Chapter 39
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Sister's Confession - The Truth About Me 3
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Concours...?
Sun-hu, you were preparing for something like that?
No wonder. Mom had been fidgeting restlessly for no reason these past few days.
I hadn't exchanged a single word with Sun-hu up to that point.
He'd been avoiding me from the start, and I'd been dodging him too because I felt too embarrassed to face him.
"Don't you ever play the piano again. If I hear that sound one more time, I'll chop off all your fingers. Got it?"
Every single word I'd thrown at him came back to me crystal clear.
......
This has to be my fault.
Mom was crying.
She never showed any weakness in front of Sun-hu or Mi-so, but she occasionally let her emotions slip around me like this.
It must hurt her. Sun-hu, that hopeless kid, finally had a chance to show his efforts and get recognized.
It even sounded decent to my ears... so I can only imagine how high Mom's expectations were as a doting mother.
But Mom thought Sun-hu had frozen up from nerves and couldn't play.
Looks like he hadn't told her what I'd said.
......The guilt was eating me alive.
"Hey, Jin Sun-hu!"
The next day, I barged into Sun-hu's room when Mom wasn't home.
No need to knock to enter his room. But if he ever came into mine without knocking, I'd kill him.
"S-Sis?!"
Sun-hu was sitting quietly at his desk. Studying or something?
Hmph. Lucky bastard.
I stood there with my arms crossed, glaring down at him.
He looked up at me with a tense expression.
What was it I came here to say...?
"You......"
I'd opened my mouth, but nothing came after that.
I just stood there, locking eyes with him for a moment.
And Sun-hu... even with me watching, his gaze kept drifting downward bit by bit.
That damn chest of mine.
"......What are you looking at? Wanna die?"
At my words, he jolted and whipped his head away.
Mom's like this because of you, and here you are! Should I just deck him?
......No. That's not why I came.
I'd planned to apologize honestly and tell him he could play the piano from now on.
But "I'm sorry" wouldn't come out, not even on pain of death.
Thinking about it, I'd said "sorry for the inconvenience" plenty of times, but never a straight "I'm sorry." Not once in my life. Only in dreams or fantasies.
"Hmph."
In the end, I couldn't say a word and just stormed out.
Back in my room, I rolled around on the bed.
This is so frustrating. I'm pissed.
Why do I have to agonize over something like this? Because of Sun-hu, of all people.
I ended up resenting him again for no good reason.
Couldn't be helped.
I decided to look for advice online.
Q. I want to make up with my family but can't say I'm sorry. What should I do?
A. If you can't say it out loud, write a letter. Be honest about what you're sorry for and what you're grateful for, then leave it somewhere visible.
I bought some stationery the moment I read that.
"Urgh......"
But writing the letter wasn't easy either.
I scribbled and erased over and over, then crumpled up the whole thing because I hated it.
Why am I stressing like this over a letter for Sun-hu of all people?
He should be grateful just for a blank sheet.
In the end, with the last sheet left, I scrawled whatever came to mind and stuffed it in an envelope.
I sneaked into Sun-hu's room with the letter in hand.
Where should I leave it...? On the desk? In a drawer?
Then my eyes caught a frame on the desk.
It was a photo of Sun-hu and Mi-so side by side, flashing V-signs and smiling.
Sun-hu's face was a bit stiff, but at least more natural than when he was with me.
Mi-so was grinning ear to ear, ridiculously happy.
What the hell. Taking photos like that with your siblings.
And framing it, no less. Gross.
I slammed a book over the frame to hide it.
Before I knew it, my grip tightened.
The letter in my hand was already crumpled.
Fine. Mi-so's cute and adorable.
She clings to her big brother like that, so of course they'd be closer than us.
Of course... but why did it piss me off so much?
I stomped out of Sun-hu's room.
Then I burned the crumpled letter over the gas stove.
I flushed the charred scraps down the toilet.
All traces of me writing it were gone.
Wasted time. Should've just gone to the driving range.
I stared into the bathroom mirror.
A pathetic face stared back.
A year passed.
I was now a high school sophomore, and Sun-hu had become a middle schooler.
Sun-hu fully embraced his wimpy personality and endured a hellish elementary school life.
Mom got called to school more times than I could count.
Idiot. With perfectly good limbs, why get beat up all the time?
I couldn't understand it, having been untouchable in school.
At least in middle school, he seemed to be changing—hitting the gym or whatever.
To me, it looked like kid stuff, but Mom and Mi-so cheered him on.
Dumb. If exercise fixed a rotten personality, I wouldn't be struggling like this.
Sometimes I'd run into him in the fitness room, but he'd bolt like he'd seen a lion the moment he spotted me.
Not like I'm gonna eat him.
If I spoke first, he'd answer. But real conversation? No dice.
Still hadn't apologized for the piano thing either.
Seemed like I was the only one obsessing over it. Infuriating.
My gut boiled.
The frustration tanked my golf game too.
I tried the pro test early in the year but didn't even crack the top 30 and got cut in qualifiers.
I figured it'd be tough at my age. But failing qualifiers? Didn't see that coming.
Screw the pro wall—it was just me sucking.
Frustrating.
Why am I playing so badly?
My skills felt like they were regressing. Confidence shot.
Even back when I played purely on feel, I scored better than now.
Kids from the junior division I ignored before were now outplaying me.
I was in a slump.
That's how the suffocating days dragged on until the incident blew up.
"Sun-hu committed sexual harassment?"
I thought I'd misheard.
No—he was the victim. Ganged up on by girls.
"How do you lose to girls?"
He wasn't the scrawny elementary kid anymore. How does he get taken down by middle school girls after all that training?
At first, it was absurd.
But once I heard the details, I was furious.
They targeted his weakness to women and jumped him as a group.
Planned and organized crime. Filmed it for cyberbullying, then blackmailed him.
Vile.
If the genders were reversed, the country would've rioted.
But the perps were under 14—juvenile offenders, no legal punishment.
Expulsion, suspension, school measures, community service.
That wasn't enough. Far from it.
But they said there was no other way to punish them.
Juveniles are untouchable in this country.
I was so mad my insides twisted.
And Mom, who adores her son? Beside herself.
But she made me swear not to do anything.
Does she think I'll swing a golf club like old times?
I'm not a kid anymore. I can control myself.
She's holding back, so I have to too.
Of course, I wouldn't touch the perps.
But Sun-hu? Different story.
"Hey. Jin Sun-hu. Come out."
I pounded on his door roughly.
No response, as expected.
Since the incident, he'd holed up in his room.
Ignored calls, wouldn't come out, wouldn't eat.
Day three now.
Getting dangerous.
But Mom just paced anxiously.
No thought of breaking in and dragging him out.
Even she didn't know what to do.
She still believed he'd overcome it and come out on his own.
If she thought he'd kill himself, she'd have forced it...
But he was just curled up in there, no life threat.
For some reason, there was CCTV in his room, and Mi-so monitored it live on her phone.
Mom seemed reassured by that.
Mi-so, that's illegal, you know.
"......Tch."
I couldn't hide my frustration over Sun-hu barricading himself.
Why he's so weak against girls?
Had to be my fault.
Weak against adult men? Trauma from childhood abuse.
But with three women at home who dote on him? No reason to fear girls.
The only woman he fears at home?
Me.
I could guess why. All the crap I'd pulled.
I was partly to blame for him turning out like this.
So I had to fix it somehow. I felt responsible.
"Hey, Jin Sun-hu! Open the door! No answer? Wanna die?"
I hammered the door like I meant to break it.
"Three seconds or you're dead! One! Two!"
Click. The lock turned.
What? He can open it.
I strode in triumphantly.
Sun-hu was huddled in the dark corner.
I shoved a paper bag into his arms.
"Take that and follow me."
I led the way, but he didn't budge.
"Come on. Hurry up."
I grabbed his collar, yanked him up, and dragged him out.
He stumbled but followed, clutching the bag.
I took him to the fitness room.
"What are you doing? Get geared up."
I tested the floor mats and put on protective gear.
The bag had a headgear and open-finger gloves.
MMA gear.
But Sun-hu just stood there dumbly holding the bag.
Face like he'd given up on life.
Infuriating just to look at.
"Fine. This time only, sis is doing you a special favor."
I forced the headgear on his head and gloves on his hands.
Before I knew it, he was almost as tall as me. Pretty big for a middle schooler.
Muscles filled out, looked kinda manly.
But only on the outside.
Inside, still a timid kid.
Even geared up, he stood blankly.
Whatever. I started anyway.
"No time limit. Until one falls or taps out. No rules, no fouls. Do you understand?"
Hmph. With that dumb look.
Time to snap him out of it.
I clapped my gloves together.
"Ready? Fight!"
Thwack!
I threw a straight right at his face right off the bat.
He just stood there, took it, and flopped backward.
Didn't even know what hit him.
"What? Get up."
I kicked his side and hauled him up.
He staggered to his feet, staring blankly.
"Don't get it? It's sparring. Sis is playing with you. Fun, right?"
As I talked, I drove a left into his gut.
He hunched reflexively—I followed with an uppercut to the chin.
Took it clean, flew back like in a cartoon.
Hmm... dead?
"How long you gonna lie there? Get up. Sis is busy, can't play long."
A few kicks, and he rose like a zombie.
Eyes hollow, unfocused.
Just like a zombie.
"You just gonna keep eating punches? It's sparring—you can hit back. Or do you prefer getting hit?"
I peppered his face with jabs.
He raised guards—trying to block?
"Body's open!"
Landed a liver shot.
His waist buckled; he groaned in pain.
"Okay, face now. What'll you do? Can't block both."
I hit his face again.
He covered up and fled to the corner.
"What, you? Think you can run forever? Or wait for Mom to save you?"
I chased, tapping him as he ran.
"Gonna spend your life taking it? Begging Mom to save you? Not pissed off? You're such a loser."
He turned his back to me in the corner, huddling down.
Can't be helped. Didn't wanna go this far.
"Hey, Jin Sun-hu. Your mom's Im Shin-hye, right?"
I tapped his hunched shoulder, lowering my voice.
My husky tone let me mimic guys easily.
"Steal her panties tomorrow when she visits. Snap some pics while she bathes. Can you do it?"
His back stiffened.
"And your cute little sis? Introduce her. Won't mess with you anymore—play with her instead. Yeah?"
I wrapped around his shoulder, whispering creepily.
That was the actual threat he'd heard.
He started trembling.
"What now? Do what we say? Keep taking it? Sell out Mom and Mi-so?"
Finally, he turned to face me.
His ugly face twisted in tears, a total mess.
"Uwaaaah—!"
He screamed wildly, swinging fists everywhere.
I jumped back quick.
"That's it, like—"
My words cut off.
His tackle hit home; I fell flat on my ass.
"Ugh...!"
Felt like a truck slammed me.
Sun-hu mounted my stomach.
I tried escaping, but he pinned me solid.
For the first time, I felt real fear.
"Aaaah—!!"
He rained down punches.
I raised my arms to guard my face, but his fists drilled through like awls, smashing me.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
I could only take it.
My guarding arms went limp.
He kept pounding my exposed face.
Sun-hu, lost to rage, wouldn't stop.
Ah. I failed.
Acted all high and mighty to Mom, but I was the one who underestimated him as a kid.
Must've blacked out briefly.
When I came to, Sun-hu knelt beside me, sobbing.
"......You... can do it if you try......"
Tried acting tough, but my words slurred.
"Sis, sorry, sorry......"
He bawled apologies.
Why cry after hitting me?
"......Won't die from this. Stop crying, loser. Your ugly mug'll get uglier."
Talking hurt my mouth; tears welled, but I held them.
"Ah~. Lost to Sun-hu. So embarrassing. Can't tell anyone I got beat. You keep quiet too. Tell, and die."
He nodded frantically through sobs.
Didn't expect to take such a beating.
Hope I didn't traumatize him again.
"Sis is gonna wash up. Clean this mess. Got it?"
The mats were soaked in my blood.
Mom'd faint if she saw.
I whipped my aching body to the bathroom.
"This... me?"
My reflection was wrecked.
Face bloody, eyes swollen shut, nose crooked.
Ridiculous.
"Ow ow ow."
Just removing the headgear made me wince.
Couldn't even wash up properly.
Dabbed blood with wet tissue.
......But the real problem wasn't my face.
I'd pissed myself. From fear or passing out.
"I'm insane."
Sun-hu knows? Probably.
All my big sis cred down the drain...
Ugh. How do I live with this shame?
I washed up, mourning as I cleaned.
Changing clothes on the way out, I ran into Mom in the living room.
"Oh. Mom."
"Kyaaah!!"
She screamed at my face and fainted on the spot.