Sister Craving Submission to Her Little Brother (2)
I immediately accessed noona's chip from the terminal.
Of course, I'd fuck noona someday too, but I had no intention of touching her libido settings right now. This time, I really just wanted to help her out purely. Plus, it might interfere with her work.
I selected the Hormone Control option.
An extremely sharpened, hypersensitive state—mental health issues ultimately stemmed from hormonal imbalances anyway, right?
A bunch of different hormones scrolled down the list. At least each one had a detailed explanation, so I didn't have to search them up one by one.
I picked a few for a moment. Oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine. And some other hormones I'd never even heard of before.
I set it so that positive hormones would surge when she was near me, while negative ones would be suppressed.
The goal was simple. She'd feel relaxed around me, her pent-up stress would melt away, and her mood would lift. That would break down her psychological barriers, make her addicted to this dynamic, and finally, she'd return to her original confident self—psychologically dependent on me.
"Ha, seriously."
I let out a hollow chuckle and shook my head.
Where else are you gonna find a brother as nice as me?
Mulling over my self-praise, I opened the door to Seo-yoon's room.
"Noona. You said there was a bug? I'll catch it for you."
Behind the door, Seo-yoon was in the middle of changing clothes. She'd just tossed off her homewear t-shirt and was buttoning up her dress shirt.
Her white bra and the lean curves of her slender frame stabbed right into my vision, raw and unfiltered.
Seo-yoon scowled hard at the sound of the door opening. Without covering her chest or showing any panic, she finished buttoning up and snapped irritably.
"Hey! Knock if you're coming in!"
She grumbled. She didn't seem to care much that her little brother had walked in while she was changing. It was only natural. Not just because we were family—Eden chips implanted in our brains made it impossible to see each other's underwear anyway. She had rock-solid faith that any nudity would be perfectly visually censored. She couldn't even imagine me staring straight at her bra and cleavage.
I shrugged nonchalantly.
"You called me urgently, so I just came in. Where's the bug?"
At my question, Seo-yoon irritably pointed to the corner behind the wardrobe.
"It went back there. It was huge and gross. Ugh, this damn countryside hole. Work's a mess, and now bugs are freaking out too."
I peeked into the gap beside the wardrobe. It was heavy—even an adult man pushing hard wouldn't budge it easily.
I shook my head.
"Yeah? If it's already hidden back there, it'll be tough to catch right now. Oh well."
Saying that, I walked over to Seo-yoon's bed and plopped down onto the soft mattress.
"I'll wait here till the bug crawls out again."
Her eyes widened at my brazen declaration. Normally, with all her built-up stress lately, she'd be cursing me out.
What bullshit! Get out now! I have to work!
She clearly meant to yell that. Her parted lips and the way her eyes narrowed upward screamed her intent.
Seo-yoon sucked in a big breath to chase her little brother out of the room right then.
But no words came out.
She froze with her mouth half-open. Her pupils trembled.
The vicious stress that had been choking her throat until a second ago, the suffocating countryside boredom, the pressure of being the family head—it all vanished. The heavy rock that had always clogged one side of her chest was just... gone.
Seo-yoon stared at me blankly, confused. Without the burden, stress, fatigue, and irritation, she didn't even feel the need to snap at me and kick me out.
Instead, she let out a deep breath, then inhaled. It felt like she'd been underwater forever and finally broke the surface—cool oxygen flooding deep into her lungs. Her stuffy chest cleared up.
She had no idea why.
But the one thing that had changed...
Seo-yoon looked at her little brother.
Things feel way more comfortable since that guy walked in.
She worked her lips, then bit them. Her sharp glare noticeably softened.
She hesitated, turning her head away.
"Fine, do whatever."
Heading back to her desk chair, she forced out a curt tone.
"But I'm jumping into a video call, so stay quiet as a dead mouse the whole time. Got it?"
"Obviously. But even if the bug comes out?"
"Obviously shut up and kill it!"
In the end, Seo-yoon didn't kick her brother out.
Her back, as she sat at the desk, was still tense, but her shoulders hung much more relaxed than before.
I lounged comfortably on the bed, arm behind my head, leisurely admiring Seo-yoon's back as she faced her monitor and tapped away at the keyboard.
I wonder how long our noona can hold out.
Seo-yoon carefully angled the webcam on her monitor downward.
"Hoo..."
A sigh escaped her automatically at this hour.
She checked that only her upper body filled the frame tightly. She slyly nudged her sprawled-out brother on the bed behind her into the camera's blind spot.
After finishing setup, she took a deep breath and connected to the video conference program.
The meeting was predictably hellish, bloodcurdling as always. The team lead's irritable voice crackled through the screen, the countryside's sluggish internet causing the video and audio to stutter.
Normally, she'd swallow a dozen curses inwardly and jiggle her legs under the desk.
"Then, Deputy Jeong Seo-yoon, compile all related reports and send by tomorrow."
"Yes, understood. I'll email them by tomorrow morning."
She barely squeezed out the response, and the meeting ended.
She took off her headset and set it on the desk.
I habitually raised both hands to tear at my hair.
Ever since switching to 100% remote work, post-meeting stress and headaches always hit hard. It was routine to want to kick the door open and scream.
I figured today would be the same.
"...Huh?"
But something was off. My head didn't hurt. The usual suffocating lump pressing on my chest was gone.
My mind felt clear, actually. Even thinking about the mountain of reports I had to handle alone by tomorrow didn't choke me up.
What the hell?
I stared blankly at the empty monitor screen.
Not a single peaceful day since moving to the countryside. The muggy, sticky humidity, the glacially slow internet, the gross bugs barging into the room at random.
But worst of all was the pressure of being the family head.
Dad died suddenly. Without warning, our family's livelihood crashed onto my shoulders alone. Mom the housewife, my two still-student siblings—I had to take care of them all.
I wanted to do well. Protect my grieving family solidly, let us live without shortages like before.
That's why I gave up my flashy Seoul career, buried myself in this countryside hole, and chose 100% remote work.
Because I had to earn the money.
But reality was brutal. My duties doubled with the reassignment, and the unfamiliar rural environment shredded my nerves like glass shards.
I slaved away for my family, yet all I did was snap at them every day.
I felt sorry. I'd lashed out at Siwoo the moment he entered.
My heart wasn't like that, but my mouth only spat thorns.
I blamed myself endlessly inside. This isn't right. I need to be strong. I need to do better.
That heavy guilt and stress that always gnawed at me.
But right now, those vicious emotions were eerily quiet, like a lie.
Why?
The one difference between my daily hell and today.
My gaze drifted to the small mirror on the desk corner.
It reflected my bed. And on it, my brother fiddling with his smartphone, lounging comfortably.
It started after Siwoo entered my room.
That feeling of my choked breath clearing.
I stared quietly at Siwoo's reflection.
Just sharing the same space with him, and it was like a cool breeze blew through—my irritation subsided.
The muggy air crawling down my back didn't bother me much either.
Absurd.
Just seeing my brother's face eases this vicious stress?
But I couldn't deny it. With Siwoo in my sight right now, my heart was the most peaceful it'd been lately.
A solid feeling I hadn't known since Dad died.
Just in case. I wanted to test it.
I turned my chair slightly toward the bed.
"Hey, Jeong Siwoo."
I forced out my usual curt, sharp tone.
Siwoo looked up from his phone at me.
"What?"
Just our eyes meeting felt like sinking into a warm bath—tension melting from my whole body.
I barely suppressed my lips from twitching up and jerked my chin.
"If you're in my room, earn your keep. I'm thirsty. Get me some water."
Blatant nitpicking. Normally, Siwoo would've grumbled back. I didn't really want to boss him around like this either, but to confirm the source of this weird peace, I had no choice.
"Got it. Wait."
But Siwoo just got up obediently.
No complaints, he opened the door and headed to the living room.
His back vanished from the room.
The instant it did, my heart plummeted.
Clear mind fogged black in a flash. Seeing the report template on the monitor brought back the forgotten headache, throbbing.
The countryside house's musty smell and hot humidity choked my throat again.
It's stuffy again.
My chest tightened. The peace from moments ago vanished like a lie.
Click.
The door opened again. Siwoo entered with a glass of iced water.
As he stepped toward the desk, my breath miraculously cleared again, distance by distance.
One meter. Fifty centimeters.
Siwoo came right up and set the glass down.
"Here."
"Ah, uh... thanks."
"Call me if you finish it."
Siwoo turned indifferently and headed back to the bed.
"Ah..."
An unconscious sigh of regret slipped out.
We were still in the same room, so the stress wasn't choking, but it was worlds apart from the peace when he stood right beside me.
Not an illusion.
Siwoo's presence made me comfortable.
Just the fact that my brother was by my side.
The heavy burden of family head. The avalanche of work stress due tomorrow.
All of it became nothing.
The worries and anxieties strangling me melted away at his mere presence.
I gripped the cold glass tightly with both hands.
Through the desk mirror, I stole another glance at Siwoo.
I wished he wouldn't leave this room.
Stay close. Right by my side, forever.
For the first time, not the duty to protect the family, but a selfish, weak emotion just for myself reared its head.