…Have You Touched Her Pussy Hair?
"…Hey, can we drop that 'Not an Essay' tag?"
"Ah, why?"
"It's not an essay. But actually, it is. Strong denial is basically confirmation. That's such a cliché. What, are you trying to bait people by pretending the incest story is a real essay?"
"…Didn't you read the comments? They're already going crazy calling it an essay. What am I supposed to do?"
"Haa… Readers are just messing around. It's a joke, a bit. You should just laugh it off too, Oppa."
"……."
Something about it didn't sit right with me if I was being honest. Probably because I felt guilty and was reading too much into it.
"…Just leave it. That tag is my joke too, you know."
"Huu… For the record, don't reply to every single comment that says it's an essay."
"Ah, yeah. I was planning to, though."
"Bullshit. I already stopped you from replying earlier. Like hell you'd have held back."
"……."
"And let me check the manuscript before you upload the next chapter."
"…Do we really have to go that far?"
"Hey, I'm the one drawing illustrations every ten chapters. And you're using me as the model for the heroine in your smut novel. You can't even do this? Or should I call the cops?"
"Shit… If you threaten me with the police one more time… I swear I'm not letting it slide."
"What are you gonna do, then? If you don't let it slide, what happens?"
She had a point. I couldn't exactly beat her up.
"A-Anyway… Don't interfere too much. That's crossing the line."
"…You don't think you've already crossed way more lines than that?"
"Haa…"
No matter what I said, I couldn't win. With no other options, I just shut my mouth and kept typing.
486 Ways to Eat My Little Sister - Side Story.
"Why is the synopsis so dry?"
"…Simple is best, you know?"
"No one's gonna want to read that. Don't you have something that hooks readers? Something that sparks curiosity?"
"…You're surprisingly proactive. First you offer to draw the illustrations, now you're even giving editing advice… What's your goal here?"
She was right. On the surface, 'Little Sister' claimed she hated every single detail about the heroine modeled after her. She'd nitpick things like pubic hair and demand changes. Up to that point, I could understand. But then she started pushing for a full remake and forced me to write a separate side story. She even offered to grind out the illustrations herself, sweet-talking me into it.
Nothing comes free. Especially not favors without a reason. At this point, it would've been more believable if she'd just reported me as a peeping tom and gotten me thrown in jail like she kept threatening.
"Goal? Did you just say 'goal'?"
"…Yeah. Doing this much is way beyond normal. I figured it'd be fun so I went along with it, but it's kinda weird… and I don't know why you're doing it, so I'm a little uneasy."
Most of all, the fact that I was now co-writing a sweet romance story with the real 'Little Sister' as the heroine kept catching in my throat.
"Then what was your goal, Oppa?"
"Me?"
"Yeah. Why'd you write it in the first place?"
'Little Sister' pointed at the monitor. I repeated what I'd said before.
"Ah, well, like I told you last time… Little-sister incest stories were trending back then, so I just hopped on the trend."
It was embarrassing, but it was the truth. And luckily, it was still putting food on the table.
"So in the end, it was for money."
"…Yeah, that too."
"See?"
The moment I finished speaking, she snatched the mouse from me and opened my current novel.
"…What's this supposed to show?"
"Every time you upload a chapter, this many people read it."
It wasn't a small number. The story consistently hovered in the upper-middle ranks.
"So how much do you make a month from this?"
"…I make decent money."
"Right. I can already tell from the view counts. Earning this much with your skill level is huge, isn't it?"
"M-More or less."
'Little Sister's eyes sparkled. Her sharp gaze locked onto my face.
"Well, now it's going to be two stories. Double the views, double the payout."
"…Hah, so that's what this was about."
In the end, it really was about money. But her words made me burst out laughing.
"Pfft… Hahaha!"
"…Why are you laughing? Am I wrong?"
"Hey, hey… Are you joking right now? I just got insanely lucky, okay? You think every new story I write is gonna be a massive hit?"
It was ridiculous. At the same time, her sudden enthusiasm made a little more sense.
"Even big-name authors with tons of recognition and fans fail with new releases all the time. I wanted to try writing something new, but I was too scared it'd flop, so I never did."
"…Really? This story's so popular, wouldn't everyone just come read the side story too?"
"No. Even if half of them show up, I'd be grateful. You're overestimating this way too much."
'Little Sister' nodded like she finally understood. For me, this side story was half curiosity and half giving in to her nagging. If it did well, great. If not, at least it'd keep her happy. That was how lightly I was taking it.
*
"Hey, this… Haa, you're just copying it wholesale."
"…What? It's a side story. The main plotline has to stay the same."
Oppa was copying the original story and lightly editing it here and there. Very lightly.
"No, it's supposed to be sweet romance. You tagged it as sweet romance, so how the hell does it start with rape?!"
"…You don't know about rape-as-sweet-romance?"
"Are you fucking insane!?"
Oppa was seriously talking about 'rape-as-sweet-romance.' I felt the sudden urge to grab his chin and twist it sideways.
"N-No… I mean, this kind of thing exists these days, you know? You're too fixated on the 'sweet' tag and thinking of pure romance manga, but in this market, this is actually pretty mainstream—"
"Shut your mouth."
"Ah, yeah. But even in female-oriented romance fantasy—"
"I said shut up."
"Okay."
"Haa… This is a side story. And it's tagged sweet romance. Can't you make it a little more normal… a little sweeter? Is that really impossible?"
"…I get what you're saying, but like I said earlier, this is still a side story. The readers coming in first are gonna be the original readers. If they don't get the flavor they expect, most of them will drop it…"
His explanation made sense. It was so logical that I understood it immediately. But still…
I never wanted to see Park Eun-yeong suddenly get raped and then spread her legs with a dumb smile again. The original story was enough for that. In the side story, I wanted proper sweet romance.
"Look, you said you weren't gonna obsess over sales or profit anyway."
"…That's true, but it'd be a lie to say I have zero expectations…"
"Haa… You're all over the place. What am I supposed to do with you?"
"…Then how should I fix it? Just tell me."
Oppa turned in his chair to face me, half-leaning against the backrest with his arms crossed, staring straight at me.
"…Uh, well, first… they should've liked each other since they were kids—"
"That's way too cliché. Ninety-nine out of a hundred little-sister incest stories use that setup."
"…Then what about getting raped! Getting beaten while still saying how good it feels to have his cock inside her, slowly getting trained! Isn't that normal!?"
"Haa… That's what makes it hot. You have zero taste."
"H-Hah! This is ridiculous…"
Oppa looked up at me with a pitiful expression. But that gaze was strangely lecherous, making my chest flutter.
"H-Hey… Don't tell me you've been looking at me like that all this time…?"
"……Stop. We agreed not to over-immerse ourselves. That's a creative work. Fiction. A novel. It just happens to have the same name as you. That's it."
"…And the breast size, face, body, even habits and food preferences are all exactly the same, which is seriously creepy!?"
"I-I just used them as reference… Hey, this is embarrassing. Let's really drop this topic."
Oppa waved his hands and turned back to the monitor.
"F-First, just say what you want. I'll do it your way. But not too much. We can't lose the original atmosphere either. Just within reasonable limits."
That was our compromise. We'd keep the original vibe intact while addressing my complaints as much as possible.
"Rough, that damn rough pubic hair!!"
"Hey, hey… I already changed it. It's soft and fluffy now, okay?"
"Haa…"
I didn't know why I was doing this. Maybe my brain had melted from discussing smut for so long.
"…Have you ever touched it?"
"H-Huh? N-No…?"
"Haaa… Close your eyes."
"…What?"
"Close your eyes!"
"Ah, uh, okay. I-I closed them. See, you can't see anything. I really closed them."
"…If you open them, you're dead."
Since my eyes were closed, it wouldn't matter if I couldn't see, right? So I grabbed Oppa's wrist and slowly guided it downward.