Chapter 43
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: The Feelings of the Two Older Sisters
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On one end of the living room sofa, Sujeong sat with her knees primly together, fidgeting with her fingers.
On the opposite end of the sofa, Geumbi furrowed her brow and pressed her temples firmly.
Sitting right in the middle, I gazed at our reflections in the black TV screen and sorted through this tangled situation.
"Anyway, you both get it now, right? That I really... never crossed that line with either of you sisters."
"Yeah, I get the gist, Jigu."
"Not 100% convinced, but sure."
I couldn't do anything about their suspicious stares or the past incidents they'd already uncovered.
But at least I'd convinced them there was nothing between us that could shatter our family bonds.
Of course, neither of them looked fully satisfied with that.
If anything, it made them worry even more about what to do going forward.
"So, Jigu, what are you going to do now?"
"What do you mean, what am I going to do... about what?"
"You say you didn't go all the way, but you got pretty close. And you're still planning to meet up with your sisters like nothing happened?"
Geumbi took the lead in the conversation.
Her stance hadn't changed at all, and I scratched my cheek while stealing a glance at Sujeong.
"If you're really that worried, I don't think we need to keep sneaking around anymore."
"Eek?! J-Jigu..."
"That goes for you too, of course, Geumbi noona."
"Hngh?! Well, yeah, obviously... tsk."
I glanced at Sujeong once, then back at Geumbi on the other side.
The easiest way to solve a problem was to eliminate the circumstances where it could happen, so my opinion was perfectly reasonable.
In other words, neatly wrapping things up like this could be a fine ending—
"But to do that, there are a few things we need to clarify first."
"Clarify what? What are you talking about, Jigu?"
"We've come this far spilling everything, and you still have more to check?"
"The most fundamental issue is still unresolved. We need to hear how each of us feels about our current situation and our future relationships."
"Eugh...!"
I leaned back calmly against the sofa.
With my hands neatly folded in front of my navel, I stared at their flustered faces in the TV.
Sujeong, blushing and twisting her head side to side.
Geumbi, turning away and chewing her lip.
They looked more honest than ever in the dead of night, so there was no better time than now.
"First off, even if you don't want to meet me one-on-one, you both still want to keep sleeping in my room, right?"
"Yeah, at least until Mom comes back."
"I could stop right now. As long as I contact Mom and push her to come home."
"Geumbi, we agreed to wait on that issue for now, remember?"
"That's why I'm holding off for the moment? Who said to contact her right this second?"
"Hey, hey, calm down. No fighting again. That's not the important part right now, is it?"
"...Hoo, seriously."
"...Tch, so frustrating."
The conversation derailed midway, but their claims boiled down to the same thing despite sounding different.
In the end, they wanted the three of us to keep sleeping together until Mom returned. Since it all started with Mom's words, it made sense they didn't want to change until she sorted it out herself.
"I get where you're both coming from. Being apart when nothing's really changed would just make you anxious again, and we've fought over that several times already."
"Mostly because of Geumbi's stubbornness."
"What do you mean by that, sis? You were acting suspicious, so that's why I got upset."
"Suspicious? I was being considerate for your sake, and you went and misunderstood on your own?"
"What kind of consideration is that? Why not just admit you were discriminating openly?"
"Are you talking back to your big sister right now?"
"Not done yet. Want me to dump all the grudges I've been holding?"
We'd only briefly discussed going back to sleeping separately like normal.
Yet the two sisters were already glaring at each other, on the verge of fighting again.
'Geumbi aside, even Sujeong, who wasn't like this, is on edge. Is it the lingering resentment from earlier?'
It had only been about ten minutes since they'd been growling at each other with me in the middle, so I could understand.
But at this rate, we'd never get anywhere, so I clapped my hands sharply to scold them.
"Enough! I said calm down, both of you. This is exactly why I wanted to hash things out properly."
"Tch, but Geumbi keeps being so rude."
"Hmph, you're the one picking fights with that attitude."
"Sigh, neither of you has done anything right? You took turns being nasty, and if we keep nitpicking, we'll be at this all night. Want to skip work tomorrow?"
"......Tch."
"......Hmph."
As their little brother, I laid out the facts matter-of-factly, feeling a bit pathetic for them.
The clock pointed between 2 and 3 a.m., and the faint chirping of crickets outside finally shut their pouty lips.
"Okay, so we agree to keep sleeping like this until Mom comes back. No complaints there?"
"...I've been on board from the start."
"...Can't have just you and Sujeong noona in one room. So I'll tag along out of necessity."
"Good, settled. Next up is our relationships... Uh, hold on. Let me grab some water."
Honestly, the real tension started now.
When I came back after chugging a glass in the kitchen, I saw my pretty sisters glaring in opposite directions.
'Grown adults acting so childish. ...It'd be nice if they just kept staring elsewhere like this.'
No such luck, I thought as I sat down.
And sure enough, at my next words, they both whipped around to blink at me.
"I don't think I can keep things exactly the same with you two anymore."
"Huh? J-Jigu...?"
"Hweh? What? Jigu, what do you mean by that...?"
"Let me flip it around. Do you sisters think you can just casually face me like old times? Tomorrow, the day after, every day the same?"
It was something I'd hesitated forever to say, but once it was out, I covered my face on instinct.
I didn't see their expressions, but the silence that followed my question told me enough.
"I can't just act nonchalant anymore. Am I the only weird one here? You two are fine?"
"......"
"Isn't it more abnormal to go through something like that and act totally normal?"
"......"
No response to my confession either.
So I slowly lowered my hands from my eyes and brought up the elephant in the room we'd all been ignoring.
"If one of us isn't a blood sibling, then we could have a different kind of relationship, right?"
"Eut...!"
The reason they'd been extra wary and suspicious of me, the guy among them.
The reason they'd constantly bickered with me at the center.
It all stemmed from that one possibility.
"What do you two think about this?"
To keep them from dodging, I laid it out clearly.
With all three of us together, no one could make excuses and slip away alone.
I bowed my head like I'd said my piece and waited for their answers.
After an even longer silence, pushing past 3 a.m., one finally spoke haltingly.
"No matter what... we'll always be family."
"...Sujeong noona."
"We've been that way since the beginning, and it'll never change. That's just how it is, right?"
As the eldest, Sujeong gave the textbook answer.
Her words sounded reasonable at first glance—like it wasn't even worth worrying about—but that only applied to normal cases.
I wasn't asking about some stranger out there.
This was about the three of us right here.
"I see it a bit differently."
"Geumbi noona?"
"If sis is right, then why are we even agonizing like this? All the stuff that's happened with Jigu lately—what was that about?"
Geumbi crossed her legs and glared.
Her eyes no longer wandered the air; they fixed squarely on Sujeong at the sofa's end.
"If the conditions change, so can the relationship. Just because we were family before doesn't guarantee it'll stay that way."
"...Geumbi. Do you even know what you're saying?"
"If I didn't, would I say it? And you were the one calling Jigu into your room every night out of the same worry. Don't pretend otherwise now."
"I called him to prevent any worst-case scenarios, purely as prevention. Unlike you."
"Ha, you think I had some other motive? I was worried you'd get into something weird with him, that's why."
"So in the end, you're saying you agree with me?"
"No. I was worried in case we're blood-related. If not... bluntly put, something could happen."
"Hey, Geumbi!"
"What? No, why make a fuss over this now...?"
"Stop, stop, both of you. I've said it a million times, no fighting. Sigh."
Maybe because of the topic, but they were bickering more than usual tonight, so I waved my hands to cut it off.
Anyway, I'd heard their thoughts, and the gap in their views was clear.
'So that's how it was. That's why they acted differently even when alone with me.'
Sujeong was trying to preserve the family framework, so she never let hands touch her directly.
Geumbi, not knowing who the adopted one was, took control to ensure she could cut ties if needed.
'Hmm, both are tricky in their own ways.'
While listening, a slightly bigger question arose on one side.
We'd come this far, so I turned to them one by one to dig deeper.
"I get Sujeong noona's point. I understand your feelings fully."
"Thanks... I knew you'd get it, Jigu."
"And Geumbi noona... can I ask one more thing?"
"What? Why are you always harder on me?"
"Not singling you out. This is something we absolutely need to clarify."
Geumbi crossed her arms tightly, going full defensive.
Her eyes and expression were fierce like a tiger's.
But at my casual question, her face ripened into a full red tomato.
"From what you said earlier, you think our relationship could change, right?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Doesn't that mean... Geumbi noona, you like me romantically?"
"...Huh? No, what? How'd you twist it to that... Ah?"
First few seconds: utter disbelief.
Next: puzzling over how I reached that conclusion.
Last: replaying her own words, mouth agape and unable to close.
"That'd put me in a tough spot in a lot of ways, y'know. Ahem."
"No, wait, I didn't mean it like that. I was just saying it could happen if...!"
"Hold on, girls? So all this is because Geumbi likes Jigu?"
"Eh? No, that's not it?! Sis, what are you even saying?!"
Geumbi flailed her head in denial after about ten seconds.
But Sujeong's eyes had gone from shock to something verging on disdain.
To lighten the mood a bit, I blushed like a girl who'd just gotten confessed to and averted my gaze slyly.
"Y'know, Geumbi noona? You're plenty attractive and beautiful, but... my heart's not there... yet."
"Hey, hey, stop! Jigu, what are you trying to say? Don't say it, whatever it is, shut up!"
"Noona, too late to deny it now. No wonder you kept calling me to your room all this time... Pfft!"
"Shh, I told you to shut it! Sujeong sis, it's not like that? I just meant it as a possibility, not literally. Believe me, sis...!"
Geumbi hurled a cushion at my face from where it lay, then jumped up and approached Sujeong.
But Sujeong's expression didn't budge, while Geumbi's face grew increasingly tearful.
'They say solving a problem starts with understanding it... but this ain't easy. Where do I even begin?'
Time was late, so maybe call it here for tonight.
I dragged the clinging Geumbi and shuddering Sujeong off to the bedroom.
Afterward, bed space and positions sparked another commotion.
But that wasn't important, so we'll gloss over it.
"Whoa, insane, what a bombshell...!"
The real kicker was someone hidden on the stairs had been eavesdropping on our talk from some point.
...And the even bigger deal was the next day, when Geumbi noona bit my lower parts.
Physically, I mean.