Chapter 28: Sis Did What With Bro’s Sweaty Shirt…?

Yoo Chaea’s younger sister, Yoo Chae-rin.

As the younger sister of my one and only childhood friend…

I played with Yoo Chae-rin quite often when we were younger.

“You said you’d let me play too!”

“Just ten more minutes, then I’ll give it to you. Can you wait nicely?”

“You’ve said that like, a million times! How long do I have to be nice for?!”

“Is it so fun to tease your little sister? Just give it to her already.”

“Isn’t she cute when her cheeks are all puffed up like that?”

Back in elementary school, when she’d come over to Hyunwoo’s house to play video games.

Chaea would deliberately hog the game console and tease her.

“Wow… Can I borrow all of these, Oppa?”

“As long as you don’t rip them or spill anything on them, you can do whatever you want.”

“T-Thank you!”

When she graduated elementary school and entered middle school.

She would occasionally sweep up all the manga books in Hyunwoo’s room.

As time went on…

The little kid who used to love Pocket Monsters fell into manga and evolved into a dark otaku.

“Oh my gosh. Jinhyuk Oppa plays this game too?”

“I’ve been playing since I won the beta test.”

“Wow, really? I didn’t get in, so I’ve just been twiddling my thumbs waiting for the official release. How much do you spend on it? I just casually do the monthly subscription…”

When Jinhyuk and Chae-rin coincidentally came to Hyunwoo’s house at the same time.

She rattled on and on, proving that she was in the same league as Jinhyuk.

“Why don’t you come with Chae-rin these days?”

“She says she has to set out water and pray before doing gacha.”

“…Shouldn’t she go to the hospital?”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Honestly, I was a little worried too. But she learned it from Lee Jin-hyuk.”

“Getting tainted by him is really dangerous.”

As Hyunwoo and Chaea entered high school, their hobbies diverged sharply, and they had less and less interaction.

“Excuse me…”

“Long time no see, Yoo Chae-rin.”

Chae-rin carefully entered the house.

The younger sister of my childhood friend, who entered high school this year, had changed a lot since I last saw her.

“Your glasses seem thicker?”

“Ah… I think my eyesight got worse because I always turn off the lights and secretly use my computer.”

“Why do it at night when you can do it during the day?”

“I, I can’t say.”

“?”

Hyunwoo tilted his head and accepted the container of side dishes from Chae-rin.

‘She probably played some furry eroge.’

That was my guess, based on Chae-rin’s suspicious tastes that I had accidentally discovered.

“Oppa. This is my lifelong request. You can take my life, but please keep it a secret.”

“Y-Yeah… I wouldn’t tell anyone. I don’t really need your life either.”

“Thank you so much…”

Since I had made that promise before, I didn’t say it out loud.

I carefully put the side dishes in the refrigerator.

“You gave us so much. I wonder if we can eat it all.”

“She said you’re always ordering delivery, so she told me to make sure you eat healthy.”

“Ah.”

She must have heard the motorcycle sound from next door.

“Tell her thank you.”

Since we received so many side dishes, I decided not to turn on the delivery app for a while.

Click.

A brief silence after closing the refrigerator door.

“Hoo…”

Chae-rin took a deep breath and turned to Chaea.

Until now, she seemed to be deliberately fixing her gaze on Hyunwoo.

Now, the courage to face Chaea was evident on her face.

“Um… Unnie.”

“Huh? Me?”

“Yeah, is your body feeling okay?”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t go back then. It just happened to be the day I went on a trip with my friends…”

Chae-rin’s expression grew darker.

When the accident happened to Chaea.

She was on a trip to Japan with her friends, so she couldn’t come to the hospital.

“It’s okay. It’s not like you had to come.”

Chaea scratched her cheek.

Since she looked exactly like Chaea.

I was honestly keeping up with the conversation by reading the room.

“…Honestly, I didn’t even know I had a younger sister.”

Even my parents don’t remember, so there’s no way I would know about Chae-rin’s existence.

“We weren’t like, awkward sisters… right?”

I cautiously gauged her reaction, unsure how to act.

“…Hic.”

Suddenly, tears burst out.

“You really… you really don’t remember anything?”

“…Sorry.”

“No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I couldn’t even come right away when Unnie had the accident. If I had known this would happen…”

Plop, plop.

Tears streamed down her cheeks and fell to the ground without resistance.

Hyunwoo, who had expected this might happen.

Pat, pat.

Patted Chae-rin’s back.

“Don’t just stand here like this, let’s go inside and talk.”

“Hic, sob… Have I completely disappeared from Unnie’s mind?”

“You haven’t completely disappeared. You can get it back.”

“R-Really?”

“Really. So, stop crying for now.”

“Sniff…”

Hyunwoo comforted Chae-rin, who was trying to stop crying, and took her into the room.

---

Sniff, sniff.

She had calmed down to some extent.

But she was still on the verge of bursting into tears if touched.

“Calm down a little. You can stop crying, right?”

“Yeah… Sniff-!”

“No, I said calm down, not hold your breath.”

“Hwaa… Hic, but the tears won’t stop…”

“I’m sorry. Just cry it all out.”

No sooner had I finished speaking than Chae-rin burst into tears again.

Hyunwoo and Chaea waited for Chae-rin to calm down.

“Hoo… Hoo…”

“Are you really calm now?”

“Uung… I’m okay now.”

About five minutes had passed.

I handed Chae-rin a tissue.

“Thank you… But how do you get your memories back?”

“It seems like you can do it by repeating what you used to do.”

“……?”

Chae-rin dabbed her eyes with the tissue and tilted her head.

It was understandable that she wouldn’t know what that meant if she heard it for the first time.

“It’s not that the memories have disappeared, but it feels like they’re covered in a hazy fog. If you revive the memories, the memories will become clearer.”

“So, some of my parents’ memories have returned. It’s really just a small part, though.”

Chaea, noticing my hesitation, explained the symptoms.

Hyunwoo supplemented the explanation.

Chae-rin, with a blank face and mumbling lips, jumped up from her seat.

“Then let’s play a card game.”

“Card game?”

“There’s one we used to play together.”

“I know what you’re talking about.”

Chae-rin was probably talking about the Spider Solitaire game we used to play in elementary school.

Hyunwoo turned on the computer and started the game.

“Do you remember how to play this?”

“Hmm, I’ll try it for a bit.”

The only sounds in the room were Chae-rin’s voice explaining the rules.

And the sound of the mouse clicking and moving the cards.

After some time had passed.

Hyunwoo realized.

‘She should have remembered something by now, right?’

Chaea was being too quiet.

I took a step closer and looked closely at her face.

“Is this… how you do it?”

“That’s right! Unnie’s still good…!”

“Ahaha…”

It didn’t seem like she had remembered anything.

It just looked like she was playing along with Chae-rin.

‘I have to say something right away.’

It seemed like it wouldn’t be good for either of them to just spend time like this.

“Yoo Chaea.”

I tapped Chaea on the shoulder.

“H, huh?”

“Tell me honestly. You don’t remember anything, do you?”

“……Unnie?”

Chae-rin’s lips, which had been relaxing, stiffened again.

Chaea glanced at me and nodded.

“…Sorry.”

“……!”

Chae-rin made a face as if her world had collapsed.

Hyunwoo sighed as if he had expected it.

“But why are you forcing yourself?”

“I thought I might remember if I kept going…”

“Sigh, let’s try something else.”

I was turning off the game and thinking about other methods.

“So, are my memories not even memories to you…?”

Chae-rin muttered in a shocked voice and dug herself into a hole.

“It’s not like that, so try to remember other memories.”

Chop.

When I grabbed Chae-rin’s cheek.

Her blurred pupils returned to normal.

“T-Then, how about this, Unnie?”

After that, I tried to stimulate all sorts of memories.

I sang the opening of the anime we used to watch together.

I showed her the gacha character that Chaea had pulled for me.

I also sent her pictures we had taken together in the past.

“I’m really, really, really sorry… but I don’t remember any of it.”

Chaea just shook her head.

At this point, even Hyunwoo’s expression was troubled.

It was a problem that she couldn’t remember.

“…I see. I guess it’s not working with me.”

I was worried that Chae-rin had been hurt too much.

How shocking would it be if her only sister didn’t remember her at all?

“I should go now… It was nice seeing you after a long time, Oppa.”

If I let her go like this, she would probably lock herself in her room and soak her pillow with tears.

“Hey, wait a minute. You might need a little more stimulation.”

Hyunwoo blurted out whatever came to mind.

“Stimulation?”

“What are you talking about?”

Chae-rin and Chaea tilted their heads with the same face.

‘That’s right. What nonsense am I talking about?’

Only then did I think about the words I had spoken.

“Um… what was it. I was thinking that if you talk about memories that were shocking, rather than too ordinary, it might have a little effect.”

I had never done that before.

I quickly made it up to give Chae-rin hope.

“Shocking memories…”

Chae-rin pondered for a moment.

Then she clapped her hands and said.

“Then, in middle school, Unnie did what with Oppa’s sweaty shirt…”

“Ch, Chae-rin-ah!”

It seemed like something huge was about to come out.

Chaea suddenly hugged Chae-rin and covered her face with her heavy chest.

“Mffmmph…?”

“Ahaha… I remembered. I remembered playing card games together, me pulling the pickup character for you in one try, and the songs we used to sing together at the karaoke. I remember everything.”

Surprisingly, it wasn’t a lie.

When I brought up a black history that I couldn’t have imagined.

Tingle- A part of the memories I had spent with Chae-rin became clear.

“Pwah! Really?!”

Chae-rin, who had barely escaped from the mass of fat, had a moved expression.

“Of course, how could I forget my little sister. Unnie was just sick for a while.”

“That’s a relief, Unnie…”

Thwack.

Chae-rin, who hugged Chaea back, looked happy to have found her sister again.

‘…What did she just say?’

Hyunwoo looked at Chaea with suspicious eyes.

---

Although a strange story came out in the middle.

Anyway, it was a good thing that she remembered her family.

Actually, I wanted to ask what she did with the sweaty shirt.

“Unnie, do you remember what we did at this time?”

“It was your birthday. I think I gave you a cash recharge as a gift?”

“That’s right!”

Chae-rin looked so happy that it was awkward to bring it up.

“Does bringing up black history make memories come back faster?”

“Please don’t do that…”

Chaea said in horror as Hyunwoo spoke to himself.

“Hehe. It’s like seeing the old Unnie and Oppa.”

Chae-rin smiled brightly as if even that was enjoyable.

“Ah, that’s right. Didn’t you have a board game that we used to play together here?”

She suddenly jumped up.

She must have wanted to bring back many memories while she was at it.

She strode towards the drawer.

“Uh, wait-”

Slide.

The fourth drawer, which was opened before Hyunwoo could stop her.

“It was probably here…”

Chae-rin froze.

Because an unimaginable object had entered her field of vision.

‘L, Large capacity?’

As she read the letters written on the box.

Her pupils shook as if there was an earthquake.

Chae-rin, who made eye contact with the embarrassed Hyunwoo, thought.

‘Unnie has already climbed the stairs of adulthood…’

It was the day she harbored a huge misunderstanding.