Chapter 79
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 79
Si-woo spent a considerable amount of time saying goodbye to Se-young.
His palm was pressed against her buttocks, carefully gauging her physical reaction...
Even if his younger sister was still young, what Si-woo was doing now was not something easily tolerated in a normal sibling relationship.
—Both of them were fully conscious—
Sentences that seemed to remind him of his guilt, like 'Is it really okay to do this to Se-young?' kept drifting through Si-woo's mind.
At the same time, Si-woo didn't want to give up the sensation of Se-young's buttocks, which felt so good against his palm.
Of course, Si-woo had long since cast aside any ethical guilt regarding incest.
When it came to Se-young, those feelings of discomfort or restraint regarding the taboo no longer applied.
The part Si-woo was worried about—the "is it okay" part—likely had more to do with the emotional issues Se-young had been experiencing lately.
Ever since their father passed away, Se-young had shown an excessive emotional obsession with their mother and the rest of the family.
The occasional sexual provocations she directed at Si-woo, and the whispers that seemed to imply something deeper...
Even if she had begun to show a more feminine side, Se-young was still only a 5th grader at the Beginner Academy.
The way Se-young was acting toward Si-woo might just be an extension of a pure emotional attachment, like a child clinging to their mother's breast.
Guilty thoughts continued to fill Si-woo's head one after another.
At the same time, a different kind of forbidden, depraved pleasure—one that resembled the thrill of incest—seemed to wrap itself around his entire body.
* * *
Si-woo opened the glass door, slightly lifted the thick blackout curtain to create a path, and stepped into the room.
Inside, the room was dark, shielded from any external light.
The lighting was dim.
In the center of the small room sat a chair and a table.
A glowing crystal ball sat atop the table.
And in the seat on the opposite side, a person was sitting.
A wide-brimmed orange pointed hat and a hooded one-piece dress...
Seul-gi sat there, looking as if she had put on a full Halloween costume set at some point.
"Welcome! Come, have a seat!"
Seul-gi spoke to Si-woo, pointing to the chair across from her.
"Oh? You're the one doing the reading, Seul-gi?"
Si-woo sat in the provided chair, letting out a dry, awkward laugh.
"Do you know anything about crystal ball fortune-telling?"
Seul-gi asked Si-woo as he sat down.
"No, this is my first time. How does it work?"
Si-woo felt quite interested in this unique experience, something he hadn't encountered before.
"Ahem! Cough!"
Seul-gi cleared her throat, preparing to speak.
"Crystal ball fortune-telling, or scrying, is a form of divination where you look at images reflected in the crystal to confirm things from the past you might have missed, or to predict events that will happen in the future. It can also be used to look into a specific person's inner thoughts or interpret the meaning of supernatural phenomena. While it's commonly known as a form of divination that uses spiritual energy or abilities, here, it's treated as a type of counseling based on mind-reading! Got it?"
Seul-gi gave Si-woo a brief introduction to crystal ball fortune-telling.
Si-woo had always been somewhat interested in the field of mind-reading, even if only casually.
Si-woo nodded.
"Now then... from this moment on, all the conversations we have will be buried as secrets within this room!"
Seul-gi seemed ready to begin the reading in earnest, reciting her lines as if they were scripted.
"Oh? We're starting right away?"
"Shh!! This is the room where destiny is told—a space in the cracks, severed from the world! The time we can stay here is very short, so don't say anything unnecessary!!!"
Seul-gi spoke to Si-woo with a solemn atmosphere, as if warning him that the time allotted for the event was running out.
"Ah, okay."
Si-woo felt awkward at Seul-gi's solemn tone, but internally, he thought the atmosphere was actually quite well-crafted.
Listening to Seul-gi, he almost felt as if he really had entered a space temporarily severed from the rest of the world.
A role-play scenario where he sat alone in a dark room with a middle school girl dressed as a witch, baring his inner thoughts...
It was the kind of service any normal, healthy man would probably pay good money for.
* * *
"It looks like you have something on your mind~?!"
Seul-gi spoke, peering intently into the crystal ball.
"Huh? Something on my mind?"
Si-woo asked back, looking at Seul-gi, who was proceeding with the reading as if she had conveniently cut out all the context.
"You came here because you have a problem, didn't you?! The second page of the questionnaire!! Didn't you fill it out?!"
Seul-gi snapped at him with a straight face, like she was dealing with a difficult customer who couldn't read the room, reminding him of the questionnaire he had filled out.
—It seemed the method was to decide on a counseling topic in advance to save time and then build the conversation from there.—
"Ah... right. That's right. I forgot. Sorry."
Si-woo apologized sheepishly.
"Get it together~!!"
Seul-gi spoke to Si-woo in a tone like a teacher scolding a student.
Si-woo intended to go along with the atmosphere and experience the crystal ball reading.
It was true that he had things on his mind, and since he figured he wouldn't have to tell her everything in detail anyway, Si-woo had written about his concerns regarding his recent incestuous relationships with his family on the questionnaire.
Naturally, he had left out all the specific details and written it as a metaphor for conflict situations that could happen in a normal family.
—Things like his mom being away from home indefinitely for work, or how Se-hee Noona's attitude had turned cold in a single day.—
"It's about my second older sister... is that okay?"
Si-woo began to tell Seul-gi about the situation with Se-hee Noona, feeling as if he were actually consulting a real fortune-teller.
"Se-hee Unnie? What about Se-hee Unnie?"
Seul-gi said, her eyebrows arching slightly as if her interest had been piqued.
—Since Shin-bi Noona and Se-hee Noona were close, Seul-gi was naturally close to her as well.—
"Yesterday, Se-hee Noona and I went to the department store together...?"
"To the department store?"
"Yeah... we saw a movie, went shopping, had dinner..."
"And?"
"We came home, had dinner together, watched TV... I felt like we got really close yesterday."
"Mm-hmm."
"I don't know if you know, but things have been a bit... like that between Se-hee Noona and me lately."
"Like what?"
"I mean, we weren't on the best terms..."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah! But after hanging out with her all day yesterday, I really felt like we'd become close. Right up until the moment I fell asleep!"
Si-woo spoke while remembering how he had slept last night, hugging Se-hee Noona from behind while she was naked.
"Right up until the moment you fell asleep?"
"Yeah!"
"Did you two sleep together?"
Seul-gi asked the question nonchalantly, even though it was the kind of question that could easily be misunderstood.
"W-Why would I sleep with Se-hee Noona?!!"
Si-woo turned serious and denied it strongly.
"You said 'until the moment you fell asleep'... so I just wondered. Anyway, keep going~"
Seul-gi continued the conversation with an expression that asked what the problem was.
Si-woo felt a slight chill, but he didn't let it bother him and continued his story.
"Yeah... anyway, so we slept like that, and when I woke up in the morning, Se-hee Noona's attitude had completely changed!"
"Is Se-hee Unnie being cold to you?"
"No... I mean, she still does everything for me like usual... but it's weird that someone who was so friendly yesterday would change for no apparent reason!"
"Is that so?"
"I really don't know what happened in just one day~"
Si-woo poured out his story about Se-hee Noona.
Seul-gi seemed to think for a moment.
"So, you're curious why Se-hee Unnie is treating you differently after just one day?"
Seul-gi summarized the question for the crystal ball into a single sentence and confirmed it with Si-woo.
"Ah... yeah! That's it! Can you find out?"
Si-woo asked Seul-gi, half out of curiosity and half with a certain lingering hope.
Perhaps Seul-gi knew about the relationship between Se-hee Noona and Shin-bi Noona.
If so, since they were both women, she would likely know more about the intimate inner workings of their relationship than Si-woo...
—Maybe she could use the fortune-telling as a front to tell Si-woo about their private secrets...—
Seul-gi began to peer into the crystal ball with a deep, soulful gaze.
* * *
"Looks like you enjoyed yourself all day?"
Seul-gi, who had been staring into the crystal ball, spoke as if she were actually seeing something.
"Well, yeah... we went out to have fun, after all~"
The way Seul-gi used the expression "enjoyed yourself" bothered him slightly, but Si-woo let it slide without much of a reaction.
"The department store really is huge, isn't it? Heh~ you even went to a place like this?"
Seul-gi spoke in front of Si-woo as if she were truly watching scenes from yesterday.
"Wow... you're giving this as a gift?"
Seul-gi's words continued.
Si-woo flinched the moment the word "gift" left Seul-gi's mouth.
Se-young's pajamas, Se-hee Noona's lingerie, and the black mesh T-shirt flashed through his mind.
—And then his mom's dog collar and erotic underwear...—
"W-Wait! Did I write about the gifts in the questionnaire?"
Si-woo asked Seul-gi in a panic, as he had no memory of writing anything about gifts on the form.
"I can see everything even if you didn't write it down!! This is the real deal~!!"
Seul-gi spoke with a playful smile, looking satisfied with Si-woo's reaction.
"Wow... it's big... but did you really do this kind of thing in front of Se-young?"
Seul-gi's monologue continued.
She spoke as if she were truly seeing everything that happened yesterday through the crystal.
As for his size, Seul-gi could have known that if she'd heard it from Si-woo's friends.
But the phrase "did you really do this kind of thing in front of Se-young" could apply to anything Si-woo might have done in her presence.
Si-woo had heard of something called "micro-expressions" before.
A technique for reading someone's mind by observing minute facial expressions or gestures.
A psychological trick where you throw out random keywords, watch the person's reaction, and then fit them into the story.
Until that point, Si-woo had been amazed by the experience of this magic, but he was certain that Seul-gi was just acting.
He thought the keywords matching up was nothing more than a statistical coincidence.
"Oh my~ where do you even get a video like this? Did you get it from Cheol-jin?"
"Huh?"
The moment the word "video" came out, Si-woo's mind went blank.
Two keywords in a row that no one but the parties involved could possibly know had come out of Seul-gi's mouth.
To call it a coincidence, she was explaining the events of yesterday far too accurately.
"Isn't this a bit too aggressive? It was Se-hee Unnie's first time, so it must have been really hard for her."
Seul-gi's next words followed.
Si-woo's pulse began to race, and a cold sweat started to run down his spine.