Chapter 6
I have a younger brother.
Honestly, I feel like I practically raised him on my back.
That's because even when I was little, I already had the same mature air I do now. And my baby brother, who was even younger than a toddler at the time—wouldn't he have been adorable?
I changed his diapers myself, played with him, and even taught him Korean and English. After practically carrying him around and raising him, I developed a certain desire.
To turn him into an alpha male.
Around then, I looked in the mirror and realized my looks were no joke, and I figured my brother would be similar. I've given up on that now, but back then I wanted to turn him into the alpha male I'd always dreamed of and live vicariously through him.
“Sis, can I go to taekwondo?”
“No. See those older guys over there? That's where you're going.”
So I sent my brother to a jiu-jitsu gym instead of the taekwondo academy, which served a role similar to a daycare and where he had almost ended up.
“I have puzzle club after school….”
“If a genius is someone who can achieve things without making an effort, then unfortunately, Aseong, you're not a genius.”
“Huh? I'm not a genius?”
“But if a genius is someone who can achieve something through hard work, then, Aseong, you can become a genius.”
“Sis, what does that mean….”
“Join the baseball team and become Ichiro Suzuki!”
When he was in elementary school, I pushed him off the cliff that was the baseball team.
Back then, our elementary school baseball team was so renowned that students transferred from other schools just to join it.
My younger brother Aseong had my physique—the physique of Ahyun, who would work as a child model and bombard the domestic modeling industry a few years later—and he adapted and performed wonderfully on that team.
The jiu-jitsu gym he'd attended since the early grades probably helped.
Then, after many incidents and several years had passed.
He quit baseball, where he'd adapted but never shown much talent, got scouted by an idol agency, trained for three months, and then ran off.
After spectacularly bombing the CSAT and entering a provincial boarding academy, saying he would do nothing but study, my younger brother… is sitting right in front of me.
“So your older sister is streaming?”
“Yeah. But does this bastard just come in without knocking?”
At my glare, my younger brother, Kim Aseong, who had been sitting on his knees, scrunched up his face.
“No, this was my room, remember?”
“....”
“I heard the computer from inside, so I just came in.”
Can't really say anything to that.
I'd immediately converted the room he'd vacated when he went to the repeat-year academy into a streaming room.
-??
-Was this his little brother's room?
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-For real, I guess he really is her younger brotherㅋㅋ
For the record, I just left the mic on.
I told my brother not to say my name, and was talking with him as a sort of clarification.
Once a man's voice had come through, wouldn't turning off the mic and leaving a long silence create all kinds of strange misunderstandings?
“Ahem, anyway, when did you get back?”
“Me? Today.”
“You should've said you were coming, tsk….”
“I did leave you a message….”
“....”
-???
-I think you're the one at fault here.
-That must've been fucking awfulㅋㅋㅋ
Oh, was that so?
Haaah~ I guess I couldn't check my phone because I was streaming.
“Ahem… If you were coming, you should've come on Christmas. So did you come home to hang out? How's studying going?”
“…? I don't go to the academy anymore.”
“?”
I questioned that.
He doesn't go to the academy anymore? Why?
For a moment, I thought of my brother during his trainee days.
He'd bolted after three months, saying that after looking at the other kids' faces, there was no hope of him debuting.
That little punk… He couldn't even endure that?
For the record, Aseong's physique is as excellent as mine, but unfortunately, his facial features are a little different from mine.
He was that much farther from becoming an idol—the missing percentage, so to speak.
“Don't tell me you ran away again….”
Anyway, remembering that, I asked, and my brother's expression crumpled.
“What are you talking about? Didn't you hear I did well on the CSAT?”
“Huh?”
“That's why I quit the academy and came home.”
My brother looked at me as if asking whether I'd seriously forgotten, and… I looked away.
“Erm, ahem….”
-?
-Pretty sure this is your fault.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-This bastard, seriously..
“Wow….”
“No, I did hear you.”
I only remember it now.
Mom had definitely mentioned in passing that Aseong had done well on the CSAT.
But I wasn't exactly out having fun; hadn't I been living a busy life?
I'd even just gotten back from a business trip yesterday.
And most importantly….
“You didn't come straight home after doing well on the CSAT, so I forgot….”
The new year was just around the corner.
Wasn't it only natural that I'd forgotten because the guy who did well on the CSAT hadn't come home?
“Wow… So that's why the room is like this?”
At that, Aseong's mouth fell open as he pointed around the room.
Because I'd decorated it as a streaming room, soundproofing panels were stuck all over the walls, and an enormous desk held my streaming computer and output computer.
And behind me were the yoga mat I used now and then and all kinds of game and manga merchandise.
“Where am I supposed to sleep?”
Seeing the room where he'd spent all his school years turned into this mess, Aseong asked with a hollow expression. I was at a loss too, when—
‘Aseong's room? Hmm, I'll clear out the storage room and give it to him~’
I suddenly remembered something our wise lady of the house had said.
“Ah! The storage room!”
“Huh?”
“I cleared out the storage room and put your furniture in it.”
“What?”
-???
-How many rooms does she have?
-As expected of a young lady…
To put it mildly, the house our family lives in is a detached home we bought with the money I'd steadily saved since my days as a child model.
It's a small, pristine two-story house in a well-connected part of Gyeonggi Province—not Seoul, but in the city.
There are four rooms on the first floor and three rooms plus a terrace on the second, so we had plenty of spare rooms, including the storage room and my dressing room.
I remembered that we'd converted the storage room into my brother's room.
“Why didn't you stream in the storage room instead….”
-ㄹㅇㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Why the hell??
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-For real, what a bitch;;
…Because.
This is the second-largest room on the second floor, right next to my room.
And most importantly, it has an incredible view from the window.
Because every morning, office workers commuting to work pass along the road in front of our house.
There's something strangely satisfying about looking down at people heading to work after gaming all night….
“Um, more importantly, didn't you look for your present?”
Of course, I couldn't tell him that, so I subtly changed the subject.
“Present?”
“Yeah, you didn't think your big sister would come back without buying her little brother a present, did you?”
“W-what is it?”
At that, Aseong's trembling, which had continued until then, stopped in an instant.
That little punk… He sure was materialistic.
-ㄷㄷㄷㄷ
-What's the present??
-Ohhh, what could it be?
“All right, first… Everyone, we're done clearing things up now, right? I'm going to turn it off for a moment, okay?”
I said that first and switched off the microphone.
At this point, there wouldn't be anyone left who didn't believe he was my brother.
-??
-?
-???
-Ah
“What kind of present is it….”
Whether the mic was off or not.
My brother, who knew little about internet broadcasting and had no interest in it, stared straight at me with eager eyes.
But unfortunately….
“Sorry, I didn't actually buy you anything.”
“?”
Would I have bought something like that on a business trip when all I wanted was to get home?
Roselia seemed to have bought all sorts of things, but unfortunately, I hadn't brought anything back.
“Wow, wow, huh!”
Apparently feeling betrayed, Aseong made a deflated face.
He looked like he was furious, but couldn't even get angry because I'd been an almost godlike older sister to him since childhood.
“Now get out.”
I waved him away, feeling immensely proud of that.
Yeah, just how many diapers had I changed for this brat?
“No….”
“Ah, take one watch from my display case. Consider it a CSAT present.”
Still, I ought to give him a CSAT present. He was at an age when he was very interested in dressing up, so if I gave him a watch, he'd wear it often.
“…Yes, my lady. This worthless younger brother shall withdraw.”
Anyway, my brother, suddenly so polite, quietly closed the door and disappeared.
Tap, tap.
“Ah, can you hear me?”
I turned the mic back on to resume the stream.
-What the hell was that??
-What present did you give him??
“A present? I didn't give him one.”
-??
-?
-Didn't you say you were going to give him one?
“I was lying, obviously.”
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-This fucking bastard…
-You'd better remember to give your brother-in-law some spending money.
“Who is your brother-in-law? Anyway, shall we get back to the game? The dodge penalty is over.”
There had been a minor issue, but.
In any case, it was resolved smoothly, so I queued up another game.
**
A few days after my brother returned home.
Our household went from three members to four, but not much changed.
He had originally lived here before going away for just a year, and I usually stayed in my room anyway.
Still, if I had to name a difference, things became a little more convenient.
“You're back?”
“Why'd you call me?”
“Go buy me a coffee, a low-sugar latte.”
I smoothly handed Aseong my card.
The café in front of our house made excellent coffee, but it didn't deliver.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-This bastard makes his little brother run errands all the time.
-Is your little brother your lackey??
“Ah, no, last time too…”
“Buy something you want at the convenience store on the way, too.”
“Yes, ma'am. Should I get a low-sugar cake as well?”
“Yes, do that.”
-I'm so jealous of the young master..
-A rich older sister (for real) ㄷㄷ
-Ahㅋㅋ I'd acknowledge it if she gave him pocket money.
“But hey, why didn't you come straight home?”
As I handed him the card, I suddenly remembered something and asked.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Mom told me you left the academy right after taking the CSAT.”
Aseong had been preparing for another year at a provincial boarding academy.
Apparently, he'd checked out of the dorm as soon as he took the CSAT.
But I was curious why he hadn't come home until the end of December, so I asked….
“Ah, because I broke up with my girlfriend.”
“Huh?”
“I'd been staying at the older girl's house—the one I met at the academy…. Once we broke up, she kicked me out.”
-??
-?
-You wanna die, brother-in-law?
-Fuckㅋㅋ
What the fuck….
“Give me that, you bastard.”
“Huh?”
I snatched back the card I'd given him.
This bastard's living the easy life just because he got lucky with his older sister….
I never should've embarked on a ten-year plan to make him an alpha male.