My Younger Sister Was My First Love

88. A Cultivated Discussion

Jihee’s afternoon study session took place on the floor.

“Hmm~ hmm~ hmm~”

The teacher hummed as they solved practice problems.

On the opposite side, in front of me, were the rarely-used reading stand and Jihee’s tablet.

I had agreed to read it, so I sat down.

The title of the work was [That’s How We Are].

Knowing it was an Ince#st novel, I felt like I was looking at a blue-colored spicy rice cake – I didn’t know what it would taste like, but I felt a sense of rejection.

I wonder if foreigners feel the same way when they first see Korean-style sausages?

“Oppa.”

“Yes.”

“Are you reading it?”

Jihee, who had put down their pen, was staring at me with an intense gaze, as if they were a supervisor.

“No, not yet.”

“Read it quickly. It’s not that many volumes, so it’ll be fast.”

“Focus. Focus.”

“Don’t tell me to focus and not you too. You should focus as well!”

I’m not taking an exam.

Anyone who sees this would think I’m reading an Ince#st novel.

“If you keep peeking at me like that, I’ll put it back in my room.”

“You used to peek at me a lot when you were in middle school.”

I got hit right on the nose.

Wow, that hurts.

In reality, I had peeked at Jihee’s back when they were in middle school, so I let out a short sigh and placed my index finger on the screen.

“I’m reading. Don’t disturb me.”

“Okay! I know! Do I have to read it carefully, savoring every line? Got it?”

“Got it.”

The manga Jihee brought was not from Korea.

Its origin was Japan.

It’s not common for such things to be distributed in Korea.

Although I don’t often consume webtoons or web novels, I had never heard of an Ince#st-related novel hitting it big in Korea.

I thought the illustration was quite beautiful.

The man was cool.

The woman was cute.

I wanted to take a closer look without colored glasses, so I slowly flipped through the pages of the manga, one by one, with my fingers.

The background of the characters was a real-life high school siblings with a blood relation.

The two people had become distant since adolescence and hardly spoke to each other.

The younger sister secretly liked her older brother, but he was oblivious to it, remaining cold and indifferent.

One day, as things were going on like this…

A new semester began on a spring day.

A handsome senior from the same class, who seemed to have popped out of the manga, suddenly started actively pursuing the female lead.

It was like a real fantasy.

Even though I had only read up to this point, I was already imagining the rest of the story.

[Iroha, what did you do with him?]

The model student-like older brother witnessed the scene and, for the first time, fiercely questioned the female lead when she came home.

[What did you do?]

[What did you do with Sawamura?]

[…Nothing in particular.]

[Tell me straight out, Iroha.]

Even though the content was highly predictable, it was still thrilling.

I turned the page with the curiosity of an ajumma watching a morning drama.

By the way, this development seemed familiar.

Didn’t it feel like what happened when I met Minju and then got scolded by Jihee?

[What does that have to do with my older brother?]

[Why doesn’t it have anything to do with him?]

The male lead placed his hand on the female lead’s chin.

The female lead’s pupils slowly expanded.

It was clear that the production had put in a lot of effort, making it seem like a pure romance manga.

[You, are you really going to go for that guy?]

This was the end of volume 1.

It was really interesting.

The abundance of illustrations made it easy to read quickly.

“How far did you read?”

“Ah, I was told to study.”

“No! I was worried because your older brother looked so troubled, so I did it.”

You’re recommending this to me now, and I’m worried about it.

“I finished reading volume 1.”

“What do you think?”

“It’s just…a romance manga.”

“Is that the end? Is that really the end?”

Jihee reacted as if she couldn’t believe it was over.

“Is the art pretty?”

“Ichika oppa is really handsome, isn’t he?”

“And Iroha is cute too.”

“Then should I cosplay as Iroha?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Why not! I could pull off that style too!”

“You can’t do it.”

As I saw him repeatedly making silly remarks and failing to focus, I knew it was time to take drastic measures.

I got up from my chair and approached Ji-hui from behind, grabbing her ear and pulling it upwards.

“Wake up.”

“Ow!”

“Go back to your room.”

“This is domestic violence!”

“Report me then.”

It was okay to play around during breaks, but now was study time.

And I was someone who hated it when people didn’t do their jobs on time.

We had plenty of plans to have fun, but we couldn’t focus even on a weekday, which was frustrating.

“Oppa, are you already obsessed with Ichika?”

“No, I’m just trying to make you study.”

“Even so, I like you more than Ichika.”

“I like you more than Iroha too.”

I didn’t have any affection for them, anyway.

Even if I saw all of this, Ji-hui would still be the better one, naturally.

A fictional character is just that – fictional.

In my mind, that was a clear boundary.

“Oppa, don’t think I’m not watching and do something else, okay?”

Ji-hui’s resistance was still strong even until the moment she was locked in her room.

“Alright, I’ll watch from the sofa, so you can study well.”

“We’ll talk about this later when we eat dinner together.”

“Alright.”

I successfully locked Ji-hui in her room.

I let out a deep sigh and returned to the sofa with my tablet.

There were a total of 5 volumes.

It took about 30 minutes to read the first volume, so I thought I could finish it all before dinner.

There was no urgent task, so I might as well read on.

As I started the second volume, I was shocked.

…What are they doing?

They were definitely students wearing school uniforms, but the scenes that flashed by were extremely provocative.

If we did this in our country, we’d get reported immediately.

Is this what they call ‘idol culture’?

Is this the authentic taste of the original work?

Without any filtering, the explicit description made me open my eyes wide and speechless.

No. But despite the explicit description, the progress was too fast.

My perception, which thought that having a romantic relationship was not the final destination in romance novels, was shattered.

The male lead, who had been suppressing his romantic feelings for his sister, went wild when he realized she might be taken away from him.

The two people, who couldn’t resist their desires, ended up sleeping together.

From then on, the two siblings, who had released their brakes, couldn’t stop their endless obsession with each other.

The male lead, Ichika, struggled with his feelings and suffered, but in the end, he couldn’t let go of his sister, Iroha.

I thought, “This is just like someone who knows it’s wrong but repeats it anyway.”

……Jihee had been watching this kind of thing alone at home every day.

I’m not sure if it’s entertaining as a form of content, but it’s definitely stimulating.

I read it enthusiastically, unaware of the passing time.

When Jihee came out of her room, I had already read about half of the fifth volume.

“Isn’t it too erotic?”

Jihee sat down next to me, checking how far I had read.

“Iroha is so cute.”

“Ha. I couldn’t sleep after reading this when I was 15.”

The teacher-like person touched their cheek, looking ecstatic, and nodded their head repeatedly.

“This is really crazy.”

“It’s embarrassing.”

“But how can you express it if you can’t say it?”

Even saying it’s exciting in a refined way had a bit of a weird undertone.

“Let’s eat. I’ll prepare it quickly.”

“Do you need help?”

“No. There’s not much to do today.”

“What’s the menu?”

“Udon noodles.”

A frozen udon noodle package that I had been wanting to try was sleeping in the refrigerator.

“Is it good?”

“Take a break. Do you have any questions for today?”

“English is one. Ah, but why do they make English so hard to read? Can’t they just make the sentences shorter?”

It seemed like a proper examinee was discussing the question quality.

“The English language proficiency test is originally like that. You. Haven’t you seen foreigners taking our English language proficiency test on video?”

“Is that a thing?”

“When you watch it, foreigners also laugh and say they don’t understand what’s going on.”

To make a living, I turned on the stove and opened the recipe window I had saved on my phone earlier.

“What’s up? So they can’t even get 100 points?”

“That’s right? But the Korean language proficiency test taken abroad is also surprisingly difficult. Koreans can’t get 100 points on that either, right?”

“I might get it wrong too? I’m confident I can get everything right at the college entrance exam level.”

I had forgotten.

The fact that Jihee was a language genius.

Still, the qualification exam for that kind of category had so many tricky questions, so I thought it would be difficult to get a perfect score.

After confirming that the noodles were fully cooked, I took out the dish and poured the sauce into it.

“Let’s eat.”

“Okay.”

We exchanged polite greetings, as if we had made a promise.

What followed was a conversation overflowing with cultural references.

“So, what’s your impression?”

“Impression?”

“You almost finished reading it, didn’t you?”

“Hmm…”

As I slurped the noodles, I had a chance to rethink my thoughts about the manga.

“Is it just a romance manga?”

“What?”

“No, to be honest, the explicit parts were quite shocking, but in terms of content, there wasn’t anything special, was there?”

Jihee’s face turned sour, as if the expression “turned ugly” was made for her.

“How can you say that after reading that masterpiece?”

“No, what’s so great about it? Look, if you summarize the content in one line, it’s just ‘iblings who like each other but can’t be honest, so they struggle and finally get together.’ That’s it.”

Is there any great creativity or twist in that?

“No, that’s not the point! Brother! The delicate emotional depiction! How Ichika’s attitude changes gradually, and how Iroha reacts to it, is shown in a cut-by-cut direction, and it’s insane!”

“Then, can you summarize the content in one line?”

“Gal (drink)!”

A thunderous shout echoed above the dining table.

“Ugh… Brother, 500 percent!”

“100 percent is the maximum, isn’t 500 percent too much?”

“That’s what I mean by T!”

It was no surprise that his empathy was lacking.

No, I didn’t say anything wrong.

“Anyway, it wasn’t bad overall. I don’t usually watch this kind of thing, so it was a bit new to me.”

“Hmm… Did you think about how to treat your younger sibling from now on?”

The main character, Ichika, wasn’t that proactive a type.

Solidly.

He was the type who did things when he did them.

“Hmm, should we get along well?”

“Are you going to answer so insincerely?”

“Ah, but personally, I liked Sayaka, who appeared as a sub-character, more than Iroha…”

-Wham!

My calf was kicked hard.

Jihee stood up from her seat, as if she couldn’t listen anymore.

“Do you know that I showed you that you’re interested in someone other than your brother?”

If I did something wrong, I’d just laugh it off and move on.

What did I do wrong that I have to accept this?

“No. It’s just that my character’s image is like that! When did I say I was dating Sayaka?”

“Correct it quickly. Iroha is better.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Oppa, can’t we just live together like this since we don’t match?”

“Even Ichika, who has a completely opposite personality, is living well. Can’t we do the same?”

I blurted out a series of retorts in my irritated state.

Jihee’s mouth was making an “O” shape.

“…Why.”

It was weird to see the person who was being persistent suddenly become so meek.

“No. Oppa, just now.”

“Yes.”

“Did you say we’d keep living together from now on?”

Only then did I realize my mistake.