Chapter 176

<The Thieves>

I always worried.

What can I do to become someone who helps my siblings?

As Jin Hyuk spent more time with Yoo Jin, he finally realized his role as an older brother.

First, he wants to be the kind of brother who tells Yoo Jin that she’ll be pretty even when she becomes a grandma.

But it’s not just about saying “pretty, pretty” all the time.

‘Money is important too.’

Providing what’s needed, like preparing drinks, or getting her what she wants in the way she wants it, just like promising to build her a boat, is clearly something that makes a sibling happy. But the most important thing was something else.

“I love spending every day with you, oppa~!”

There was nothing Yoo Jin loved more than spending time together.

Jin Hyuk didn’t want Yoo Jin to feel the same regret as Choi Mi-kyung, a teenager who always had to hang out with Jin Hyuk because her older brother was an athlete.

“Let’s go see Mi-kyung unnie’s Geon-ma now~”

“Sure.”

Jin Hyuk didn’t mind feeling like he was rediscovering his inner child while staying with Yoo Jin. No, in fact, it was only when he was with his younger sister that he truly felt like he was living a new life. It was an emotional feeling, like new skin growing and pushing out scars.

*

“We’re here~! Geon-ma~!”

Yoo Jin loved dogs so much that she would throw away the bicycle her brother gave her and run to them.

‘That thief who stole my sister’s heart.’

Lately, Jin Hyuk had been feeling jealous of the dog that monopolized Yoo Jin’s affection, but he decided to endure it since he walked on two legs.

After all, it’s true that the puppy is cuter than her brother.

Choi Mi-kyung’s family dog, a yellow dog, had paired up with a Jindo dog from another neighborhood this summer, and Choi Jang-hwan had insisted on his rights as a breeder and brought home a male puppy.

They thought it would be a female dog similar to the yellow one since it was a Jindo, but looking at the puppy’s fur coat, that wasn’t the case.

“Aww, so pretty~”

“Wow, so cute.”

Kkiing-kkiing~.

Kkami, the yellow dog’s son, licked Yoo Jin’s cheeks and wagged his tail.

He was a black-tan dog, mostly black with white fur around his eyes like spots.

Even to Jin Hyuk, who had seen such dogs in photos or videos, it was a fascinating and cute puppy. How much more so to Yoo Jin?

“I want to steal Geon-ma~”

Wow, Yoo Jin has really grown up.

She even knows how to say something like that. It must mean she thinks the puppy is that cute.

“Yoo Jin, stealing is bad, right?”

“Yes, it’s bad.”

Yoo Jin nodded, but her eyes still showed regret.

She was the kind of sister who would secretly bring a puppy home, hug it, and sleep with it when it was still a puppy. Jin Hyuk could understand Yoo Jin’s feelings.

Still, it would be nice if she called the puppy by its real name.

“Yoo Jin, it’s not Geon-ma, it’s Kkami.”

“I named him Geon-ma. Cheon-ma, Gwang-ma, Geon-ma.”

She probably named him Geon-ma because he’s black, right?

It’s okay to call him by a nickname to show affection. Jin Hyuk didn’t insist further. After all, he had changed Lucky and Max to Cheon-ma and Gwang-ma. If there’s Cheon-ma and Gwang-ma, there can be Geon-ma too.

‘If that’s the case, Tan-ma would be fine too.’

Yoo Jin, holding Kkami in her arms, looked up at Jin Hyuk with a worried expression.

“I hope dog thieves don’t come to our neighborhood~”

“Dog thieves?”

“Yes, they said so at the community center. Lately, dog thieves have been really active! They say dogs can’t even bark and just get taken away.”

It seemed like she had heard such a broadcast while running in the evening.

They scout the neighborhood during the day and then reappear at night in black outfits, trapping dogs in small wire cages and stealing them.

“They steal them using scooters. Scooters are, like, faster than cars and can go through narrow roads. They carry four cages on the scooter.”

Yoo Jin explained seriously with wide eyes, but to her brother, she just looked adorably earnest.

Even though she’s my sister, how can she be so smart? Jin Hyuk looked at her with a proud and happy expression.

Vroom-vroom-vroom~.

A black 125cc scooter appeared.

Yoo Jin quickly hid Kkami, and Jin Hyuk hid Yoo Jin behind him.

‘Black outfit!’

There were four wire cages on the scooter.

‘Is he a chicken seller?’

The cages on the back were actually the kind used by chicken sellers.

Vroom-vroom-vroom~!

The scooter rider, upon making eye contact with Jin Hyuk, skillfully turned around and went back the way he came.

It was clearly a suspicious situation.

Jin Hyuk wanted to catch and question him, but he couldn’t leave his sister alone to chase after him.

He didn’t have the skills to outrun such a skilled racer on a motorcycle.

If it’s a dog thief, he should be caught.

He decided to wait for another opportunity and reluctantly moved his feet.

“Yoo Jin, let’s go home and wash up.”

“Okay~. Geon-ma, stay well~”

Even as they walked home, Jin Hyuk kept looking back at where the scooter had disappeared.

‘It’s still unsettling.’

Every house has a dog, and Jin Hyuk’s house has four.

He felt like he needed to do something.

***

The week passed without incident, and the weekend arrived.

Perhaps it was just peaceful.

With rumors of suspicious people appearing inside and outside the village, the SSS voluntarily patrolled, and the fields were bustling with farmers and machinery as the farming season began. Would thieves really operate openly in such a place?

The problem was at night, but thanks to the continuous announcements from the community center urging residents to bring their dogs inside and lock their gates, no thefts had occurred.

“But the scooters are still around. I saw one yesterday~”

Even as she gave her report, Yoo Jin couldn’t take her eyes off her brother’s science experiment.

Jin Hyuk listened to his sister’s words while diligently working.

Blub-blub-blub~.

Bubbles rose incessantly from the washbasin.

After submerging the bicycle tube and pressing it, he finally found the puncture.

“Heh~, found it~”

“Hehe~, found it~”

Yoo Jin, crouching and watching, mimicked her brother’s words.

Even Moon Seok-il, who was watching, smiled.

The siblings, subtly similar in actions and expressions, though clearly different in size, looked heartwarming like innocent children playing.

He wanted to ask if they should take it to a bike shop, but it was pointless. There were only two small stores in the neighborhood, and the bike shop was in town.

Anyway, Jin Hyuk had been doing this since first grade.

When the tire went flat less than a month after buying it, Jin Hyuk had learned everything about bike maintenance and repair from Jo Il-hun, the repair expert.

“Oppa, oppa. Are you going to patch the hole now~?”

“Yes, I should.”

The front tire felt different yesterday, so he thought his weight had changed, but after finishing morning classes and heading home, all the air had leaked out. Jin Hyuk had to drag the bike for about 1 km to get home.

‘It’s not the first time.’

He had planned to fix the bike after school on Saturday anyway, so he thought it was a good thing. It was like a welcome warning light when he was thinking of refueling. He didn’t know what it felt like to own a car, but it was something like that.

“It looks fun~”

“Yes, it’s fun.”

The tire, worn and hardened from the tough ride, had no nails or wires stuck in it, yet the inner tube had a puncture. No matter how many times it happened, it was still fascinating. Since it wasn’t torn or burst, he had to use the washbasin and water, like a country science experiment, to find it every time. Even with his good eyesight, Jin Hyuk couldn’t find it with the naked eye.

“Dry cloth~”

“Okay~”

Yoo Jin, acting as her brother’s assistant, moved quickly.

She wiped the water off the tube, but the cloth kept getting caught. There were that many patches from before.

After wiping off the water, he cut a piece from an old tube with scissors.

Snip-snip~. Yoo Jin’s mouth formed an “O” as she watched the tube being cut into an oval shape.

Yoo Jin always watched her brother intently, often marveling alone.

“Glue~”

“Okay~”

“It’s not good to smell it, so it’s better to stay a little away.”

“Okay!”

He slowly pried open the tightly sealed cylindrical glue container with a flathead screwdriver.

Pop~. The lid opened, and the strong smell of volatile glue irritated Jin Hyuk’s sensitive nose.

It was a smell that made him involuntarily frown. Some foolish teenagers had gone completely crazy from sniffing this strong glue instead of the kind sold at stationery stores.

Yoo Jin, standing far away, covered her nose and mouth with both hands. Where was she breathing from? Her eyes were so big it seemed like she could breathe through them. Sometimes, when she farted in her sleep, he suspected she might be breathing through her rectum.

‘I think I’ve heard of creatures that breathe through their rectum.’

What was it?

It definitely wasn’t a creature named Son Yoo Jin.

Now it was time to apply the glue to the tube piece. The ice pop stick Yoo Jin had eaten came in handy for this.

Sniff-sniff~. This is Seoju Ice. Our Yoo Jin likes milk flavor. Jin Hyuk’s nose diagnosed the ice cream name.

“It’s really like taffy~”

“Huh?”

Jin Hyuk’s eyes widened at the unexpected strong language.

“The glue. It stretches like taffy.”

“Ah. Right. Like taffy.”

He almost misunderstood.

Life can be tough, but that’s not the kind of language a child should use, especially not when fixing a bike tire. For Jin Hyuk, this was a fun task.

‘Hehe~, my bike.’

It was the first bike he got after being reborn. Of course, it was also the first time he had ridden one.

Jin Hyuk was fourteen years old in his second life when he first rode a bike.

That’s why he’s worried.

“When I turn eight, you’ll teach me how to ride a two-wheeler, right~?”

“Hmm~. Sure.”

Huuu~. A sigh escaped.

Jin Hyuk didn’t know how to ride a bike.

‘Before falling, I just pedaled hard and went forward.’

He had tamed the bike with sheer athleticism and strength, like a Texas cowboy taming a buffalo. Well, the bike didn’t charge at him with horns, but it was just as thrilling.

He blew on the glue to let it dry.

If you stick it while it’s soft, it can move like a snail, so it’s better to stick it when it starts to harden.

Yoo Jin seemed to sense something as she watched her brother’s cheeks puff out and his eyes focus in the middle.

“I want to eat ramen.”

“Heehee~.”

What can you do with a sister who associates everything her brother does with something else?

During exam period, she came to her brother’s room early in the morning and complained that she woke up because Dad was doing CPR on Mom.

Wait, how could that back-and-forth interaction look like CPR?

‘It was dizzying.’

After that, Yoo Jin moved her bedroom to the second floor.

But she still wakes up in her brother’s room in the morning.

Maybe it was the mention of ramen, but Jin Hyuk suddenly craved ramen too.

Living a life of exercise and health, he had stayed away from instant food, so he had forgotten about it.

“Our oppa doesn’t like ramen~”

“I don’t dislike it.”

On a day when a sudden rainstorm signaled the end of a dry summer, Jin Hyuk cooked ramen but could only eat one bite. His nose welcomed it, but his tongue didn’t, as the flavor was too strong. It was his favorite beef-flavored ramen from his past life.

“Your taste buds have changed.”

“Mom says ramen is bad for you, so she doesn’t give it to me.”

“I’ll cook it for you later.”

“Heehee~”

When she’s really happy, she just smiles without saying anything.

Jin Hyuk gently bumped his head against Yoo Jin’s forehead. Even when she smiles like a fool, she’s just adorable.

“Your legs must be tired.”

“It’s okay.”

She no longer says “I’m tired” or “It’s okay,” but to Jin Hyuk, she’s still a baby. Even when she becomes an adult, grows older, and even when Jin Hyuk dies, that feeling probably won’t change.

‘Because she’s the baby we raised together.’

Other parents probably feel the same, watching their children grow and still thinking of them as babies even when they’re old.

*

The patch was well attached to the puncture, so now it was time to inflate it a bit to check.

“Is it done~?”

“Yes. It’s well attached. But we still need to check. Pass me the pump~”

“I’ll do it!”

Yoo Jin quickly grabbed the pump. Curious kids always want to interfere and participate, right? Jin Hyuk didn’t stop her and connected the hose to the valve.

“Itcha Itcha~! Ugh~!”

Push~, push~, puuush~.

One, two, three~ times.

“Ugh~, it’s hard.”

“That’s enough.”

Even though it’s a bike pump, it’s heavy and requires a lot of strength for a child to use continuously. Even adults complain of shoulder and back pain if they pump without a break.

He submerged the tube in the washbasin again and pressed it.

It was suspicious that all the air had leaked out in just one day, even for an old bike.

Sure enough.

Blub~ blub~.

There was another hole.

Sigh~.

Jang Gun-i, who was nearby, sighed.

Who knows what that guy knows to act like that.

Moon Seok-il had mentioned it before, but when Jang Gun-i looks at you and sighs, it strangely feels bad.