Rangii ran at me when I got home, but before she could hug me, Narae ever so naturally intercepted her.
“Rangii, you little. Who said you could sneak into school? Plus, you ran off without even seeing me. Come over here. You need a scolding.”
“N-Narae? S-save me! Sunghoon! Narae’s scaring me! Sunghoon!!”
While holding back tears after hearing Rangii so pitifully shout my name, I found Saehee. Though saying I found her wasn’t quite correct. Since she was in the living room, playing on a computer that hadn’t been there this morning. At a closer look, I saw that this wasn’t all. The wallpaper that Chii had previously changed was now replaced by a normal ivory-colored one, with a wall-mounted TV, and a brand new game station below it all. …I decided to ignore all that for now.
“Hey.”
I said this to Saehee, who had on a gaming headset as she was immersed in a video game. Saehee didn’t even turn around when she gave her reply.
“Can you not see I am in the middle of a raid…oh dear.” (tn: World of Warcraft reference.)
Saehee seemed to have realized that something had happened to me, and she put down the headset.
“Would you please wait in your room? I must explain what is happening to my raid members first, and then I will go to you.”
“All right. I’m going to take a shower and put on a change of clothes first.”
“Understood.”
I went into the bathroom, a change of clothes in hand. Of course, it was necessary that I knock before entering. Because the door handle still wasn’t fixed after Pyii broke it.
After showering and putting on a new pair of shorts and a t-shirt, I sat in my room, waiting, when Saehee appeared in front of me as if she had always been there, her skirt ruffling in the air, and she sat gracefully in front of me.
“You managed to survive, I see.”
“Is that really what you have to say?”
“I simply told a joke in order to lighten the Young Master’s tense mood.”
Don’t tell jokes that only make me tenser.
“Then would you please enlighten me with the details of what happened?”
I told Saehee everything that happened on the way back home. Saehee listened quietly to my story and only opened her mouth after I finished.
“I figured she would appear like this. This makes things quite difficult.”
I rested my chin on my hand.
“Don’t say things that only you can understand. The heck does all this mean?”
“I can….”
“If you say, ‘I cannot answer,’ then I’m going to get seriously upset.”
“…answer.”
The corners of Saehee’s lips quirked upwards, and my head started pounding with a vicious headache.
“First, Nyangii-nim is likely in earnest. At present, she harbors no desire to harm you.”
“Is it really okay to trust what she said after she tried to kill me?”
“She is no longer cloaked in mystery and thus cannot move as freely as she once did. Now that she is on the stage, she has become a mere entertainer forced to follow the screenplay. Do you understand?”
“There’s no way a meager human, dead or alive, could understand that.”
“Using ambiguous wording? Your speechcraft has improved.”
I wonder whose fault that was.
“Then I shall speak in accordance to the Young Master’s level. Until now, the Master had no idea who was threatening the Young Master’s life. However, now that Nyangii-nim has revealed herself and made it clear that she designed to harm the Young Master, she cannot use any direct method of interference.”
I still didn’t fully understand.
“But why?”
“Nyangii-nim is the Master’s older sister. There is no older sister in the world who would want to be hated by a little sister as cute and lovely and adorable as the Master.”
If Nyangii is Rangii’s older sister, then that makes sense. If Rangii were my little sister, then I would also….
“What?”
Nyangii is Rangii’s older sister?! My mouth dropped from my surprise, and I was at a loss for words. Meanwhile, Saehee looked at me, clearly unimpressed.
“Responding like a gamer who just realized that the girl he spent the entire game with turned out to be a ghost is entirely banal, Young Master.” (tn: reference to Kanon, the visual novel.)
“Did you think I wouldn’t be surprised? After you told me that Nyangii is Rangii’s older sister?”
“…Those eyes are not solely meant to oggle bouncing breasts. Continue this, and I will remove those chocolate chips you call eyes.”
I knew what she meant. No one would think that Rangii and Nyangii weren’t related when they looked practically identical. But still, to think that they were sisters! Of course I would be surprised.
“But you, what did you say before? Weren’t they born from chaos?”
“Is there a law stating that the two cannot be born at the same time, in the same place, and sharing the same power?”
How would I know?
“That is not what is important. The fact that Nyangii-nim wishes to converse with you means the situation has changed.”
I swallowed hard.
“Then what can we do?”
Saehee had a grave look on her face when she answered.
“Tea and snacks are an absolute must during conversation. I will prepare cookies that befit a reception.”
I threw my backpack at Saehee. It was stopped, however, by a semi-transparent orange wall made of multiple concentric octagons, and it fell to the ground.
“This is the manifestation of my emotional wall between us.”
“If my emotional wall showed up, then it’d be opaque, dammit.”
“And pitch-black, I imagine.”
“Are you seriously gonna keep making jokes?”
This time, I felt the urge to throw Ungnyeo’s Bone Club at her. Saehee shrugged her shoulders after seeing me with my temper flaring. Don’t try and play dumb. It really doesn’t fit you.
“Then what is it that you will do? Do you perhaps plan on presenting your personal thick magnum to the one who wishes to converse with you? I grant that this would result in a physical conversation, but I cannot recommend such a course of action.”
…I had absolutely no idea what she was saying, but I thought I understood what she meant by it.
“Are you saying that we don’t have a choice but to go along with what she want?”
“Is there not no other option? As a peace-loving ghost, I would prefer to come to terms through words.”
I think my ears have finally had a critical failure.
“Nyangii-nim wanted to have a conversation with you so much that she was willing to put herself in danger. If either the Master or I were to interfere, then an enjoyable—pardon—problem would unfold. Because Nyangii-nim is of a different caliber.”
Wouldn’t I be the one in danger? Why would Nyangii be the one in danger? However, I understood that she was saying that it was best to wait. It’s just….
“Even if you say that, I don’t want to sit on my hands until she makes a move.”
Because I didn’t know what might happen. I was tired of being put into awful circumstances time and time again. Sick and tired of it. Absolutely fed up with it. If possible, I genuinely wanted to take the initiative. In response Saehee said:
“Young Master.”
Saehee spoke unbelievably gently, as if trying to comfort me.
“The skillful tiger lies patiently in wait when she hunts. You are the Master’s husband. A lack of patience would only result in disaster.”
My anger subsided in an instant. Because it occurred to me that her treating me like this meant this was very important. For the time being, I made up my mind to agree to talk when Nyangii once again finds me and asked my next question.
“Then what did Nyangii mean by the last thing she said?”
Nyangii told me to think about when Saehee first learned of me. I wasn’t really sure what that meant. When I asked her this, Saehee covered her mouth with her sleeve before answering.
“That is something that you must figure out for yourself, Young Master. I am unable to answer.”
Having finished saying that, Saehee lowered her sleeve. Her lips were glistening in the light. Which meant she licked her lips.
“Don’t lie to me.”
“How in the world did you know?!”
Her acting ability was good enough to rival any actor. Her eyes were wide with feigned shock and her facial expression matched this emotion, but how did she also make her face paler?
“Are you screwing with me?”
“I am overjoyed to see that the Young Master is slowly learning to see through my acts.”
Then don’t frown.
“Why won’t you tell me?”
“Did I not already explain?”
Saehee smiled.
“I do not want the Master’s husband to become my tamed hound.”
THis time, I was the one who raised both hands in surprise.
“Goodness, for really and truly?”
“Would you perhaps like to crossdress again?”
“Don’t.”
Those horrible memories surged back into my mind.
I left the room after my conversation with Saehee concluded, and when I entered the living room, the first things I saw were Pyeii engrossed in something on her laptop and Rangii sitting in the corner with her arms up. It was plain to see that this was the punishment Narae gave. It wasn’t good of Rangii to sneak into school, but was a punishment like this really necessary? Rangii looked miserable, her arms shaking badly. I decided to let Rangii free and have a word with Narae later.
“Whiiiine~ Sunghoon.”
My decision definitely wasn’t influenced by Rangii’s teary-eyed face tugging at my heart strings. I also decided to ignore Chii, who was looking at Rangii with a happy smile on her face. After the punishment Rangii gave Chii a while ago, Chii likely felt that this was well-deserved karma.
“You can put down your arms.”
The second I said that, Rangii lowered her arms and jumped up, trying to run towards me, when her mouth opened wide and she grimaced as if she’d just been struck by lightning. I think I know why. When you kneel for a while, you’ll get pins and needles.
“Ugh!”
Even so, Rangii didn’t give up, and she inched towards me while dragging her left leg. What a pitiful little brat. I decided to meet her halfway. …Except, for some reason, Chii got up as if she had been waiting for this moment, looking like a little sister who got to see her older brother get scolded.
“Awooo? Rangii-nim, what’s wrong?”
Chii was the picture of innocence, when she so nonchalantly spoke to Rangii. Scary. Rangii’s face was scrunched up in pain when she answered the scary Chii’s question.
“I-I have pins and needles in my leg.”
“Which leg is it?”
“My left leg.”
“This one?”
Chii stuck out her index finger and poked Rangii on the thigh as she said this. …What a cruel brat.
“Unyaang?!”
All of Rangii’s fur stood on end as if she’d been struck by lightning, and she launched herself forward.
“…Huh?”
Towards me. I was determined to catch the tiger missile that was flying with tear-filled eyes, but she ended up hitting a painful spot. She landed a direct hit on my solar plexus.
“Kuhugh!”
“B-Big Brother?”
“Sunghoon?! Are you okay?!”
[Now a corpse?]
When I heard the worried voices and saw the worried words of the three little kids, I decided I couldn’t let myself betray any pain. I did my best to act as though nothing were wrong when I said:
“I’m…I’m fine.”
Even I realized that I sounded ridiculous.
“Pain, pain fly away~”
Rangii was on the verge of tears, and she put her hand inside my shirt to gently rub my stomach. That wasn’t how it worked, but, surprisingly enough, the pain really did start to subside. Rangii seemed to realize that I was starting to feel better, because she took on a menacing attitude and turned her head sharply before yelling at Chii.
“Chii! Sunghoon was hurt because of you!”
“Awooo? But, Rangii-nim, you’re the one who hit Big Brother.”
Chii was partly to blame but it was true that Rangii was the one who put me into this state, and she grunted as if she had just been hit. She then called for help from Pyeii, who was still sitting and watching everything unfold.
“Pyeii. What do you think?”
[If you play with phantoms, you’ll get your stomach exploded.]
What a creative use of the old adage.
“Uu….”
Rangii’s shoulders began to shake up and down as she groaned. Wasn’t this bad? She looked about ready to explode if she kept this up. It’s an adult’s job to calm down children when they get like this. I blocked Rangii’s mouth with my hand as she took a deep breath to say something.
“Hu—ung!”
I felt Rangii’s breath against the palm of my hand. It tickles, you brat. I turned my head to face Rangii before she could voice her protest.
“Rangii. As the older sister, it’s your job to get along with them.”
In terms of actual age, Rangii was a grandmother and in terms of appearance, Rangii actually looked a little younger than them, but it was best to cheer her up first. Because innocuous statements about responsibility tend to make kids feel better. See? Rangii’s face was bright red, but her eyes were sparkling. It looked like she wasn’t upset anymore, and the second I took my hand off her mouth, she said cheerfully:
“Sunghoon said so, too!”
Based on how happy she looked, it looked like this had been weighing on her mind. Or did she make another completely unrealistic misunderstanding? I had no opportunity to find out.
“That’s right! I’m the greatest big sister in the world!”
After all, there was no way my words would have any effect on her when she was running ecstatically around the room. However, the two little sisters blushed, apparently displeased at being lowered into such positions, and they gave me their respective protests. The hair above Chii’s ears flapped so furiously that I wouldn’t have been surprised if she actually floated off the floor.
“Kyawoo!! Big Brother, you pervert! You’re a lolicon! Absolutely greedy!”
Chii said those all too familiar insults that simply signaled our closeness, and Pyeii spun her twintails and wrote:
[Shameless!]
She did a wind-up, preparing to throw an exclamation point at me. But please don’t actually throw it. If I get hit by that, I’ll die.