Heroine Netori

[Two months ago]

"Brother... Am I really not that appealing?"

"Are you talking about Siu again?"

"Yeah. You know, he didn’t even touch the lunchbox I brought him. It's so unfair."

Sophia whined to me with her pretty eyes welling up with tears.

That guy Siu has too strong a defense. How on earth is he supposed to establish a harem like this?

Luckily, even before I could intervene, the two of them were already somewhat involved.

That was fine, but whenever Sophia tried to take things a step further, Siu would put up walls.

I should go and talk to him, but every time I bring it up, he subtly changes the subject.

"Maybe it’s not that you aren't appealing, but that your lunchbox isn’t appealing?"

"Brother, I packed it with your cooking!"

"What? You took the food I made for dinner?"

"But... eating outside is better than at home... and, and it's better to eat with others than alone..."

"Just say you wanted to eat with Siu. If you’d told me, I would have prepared enough for two."

"Ahaha…"

Trying to play Cupid and get them together hasn't been easy.

I tried creating moments for them to be together and then subtly withdrawing, or pushing Sophia to ask him on a date. I’ve made efforts, but each time, Siu would retreat with an uncomfortable expression.

Was he really that uninterested?

If it were me, I'd be aroused right away by someone as attractive as Sophia approaching me, but Siu showed no reaction at all.

Her long hair shone like sunlight, her eyes as blue as the sky, a face that still carried the fresh scent of a young girl, and a body that was as mature as they come.

How could he maintain such indifference when such a woman likes him?

Is that what it takes to be a harem protagonist?

"Why are you suddenly looking at me so creepily...?"

"This is my pitying face."

"Ugh! I don’t want pity - I want to be loved!"

"By Siu?"

"Hot! Ugh... Brother... am I really not appealing? Huh?"

Caught in her feelings, Sophia blushed, then suddenly clung to me with a dejected expression.

Here we go again.

As Siu continued to rebuff her, Sophia's self-esteem had plummeted.

A child who had always been loved now faced continual rejection. She wondered if she really wasn't special... like catching a disease.

The cure for this ailment would be Siu's love, but since that wasn't readily available, I was providing a substitute with brotherly love.

Not the love of a man, but as a brother.

I kept the Sensory Stimulation activated as I stroked her hair, but honestly.

I had no plans to target the main heroine this time.

If I didn't console her like this, Sophia really would become depressed and spend the day moping.

That’s the kind of care a brother who hates seeing her sad would give.

"Today too, when I showed him my training, he just frowned and wouldn't even look at me…"

There, there.

"So, he didn’t even look at you."

"I took him a lunchbox, but he said he’d already brought his own… and he didn’t want to eat with me… Do you think he hates me?"

There, there.

"So, Siu hates you."

"What? Does Siu really hate me?"

Oops, that’s not what I meant.

"Listen, Sophia."

"Mm…"

"Normally, when a guy likes a girl, he teases her. The more he likes her, the more he teases her."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Siu pretends to hate you because he enjoys seeing you sad. What a pervert."

"Siu isn't that kind of pervert!"

Whack!

Sophia, joking that I had teased her with just a word, banged her head against my chest.

A grunt escaped me, but seeing her leaning against my chest took away any anger.

Apparently, she was really feeling insecure this time.

I hugged Sophia, who was trembling in my arms.

Being in a rural village, it was common to marry at an early age, and talks were already circulating that Sophia should consider it soon.

That seemed to have made her more anxious recently.

I definitely need to have a proper talk with Siu.

"Sophia, as you know, Siu is very shy. It must have been the same this time."

"Really?"

"Given Siu's character, he probably felt embarrassed about the smell of sweat or the lunchbox side dishes. It’s silly to worry about such an oblivious guy."

"Hmmm…"

"Actually, Siu once mentioned directly that he can’t help but smile when you’re around, so he deliberately keeps a straight face."

"Really? Did Siu really say that?!"

"That's right. So there's no way Siu could hate you. Understand?"

"Hmm...! Of course, there's no way Siu could hate me!"

Sophia wiped away her tear-streaked face and returned to her usual confident smile.

That adorable look made me want to comfort her more, and as I did, Sophia closed her eyes and savored my touch.

"Hehehe... As always, talking with you makes all my worries disappear."

"Then, will you do the dishes today?"

"Hmph! That's a different matter!"

Startled, she sprang away from me and ran off with a playful expression.

Truly a charming sister.

Having been an only child, I always wished I had a sister or brother.

Whenever I mentioned it, my friends would look at me like I was crazy.

They always said you wouldn't say that if you really had one.

But now I know. They were all liars. Deceivers.

Anyway, through recent relationship advice, I’ve become much closer to Sophia.

At first, she was irritable, but now she comfortably snuggles into my embrace.

Still, that doesn’t mean I plan to cross any lines with Sophia.

She clings to me because she sees me as family, and I too view her as a sister, not a woman.

Honestly, that's a lie, but I'm trying my best to think of her as just a sister, so there are no plans to touch Sophia.

If only she weren't the main heroine… Ah…@@novelbin@@

++++

As I walked towards the clearing behind the village, I spotted the protagonist engrossed in his training.

For some reason, the protagonist’s name this time was also Siu, and his face wasn’t much different from the Siu I’d always seen.

In other words, he was handsome again this time. Just slightly taller and a bit more muscular, that’s all.

Maybe because he was a hero this time, Siu was already strong even though he hadn’t awakened yet.

From the start, he had natural physical strength and exceptional reflexes, so he’d never been beaten in any village scuffle.

Yet, even with all that, Siu never stopped training.

Even when Sophia came to him several times to play, batting her eyelashes and pleading, he wouldn’t skip training, not even once. He was the epitome of a training addict.

Sure, liking training is fine. He’s the protagonist of a typical hero story, after all.

But this bastard takes it way too far.

Cheering him on while he swings his sword? To this bastard, that’s just noise pollution.

Bringing him a lunchbox? He sticks to a training diet, so he wouldn’t even touch a different meal.

Suggesting a date? Would this training freak do something that costs him time and effort?

But watching this nonsense is getting tiresome. At least play matchmaker properly—when it’s clear they both like each other, and he’s still stonewalling her, it’s infuriating.

I wanted to kick him square in the back, yell, "Do you like training or Sophia more?" and get it over with.

“Oh, Dukbae-hyung! What’s up?”

Without answering, I grabbed a wooden sword lying nearby and rushed at the hero.

I pulled imaginary energy from a nonexistent core and raised the wooden sword as if to crush a mountain before striking it down towards the hero’s head.

-Thwack.

Tsk, as expected of a hero.

My wooden sword was deflected by the hero’s blade, bouncing away. My palm tingled from the impact.

But there was no way I was backing down here.

Using the rebound, I spun my body around and swung the wooden sword towards his side as if sweeping away an entire army.

-Whack.

Damn it, he blocked that too.

But it wasn’t completely ineffective. The hero seemed tense now, unable to lower his sword as he remained cautious of me.

Now was my last chance!

Before the frozen hero could react, I thrust the wooden sword forward at lightning speed, like a dragon taking flight.

This time, the hero didn’t seem able to respond. My wooden sword pierced through his guard and aimed straight for the center of his forehead.

Or so I thought.

It was just an illusion.

The tip of my wooden sword stopped right in front of his forehead.

The hero had caught my wooden sword barehanded.

In the end, I lost…

Over a decade of mental training in the Three Calamities Swordsmanship was easily stopped.

As expected, a hero was a hero.

“What’s with the sudden attack?”

“You bastard, you made Sophia cry again, didn’t you? Didn’t I tell you to stop being so extreme?”

“Haha…”

“Don’t laugh, you little shit. It’s pissing me off.”

“But, hyung, you need to train more. Your form is good, but you’re not putting any strength into it.”

This damned training freak… he seized the moment to bring up training again.

It’s not like I’d been slacking off, either.

To join the hero’s party, I needed at least the minimum stats, so ever since I entered this world, I’d been training non-stop.

But what’s the point if nothing changes?

Even after drinking the experience potions from the random box and training, my stats didn’t improve at all.

“Enough. When are you going to stop treating Sophia like that? Is it that you don’t care about her because you’ve already caught her? Or are you saying Sophia isn’t good enough for you?”

“No way! That’s not it. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“I’m sorry… haha.”

“This fucking guy.”

There are two ways to piss someone off. One is to stop mid-sentence.

The other is...