The Good Child and the Bad Child
I had always been the good child.
“Our Haeseon is the best because she stays so quiet and well-behaved! The rest of those brats are completely useless. Useless!”
My twin sister, born just one minute before me, had always been the bad child.
“Gong Yeji. Try to be even half as good as Haeseon… How long are you going to keep giving your father such a headache?”
I could never understand it. Why was Sister Yeji the bad child, and why was I the good one?
Breaking Father’s favorite vase, polishing his shoes when he was always so busy—every single thing had been done together with my sister. Yet Sister Yeji was always scolded for being the bad child, while I received nothing but praise for being the good one.
It felt just a little unfair.
The discrimination Father led eventually spread throughout the entire family. Before long, Sister Yeji had become the most troublesome child among our forty-four siblings. In contrast, I had become the quiet, obedient youngest daughter who listened best.
Why it turned out this way, I couldn’t understand no matter how hard my young mind tried.
Then one day, Father called both of us and spoke.
“Starting next year, one of you two will attend school.”
School! Thanks to what I had learned from my older brothers and sisters, I knew exactly what school was. A place where you could make many friends and learn all sorts of things. Almost none of our siblings had ever gone to school. And yet the two youngest were being given the chance…!
It felt like receiving a birthday present twice.
But then…
“Which one of you wants to go?”
Only one of us—either Sister Yeji or me—could attend school.
In truth, I desperately wanted to go. But this time, I decided to yield to my sister. She had always taken my side, so she deserved it.
Thinking I would send my sister, I opened my mouth.
“Sis…”
“Please send Haeseon.”
Once again, I was a little too late.
“…U-um, Sister… I think you should go more than me…”
“If I go to school, I’ll probably fight every day and keep calling for Father. So please send the kinder Haeseon instead.”
“Very well. Then it’s decided—Haeseon will attend school…”
I felt a bit resentful toward both my sister and Father for ignoring my opinion and making the decision anyway. But because I was the ‘good’ child, I had no choice but to quietly accept it.
That night, as I lay in bed, I asked Sister Yeji.
“You wanted to go too, so why did you send me?”
She simply patted my head with an indifferent expression and said,
“If my little sister wants to go, how could I take it from her?”
I wanted to argue, but no words came to mind. To think the reason was nothing more than being born one minute later. I simply couldn’t understand it.
Time passed, and by the time I started school, Sister Yeji had begun helping Father with his ‘work.’ I didn’t really know what that work was. No one ever explained it to me. I only heard that most of our siblings helped Father with his work and that there were many ‘family’ members among the employees who followed him.
Once, I had said I wanted to help Father with his ‘work’ too.
But…
“No. You’re attending school. People who go to school can’t help with the ‘work.’”
I ended up being reverse-discriminated against.
…That was the beginning.
As time went on, the relationship between my sister and me slowly reversed. At some point, Sister Yeji became the center of the ‘work,’ leading the family, while I simply attended school quietly. I changed from a good child to an obedient child. My sister changed from a bad child to the important ‘Lady.’
Even so, the family’s behavior toward us didn’t change. My sister still cherished me as her little sister, and the family continued to adore me. I did feel a bit left out, but… it was okay.
To be even a little helpful to my hardworking family, I began learning how to do housework. Cleaning… laundry… cooking… It was a bit difficult, but thinking it helped my family made it quite enjoyable.
Out of everything, I liked baking bread the most. Bread could be eaten even when it got cold, so it was one of the family’s favorite foods.
Because of that, my days became quite busy. After returning from school, I helped with housework, studied, went to bed, then went to school again. Every single day was the same until the moment I entered the Academy.
As Father’s ‘work’ increased, the days the family left the house grew more frequent. Sometimes I wouldn’t see my sister for an entire month. But my routine remained unchanged. Cleaning, laundry, cooking. To be helpful to the family. To remain the good child. I lived the exact same day every single day.
How long did I live those rewarding days?
Finally, the day my admission to the Academy was decided, change came without warning.
*
Inside the crowded bus.
[This stop is…]
I had been standing there blankly, gripping the handrail, when the announcement snapped me back to reality. I quickly reached for the stop button.
“Ugh…!”
But it was just a few centimeters short. I couldn’t reach it.
Tsk. I’m so short…!
I was stretching up on my tiptoes, desperately trying to press the button, when—
Ding-dong~ Ding-dong~
Someone reached out from beside me and pressed the button for me.
“Th-thank you…!”
When I thanked the person who had pressed it instead, he gave me a bright smile in return.
He was a boy with brown hair and charming dimples that appeared when he smiled.
After the bus stopped at the station and I got off, I fell into deep regret.
…I should have brought an umbrella….
An unexpected heavy snowfall was pouring down. I had heard the forecast for snow, but I never imagined it would be this bad. I hadn’t wanted to carry an umbrella in this cold weather, so I deliberately left it behind. Now I was paying for it with regret.
As I stared resentfully at the innocent sky, a voice called out.
“You look like you’re heading to the Academy. Want to share an umbrella?”
It was the boy from the bus.
“Y-yes, please…”
Caught by his smile, I answered shyly. I buried my face deep into my scarf and walked with him under the same umbrella toward the Academy.
We walked side by side and exchanged a few short words.
“O-oh, I see… We’re the same age…”
It turned out he was also a new student entering the Academy this year. What a coincidence!
But we didn’t exchange names. I was wearing a brown wig per Father’s instructions, and my scarf covered most of my face, so I thought there was no point.
…We should have become close from that moment….
The next time I met him was at the entrance ceremony.
By some incredible stroke of luck, I was placed in the same class as him. They say coincidence twice is fate—could this be destiny?
While all the students’ attention was focused on the ‘Sword Empress’s daughter,’ I was far more interested in the boy whose name I still didn’t know.
But even during the entrance ceremony, I couldn’t bring myself to speak to him. I held onto the complacent thought that ‘since we’re in the same class, we’ll get close eventually.’
After the semester began, I learned his name was Yu Jihwan. Until the day we had to choose partners, we only spoke twice, but he remained kind and gentle every time.
So I assumed Jihwan must be very popular. He was tall, handsome, and spoke kindly.
But surprisingly, not many people liked him.
The reason was…
“…Hey, Soyeon… …Sigh…”
It was because Yu Jihwan only had eyes for Min Soyeon.
He approached her every single day only to be ignored, yet he never got tired of it. He kept talking to her again and again.
Min Soyeon, who resembled the ‘Sword Empress’ and was quite pretty, and Yu Jihwan, who only knew how to charge straight ahead. It wasn’t exactly an easy combination for anyone to interfere with.
Time passed, and the day to choose partners finally arrived.
When I saw Jihwan fighting with Jang Suwon over Min Soyeon, I felt jealous of her for the first time.
How nice would it be if Jihwan stopped me from partnering with someone else?
Unlike me, the full and satisfied Min Soyeon simply pulled her foot out and told them to decide between themselves.
It was the first time in my life I felt such intense jealousy.
Wanting to be helpful to Jihwan, I baked the muffins my older brothers used to love and gave them to him.
“U-um, Jihwan… There’s a friendly match today, right…? I-I’ll be cheering for you to win…!”
He smiled brightly and thanked me.
“Thank you.”
Those two words felt like compensation for all the effort I had put into getting closer to him.
“Th-this is a snack I made myself… Please enjoy it!!”
My face burned so hot I thought it might explode. I practically shoved the muffins at him and ran away as fast as I could.
After that, Jihwan won his match as if to show off, and he became partners with Min Soyeon.
I felt a little envious of Min Soyeon, who had been chosen by him.
Some time later, perhaps thanks to all the muffins I had baked so diligently, I managed to have my fourth conversation with Jihwan.
“…Oh, you came early today?”
“…I woke up a bit earlier than usual. Do you always come at this time?”
“Y-yeah! My house is a little far away…”
We talked for about five minutes. It was the longest conversation we had ever had.
Since I even learned where his house was, didn’t that mean we were close now?
That day, for the first time in my life, I asked Sister Miju for help and found out exactly where Jihwan lived. I don’t know how she found it, but since I knew now, that was enough.
A few days later, I woke up at dawn, prepared some bread, and headed to the area near Jihwan’s house. After wandering around for about an hour, I really did run into him. We spent much more time together than during our fourth conversation.
After we completely broke the ice, we were able to talk often. But there wasn’t any significant progress.
Then one day, a terrorist attempt occurred at the Academy.
For once, even the family members who rarely showed their faces all came forward to worry about me.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
I was a little happy because I got to see Sister Yeji, who had been hard to meet lately.
Min Soyeon and Jihwan, who had resolved the terrorist incident, were given time off from school until the commotion died down. I felt sad that I couldn’t see Jihwan, but it turned out to be an opportunity.
When Jihwan returned to school, he knew nothing about the midterm exams.
“…J-Jihwan. Just trust me. I’ll teach you…!”
“…Thank you, Haeseon.”
Thanks to studying consistently all this time, I was finally able to be of help to Jihwan.
I moved my seat next to his, and because of that, we had much more time to talk. That wasn’t all. We had become close enough to joke around during class. We even exchanged contact information and sent messages to each other every night. We talked for so long that my head felt like it would burst.
Using the exam as an excuse, we even held hands. Our relationship grew closer and closer, to the point where I wondered if we might start dating.
Jihwan is a good man, so my family will surely like him too. Sister will like him, right? But what if she ends up liking him more than me? Will Jihwan also learn about Father’s ‘work’?
I spent my days lost in such happy fantasies.
Until the day the exams ended.
“Then shall we all sit together? It might be a little cramped, but it should be fine.”
That was the beginning.