The Sea of Chaos and a Drunken Confession
The live stream cut off abruptly, and the community forums turned into absolute pandemonium.
Seong-a buried her entire body under the blankets on the resort bed and cried until her pillow was soaked with tears.
“Unnie, I’m so sorry! I didn’t think it would turn out like this…”
“Hic…! What am I supposed to do now! I’m completely ruined!”
Rona tried her best to comfort her, but Seong-a’s sobs showed no sign of stopping. With no other choice, she left the room and started a meeting with the others in the hallway.
“I told you, didn’t I? My brother is super conservative.”
“No, I didn’t think it would be this bad!”
To be honest, none of them had dreamed that showing a swimsuit would make the usually icy Seong-a break down in tears.
“But unnie, if you look at her streams or the cafe, stuff like this is nothing!”
“Our brother’s standards are a bit… ambiguous.”
She could handle all kinds of dirty jokes, but exposure was absolutely off-limits. For example, she would never wear a skirt shorter than ten centimeters above the knee. Though Mrs. Kim still threw a fit saying even that was too short.
“So what are we going to do now? We have a request tomorrow.”
“I don’t know either…”
While Rona and Ha-im were racking their brains, a sudden question popped into Mi-ji’s head.
“What kind of request is it?”
“They want us to take care of a kraken in the sea.”
“What? A real kraken?”
Rona and Ha-im nodded. This time it was a joint request that had come to the two of them. Since they were high school classmates who had been caught shopping together countless times, the entire nation knew they were close. Because of that, companies occasionally asked them to work together for marketing purposes.
“Kraken live in the deep sea so they’re rarely seen. Will that be okay?”
“That’s exactly why we absolutely need brother’s power.”
The kraken, along with the megalodon and leviathan, was considered one of the three great sea monsters. Of course, the weakest among them was the kraken, which alone received a 2nd-class monster rating, but since it was underwater, defeating it was no easy task.
The original plan had been for Seong-a to monitor the kraken’s movements from the shore in real time and help them avoid its attacks, but in her current state, that was impossible. Somehow, they had to lift Seong-a’s mood before tomorrow arrived.
“Hey guys, I’m back.”
At that moment, Su-ha stepped out of the elevator in the distance, waving with one hand while holding a plastic bag in the other.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, this? Canned beer.”
At the words “canned beer,” everyone looked puzzled.
“You’re going to drink right now?”
“No way. I bought it for unnie. Who knows? Maybe drinking beer will cheer her up.”
“Does unnie even like beer?”
“I’m not sure about that either.”
From Ha-im’s perspective, she had never once seen her brother drink alcohol. Rona glanced at Ha-im.
“Don’t tell me you don’t even know what your sister likes?”
“W-well, you see…”
To be honest, she didn’t know. But from Ha-im’s point of view, that was a little unfair. They had been separated for eight years—how was she supposed to know if her tastes had changed? The only thing she could say for sure was…
“She probably likes anime and manga and stuff like that?”
“Hmm, that’s a bit vague.”
She was seriously considering transforming and rushing off to Japan right now. If she bought her a few million won worth of figures, it might cheer her up. The problem was there wasn’t enough time, so she’d have to sneak in illegally…
Knock knock!
“Unnie, I’m coming in.”
“……!”
Su-ha knocked on the door without saying anything else.
……There was no answer.
She rattled the doorknob hard, but it was locked and wouldn’t open.
“Give me the key.”
“M-maybe we shouldn’t go in…? She seems really upset right now…”
Crack!
In that instant, Su-ha misjudged her strength and the door came clean off its hinges. Even Su-ha hadn’t expected that and looked flustered.
“What do we do about this?”
Rona let out a sigh.
“I’ll pay for the repairs separately.”
The four of them carefully stepped inside. Seong-a was still completely hidden under the blanket, refusing to show her face. Rona spoke to her first.
“Unnie, cheer up. It was our fault.”
“…….”
No answer. This time Su-ha tried.
“Brother, can you stop now? The viewers actually liked it, you know?”
“…….”
Still no answer. Mi-ji took her turn.
“Darling, let’s go swimming together. I’ll even show you some whales.”
“…….”
Another failure. They had no idea how to lift Seong-a’s mood. That was when Su-ha opened a can of beer and spoke.
“Unnie, crying causes muscle loss. Come work out with me.”
“…I don’t want that.”
“…!”
A hoarse voice came from under the blanket. Seong-a, who hadn’t responded no matter how many times they called her, had finally reacted to the word “exercise.”
“Unnie, I’m sorry. Come out and let’s talk.”
“…No. But that doesn’t mean I’m still upset.”
“You’re still not over it?”
“…It’s not that.”
Everyone looked confused at her words. If she was over it, why was she still wrapped up in the blanket?
“…I look ugly right now.”
Everyone in the room was rendered speechless. From Seong-a’s perspective, her current face was an absolute disaster. Her face was red as a tomato and her eyes were horribly swollen. There was no way she could show that to others.
“Ugh, this is so frustrating I can’t stand it.”
Ha-im couldn’t take it anymore and yanked the blanket away with raw strength. But Seong-a still buried her face in the pillow, refusing to show herself.
“Let’s see just how ugly you are.”
“D-don’t!”
It was no use. Ha-im grabbed her arm and forced her face up.
“…….”
Seong-a’s face could be described in one word.
She was just insanely pretty.
Her bright red face, like a ripe persimmon, triggered protective instincts, and her swollen eyes somehow looked bigger than usual, highlighting a cuteness she didn’t normally show.
“I told you not to look!”
With an embarrassed expression, Seong-a kicked Ha-im. It didn’t hurt, but it caught her off guard.
“Didn’t you say you were over it? Then why are you acting like this?”
Seong-a turned her head away. She couldn’t believe she had to say this out loud…
“…It’s embarrassing.”
“…….”
Her pride took a small hit. For about one second, she had thought Seong-a was cute.
“Wow, you’re so adorable!”
“……!”
Suddenly Mi-ji rushed over, jumped onto the bed, and I fell backward.
“W-why are you here?!”
“I was worried! It would’ve been a huge loss if I missed seeing you this cute!”
Wait, cute? Me? I couldn’t understand it. What part of me looked cute right now? I was just embarrassed about crying in front of a bunch of people younger than me.
“Unnie, do you want a beer…”
Before Su-ha could even finish speaking, I snatched the can from her hand. Then I downed it in one go. I wanted to forget this embarrassment with alcohol as quickly as possible.
Gulp, gulp!
I wiped the liquid that spilled down my arm. But for some reason, everyone was looking at me with strange expressions.
“What? Haven’t you ever seen someone drink beer before?”
“Unnie, you’re good at drinking?”
“Uh, well…”
I thought for a moment. Exactly how much could I drink…
Before I could even finish the thought, my face flushed again and my head started to hurt. I collapsed onto the bed as if I had fainted.
“Hehe…”
Seong-a giggled with a bright red face.
That’s right. I could only handle one drink, hehe…