episode_0119

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Wait—was I jealous?!

That night.

Having just confronted an uncomfortable truth while tossing restlessly in bed, Lee Hayoon’s eyes blinked wide open again.

Then, she promptly squeezed them shut once more.

No, come on, that’s ridiculous.

There’s no way I’d be jealous of Jiyoon. That’s absurd.

It’s not like they’ve done anything special—they’ve just been sticking together because of her treatments, right?

But this tangled mess of emotions wasn’t so easily resolved.

…Well, how do I put it?

It feels… oddly distracting, I guess?

Yeah. That’s probably the best way to describe it.

“Jealousy” seems like too strong a word, after all.

“Hmmmm…

The tail-end of March, early spring, was so chilly it hardly felt like a proper season at all.

Burrowing deeper under her blanket, Hayoon sank back into her thoughts with her eyes closed.

Even now, from Jiyoon’s room just across the living room, Woojin’s voice was probably still trickling out in bits and pieces.

Now that I say it like that, it sounds kind of weird—well, I mean, it’s just that late at night while gaming, they’re also chatting over voice call.

Apparently, it’s easier for them to talk out loud than type while playing. Whatever.

…Anyway, all those little behaviors were part of what I meant by “distracting.”

To put it briefly, it’s like “my boyfriend is acting way too close to my little sister.”

Somehow, it ended up sounding like the title of some Japanese manga.

“…Well, it’s natural they’d be close, right? Mhm.”

Muttering to herself, Hayoon rolled around restlessly as she kept thinking.

Unlike me—just a year older—they’re the exact same age.

From Jiyoon’s perspective, she finally got a gaming buddy.

From Woojin’s perspective, since she’s my little sister, he’d want to treat her as kindly as possible without any issues.

Break it all down, and it makes perfect sense.

Honestly, it’d be way more awkward if they were constantly at each other’s throats like sworn enemies instead of how they are now.

Logically, she could rationalize it just fine.

But emotions aren’t always logical, are they?

It keeps bugging me.

It keeps annoying me.

…Maybe,

it really is jealousy after all.

“Ugh…”

This is kind of funny.

The object of it isn’t even some stunning girl who appeared out of nowhere—it’s my little sister, who’s spent her entire 20-year life loving games more than boys.

…Wait.

Putting everything else aside, she is a stunning girl.

Just the confessions she got back in middle and high school that I’ve heard about secondhand alone number at least…

“……”

Ugh. Why am I like this?

I could just be honest with them, couldn’t I?

Jiyoon, don’t get too close to Woojin.

Woojin, instead of hanging out with Jiyoon, hang out with me.

Of course, I can’t just say it outright—maybe hint at it a bit more subtly…

Hmph, my phone… Where’s my phone…

119

I’m slowly getting sick of this game.

…No. To be precise, it’s not like I was ever really into it to begin with, so at this point, it feels more like torture.

At first, I played diligently with the single-minded determination of I’ll get closer to Jiyoon no matter what, but after hitting about 30% progress, I no longer understand why I have to click my mouse so desperately at pixels.

If it were a game perfectly suited to my tastes, I doubt I’d feel this way.

Guess this kind of game just isn’t for me.

Something like… I dunno, an adult game would probably suit me way better.

At least those are actually stimulating.

“Ugh…”

1 AM.

Unless you’re Jiyoon or someone like CZ, this is around the time normal people start getting sleepy.

After announcing I was heading to bed, I rubbed my dry eyelids and left Discord.

…What the hell is wrong with that idiot.

The moment I said I was going to sleep, he looked way too smug—yet the second I disconnected, Jiyoon immediately logged off too.

Probably wanted to try something with Jiyoon the second I was gone…

Next time, maybe I should just straight-up let him hear us having sex.

Maybe toss in something like “I’m finishing inside” into the mic.

Or “I’ll fuck you stupid until you pass out, so say it with your own mouth.”

Or Jiyoon desperately trying to hold back her moans before inevitably failing—Hik—Hnngh—Ah—

Eh, I’ll get to do it someday. Someday.

Just as I flopped onto my bed—

“…Huh? This late?”

I sluggishly reached toward my phone when I heard it buzz from my nightstand.

There was a single small notification.

…A KakaoTalk message received at this hour.

Could it be from Jiyoon?

If she had something to say to me, why not just say it earlier over Discord?

Or maybe she only just thought of it after lying down.

As I reflexively checked the notification icon and pulled down the status bar—

The name staring back at me said:

Lee Jiyoon’s

Older Sister

[Lee Hayoon]

– You up?

Not only that—Hayoon had sent a strangely loaded message.

…What’s this about?

She’s never contacted me this late before.

Something wrong?

– Yeah. I was just about to sleep, though. Finished gaming with Jiyoon a minute ago.

– I see…

I tried to respond with as much attentiveness as I could muster despite my exhaustion, but all I got back was a vaguely suspicious single-line reply.

Staring at that tiny word, I sighed deeply and sat up.

Her tone made it impossible to comfortably continue this lying down.

Why is she acting like this? Out of nowhere.

– Why’d you message me?

– Just… had something to ask.

– Something to ask?

Did it have to be now?

Couldn’t it wait until morning?

She’s never reached out this late before, so it must be something important, right?

I’ve practiced plenty by dragging female villains into bed, but since dating is new to me, this kind of thing makes me kinda nervous…

As I anxiously cycled through possibilities, Hayoon finally spoke up.

– …Was the game fun?

– The game?

– You’ve been playing with Jiyoon every night.

– Ah.

So that’s why she messaged? Seriously?

Well, I guess I can be honest about that much.

I already told Hayoon I don’t really like games anyway,

and she must know I’m only forcing myself to play for Jiyoon’s sake.

– Meh. I’m doing my best for Jiyoon, but it doesn’t really grab me.

– Really? So you didn’t catch Jiyoon’s gaming addiction then.

– Basically.

After my blunt reply, the chat fell silent for a bit.

She said she had something to ask, but was that really it?

No way it’s something that shallow—so I waited a little longer. About a minute later, another message arrived.

– Then, uh…

– Y’know…

– The thing is…

But instead of a proper response, she kept sending fragmented, irrelevant messages.

Then, another long silence.

What’s with her?

If she’s got something to say, just say it already.

It’s like she reached out without thinking and is now dragging it out—frustrating beyond words.

If I could at least see her—maybe clutching her phone tightly while patting the bed with her foot,

or rolling around struggling to find the right words—it’d be easier to stomach.

But this is just texting. I can’t see any of that.

I just want to get this over with and sleep…

funckeeping my yawn at bay, I rubbed my eyes and tapped my screen.

– Hayoon, noona.

– Ah, yeah?

– I’m pretty tired right now, so… whatever you wanna say, could you just say it?

– …Say it?

– Yeah. Please. Did I ever tell you not to say things?

– …Hold on. Taking a deep breath.

So it is something serious enough to need a deep breath?

Fine. Whatever. Just get on with it.

Resigned, I lay back and rested my phone on my chest.

I only checked the screen again when I belatedly remembered that Kakao notifications don’t buzz while the screen is on.

– Let’s go on a date tomorrow night!

– Stop just playing games and ignoring your girlfriend…

– This time, just the two of us—no Jiyoon. Okay?

– I-I’m fine with anywhere, so…

My sister is acting weird.

…No, wait.

“Weird” doesn’t quite cover it.

Rewording it would be far more accurate:

Lee Hayoon has lost it.

And I mean completely lost it.

“Heheheh…”

“…The hell’s wrong with you this early? What’d you eat?”

“Hmm? …Heh-heh…”

“……”

Sure, I already knew she was a little odd,

but today’s on another level.

Her mouth, normally chattering nonstop like a squirrel’s, is today preoccupied with just grinning.

The doenjang-jjigae’s seasoning was slightly off. Not inedible, but too salty.

She completely forgot to take side dishes from the fridge, so I had to do it.

…And worst of all—

The fried egg is slightly burnt.

“…”

Why is she like this?

Did she win the lottery or something?

Or maybe…

Lately, she’s been recklessly trusting Seo Woojin to push her limits during training—could she have gotten much better at controlling her strength?

An academy scholarship, perhaps?

Unable to pin it down, I pointed my chopsticks (which I’d been using to poke at the egg) at her.

“Lee Hayoon.”

“Yeah?”

“I asked what’s wrong with you this morning. You’re not some village idiot.”

“…Huh? Did I do something weird?”

“There’s no one thing—there’s too much to list.”

“…Heh. I see. Okay.”

“So what’s going—”

“Nothing! I’m just… in a really good mood today. Pffft…”

“…”

Absolute lunatic.

Resigned to getting no answers, I gave up entirely.

Hayoon’s always been a simple-minded puppy, anyway.

Whatever the reason is… I’ll probably figure it out within five minutes of observing her.

—Buzz

“…Huh?”

Just as I started intently scrutinizing her expression—

My phone, resting on the table, vibrated lightly.

[Seo Woojin]

– Can’t game tonight.

– Gotta hang out with Hayoon noona in the evening.

– Might be out late with her, so take a break from gaming today too.

– You wouldn’t wanna deal with that creep solo, right?

…A message with

somewhat,

no, extremely concerning implications attached.