Chapter 36: Jinzuko Flat Speech Bubble God-chan Pointy Speech Bubble

Creak, bang.

I closed the door behind me.

Thankfully, the noise didn’t wake Irina.

Fi…finally made it out…….

“……Yeah, no kidding.”

Not that she ever had any intention of waking up in the first place.

Honestly, if she had, things would’ve been a hell of a lot easier for me.

Wiping her down, washing her, drying her off, and putting her to sleep.

And that wasn’t even the end of it — she started trembling like she was having some kind of nightmare, so I had to

comfort her through that too.

Not like she’s particularly cute or anything… wait, objectively, she is cute.

Still, what the hell did she ever do to deserve me treating her like my own kid?

Well, I guess it’s just force of habit.

Thinking about it, the only time Irina ever acted cute toward me was way back at the very beginning.

If you really think about it, the very first day we met at Orientation was both the start and the peak of her being

adorable — and also the kickoff to this whole cursed relationship.

If you had to compare, who was more annoying: your ex-little sister or Irina?

“……Damn, that’s a tough one. Their styles of being annoying were completely different.”

Still, if I had to measure it purely in terms of how much of a pain in the ass they were…

My ex-little sister, she just cussed me out, ignored me, and when we couldn’t avoid each other, she blew up at me.

Whether she hated me, insulted me, or treated me like trash — that was all up to her.

Just because we were close as kids doesn’t mean we had to stay close forever.

Back then, I could just avoid her or ignore her right back.

And if she ever crossed the line, I just hit back twice as hard and called it even.

“But Irina Rosenkrantz… this bratty little lobotomized gremlin operates on a whole different wavelength. You saw

her just now, right?”

『Uh… are your fingers okay? They’re all swollen like sponges…….』

“No idea. They just reek of her spit. Same shit as always. To be exact, this is the 147th time. Oh wait, 148th now.”

『O-over a hundred times…?! No wonder you were so weirdly used to just sticking your fingers in her mouth……』

Just a moment ago, after calming down trembling, nightmare-ridden Irina and finally getting her back to sleep — the

thing she latched onto was my hand.

Yeah.

That’s her thing. Once she fixates on something, she’ll do whatever it takes to get it or make it hers.

And ever since that whole “f*cking Putin Bastard Incident” during Orientation,

the thing she’s been fixated on has been me. My whole existence.

At first, I didn’t even hate it.

There’s about a ten-year age gap between us, and with her pale skin and blonde hair, she felt like a tiny version of my

ex-little sister when we were still close.

But the thing I accidentally gave her back at Orientation wasn’t affection — it was dependency.

She treated me like her personal emotional dumpster, throwing tantrums at me whenever she felt like it.

And whenever she crossed the line and I properly put her in her place…

“……Damn. Now that I think about it, my ex-little sister was actually better in that regard.”

At least when she crossed the line and got her ass handed to her, she knew not to cross that particular line again.

…Granted, she just found new lines to cross every time, but still.

At least she didn’t cling to me and bawl like Irina does.

Irina’s on a whole other level.

She’s the reason I ended up abandoning my off-campus apartment and crawling back to that god-awful dorm, Sejong

Hall, where my commute was literally a minute long.

I desperately needed the dorm supervisor to act as a human shield.

When I was living off-campus, she showed up banging on my door at all hours.

Neighbors started complaining, telling us to take our lover’s quarrel indoors.

I had to yell back that we weren’t even dating — I was a certified lifelong virgin — and somehow that argument

devolved into a rap battle with the guy next door.

At one point, it got so bad that I just called the cops on her.

And this insane gremlin responded by staging a suicide stunt.

She printed out hundreds of copies of:

I’m dying because of Uchitel (KAIST student number 20XX0722, integrated master’s and doctoral student, etc. etc. my personal info).

Then she took them to the rooftop of the Bio and Brain Engineering building — the tallest building on campus — and

tossed them like confetti, yelling “Extra, extra~! Read all about it~!”

The university president himself had to come out that day.

And ever since, I’ve been Irina’s de facto handler.

That’s the grand, glorious tale of our cute little Irina — and believe it or not, that incident only ranks 7th in the TOP

10 disasters she’s caused.

“For reference, the ranking is based on how much each incident made me want to off myself.”

『Uhhh… so what’s number 10, then?』

“Hmm, today’s diaper incident doesn’t even qualify as revenge-worthy. It’s just… routine, you know?”

『Wait… no way……』

Oh yeah. That thing you’re thinking of? Exactly.

The 10th worst incident was the day I officially became her diaper.

That’s why I said I was used to washing her up just now.

Oh right, she puked on me that day too.

Right in my face.

Imagine this: back then, she was basically a walking statutory violation,

and somehow she got completely hammered and staggered over to my place.

I guess she was trying to stage some kind of cheesy campus rom-com scene.

She grabbed both my cheeks, leaned in with her tiny lips…

And right then — bwaaagh!

Bright yellow vomit, right in my face.

I was so pissed off I ratted out every shady bar in Eoeun-dong to the cops.

After that, ID checks became way stricter.

The whole area used to be super lax because of all the high school dropouts from the neighboring school.

『Wow… Now I’m dying to know — what’s number 1?』

“……Are you sure you wanna know?”

Jinzko’s eyes sparkled with curiosity as he nodded eagerly.

But I deliberately didn’t tell him.

Because number 1… was something that genuinely blew past the limits of my imagination.

Something so ridiculous, it was like straight out of a manga —

No, actually, no manga or novel I’ve ever seen even came close to what happened.

Here’s a hint:

First, Irina showing up at my house today, randomly calling my parents “Mother-in-law” and “Father-in-law” —

yeah, that wasn’t just her usual bullshit.

And second, our lab makes us sign all sorts of consent forms and participation agreements on the regular.

“Huh? Where are Mom and Dad?”

“……You sound like they’re your parents.”

After rinsing my spit-soaked fingers off at the sink, I walked into the living room.

Only my ex-little sister was there.

“Or wait… are you about to pull a stunt like that blonde brat and claim you’re secretly married to me or something?”

“Umm… Korean is still hard. I didn’t catch all that.”

“Yeah right! You speak Korean better than some natives!”

“So anyway, where are Mom and Dad?”

I asked her again, my voice totally emotionless.

Faced with that gaze, she flinched and took a step back.

“……Seriously, what’s your deal with my brother?”

Maybe blood really does run thicker.

Unlike with Irina, my ex-little sister sounded genuinely serious.

And because we were blood, I could tell right away.

“Don’t tell me… you’re his secret daughter or something…?”

Ahaha.

Yeah, a secret daughter.

I guess that’s how it could look.

Biologically—and physically—it wasn’t entirely impossible.

Of course, for that to happen, I would’ve had to fly straight to Japan back when I was in middle school and have a

serious 892 match with Jinzuko’s mom.

Still, that theory was a hell of a lot more realistic than me actually being this middle school girl standing here.

“Ahaha, ahahahah… pfft…”

Even so, I couldn’t help but laugh.

A scoff.

A laugh stripped of all emotion—beyond contempt.

“…What the hell is so funny?!”

At least she was self-aware enough to realize she was being laughed at.

Guess that’s some growth.

“You…! I didn’t like you from the start!”

Well, of course.

“That blonde girl earlier? You could tell she was here because she actually liked my brother. But you—why the hell

did you come here?!”

She would pick up on that. She was an expert at it.

“Or did you come here just to mess with me? Do you even know who I am? Did I do something to you without

realizing it?!”

That’s the only kind of stuff my ex-little sister ever cared about.

“No, sorry. My bad. This is our first time meeting, right? There’s no way we’d know each other.”

“It’s just… you’re so damn funny.”

It was the moment I called my ex-little sister Unnie.

—Beep, beep-beep.

The familiar sound of the front door unlocking.

Ah.

So my parents had stepped out for a bit.

Makes sense.

Suddenly, two unfamiliar girls show up at the house—one just barely a legal adult, and the other still a middle

schooler—and they immediately break into a battle royale followed by a top-tier punishment game.

You’d have to step outside to clear your head after that.

I would’ve done the same.

“So what the hell is so—”

—Tap, tap, tap.

I walked right past my ex-little sister, ignoring her tantrum.

Because my parents were back, and I needed to greet them first.

“Yeah, it’s hilarious.”

Standing at the front door, I turned my head slightly and smiled.

“Our oppa? Isn’t that funny?”

My eyes weren’t smiling at all.

That eerie, inexplicable chill—

“Wh-what… is so…”

My ex-little sister tried to say something, but her voice trailed off involuntarily.

And then,

What I said next,

“Come on, Unnie. You abandoned your own oppa, remember?”

“……”

She shut her mouth completely.

—Beep, doo~ doo-doo-doo~♬

Right then, the front door opened.

 [Can I speak to your parents first?]

That was the sudden request Jinzucko made right before we left Incheon Airport.

I agreed without hesitation.

{So, Jinzuko? How’s the possession going?}

After all, we had a pretty… unique relationship.

We’d been swapping bodies back and forth.

Though, we still hadn’t figured out the exact mechanism or cause—we were just getting better at using it.

{Luckily, I’m not back in my past life form. Still the usual silver hair with a little black streak up front—your spirit

form, Gat-chan.}

It’s been two months since the TS incident.

At this point, we could briefly swap minds and bodies whenever needed.

—Nod.

The real Amae Shizuko, finally back in her own body after nearly two months, subtly flashed a hand sign behind

her back where only I could see.

Thumb and index finger forming a circle—kind of like “OK.”

Except it looked super awkward since her hand was twisted behind her back.

Our Jinzuko, huh…

First it was that female community site, and now this.

You’re really rounding yourself out, aren’t you?

Not easy, my girl…

“…Whew.”

Of course, while I was busy with my useless inner monologue in spirit form,

Jinzuko—now fully back in Shizuko’s body—took a deep breath, bracing herself seriously.

“Heh heh… No need to be so tense… Honestly, you’re making us more nervous with how stiff you’re acting…”

“That’s right, sweetie~ You can be as bright and lively as you were earlier!”

The master bedroom.

As always, Mom was calm and smooth like flowing water.

Meanwhile, Dad was visibly on edge, still adjusting to the sudden shift in Shizuko’s vibe.

“That kid—back when they were your age, you know—there was this ‘One Punch’ thing going around at their middle

school~ They got obsessed with figuring out the perfect angle to break someone’s wrist while only getting punched

themselves. Oh, I felt so bad for Hogan’s mom~ Our kid turned hers into Captain Hook, can you believe it~”

By the way, thanks to that, my old class thug, Hogan, ended up with his right wrist permanently bent about 30

degrees to the left.

{See? Mom’s right. No need to be so tense, Jinzuko.}

{Just do what you want.}

That’s why you even asked me for this, right?

Right?

“Do what I want… O-okay!! Got it!!”

And then,

“S-so first…! L-let me properly introduce myself!”

With forced determination, Jinzuko—no, Shizuko—awkwardly declared:

“G-greetings, sir!! Ma’am!! I-I’m Amae Shizuko… your future daughter-in-law!!”

Why the hell was she so nervous…

She even bit her tongue saying it.