My Younger Sister Was My First Love

68. Naraku Quiz Show

I arrived at my aunt’s house around 10 pm.

I jumped out of the taxi and ran like a sprinter.

My breath, which had been building up to my throat, finally subsided when I arrived at the elevator.

“Ha… ha…”

Don’t curse, Ijihee.

Don’t curse, Ijihee.

I felt like I was about to explode with harsh words, but for now, I had to prioritize getting my brother out without causing a scene.

-ting

The door finally opened, and I stood up straight and pressed the doorbell firmly.

There was no response.

My anxious heart made me press it again.

Only then did I hear the sound of footsteps.

The one who opened the door was the owner of the room and the older brother who was trying to steal the spotlight, a reckless private tutor.

It was Unnie Demi.

“……Unnie.”

You could say it was an extravagant outfit, even for being at home.

No, it was even more ridiculous because it was at home.

Who wears that at home?

A revealing nashee with a short skirt that exposed her shoulders.

I could feel my blood boiling.

“If you’re a repeater, don’t waste your energy on things like this and just stay at home, what are you doing here?”

It was something our oppa would normally say.

But the tone behind it was completely different.

Oppa’s words were always considerate of me, but that one was different.

I could sense an undeniable discomfort hidden beneath.

“Okay, where’s our oppa?”

“Over there.”

As I took off my shoes and entered, Oppa was sleeping peacefully on Unnie Demi’s bed, looking extremely comfortable.

It was a pose reminiscent of a vampire sleeping in a coffin.

As I turned my gaze, I could see what Oppa and Unnie had been up to.

The empty soju bottles scattered on the floor.

The delivery containers and dishes.

How much had they drunk?

At least three or four bottles per person, it seemed.

“What kind of liquor did you drink so much of?”

“Someone must have been causing trouble.”

“Is it fun to play with people like that? Leaving our oppa in that state?”

“Why are you talking like that? Junho said he’d come with me, so I did.”

My anger, which was about to boil over, subsided with Unnie’s single phrase.

“……Oppa said he’d come with me?”

“Yes.”

It seemed Unnie wasn’t in her right mind either.

“Lie.”

“The lie isn’t mine, but Junho’s, the one he told you. Jihee, you. You didn’t know our oppa came to see me, did you?”

It was the truth.

Oppa had told me he was going to meet some guys, after all.

Unnie Demi didn’t know that.

This was clearly a situation where Oppa had lied.

“……Get out of the way.”

I pushed past Unnie and tried to lift up the completely knocked-out Oppa.

He was heavy.

Even if I wasn’t drunk, a man’s body is not light, but after my consciousness disappeared, it felt as heavy as a water-soaked cotton ball.

“Don’t bother and just sleep here.”

“No, and you should help me quickly, Unnie.”

“I don’t want to. If you want to take him, take him with your own strength. Why should I do it?”

Unnie sat down in the chair in front of the desk, looking like she was fed up with everything.

“Are you really going to do this?”

“That’s what I want to say to you. Are you really going to do this?”

“What’s going on?”

“You’re siblings. Come to your senses.”

“We’re siblings, and we’re doing this here. We’re taking care of family.”

Even as my nerves were being scratched, I shook my oppa’s shoulders vigorously.

“Oppa, open your eyes. Let’s go home. Okay? We should go home and sleep.”

“My bed is comfortable, so just leave it alone.”

“Ah! Stop it!”

I, who had been kneeling in front of the bed, suddenly stood up and approached Unnie.

“Don’t do that, it’s not good for your mood. Okay?”

“You had a good time with your oppa, but why are you in a bad mood as a younger sibling?”

“Let’s see, let’s see.”

“What are you going to do? Are you going to hit me?”

“Can’t hit you?”

“If I hit you, Junho will think you’re a bad younger sibling. You should be a pretty and kind younger sibling, Jihee.”

As I clenched my fist, my long fingernails pressed into my palm.

This isn’t easy.

It seems I’ve been hiding this side of myself well until now.

“Unnie.”

“Yes?”

“Unnie, I can’t win against you.”

It seemed necessary to clearly declare that there was no winning or losing in this situation.

“Unnie, I can’t win against you.”

“That’s your thought.”

“Don’t you know that a man’s first love lasts a lifetime?”

Oppa is my first love.

And I’m oppa’s first love.

It’s just the end.

This is the end.

There’s no room for other people to intervene in our relationship.

“That’s an extremely sexist remark.”

“What’s going on?”

“Women’s first loves last a lifetime too.”

Unnie, who had stood up from the chair, approached the bed and bent down to gently stroke oppa’s face.

“I liked you even before you liked me.”

* * *

It was suffocating.

Not psychologically, but physically, I felt suffocated.

Why was my body so heavy? The moment I opened my eyes.

I had to recognize where I was.

Like a broken film, my memories were disconnected.

Drinking with Minju, getting drunk, and then…

What came next…

I didn’t need visual information to confirm who was on top of me.

I knew the familiar scent.

The faint lilac fragrance.

This was Jihee’s shampoo scent.

I looked up at the ceiling.

This wasn’t Minju’s house.

Just the vast ceiling area alone told me it wasn’t a studio apartment.

This was our living room.

The leather texture I felt was probably the sofa.

Then, the question arose.

How did I get home?

It was clear that I had passed out drunk, so it made sense that I was at Minju’s house.

But the fact that I was here meant someone had brought me here.

At least, in the state I remembered, I didn’t have the energy to come home on my own.

So, it was either Minju or Jihee who brought me here…

The direction the inequality sign pointed was clear.

The probability of Jihee bringing me home was infinitely higher than Minju forcing me to come here.

My mind cleared up.

I slowly turned my head, and the clock on the wall caught my eye.

6:30 am.

I still had a long way to go before school.

First, I wanted to go to the bathroom, so I had to get up from here.

It was probably impossible to get up without waking Jihee.

The sofa was big, but not that wide.

It was impossible to sneak out from under Jihee, who was sleeping like a sandwich, without waking her up.

In the end, I had no choice but to gently shake Jihee awake.

“……Jihee.”

“Umm……”

Jihee’s fist was tightly grasping the hem of my T-shirt.

“Just let me get up for a bit.”

Although my body didn’t have much strength due to the drinks, I managed to escape the sofa safely.

The clothes I was wearing were still the same.

I naturally started gathering my belongings.

My wallet was in my pocket, and my phone was…

I wondered if I had left it at Minju’s place, and my headache started already.

I finished washing my face in the bathroom and came out.

“……oppa.”

I couldn’t help but stop in my tracks as I heard the voice behind me.

“Ah, sorry. Did I wake you up?”

As I turned around, Jihee was sitting on the couch, staring at me with her knees bent.

Jihee was also dressed in her going-out clothes, as if she had just brought me back.

What had happened yesterday?

“Don’t you have anything to say?”

The response to “Did I wake you up?” was “Don’t you have anything to say to me?”

I didn’t know exactly what had happened, so I couldn’t give a quick answer.

“Can I just change my clothes and talk about it later?”

“Get dressed and come out right away.”

Jihee, with her sulky face, didn’t seem to be planning to let this slide.

I put on a T-shirt and shorts, my heart racing, and opened the door.

Jihee turned her head and slapped her palm on the couch beside her.

“Sit down.”

As I sat down, Jihee gazed at me with a face that seemed to have a lot to say.

“Oppa.”

“Yes.”

“Say it out loud, oppa.”

“What?”

“You did something wrong to me. Say it out loud.”

It’s better to take the initiative and apologize first.

I let out a deep sigh and brushed my hair back.

“I’m sorry for lying. The people I met yesterday weren’t friends, but Minju.”

Jihee nodded as if telling me to continue.

“I’m also sorry for getting too drunk and not being able to go home alone. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

I thought this was a reasonable apology to my younger sibling.

“……Is that it?”

Jihee’s eyes grew even larger, and her eyebrows rose.

“Is that really it?”

“And, uh…”

As I spoke, I felt like I needed to say more.

“And did you try to contact me in the middle?”

“Oppa.”

Jihee cut off my words as if she didn’t need to hear any more.

“Yeah.”

“Why are you so inconsiderate?”

His bright, lively eyes seemed to pierce through my skin, making me feel a stinging sensation.

“Put yourself in others’ shoes. If I don’t want to do something, I shouldn’t make others do it either. Don’t you know that?”

“No.”

“If I were to go to someone else’s house, get drunk, and pass out, how would you feel about it?”

“……That wouldn’t be good. But Min-ju is someone you know, too.”

“If you were confident, you would’ve spoken up and gone. Mr. Lee Jun-ho.”

The sting of his words made me shut my mouth tight.

“Anyway, I’m sorry. But it’s not like it can’t be done a few times, and since Min-ju also gave you private lessons, I promised to buy you dinner as a thank you.”

It wasn’t like I had no excuse.

If I were to say I was going to meet someone I didn’t like, it was obvious I wouldn’t be happy about it.

Plus, when I first went out, I was planning to have a moderate amount to drink and then head home.

And if I really thought about it, it was a problem whether I should be scolded like this by my younger sibling.

“……Punishment.”

“Punishment?”

“Let’s receive punishment. Oppa.”

Ji-hui’s voice was as calm as her neatly combed hair.

“No. I did wrong, but…”

“If you do wrong, you should receive punishment, right?

His expression was stern, but it seemed like he was willing to listen.

“What kind of punishment.”

“From today, you’ll sleep with me in my room for a week.”

“What?”

“Sleep with me in my room.”

“No way. That’s not punishment.”

“It’s punishment if you don’t want to sleep with me but are forced to. You’re making a face like you don’t want to do it, right? That’s punishment.”

Sleeping with my younger sibling in the same bed was already weird.

And I knew it wouldn’t just end with simply sleeping together.

There was something deeper, something more ominous waiting ahead.

“No way. Something else.”

“Why.”

“I said no.”

“Can’t you sleep with me like you do with Min-ju unni?”

“No. It’s not like I slept with her, and we didn’t share a bed either. I just got drunk and passed out.”

“Will you listen to whatever I say if I say something else?”

“I’ll think about it.”

Even if something came out, it wouldn’t be worse than this.

Being told to sleep with Ji-hui for a week was already a punishment that had crossed the line.

Jihee seemed to be thinking of something, and then she pressed her lips to mine with her index finger.

“So, for one week, every morning, I’ll kiss you when I wake you up.”

……There was no decent choice, no matter how I thought about it.