At 3:14 AM, Lin had a nightmare.
He dreamed he was being escorted to an execution platform. A solemn judge declared that he had been in relationships with multiple girls at the same time, committing the crime of being "scumbag," and was sentenced to death.
His righteous girlfriend stood on high, sneering as she raised a pistol and aimed it at him as he broke into a cold sweat.
The onlookers below were cheering. A bully who had monopolized multiple beautiful girls and deceived their emotions and bodies was finally going to hell today.
"Wait, I can explain!"
Lin shouted toward the crowd, but every face wore the same smile. Could they not hear him, or did they simply not want to?
He blinked, and the people below all turned into the faces of girls, every one of them someone he knew.
He felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. With the sound of a gunshot, his consciousness faded.
...
"Waaaaah!"
Lin cried out, bolting upright and panting heavily in the dim room.
It took a long time for him to return to reality from that nightmare. He let out a long breath in the quiet darkness, his racing heart finally settling.
Thank god, it was just a dream.
"Mmm~ Darling, what's wrong?"
A gentle, soft whisper made Lin suddenly freeze.
A warm little hand was resting on his shoulder.
And that hand, after a brief pause, naughtily began to slide under the covers, targeting...
Lin jerked, grabbing the wrist of that hand. He turned his head and saw a pretty face wearing a mischievous grin.
Vil-V? Besides Vil-V, he heard another steady breathing sound. Lin turned and saw a girl with long wine-red hair sleeping on the other side.
A casual glance revealed that the floor under the bed and the trash can were filled with... reproductive isolation devices.
Lin remembered. Yesterday, Vil-V took the Yama back to school and came to his house. Halfway through, Eden pushed the door open and entered, and then...
He clutched his aching head and said crossly to Vil-V, "We've been at it all night. Can't you be like Eden and get some rest?"
"She's been monopolizing you and finished being comfortable, so of course she can rest..."
"Then you're not planning to go again now..."
While Lin was miserably dealing with Vil-V, his phone rang. He immediately felt a sense of relief as he grabbed it, ignoring Vil-V pouting expression to see who sent the message.
Even if it was a scam text, he would thank the scammer today.
However, when he saw the content of the message, he froze.
...
At 3:21 PM, wearing casual clothes, Lin stood at the airport arrival gate, yawning and rubbing the dark circles under his eyes.
This can't go on. Vil-V had been pushing her luck and coming almost every day since the first time. Although Vil-V was the most "knowledgeable" one—they had tried every kind of play, and she was a warm, generous, and understanding girl—his physical condition was deteriorating. No matter how strong his recovery was, he couldn't handle Pardofelis on Monday and Tuesday, Eden on Wednesday and Thursday, Vil-V on Friday and Saturday, and then everyone together on Sunday.
...Actually, this isn't just being a "scumbag" anymore, right? He completely fits the definition of human trash now, doesn't he?
But it seemed he could no longer extricate himself from this life.
Lamenting with great melancholy that his formerly peaceful life was gone forever, Lin waited for the person he was picking up.
Lin hadn't expected their family to return from abroad at this time. When he received the text this morning, he thought he had misread it.
"Lin!"
A middle-aged man carrying two large suitcases waved at Lin. Lin offered a comforting smile and waved back.
This man's name was Ato. When Lin and Mobius lived together, Ato's family lived nearby. Mobius and Ato were former colleagues, so the two families visited often.
However, due to work reasons, their family went to the Mu Continent. It had been several years, and they hadn't been in touch much.
So it was a surprise that Ato sent a message saying they were back and asked Lin to pick them up at the airport.
Following behind Ato was a dignified blue-haired woman. That was his wife, Blanca.
Approaching, Ato happily sized up Lin: "Haven't seen you in years. You've grown quite a bit taller, and you're getting more and more handsome."
"I'm alright. You guys haven't changed much."
"By the way, where's Mobius?"
"Uh... her..." Lin smile was a bit strained. "She's been busy elsewhere recently."
"Oh, I see." Even though Ato felt Lin smile was a bit strange, he didn't mind. "Anyway, we're not leaving after we get back. We'll have plenty of time to meet later."
"That reminds me... where's Griseo?" Lin noticed one person was missing from the family. He looked around for the small figure but didn't see her.
"Griseo? Isn't she..."
"Brother Lin, where are you looking?"
Lin froze at the sound of the teasing, ethereal voice. Then, a graceful figure stepped from his side to stand before him.
"Griseo?"
Lin found it hard to connect the charming girl before him with that little girl who loved walking barefoot on the floor.
Had she already grown this much?
A head of ethereal blue hair, inherited from her mother, fell to her knees. Her face, more cute than beautiful, still held a hint of her former dazed look, and she had the figure of a standard, even well-developed, teenage girl.
"Haha, you haven't seen each other in years. Did you think Griseo was still the same as before?" Ato couldn't help but laugh seeing Lin stunned expression. "She's only two years younger than you. Don't think she'll never grow up just because she calls you 'Brother'."
"Brother Lin is staring at the ground. Are you looking for dropped money, or looking for me?" Griseo couldn't help but smile. Seeing the smile of the girl next door whom he hadn't seen in so long, Lin also involuntarily curled his lips into a smile.
...
"So you still live in the old place, and Mobius moved to the villa area?"
Ato sat in the back, chatting idly with Lin, who was driving.
"Yeah, after all, I'm an adult now. This way I can have more freedom."
"True. You're a big boy now. It's not quite appropriate to keep living with a beautiful older sister."
Lin fingers stiffened for a moment, but he didn't show any outward sign of unease.
Griseo was in the passenger seat organizing her brushes and paper. According to Ato, she was still painting on the plane. In Lin memory, Griseo had indeed loved painting since she was a child. He used to sit with her in front of a canvas all afternoon...
Back then, an afternoon felt truly long.
"By the way, Brother Lin, do you have a girlfriend?" Griseo dazed face was the same as before, devoid of schemes or flaws, showing only her purest, childlike side.
"I do." Lin sighed at the thought. "But she's been busy with her thesis at school recently."
"University? You found a girlfriend older than you."
"Isn't that better?"
Lin then shifted back into conversation with Ato. He didn't notice at all that the moment he said "I do," the brush in Griseo hand in the passenger seat made a crisp snapping sound...
Special Feature: The Painter and the Painting (Part 2)
"Go to my house?"
Lin hand jerked, nearly sending the car into a utility pole.
"What's wrong, is that not okay?" Ato asked, puzzled.
"Uh, it's not that, it's just..." Lin brain worked rapidly. "It's just that I haven't cleaned up my place. It's a bit messy."
"So what? It's normal for a boy's place to be messy." Ato didn't care. "Worst case, let Griseo help you tidy up later."
"No, no need."
Lin laughed awkwardly, thinking to himself that those two "grand aunts" were not someone she could "tidy up."
Vil-V and Eden hadn't left yet; they were at his house preparing for the second round tonight. He was already thinking about how to fool Ato's family.
Actually, Vil-V and Eden knew Ato. Back then, Lin relationship with them was also as good friends, but it was hard to explain why a single adult man's house would have two girls and a floor full of... whatever.
"Don't worry, they're just my fuck buddies!"
...Should he say that with a bright smile?
Lin couldn't say it himself. He felt that if he truly thought those girls' relationship with him was purely for physical needs, he would be a truly irredeemable animal.
...
"Wait at the door for a second."
After Lin opened the door with his key, he blocked Ato's family with a serious face. Griseo tried to peek through the gap, but Lin body blocked her view.
"I'll go in and tidy up. Don't come in until then."
Without waiting for a reply, Lin dashed into the house and locked the door behind him.
Vil-V, wearing nothing but one of Lin shirts, was lying on the sofa watching TV. She smiled happily when she saw Lin return. "Ah, Lin..."
"Shh!" Lin pounced and covered Vil-V mouth, nervously telling her not to make a sound.
"Mmph? (Starting so early?)" Vil-V looked at Lin hand on her body, a confused expression on her face.
"You and Eden hide for a bit. I have two elders coming over."
Vil-V pushed Lin hand away. Driven by her playfulness, she smirked. "Isn't that better? Let our elders see how charming Darling is."
"Charming my ass." Lin sighed after speaking and pinched Vil-V face. "Just this once, and you can have the final say from now on."
"Oh~ I have the final say from now on~"
Vil-V narrowed her eyes, using an exaggeratedly long tone, staring at the helpless Lin. She stood up giggling. "Alright, you said it."
Later, Lin found Eden in the bedroom, who was cleaning up the remnants of last night's "great war." After he briefly explained the situation, she tilted her head and smiled. "Okay."
"Then it's..."
"One month and twenty days."
"...Five days."
"Fifteen days."
"Ten days, no more."
"Deal."
With a heavy heart, he went to open the door and let Ato and the others into the house.
"Isn't it quite clean?" Ato was very satisfied with the tidiness of Lin home. To him, it was rare for a single man to be so clean. "You might have a problem with arrogance, but you'll definitely be a good man in the future."
"Haha..."
Lin was breaking into a cold sweat, his eyes constantly darting toward the bedroom.
Griseo, however, didn't look around the room's decor. She walked to the sofa and casually touched a slightly recessed spot. The warmth where her hand rested caused her to quietly reveal a smile... one completely different from her dazed appearance.
Afterward, Lin showed Ato and the others around the house. Since the house hadn't changed much over the years, Ato and the others were fairly familiar with it.
When passing the master bedroom, Lin didn't hesitate to walk past, but Griseo stopped in front of it.
"Eh? What's wrong, Griseo?" Lin turned back to find Griseo standing still, and sweat began to pour down his face.
Griseo tapped her lip and said dazedly, "Brother Lin, I want to see your bedroom."
"There's... nothing much to see." Lin laughed dryly, sweating profusely. He pointed to the room next door. "How about looking at my game room? There are lots of games there."
"But I don't play games."
"..."
He almost forgot that Griseo had no interest in electronic games since she was little.
Lin wanted to find another excuse to dodge it, but seeing Ato and Blanca walking over, he shivered and hurriedly pushed open the bedroom door. "Fine, fine, let's take a look then. But only for a little bit."
Once inside the room, Griseo looked left and right as if searching for something, while Lin forced himself to remain calm so as not to give anything away.
However... there seemed to be no problem.
Everything was normal, except the room smelled like air freshener. Was it just sprayed?
"The wardrobe..."
"Haha, the wardrobe is just full of my clothes, nothing to see." This time Lin was firm. He swore he would protect Griseo respect for him as an older brother and not let those beautiful childhood memories be tainted.
Seeing Lin attitude, Griseo understood he probably wouldn't budge no matter what, so she nodded and smiled as she walked out of the room.
Lin breathed a sigh of relief and was about to follow her out when the wardrobe door was pushed open. A hand grabbed his wrist and dragged him inside.
"..."
Ten seconds later, a panting Lin crawled out with a trace of glistening liquid on the corner of his mouth. He glared fiercely at the person inside, wiped his face, and walked out.
...
"So we're neighbors again starting today. Come over to our house for dinner?"
Lin thought about how they had finally returned, so he nodded in agreement. "Okay."
Then Lin followed their family to the house next door for dinner. As for those two unruly girls? Lin didn't want to deal with them. They had almost exposed him just now. Let them handle themselves at home.
"Blanca's cooking is still so good after all these years."
"How could I say it's good in front of you?" Blanca laughed and chatted with Lin, who was sitting on the sofa after eating.
Lin checked the time and felt it was about time. "It's getting late, I should head ba—"
"Wait a minute, Brother Lin. Can you come to my room for a moment?"
At that moment, Griseo stood at the door of her bedroom, smiling as she asked Lin, just like a few years ago.
Lin felt as if he had returned to the past for a moment. He froze for a bit, then nodded. "Oh, sure. Is something wrong?"
"Nothing."
Griseo smiled.
"I just want to show you my new work."
Special Feature: The Painter and the Painting (Part 3)
Humans are born on a journey to pursue completion. It is because we are the flawed moon that we reach for the unattainable full moon.
...
Lin memory of Griseo was still stuck in that period when she was a little girl who would sit in front of a painting for a whole day. In the warm afternoon sun shining through the window, he would lean on the sofa, watching the girl hold a brush, her strokes as soft as herself, gently brushing over the paper.
Griseo felt to him like... natural? Dazed? No, she should be like a blank sheet of paper.
Purity untouched by anything... if only those other girls could learn a bit.
Lin was amused by his own naive thought and shook his head with a bitter smile.
Entering Griseo bedroom, Lin looked at the decor. Perhaps because she had frequently hired people to clean it even while abroad, the room looked no different from one that was lived in regularly. The painting tools she brought back were all placed in the room.
It was very clean, matching Lin image of Griseo room.
"Griseo, what did you want to show me? A painting?"
Lin watched Griseo walk over to her luggage and search through several document bags. He followed her out of curiosity.
"Mmm..." Griseo answered somewhat vaguely. "Some new works that haven't been published yet."
"You're already publishing works? Not bad." Lin smiled proudly. "I always thought your work would become a hit if it was published."
"It's already a hit."
"Really? Where? I want to see too."
Griseo casually mentioned a website and an author's name.
"Eh? That sounds a bit familiar..."
"A boy like Brother Lin must visit that website often."
"Uh, I guess..." Lin couldn't quite remember what kind of website it was, but he couldn't just say so, lest he seem ignorant and discourage Griseo. "I'll go look for it when I get back."
"Found it."
Griseo pulled a thick document bag from the large pile. She smiled happily, stood up, and handed the bag to Lin.
"Then I'll open it?"
"Mmm!"
Lin battered heart was gradually healed by Griseo smile. He nodded happily and opened the bag to take out the original drafts.
Is this... a short manga?
This distinct black-and-white manga style was different from the oil paintings Griseo always did. Although the artwork was exquisite and solid, Lin didn't recall Griseo ever drawing this type of manga.
Moreover, the background characters on the first page had an anatomy very different from the fantasy style Griseo liked to draw. It felt... very "carnal."
Even a schoolgirl who appeared in less than one panel had skin lines, a well-placed glimpse of an armpit, the "absolute territory" between stockings and skirt, and the texture of skin being squeezed—it was almost like—
"Griseo, did you take the wrong one?" Lin asked the smiling Griseo, confused.
He looked at Griseo a bit more. It might be an illusion, but Griseo posture was a bit strange, with some parts of her figure faintly visible, and he also smelled a familiar fragrance.
"No, please keep reading, Brother Lin..."
That final "Brother Lin" sounded incredibly seductive to Lin ears, not at all like the tone a sister would use with a brother.
Lin already had a bad premonition, but surely nothing would be wrong.
He flipped to the next page, but the male protagonist on the opening page made him freeze completely.
Isn't that... his face?
The face on the black-and-white manga, composed of soft lines, was almost identical to him thanks to Griseo exquisite skill. They had been apart for several years, yet Griseo had actually drawn him based on her memory combined with her imagination?
Lin fingers trembled as he flipped to the next page with an uncertain gaze.
The setting of this manga was that Lin—yes, Griseo used his real name—was an all-around man skilled in music, cooking, chess, and tea. He had been adopted by a kind family since childhood and had a happy family life with a non-blood-related sister.
At this point, Lin discovered something.
This wasn't an independent short story. These background introductions and the opening characteristics of the protagonist were clearly connected to previous plots.
He flipped through the drafts in his hand rapidly, his heart pounding as Griseo smile grew stranger. The protagonist in the manga didn't sleep in the middle of the night but instead went to his younger sister's room...
The last panel of this page showed Lin, the protagonist, knocking on his sister's door, and then the nun opened the door from the inside, revealing a crack.
This must just be... an ordinary manga, right? A story about the daily life of a brother and sister drawing? Yes... but why did he think it was about drawing?
Lin mind was a mess. His fingers felt heavy. He didn't know how he managed to flip to the next page, but once he saw the contents clearly, he broke down.
In the manga, a sister who looked exactly like Griseo had a lustful expression with her tongue sticking out and her face flushed. Her pajamas were open, revealing a body completely "excited" by countless pleasures, as she welcomed Lin arrival.
He frantically dropped the drafts, pulled out his phone, and opened the website Griseo mentioned.
He finally knew why the website name was familiar... before he met Prometheus, he occasionally satisfied his urges on this site.
He searched for the author's name. The popularity was extremely high because this author account had been serializing for several years and had a long-running work that was still ongoing.
Lin numbly scrolled through those works. They started serializing from the moment he and Griseo separated. These works even clearly recorded the entire "process" of the protagonist and his sister from age thirteen or fourteen to adulthood. Fans were all amazed by the distorted yet delicate emotions between the siblings in the work, as if... it were the author's personal experience.
"Brother Lin." Griseo had leaned onto Lin shoulder at some point. Her blank-sheet-of-paper tone now sounded so sultry, her breath tickling his ear. "I've run out of inspiration. Since long, long ago, I've imagined drawing all my fantasies, but that was just imagination."
"I have been... always... always... always always always always always looking forward to it! Looking forward to the day we reunite! Looking forward to the moment when I confess the feelings I had for you under the guise of our pure past, and how wonderful your expression would be!"
She giggled.
"I know those older aunties are at your house, Brother Lin~ But what a shame, the female lead is me. The one who can do whatever she wants to you and taste every corner thoroughly is me."
Griseo lips curled into a wide grin as her fingers pinched Lin earlobe. She whispered to him, "Then let's start 'expanding our inspiration.'"
Lin looked at the scene before him in despair, a scene that was gradually merging with the manga.
He couldn't move.
On Griseo desk sat an empty bottle. At the bottom, a small amount of glowing green liquid remained.
The meal he just ate...
No... it can't be like this... especially with Griseo... Ato! Quick, save me!
Ato pushed open the door and poked his head in. "Griseo, where's Lin? Wasn't he in your room?"
Griseo tilted her head, her face showing the same dazed expression as usual. "Brother Lin... went back."
"Went back? Oh, okay." Ato shrugged and closed the door.
After Ato's footsteps faded, Griseo walked to the door and locked it.
Then she walked back to the bed and slowly pulled back the covers, smiling at Lin, whose eyes were wide with terror.
Next, under Lin unmovable gaze, Griseo slowly unbuttoned her pajamas, revealing a carnal body... just like in the manga.
...
"There, the new work is finished."
Griseo face was illuminated by the glow of the computer screen. She smiled as she browsed the praise under her new work.
"Starry Sky-sensei's work is as 'useful' as ever."
"Fantastic! The nun's counterattack!"
"Writing 'Sister's Exclusive' and the tally marks on the brother's body at the end was so great. How did Starry Sky-sensei think of combining the nun's identity as a painter with the content..."
How did she think of it?
Griseo chuckled low, her eyes filled with uncontrollable desire. She turned back to look at the person who had lost consciousness on the bed...