Chapter 133

Filling empty time takes a long time.

I’m not particularly good at managing my expressions. And Jae-Ah’s current situation is quite complicated. She purposely hid some of her feelings, but I already know the circumstances. And she probably suspects that I’ve noticed something, though it was not really that I noticed, but more that I heard.

Since neither of us was willing to bring it up, we were able to go on as usual. Still, of course, there was a slightly awkward atmosphere compared to when Jae-Ah visited for fun or when we had tutoring sessions. If we consider hanging out together in the first place, Hwa-Won would be better at it than me.

And since it was my house, it was right for Jae-Ah to be cautious, but that didn’t mean I could treat her carelessly. There’s a saying about the turbulent ages. If I were to act without regard toward a child at that age, I wouldn’t know what could happen.

Although she was a close younger sister and my student, I had no intention of listening to or solving Jae-Ah’s worries or problems. Even if I did, it probably wouldn’t have been possible. I didn’t want to get involved in such matters, and my involvement would likely have the opposite effect.

I had no obligation to do so and no will to do so, so my help had to stop here, at just letting her stay for a few days.

Thinking coldly, for a high school student like Jae-Ah to be independent right now, considering she had quite a bit of money for a student, was not an easy task. She would likely return home in a few days with a high probability, and what happened after that needed to have nothing to do with me.

A few days, maybe about a week? If I could get through that amount of time without anything happening, that would be enough.

That’s what I was going to do.

~

That thought was made the night after Jae-Ah visited, the day I talked to her. And today is the next day, the third day since Jae-Ah came.

Unless I had plans to go out, I usually took showers in the evening. Even when others come over, it is rare for them to arrive at night. So, when I was alone at night, I was quite relaxed.

Of course, I was aware that Jae-Ah was home. So any silly love comedy or strange adult situations occurring was completely shut down.

Even so, Jae-Ah was a vigorous boy at that age, and I had a good amount of caution by now.

Still, I didn’t feel particularly conscious about it. I just washed up as usual and roughly dried my hair. I put on proper clothes, and there was no problematic situation at all. I just had a bit of moisture left in my hair.

I wrapped a towel around my shoulder and came out to grab some water from the fridge. After swallowing, I closed the fridge door and turned to find Jae-Ah looking at me with a somewhat dazed expression.

“…What are you doing?”

“Ah, n-no. It’s nothing.”

At that moment, I already felt something strange. Jae-Ah’s cheeks were a bit flushed. But in retrospect, just noticing wasn’t enough.

I should have been certain.

I felt her gaze on me all the while I was using the hairdryer in the living room. It was too obvious to brush off as just a feeling. Should I tell her not to look? Even so, overreacting to just drying my hair while I wasn’t naked seemed strange, so I dropped the thought.

After all, there aren’t many people who show such reactions to a body like this. Unfortunately, I had met someone like that once, but such situations wouldn’t happen repeatedly. Most importantly, the other party was Jae-Ah.

Once my hair was fully dry, I noticed that it had grown quite a bit. I felt like it was about time to visit the hair salon for a trim. It seemed wasteful and bothersome to rush out just because my hair had grown a bit longer. It would grow back soon enough, which made me even less motivated.

“Hyung, the bossam is here.”

One advantage of living with Jae-Ah was the increased variety of food delivery options. Since I couldn’t eat a lot alone, I usually limited my choices, but now that there were two of us, that worry was gone.

For the record, all the food expenses were covered by Jae-Ah. Well, if I’m letting her stay, that’s the least I can do.

Bossam was quite expensive and hard to eat alone, so it was something I hardly ever had, but I chose it this time because when else would I eat it? I was worried since it was quite an expensive menu, but Jae-Ah didn’t seem to mind.

As we naturally devoured the bossam one piece at a time, various conversations started flowing. I intentionally avoided talking about Professor Seo.

“So, how are you planning to handle the event?”

“I can’t go. It’s tomorrow and the clothes I prepared are still at home, and I don’t think they’ll be there either.”

“Are those clothes indispensable for the event?”

“Not necessarily…”

But still, I understood that in this situation, going to such a place wouldn’t be easy to enjoy. I could relate to that sentiment.

“Then can’t you just go anyway? Your face has gotten better, and it could be a change of pace.”

Yet, even though I said that, it wasn’t really for Jae-Ah’s sake. It was simply that I thought it would be convenient if she went, enjoyed herself, and then returned home. I didn’t want to see her moping around constantly.

“Still, if I don’t have the outfit…”

“Can’t you buy a new one?”

“It’s too late now. I have to get the right measurements. Plus, cosplay outfits are quite expensive, so buying again is a bit of a pain.”

It was possible that she might get found out again.

I seemed to hear something like that.

“I don’t know what kind of event it is, but wasn’t it something you were looking forward to? If an outfit isn’t a must, going shouldn’t be a bad idea.”

“That’s true, but… the truth is, the event I’m going to…”

But for some reason, my question seemed to hit a chord with Jae-Ah, and she suddenly began spilling unsolicited TMI about the event. Things like what kind of event it was, and what was coming out from which work—stories that I couldn’t fully grasp.

Naturally, I just heard them in one ear and let them pass through the other. Bossam is art. I should definitely order from this place again. I was thinking along those lines. I felt that she was more excited than I expected, and that she was pretty serious about it, but aside from that, I didn’t understand anything she was saying.

“So I’m feeling quite disappointed that I can’t prepare properly and am going after all.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Were you actually listening?”

“No. I was eating the buckwheat noodles.”

After all, bossam is best with buckwheat noodles…. This is delicious.

“If you’re looking forward to it that much, then just go.”

“Honestly, you’re saying that because you want me to get out of the house, right?”

“If you’ve caught on, then go ahead and leave.”

I said it jokingly, but it wasn’t entirely a joke. We were both laughing to some extent, but Jae-Ah might have caught on.

“…Then will you go with me?”

But why is she suddenly saying such nonsense? Is this some sort of joke too?

“What the hell, what nonsense is that? Why would I go?”

“Your favorite manga will be there too. The ones I recommended.”

Jae-Ah certainly had recommended several manga. Most of them were older titles, but there were some recently released ones mixed in as well, and surprisingly, I had found a few that matched my taste, making them enjoyable reads. I ended up spending quite a bit because of that. However, it didn’t mean I liked it enough to participate in an event.

“Nope.”

“Then I won’t go.”

“Suit yourself.”

“Isn’t this the kind of situation where you should be urging me to go, saying, ‘You have to go!’ or sighing and saying, ‘I might as well go with you’? That’s the standard scene.”

“Still, you should go.”

“Then at least let me choose the timing.”

I had no idea why she was so adamant about asking me to go with her, but regardless of understanding it or not, I had no intention of following her to such a place.

It’s not like I know much about it, and the whole scene is completely unknown to me. I’m not particularly interested, so what would I even do if I followed her?

“There will be doujinshi and goodies available, and you can take pictures with cosplayers. They also invite stage performances, novelists, illustrators, voice actors, and webtoon artists.”

“Which novelist? I’ve met many of our country’s novelists.”

“The kind of people you’ve met wouldn’t show up…”

“Then why should I go?”

“Just think of it as doing a favor for a close little sister.”

“I’m satisfied just letting you stay over.”

“You might end up enjoying it more than you think.”

“I think staying home is more definitely going to be more fun.”

“You just do writing and look at your phone at home.”

“I do a lot of other things too.”

“Like watching animations?”

“…How do you know that?”

I was momentarily flustered, and heat flared in my head. This is something I haven’t told anyone?! Getting caught watching childish animations at this age isn’t a pleasant matter. Even if I poetically express it as reflecting on cherished memories, honestly, looking like this wouldn’t do anything but make me a laughingstock.

“I heard the sound coming from the computer in your room when I came two days ago.”

Ah.

Did I leave it on? I tried to remember, but nothing came to mind. Since I live alone, and I have no neighbors, it’s normal to watch things at a decent volume. I hadn’t closed the door, so it made sense that it would be audible.

I was so flustered looking at Jae-Ah’s face that I didn’t have the presence of mind to care about that, and by the time I got back, the animation had already finished, so there was no sound. So maybe I didn’t notice it.

“Don’t go blabbing about it.”

“…So will you go with me?”

Ah, wait a minute.

I was so startled that I momentarily lost track of the situation. It was inconvenient to have my weaknesses exposed like this, and I couldn’t even imagine how Hwa-Won would tease me if he found out.

Fortunately, perhaps because my expression had hardened more than expected, Jae-Ah quickly changed her words.

“I’m joking. I have no intention of using this as leverage. You don’t have to worry; I’ll never talk about this anywhere.”

“Oh, alright… Thanks.”

Yeah, you still have some conscience left.

“But isn’t there really no problem if it gets known?”

“Do you know what kind of treatment I’d receive if it got out that I’m watching that at my age?”

“People older than you watch a lot of that. Even the recently released series.”

…Why?