LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 9: Midterm Exam
⋯It tickles my ears.
Did you get bitten by a mosquito?
⋯Do mosquitoes even breathe these days?
Feeling the scent of the shampoo, she woke up and saw her younger brother in front of her.
Sit in a position that men cannot.
"⋯What is it?"
"Hi."
"⋯?"
Startled, she took her phone out of her pocket, but it was still 10:00 AM.
What? Did I nap for four days?
Why are you at home at this time?
"Because it's a test today."
"⋯Test?"
"Midterm exam."
"It's only been a week since you started school."
"Yeah, I don't know why either."
"⋯Is that okay?"
"No one cares about the second semester exam."
That, no matter how much I say it doesn't go into my body…
Still, isn't it a bit like taking an exam a week after starting school?
What do you do?
Who knew it would turn out like this.
"Then don't speak. I should have picked you up."
"I want to surprise you once."
"⋯What did you do?"
"To tickle."
He twisted the back of his hair with his index finger and rubbed it against my skin like a brush.
The identity of the mosquito seems to have been his brother's hair.
"Hey, it's ticklish. What are you doing."
"Are you kidding me?"
"Don't do it."
"You didn't stop when I told you not to."
When she tried to stick her head into my ear canal, I freaked out and knocked it out with her hand.
It was so incredibly soft that it gave goosebumps all over her body.
"⋯If I push you here, you will fall. Be careful."
"Yeah, sitting down would be dangerous."
My brother untied his legs, changed position and lay down next to me.
She closed her eyes for a moment, then raised her head uncomfortably, placing her face within nose reach.
"⋯What are you doing?"
"It's uncomfortable because I don't sleep."
"That's because you took one."
"Is it so?"
"You stole one last time I was sleeping here. Give it back."
"Come to my room later and take it."
I felt a sense of weight in my calves as I said something that was not like poetry.
I did something and saw that my brother's left foot was on top of my right leg.
"⋯."
Feeling bad for nothing, I removed my right foot and put it on top of my brother's left leg.
Then he took out his left foot again and put it on top of my right leg.
⋯What are you doing?
Not even a cat
"⋯Foul play."
"If you don't do this, it will never end."
When I raised it up to my knees and intertwined my legs, I became a little calmer.
Where is the foul in the ordering?
If you twist it, it's a part that you can raise your weight class.
"You can't move like this."
"Get out of here on your own."
"⋯I'm going to hit you because it's annoying."
As if his brother had resigned himself, he gave up his resistance and closed his eyes.
The regular breath on his face was unusually warm.
"⋯Are you sleeping?"
"I will sleep. Do not talk to me."
"Go to your room and sleep."
"I hate my room because the smell of paper gives me a headache."
Still, I wanted to say that this wasn't the case, but I didn't listen.
My dear, I woke up.
She sat down with her legs undone and took out a book by her bedside.
"⋯Brother."
"Sleeping."
"I don't think it's manners to read a book while the person next to you is sleeping."
"Who sleeps here?"
"Your brother hugged you so he couldn't move."
"Who hugged you? I overpowered him with my legs."
"That is?"
"I'm hugging the blanket, I haven't even touched your body."
"After tickling it with your toes."
"⋯That you started first."
Even if I continued the conversation, it seemed like it would be parallel, so I just focused on the book.
Her younger brother also pretended to be asleep for a while, then gave up and took out her cell phone and tinkered with it.
Then I put my phone back in and started looking at the book together.
"⋯What book is it?"
"This?"
"Huh."
"Uh… I think it's a science book, a philosophy book, and a culture book."
"What is it about?"
"Genes govern living things, something like that."
Even altruistic behavior is actually a transaction that genes make for self-replication.
It was a strange book that made sense when I read it even though I wanted to say something.
"This is it."
"Like what?"
"Since ants have 75% overlapping genes between sisters, it is more beneficial to take care of the queen ant than to reproduce, something like that."
"Did you read it?"
"Because it's a famous book."
"Well, what. I was a bit curious about that part too."
"My brother and I are brother and sister, so we only overlap 50%."
"It overlaps with my mother by 50%, isn't that high enough?"
Of course, it's 50% on average, but I don't know how much they overlap in reality.
Still, if you look at the similarity, wouldn't it be a bit higher than average?
He's tall, too, because he's tall for a girl.
It seems that only I have a wide skeleton.
"⋯Come to think of it, oppa."
"Uh."
"Brother, if me and mom fall into the water, who will she save?"
"⋯Suddenly why?"
"You have a question related to this. If you can save 8 cousins, you can jump into the river, but not 7. Something like that."
"I know what you're talking about, but you and mom are equally 50%."
"So, if it's the same 50%, who will you save?"
"⋯."
⋯ What mom likes, not even her dad.
No matter what answer this is, there is only a future where you become an asshole.
"⋯You."
"⋯Why?"
"If I save my mother and you die, I will be killed by my mother."
"…Well. Mom will kill her brother."
"And don't ask any weird questions."
"Of course I knew you would save them both and say you were going to die."
"I'm sorry, but I'm a bit selfish too."
"I've known that since long ago."
"You treat me well because you're my younger brother, but if it were someone else, I wouldn't even care."
"⋯I wouldn't have cared if it weren't for my brother."
Well, both of them are very shy.
I wouldn't have been able to make friends.
I think we get along just fine when we get to know each other.
"Still."
My brother twisted his hair and avoided his head.
"Because…A brother, that…A brother. ⋯I think it's fortunate."
"⋯Can you say something embarrassing?"
"⋯Who do you think you learned from?"
I say that, damn proudly.
Don't talk like that while stuttering.
***
After talking, it was almost noon, and the two of them had lunch.
I believed the word that she didn't go to work until the morning of the other day, but her mother went to work as it was, only the students were taking the lecture at home.
If you think about it, blackboards and beam projectors are all necessary, but there is no such equipment at home.
Cheated on my brother
"So, Mr. Kim Winter, what are you going to do when you're still 12?"
"I will study."
"⋯What is it?"
"The midterm exams don't matter, but mock exams soon. I have to study for the exam."
"Still, whenever you take another course…"
"Don't talk nonsense."
It's been a long time since I've been in the middle of a long time since I've been in the middle of a long time.
Still, I have good grades, but shouldn't I go to my level or above me?
Of course, the moment you go to Anam, you are the enemy. If you are going to come, you should come to Sinchon.
"It's a test anyway. At least try to experience the tension in advance."
"I concentrate and solve it, but there is nothing hanging. You can't be nervous."
"Then what should I bet?"
"What?"
"Let's bet, bet."
"⋯ Again?"
"I can't even go out to eat now, so pick out the one that suits you best. Something to be nervous about."
"⋯Then clothes."
"⋯Clothes?"
"Choose clothes for me after the exam. If I win."
"Surface."
"At that time, I will pick out your brother's clothes."
Well… Since I'm discharged, I have to buy new clothes too.
He'll need some clothes for college too.
The problem is that both of them are ignorant.
"It's not bad… Winter."
"Why?"
"If you and I go shopping and pick out clothes, will we really choose decent clothes?"
"⋯Still, other people's eyes are more objective than your own."
"It's impossible for me to see you objectively."
"Why?"
"You are not someone else."
No matter how pretty her sister dresses, she is a sister,
It can't be helped that you feel uncomfortable when you wear revealing clothes.
These days… It might be more like that because we became close friends too quickly.
"⋯I can look at it objectively."
"It's men's clothes, well, you can just choose in moderation. Women's clothes are different."
"Are you okay. Because I believe in my brother's eyes."
"Aren't my eyes that good?"
"There must be an image of me that oppa thinks of. Anything that fits that will suffice."
"⋯You may cry if you return something for picking something out of the ordinary or put it in a closet."
"⋯That can't be."
My sister looked me straight in the eyes and moved her lips.
"⋯My brother picked it for me."
⋯Really.
She's the little sister you can't hate.
***
The content of the bet was based on getting less than one error per subject.
Honestly, how difficult would it be if a test like this was difficult?
After all, only problems within the scope of the CSAT will come out.
I knew that whether we lost or won, we would choose clothes for each other. Just assortment.
So I lost in the end
"⋯But why do I have to deliver your friend?"
"⋯He said he wanted to go somehow."
"You should have cut off your line."
"Do you think I wouldn't have liked that?"
On the last day of the exam, my younger siblings came to my house to have lunch to commemorate the 90th day of the college entrance exam.
⋯I couldn't understand what the hell the 90-day broken commemoration meant.
I couldn't handle the energy of those high school girls, so I wanted to politely decline.
But it was impossible because my mother told me to bring Winter because she wanted to see her friend.
Why is it that today is a day off?
If you're fine outside, you'll give them a ride to a nearby restaurant and run away.
"Where does your winter brother go to college?"
"Seocho."
"Wow, I want to go there too!"
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Would you like to come get your brother?"
"Are you on good terms with winter?"
"Not very good."
Her head was dizzy as she looked in the rearview mirror at her squealing siblings.
⋯Why is your brother close with them?
How did this quiet kid become friends with such famous people?
Oh, is it impossible to get close to your younger brother unless you have an insider-level affinity?
"⋯Oppa, it looks like you stopped talking honorifics."
"I told you not to write it."
"Since when did you listen to me so well?"
"Have you ever stopped listening to me after I was discharged?"
As I was having a conversation with my brother as usual, somehow the gaze on the back of my head seemed to be getting hotter.
Why?
Why are you so interested in me?
"⋯That, winter friends."
"Yes."
"I'm curious, but does Kye-ryeol talk about me at school?"
"Yes, I do it every day."
"What do you say?"
"I can't say that in front of winter."
Seeing them covering the mask with both hands and giggling, it seems that something is strange.
What the hell did you say about me, so this is the reaction.
"⋯Winter."
"Why."
"How did you explain me that they are like that?"
"⋯I didn't really say anything."
Today was the first time my brother's words had gone this far.
***
It was almost 11 o'clock when I got home and her mother had prepared lunch.
Leaving behind her mother who greeted her younger siblings, she hurriedly ran to my room.
⋯ Tired.
She thinks she's going to go crazy because she talked for a while.
Is it really that hard to talk to a high school girl of that age?
Her younger brother and I didn't get tired even after talking for two hours.
When I lay down on the bed and stopped thinking, peace came to my mind and body.
"⋯Brother."
"⋯Winter."
About an hour later, her brother came inside and closed the door.
"Sorry, are you tired?"
"⋯Uh."
"Can I skip lunch?"
"Eat later."
"⋯Sorry."
"No, it's not like you're sorry…"
Naturally, my brother fell down next to me.
"Ha… I'm tired too, wait."
"What about your friends?"
"My room."
"Then you."
"I said I was going to the bathroom for a while and came out."
"Mom?"
"He left because he had an appointment with his aunt at 1:00."
Turning her head to the side, all I could see was her brother's hair.
Looking at her jet-black hair, I found myself fiddling with it without realizing it.
"⋯."
"⋯."
Her brother also turned her head and looked this way without saying anything.
Her hair was soft to the touch, and somehow she couldn't stop her hand.
As she picked up her hair with her thumb and forefinger,
Knock, Knock, Knock.
At the sound of a knock, the door opened.
"⋯ Oh. That. Sorry⋯. I'm not in the bathroom… "
"That, we're going to go soon…"
"⋯Uh⋯."
When I turned my focus to the door, I saw my brother's friends carrying bags.
For a moment, my whole body stiffened and I couldn't move.
"⋯."
Unlike before, there was a long silence.
I tried to say something, but my mouth wouldn't come out.
All four in this place.
"⋯Uh, yes. Uh… Well go in."
"⋯Ah, yes⋯."
She barely opened her mouth and let out a word.
My brother awkwardly got out of bed.
His friends looked at him with anxious expressions.
"⋯Brother. That… I'll just walk you to the station and come back."
"⋯Uh."
I couldn't lie still, so I followed him to the front door.
I didn't do anything, but it felt like something had happened.
Until the moment his brother closed the front door, the silence did not pass.