Siblings Work in Business (31)
FAN
“Oh, really?”
“Yes…”
Hmm?
“What’s wrong?”
Eun-ho asked when Eun-ji tilted her head and looked at Hyun-woo suspiciously.
“Well… I was wondering why he’s shriveled up like dried radish because he’s a fan…”
“Hey, hey! Lee Eun-ji…”
“What?!”
“Don’t talk like that.”
“What did I do?!”
“Calling someone dried radish. It’s rude.”
“Ah, okay, I didn’t know…”
The atmosphere was completely different from the alleyway at Suwon Rodeo Street.
Hyun-woo seemed flustered by Eun-ji being scolded by Eun-ho.
Eun-ho pushed the back of Eun-ji’s neck and bowed his head along with her.
“We apologize, hyung. You too, apologize, Lee Eun-ji.”
“Okay…”
Eun-ji lowered her head, which she had been stubbornly holding up, and said,
“I didn’t mean it in a bad way, but I’m sorry if you were offended. I have a bit of a foul mouth. I’m sorry…”
As if her apology was sincere, Eun-ji timidly glanced at Hyun-woo and bowed her head again.
“No! It’s okay.”
Hyun-woo raised both hands, emphasizing that he was really okay.
The awkward atmosphere intensified.
“What? Have you been like this the whole time?”
CEO Park, coming out with a thick file, looked at the living room with a bewildered expression.
Eun-ji was sitting with her head down like a scolded cat, Eun-ho’s expression unreadable…
‘And Hyun-woo…’
Was looking at CEO Park as if he were a savior, seemingly at a loss for what to do.
CEO Park sighed deeply and sat down.
He placed the file he brought on the table, and Eun-ho and Eun-ji’s gazes followed.
“I was just about to tell you about this.”
“A performance proposal?”
Eun-ho read the words written on the file, and CEO Park nodded and continued.
“The plans changed.”
“What, ah…”
“What is it?”
Eun-ho seemed to understand immediately and let out a sigh of disappointment.
Meanwhile, Eun-ji, still confused, looked at Eun-ho for an explanation.
“It’s because the second performance was canceled, right?”
“…Yes.”
Many people reacted positively to the OST after the drama ‘He is 1+1=1’ started airing.
Thanks to that, E-UNG seemed to have regained some attention after the Suwon Station busking event.
But perhaps because they hadn’t officially debuted yet…
The second busking event, scheduled to be held in front of Gangnam Station Exit 11, was canceled due to the sudden heavy snow.
And since there were no further activities, the little bit of attention they had gained quickly faded.
“The third performance is scheduled to be held in Hongdae, right?”
“Yes.”
“So…”
CEO Park spoke cautiously.
“I’d like you two to gather the audience yourselves.”
“Us?”
“I’m worried about the audience numbers. And also to film for O-Tube.”
CEO Park smiled at Hyun-woo.
Around lunchtime on Saturday…
I was waiting for Hyun-woo at Hongdae Station Exit 9, holding an iced Americano, while Lee Eun-ji had a strawberry yogurt smoothie.
“Wow, there are so many people.”
As if a train had arrived, a wave of people, the kind you rarely see in life, surged from Exit 9, which had been quiet until now.
“I feel like we’ll get trampled if we stand in the middle…”
Just as Lee Eun-ji said that, horrified…
“Eun-ho! Eun-ji!”
A familiar figure called out from the crowd, waving his hand.
“Oh, there’s hyung.”
Hyung emerged from the surging wave of people.
“Couldn’t find a place to park nearby?”
“No… not at all.”
Hyung’s face looked haggard, as if finding parking had been a struggle.
“So…”
“Should we take them out?”
“We should…”
The third performance was originally planned to be held at Hongdae Playground, but it was changed to a live bar.
CEO Park explained that it was due to circumstances beyond our control, but it seemed like CK E&M expected us to have gained a decent following after the second busking event, expecting a significant promotional effect.
But as you know, the performance was canceled due to the heavy snow.
And the attention we had gained had dwindled.
As if to prove the situation, the view count for the third performance announcement, posted last night, hadn’t even reached double digits.
‘An indoor performance in this situation…’
I felt dejected.
My heart was as heavy as the thick stack of flyers in my bag.
‘If we split up and hand them out… Ah.’
We only had one camera.
So, we had to do it together.
“Do you want to greet people first?”
“No. You do it, Oppa.”
We had to approach people, talk about the performance, and hand out flyers, but there was a problem.
Even saying a simple “Hello” to strangers wasn’t easy.
“Should we decide with rock-paper-scissors?”
“Okay.”
“Alright! Rock-paper-scissors!”
“Rock-paper-scissors! Damn it…”
I played rock-paper-scissors with Lee Eun-ji, but I lost.
It was always like this since we were young.
Was I still unlucky even after the regression?
…That’s what Eun-ho thought.
‘Idiot, Lee Eun-ho.’
Actually, Eun-ho always threw rock on the second round.
Eun-ji had known this since they were young and used it to her advantage.
“Go quickly!”
“I’m going! Don’t rush me!”
At Eun-ji’s urging, Eun-ho took a deep breath and approached the first person, who might become our audience member.
“Excuse me…”
“Oh my, you scared me.”
“I apologize.”
“No, i-it’s okay. But why…”
I had calmed my nerves, but they were back because she was so startled.
“W-We’re a duo called ‘E-UNG,’ and we’re performing at Twenties Live Bar tonight. If you’re free at 7 pm…”
Just as I finished my trembling explanation…
“Oh, okay! I’ll go.”
“Thank you! Please do come!”
At the unexpectedly positive reply, I bowed my head repeatedly in gratitude.
After successfully securing our first audience member…
I turned around to go back to Lee Eun-ji and hyung.
“Why did you take it?”
“He was handsome. I thought he might give me his number.”
“Crazy, are you really going?”
“No? Why would I?”
“Hahaha, you’re so mean.”
I should have walked away sooner.
I was smiling, feeling accomplished, but after overhearing their conversation, I couldn’t stop my face from hardening.
“Why?”
Lee Eun-ji asked, walking towards me.
I quickly tried to compose my expression, but she seemed to have noticed my momentary frown.
“You’re only perceptive at times like this.”
“I have to be, to be family. Why, what did they say?”
“Nothing much.”
“I don’t think so…”
Lee Eun-ji looked at the flyer that had been thrown on the ground.
“This won’t be easy.”
Eun-ji quietly picked up the discarded flyer and said,
“I’ll take care of the dirty ones. Since they’re trash.”
Trash.
Looking at Lee Eun-ji’s cold eyes, colder than when we played rock-paper-scissors, I couldn’t bring myself to ask for it.
Hyun-woo silently filmed the scene.
He wanted to comfort them, but he couldn’t.
It was because of the CEO’s order to let them handle things themselves unless it was a dangerous situation.
“Excuse me…”
“I don’t want one.”
“Hello.”
“Ah, seriously. Get lost!”
Even handing out flyers wasn’t easy.
Some people accepted them quietly.
But the problem was that the number of discarded flyers was also significant.
We soon encountered our performance flyers discarded and trampled on the street.
Picking them up, I felt a sense of despair that was hard to describe.
Lee Eun-ji and I forced smiles whenever our eyes met, but that was it.
It was a comforting smile for each other.
“Hello! We’re singers preparing for our debut as E-UNG. We’re having a free performance at Twenties Live Bar at 7 pm…”
“7 pm? I’m sorry, I’m busy then.”
“Hello…”
“Ah, what the. Damn it.”
As we kept getting rejected, our hearts gradually numbed.
But that was the better scenario.
“Hello! We’re having a performance at Twenties Live Bar at 7 pm…”
“Oh, is the pretty lady going to sing?”
The moment we encountered a drunkard who was already heavily intoxicated, even in the early afternoon…
We felt that rejection was better. The drunkard’s rambling was unbearable.
“Oh, wow, the guy’s quite handsome too.”
“Thank you…”
“But I’m not interested in men. Sorry, dude! Haha. A performance? If the pretty lady gives me her number, I’ll go.”
It would have been okay…
If he hadn’t touched Lee Eun-ji. I was confident I could have endured it.
“So, what do you say, miss? We can get a room and have some fun. I’ll spend some money on you, since you’re so pretty. Huh?”
“Hey—!”
“Haha. I don’t think we can give you our numbers. We’re trainees, so we don’t have phones.”
I pulled Lee Eun-ji behind me and removed the drunkard’s hand from her arm.
“Hey, don’t lie.”
The guy frowned.
Of course, it was a lie.
We not only had phones, but the CEO always got us the latest models whenever ours broke.
I just wished he would go away quietly, but…
The drunkard chuckled, showing no intention of leaving.
“Dude, you’re funny. Are you clueless? I wasn’t asking you, I was asking the lady.”
“Stop—”
“You shut up. Ah, you said you were trainees, right?”
The guy, pushing my shoulder as he walked past, reeked of alcohol despite the early hour.
“Hey, miss, I know people at famous agencies. How about it? If you make me happy, I’ll hook you up with a good place.”
Lee Eun-ji stepped closer, as if she was about to hit him.
But I pushed her back and stood in front of her and the drunkard.
“Lee Eun-ho?”
Eun-ji looked at Eun-ho in surprise.
Eun-ho’s eyes were chillingly sharp.
At first, she was about to yell at him for blocking her, but she couldn’t speak.
No matter how roughly Eun-ji joked around, Eun-ho had never shown such direct anger before.
Eun-ho whispered quietly, his voice only audible to the drunkard.
“If you’re going to be a drunken asshole, crawl back to your hole.”
“You little…!”
The drunkard, enraged, grabbed Eun-ho by the collar.
He must have been drinking heavily since morning, judging by the strong smell of alcohol every time he opened his mouth.
Hyun-woo rushed forward to protect Eun-ho and yelled,
“Stop it!”
Oh my gosh