Brother 6

Let’s talk not with words, but with swords.

At first glance, it sounded like nonsense.

Han Suho is not a swordsman.

There was little reason to indulge in such childish play.

“I’ll decline. I’m not young enough to play along with your games, sister.”

…If Han Joon-hyuk had been here.

He would have thought and said exactly this.

To hurt Han Seoyeon.

So that Han Seoyeon would be hurt.

“Is that all you wanted to say?”

“…”

“If that’s all, I’d like to leave now,”

“─No!”

Despite the cold rejection, Han Seoyeon didn’t back down.

“You can’t! I can’t let you go like this!”

Instead, she blocked Han Suho’s path with her whole body.

“If, if you ignore me and leave like this…”

Han Suho couldn’t move forward.

Not with such a lovable sister in front of her.

“If you ignore me and leave, I’ll sulk! I won’t talk to you for the rest of my life!”

What a small and cute threat this was.

At the same time, what a heart-pounding threat it was.

“…Suho, are you okay with that?”

“…”

There was no way she could be okay with it.

If she had her way, she’d want to hug her sister right now.

Because her sister was so precious to her.

“Alright, I’ll play along.”

Because she was precious, she couldn’t hug her.

If she were to hug her, she might break.

A wooden sword provided in the training ground.

She carelessly picked one up.

It had been a really long time.

The sensation of holding a sword in her hand.

She had quit swordsmanship long ago when she was seven years old.

For some reason, as soon as Han Suho grabbed it, she felt like she could do anything.

‘What nonsense.’

It was literally nonsense.

If she could do anything, she would have saved her sister long ago.

She glances to the side.

Across from her, Han Seoyeon also held an ordinary wooden sword.

“Doing this reminds me of old times.”

“…It’s different from back then. Everything is.”

That’s right.

Everything was different.

From back then.

Han Suho had changed.

Under strict gifted education.

The lovable little sister Han Seoyeon knew had long since died.

“It’s not different. It’s the same.”

“…What do you mean.”

“Because you’ve always been my sister.”

─Words fail her.

Han Suho couldn’t speak.

“My one and only, precious sister.”

“─.”

“So, I’m definitely going to make up with you!”

They were sweet words.

That’s why they shouldn’t be accepted.

“Enough with the chatter. Let’s just start.”

She forced herself to speak sarcastically.

“…Since it’s a match between you, who’s been swinging a sword all this time, and me, the outcome is obvious.”

“Is that really so?”

It was a strange conversation.

The one underestimating herself was Han Suho.

The one who wasn’t was her sister.

“Here I come!”

Kicking off the training ground floor.

Han Seoyeon’s figure rushed in.

“…”

The lightning-fast draw she had seen many times.

The fierce sword strike that defeated Carol in one blow was coming towards her.

“What?”

Strangely, she blocked it with her sword.

Without any trace of special ability.

“You’re good at this after all.”

When she wasn’t holding a sword, it seemed like an overwhelmingly powerful strike.

Now, not only did she easily block it, but thoughts on how to use it more efficiently even crossed her mind.

“Nonsense, it’s just luck.”

“No. That can’t be. Because you’re my sister.”

It was an unreasonable logic.

Han Suho denied it.

Her sister is strong.

She has unparalleled talent with the sword.

She also practiced every day.

If she could surpass her sister despite not touching a sword for over ten years.

If it meant she had even more talent than her sister.

[You are children with the greatest talent. That’s why one of you must be chosen.]

Why did the owner of that terrible voice force a choice between the two of them?

Why didn’t they force Han Suho herself to bear it!

“Alright, let’s go a bit further!”

“…!”

The speed increases.

The speed of the sword and technique.

It’s not easy to keep up.

Even so, she gradually adapts.

She was getting used to it.

As if it were natural.

Perhaps it was because they were twins.

Han Suho watched the series of movements Han Seoyeon made and gradually adapted, as if catching up.

“How is it, are you feeling a bit better?”

“…No.”

She gritted her teeth.

She didn’t try to smile.

Exercise helps relieve stress.

But this wasn’t something that could be resolved by such a thing.

“Not at all.”

It was a clumsy consideration.

Utterly awkward.

“I don’t feel that way at all.”

People are fickle creatures.

That’s why people’s hearts are fickle.

If there was someone who did wrong between the two, who would it be?

Certainly, it couldn’t be Han Seoyeon.

The bad one was always Han Suho.

If she wanted to draw a line, she should have done so thoroughly from the beginning.

The one who wanted the other to approach first was Han Suho.

Han Seoyeon was just worried about her sister’s well-being.

She was trying to soothe her sulking sister.

“Stop with these pathetic delusions.”

And yet.

“You don’t know anything, sister.”

And yet.

The one getting angry was Han Suho.

“Don’t speak carelessly as if you know everything.”

The reason was too petty to even describe.

Somewhere in her heart, Han Suho thought she was being kind to Han Seoyeon.

It was because she deluded herself into thinking she was sacrificing herself for her sister.

Without even realizing it herself.

So she gets angry.

Wondering why her sister can’t understand the sister who’s enduring pain for her sake.

As if throwing a childish tantrum.

“You’re right. That’s exactly it.”

They were already removed from the family register.

There was no need to care about her.

“I don’t know you well. You’re my lovely sister, but you’re also clearly a stranger. We’ve been apart for years.”

So,

“That’s why, from now on, I’ll get to know you. If there are misunderstandings between us, I’ll understand and resolve them. Let’s talk, us two.”

There was no need to indulge such childishness.

“I want to hear your story. Your honest story!”

“…”

She felt ashamed.

She felt humiliated.

Of herself.

“…What do you know.”

And so, what welled up was an emotion called anger.

“What do you know, sister.”

It was a disgusting anger to hide her shame.

“You don’t know anything!”

To justify that anger, she thinks.

About the environment Han Suho was placed in.

About the despair she tasted from that place.

“Because you don’t know anything, you can say such things so calmly!”

It’s a self-serving rationalization.

Whatever she had gone through, it couldn’t be worse than being driven out to the slums.

Thwack. Clack─.

In the training ground with just the two of them, only the clear sound of wooden swords clashing echoes.

Han Suho swung her sword.

As if slashing wildly.

Following the flow of consciousness.

“It was painful, it was hard! Every day was like hell!”

Han Seoyeon quietly received it all.

As if indulging a child’s tantrum.

“After you left, I was alone. Alone, under the pretext of successor education, I received gifted education constantly without a moment’s rest!”

A story she had hidden, so of course Han Seoyeon couldn’t have known.

“You know, do you think you protected me? Do you think you sacrificed yourself for me?”

But a story she wanted to be understood in her heart.

“Not at all!”

Like a volcano erupting.

“That man, he took you hostage!”

The resentment that had been pent up for years, with nowhere to go, bursts forth.

“Using you as a hostage, he threatened me every day! If I didn’t work hard, if I didn’t follow his orders! He said he’d kill you…!”

Crackle, electricity ripples.

The force of swinging the wooden sword gradually increases.

“My past isn’t as bright and hopeful as you think.”

“…”

“I couldn’t resist! I didn’t want you to die! I didn’t want to make you unhappy anymore! I didn’t want to turn my back on you again! Like back then!”

Back then.

From when she was seven years old, when she abandoned her sister and survived alone.

Han Suho’s time stopped moving after that.

“So I followed that man’s words! Because I wanted you to be happy!”

Otherwise, there’s no way she would have gone on a matchmaking date with such a man with vulgar eyes.

“Understand, realize it! I like you, sister…!”

For her sister’s sake, she could do anything.

Even if it meant selling her body like a prostitute to a man,

“So now…!”

Crack.

The sound of thunder is heard.

And then.

“Now, please don’t approach me kindly…!”

Rumble.

BOOM─.

“Ah…”

Lightning struck.

“Ah, ah…!”

Puberty is the period when the sense of handling abilities develops best.

Abilities change their form according to people’s emotions.

Therefore, paradoxically, during puberty, there are often cases where one can’t control their ability.

Because they can’t control their emotions.

“…Ah, ah!”

Han Suho witnessed with her own eyes the devastation she had caused.

The training ground floor was scorched, the wooden sword had melted from the fire.

“Sister!”

Han Seoyeon’s body, pushed to the edge of the training ground by the impact, was dripping with blood.

“Sister, sister…!”

Throwing away the wooden sword that only had the handle left, Han Suho ran.

“No, no. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, sister. I didn’t mean to, I didn’t mean to…!”

Han Seoyeon is powerless.

Moreover, all she had was an ordinary wooden sword.

Under such conditions, Han Suho’s ability hit her directly.

Perhaps, she might die like this.

“I didn’t mean to…”

A hand reaches out.

The sister, towards her younger sister.

No matter what harsh words she hears, she would have nothing to say.

“I’m sorry, sis─.”

“Don’t apologize.”

The hand naturally enveloped Han Suho’s head.

“You don’t need to apologize. We’re sisters, you’re my little sister. Sometimes, you can throw tantrums like this.”

And then, she hugged her tightly.

“I’m sorry.”

What formed on her lips was a single apology.

“For not noticing.”

Words she wanted to hear.

But words she shouldn’t hear.

“My only little sister was suffering so much,”

She should close her ears.

…She couldn’t close them.

“I’m truly sorry…”

Tears fall.

From her sister’s eyes.

“I thought if I just sacrificed myself, you would be happy. I thought it would be okay as long as you were happy. I prided myself on being able to endure life in the slums with that thought alone.”

Even though Han Suho was the one who hurt her, it was Han Seoyeon who shed tears and repented.

“I wanted you to live your life happily without worrying about an incompetent sister like me.”

That was the reason for destroying the original story.

That was the reason for being a munchkin protagonist.

“That wasn’t it, was it.”

Han Seoyeon hadn’t achieved anything.

“I’m sorry, truly sorry. My precious and lovely little sister.”

So now, belatedly, she could only hug her tightly.

Even though she couldn’t turn back the years of hurt her sister had endured.

From now on, at least.

“Ah─.”

Only then did Han Suho fully realize what she had done.

“Blood, there’s blood…”

“It’s okay.”

She trembled.

She was afraid of losing her sister.

“I’m tough, you know.”

Han Seoyeon held the trembling, wandering hands.

“Being like this after so long feels good somehow. It reminds me of the old days. It feels like we’ve become normal sisters again, like in the past…”

Because Suho was the little sister who used to follow her sister around.

“Can we stay like this for a little longer?”

“…Yeah.”

For a long time, until the sun set and night’s curtain fell.

The sisters held each other tightly.