Omok
...At that moment, if I had just said one thing—
If I had only spoken these words, this whole story would have ended right here.
“No, sis. The thing about having someone I like... that was a lie.
I like you.
I’ve liked you a lot ever since the first time I saw you.
I said we were as comfortable as real siblings, but the truth is, I’ve been painfully aware of you the whole time.
When I snapped at you to wear panties, it wasn’t because I thought it was dirty. It was because every time I saw you, my heart pounded so hard I couldn’t calm down.
When I nagged you to stop drinking, it wasn’t because I looked down on you. It was because I genuinely care about you.
The reason I never confessed despite all that was because I was scared our relationship would grow distant if I did.
I wanted to stay by your side even like this, so for the past five years I hid my feelings and pretended nothing was wrong.
So, sis...
Will you go out with me?”
That was my true heart.
Every honest feeling I had suppressed toward her.
But the reason I couldn’t say it, the reason I kept my mouth shut, was...
Why couldn’t I tell her?
Was it because I was ashamed of having hidden my true feelings for the past five years?
Or because suddenly confessing so seriously felt too embarrassing?
Either way, they were pathetic reasons.
She must have felt just as embarrassed.
She must have found it just as awkward to say those words to me.
Yet she had been honest with me.
Of course, I was partly responsible for driving her to such desperation with my lie.
Still, she was far braver than someone like me.
The only thing I could do right now was nod along to her strange proposal.
“...Let’s settle this with a game where I bet my heart.
If I win a hundred times first, you give up on that girl you like.
And you start liking me instead.”
After a long silence, I finally managed to speak.
“...O-okay... I got it.”
“R-really...?”
She looked genuinely surprised that I had accepted, her face lighting up with pure joy. It was an expression so innocent it flooded me with crushing guilt.
She sprang up from the bed like a frog, bouncing noisily.
Only then did the embarrassment seem to hit her all at once. Her face flushed bright red and she lowered her head.
I turned red too, caught up in the same feeling, when she glanced at me shyly, fidgeting, and asked,
“...That rock-paper-scissors just now doesn’t count, right? It happened before we made the bet...”
“Huh? Oh, yeah... of course not...”
“Yesss~~ Nice. I’m not going easy on you anymore.”
Still blushing, she grinned mischievously and playfully punched my arm a few times.
Then she plopped back down in front of the baduk board, once again without panties.
“...Alright then, Namhyuk-ssu. Come here. Let’s play another round.”
“Wait, we’re starting right now?”
“Obviously. Time is of the essence.”
Time is of the essence.
What she meant was that she needed to rack up a hundred wins before I could start dating the girl I supposedly liked.
Of course, since I didn’t actually like anyone besides her, there was no real need for any of this.
Even so, I obediently sat down across from her at the board and let out a small chuckle.
“...Are we doing rock-paper-scissors again?”
“No, that’s banned forever. You’re way too good at it.”
“Ugh... Then what are we playing?”
“Hehe. If it’s not rock-paper-scissors, there’s only one thing you can do on a baduk board.”
With a sly grin, she lifted a black stone high into the air and boldly placed it right in the center of the board.
“Come on, let’s play omok with me. I never lose at this.”
“Oh-ho... You sound pretty confident. Alright, bring it on.”
Smiling, I took a white stone from the drawer and placed it right next to hers in the center. After that, we took turns placing stones while chatting casually.
“...Hey, Namhyuk-ssu.”
Tap. Her black stone.
“Yeah...? What about me?”
Tap. My white stone.
“When did you start liking that girl?”
Tap.
....She’s bringing that up all of a sudden...? Sigh....
Well, from her perspective, I guess it would bother her. If our positions were reversed, I’d probably want to know who she liked too.
What should I say? The only person my brain registers as “someone I like” is her...
“.......Uh...... Well... for a while now...?”
Rustle rustle...Tap.
“What did you like about her?”
Tap.
“....Um, her face... is pretty...?”
Rustle rustle rustle...Tap.
“Wasn’t there anything else?”
Tap.
“...Hmm... I don’t really know...”
Tap.
“Really? Is she younger than you? Guys usually like younger girls, right?”
Tap.
“...No, she’s not younger...”
Tap.
“Then she must be the same age.”
Tap.
“Uh... well... not that either...”
“Sorry for prying so much.”
Tap.
“N-no... it’s fine.”
Tap.
“...But that means she goes to our school, right?”
Tap.
“Uh...? Y-yeah, I guess...”
Tap.
“That’s nice... being young together. I’m graduating soon.”
Tap.
....I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment and took a deep breath.
Ah..... This is harder than I thought...
Should I just tell her right now...?
Of course, saying it now would be even more embarrassing than before, but at least I wouldn’t have to keep worrying about my lie being exposed.
Yeah. It’s late, but I should just tell her now... That would be so much easier on my mind....
“...Sis.”
“Yesss?”
Tap.
“...So, um. Actually...”
“Hold it right there!!! This little shit, pretending to talk while secretly making a foul move...! That’s a three-three!”
Her eyes flashed as she shouted furiously and flicked away the stone I had just placed.
Then she crossed her arms, puffed out her cheeks, and huffed indignantly, as if she couldn’t believe I had tried to cheat.
I hadn’t been thinking about the game at all.... I let out a helpless laugh at how seriously she took it.
I watched her for a second, then awkwardly scratched my head.
“Ah, sorry, sorry. I didn’t realize that was illegal. Too bad...”
“Hehe. Cheater eliminated~~ Yep, you used to be an omok master back in the day~ But now you’re completely in the palm of my hand.”
...What game is this woman not good at, honestly...
When I refocused on the board, I saw that the game had tilted heavily in my favor without me even trying.
....Amazingly, it was leaning toward me even though I hadn’t been paying attention at all.
Wait, I thought she was an omok master... I’m not even that good...
What was even more ridiculous was that she genuinely believed she was winning.
Her eyes sparkled with anticipation of victory, and she was shaking her leg restlessly.
Good grief, this is ridiculous...
...The moment I place a stone here, it makes four in a row, so she’ll have to block it,
and if I then place one here, it creates an open-ended four on both sides and she loses instantly.
....Can she really not see that? This is so frustrating...
At this point, I could win easily if I just tried.
Normally, the second I seized the advantage I would have toyed with her mercilessly and enjoyed a satisfying victory.
But.
If I did that, she would lose this game she proposed to win my heart.
She wouldn’t even get the first of her hundred wins.
She’d probably be incredibly downcast... and honestly, I felt the same way she did.
Since things had come to this, I wanted to help her win somehow.
As long as I didn’t make it too obvious... it should be fine, right?
So I deliberately placed my stone in a completely irrelevant spot.
“Wow... dude.... You might need to go back to omok kindergarten...? Even elementary kids wouldn’t make a move like that...”
She clicked her tongue as if she genuinely felt sorry for me, then placed her own stone in a spot that posed zero threat.
Even after ten more moves where I kept playing nonsense, she still couldn’t secure the win.
Strangely enough, even though I was only defending, the game kept tilting further in my favor.
Eventually even she seemed to realize the tide had turned. She bit at her thumbnail with a nervous expression.
“...Tsk... This is getting annoying....”
As she leaned forward, staring intently at the board, the loose collar of her shirt fell open, revealing a clear view of her cleavage.
....Come to think of it, she had shown me plenty of her lower half—enough that I was getting used to it—but she had never once revealed anything above the waist.
Of course, the fact that she showed either was already weird, but...
When I thought about it, she really was strange. If a normal girl was going to hide one part, wouldn’t it usually be the lower half?
Yet she didn’t feel the slightest shame about showing what was below, while she guarded what was above with absolute vigilance so I could never see it.
Thanks to that, I had only been able to imagine her breasts. I still didn’t know exactly what they looked like.
....With cleavage that deep, she must have quite a substantial pair. Her top was already hanging so far from her stomach because of them...
I stole glances at the deep valley inside her shirt and felt my face grow slightly warm.
At that moment, she suddenly glanced up, checked my expression, and casually tugged her collar down even further.
The neckline opened wider, revealing so much of her cleavage that the edges of her large breasts were almost visible. My eyes widened and I swallowed hard, staring intently.
I had noticed it before, but her skin really was incredibly fair... Maybe because she rarely went outside, it looked as soft as a baby’s.... It probably feels unbelievably smooth to the touch....
“Yesss!! Nice! I win! Hehe. If I place it here it makes four in a row~~? You can’t block this no matter what~~?? Kahahaha!”
When she suddenly shouted in excitement, I hurriedly tore my eyes away from her cleavage and looked at the board.
Amazingly, her stones really had formed four in a row with both ends open.
....Wait, I definitely didn’t see that earlier....! Don’t tell me she secretly moved a stone while my eyes were glued to her chest...
I looked at her suspiciously. She was pretending to be completely innocent, gazing off into the distance.
“....Hmm, sis....?”
“Y-yes...? What...?”
....Well, I was planning to lose anyway, so I guess it doesn’t matter.
She continued acting like she had no idea, looking elsewhere. I watched her with an inward smile, then grabbed my head as if frustrated and dramatically flopped over sideways.
“Ah, damn... I lost. I really had it in the bag, what the hell....”
“Hehe. Good effort~~ Hehe.”
She suddenly hopped up and scurried over to the bookshelf, squatted down, and rummaged around before pulling out a notebook.
Then, on the first page, she carefully drew a small heart with the pen beside it.
“...One win!❤️”
She pointed at the heart with her finger and flashed me a triumphant, utterly adorable smile.
