First Story
Here lay a laudable high schooler who, despite the chaos he went through just the day before, was ready to go to school once the sun began to shine. It wasn’t like I’d be able to skip school even if I did use that as an excuse, but thanks to Rangii and Baduk’s attentive care, I was not only well rested but in perfect condition. As if God, in his abode of heaven, were thinking, ‘Get your lazy butt to school. What kind of high schooler loafs around at home while playing house with a bunch of girls?’ Of course, this entire hypothetical was ridiculous, but my still half-asleep brain was spiraling into a weird direction. That was why I buried my face into Rangii’s belly as she slept sprawled on her back next to me. I was sleepy. I decided to sleep a bit more using Rangii’s belly as a pillow.
“Unya….”
Yet the brat who was more than happy to use others as her pillow, food, blanket, and mattress apparently didn’t like being used like this. She wriggled her body, and, of course, there was no way I could win against her. I decided to get off her. In a few minutes. This was why I put my mouth around Rangii’s belly.
“Unyaa~♡“
That soft, squishy pound of flesh was the most enjoyable thing I’d ever eaten. It was a little salty because of sweat, but this only added to the exquisiteness of its flavor. I sucked on her belly button, licking it back and forth as I thought to myself that I wished I could continue to taste Rangii like this forever, but….
“Sunghoon, time to….”
The sounds of the door opening and Narae’s voice made me snap awake.
“…The hell are you doing?”
This was the situation I was in. I had my face buried in Rangii’s belly, my tongue sticking out, and Rangii was under me, her body quivering, her cheeks flushed, and a restless expression on her face.
“Wait, no, I can explain. I must’ve moved around a lot in my….”
“Sorry about this, Sunghoon. I’ll listen to your excuses later.”
Of course. This was only natural. And this flow, completely and utterly natural for my life, was painful enough to kill me.
In a drama or a movie, you’d normally see the protagonist washing his face with a handprint across his cheek, but Narae rejected such a cliched chain of events. I sighed as I looked at my bruised chest. If Narae hadn’t held back her punch at the very last second, this would have been the last time I could have seen the sunrise. Though considering that my ribs were fractured…. It’s safe to say that I’d have been rushed to the ICU if not for Saehee’s magic.
After I finished and exited the bathroom dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, I saw Narae sitting on the sofa with a sour look on her face. Still drying my hair with a towel, I cautiously approached Narae and spoke to her.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”
It didn’t look like that, though. Narae tossed her head to the side, as if she read my thoughts just now. However, even with a profile view, I could more-or-less tell what Narae was thinking. Don’t you underestimate the childhood friend who spent ten years pining over an unrequited love! That was how I could tell that Narae was upset. She felt incredibly ashamed because of the beating she’d given me without her even realizing it.
“I’m not.”
My side was torn asunder. My body was going through trial after trial ever since yesterday.
“Then what’s wrong?” I asked.
“I just felt I shouldn’t have held back so much.”
“…If you hadn’t held back at least that much, then my ribs would have ended up through my heart.”
“That’s too bad.”
That was probably a joke in order to deflect her shame, so I moved on.
“Big Brother, have you finished your shower?”
It was the voice I heard come from the kitchen that saved me as I trembled in fear. I turned my head, and I saw Chii in an apron with a crow design, packing a lunch next to Saehee.
“You sure got up early,” I said.
“Awooo, the early bird gets the worm. Be sure to wake up early tomorrow, Big Brother.”
“More like the early bug gets eaten by the birdie.”
“You taste terrible, so there’s no need to worry about that. Please just wake up early, Big Brother.”
In response to Chii’s rebuke, I gave an excuse that wasn’t really an excuse.
“Even if I get up late, you’ll feed me and put me to bed yourself, so it’s okay for me to sleep in.”
“Kyawooo?!”
Chii flapped the hair above her ears, unable to respond. But why?
Even though everything I said was perfectly true.
Breakfast here was different from my breakfasts in Jirisan. Narae, Rangii, Chii, Pyeii, Saehee, Baduk, and I. I would have loved it if the seven of us could have eaten together, but since there wasn’t a table big enough to seat all of us in my house, we separated into a dining table group and a tray table group. The first member of the dining table group was the newly awoken Pyeii whose head bounced down then up in her half-asleep stupor. Sitting next to Pyeii was Chii, who was fretting over her friend and unable to eat for fear that she would smack her forehead against the table. The final member of that trio was Narae, who watched the two of them with a contented smile on her face. This meant that Rangii and Saehee were sitting at the tray table. Rangi just got up, her hair still unbraided, and she was sitting on my lap like a baby kangaroo, hitting me in the chest with her two hands to communicate how much she didn’t want me to leave the house. Meanwhile, Saehee looked at me as though I were a piece of scummy garbage who didn’t deserve even a scrap of food. There was something I wanted to ask Saehee, but there were too many kids here for that to be possible.
I am, of course, referring to our unfinished conversation from last night. She said that I’d figure it out for myself come morning, but I was still clueless. However, breakfast didn’t seem the appropriate time for that particular conversation, so I decided to wait for my next opportunity. Instead, this was the time for me to ask about Baduk’s whereabouts.
“Hey, where’s Baduk?”
Baduk, who always found her way to the dining room during mealtime even if she was asleep, was nowhere to be seen. Come to think of it, she wasn’t here when I woke up this morning, either. Where’d she go? Saehee relieved me of my curiosity.
“Due to the prying eyes of the city of Seoul, I felt it best to keep a dog where it should be kept: the yard.”
I very carefully pulled Rangii off me even as she tried her hardest to cling onto me, and I opened the window to the veranda that led to the yard. There, I saw a dog with fluffy fur eating energetically from a bowl full of kibble that had ‘Baduk♡‘ engraved on it. I was stunned speechless, unable to make sense of what was happening, when I heard Saehee’s voice.
“By virtue of our being in Seoul, I also prepared kibble.”
Should I stuff some of that kibble in her mouth?
“What’s wrong with Baduk? She was perfectly fine just yesterday, wasn’t she?”
That wasn’t true. Even when I first saw her yesterday, that wasn’t true. Baduk was dead tired after using all her strength to break through Nyangii’s ward. When my thoughts made it here, my worries came to the forefront of my mind.
“Are you in pain after yesterday?”
“I may be a bit weaker, but I’m okay, Young Master!”
Baduk raised her head and spoke to me. I did feel a bit of discomfited when Baduk spoke human words while in dog form, but her words eased my worries a little.
“But why’re you like that?” I asked, referencing her current form.
“I wasn’t able to dream last night, heheheh.”
Baduk scratched her cheek with her rear paw. Was she embarrassed?
“We said that you would end your sentences with woof, did we not?” said a certain ghost.
“I’m perfectly fine, woof!”
Maybe now was the perfect time for an explosion to go off above my head to symbolize my extreme anger. Though, after all my training by virtue of everything that had happened since I went to Jirisan, my mental fortitude was too great for me to explode.
“Why is Baduk leashed to the yard while in dog form?”
“You could call it power-saving mode, in a sense.”
When I glared at Saehee to make clear my desire to improve how Baduk was treated, she continued to speak.
“Baduk would have difficulty maintaining her human form.”
“Why?”
I remembered what Saehee told me yesterday. That Baduk supplemented her magic power by dreaming.
“Did I not tell you this already?”
That was why there was nothing I could say to that question.
“Did she not sleep very well, or….”
“Does it seem as though Baduk could ever want for quality sleep?”
The corners of Saehee’s lips rose.
“Then why’s she still like this?”
“The house is too small for any other option to be chosen, Young Master.”
“That doesn’t match with what you said earlier.”
“That is because I made up an excuse on the fly.”
She was basically saying that it was her fault that Baduk was in the yard in dog form.
“I still remember the time you remodeled my grandpa’s bathroom.”
“…You remember that?”
Oh shoot. Narae, with her sharp ears, appeared to have heard that.
“I can’t remember any specific details, so…. No, wait! That isn’t the problem here! Narae. Don’t you feel bad for Baduk, keeping her in the yard?”
Having realized that my concern was in earnest, Narae ignored the topic of the bathroom. Not in order to agree with me, however.
“Baduk said she liked it there. Also, she looks so unbearably adorable, so I think it’s fine. You know how good it feels to pet her, don’t you?”
“Woof!”
Right. It was plain to see that Narae was a victim of Baduk’s cuteness, her wagging tail and lolling tongue blinding Narae to anything that could possibly have been wrong with this situation.
“So just eat your breakfast. Because of you, Rangii’s been stuck there just sucking on her spoon.”
When I turned around, I saw Rangii looking at me with eyes full of sorrow as she sat there simply sucking on her spoon, waiting for my return. Based on the drool sliding down the corners of her mouth, she felt especially hungry. Yet she hadn’t said a single word to push me to come back, so perhaps Rangii had matured just a little bit. And Saehee was becoming more and more like a demon.
“If you continue to ignore the Master, then I will show you what a ghost really is.”
The expression on her face showed me everything I needed to know. When I sat back down in my seat, Rangii spoke to me even as she continued to suck on her spoon.
“Did I do well?”
I got the feeling that she was asking if she did well by waiting for me. Asking for praise right after doing something praiseworthy: she was still a kid. I nodded and gently scratched the base of Rangii’s ears.
“Yeah.”
“Eheheh~”
Rangii’s shoulders bounced up and down as she smiled with her eyes. I nearly said, “The meal for today is tiger!” but th-there was just no helping it! Rangii was just too cute!
I finished eating breakfast and went to my room to change into my uniform, but Rangii’s shining gaze made me uncomfortable. Granted, we were already at the stage where we could see whatever of each other whenever we wanted, but being looked at so obviously was an uncomfortable experience. Not to mention, she was sitting there crouched like a frog, so it felt like she could leap at me and hug me at any moment. I somehow managed to put on the shirt of my uniform, but I ultimately couldn’t take off my shorts. The one who can brazenly take off his shorts in a situation like this and reveal himself in just his undies is a freak. …Admittedly, a friend of mine came to mind, but ignore it. He’s just a pervert.
“What’re you doing?” I asked.
“I’m watching you!”
…What an unproductive task she was doing. If she was going to do that, she should at least be looking in a mirror. After all, seeing how adorable she is can cause love to blossom within your chest.
“I’m getting changed, so get out. Ya brat.”
“Ah! I’ve been meaning to talk with you about that.”
It seemed like she’d meant to talk with me about this for a while, but that she’d kept forgetting until now. Though it seemed to me like she only just remembered. I decided to feign ignorance.
“What is it?”
“Why do you keep sending me away whenever you change your clothes?”
Because I’m not a pervert. Because I’m a sensitive high schooler. Because I have those things called sanity and common sense. There were a lot of things I wanted to say, but none of them would get through to her. She’d probably say something like, “I won’t become like Nyangii! Roar~!” or something. Instead, I decided to rely on the time-tested reason that worked in the ancient Dangun myth.
“Because Narae’s standing behind you, and she’d be furious.”
Narae, dressed in her uniform, was leaning with her back against the door sill, looking at Rangii with raised eyebrows. Her gaze wasn’t even focused on me, but the terror that had been carved into my body caused a cold sweat to form on my back. Having seen my reaction, Rangii forced her head to turn around, as if a grizzly bear were standing behind her. The moment she turned her head, she spun her head to look back at me. It was plain to see that she was close to panicking.
“I-I didn’t see anything,” said Rangii.
Narae sighed after watching that little tiger cover her eyes and bend down, pretending that one terrifying personage wasn’t behind her. She then picked up Rangii, holding her up by her armpits. Wow, she was definitely a member of the Bear Clan. She wasn’t the least bit scared of a tiger.
“How could you run off the second I took my eyes off you?”
“Let me go! How can you treat your unni, your big sister, in this manner?!”
Rangii tried to speak with dignity, but the way Narae was holding her, her arms held parallel to the ground and her legs kicking fruitlessly at the air ruined any dignity she could have mustered. Narae looked at Rangii as though she were an adorable tiger cub before coming back to her senses and shaking her head.
“Okay then, Unni. Let’s get out of here and have a chat.”
“Unyaaa? If you’re going to call me your unni, then treat me like one.”
“All right, but we’re going first. And you,” Narae said to me, “hurry up and get changed. Or else we’ll be late.”
I nodded.
“R-release me. I need to get my hands on Sunghoon’s pants before Saehee can take them. Whiiiine.”
Rangii said something incredibly dangerous as she ran out of my room. …I decided to wash all my clothes myself tonight and to make sure to add lots of fabric softener.
When I went into the living room, I saw four people: Narae sitting on the sofa in her uniform; Rangii pouting; Pyeii, looking to be about my age, holding a black purse; and Chii putting on a backpack as they all waited for me. …Wait, what?
“Awooo, you forgot.”
[Get thee to a retirement home.]
Ah, right. We established that Chii and Pyeii would be going to school with me. Which explained why they all had bags as they waited for me. However, Pyeii….
[It’s okay.]
Pyeii noticed my worries.
[I can run if it gets too hard.]
Those were truly reassuring words. Rather than saying she would overcome the difficulty, she would run away. Exactly the thing I would expect Pyeii to do.
“Where’d that purse come from?”
“It’s mine.”
For some reason, Narae sounded unhappy when she said this. Why was Narae so down? Was something wrong? She isn’t cute when she’s all grown up. …Ah, I understood. When she was grown up, rather than calling her cute, Pyeii looked pretty or attractive or beautiful or sexy—”Gyaaaaagh!!”
“The heck are you thinking while you’re looking at kids?!”
“I was just admiring her, that’s all!”
“…That’s even worse.”
I was about to say something to Narae when she began to sulk, but a ghost abruptly joined the conversation.
“More importantly, Young Master. Now is the time to screw—your pardon—screw off to school. Otherwise you will be late.”
I had no idea what was different between the first time she said that and her correction, but she had a point. I got my light backpack, in which only my lunchbox would go, and called the name of that lovely child who tried so desperately to pilfer my shorts.
“Rangii.”
Rangii’s ears pricked up and a smile spread across her face as if she had never been sulking in the first place, and she ran towards me. Even I, as dense as I was, could tell that Rangii wanted something that was covered in my scent while I was at school. I hugged Rangii by the waist, brought her up to my eye level, and gave her a small peck on the cheek.
“Awooo?”
[Lolicon confirmed]
“…We’re going to be having a talk later.”
“Do you not feel embarrassed?”
…All I did was kiss her on the cheek, so what was the big deal?
“I’ll be home soon. Have fun with Saehee while we’re gone.”
“O-okay! I will!”
Rangii looked unsurely at me, as if she’d just been caught thinking something naughty, but she came to her senses after I tapped on my cheek and kissed me there.
“You’re much too casual about this, Big Brother.”
[If you’re jealous, just say so.]
“Kyawooo! I-I’m not jealous!”
[Chii, such a prude.]
“Tell me, Narae-nim, as a childhood friend, do you not feel a sense of emergency after seeing this?”
“Shouldn’t you be the one worrying? You’re her changgwi. Are you really just watching as your precious Master is taken in by someone like him?”
“Even if a hard, dark, veiny thing were to go in, I would not interfere.”
“I’ll argue with you after I’m done killing Sunghoon.”
…The people around me had a lot to say.
Because of the ruckus, I completely forgot the question I’d intended to ask Saehee.