295. Scandal (22)

Seo Jia, who had been acting crazy in many ways, suddenly calmed down and stiffened, staring behind my back.

As if she had just encountered a ghost.

I stared intently into her frozen eyes, which weren’t trembling but were covered in goosebumps.

“……”

The gap of the open door was clearly reflected in her eyes.

…Although I couldn’t see who was peeking through the gap.

This sensation of my spine chillingly cooling down,

and the sweet scent of flesh I smelled every day, which I couldn’t mistake.

I knew who it was without needing to confirm.

“…You look like you’re having fun.”

“Ah…”

Before I could even turn my head, the woman in Jia’s eyes walked out the door.

Unexpectedly, she didn’t get angry or curse at me.

She looked at me with a cold, indifferent expression.

…She grabbed her younger sister, who was being toyed with by me, by the wrist and pulled her back inside the door.

“Haeun-ah.”

“Close the door and come in. …It’s cold out here.”

Although it was the cusp of summer and fall, not quite cold enough to complain about the chill even at dawn, she ignored me with a voice that felt like a chill and trudged back barefoot, taking her sister with her.

Watching Jia being dragged away, her whole body stiff with rigidity, I instinctively felt danger and grabbed my sister-in-law’s wrist.

“Let go.”

“Hey, wait a sec…”

“Why? Are you afraid I’ll kill her? …I won’t do anything like that, so don’t worry.”

Haeun meticulously peeled off my fingers, one by one, from her sister’s wrist.

With a face that neither smiled nor frowned, she spoke coldly to me, then dragged her completely frozen, speechless sister into the bedroom.

Before she could close and lock the door, I hurriedly followed her into the bedroom.

“Haeun-ah, just a moment. I know you’re angry, but calm down a bit….”

“I’m not angry. …And I’m more composed than she is. Shouldn’t you be telling the person who’s making a fool of herself outside to calm down first?”

“……”

Haeun, speaking nothing but irrefutable logic, shut me up.

She tossed her younger sister, who was sweating cold sweat, onto the bed.

Then she climbed on top and lifted her t-shirt.

She lightly left fingernail marks on the breasts I had just been caressing and licking.

“Ah……”

“…Does it hurt?”

“It hurts…, unnie…”

She hadn’t applied enough force to make Jia frown deeply, nor did Jia cry out in pain as if her face was contorting.

However, Haeun’s eyes, which looked like they could tear into flesh at any moment, drew the word ‘hurt’ from her sister’s lips.

…If she hadn’t said it hurt, Haeun would probably have left deeper marks.

Just like I,

always did when taming Haeun.

“My nails aren’t even that long, but it seems to hurt anyway.”

“……”

“…But knowing it hurts, why did you always leave fingernail marks on Joo-hyuk’s back when you had sex?”

She didn’t mention my mistake of releasing the door chain even once.

Blaming only her sister.

She dragged in the past, which had nothing to do with the current situation, to oppress Jia.

“Answer me. …Why do you always scratch his back during sex?”

“Haeun-ah.”

“Yeah, why? I just said something to my sister as an older sister because our Master always came back injured.”

I tried to stop her, sensing that some disaster might unfold if I left them be.

Haeun smirked, lifting the corners of her lips, and looked at me with eyes that didn’t smile.

She repeatedly murmured that it was all for me.

“…I’m sorry…”

“Yeah, sorry for what?”

“S-sorry, unnie, I… uh… touched oppa…”

Jia, disgusted by that artificial and chilling demeanor, apologized hastily, barely able to breathe.

“Ye-eun-ah. I think you’re misunderstanding something; this isn’t because you touched Joo-hyuk.”

“Then…”

“…I just hate you.”

…Haeun said, unlike when she looked at me.

She criticized her sister in a voice so firm and intimidating.

“It’s because I hate you. …Don’t you get it yet?”

“……”

“I don’t care if my Master does whatever with that Hinami girl, and I don’t care if you do whatever with him either. …But it pisses me off that you’re dragging Joo-hyuk into this just to spite me.”

As if coaxing a naive and naughty younger sister.

She gently caressed Ye-eun’s cheek, her voice completely at odds with the gesture.

…She poured out her true feelings, pent up since before she met me, to her sister.

“You’re not doing this because you like Joo-hyuk. …It’s because you hate seeing me triumphant, right? Am I wrong?”

“No, I…!”

“Oh really? Then are you doing it because you like Joo-hyuk? If that’s the case, should I give up? I’ll step aside, so you can go file for marriage registration tomorrow. You’re an adult anyway, there’s nothing stopping you, right?”

“No, that’s…”

“See? You can’t do it. …But I can. You’re not quite there yet.”

Unlike her sister, who was trembling and tearful with fear, Haeun didn’t even well up with a single tear.

Her words, sharp and piercing, dug into her sister’s heart, starkly contrasting with the gentle touch caressing her cheek.

“You’ve lived your whole life succeeding, so the world seemed easy, didn’t it? …While I, your sister, couldn’t work and was stuck at home, you were popular all on your own, making me look like a pathetic loser, right?”

“……”

“Well, if I were you, I would have felt the same, so I understand. …But suddenly, Joo-hyuk started choosing only me all the time, and that bothered you so much you couldn’t stand it?”

“That’s…”

“It was best when I was borrowing your house, your money, living in debt because I couldn’t pay rent, wasn’t it? …You could freely look down on me no matter what I did. Right?”

…At the same time.

Her own heart,

was being gouged out too.

“But what can you do? Your sister is now doing well enough, maybe not as much as you, but well enough… And Joo-hyuk, whom you desperately wanted, says he likes me more. Doesn’t that bother you so much?”

“……”

“But… just because I’m doing well doesn’t mean you’re failing, right? …Even so, do you want to take that away so badly? From your sister? After having everything else, you want to steal my man too?”

“N-no, it’s not like that…”

“Then what is it? …What exactly is the problem that makes you risk your entire life and act like a lunatic outside?”

“……”

“…You know it is, you bitch.”

Even before I ruined her,

she sternly scolded her already deeply twisted sister.

As soon as she noticed her sister starting to whimper, Haeun’s chilling expression softened into a smirk, and she got off her.

“Hah, shit… That felt fucking refreshing. Seriously, every time you looked down on me, it felt like shit…”

Then, stretching with a refreshed look, she glanced at me, who had placed a hand on her shoulder.

“What.”

“No, uh… I said I’m sorry.”

“Forget it. Wasn’t she threatening to cause trouble if you didn’t come out?”

“…Yeah, something like that.”

As if it were nothing, she coolly dismissed my fault.

Then, with light steps, she grabbed a few wet wipes from the desk and gracefully returned to her sister, who was holding back tears.

“Ugh…, hng. Haa, ha…”

“Wipe it. This is my bed. Don’t make it dirty.”

“…Hnggg……”

Whether it was indignation from being scolded by her sister.

Or perhaps, the tension finally releasing after genuinely thinking she might die.

She wiped Ye-eun’s tears as she sobbed more bitterly than when I had violated her.

“…Don’t cross the line again. Got it?”

“Hng…, yes…, I understand……”

…With an expression that finally seemed sisterly and kind.

On the other hand,

with a face that looked utterly wicked.

So that she could never defy her sister again.

And never disobey.

She hugged her sister, who had become like a child, and patted her back.

“Ah, and listen to oppa too. Don’t be too cheeky.”

“……”

…My words too.

So that I could never refuse.

She whispered in my ear.

**

When I opened my eyes, I was inside a soundproof booth filled with stale air, and naturally, it wasn’t my house, but my sister’s.

I remembered everything that happened at dawn, down to every last detail, every expression.

And of course, I remembered how I had cried my eyes out like a child.

…I want to die.

What was I so afraid of?

If I had just acted shamelessly when I was caught, there would have been no problem.

That’s why I tried to seduce oppa.

But why…

Just as I was sinking into self-reproach, overwhelmed by insane self-loathing and regret,

“You’re awake?”

“Hieek….”

The door burst open, and my sister’s voice, so tender it took my breath away, reached me, making my whole body tremble uncontrollably again.

…I wasn’t scared of my sister at all.

In fact, I found her amusing.

There was no need to be afraid.

And yet…

“Why are you trembling so much, Ye-eun-ah? Come out for breakfast.”

“……”

“…Come out.”

“…Okay.”

Why.

Can’t I even open my mouth in front of my sister?

To my sister, who openly treats me like an idiot,

Why can’t I say a single word?

“You don’t have any schedules today, right?”

“Uh, yeah…”

“Then eat and head upstairs slowly later. …Stay longer if you want.”

“…I’ll eat and then go back.”

“Alright.”

I couldn’t understand.

But my sister’s smile, as she spoke casually and took care of me.

Was so terrifying.

I wanted to run away from my sister immediately.

Because she wasn’t the sister I had known until now.

The sister who was less accomplished than me, steeped in inferiority…

Had died.

…Ever since meeting him.