Chuseok
After that, we all sat down to dinner together and caught up on each other's lives.
"So, Yeonwoo, how's college treating you?"
"Oh, you know... it's going fine."
Since I'd asked my family to act as if I were attending university, all I had to do was field the questions smoothly using knowledge from before my regression. Unless someone reacted strangely, I was confident I could answer without raising a single suspicion.
"Pfft...!"
"...What is wrong with Nayeon?"
I seriously want to smack this idiot. Hiding that sentiment, I handled it with practiced ease.
"I think it's the SATs. She's been malfunctioning a lot lately. Must've thought of something funny on her own, I guess."
"That's right! Yep! Don't mind me!"
"...Sure."
"Doyeon, how's school going?"
To keep the weird atmosphere from lingering, I redirected the arrow at the maknae of the table.
"Huh? Me?"
"Yeah, you."
"...It's fun. My friends are nice, too..."
Hm, sounds like she's doing just fine, normally.
...By the way, what the hell is up with Roze, though.
"Aigoo, this girl never studies—just runs around all day~"
"Well, she's in second year of middle school. That's allowed. She can start studying hard once she's in high school, no problem."
Starting from her first year of high school was plenty of time—assuming she actually studies hard, that is.
"Unnie...!"
No, look, I did just defend her, so her liking me is correct, but why is she making that overly moved face? It's not that big a deal...
"That's not all. She's obsessed with some cartoon character called... Roze, or whatever it is, and spends all day glued to her phone."
...Ah. So that's how it is.
I'd had my suspicions ever since I heard about Doyeon's embarrassing past, and I'd even braced myself for this exact possibility. So without panicking, I calmly swept my gaze around the family table.
Mom looked the same as always... Dad seemed fine too... and Nayeon was—
"I-is that so...?"
...If my blood pressure spikes and something goes wrong, she will be the cause.
Nayeon was practically broadcasting I'M FREAKING OUT to anyone with eyes, so I picked up the two-liter bottle beside her cup and poured her some water.
"Indigestion? Here, drink some water."
"Oh, thanks, unnie..."
Nayeon caught on to my intent and drank while thumping her chest.
"U-um, unnie...! Me too...!"
"Sure."
At Doyeon's request I poured her water as well, then topped off the adults' cups too.
"Yeonwoo really is the most well-mannered one in our family. She even reads the room and pours water for the elders."
"Uncle, that's not manners, that's just being perceptive."
"...Isn't that the same thing?"
"It is NOT! Look at how she treats me! Absolutely no respect! She's just perceptive in exchange!"
...I was brimming with rebuttals, but since the person who'd just said that was Aunt—the one who's suffered the most at my hands—I let it slide once.
"Oh, this is delicious. Who made it?"
"That one? Yeonwoo did."
"What?! Yeonwoo?!"
...Why the surprise?
My uncle took a bite of the jeon I'd pan-fried and delivered a professional-grade reaction.
"Wow... I had no idea Yeonwoo could cook like this? It's better than the place I'm a regular at."
"My goodness, you seared these perfectly!"
Hm... is it really that level?
On stream, too—why does everyone keep telling me I'm good at cooking?
Maybe I've just adapted to my own cooking. Am I... actually decent at this?
As I was deep in contemplation about my culinary skills, Aunt spoke up with a voice of sudden enlightenment.
"Oh! Now I get it! You traded your cooking skills and your face to a demon, and that's why your face looks like THAT?! No wonder... no human face should ever be that dangerously gorgeous..."
...Okay, then.
That one actually stung. Feeling the damage land squarely, I accepted the fact that yes, I apparently can cook, and launched my counterattack.
"Incorrect."
"What?"
"Like you said, I traded my manners for perception. Technically, the exchange was manners for perception—cooking was just a bonus."
"Wow..."
"Yeonwoo's got me in her sights today..."
"...I'm not picking a fight with Yeonwoo today."
We kept eating dinner like that, until Mom suddenly started playing a song on her phone.
"I like this song. Have you all heard it?"
...The song with my feature on it.
"Oh, that one? It's been playing at every café lately, hasn't it?"
"I first heard it at a café too, and I liked it so much I play it all the time when I drive."
...Well, where else would my personality have come from?
The bluntness, the devil-may-care attitude, the top-tier pettiness—it's all hereditary...
Well, it should be fine. Mom and Dad are good at hiding their expressions, and I'm fine myself. As long as I don't directly ask the most worrying one of all—
"Nayeon, do you know this song too? Too busy studying for the SATs to listen to music these days?"
Ah, damn it. That was a flag.
Part of me wanted to deck my own mouth, but doing that would only draw more attention, so I silently prayed that Nayeon would show no reaction whatsoever.
"Of course I do! I love this song!"
...This girl genuinely cannot lie.
Her voice sounded fine, sure, but she couldn't help it—her eyes kept darting sidelong glances at me.
SMACK!
"OW!"
"You brat, if you've got time to listen to songs, spend it studying."
Thankfully, Mom, sitting right beside Nayeon, had noticed her reaction and smacked her on the rear to shut it down.
Mom! Good job— wait a second.
No, hold on. If Mom hadn't started playing the song in the first place, none of this would have happened, would it?
The moment I realized she'd just blocked a red-pill leak, my gratitude evaporated on the spot.
"You know how I first found out about this song? It's hilarious."
Not knowing what would come out of Aunt's mouth next, I tensed my whole body and listened intently.
"You know how Doyeon said she looks at that cartoon character? Every time she looks at him, this song is always playing, so it just got stuck in my ears automatically, you know~? Funny, right~?"
Ah, okay. That much is survivable.
The moment Aunt finished, I let my tense body relax. Then I turned my head—and saw Mom looking at me with a look of utter disbelief.
What? Why?
These things are only art if you don't get caught, that's all.
Anyway, once this dinner hour—saturated with red-pill dangers—came to an end, it was time to properly begin the holiday festivities.
"Alright~ So, what game shall we play today~?"
Aunt said this as she pulled out a deck of hwatu cards.
When you think of Korean holidays, isn't it Go-Stop and Yutnori?
But our family is a little unusual—we don't stick exclusively to those two games. We occasionally play card games like Old Maid or poker with a standard deck, and board games too.
Of course, since the kids play along with the adults, we don't bet money. Once everyone's an adult, we start betting small amounts then.
"Shall we go with Seotta this time?"
"Hmm... sure, why not?"
Hm, so this year it's Seotta, apparently.
As for me, I figured luck wouldn't be on my side no matter what we played today, so I'd already given up—it didn't matter to me either way.
"Unnie... I don't really know how to play Seotta. Could you teach me...?"
Doyeon grabbed my sleeve and asked, her face flushed bright red.
"Sure?"
Can't you just look up the hand rankings on the internet? I was about to say it, but my eyes fell on her red face again.
...The kid worked up a lot of courage.
Watching her fight down her embarrassment, my heart softened and I granted the request.
"Come here."
I patted the seat next to mine, and Doyeon settled into it with a beaming smile.
"Thank you!"
"It's really not that much."
And then Aunt spotted us.
"Hey! Doyeon! Get away from her! Rudeness is contagious!"
"Doyeon likes me better. The defeated party should quietly go shuffle the hwatu cards."
"Gahh! There's no point raising my daughter carefully at all!"
...It's not like we're arranging her marriage. She's being way too dramatic.
"Well then, since I'll be teaching Doyeon, I'll sit out the first round."
"What? Yeonwoo! Are you scared?!"
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm being considerate so you can enjoy at least one round."
"...No way I'm losing to you even once today?"
"Like I said before—you lose every single year, so stop pretending you've ever won."
"...I'm not talking to you."
"Please don't. Moving on."
Anyway, the games officially began.
"Ah... I fold."
"This hand's as good as dead."
Oh...
"Unnie, is this... a good hand...?"
...Beginner's luck, is it?
A 38 Gwangttaeng, right out of the gate?
"Alternate looking at your hand and me."
I whispered the strategy to Doyeon.
"O-okay?"
No, don't be embarrassed about it...
You're supposed to win, you know...
"...Just do it."
My strategy was simple.
Doyeon, who'd almost never played, would anxiously alternate glancing between her cards and me. And I would sit perfectly still, face locked solid.
"Raise!"
Four players remained now: aside from Doyeon, there were Aunt, Mom, and Nayeon—three people.
What they all had in common was that they were hypersensitive to every shift in my expression.
"Raise!"
Which meant there was no way they'd miss me keeping my face frozen.
"Tch... I fold."
Ah, did Mom catch on?
...Yeah, this isn't going to be easy.
"Call that raise."
"R-raise...!"
The three of them went on calling raises for a while, until Aunt apparently noticed something strange.
"I fold!"
"Tsk, what a shame..."
I could've knocked her out in one blow, too...
With Aunt folding, Nayeon also seemed to sense something off, but whether her hand was actually good, she kept pressing on.
Poor thing...
Of all hands, she had to run up against a 38 Gwangttaeng...
"Argh! All in!"
Nayeon's hand was a Jangttaeng.
Hm, fair enough—it was worth riding to the end.
"Nayeon, go inside and study."
"...What?"
At my words, Doyeon flipped her cards over.
"Wha—THIS is what I had?!"
"Whoa..."
"Thank god her hand was bad..."
"I was debating whether to keep running with a 5 Ttaeng, so I'm glad I folded..."
Hm, a 38 Gwangttaeng really is a disaster.
Sensing that Doyeon's luck was something unnatural, I didn't join the next round either and just kept helping her instead.
"Th-this is rigged! Let's switch to a different game!"
With Doyeon's beginner's luck persisting into the next round and the one after, Aunt apparently got spooked and hurriedly gathered up the hwatu cards, pulling out the standard deck instead.
"Good job."
"Y-yeah!"
SMACK!
To celebrate our victory, Doyeon and I shared a high five. Then she rubbed her high-fived palm and let out a strange little giggle.
"Hee hee hee..."
...I'm scared of this kid.
And so, all of us playing games together until the early hours of the morning, we spent a joyful Chuseok.