Chapter 73
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Persistent Taunts from the Little Sister
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The two older sisters hemmed and hawed about how they'd just happened to swing by on their way home from work, or how it had been ages since we'd all eaten out together as a family.
But their flushed, breathless faces and disheveled clothes betrayed the fact that they'd bolted straight to the cafe the moment they clocked out.
They must have been that desperate to tie up whatever went down last night—or maybe even early this morning.
Before I could even get a word in edgewise, Hwayeon snatched my arm and dragged me along. At that, the two older sisters fell silent in unison, their fists clenched tight.
"Hey, Hwayeon Yang. Didn't you hear your sisters talking? What the hell do you think you're doing, interrupting like that?"
"Hwayeon... no matter how close you two are, you should still mind how it looks out in public."
Geumbi noona grabbed the arm Hwayeon wasn't linking with mine and snapped at her.
Sujeong noona hesitated for a moment before calmly trying to soothe her.
But Hwayeon just grinned like she'd seen this coming—like she'd been waiting for it. Once we'd walked a bit farther from the cafe, to a spot where hardly anyone was milling about, she spoke up softly.
"What? I was just helping out since you two seemed in such a rush to get going. My shift's over, and I didn't wanna linger there anyway. Plus, it would've been rude to hog the space without ordering more, so I just hurried oppa out~?"
Her voice was bright and cheery, her tone drawling and casual.
But the implication was anything but light.
'She's totally throwing it back in their faces, right? Like they were the ones making a scene at the cafe, so she stepped in to clean it up... Hmm. Not entirely wrong, technically.'
It's all in the delivery—even the same words can hit different with an 'ah' versus an 'uh.'
She made a point of emphasizing our linked arms, flashing a smile at her sisters, and giggling to herself afterward. No one could mistake that for anything but pure provocation.
"Hwayeon Yang, you little...!"
"Ugh, when you put it like that... it does kinda make sense."
Geumbi noona's irritation only grew.
Sujeong noona conceded the point with a grimace but still glanced back and forth between our arms, clearly not fully buying it.
"Anyway, we said we'd grab dinner together, right? I know a spot nearby, so let's head there. No more drama till we get there, got it, sisters?"
"Hey, who's following who here... ugh."
"Ow, let's... just talk at the restaurant, Geumbi."
"Heehee, Sujeong noona's the mature one, as always~. Come on, oppa, pick up the pace. The sisters will catch up from behind~."
"...So why do we have to trail behind like this?"
"...But couldn't you at least unlink arms on the way, Hwayeon?"
Hwayeon led the way, pulling me along.
Even though she could clearly hear her grumbling sisters a step behind, she breezily ignored them.
"Man, oppa! Your shift must've been tough, huh? With all those orders suddenly piling up~."
"Huh? Nah, not really... I was stuck on dish duty all day. You were the one busting your ass making every drink under the sun."
"Hehe, really? I thought you weren't paying attention, but you were watching the whole time? I'm touched~."
"Touched, my ass. But you were so quiet on the job—why bring it up now?"
"Cuz~ now that we're done, it's like after-party chatter? Sharing our thoughts on the day we spent working together sounds fun, right?"
"Sure, I guess. Though it'd usually be 80% your whining and complaints."
"Heehee, I'll tone it down a bit. So from now on, whenever our shifts end, let's walk home chattering like this, okay?"
"You're the one chattering; I'm just going along with it. Whatever, I don't mind either way, but why do you keep steering it this way... uh."
The conversation itself was nothing special, but Hwayeon's suspicious glint in her eye and the way she pressed her chest against my arm made things iffy.
I glanced back carelessly and caught our sisters glaring daggers, teeth grinding audibly.
"Look at you two, all lovey-dovey. Why not just hold hands too while you're at it?"
"Even you, Jigu... aren't you spoiling Hwayeon too much? Hmph."
Whether they thought I couldn't hear or wanted to make damn sure I did, their muttering grew louder by the second. I hurriedly calculated how many minutes we had left till the restaurant.
'This Hwayeon... how calculated can she be? Screw it, I'll keep my mouth shut and just walk till we get there.'
Too late to stop responding, I clamped down and focused on putting one foot in front of the other.
But I couldn't shut up Hwayeon's already-blazing chatter.
And unfortunately... we still had a good ten minutes to go.
In that time, she yammered on about "just our little thing," saying who-knows-how-much.
And ground her chest against my arm who-knows-how-roughly.
Making her sisters' grumbles from behind swell louder and louder.
My mental fortitude couldn't even tally it all up.
The second we reached the restaurant, I bolted for the bathroom on some excuse, not looking back.
I splashed water on my face and barely caught my breath before heading to the room... only to agonize all over again at the round table over who to sit next to.
In the end, I picked the spot right between Geumbi noona—who was shooting me a death glare—and Hwayeon—who was grinning ear to ear.
The moment I sat, I kept my eyes fixed straight ahead at Sujeong noona across from me, delicately balancing the tension between the three of them.
"......"
"......"
"......"
But it was obvious this forced truce would shatter the second anyone let go.
As we all eyed each other warily, Hwayeon—who'd been fiddling with her glass—finally broke the silence.
"So, sisters, what was so important that you had to drag 'our oppa' out here?"
"Uh...?!"
"Our... oppa?"
"Yeah. He's our oppa—what, you think he's someone else's? Why're you two so shocked? Hehe."
At Hwayeon's question, Sujeong noona let out a small groan and averted her eyes.
Geumbi noona gripped her water glass like it might shatter, grinding her teeth for a good three seconds to tamp down her anger.
It looked like the provocation—starting back at the cafe—had pushed both older sisters to their limit.
But after calming themselves in their own ways, Sujeong noona went first to respond to Hwayeon.
"Like I said earlier... we're just family grabbing a bite. It's been forever since we all ate out together."
"Hmm~ really? Then why not meet at home or text ahead? Why trek all the way to the cafe?"
"We were curious about where you two work. Wondered what you looked like on the job—as your big sisters, isn't that natural?"
"...Fair enough. Embarrassing, but thanks for coming to check, heh."
Sujeong noona smiled sweetly, emphasizing 'big sisters' like payback for earlier.
Maybe because they didn't usually butt heads like this, Hwayeon flashed an awkward grin, coughed lightly, and backed off.
'Turning the 'can't spit on a smiling face' proverb against her, huh... Sujeong noona, I've noticed since yesterday—you're sneakily good at verbal sparring, aren't you?'
She even got the better of Geumbi noona yesterday, so maybe she was just straight-up good at it.
As I spectated the back-and-forth, Geumbi noona stepped up next to press Hwayeon.
"Hwayeon Yang. But why do you have so many questions? It's like you think Sujeong noona and I showing up was some big deal."
"Huh~? I never said that. Isn't Geumbi noona overreacting a bit?"
"Ha! You... Fine, then what was that arm-linking and giggling on the way here? My overreaction too?"
"Just normal sibling skinship. Oppa and I have always been super casual with each other. Right, oppa~?"
"Wait, why drag me into this... Hmm. True, I've never kept my distance from you or anything."
It wasn't so much affection as mutual 'easy targets' that made us like that.
Bickering and bantering was one thing, but this clingy stuff felt different, right?
I was about to add that when Hwayeon cut me off and yelled back at Geumbi noona.
"Hear that? Hear that?! We've always been like this, so you shouldn't get so curious. Though I get why you'd be antsy, coming in late to the party."
"What?! Late to the party...? Hey, Hwayeon Yang. What the hell does that mean? You make it sound like I'm fighting over Jigu or something."
"Oh? You're not? Then why're you so pissed off? Huh? Tell me—why?"
Wow, she really knows how to push buttons.
Geumbi noona wouldn't actually hurl that glass, would she?
Hwayeon's sassy tone, hands planted on the table, was enough to make even me—a bystander—want to smack her.
And Geumbi noona, who'd always been Hwayeon's natural counter, trembled violently, lips quivering.
"You... Hey, Jigu Yang! You just gonna sit there and take this crap? Why aren't you saying anything?!"
"Huh? Why's the heat turning on me now... I've been quiet this whole time."
"Quiet? You were totally taking her side when she was yapping earlier! What, you two already got it all figured out? Teaming up with her now?!"
"Teaming up? Come on, this is family—we're all equal. You're all precious sisters and siblings to me."
"Ha, hilarious. That's why you snuck around like a bat every night, right? Banging your 'precious' ones left and right?"
"Guh?! B-banging...? Ahem. Geumbi noona, language."
"What, can't handle the truth? You haven't fully confessed yet, but from the looks of it, you two already went all the way...!"
*Clang!*
A glass slammed against the table from beside the fuming Geumbi noona.
Not from my right, so only one culprit: Sujeong noona, seated across from me.
"You two—no, all three of you—cut it out, will you?"
"B-but noona, they're the ones who...!"
"No, I was just answering Geumbi noona...!"
"Noona, I was literally sitting quiet just now."
"Quiet. Keep this up, and I'll ditch dinner and leave."
"""......"""
At Sujeong noona's sharp command, the rest of us meekly lowered our voices.
She frowned for a moment before relaxing her expression and slowly sipping her water.
Unlike before, the glass met the table with a soft clink. Right then, our food arrived, giving us a natural breather.
'Less "smooth recovery" and more "post-skirmish standoff"... I can't even taste my food with this tension, ugh.'
After Hwayeon's provocations, Geumbi noona's flare-up, and Sujeong noona's cleanup swept through like a storm,
by the time the tangsuyuk in the center was half-gone, round two blew in over the table.
As expected, it kicked off with Hwayeon—the one who'd ordered the simplest dish, jjajangmyeon.
"So, sisters, how far have you gone with oppa? You two done it yet?"
"Pfft?!"
"Ah? Uh, wha...? Hwayeon, no, you...!"
I knew it.
No way a brief cool-down turns that bomb into a sparkler.
Geumbi noona choked hard enough to spit out her jjambbong,
and Sujeong noona was so flustered she didn't even notice her fried rice spoon slip.
And me...? I stared into the bokkeum jjajangmyeon I'd ordered on a whim, seriously pondering which of the three mixed dishes inside to tackle first.