The World’s Strongest Daughter.

I was always a good child.

“Our Hye-sun who stays quiet is the nicest! Other kids are no help. No help at all!”

My twin sister, born just 1 minute before me, was always a bad child.

“Kong Ye-ji, try to be more like Hye-sun… How long are you going to keep upsetting Dad?”

I couldn’t understand it at all.

Why was Ye-ji unnie a bad child and I was a good one?

Breaking Dad’s cherished ceramic, always polishing the shoes of Dad who was busy working – we did it all together.

But Ye-ji unnie was always scolded for being bad, while I was always praised for being good.

It felt a bit unfair.

The favoritism Dad showed spread to the rest of the family,

And before I knew it, Ye-ji unnie became known as the most troublesome among all 44 of us siblings.

In contrast, I had become the most obedient and quiet youngest.

I couldn’t figure out why it turned out this way as a child.

Then, one day,

Dad called us sisters and said,

“One of you two will start going to school next year.”

School!

From what my older siblings told me, I knew well what kind of place it was.

Somewhere you can make lots of friends and learn many new things.

Even among us siblings, very few had the chance to attend school.

But for the babies of the family to have this opportunity…!

It felt like getting a birthday gift twice.

However…

“Which one of you wants to go?”

Ye-ji unnie and me.

Only one of the two of us could attend.

Truthfully, I really wanted to go to school. But this time, I thought I’d let unnie have the chance.

Because unnie, who was always on my side, deserved it.

I opened my mouth to say I wanted to send unnie,

“Unn-”

“Please send Hye-sun.”

Once again, I was a moment too late.

“…But unnie… rather than me, you…”

“If I go to school, I’ll probably just fight all the time and bother Father, so please send nice Hye-sun instead of me.”

“Alright. Then Hye-sun will be the one to attend school…”

I resented unnie and Dad a little for deciding without considering my opinion, but ‘good’ me had no choice but to quietly accept it.

That night,

Lying in bed, I asked Ye-ji unnie,

“Why did you give me the spot when you wanted to go too?”

Then unnie nonchalantly patted my head and replied,

“How could I take it from my little sister when she wants to go?”

I wanted to argue back but couldn’t think of what to say.

All because I was born a measly minute later.

It made no sense to me.

As that year passed and I started school,

Ye-ji unnie began helping with Dad’s ‘work.’

I’m not sure what Dad’s job is either.

No one ever explained it to me.

I only heard that most of our siblings help with Dad’s work, and the employees, who are called ‘family,’ are loyal to the business.

I once said I wanted to assist with Dad’s ‘work’ someday too.

However…

“No. You go to school. Those attending school can’t help with the ‘work.'”

Instead, I experienced reverse discrimination.

… That’s when it began.

As time went on, the dynamic between unnie and me gradually flipped.

At some point, unnie became central to the ‘work’ and led the family, while I simply went to school quietly.

I went from the good child to the quiet child,

Unnie went from the bad child to the important ‘Young Lady.’

But the family’s treatment of us didn’t change.

Unnie still doted on me as her little sister, and everyone adored me.

I felt a bit left out at times, but… it was okay.

Wanting to help my hardworking family even a little, I started learning to do chores.

Cleaning… laundry… cooking…

It was a bit tough, but thinking I was contributing to the family made it quite fun.

Out of everything, I enjoyed baking bread the most because it was the family’s preferred food. You could eat it anytime, even once it cooled.

As a result, my days grew quite busy.

I came home from school, helped with housework, studied, and then slept, only to head off to school again.

My routine stayed the same up until entering the academy.

As Dad’s ‘work’ kept the family out of the house more often, there were months I couldn’t see unnie at all.

But my daily life never changed.

Cleaning, laundry, cooking.

To help the family.

To remain the good child.

Every day, I spent the same way.

I wonder how many fulfilling days I lived like that.

Finally, the day my academy enrollment was decided,

Change arrived without warning.

*

In a crowded bus,

[The next stop is…]

Gasp!

Grabbing the handle and standing in a daze, I came to my senses at the guidance broadcast echoing through the bus and reached for the stop button.

“Ungh…!”

But falling short by mere centimeters, I couldn’t reach the button.

Too sh- short…!

As I stood on tiptoe trying to press the stop button,

Ding dong~ Ding dong~

Someone swiftly extended their arm and pressed it for me.

“Th- thank you so much…!”

When I thanked the person who pushed the button for me, he accepted my gratitude with a bright smile.

A man with impressive brown hair and slightly indented dimples.

After the bus stopped like that,

Getting off, I was overcome with deep regret.

…I should’ve brought an umbrella…

A sudden heavy snowfall was coming down.

I had heard it would snow in the forecast.

But I never imagined such a blizzard.

Not wanting to hold an umbrella in this cold weather, I deliberately didn’t bring one, but in the end, it led to remorse.

As I was blaming the innocent sky with despondent eyes,

“You seem to be headed to the academy too. Do you want to share an umbrella?”

The man I saw on the bus spoke to me.

“S- sure…”

Entranced by his smile, I shyly accepted and deeply buried my face in my scarf. I headed towards the academy under the same umbrella as him.

Walking in step with him, we exchanged a few short words,

“I- I see… so we’re the same age…”

As it turned out, he was also a new student at the same academy.

What a coincidence!

However, we didn’t formally introduce ourselves.

I was wearing a brown wig per Dad’s instructions, and my scarf was covering my whole face, so I thought it was meaningless.

…We should’ve gotten close starting then…

The next time I met him was at the entrance ceremony.

Very fortunately, I was assigned to the same class as him.

They say coincidence twice is fate – could this be destiny?

While all the students focused on the ‘Sword Empress’s daughter,’ I was more interested in him whose name I didn’t know.

But in the end, I couldn’t bring myself to talk to him at the entrance ceremony either.

I had the naive thought that we’d naturally become friends once in the same class.

After the semester began,

I was able to find out his name was ‘Yoo Ji-hwan,’ and I had two chances to talk with him before the day to pick partners,

He was still kind and friendly.

So I thought Yoo Ji-hwan would be quite popular.

Tall, handsome, and with a nice way of speaking.

But unexpectedly, few people seemed to like Yoo Ji-hwan.

The reason was…

“…Um, So-yeon…Uhh…”

Yoo Ji-hwan was head over heels for Min So-yeon.

He would try to talk to her every day only to get ignored.

Min So-yeon with her pretty looks resembling the ‘Sword Empress’ and the straightforward Yoo Ji-hwan.

It wasn’t an easy pair for just anyone to come between.

As time passed, the day to choose partners soon arrived.

Watching Yoo Ji-hwan fight over Min So-yeon with Jang Su-won, I felt envious of Min So-yeon for the first time.

How great would it be if Yoo Ji-hwan stopped me from partnering with someone else?

Unlike me, Min So-yeon, who had her fill, smoothly avoided them, telling the two to figure it out themselves.

It was the first time I felt intense jealousy.

Wanting to cheer on Yoo Ji-hwan, I baked muffins my older brothers liked and gave them to him as a gift.

“…Ji-Ji-hwan… there’s a friendly match today… I-I’ll be rooting for you to win!”

Then he smiled brightly and expressed his thanks.

“Thank you.”

With those words, I felt rewarded for all the days I worked hard to get closer to him.

“Th-this is a snack I made… enjoy!”

My face burning up like it would explode, I practically shoved the muffins at him and ran away.

Afterwards,

Yoo Ji-hwan won the contest as if to show off, and partnered with Min So-yeon.

I felt a bit envious of Min So-yeon for being chosen by him.

Sometime later,

Perhaps as a result of diligently baking muffins, I was able to have a 4th conversation with Yoo Ji-hwan.

“…Oh, you’re here early today?”

“…I woke up a bit early. Do you always come at this hour?”

“Y- yeah! My house is a little far…”

5 minutes.

That was the longest I’ve talked to him.

I even found out where he lives, so we can be considered close now, right?

That day, for the first time ever, with the help of my older sister Mi-joo, I was able to find out where Ji-hwan’s house was.

I don’t know how she figured it out, but the fact that she did was enough.

A few days later,

Waking up at dawn, I prepared some bread and headed to near Ji-hwan’s house.

After loitering around the area for about an hour, I really ran into Ji-hwan. I was able to enjoy a much longer time than our 4th conversation.

Thanks to breaking the ice with Ji-hwan, we could talk frequently, but there was no significant progress.

Then one day,

An attempted terrorist attack occurred at the academy.

For some reason, even family members who rarely showed their faces came forward to worry about me.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

It made me a bit happy to see Ye-ji unnie, whom it had been difficult to see recently.

Min So-yeon and Ji-hwan, who resolved the terrorist incident, took a break from school until things settled down.

I was sad not to see Ji-hwan but later realized it was an opportunity.

Ji-hwan, returning to classes, was unaware of the midterm exams.

“…Ji-Ji-hwan. Just trust me. I’ll teach you…!”

“…Thanks. Hye-sun.”

Thanks to studying diligently all this time, I was able to help Ji-hwan.

I could move my seat next to him,

And because of that, we had more time to talk.

Not only that,

We got close enough to goof off during class.

We exchanged numbers and texted every night.

We talked for so long, I thought my head would explode.

Using studying as an excuse to hold hands, too, we were growing closer to the point I thought we might start dating.

Ji-hwan is a good guy, so my family will like him too.

Will unnie like him too? What if she likes him more than me?

Will Ji-hwan find out about Dad’s ‘work?’

I was lost in such happy imaginings.

Until the day exams ended.

“Then, shall we all sit together? It’ll be a bit cramped, but it should be fine.”

That was the beginning.