Han Yeeun thought.
That small face with features gathered so neatly.
At first, she wondered if this was really her older brother.
But seeing him doing all sorts of ridiculous things toward his phone in a place where no one was around, she was convinced that he was definitely her older brother.
No, now it was even awkward to call him “older brother.”
With his appearance clearly that of a woman, and a rather beautiful one at that, the title of “older brother” was by no means fitting.
Yet, why does she continue to insist on that title?
Perhaps it was her own defense mechanism, not wanting to lose even her only older brother.
For Han Yeeun, Han Jeong-ho’s existence could be described in one word as “ambivalence.”
Her only family.
Having been abandoned by her family, she hates them, but because of that, she can’t help but crave their presence even more.
Han Jeong-ho was the only family member left for her.
Looking back, her older brother always wore shabby, off-the-rack clothes.
In contrast to always buying her clothes made of good materials, his own closet was full of cheap materials bought for a few thousand won in the market.
That always bothered her.
That was the very reason she took him to an expensive clothing store.
Because of that, she got a bit of a scolding after a long time, but seeing him secretly happy, Han Yeeun also felt a subtle sense of pride.
Then, she suddenly remembered what happened this morning.
When she went to her older brother’s house after a long time and saw a strange woman there, she was so surprised.
At first, she thought it was some kind of thief.
After quickly looking around, she found that there was only a woman in the house.
Could it be that she secretly came in while her brother was away?
Or perhaps a stalker?
A scenario came to her mind of a woman with perverted tastes secretly breaking into Han Jeong-ho’s place.
As she entered, thinking that she would have to subdue her if necessary, the woman showed signs of embarrassment.
But it was strange.
The familiar scent of her older brother came from the strange woman.
The way she looked at her.
That expression full of bewilderment, yet with a small hint of joy mixed in.
Why was Han Jeong-ho’s appearance being projected onto a woman she didn’t know?
“Yeeun-ah. Actually, I’m your half-sister.”
The woman even knew her name.
She even called him in a friendly way.
Was it something her brother told her? If so, was she one of his acquaintances?
But did her brother have such a beautiful friend?
Questions kept popping up endlessly, and before long, they turned into a new misunderstanding.
‘Ah, so she’s my brother’s girlfriend.’
After all, if he was going to bring a woman into his studio apartment, they had to be in that kind of relationship.
Since she was his girlfriend, it was natural that he would have talked about his younger sister.
Then everything would fit perfectly.
That was what she thought when she saw her brother’s (presumed) girlfriend.
That he, who had never had a proper relationship while taking care of her, had finally found a girlfriend.
She also felt a bit jealous.
At the thought that the attention, the affection, that had been focused on her, was now entirely her girlfriend’s share.
But she had to understand.
It was only now that he had finally found his own life.
He couldn’t just keep looking at his younger sister forever.
She suddenly thought that it was a good thing, but she didn’t know what her brother’s intentions were.
In fact, it wasn’t too late.
Jeong-ho had received quite a few confessions during his school days.
It wasn’t just because he was her brother, but rather, based on a more objective evaluation as a family member, he was quite handsome.
A face that any girl his age would want to try to win over at least once.
Because of that, he often received love letters, and sometimes he even received direct proposals to date.
But every time, Jeong-ho refused.
The reason was that even working part-time was not enough for him, and he had no time to leisurely date.
Once, a girl who was quite popular in his class confessed to him.
Jeong-ho, as always, smiled awkwardly and refused.
If you only saw this far, it would have been just another ordinary day, but the problem occurred after that.
At that time, Han Yeeun was attending the same middle school as Jeong-ho.
She was on cleaning duty and was heading to the back of the school to empty the trash when she happened to overhear them.
‘Honestly, isn’t he f*cking annoying?’
“So, he’s just showing off his aloofness. It’s ridiculous. I thought he had some kind of middle school syndrome.”
“And he doesn’t have many friends. Well, who would like someone like that?”
“I heard he runs to a part-time job every time after school. Pfft, poor thing.”
She liked him, she said. But when he rejected her, she and her group talked badly about him behind his back. It was so disgusting.
Even at a young age, Han Yeeun wanted to punish that girl who was badmouthing her brother.
That’s why she started exercising.
That was the reason she started jiu-jitsu.
But when she actually went to the jiu-jitsu academy, she realized she had made a mistake.
Since then, Jeong-ho’s time to come home became even later.
He had started yet another new job to earn the tuition fee for the academy.
‘…Han Yeeun, you stupid girl.’
She was so ashamed that she had once again made things difficult for her brother because she was swayed by her emotions at the moment.
She had no face to see him.
She should have gotten angry.
She should have complained that it was difficult.
If she had told him that the academy would be difficult, he wouldn’t have even gone in the first place.
But Han Jeong-ho never once showed any signs of hardship.
Instead, he smiled and cheered her on.
‘Wow. You got first place in the academy? That’s crazy. I can’t mess with you anymore.’
As if nothing was wrong.
There were dark circles under his eyes, and his once handsome face was gradually losing its vitality, but he always had a smile on his face when he saw her.
Seeing him like that, she realized that this was not right.
What was jiu-jitsu anyway?
In the end, despite the master’s dissuasion, she quit jiu-jitsu.
There was an offer from the master that he would not take the tuition fee if that was the problem, but she thought it would be better to work with her brother at that time and earn even a penny more.
Of course, the thought ended only as a thought.
That day, her brother got angry for the first time.
She cried in her blanket for the first time.
Han Jeong-ho’s appearance, when he was genuinely angry, was quite shocking to young her.
Jeong-ho came to her late and tried to persuade her as she was crying sadly.
He told her that making money at that age was a foolish thing. That there were few places that would even accept her because she was young in the first place.
When she retorted that her brother also made money at her age, he hesitated for a moment and then replied that men and women were different.
That day, her brother, still unable to understand her, said this:
If you don’t want to do jiu-jitsu, you don’t have to. Then let’s focus on studying instead.
Just get into college. He said he couldn’t go to college because he didn’t have the brains for it, so he wanted her to go in his place.
That alone would be enough to satisfy him vicariously.
‘Liar’
His words that he didn’t have the brains for studying were a lie.
Jeong-ho maintained fairly good grades in school.
She had secretly seen his report card crumpled in his bag, so she was sure.
For him to achieve those grades while working part-time all day long, without any time to study separately, was absolutely impossible without brains for studying.
Although it wasn’t enough to go to a famous university, it was a level where he could at least try to get into a university in the metropolitan area.
But he didn’t go to college.
The reason was that he had a stomach ache on the day of the college entrance exam and ruined the test.
At that time, she knew that wasn’t the reason.
Even though she knew, she pretended not to know.
She even teased him, saying he was silly, asking if a morning bowel movement wasn’t essential.
After the college entrance exam, while others were traveling and having fun, Jeong-ho went to work part-time again.
Seeing Jeong-ho like that, she made a resolution.
Yes. Let’s go to college.
If that’s what her brother wants, let’s fulfill that wish.
That’s the only thing she can do after all.
It was her sophomore year of high school.
It was definitely not easy for her, who had put aside studying to do jiu-jitsu, to start again from the beginning.
There were barely two years left to prepare for the college entrance exam.
So she studied harder than others.
She went to school early in the morning and prepared for her classes, and when she came home, she reviewed the content she had learned that day.
When that wasn’t enough, she sometimes stayed up all night studying.
As time passed, the number of days she stayed up all night gradually increased.
It was tiring and difficult, but she thought she could endure this much for a better future.
No, she had to endure.
The person who showed her that her own pain was nothing was right next to her.
It was a funny thing.
That her brother’s return home was always later than her own, even after she had fallen asleep from studying until dawn.
She spent busy, hectic years.
When she came to her senses, it was her senior year of high school, and when she came to her senses again, it was the day of the college entrance exam.
She entered the exam hall, receiving the support of Jeong-ho, who had even skipped his part-time job and come to see her off.
Her condition wasn’t bad.
Her scores on the September mock exam were also quite good.
If she continued like this, her target university wasn’t just a dream.
And it was actually the case.
The scores that were announced not long after were enough for her to set foot in the university she wanted.
She submitted her application for regular admissions, and as expected, she was accepted to the university.
She was happy to be accepted to the university, but the word “you worked hard” from her brother, while looking at the acceptance letter, made her even happier.
That day, the two of them ate out together for the first time in a long time.
To her jokingly saying that he wasn’t overdoing it, Jeong-ho shrugged, saying it was nothing.
He gave her a cheesecake as a gift, and she was quite surprised to see it.
‘Cheesecake is something we only eat on birthdays.’
When she opened the box wrapped in rather elegant wrapping paper, it had the words “(Congratulations) Admission” written on it.
The cake she ate that day was more delicious than any cake she had eaten on her birthday.
Again, time passed quickly.
She graduated from high school, and the time for university admission was gradually approaching.
Contrary to her expectations that all her worries would disappear if she was accepted to college, unfortunately, reality was not easy.
The school was located in an area that was farther than she thought from her residence.
Moreover, the transportation was so bad that commuting was almost impossible.
Living in a dormitory became inevitable.
The conclusion was reached that a whopping 10 million won was needed per semester when adding tuition and dormitory fees.
It was a problem.
She didn’t have that much money.
‘This… this isn’t right.’
She somehow managed to get into college, but she eventually had to kneel before the even greater barrier of reality.
Jeong-ho asked her why, with a look of concern on his face.
She said she would have to give up going to college.
In fact, other national universities had less than half the tuition fees.
Unfortunately, she didn’t know that at the time.
So she didn’t even apply in the first place.
Most of the top universities in Korea were private.
In the end, there were two choices.
To retake the college entrance exam, or
To give up college and get a job.
Retaking the exam was out of the question, so naturally, there was only one choice.
She even thought it was a good thing.
If she started earning money now, their situation would improve a little.
Jeong-ho was particularly sensitive to her working.
The moment he got angry for the first time was still deeply etched in Han Yeeun’s mind.
But she couldn’t just sit back and do nothing at this point.
So she decided to tell him her thoughts.
She was prepared to persuade him even if he got angry.
But the expected reaction didn’t follow.
After hearing the whole story, Jeong-ho instead smiled and shook his head.
He took something out of his pocket and handed it to her.
It was a bankbook.
On the cover of the bankbook, it was written like this.
[Yeeun’s Tuition Fee]
When she opened it, she could see the details of the money that had been steadily deposited every month.
The total amount was a whopping 20 million won.
He said he was glad she could go to college.
That day.
In the end, she couldn’t hold back her tears.
It was the second time she had cried in her life.
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