Chapter 4
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 4. Is there... Hope? (4)
Seo Yujin is one of the most famous heroes in the story.
The popularity of a hero in this world is on par with that of a celebrity... I think it was described like that. The reason I phrase it as 'I think it was' is because this isn't a precise memory.
If it were my favorite work or a work I read that left a deep impression, I would have remembered it relatively clearly, but seeing as it comes to mind ambiguously, it might have gotten mixed up with memories of other novels.
You know, isn't a hero's popularity usually described that way in novels featuring heroes?
However, the car I rode in wasn't a large van that celebrities ride around in, but an ordinary domestic SUV. And Seo Yujin was driving it herself. Do they not have a manager or anything like that?
The reason I had these completely irrelevant thoughts the whole ride was because the inside of the car was too quiet.
Perhaps feeling guilty about separating me and Chaeyi, Seo Yujin had only been sneaking glances at me through the rearview mirror, and I kept my mouth shut because I didn't know what to talk about.
Then again, if it were me, I'd probably feel a bit anxious too if the kid I had to live with from now on was just keeping her mouth shut sullenly.
If it were an adult, you could at least communicate, but it's a kid.
The orphanage was located in a place that couldn't quite be called the heart of the city, and Seo Yujin's house seemed to be the same.
However, the atmosphere is vastly different. It was located on a similarly sloped area, but a high wall continued along the path leading up. A wall so high that you couldn't even see the detached house that must be situated inside.
I suppose she really is famous. Then again, considering villains might invade, it's not strange to live in a house like this.
"Huu."
Even after turning off the engine, Seo Yujin let out a small breath and briefly chose her words.
"Um, so, this is our house. The house Lua will live in with us from now on. If there's anything uncomfortable while we live together, or anything you kind of dislike, you just have to tell me."
"Yes."
"Um, and, you know that kid I showed you in the picture earlier? Today is a day off, so she's been home all day since morning. She, um..."
Her face, as she chose her words, looked a bit troubled.
"Actually, since you'll be living together from now on, I told her in advance, but after hearing about Lua, she's been... since yesterday..."
Could it be that she hates it?
That could happen. She's a little kid.
I've already continuously seen how children crave affection from my time at the orphanage.
It would be a different story if every single child had their own parents attached to them, but an orphanage is fundamentally a structure where that is absolutely impossible.
The teachers are good people and took care of the children as diligently as possible, but there's a limit to their numbers.
So the children also formed their own attachment relationships in their own way.
Just as Chaeyi did with me, there were several kids who stuck together as if they were sisters, brothers, or siblings.
If a child who had been living as an only child until now suddenly had her parents bring in another child, she might think her affection is being stolen away.
Furthermore, if that child is one who needs a bit more attention, even more so.
Hmm, I don't have any intention of fighting with a little kid, so maybe I should pay a little attention to her.
"I'll help."
As I unbuckled my seatbelt and tried to get out of the car, Seo Yujin put her hands under both my armpits and lifted me out effortlessly.
Then, she carefully closed the car door so as not to startle me, and held out her hand to me.
I blankly looked up at Seo Yujin for a moment, then I slowly reached out my hand too and lightly grasped her pinky finger.
Hmm, well, you know.
It's ambiguous to express in words.
It's an emotion I've been feeling since earlier, but I don't know what to call this. Should I call it an awkwardness that's hard to express in words, or an atmosphere where it's hard to strike up a conversation, which I never felt in front of the orphanage teachers who would be around my age or the kids my age.
So I averted my gaze, but the expression I saw on Seo Yujin's face right before averting my gaze was relief.
"You, you don't have to be surprised when we go in. She's a good kid. I'm sure she's just acting like that because she wants to get close."
Seeing how carefully she speaks, it seems the kid must be really sulking.
Well, I'm an adult.
There's naturally no way I'd get pissed off at a kid whose age is a single digit.
When I nodded my head, Seo Yujin, with an intensity as if she were completely tense in front of a grand villain for some reason, took a deep breath, led me, and opened the door to enter the house.
And, even before we entered the entryway and took off our shoes, the words I heard were—
"It's a little sister!"
—A sound that rang out so loudly my eardrums felt like they would burst.
And not even a second later, my vision was dyed gold.
"Soi!?"
As I fell flat on my back, I heard the name of the furball that had rushed at me.
And I was finally able to remember.
Ah, right. That was her name. Soi.
It was the moment I recalled the names of all three of the villainess heroines who appeared as villains in the early part of the novel.
And, the reason I didn't like that novel very much also just came to mind.
Right. I really didn't like the heroines.
You know, it had a 'Regret' tag attached, and usually the heroine who becomes the subject of that 'regret' is typically a losing heroine.
In recent harem stories, aren't they heroines in that ambiguous position where, even if they end up together with the male lead in the end, they can absolutely never rise to the position of the main wife?
For them to even be able to get together like that, they have to be thoroughly bleached and put through a hardcore spin cycle in the washing machine, or they have to be definitively punished to the point where even the readers think it's pitiful. Even after doing that, public opinion is fiercely divided on them joining the heroine ranks.
So, what did this Seo Lua and the remaining two heroines do to the protagonist?
Actually, Seo Lua herself isn't a particularly outstanding character. However, for some unknown reason that I can't recall right now, Soi felt a sense of debt to Seo Lua, and Seo Lua used that to diligently gaslight Soi and completely make her dance to her tune... is how I remember it being described.
In the beginning, the protagonist's abilities weren't that great, but true to this kind of novel, Seo Lua, who harbored affection for the kind and handsome protagonist, aggressively hits on him and gets rejected.
And the cliché story is that she holds a grudge over that and diligently torments the protagonist.
Did she use Soi's position as the daughter of a famous hero and her own position, along with Chaeyi who followed whatever she said, to drive the protagonist into being a perverted trash?
The bullying grew fiercer day by day, and Seo Lua even outright resorted to violence, using her telekinesis to drop various things on the passing protagonist's head, but—
Well, in a harem story like this, Soi wouldn't be the only 'heroine with hero parents', right?
Thanks to other ability-user heroines in different classes, the protagonist escapes that petty slander and scheming.
And afterwards, the three heroines subtly get incorporated into the protagonist's harem.
There is a mild cathartic scene during the process of the protagonist escaping the bullying. Clearing his false charges, revealing that Seo Lua was the one who planned it, her losing popularity within the school, Seo Yujin even stepping up to correct the wrongdoing, and a scene where she despairs during that process.
The problem is that's the end of it.
Well, in terms of description, there were a few chapters hinting little by little that the three were conversely being bullied, but having realized at that point that the author was looking for an angle to launder their image, I skimmed through the following chapters roughly, so I don't really have detailed memories.
Hmm, I think I even left a few comments.
"Huh?"
No, wait a minute.
If I, who rarely ever left comments like that, left a comment, doesn't that mean I received a strong impression in a negative way?
But I can't remember the reason I actually left such a post.
Why?
"Th-at-is-why!"
At Soi's loud voice shouting diligently right in front of my eyes, I started and finally snapped back to reality.
"That's why, I'm asking when Lua's birthday is!"
"Birthday?"
"Yeah, yeah, birthday."
Aha.
These eyes overflowing with anticipation.
And those words she shouted the moment I walked in earlier.
I think I get it.
I also think I get why Seo Yujin kept explaining things to me before we entered the house.
So Soi had probably been continuously excited from the moment she heard I was coming here.
Because, well, she's an only child.
The house is this big, and since both her parents are heroes, there must be many days they have to urgently leave their seats.
I don't know if she has many friends or not, but it's not like those friends are going to live in this big house continuously.
They probably have something like a housekeeper, but still, being the only child her age in a big house must be incredibly, incredibly boring for a child this age.
So, it wouldn't be strange if she made a wish like 'Please let me have a little sister'.
However, truly unfortunately.
I slightly raised my head and spoke.
"January."
"...Uh-huh?"
"January 12th."
"Uh-huhhhh?"
Exactly.
Because I was abandoned, I don't know when my real birthday is, but if anything, it would be earlier than January 12th, definitely not later.
"What about you?"
This time I asked.
"When is your birthday?"
"..."
Soi looked up at Seo Yujin with a despondent expression. Seo Yujin only smiled bitterly as she looked down at her daughter.
"...Unnie."
Soi opened her mouth.
Oh, she's still admitting it right aw—
"I."
—She isn't doing that, yeah.
"I'm the unnie."
With a very, very resolute expression, Soi spoke as if making a declaration.
"I'm the unnie! I want to be the unnie!"
And she shouted while jumping up and down and running around diligently.
Ummm.
When I looked up at Seo Yujin with a bewildered expression, Seo Yujin, with a slightly flushed face, coddled and soothed Soi.
Hmm, well.
I understand.
If you are waiting for a little sister and an older sister suddenly walks in, the heartbreak is bound to be quite immense.