The Heart That Jealousy
[p]Seiren tilted her head, her voice light and childish as she spoke while clinging to her place beside Shinpung. "The two of you should just turn around and leave... heuung... wouldn't three of you be better?"
Back in academy days, if I had to describe Unnie in one word, it was "free." Completely free in the truest sense, and also free in her own unique way. Yet whenever it mattered, she was decisive, and she carried her own brand of responsibility. That carefree, mature aura of hers had quietly become our party's hidden anchor, helping us evolve into one solid, complete unit.
And perhaps because she was exactly that kind of person, this happened.
[Beep! Beep!]
"Mmm, delicious. Our little chickadee."
Why did Shinpung, the middle-schooler chickadee spirit, follow Unnie's hand so closely?
Wind was freedom itself. How could a soul as free as hers resist?
I lifted the glass in front of me and took a sip, then let out a small sigh.
"Why the cheek? Did someone hit you?"
"Ah... um... it's nothing?"
"It's nothing? Really?"
"Seiren. Come out for a second."
I peeled the scab off Unnie's cheek.
[Did you call me?]
"Unnie, lick my cheek once."
[Huh? Ah! It hurts! It really hurts...
Seiren walked straight over to Unnie and licked the wound with her tongue.
[Bwet──!]
"...Hm?"
Seiren's face scrunched the moment her tongue touched the skin. But as soon as the tongue made contact, the wound healed instantly, returning the skin to its original state.
"Thank you, Sunwoo."
"You don't have to thank me."
[Kyuuiin....!]
Seiren sulked and pressed herself against me.
I dismissed her without a word and tilted my glass again.
"Hey... Instructor?"
"Hm? What? .....Oh, right. I still haven't introduced her yet."
I looked at Unnie and spoke.
"She's the thief from my old party. Also an academy senior."
"What's the other part?"
"Wife of an extremely impressive person?"
".........."
[Beep?]
Unnie's expression suddenly hardened.
It was only a few seconds, but my eyes and Shinpung both caught it.
"Hm? Eung? Why the look?"
"Nothing really. Just nothing."
[Beepoo....?]
If she didn't want to say it, I wasn't going to force her.
"The members of the party Instructor was in..."
"Eung? Why? Are you curious?"
"...Yes."
Harin looked at Unnie with sparkling eyes.
Hey, don't say weird things.
I tried to cover her mouth with my hands from both sides, but Unnie didn't stop talking. It seemed they had already locked eyes.
"Huuuum. Where should I start... Ah, right. She dressed up while in academy?"
"The Instructor dressed up?"
"Unnie please!"
Then~ I have all the photos from that time too!
Sis! Please! Let me see!
The atmosphere turned chaotic in an instant.
Now the two of them were glued to the chair, so closely it was enough to gut my stomach.
"She has some male phobia, so she just stood up the moment she heard the word 'boyfriend' and the next day... this. Look. It wasn't just a skirt and makeup. She went full makeup from head to toe!"
"...This is the Instructor?"
"Ah, the chest is fake. Instead, she had a spirit create it, so it looks even more real than real breasts."
"She created breasts with spirits...?"
"And she even got a confession?"
About three times.
Twice from juniors, once from a senior?
"....Instructor."
"No."
No matter what I imagined, I could swear it wasn't true.
I shook my head with all my might in front of Harin's eyes, yet...
"But... the Instructor is Adashi...."
"Cough!"
Suddenly Harin let out a sound.
Why is "Adashi" coming out here?
"I know everything. They say even C-rank rankers can date whoever they want right now..."
An A-rank ranker still has no experience?
Even dressing up? And receiving confessions?
"Doesn't that mean no experience with 'women' and 'men' are separate─"
"─Keep going."
"........"
I don't know why, but the metal chopsticks crackled like lightning.
It looked extremely threatening.
The blackened tips emitting dark smoke were clearly not normal.
"....I'm sorry."
"It's fine."
Eu.
How did I end up hearing lines like that?
If this wasn't related to Hye-won, I would have been teaching her manners and etiquette with my own hands right now.
I shook my head and reached for the soju glass, but Hye-won poured it for me instead.
"Drink slowly. Your body isn't in good condition either."
"You're worried?"
"Of course I am."
"....If I get drunk and hurt myself, it will affect the kids' schedule?"
"You know that?"
"If you say so, then yes."
I gulped down the soju glass.
Hye-won had warned me to drink slowly, but I paid no attention.
'What can I do? My fate is like this.'
I picked up a perfectly grilled slab of samgyeopsal with my bare hands and ate it without dipping it in anything.
The juicy, chewy meat was the truth across all times and places.
"You... haven't even left yet?"
"...Are you teasing me because of Unnie now?"
Stop it already.
I can do anything I set my mind to as a man?
"Then do it."
"...No."
"Why? Still a virgin?"
"Not that far... but..."
I lowered my head to look at the soju glass.
It was filled with soju again, no matter when Hye-won had refilled it.
"I... I want my first experience to be with someone I love."
My expression beyond that was neither laughing nor crying.
""".........."""
"...What? Why suddenly so quiet?"
"No. Just... that was a bit... unexpected, I guess."
"There's nothing unexpected about it."
I want it with the person I love.
The people who looked at that would probably find it even stranger.
"Heehee... then what kind of woman do you like, Sunwoo?"
"Who knows what kind of woman I like."
Still...
"Taste, huh...."
Actually, I hadn't thought much about it.
There was nothing that gripped my heart tightly.
Still, if I had to set conditions...
"Virgin."
".....Why?"
"Because I'm a virgin."
"Hey, wanting your partner to be a virgin because you're a virgin is too much, right?"
Why is Unnie suddenly saying weird things?
"I asked for your ideal type. Isn't there a reason why 'virgin' can't be part of the ideal type's conditions?"
"Where are the virgin girls in this world now? Everyone does it secretly when they're young."
"...Really?"
I turned my head to look at Harin.
Hye-won was already past her prime, so her value as a sample was low.
Among them, I looked at the youngest, Harin who had just entered society, with questioning eyes.
Virgin or whore.
Which one are you?
"...Do I really have to answer?"
"You don't have to."
But if you don't answer here...
"From now on, I'm calling you 'whore Harin'."
"I'm not a whore! I'm a virgin! It's done!"
"Very."
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Three genuine claps.
I was moved. There was still justice in the world.
"Tsk... you'll never meet a woman again if you keep going?"
"Who cares about others."
I tilted the soju glass.
Soju went down smoothly today.
Perhaps because I had so many things I wanted to forget, and so many things I wanted to say.
Maybe both. But I decided not to think about it.
Alcohol was meant to be drunk without thinking.
If you think while drinking, it's not alcohol. It's Russian roulette.
The meaning was the same since a mistake meant instant death.
"Harin, right? Harin-ah. You're an awakener now. You can do whatever you want with your mind, right?"
"But... I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize. Just, I'm a little sad because it seems like you don't know your own worth."
"It's okay."
"Hey, what are you doing now?"
Unnie was subtly trying to pull Harin into the wrong path.
Will I have an emotional fight if this keeps up?
"Sunwoo. Forcing your thoughts on others isn't good."
"Then just leave Harin alone. Why are you forcing your thoughts on her?"
"Not forcing. Just wanting you to open your eyes a little wider."
"No what...."
[Beepoo....]
My chest felt suffocated.
It seemed even the middle-schooler chickadee felt it, because she was staying away from Unnie and hiding in my arms.
"...Unnie. How did you become like this?"
"Become what? I'm the same as before."
"If it was the old Unnie, you wouldn't have said that."
"What? Wanting you to open your eyes wider?"
"............"
I stared silently at Unnie.
"...Okay. Then Harin. You choose."
"Hm? Ah, yes."
Unnie turned her eyes toward Harin.
Unnie asked Harin with slightly sharper eyes.
"You are a valuable woman just by yourself. You're an awakener and a spirit contractor. You can live as a career woman. Still, will you protect your virginity for a man who might or might not appear one day?"
"Unnie!"
"Why. Nothing wrong with what I said, right?"
"Still, one is different from another. But I... will protect it."
"..........."
Reason.
Before my eyes demanding to hear the reason.
Harin lifted her head without hesitation and answered.
"Because I want to give my most precious thing to the man I will love."
"...Sounds like a fairy-tale princess."
"Since I'm an awakener, isn't it okay?"
"Half of life is living with loss?"
"But I believe the other half will be filled by that man."
A tense standoff.
"Hah! Got it. Forcing me to say something in front of kids."
Eventually, Unnie raised her hand first.
She sat and gulped down the soju glass.
Soon, Unnie smiled faintly and asked as if it was fun.
"By the way, you seem to have someone you like a lot..."
"!,...N-not really...."
"Right. What kind of man? Since Unnie knows that side well, tell me once?"
"...It's a bit hard to say what kind of man..."
"What? Unrequited love? Still, I know what you like."
"........."
"...Hm?"
For a moment.
Her eyes glanced at me.
"I seem to like... virgins."
"Oh my... is that so...?"
Harin said in a tired voice.
After that, we ate, drank, and talked about various things, and time was up.
"It's a pity to leave like this... shall we do a second round?"
"People who have dates don't say that."
"It's fine."
"I'm not fine."
Of course, no second round. We parted ways right then.
"...You came again today."
On the way back in the taxi.
A message appeared on my silenced phone.
[────,──♡♡♡]
"....Hmm."
There was a video attached.
Red marks were all over her body, her palms were bright red, and her cheeks were swollen as if they had burst.
'It was rough.'
Her eyes were covered with stacks of bills, so her expression was unreadable.
Was she laughing or crying?
'Speaking of which.'
Unnie had always been unable to take her hands off money.
That's why she loved money and shared it with love.
Looking at it from Unnie's perspective, it was definitely...
"It was worth fighting."
I didn't understand it, but I got it.
Humans were naturally the kind of creatures who wanted what they didn't have.