NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 367
Side Story: The Last Tale – 2
‘Will it go well?’
Yujin Baek was anxious.
In the living room, sounds of laughter echoed continuously, but Yujin, who was hesitating on the second-floor staircase, couldn’t feel the same way. How many times had she taken deep breaths and steadied her heart?
Yet, she still hesitated to take a step forward. Ever since she saw her new sister-in-law visit in the morning, she had promised herself, but even now, as dinner wrapped up and the drinking party began, she was still stuck in indecision.
Lunch and dinner had disappeared at an astonishing speed, and in between, she had holed herself up in her room. All that time had been used for self-hypnosis, telling herself “I can do this.”
“But what’s Yujin doing?”
A slightly tipsy voice from Soyoung Kang echoed. Twitch, her body trembled lightly. What was Yujin even doing right now? It was a natural question to ponder.
Her brother had brought his girlfriend, yet she barely managed a greeting, wolfed down lunch in silence, locked herself in her room in between, and devoured dinner just the same.
It would make sense to wonder what she was up to now that she was still holed up in her room.
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Did you have a fight or something?”
“How could we have fought when we don’t even contact each other? That’s never happened.”
“Good, that’s a relief. If you said you fought, I would have had Yujin apologize to your brother for being in the wrong.”
“If we fought, it would be entirely her fault.”
“…….”
Hearing that, a sense of injustice washed over her.
‘Did they really think it’s always my fault?’
All she really did was occasionally poke fun at him, toss commands casually, and throw some profanities his way. And she wasn’t even doing that now.
After all, her life, nearly, was in that brother’s hands.
‘… Let’s save it for later. Later. Mom will definitely tease me if she hears.’
After fidgeting on the staircase for a while, Yujin finally retreated back into her room, rationalizing herself. She totally didn’t have the confidence to interrupt at that moment.
Eventually, after going back and forth between her room and the stairs a few times, when she no longer heard her parents’ laughter, Yujin stealthily made her way down to the first floor. She peeked her head into the living room.
‘Looks like the new sister-in-law and Baek Juwon are on the sofa… have Mom and Dad gone to bed?’
Her parents were nowhere to be seen in the living room, and all she could see were the backs of the two chattering away on the sofa. The new sister-in-law was snuggled right next to Juwon.
‘Great.’
Confirming that her parents were absent, Yujin stealthily walked into the living room. She didn’t exactly feel guilty for her actions, but for some reason, she felt that she should creep in like this.
“What are you creeping around for?”
“Uh, yeah?”
Before long, she was startled.
She had intentionally worn two layers of sleep socks to muffle any sound, yet Juwon, who had been chatting with the new sister-in-law until just a moment ago, instantly turned around and pointed her out.
Though there was no subject in the statement, it was clear who he was referring to. There was only one person he could address that way.
“… How did you know?”
“Well, who knows? I have no reason to tell, so just get to the point. You’ve been avoiding since we arrived. Suddenly, why are you here?”
“Hahahaha….”
Yujin grit her teeth internally while forcing a smile on the outside. Stay calm, stay calm. Her life, practically, depended on this jerk. She desperately needed to endure.
As Yujin approached the sofa, she intended to sit carefully opposite them but ended up freezing in place.
‘What is wrong with me…’
She had long acknowledged her new sister-in-law’s exceptional beauty. Her parents often sang her praises to the point of salivation, and Yujin personally felt that was acutely true.
Every feature — appearance, figure, voice — was perfectly aligned, and this was her bare face without any makeup. Coming from someone who excessively cared for her skin, it was frustrating.
‘… How can a person be like that?’
However, today’s new sister-in-law was completely different. It wasn’t just a simple compliment.
Yujin’s mind went blank the moment she saw her, her mouth and tongue froze, and her legs trembled. Even after seeing her multiple times today, this was the effect.
Her hair falling down to her waist, eyes shimmering like gold and silver, the collarbone and shoulders slightly exposed due to the off-shoulder sweater, the ample chest nestled within, and finally, the curvy hips and slender thighs.
She couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that this was a fellow human being. Her strength gave way, and she sank down just before the sofa, gasping as though struggling to catch her breath.
“Are you okay, Young Lady? Should I help you up?”
The new sister-in-law smiled and reached out, and in that instant, Yujin felt a thunderous impact burst in her mind.
Even though she had no interest in women whatsoever, she genuinely considered that if her new sister-in-law asked her out, she might just say yes.
“Just let her rise by herself. Does she not have legs? No arms? She should be able to get up on her own with that light body.”
“But she’s your sister.”
“Is she?”
As Juwon insulted her like breathing, Yujin barely registered any of it. She remained in stupor until the new sister-in-law, seeing her dazed state, decided to help her up.
“Hey, so why are you here? Came to see my girlfriend’s face?”
“Aw, that’s so embarrassing, darling.”
How many times had she blushed at that? Staring at the new sister-in-law pouting while clutching her cheeks, Yujin finally snapped back to reality when she noticed Juwon’s expression turn slightly grim.
“I have a favor to ask…”
“If it’s to make your chest bigger, I’m not helping.”
The chest size, which had once been twice the size of her head, had significantly shrunk over time. It was still large, but it no longer resembled some inflated bee. It was more like a reward now.
Of course, to Yujin, it had always felt like a reward, even when it was twice the head size. More substantial proportions than a flat washboard were certainly easier to manage.
“No, no, no! Not at all!”
“Then what?”
How could one even do that? Yet Juwon was the one capable of making that happen, so she had to heed his words.
Yujin took several deep breaths, thumped her chest violently, and downed the leftover alcohol on the table without any appetizers before finally opening her mouth.
“W-would it be possible for me to get pretty like new sister-in-law…? I don’t mean as pretty as her! Just, um… like one… a hundredth of that? Just something like that….”
In reality, Yujin herself was an absolute beauty by any measure. Subjectively and objectively, she was among the prettier faces. She wasn’t bragging, but she had been street-cast a few times.
Her only complex, which was now resolved, had been her chest.
Juwon, on the other hand, although Yujin didn’t believe so, had been hounded by friends saying he was overly handsome and suggesting introductions.
Given this context, Yujin had lived thinking of herself as a beauty. Though she couldn’t quite understand why even Juwon was praised, it had been their life.
However, after seeing that ‘true beauty’, her thoughts changed. She realized that she could absolutely not compete and didn’t even want to think about competing. The moment she acknowledged that appearance, she completely gave up the competition.
Thus, she wanted to dare to ask. If it was possible to somewhat resemble that perfect beauty, perhaps at a level of 1/100.
“……”
Having finished her request, Yujin shut her eyes tightly, and when she heard nothing in response, she peeked open her eyelids to gauge Juwon’s reaction.
He was smiling.
While smiling, he uttered just a single line.
“Do you have no shame?”
“Being that straightforward causes a rebound. You need to attack with some variety.”
“You use Roll so obviously? You mean for me to die trying to catch that?”
“Uh, you don’t know how to counter this? Really not? Then you must die. That’s it.”
“Alright, newbie. From now on, I’m going to try the broken straight sword. Ta-da! What do you think? Easy, right?”
“……”
“……”
The two, Kaiquilia and Aurora, stared blankly at the sight of their character being taken down by the broken straight sword, before they suddenly screamed and tossed their controllers aside.
“Ahhhh! What is this?!”
“What on earth is this?!”
The thrown controllers were gently caught by Minerva with magic.
On the TV screen, a character with purple skin, dressed in just underwear, was continuously performing a ‘joy’ gesture while wielding a broken straight sword. Naturally, that was my character.
I smiled widely and said, “Why are you so mad? You should feel grateful it’s being generous.”
Aurora and Kaiquilia raised their voices even higher.
“The problem is that it is being generous! Didn’t I clearly ask for a proper match?!”
“Even if this is being generous, I don’t see why I should do it properly!”
“……!!!!!!”
Ultimately, perhaps because her anger had exploded, Kaiquilia rushed toward me.
She didn’t seem to be trying to grab my collar or strike me, but it appeared her body launched forward first out of her frustration. I seized Kaiquilia’s arm and pulled her toward me.
Kaiquilia had a look of surprise.
With skin-tight black sleeveless crop top that barely reached her navel and dolphin shorts short enough to reveal most of her buttocks, her body found itself snug in my embrace.
“Kaiquilia.”
“D-Don’t! I said don’t do it!”
As I stroked her hair and whispered her name in her ear, Kaiquilia appeared to realize what I intended to do and began to squirm. But there was no way she could outmatch my strength. I continued to whisper her name in her ear.
“Don’t… do thAAAAaaat….”
By the time her defiant voice turned to mush, I gave her back a gentle rub and squeezed her butt.
“Hhh?!”
Her toes flexed. Her entire body tensed up, only to quickly soften. The golden dolphin shorts became soaked, and a fragrant peach aroma filled the air.
I laid the panting Kaiquilia down on the sofa.
“Now, shall we continue, Aurora? Although it’ll have to be 1v1 instead of 2v1.”
“No. Why bother if I’m just going to get my ass kicked again?”
Aurora immediately shook her head. And could you blame her? Eclipse had modified Brightest Darkness 4 to allow PvP, and she was excited to jump in but ended up hitting nothing, being battered the entire time.
For hours on end.
‘I’ve got a long way to go if I want to beat these guys.’
Even though the game changed from PvE to PvP, it was still the same weapon, same magic, and same sacred spell I had always been using. If you knew how to use them, dodging was a piece of cake.
“Well then, let’s wrap things up for today—”
“Can I give it a try, darling?”
Suddenly, Eclipse grabbed the controller from Kaiquilia.