Ch.148Season of Pure Love (2)

After Ms. Miso visited our home,

everything that followed proceeded like clockwork.

“I’ll be going now.”

“Yes, please support the teacher well so she doesn’t feel anxious.”

First, starting from the night Ms. Miso visited,

Sol-young left home to stay at Ms. Miso’s house.

Oh, please don’t misunderstand.

It wasn’t running away or rebelling against marriage opposition.

It was simply leaving home at Mom and Dad’s suggestion to look after Ms. Miso for the time being.

“The early stages of pregnancy can be very anxious, especially for first-timers. So for now, Sol-young, please stay by her side constantly.”

“Yes. Of course.”

“Don’t forget about Sol-mi’s prenatal education. She can understand what you’re saying already.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Oh, and my niece’s name has been decided too.

Sol-mi, the name Ms. Miso liked best among the candidates.

“Hey, don’t follow me all the way to school though, heh.”

“Yeah… I should definitely be careful about that.”

“Were you seriously thinking of following me to school?”

“I was planning to drive you to and from work every day.”

“Sol-young, you don’t even have a car.”

“Ah, I’m buying a used one the day after tomorrow. My savings plan just matured.”

“You’re preparing way too fast!”

Despite being the instigator of quite a significant event,

Sol-young’s expression didn’t seem as nervous or tense as one might expect.

I guess that’s what makes our firstborn son special from birth.

“What are you planning to do about school and work?”

“I called the boss at the place I worked before the military, and he said I could come anytime. I’ll probably work there for now.”

“You’re surprisingly well-prepared! Was this actually a planned pregnancy?”

“Even if it looks that way, don’t you all dare follow suit. Especially you, Ban Do-young.”

“W-who’s following suit? I’ve never even thought about such a thing!”

“As if someone like you could claim a rare nickname first.”

Despite those words, seeing Sol-young’s utterly calm attitude,

I couldn’t help but imagine myself in the same situation.

What would happen if the same thing occurred between Miss Ban Do-young and Do Ha-min?

I’d probably be panicking with my idiot hair spinning on top of my head,

repeating “What should I do? What should I do?” over and over again.

Well, that would be the normal reaction.

Of course, recently that Do Ha-min kid has grown into quite a manly person who can pull his own weight, but that’s only in his role as a student appropriate for his age.

A warm, model student image with good relationships with friends at school, studying diligently without major incidents.

That’s about how we can view the current Do Ha-min.

It’s only natural that he’s not yet grown enough to be responsible for someone else.

Readers wouldn’t expect that level of growth from an underage male protagonist in an all-ages webtoon.

I felt the same way.

I didn’t demand that Do Ha-min, who’s just finishing his first semester of 10th grade, grow enough to be responsible for someone else.

That was also why I shouldn’t mess around with Miss Ban Do-young’s body.

“Dad feels a bit sad. To send my son away again after he just came home after a year and a half. Your room will be sad too, with its owner leaving right after coming back.”

“No need to feel too sad. Ms. Miso’s house isn’t that far from here. It’s a quick drive.”

“I guess that’s why such an incident happened at dawn before the school trip, since it was so close.”

I didn’t know it then.

Who would have thought I was going on that high school trip with Sol-mi?

“Since this is your decision, Sol-young, Dad will support you. Just never make your future family members cry, understand?”

“I don’t know if I can be as good a dad as you, but I’ll try my best.”

“This kid… Come here. I couldn’t even give you a hug to congratulate you on finishing military service, so let me hug you now!”

And so the man who had become a father,

and the man who would become a father shared a deep embrace.

“Stay strong, my son.”

“Thanks for raising me, Dad.”

“Hey, Mom needs a hug too, so don’t take too long.”

“It’s not very pleasant to look at, so wrap it up.”

The sweaty sight of these two giants—195 and 196 cm tall—embracing

seemed like a scene only permissible between family members.

As someone who had barely enough family bonds in my possessed state,

I felt slightly nauseated by their embrace.

Or maybe Ban Do-young would feel the same way looking at her real-life brother.

“Now, Do-young and Si-young, come give your brother a hug too.”

“Eeh? Do we have to? Can’t we just say it? My hugs are quite expensive.”

“Your brother belongs to another woman now. If not now, you probably won’t get another chance later.”

“I don’t need to do it later either.”

“Tsk.”

“O-Oppa. Free hug… I won’t even ask for allowance money today, specially.”

Having Mom stay at home was scarier than I thought.

Eventually, reluctantly, I spread my arms toward Sol-young.

A main heroine’s hug shouldn’t be given to just anyone.

“Hmph, alright. I know how you feel, so let’s keep it short.”

Sol-young gave me a brief hug, gently patting my back.

True to his shoulders and back being a size larger than Do Ha-min’s, Sol-young’s shadow instantly enveloped Ban Do-young’s entire body.

“Ah, finally getting rid of one annoying thing from the house. Feels better than I expected.”

“Right. Do-young, you must have had a hard time hiding under your blanket in the middle of summer, trying to keep your voice from leaking out.”

“Yeah, thanks to that, the underwear I changed into last night, I had to change again this morning…”

“What are you two suddenly talking about?”

“Si-young, keep a close eye on Do-young when she brings her boyfriend home. Looking at this, she’ll definitely try to devour him at the first opportunity…”

*THWACK!*

“Oof!”

“B-Ban Do-young! What are you doing, why did you suddenly hit Sol-young…!”

“Just die!”

“Ban Si-young, stop your sister! At this rate, we won’t even get to see our little Sol-mi!”

“No, at this rate, I think we might not even see Dad’s face again?”

There was an unexpected advantage to hugging my brother.

I could aim for his vital point more precisely than ever.

**

It was the day after sending off my brother Sol-young.

Oh, of course, I mean sending him alive to Teacher Yeo Mi-so’s house.

“Sigh…”

Si-young, who had returned to Korea after the world championship.

Having finished her status as an exchange student, but not yet applied for transfer to a Korean school,

Si-young was helping with Dad’s kendo lessons at the home dojo while fulfilling her daily training quota.

“Good job, Si-young. I didn’t mean to ask for your help this late, but everyone really loves watching you demonstrate.”

“Well, the highly advanced swordmaster’s techniques must look almost magical to ordinary people… so of course they’d like it.”

“Hmm… The little girl who used to carry around a children’s bamboo sword and throw tantrums about learning kendo like her sister has grown up to help her dad with his work…”

“Tch, that’s ancient history.”

Si-young deliberately turned away from Dad’s proud smile.

However, her expression wasn’t as serious as when she used to hear stories about Do-young.

“It’s better when you two get along rather than bickering and fighting, right?”

“I don’t know about that. Stop changing the subject and make sure you add today’s help to next month’s allowance.”

“Of course! If you work hard, there should be a REWARD. Dad will definitely add a bonus to your next month’s allowance for today’s hard work.”

“That’s settled then. I’m tired, so I’m going up first.”

“Alright, rest well. Dad will finish cleaning up and come up later!”

Though she cited fatigue as she left,

while it was relatively much easier compared to her usual training intensity abroad,

perhaps it was because she was slightly nervous about participating in class as an instructor for the first time.

After coming home, Si-young quickly showered due to the fatigue washing over her body,

and immediately threw herself onto her bed.

*PLOP*

“Phew, finally I can catch my breath. Teaching isn’t as easy as I thought. Not bad though.”

Her entire body melded with the blanket as if being sucked in.

The sense of fulfillment and satisfaction from teaching further justified Si-young’s feeling that it would be okay to fall asleep right now.

“It feels just like after finishing a big competition… like I’m about to have an amazing dream…”

Just as she was about to surrender to this pleasant drowsiness,

about to drift off to sleep without realizing it.

“Aaaah, stop it!”

“Ugh.”

Do-young’s sharp scream pierced Si-young’s ears through the wall.

“Ban Thief sister… now you’re even stealing my well-deserved sweet sleep.”

The anger that began to build instantly burned away the drowsiness in Si-young’s body.

“Aah! Impossible! This is too much! You’ve put in enough already! It won’t go in anymore!”

“No, it can go in more. It has to go in more.”

“Ha-min oppa…?”

The moment Si-young heard another voice besides Do-young’s, she pressed her ear against the wall.

The voice scolding Do-young was unmistakably Ha-min’s voice.

“Come to think of it, I did see Ha-min oppa’s shoes earlier… But what are they putting in…?”

“Aaack! It’s too hard! It won’t go in anymore!”

“We just started! How can you be complaining already!”

“But it won’t go in! This is my limit!”

“…Are they doing it right now?”

At first, Si-young didn’t understand their conversation,

but recalling the lecture on human mysteries she had heard from Do-young just the day before,

Si-young’s mind began working like a translator,

starting to understand the meaning of the conversation between the young man and woman in the room.

“We agreed to stop here last time too. It’s too much, so can’t we continue next time…?”

“No, Do-young, I know you can do it. Let’s put more in. It would be such a waste to give up now.”

“But if it tears…”

“Then I’ll take responsibility. Definitely.”

“…Responsibility?”

That wholesome, heavy, and serious word “responsibility”

transformed into an extremely lewd word in Si-young’s brain, which was marinated in Do-young’s lecture.

‘Keep a close eye on Do-young when she brings her boyfriend home.’

The final message her brother Sol-young had given her before leaving home.

She didn’t expect to have to put that advice into practice so soon.

“I don’t care what happens to Ban Thief sister’s life… but I have to prevent Ha-min oppa from getting into trouble because of her since high school!”

Si-young jumped out of bed and headed straight for Do-young’s room next door.

Easily tearing off the already broken door, Si-young immediately raided the two people’s room.

“You two! What are you doing! As soon as oppa leaves home, you immediately do this kind of thing…”

“Aaaah, this won’t fit in my head! I can’t put any more in!”

“There’s only one day left until the exam, what are you saying? You can fit it all in your head, Do-young! I’ll take responsibility!”

“…Huh?”

The scene Si-young burst in on was Do-young having large, magnificent knowledge being inserted into her head under Ha-min’s proactive tutoring.