A Couple's Quarrel
“A university tour, Unnie…?” Su-ha took both my hands in hers, her eyes shining with deep emotion. I shook my head vigorously, determined to correct the misunderstanding.
“No! No way! Hey! When did I ever say anything like that?!”
“Come on, it’s written all over your face that you want to experience college life. Mom even told you to go.”
“When did I—!”
I tried to protest, but it was pointless. Su-ha still had a firm grip on my hands.
“Unnie, I’ll show you around campus myself!”
“No, I really don’t have any intention of—”
“Seeing it in person might change your mind! Just trust me and come along!”
Su-ha used her ridiculous strength to drag me forward, and in the end I had no choice but to follow without putting up any resistance.
The first place she took me was the gym. True to form, it was packed wall-to-wall with workout equipment.
“Sunbaes, I’m here!”
Su-ha waved at the students in the training hall. They waved back, though every gesture looked painfully awkward. I scanned the room, sensing something was off. Why was everyone trembling like that?
Right on cue, a heavily muscled man approached us with extreme caution.
“S-Su-ha…? Weren’t you always working out at your family’s private gym…?”
“Today I need to show a close unnie around campus! I’ll only impose on you this once!”
The moment she mentioned working out here, the man’s face turned deathly pale.
“Um, Unnie, what would you like to do first? I’ll follow your lead!”
“Uh… do we really have to? Can’t we check out somewhere else first?”
Su-ha’s shoulders slumped instantly. Still, I couldn’t help it. Exercise was the last thing I wanted to do.
“Fine. Since we came to tour the university, I suppose it can’t be helped.”
We left the gym and moved on to the next spot.
“Did you do something to those people? They wouldn’t even look you in the eye.”
“I have no idea. I don’t think I did anything wrong…”
Su-ha mulled over why the gym crowd seemed so uncomfortable around her, but her expression remained genuinely puzzled. I had a pretty good idea, but decided to keep it to myself.
The next place we reached was a coin karaoke booth. For a second I was speechless.
“Why on earth does a university have a coin karaoke room?”
“It’s one of our school’s proudest features. Want to sing a song?”
Su-ha handed me the microphone. Having come this far, it felt like a waste not to.
I started typing my favorite song into the machine.
Shinzou wo sasageyo—!
“Isn’t that a Japanese song?”
“Yep.”
“Can you actually sing in Japanese?”
“Obviously.”
Don’t underestimate the Japanese skills I polished through years of anime. Warui na kissama! Sokomade da yare yare oi koitsu www. At this point I basically counted as fluent.
The instrumental kicked in and I began to sing. When the song ended, the score popped up.
“Hmm…”
The screen flashed a perfect 100. But karaoke machines were notorious for tweaking scores, so it wasn’t exactly reliable. In situations like this, the best move was to ask the person next to you.
“How was I?”
Su-ha wore a completely dazed expression. Was my singing really that bad? As if to prove my worry pointless, she burst into enthusiastic applause.
Clap clap clap clap!!!
“Unnie, your tone is incredible! You could totally be a singer!”
“R-really…?”
Praise always felt good. After singing a few more songs, we continued our tour of the campus.
When the tour finally ended, Su-ha declared with absolute confidence, “So, Unnie? Don’t you want to attend our university now?”
“Well…”
My vague answer made Su-ha’s face fall into pure gloom. I reached out and patted her head as an apology. She immediately put on an expression of wounded pride.
“I’m not a little kid, you know?”
“Cheer up. People’s hearts can change anytime.”
“So… are you thinking of changing yours?”
“…….”
When I subtly avoided her eyes, Su-ha let out a long sigh.
“Well, it’s your decision, so I won’t pester you. But please consider it positively.”
“Got it.”
Afterward we returned to the café with Su-ha. Ha-im was just taking off her glasses and getting ready to head out.
“What, the tour’s already over?”
“Yeah.”
“So, did it make you want to enroll?”
“Not really.”
If a proper reason came along I might consider it, but simply wanting to relive my school days wasn’t enough to justify burning the stamina and energy I needed for streaming. The exchange rates didn’t add up.
“Well, okay. Take your time deciding. Su-ha, see you later.”
“Yeah, see you!”
We left campus and wandered the streets.
“Do you know anything about the Prophet?”
“The Prophet? Out of nowhere?”
“He’s just too suspicious.”
If that incident had really happened, he wouldn’t have filmed the same commercial as me. The number of shady things about him kept piling up.
“Can’t you just use your brother’s ability to find out?”
“That alone isn’t enough.”
With my power I could uncover his abilities, limits, family ties, past, and even his private taste in women, but there was always the chance I might miss something. I needed more information.
“How would I know something your brother doesn’t?”
“Hmm, good point.”
She was right. If I didn’t know it, how could she? It made no sense.
I’ll have to look into it properly once I get home.
“What are you going to do when you get back?”
“Probably start streaming.”
My daily routine was an endless loop of streaming, eating, using the bathroom, and sleeping. This time I’d probably continue the romance game I’d been playing or dive into one of the fun trash games that had caught my interest lately.
Ha-im’s face lit up at my answer.
“Perfect. I was bored anyway. Come with me to buy a gift for Grandpa.”
“A gift for Grandpa? Why?”
“Tsk! I told you already. We’re visiting his house next week.”
I had zero memory of that conversation. Had I just mumbled an answer while half-asleep?
“You’re not thinking of skipping it, are you?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll go.”
Originally I had planned to avoid it, but this would be my first time visiting the maternal grandparents, and I was dying to know why Mrs. Kim had ended up cutting ties with them.
“But do you even know what Grandpa likes?”
“That’s why I’m asking you to come along. I was going to pick something by myself originally.”
“…….”
A sigh escaped me automatically. To think she would use her only older sibling like this.
With no other choice, I stopped walking and reached into my bag. Let’s see, what would Grandpa like…
“Stocks.”
“…….”
“Buildings, real estate, cars, cash?”
When I opened my eyes, Ha-im was staring at me with utter disbelief.
“Isn’t Grandpa a bit too materialistic?”
“Is he? I thought that was pretty standard.”
Who in the world hated money? In that sense, Grandpa was refreshingly honest.
“It might be easier to just avoid what he dislikes.”
I reached out again, this time searching for things Grandpa would hate.
“Uh… son-in-law?”
“…You mean Dad?”
“Yeah.”
According to the reading, Grandpa hated Manager Lee with a burning passion. He despised him so much he would gladly grind the man into a blender, turn him into a smoothie, top it with whipped cream, and chug it in one go.
“Why?”
“Well, maybe because Dad stole his daughter?”
Unlike our daughter-genius father, it seemed Grandpa was also an extreme doting father.
“Hmm, maybe we should just buy something typical that older people like?”
Following Ha-im’s suggestion, we stopped at the department store and browsed the scarf section.
“What would be good? Help me choose.”
Ha-im hummed cheerfully as she looked through the scarves.
“Want me to just tell you Grandpa’s scarf preferences?”
“No. You’re supposed to think about it and choose yourself.”
“…….”
She had asked me to check his tastes earlier, but now suddenly it had to be a personal choice. I couldn’t figure out her logic.
“How about this one?”
After long deliberation she picked a scarf featuring the currently peak-popular menhera character from SanO-o, the one with KuOmi on it.
“Are you serious? If you want to stack up negative impression points, that’s an excellent choice.”
“But it’s cute… What about this one?”
She showed me several more, but none of them suited an elderly person’s taste. After constant rejections, Ha-im finally snapped at me.
“Then you pick one!”
Wait, I thought she said she was choosing…
It was absurd, but after seeing her selections I decided I’d better take over. I picked the cleanest, most elegant scarf on the display rack.
“This one seems best.”
“This? It’s not even cute…”
“You idiot, you’re not supposed to pick cute ones for old people.”
This girl had no idea what older generations actually liked. In a household that raised the very Confucian Mrs. Kim, a neat and proper scarf would already be a safe half-success.
After buying one for Grandma as well, we headed home.
Bang! Bang!
The moment we stepped into the kitchen, we heard the merciless sound of a knife slamming against the cutting board. Mrs. Kim was cooking with her back to us.
Is this about the maternal family again?
If she was this angry, why not just cut ties like before? I didn’t understand why she had to take it out on everyone else.
I was about to head to my room when I noticed Manager Lee crouched behind the sofa, shivering violently.
“……?”
Had something happened? It was strange to see the usually slick Manager Lee trembling like this. We walked over to him. He looked up at us with shaking eyes, silently begging for help.
“What’s going on? Did something happen?”
“…….”
He avoided our gaze for a moment, then finally spoke.
“…T-today is our wedding anniversary… and I forgot.”