Chapter 179 – Closing

After the tearful reunion with Seon-ha.
Thanks to the nun’s consideration, I was able to talk with Sunha alone in a private room.

For reference, the nun is said to be the center director of this facility. Still, she seemed to prefer being called Sister, so I decided to keep calling her Sister.

“Brother, do you remember that time? The first time we ate tonkatsu…”

Seon-ha, whose tears had calmed down, began to speak in a chatty manner.

A story we went through together in the past.
After I was adopted, I heard the teacher at the center saying, “I can’t meet my brother anymore,” And mistakenly thought that my brother was dead.
The story of how the center director was called to school after fighting with a child who was teased as an orphan in elementary school.

Her goodness relentlessly babbled her self-talk, as if trying to fill in the blanks of her last decade.

“I heard the name of the girl who chose the big cake was Hee-jin, but I didn’t get along very well with her before that, did I? But after meeting my brother, he was very nice to me? It’s funny because it’s so deceitful. We went to the movies together this time——”

She also heard stories of how she became friends with some of the hottest girls she met at a bakery.
I’m glad you seem to be getting along well.
I was listening to Sunha’s story while agreeing moderately.

“How are you? How is your family doing?”

Sunha’s story came to an end, and it was my turn next.
My story inevitably became the story of a new family.

Of course he does it well, but I couldn’t brag about it blindly like I usually read the script.
I couldn’t even say that I was throwing a party full of semen and love juice every day.

Can’t say good, can’t say bad.
I was facing a strange dilemma for the first time in my life.

“… Oppa, aren’t you actually being mistreated like Cinderella?”

When I couldn’t answer right away, Seonha put on a subtle expression.

It’s Cinderella.
That Cinderella who was bullied by her stepmother and her sisters?

“… No. Be good to everyone.”
“Really? My step-sister seems a bit scary.”

Ugh
Because women are sharp in strange places.

“… My sister is usually fine too. The car I saw before was also bought by my sister. It’s scary sometimes when you get angry.”

If I were to list the things my sister did to me, I would be an adult without two in the world.
Supercars, luxury watches, clothes and shoes. Etc.
Even if I worked like a slave building pyramids for the rest of my life, I was given so much that I couldn’t repay it.
More than anything, it was my older sister who gave me the first experience. My sister was also a virgin.

If I collect only the things that are good to me, it will probably be a gold medal in the World Sisters Olympiad. If you collect only good things.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve been beaten by my sister, but I can’t write it down because I don’t have enough space.

“… What about your brother?”

Just three letters.
Something eerie passes through my heart at the three-letter word ‘what about your younger brother?’.

“Smile… Are you usually that close with your sister?”

Mi-so is my little sister, but she is a year older than Seon-ha.
Even in Sunha’s tone of voice, there were traces of contemplation on how to call a smile.

“Uh… Just what.”

A cold sweat runs down your back.
Would a man who was caught cheating on his girlfriend feel this way?

A smile was also involved in the conversation Sunha had exploded with during the day.
She also runs a separate YouTube channel with the concept of a brother and sister with Mi-so, and her Sun-ha has probably seen that channel.

Maybe she feels that her place has been taken away by the good Miso.
With that in mind, it was not easy to talk about a smile.

“Just what?”
“Just what… Should I say they’re normal siblings…”

I pretended not to, but I was examining Sunha’s complexion.
I used 120% of the ability I had trained for over 10 years while watching my sister’s complexion.

Thanks to this, I could see that Sunha’s expression was a bit cold, but hardened.
Isn’t it okay to be ‘normal brother and sister’?

“We fight sometimes…”

Sunha’s expression got worse.
Can’t it be ‘brother and sister who sometimes fight’?
Mmm.

“There are times when I ignore it, whether it exists or not…”

Sunha’s expression became terrifying enough to know at a glance.

Isn’t it ‘ignoring brother and sister’?!
What am I supposed to do?!

I surrendered.

“Good.”
“Uh?”

When his name was called, Seonha’s expression, which had been cold and stiff, turned into a smile in an instant.
… It was a little scary.

“To Seonha, they may be strangers, but to me, they are family. Therefore… I hope you don’t think badly of it.”

I spoke carefully with my choice of words.
I felt like I was walking through a minefield that I didn’t know when and where it might explode.

As expected, Seonha’s expression quickly changed from a smile to an expressionless one.
It was more like I hated caring about my new family rather than my word choice.

However, it is an unavoidable path in order to accept Seonha as my younger brother.
I had to draw a clear line here.

I made up my mind and spoke.

“It is thanks to the family that I can talk to Seonha here and now. You may not remember it, but at the time of adoption, my mental state was not normal. If it wasn’t for the care of my new family, I wouldn’t be a person in this world anymore, and I wouldn’t be able to be with Seon-ha like this.”
“…”

I’m sure he would have taken his own life if he hadn’t starved to death.
My mental state was so unstable.

“I won’t ask you to treat me like family. Still, since I’m at least your brother’s benefactor, I want you to treat me normally. If I hear the same thing from Sunha again—”

I have no choice but to let go of goodness.
I didn’t have to say it all the way through.

But she is a good and smart kid.
Even good would have caught the will in my expression and voice.

Just as I constantly looked out for others in order to be loved, Sunha must have grown up that way too.

“Oh, brother… “

‘Fake brother’, ‘not even a real family’.
It was something I could say because I was good by blood, but it was something I shouldn’t say even more because of that.

As Sunha said, I am not the real son of that family.
But what does that mean?
It is said that blood is thicker than water, but I am a human being who directly denies that statement.

He treated me as more than a real family member, as I was not related by blood.
Even my bloodline family accepted me, who had been abandoned, into their family.

Denying my family like that is unforgivable, even if it’s my younger brother, Seon.
If a situation arises in which I have to choose between Seon-ha and the other three family members, I will not hesitate to abandon Seon-ha.

“… Brother, earlier… Sorry…”

On the contrary, it was also said that as long as he did not disturb my family, I would prioritize him above all else.
Because Seonha is my ‘only one’ blood relative.

“Are you okay. Instead, don’t do that in the future. Understand?”
“… Huh…”

Gently hugs Sunha’s shrunken shoulders.
Sunha, who was nervous, felt a little relieved.

I don’t know if it’s because they’re the same younger brother, but my heart when I see Seonha was very similar to when I saw her smile.
I was anxious because I didn’t know where it would bounce, and I wanted to cover it for nothing, and I wanted to help with something.

I think the keyword that symbolizes a smile is ‘lonely’.
After my father, whom I followed as a child, divorced and left, Miso pampered me as if trying to fill the void. Feeling a sense of responsibility for my step-dad’s divorce, I have tried my best to accept Smile’s indulgences as much as possible.

But what if she is good?
She said Miso had no father, but her predecessor had no one.
Dad, mom, brother, sister.
Miso was at least able to pamper her mother and me, but she had no one to pamper Sunha.

Sunha, who lived as an orphan of her heavenly love, must have felt her loneliness.

And to Sun-ha, the existence of her brother is the only support she has barely found.
It’s a cruel story, but I wouldn’t want to lose myself no matter what.
No matter what Seonha’s inner thoughts are, I believe that she will never go against my words on the surface.

“Brother… I’m cold…”

The weather today was chilly.
However, the radiator was running strong in this room, and although it felt dry, there was no way I could feel the cold.

“Huh.”

Still, I hugged her goodness without saying a word.
I’ve already learned through another sister that it’s not just to warm up, but a sign that I want her to soothe her loneliness.

“Brother… Cold…”

A quivering little body.
Just as a match girl seeks warmth from a fleeting little match, she found the warmth of kindness and burrowed into my arms.

Sunha overlaps with the small child in my dark memories.

‘Brother… Cold…’

Who had to be thrown out the front door with her feet naked.
Children who had no place to rely on each other’s body heat in the cold wind of midwinter.

‘I’m sorry, goodness.’

Because I can’t make it warmer.
Because it’s not big enough to block all the wind that blows through its small body.
I’m sorry I couldn’t save you from this hell.

“I’m fine now.”

‘Cause no one’s gonna hurt you
I won’t let you shiver in the cold.

“Brother…”

I held him like that until the trembling subsided from his sobbing body.
And he quietly swore that he would never cry again.

* * *

“Sister. Please keep my coming here a secret.”
“You mean the donation to the center?”

The amount of my donation itself was not very large.
But it’s a lot of money for me personally. It was the same as the entire down payment I received when I signed with J-up.

“Yes. And about goodness.”

Sister already knew that I was a celebrity.
It seems that another employee who recognized me while I was talking with Sun-ha told me.

“I don’t want Sunha to be exposed to curiosity.”

Maybe the affair with Seonha will also be decorated as one of the ‘Jin-seon-hu stories’.

But I didn’t want to use Sunha for such a thing.
Before my debut, I felt like I could understand a little bit how Miso tried to protect me by suing her fans one after another.

They say you can’t zip a living person’s mouth, but I asked the nun to keep it a secret so that rumors wouldn’t spread if possible. Of course to Her Majesty and others in her Center.

“Sister. Our goodness, please take good care of her until the end.”

I sincerely asked the nun to bow her head.

The kinship between me and Seonha died when I was adopted by her mother.
Legally, me and Sun are completely south-south.

Therefore, no matter how much I claim to be my older brother, it is impossible for ‘adult unmarried man Seon-hu Jin’ to officially bring ‘underage girl Seon-ha Kim’.

It may be possible if you hire a lawyer and go through complicated procedures, but in the meantime, you will become a good adult and reach the age to leave the prison. What I am doing is itself an unnecessary effort.

So, instead of listening to Her Majesty and her nuns and spending money and time to get Her Majesty out, I asked her to make a donation to her center and take good care of Her Majesty until she leaves.
The center also decided to help Seonha get a room near the university she was going to go to. Of course, I pay for it.

That’s how the good work was done.
But it wasn’t without other concerns.
It is about how to say good things to family members.

I don’t know if I care too much, but I thought maybe my family might interpret my meeting Sunha as strange.
Whether it was because I really missed my family, so I searched for my younger sister, or because I also had a dark heart for my younger sister, or because I found my younger sister, I will go looking for my real mother next…

It could not be said that there was no possibility of such a pessimistic interpretation.

So I decided to withhold telling my family for now.
I didn’t want to make everyone pay attention to useless things at the end of the year.
Sunha was also uncomfortable with meeting my family, so she actively agreed with my opinion.

“Good. Bye. Listen carefully to the teachers.”
“Huh. Oppa also works hard during filming.”

Leaving over ten years, we say goodbye to Sunha and her.

Goodness waved her hand lightly.
I barely soothe my desire to hug him at the sight of him looking so sad.

Because this time, we’re not saying goodbye forever.
You can meet anytime you want to meet.

So I parted ways with Sunha and left the center.
It was a particularly warm day in December.-