s all.

“Should we write a contract?”

Jihee placed her thumb on top of mine, as if she couldn’t trust my words.

“Okay. If you actually get a score higher than that, I’ll take you out. I won’t back out of this deal.”

“Heh. Really? Ah, yeah. And I saw that you got a call from Minju unnie earlier.”

As soon as Jihee mentioned Minju’s name, I knew what was coming.

“Yes.”

“She’s offering to tutor you.”

“Yes.”

“Has she talked to your brother about this?”

I thought I’d get a more annoyed reaction or a strong refusal, but…

Jihee was casually touching her phone, asking about the morning menu.

“Yeah, Minju said she’d help with a good heart, so I want to help too and get closer to you.”

“Hmm… is this really a good intention? Is this tutoring really that pure, oppa?”

Jihee’s hand brushed against my back and then wrapped around my waist.

I got goosebumps, and my waist felt relaxed.

“…Minju studies better than me.”

“I think it’s enough to have a teacher like you, oppa.”

“I’m busy sometimes, and seeing you every day can be tiring too.”

Although the time itself wasn’t long, it was a burden to have my time divided every day.

“So, what about you, Jihee? If you don’t like it, you can refuse. I’ve already talked about it beforehand.”

There was no absolute coercion.

It was just one option.

“I’m okay. If noona is willing to reduce my workload, why would I refuse?”

Reducing my workload.

Reducing my workload?

The context of helping with my studies felt a bit disconnected.

“I think it’s good to meet once or twice a week. There will be days when oppa can see me too.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

“Okay. We should also spend time with family.”

“……Okay.”

Jihee’s fingers touched my waist again.

“But, can you not do that?”

“It’s okay even for close siblings to do this much. Don’t be too shy.”

I, who had given up on pushing her away, let out a deep sigh.

“But maybe Minju knows more than me and can teach me better. She’s really good at studying.”

“Even so, I like having you as my teacher, oppa.”

“Just in case, don’t say anything weird or do anything strange to Minju.”

“Oppa knows. When I study, I focus quietly. And I have to do well on mock exams to celebrate with oppa.”

Do I really want to go to the festival that badly?

It didn’t quite resonate with me.

“Do you have a favorite celebrity you want to see?”

“No.”

“Then what do you want to see?”

“If we don’t go this time, oppa will go with other people and have fun.”

“If you don’t want to go, I won’t go either.”

“I don’t like that. We should have fun together. If we don’t, what’s the point?”

The desire to spend enjoyable time with me was too transparent.

“I want to be the first person to go to the university festival with oppa.”

My heart was racing.

Suddenly, I remembered the words Jihee had said with a mix of threats and persuasion a little while ago.

“If I don’t take you, you’ll go to another school and hang out with some unknown guys.”

It felt like a manly, yet childish emotion was boiling up, unlike a textbook answer like “You can’t do that as a student!”

“Wouldn’t it be fun if we went together, just the two of us?”

“A festival is just a festival.”

“That kind of talk is only possible when you’re a 4th-year senior, I think.”

“Our school festival is no fun.”

“I’ll make it fun for you.”

Jihee, who had been holding her waist, let go of her hand and turned her body to face me, locking eyes with me.

“Ah, and one more thing.”

“What’s that?”

“If Unnie Mina wants to quit first, what do we do?”

“Your private lessons?”

“Yes.”

“Aren’t you worrying about that too early when we haven’t even started yet?”

A faint smile began to form on Jihee’s lips.

“You never know. Unnie might suddenly want to quit.”

“Then… I’ll do it again.”

What’s the big deal?

“Is that so?”

Jihee’s index finger gently brushed past my lips.

“Then let’s start from next week.”

…It didn’t take me long to realize why Jihee had asked that question.