I Became the Eldest Daughter of 10 Siblings

I jumped up from the sofa.
Why is this person suddenly barging in?
I untied my hair from the thorn bun and went into the bathroom. After washing as quickly as possible, I dried my hair.
As soon as the sound of the hair dryer stopped, the doorbell rang like a baton pass.
I went to the entrance and opened the door.
It was a face I hadn’t seen in a long time.
“Hello.”
Hyun Junho smiled brightly when he saw me.
“Did I come too abruptly?”
“Yes. You know it well.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“But what’s that in your hands?”
Hyun Junho had come with his hands full of something.
“Ah, this is vitamin drinks, and these are some side dishes I brought from home.”
At this point, it seems like he’s not a pro gamer but someone from a relief foundation.
“Come in for now.”
“Ah, excuse me.”
Just then, a strange cry was heard from behind. It was the voice of the sewer water duo.
“Wow, Junho hyung-nim! It’s been a while!”
Han Sejun, who was already acquainted, got up and bowed deeply. Han Suho, who was staring blankly beside him, had his lips trembling.
“W-wait a moment. Hyun Junho? The pro gamer from ELF?”
“Haha. Hello. It’s my first time meeting this younger brother.”
While the three exchanged greetings, I opened the side dish containers Hyun Junho had brought. They were dry side dishes like stir-fried anchovies without moisture, radish salad, and soybean side dish.
I picked up a few and tasted them. They were crispy and not spicy, a taste that even children would like.
“Your mother’s cooking skills are good.”
Hyun Junho scratched the back of his head.
“I’m glad it suits your taste. Actually, my mom is a fan of Yujin-ssi.”
Huh? A fan of me?
“At first, she really disliked you for making her precious only son cry. But after watching your broadcasts a few times, she quickly became a fan, saying you’re cute. Is this what they call ‘HaMyung’?”
“…Ahaha.”
I gave an awkward laugh like a vibrating bell.
I vaguely heard that this kind of saying is popular on the internet.
Was it ‘Nagehan’? That the whole country is a giant Han Yujin.
Just how far is my recognition rising? At this rate, won’t every citizen on the street recognize me?!
“For now… please eat.”
I made coffee and served it. Hyun Junho accepted it and bowed his head.
Before I knew it, the sewer water duo had also come to the table and sat down.
Han Sejun asked Hyun Junho with admiring eyes.
“Hyung, but is the Courage Match really that tough?”
Hyun Junho thought for a moment, then nodded.
“It’s extremely tough. If I were to compare it to martial arts novels, it’s like all the late-stage disciples in Seoul coming out to compete in martial arts? I failed five times when I was an amateur.”
“Wow, and noona is going to such a place?”
Last month, the number of participants in the national Courage Match was 540.
Six groups in Seoul, three groups in the provinces. 60 people were put into each group to compete for one spot.
Hearing Hyun Junho’s words, my anxiety suddenly grew.
I fidgeted with my fingers. I ran a game simulation in the air, making keyboard and mouse movements.
This is strange.
Even though my physical condition was good… it was too good.
No matter how I look at it, I don’t feel like I’m going to collapse today. I’m just needlessly anxious because of that shitty dream.
“…Is something wrong?”
Hyun Junho asked as he watched me biting my lips in worry.
“It’s nothing.”
“Come on, it’s written all over your face. Just tell me comfortably.”
After hesitating, I finally opened my mouth.
“Actually…”
I unfolded my story to Hyun Junho. I told him about the dream where I lost in the Courage Match and was doing an apology broadcast.
Hyun Junho listened to my story with a serious expression.
“I’m not good at dream interpretation, but even just hearing it, it sounds like a bad omen.”
“R-right?”
Hearing those words, I started biting my nails.
Hyun Junho watched me, then smiled and took out his wallet.
“At times like this, there’s a little trick my mom taught me.”
Then he took out a 10,000 won bill and held it out.
“I’ll buy that dream.”
“…Buy it?”
Hyun Junho took a sip of coffee and continued.
“They say if you trade a bad dream, the seller escapes the bad luck and the buyer’s fortune improves. It’s a win-win situation. Both sides benefit.”
Then, he forcibly put the bill in my hand.
“That should do it, right?”
“…”
I hate to admit it, but I felt reassured. My mind, which had been swaying like a reed, finally regained its composure.
I bowed my head, holding the bill with both hands as if it were a precious doll.
“…Thank you.”
“Don’t worry too much. Fruits that bear excellent results usually attract a lot of bugs.”
Just then.
A growling sound came from Hyun Junho’s stomach.
“Are you hungry?”
“…Haha. Yes. I’m on an empty stomach.”
Hyun Junho joked and got up from his seat.
“Ah, I’m hungry! Let’s go eat quickly. I’ll treat you.”
I shook my head gently.
“No. I can’t let you treat me. You’ve already eased my worries, so I’ll treat you here.”
“Oh, really? I’ve been wanting to eat every time I watch your broadcast!”
I rolled up my sleeves and put on an apron.
“They say the best way to treat people is with food. Is there anything you’d like to eat?”
Then, Hyun Junho brightened up.
“I eat anything well. My nickname in the team is even ‘hippo’.”
“Hmm…”
I put my hand on my mouth and thought. I got up and wobbled to the kitchen.
“How about braised pork ribs and spicy beef soup?”
“Oh, I’d love that.”
I poured oil into two pans and put thick pork neck meat on them.
While the meat was cooking, I quickly prepared the vegetables in the meantime. I peeled potatoes with a vegetable peeler and cut them into bite-sized pieces.
When the meat was grilled, I cut the spicy beef soup meat into bite-sized pieces, and cut the ribs into larger pieces.
In the pan for braised ribs, I added soy sauce, oligosaccharide, sesame oil, and vegetables, and in the pan for spicy beef soup, I added red pepper paste, fern brake, minced garlic, cooking wine, and finally poured in beef bone broth.
And,
I took out cola from the refrigerator and poured it into the braised ribs.
“Um… is it right to pour cola?”
Hyun Junho waved his hand in confusion as if he had seen something bizarre.
“When you add cola, it removes the gamey smell and enhances the flavor.”
In 15 minutes, two delicious dishes were quickly completed.
He couldn’t close his mouth and exclaimed in admiration.
“Is Yujin-ssi’s hand some kind of magic wand? You’re good at games, good at cooking, good at driving.”
“Stop flattering me. I’m going to burst.”
He took a spoonful of the spicy beef soup and his expression brightened as if he had eaten a feast.
“This is really delicious. I think you’re even better than my mom.”
Han Sejun, who was sipping coffee next to us, looked at us with crossed eyes.
“This scene… somehow feels strange. Why does it look so much like a newlywed couple?”
“Hey.”
I wiggled my finger. I held out my fist in front of Han Sejun’s forehead.
“Push it.”
“Yes.”
Han Sejun lightly touched it in an annoying way.
“Junho hyung. If you marry our noona, you can eat this every day… Ack!”
Han Sejun grabbed his head and fell like a bowling pin.
I dusted off my hands.
“This kid immediately tries to climb up if you treat him just a little bit nicely.”
Hyun Junho saw that and laughed heartily. Then he blurted out one sentence.
“Really… this house never gets boring no matter how many times I come.”

I sat in the passenger seat and closed my eyes.
It was an early departure.

As someone who needs to achieve a great feat on the first try, I wanted to arrive at the venue early to quickly adapt to the heavy atmosphere.
News was flowing from the car radio.
─A gambling group that won tens of millions of won through betting on golf has been caught by the police. Their method was to feed coffee laced with tranquilizers to their opponents to make them drowsy before raising the stakes. ……

Hyun Junho and I were having a verbal sparring using Galaxy War.
Hyun Junho, gripping the steering wheel, said confidently,
“I’ll attack your front yard with 14 Courage Units.”
I immediately refuted, crossing my arms.
“Then I’ll defend the front yard with 16 Courage Units.”
Hyun Junho made a dumbfounded expression.
“No, I didn’t build a front yard and went all-in on expanding gateways, how do you have more Courage Units than me? Answer again.”
“Hmm… Then I’ll defend the front yard with 7 Courage Units.”
“How can you block that with half the troops I have?”
That’s right. What should I answer?
“…I’m Han Yujin, you know.”
“…That’s really annoying, but I can’t refute it.”

We arrived at the PC bang where the Courage Match would be held. Looking up from outside, it wasn’t a PC bang but a palace.
I heard it was the largest PC bang in Korea, but I never dreamed it would be this huge.
Peeking outside, I saw people forming separate groups.
It looks like they’ll all swarm over if I show myself.
“Look, there are reporters too.”
I glanced in the direction Hyun Junho pointed.
Reporters were lined up like piranhas trying to dig up news stories.
“Ugh…”
An expression of bad luck automatically appeared on my face.
I have a principle.
When dealing with reporters, treat them like fire. If you’re too close, you’ll get burned, and if you’re too far, you’ll get cold, so you need to keep just the right distance to feel warm.
As I was contemplating whether to go out or not like that.
“Oh?”
I spotted a familiar face among that piranha pack. A young reporter with an employee ID around his neck, looking completely dejected with his shoulders sinking to the ground.
That… looks like that person?
Nam Euibeom, who would later become a famous reporter in the e-sports scene.
But the figure I saw now looked shabby, as if he had been ostracized and separated from the group.
Seeing that, I thought slowly.
Reporters and I can form two types of relationships. A symbiotic relationship like crocodiles and plovers. Or an enemy relationship like monkeys and dogs.
If I were to form a symbiotic relationship, I wanted to make a capable reporter my ally.
I let out a refreshing snort and opened the car door.

Nam Euibeom was feeling regret.
He had passed the notoriously difficult journalism exam and entered a major daily newspaper.
He endured the harsh life of a cub reporter, even doing the rounds at police stations, and finally got assigned to the industry department he had dreamed of, becoming an e-sports reporter, but he was on the verge of mental collapse.
The pool here was small, so the territoriality of the surrounding reporters was severe.
In this field, you learn through an apprenticeship system while being spit on with smiling faces, but no one was spitting on him.
He was just wasting time, banging his head against a brick wall.
Even when Nam Euibeom wrote feature articles, they were often killed at the desk. His confidence was diminishing and his self-esteem was diving off a thousand-foot cliff.
It was the same at this moment.
He was helplessly pushed back in the shoulder-to-shoulder competition with reporters from other media outlets who were fearlessly questioning Han Yujin.
In the end, all Nam Euibeom could do was hold a wireless microphone and record Han Yujin’s words.
“My aspirations for today? It’s ‘die if you must, live if you can’. I’m going to approach it with the mindset that there’s no next time.”
Nam Euibeom looked at Han Yujin with envious eyes. He wondered how a woman who was close to being a rookie like him, and not even twenty-one yet, could be so confident.
After a brief Q&A session, the reporters all took out business cards from their pockets.
Han Yujin smiled and received the reporters’ business cards one by one.
Having achieved their goal, the reporters took a few photos and then went up to the arena.
Nam Euibeom didn’t hand over his business card.
No, he couldn’t hand it over.
While he was hanging his head and checking if the recording was done well by playing back the wireless,
A clear voice like the sound of bells rang in his ear.
“Don’t you have anything you’re curious about, reporter?”
“…Pardon?”
Nam Euibeom doubted his ears for a moment. While he was stammering with a red face, Han Yujin said,
“I mean, you haven’t asked any questions this whole time.”
“…Ah, then.”
Nam Euibeom picked up his wireless again.
While other reporters asked about her future plans, Nam Euibeom, on the contrary, asked about Han Yujin’s past without the public.
Her answers were clear, and her smile was beautiful.
After the Q&A, Han Yujin offered a pleasant handshake. The hand she held was warm.
“You’re Nam Euibeom from Gukson Daily, right? I’ve been reading your articles well.”
“What? Ah… Thank you.”
Nam Euibeom wondered how Han Yujin knew him. All he had written were straight news articles reporting events objectively.
However, he didn’t mind.
The words that she had been reading his articles well felt comforting, as if applying medicine to his wounded ego.
Han Yujin raised the corners of her mouth and held out her palm. It was a white and untainted hand like the ground after snow has fallen.
“Can I have one of your business cards? It seems like we’ll be seeing each other for a long time.”
“Ah, yes, yes.”
Nam Euibeom carefully wiped the business card with his palm, worried it might be unpleasant, and handed it over carefully.
Han Yujin received the business card and gave Nam Euibeom a candy.
“I think you’ll definitely do well, reporter. So don’t be discouraged and cheer up. Ah, don’t forget to write a nice article about me too!”
Han Yujin even politely put her hands together and went up.
She was wearing a black gabardine trench coat, but to Nam Euibeom’s eyes, she looked like a pure white angel.
For a moment, the headline and lead of an article flashed through Nam Euibeom’s mind.
Nam Euibeom put the candy Han Yujin gave him in his mouth. The candy mixed with his tongue and the sweetness spread throughout his mouth. It was sweet.
And he made a firm resolution.
To write a splendid feature article about Han Yujin.