The Siblings Do Business Together 3

Siblings Work in Business (3)

Talent

“Absolutely not! It’s disgustingly nauseating!”

Lee Eun-ji still flipped out just like back then, but unlike then, the words “I don’t want to either” didn’t come out easily.

Perhaps because I didn’t answer…

“Hey, Lee Eun-ho. Say something! You can’t sing a love song with me either! It’s disgusting! Isn’t it?”

Lee Eun-ji asked, turning to me.

“What if it’s not a love song?”

I was still disoriented, but at least for this moment, I had replayed and answered this question countless times.

It was a familiar, welcome nightmare I often had when I wasn’t feeling well.

So, I had my answer ready.

“You can write the song.”

“What nonsen―”

“Wouldn’t it be fun? Like when we were young.”

Just like Lee Eun-ji wrote in her diary.

Lee Eun-ji opened her mouth as if to retort, but closed it again without saying anything.

“What do you think, CEO?”

I turned and asked. He seemed surprised by the positive response.

The CEO’s bewildered gaze went back and forth between Lee Eun-ji and me.

“Uh? What?”

“As Eun-ji said, I don’t like love songs either, but wouldn’t it be more unique to debut with a song Eun-ji wrote?”

“Hmm…”

Of course, the CEO knew that Lee Eun-ji could write songs.

He had raised us like a father for three years.

However, Lee Eun-ji had always written songs based purely on feeling, without knowing any musical notes or chords.

‘That’s why he can’t answer.’

There’s one thing the CEO doesn’t know.

Lee Eun-ji doesn’t know chords, but she can use them.

Lee Eun-ji’s ability, the one I envied the most.

‘Perfect pitch.’

Lee Eun-ji often composed songs by collecting sounds she liked and sounds used in famous songs she heard on the street.

Later, I found out that they had names like major chords, minor chords, augmented chords, diminished chords, and so on.

I learned them solely through practice, but Lee Eun-ji just picked them up, saying, “Oh, this!”

“If Eun-ho’s saying this much, there must be something to it.”

“Of course.”

“Okay. Then Eun-ji, I’ll gather the staff, so try making a song.”

“Really?”

The CEO seemed to think it was a win just because the sibling debut proposal was accepted.

I didn’t know if this was a dream or not, but at least the situation was completely different from what I remembered.

Nodding at the CEO’s decision, I looked at Lee Eun-ji.

Lee Eun-ji was scanning me with a “why are you acting like this all of a sudden” look.

It felt so like her that I smiled.

“Ugh.”

Lee Eun-ji made a retching sound as if my smile disgusted her, and she frowned.

‘Yes. This is my sister.’

A satisfying reaction.

---

During the week that followed…

I couldn’t sleep, wondering if it would all disappear like a dream when I woke up.

But after three days, on the fourth day…

I slowly adapted to this time.

Meanwhile…

“Hmm, uuum. Euaaa. This isn’t it, aaaaagh!”

Here we go again.

Ever since Lee Eun-ji brought the electric piano from the first floor to her room for composing…

She hummed unintelligible tunes, banged on the piano, and pulled her hair out in frustration every day.

She kept repeating this until it was time to sleep.

Really, continuously.

‘Judging by her playing the piano, she seems to have decided on the chords…’

Was she having trouble coming up with a melody she liked?

Normally, or if it were the past me, I would have just left her be.

‘But thinking about back then…’

Our NRY CEO, who lost half his hair in a year due to stress.

What if Lee Eun-ji had to start her debut wearing a wig?

Having witnessed firsthand how much hair a person could lose in a year, I was genuinely worried.

Then one day…

‘I wasn’t going to say anything because it felt like cheating…’

A massive clump of what appeared to be Lee Eun-ji’s hair, completely clogging the bathroom drain.

Seeing that, I made up my mind.

I genuinely worried about my sister’s hair loss, so I had to say something.

“Hey, Lee Eun-ji.”

“What!”

I opened the door and called Lee Eun-ji. She growled like a hunting dog ready to pounce.

Yeah, she just looked like a dog.

“Let’s talk for a second.”

“I’m busy, close the door.”

“It’s about the song.”

“You?”

Lee Eun-ji’s expression twisted in surprise.

I had never offered suggestions or interfered with Lee Eun-ji’s songwriting before.

The biggest reason was that I was far less talented than her in that area.

Even now, I still have no ‘talent.’

However, what I learned and the experience I gained until coming back…

The lessons from that year of running like crazy still remained.

“The melody you were humming earlier―”

I paused.

Should I just tell her the song Lee Eun-ji made back then?

Or just give her a hint?

I hesitated for a moment, deciding how to convey this thought.

“The melody what! Why are you stopping mid-sentence?”

“Well, how should I put it…”

“What, what!”

“The melody you were humming earlier felt like, cat footsteps? Something like that.”

I decided to trust Lee Eun-ji’s intuition.

“Cat footsteps? What kind of nonsen…”

Lee Eun-ji’s eyes suddenly changed.

‘There it is, that look.’

It was the look of someone who had finally grasped something they couldn’t before.

Lee Eun-ji turned her chair around and sat back in front of the electric piano.

The humming, which had been uncertain and faint until now, took on a clear form with delicate details.

It probably wouldn’t take long for her to capture the overall feeling now.

If she’s the Lee Eun-ji I know.

‘Cat footsteps.’

Graceful yet rhythmical, light steps.

Then, upon spotting its target, it silences its steps.

The moment it sees its chance…

It pounces, extends, and then becomes frantic in pursuit of its missed target.

Finally, it leisurely finishes its hunt and returns to its resting place with light, bouncing steps.

Lee Eun-ji’s debut song was exactly like this.

She even incorporated this storytelling into the melody and all the chords within the song.

‘In parts that could get boring, she distorted everyday noises like the crinkling of plastic and used them as instruments.’

The sounds she discovered during our childhood “concert play” became a weapon for Eun-ji throughout her career.

Back then, the songs Lee Eun-ji made were hers.

Now, that Lee Eun-ji is making ‘our’ song.

「“Wouldn’t it be fun? Like when we were young.”」

When I said those words, it honestly felt like I was just reciting what Lee Eun-ji wrote in her diary.

But now, for sure…

I’m looking forward to it.

---

‘Cat footsteps!’

Today, I had to go to the studio for a meeting, and perhaps because of my anxiousness…

I felt like I was blocked by an invisible wall, even though what I wanted was right in front of me.

‘It’s a bit embarrassing to get a hint from Lee Eun-ho…’

The wall crumbled thanks to the hint Lee Eun-ho threw.

Honestly, without his hint, I would have fumbled around for a long time before reaching the feeling I wanted.

Once I got the hang of it, there were no more obstacles.

I excitedly immersed myself in the work, creating rhythms I would never have attempted on my own.

I hated Lee Eun-ho, but if I had to say, I liked his voice and singing.

A lot.

He had been my muse since childhood.

Hey baby… I hate ya!

The sound of Lee Eun-ho humming a famous pop song by a female soloist drifted through the cracks of the door from the small living room in the attic.

‘What good is a good ear?’

I’m weak at high notes.

To be precise, I could barely reach C5, which is considered the average for women.

Although my low notes were a strength, the parts I could sing in the K-POP genre were extremely limited.

But Lee Eun-ho?

…I’ve got!

See?

How can he sing a female singer’s pop song in the original key so effortlessly…

‘Besides, somehow…’

His breathing and vocalization seemed to have improved significantly in just a week.

‘What’s going on?’

In the following whispered chorus, he softly whispered, utilizing the charm of his own octave range.

Whether I hated him because he was family, or liked him because of his singing…

Either way, it gave me goosebumps.

‘He’s definitely good.’

Lee Eun-ho had excellent song interpretation skills.

He experimentally tried things within his range, things he could pull off.

The appropriate octave and the stably changed vibrato.

From a composer’s perspective, it was truly thrilling.

It’s great when composing, but on the other hand…

“He’s so annoying.”

Thinking of him as a fellow singer, as a rival, Lee Eun-ho took his strengths for granted.

His skills were average, but the ‘effort’ to focus solely on one thing could also be considered a talent.

Sometimes, Lee Eun-ho, who didn’t even consider that a strength, was annoying.

‘How much effort did I put in to not lose to that practice maniac for three years…’

Meanwhile, Lee Eun-ho cleanly finished his part and continued singing.

Understand my…

At that moment.

Eun-ji stopped her busy fingers on the electric piano.

‘Wait a minute.’

A creepy feeling sent chills down her spine.

‘What?’

Of course, she was surprised that Lee Eun-ho was freely changing the rapper’s featured verse to his own style.

But the reason for her surprise wasn’t musical.

‘How is he already so good at English?’

It could have been easily dismissed, if it weren’t for Lee Eun-ho.

The guy who gave up on English, unable to even write ‘apple.’

That was Lee Eun-ho.

Just a few days ago, he had a bewildered look with question marks all over his face whenever the vocal trainer occasionally mixed English into his explanations.

But now, after just a few days, he’s casually singing along to a pop song, even the rap parts?

Eun-ji jumped out of her chair and left the room.

“Hey, Lee Eun-ho!”