The Making Film of the Loner

— Yu Soha’s point ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of view

Sister’s room is where I spend most of my time at home.

Maybe I stay there even longer than she does herself.

After all, ever since she became a high school student, she’s been working part-time every day, and during summer vacation she’s been out meeting friends so often that there’s barely any time left for her to be home.

So naturally, I know her room almost as well as she does.

Right by the door there’s a full-length mirror for checking outfits every morning, along with a yoga mat she never skips using. Around the desktop are sphere-jointed figures for figure drawing and reference materials she keeps on hand when she draws. Off in one corner, there’s an easel and canvas she’s been fond of since long ago.

And there’s one thing Sister probably doesn’t know about at all: a school tie has rolled underneath her wardrobe and been left there.

It’s summer vacation, so she has no reason to use it, which is why she probably hasn’t noticed it’s gone.

Once school starts again and she begins searching for the missing tie, I’ll step in and hand it over to her myself. Then I’ll get praised for it.

But today, my reason for coming into Sister’s room isn’t just to check whether the tie under the wardrobe is still there.

My real purpose is

...

to tally Sister’s underwear count.

When I first started doing this, my reasons were very simple and innocent.

It all began with nothing more than pure curiosity: I wonder what kind of underwear Sister’s wearing today!

Besides, family members know roughly what underwear the others own anyway, so by taking stock of the underwear situation in four places — the laundry basket, the washing machine, the drying rack, and the wardrobe — it was easy enough to infer what she’d worn that day.

Recently, though, I’d started noticing that Sister’s underwear patterns had developed a certain consistency.

Namely, there were days when she’d go out wearing panties and a bra that matched in color.

It might seem like a small thing, but it was actually a huge change.

That’s because for women with large chests like my sister and me, the range of bra designs you can choose from is already ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pretty limited, which makes it hard to own panties and bras in matching sets to begin with.

So this was almost certainly a sign that a boyfriend had appeared.

After I realized that, every time Sister left the house I’d come into her room, open her wardrobe, and take a look around.

The number of matching underwear sets she owns is limited, so if I check who she went to meet on the days when one of those sets has disappeared...

I can narrow down which bastard is trying to set his sights on my sister.

Of course, it’s not that I want Sister to live alone and single forever without a boyfriend.

On the contrary, I sincerely hope she meets a wonderful man worthy of her and lives happily ever after.

But finding a man worthy of my sister is no easy task.

First of all, he can’t be the kind to cheat, so there shouldn’t be many women around him.

And if he’s going to be loyal to his family, he shouldn’t be the type who likes to run around outside all the time.

That said, I can’t exactly marry Sister off to some exercise-starved fatso, so he’d have to keep up with fitness too.

Ideally, he’d be good at studying and highly capable as well.

But he can’t go spouting nonsense about starting a business or following some dream and wasting his time on that kind of garbage.

If he’s going to be Sister’s husband, he needs to understand that he’s basically a money-making machine and live only to make her happy.

He’s just a boyfriend, so why are you demanding the role of a husband already?

Ha! So what, should I just let Sister get dumped by some man?

And of course, I wouldn’t accept it even if she were the one doing the dumping. I can’t possibly let some underqualified guy keep pretending to be my sister’s boyfriend.

If she’s going to date someone, shouldn’t she pick a man who can go straight through to marriage?

...There are still more conditions before someone can become Sister’s boyfriend.

Sister likes art, so her boyfriend needs to have enough money to support her artistic pursuits.

At the same time, his family background can’t be so good that Sister ends up having to walk on eggshells around her in-laws.

So, without relying on his parents, Sister’s boyfriend should build up his own fortune with his own strength.

Also, meetings through blind dates or matchmaking aren’t very romantic, so if an accidental meeting grows into friendship and then into love, that would be ideal.

Well, even if he met every single condition... if he just didn’t appeal to me for some reason, then he’d still fail.

Of course, I know this much.

For a younger sister, I’m probably way too involved in Sister’s love life.

But there’s nothing I can do about that.

If I leave her alone, she’ll clearly fall for some bad man, hand over her heart and her soul, and end up miserable.

...

For the record, that isn’t just a guess. I’m certain of it.

Because... the manga Sister sometimes reads in secret when I’m not looking is mostly full of stories about bad men tying up pitiful women and tormenting them, so she’s definitely harboring some warped fantasies about bad boys deep down.

.

.

.

I was going through the usual routine, checking the kinds and quantities of underwear in Sister’s wardrobe.

It was something I’d been doing for more than a year now, so I was completely used to it; even if underwear disappeared or new pieces were added, I could spot it right away.

But then I came across something rather shocking.

"This is... a thong?"

At least I could guess easily why Sister bought it.

It was summer, and her hips were still growing... so if her clothes were tight, she’d be worried about panty lines.

Or maybe she’d used it when trying on the one-piece swimsuit she bought at the department store last time.

...

Still, the design somehow seemed so carefully polished that it bothered me a little, if I was being honest.

It’s not like it’s something meant to be shown to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠other people anyway... maybe it was just for her own satisfaction.

Hmm... no matter how many times I looked at it, the thing’s appearance was seriously irritating.

Maybe I should check the brand now and buy one with the exact same design later for Sister... not that I’d ever wear it.

And then, while I was taking the thong out of Sister’s wardrobe and admiring it, I heard someone coming into the house.

"Soha! Sister’s home~♪ I brought a friend; that’s okay, right?"

I’d been told Sister was going to the pool today.

I’d assumed she wouldn’t be back until after dinner, but she’d come home much earlier than I expected.

I’d better put away the thong in my hand and shut the wardrobe quickly.

No matter how nice Sister is, she’d still get angry if she saw her younger sister rummaging through her underwear.

...

The friend Sister brought home was Sia-noona.

I’d already guessed as much, since Sister’s friends are basically only Sia-noona and Ian-oppa anyway.

From what I gathered, Sister had gone to the pool today with her friends, but for one reason or another she’d ended up leaving early.

Then Sia-noona had cleared her schedule for the day and had time on her hands, while Ian-oppa couldn’t keep hanging out because of a scheduling issue...

So after the two of them mulled it over, they’d come to the conclusion that they should come to our house.

Personally, I thought it was an excellent idea.

It meant more time with Sister, and I also wanted to get closer to Sia-noona.

So while the two of them set down their things and tidied up their bags, I prepared drinks and snacks and got ready for a long conversation.

.

.

.

"Ian-oppa had abs... I knew he worked out, but I had no idea he had a six-pack like that..."

"Honestly, you hardly ever get a chance to see that on boys your own age. Even the ones who do work out usually only seem to care about arm muscles."

"Exactly, right? Abs are the kind of thing you mostly see on TV or in manga. In real life, you barely ever see them unless it’s some pool lifeguard uncle."

.

.

.

"So~ do you know what Ian said to us? He had this totally innocent look on his face and goes, 'Women who aren’t you guys don’t feel attractive to me at all, even if they’re wearing bikinis.' Can you believe that!!"

"Hmm... Somi. The general nuance is right, but... I feel like the original has been reduced to almost nothing..."

"I can only declare him guilty. Even if he was excited because he went to the pool, saying something like that so casually..."

"Right? Right?"

"Sister, what exactly are you happy about? You should be a little more aware of what’s happening here."

.

.

.

"I was just planning to spend some time in the kiddie pool. But then Ian scooped me right up and carried me over to the main pool, where he taught me how to swim. He explained it better than I expected."

"Sia likes being carried princess-style, after all... Maybe I should ask him to carry me ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠next time too?"

"Wait. Don’t you think we keep circling back to Ian-oppa again and again?"

Our conversation with the two sisters kept revolving around Ian-oppa.

Of course I was interested too, and it was fun... but this was the first time something like this had happened, so I was a little flustered.

Then dinner time began to approach, and just as Sia-noona was getting ready to leave, our phones all chimed at once.

-♪-♫~♩-♬

It was the ringtone for a message.

So when I checked my smartphone, the sender was Ian-oppa.

There was a video file attached to the message.

When I played the video, I saw bloopers that couldn’t be used in the contest submission, photos taken while sightseeing around the filming locations, and storyboards for the video production plan, all drifting by to gentle background music.

There were funny scenes where a mistake had caused a blooper for something pretty silly, and there were also shots of Ian-oppa scowling a little fiercely as he argued with onlookers. There were even commemorative photos of Sister and Ian-oppa smiling at the camera.

There was a picture of Sia-noona holding a microphone in a karaoke room, and a photo of Sister holding a spoon in a gukbap restaurant, too.

It looked like Sister, who was watching the same video as me, was deeply moved by it and unable to hide how touched she felt.

This video was basically a complete record of the memories from this summer vacation they spent preparing for the contest...

So if he suddenly showed them something like this without any warning, it made sense that they’d be this overwhelmed.

I was even starting to think, I should’ve formally joined the contest alongside Sister after all.

...

But then, in the final scene of the video, a photo of me appeared from the day I’d helped with choreography practice in the school gym, and a line of text rose up over it.

...

...

Huh... I see.

It was a little tempting for a second, but still, Oppa isn’t rich, so I’m not giving him Sister.

If he happens to win the lottery and become rich, I might at least pretend to think it over.