Siblings Work in Business (33)
Around 6 pm…
The two headed to Twenties Live Bar a little early.
“Welcome.”
Unlike their first visit, they seemed to be allowed inside now.
A Twenties Live Bar staff member greeted them.
“Wow…”
As they were guided inside, a surprisingly spacious interior was revealed.
It was already bustling with people.
Seul-gi looked around and let out a satisfied exclamation, seemingly impressed.
“Hey, hey! Joo. I think watching the performance itself is free, but if you want to sit comfortably, you have to get a table and order drinks and snacks.”
“Really? I’m fine standing.”
“You’re wearing sneakers.”
Seul-gi sighed deeply, pointing at her high heels.
“I’ll treat you. But Joo, can you call a staff member?”
“Okay.”
Joo-yeon looked at Seul-gi sympathetically and called a passing staff member.
“Excuse me!”
“Yes?”
All the Twenties Live Bar staff members were wearing name tags.
But the name tag of the person Joo-yeon happened to call read ‘E-UNG Manager.’
Joo-yeon glanced at the name tags of the other staff members, then awkwardly let go of Hyun-woo’s sleeve and bowed her head.
“S-Sorry.”
The other staff members’ name tags simply read [STAFF].
“I mistook you for a staff member…”
“Ah.”
Hyun-woo seemed to understand, glancing down at his name tag before smiling kindly at Joo-yeon.
“I’ll send someone over right away.”
Hyun-woo bowed his head and went to the bar table near the stage where the other staff members were gathered.
“That customer…”
“Ah, I’ll…”
After briefly talking to a staff member, Hyun-woo received two bottles of water and disappeared through a small door behind the bar.
The staff member who spoke to Hyun-woo approached Joo-yeon and Seul-gi.
“Did you call for me?”
“Yes, we’d like to get a table to watch the performance.”
While Seul-gi was talking to the staff member…
‘E-UNG Manager…’
Joo-yeon’s eyes sparkled.
“Seul-gi, wait here for a second. I’ll be right back!”
“What? Hey! Where are you going?!”
After leaving Twenties Live Bar…
[I thought this might be my only chance, so I wanted to give them a gift as a good memory.]
Joo-yeon explained the situation to Seul-gi via KakaoTalk.
[Why didn’t you say so earlier?]
Seul-gi, surprisingly, took it calmly.
[I was in a hurry.]
[I want to get something for the sister too.]
Seul-gi had never bought albums, let alone joined fan cafes or given gifts, even for celebrities she liked.
She just enjoyed listening to their music on her way to work.
[Really?]
[Yeah]
Joo-yeon asked again, in disbelief, but Seul-gi seemed serious.
[Should I show you the store through video call?]
[Oh, good idea. If you see any earring shops nearby, call me when you go in.]
“Oh, water! Thank you, Manager!”
“You’re welcome… Please, call me comfortably, Eun-ji.”
“Then you call me ‘Eun-ji’ too. I’m not a watermelon, so stop adding ‘-ssi’ all the time.”
“That’s…”
As Eun-ji stared at him and asked, Hyun-woo averted his gaze, unable to meet her eyes or answer.
Meanwhile, Eun-ji, seemingly unconcerned by his reaction…
Calmly took the two water bottles and went to a corner of the storage room.
“Lee Eun-ho, the manager brought us water.”
Eun-ho stopped stretching and caught the water bottle Eun-ji casually tossed to him.
“Did you thank him?”
“Of course.”
“Good job.”
Twenties Live Bar had a proper waiting room, since it had a large stage.
But unfortunately, it was still under renovation and unusable.
So, the storage room was our temporary waiting room.
Thanks to its spacious size—although it was filled with scattered bottles and a refrigerator—it was perfect for stretching, touching up makeup, and warming up our voices.
“Manager?”
“Yes?”
“For a moment…”
6:40 pm.
As we were getting ready to go on stage…
A staff member opened the storage room door and called Hyun-woo.
A moment later, Hyun-woo returned with two shopping bags.
“Someone sent you gifts.”
“Gifts?”
“A woman named Lee Joo-yeon sent this to Eun-ho, and someone named Joo Seul-gi sent this to Eun-ji.”
“What is it?”
Lee Eun-ji received a small white shopping bag.
I received a much larger navy blue one.
“Wow! Pretty!”
Just as we received the shopping bags from Hyun-woo…
Lee Eun-ji had already taken out a small, transparent pouch from her bag.
“I love it!”
Startled by her loud exclamation, I turned around.
Inside the transparent pouch were flashy gold earrings that suited Lee Eun-ji perfectly.
“They’re perfect for me!”
Lee Eun-ji held the earrings to her ears and asked.
“Not bad.”
“Oh, that’s high praise in Lee Eun-ho language.”
“Yeah.”
Normally, he would have jokingly said they were so-so…
But honestly, they were so perfect that he couldn’t say that.
“What did you get?”
“Ah.”
As Eun-ji showed her curiosity, I finally opened the navy blue shopping bag.
“Oh? Burgundy…”
Inside, it was filled with the color Lee Eun-ji had repeatedly emphasized during the Suwon Station performance, ‘burgundy.’
More precisely, there was a shirt the exact same color as Lee Eun-ji’s lipstick back then.
“Wow.”
While Lee Eun-ji admired the shirt, I checked the shopping bag again, feeling its weight.
There was also a black tie inside, as if they wanted me to wear them together.
“I’m going to wear these for the performance, what about you, Lee Eun-ho?”
“Should I change?”
“Sure. I’ll turn around, I don’t want to see.”
“Okay.”
As soon as Lee Eun-ji turned around, I took off my beige knitwear and changed into the shirt I received.
It matched well with my black pants, as if I had planned it.
“Are you done?”
“Yeah.”
The shirt fit perfectly, except for the neck area.
It wasn’t an expensive luxury brand, but it made me happier than receiving any luxury item.
“Oh, clothes make the man.”
I pretended not to hear, embarrassed, whether she was teasing or being serious.
Eun-ji, also seemingly embarrassed, didn’t repeat herself.
“These are from the people we met at the entrance, right?”
Eun-ji asked, and Hyun-woo nodded.
“We really have to do our best today…”
Eun-ji said, but I felt the same way.
“Hello! We are E-UNG!”
Eun-ho and Eun-ji, on stage, greeted the audience by touching their thumbs and index fingers.
They made sure to keep their thumbs straight to avoid forming a heart shape.
It was an impromptu greeting, but not bad.
After separating their hands, they continued their introduction.
“Lee Eun-ho.”
“And Lee Eun-ji!”
Cheers erupted as Eun-ho and Eun-ji finished their greeting.
Although there were some empty seats, there were more people than expected.
It wasn’t the frenzied cheering of a typical concert, but it was enough.
“How do these earrings look?”
—They’re pretty! They suit you!
“Hehe. Thank you.”
Compliments poured in as Eun-ji showed off her earrings, moving closer to the audience.
“Oppa’s outfit is also different from what he originally planned to wear, how does it look? Is it okay?”
—Handsome! Kyaaaah!
Eun-ho’s face flushed at a female fan’s enthusiastic reaction.
Eun-ji continued her playful banter.
“Our Eun-ho is a bit shy when it comes to compliments.”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
Eun-ho pushed Eun-ji away and took the microphone, continuing the introduction.
Meanwhile, among the cheering audience…
“I was so embarrassed choosing earrings through video call at the store.”
“Me too.”
Joo-yeon and Seul-gi, who had gifted the shirt and earrings, watched Eun-ho and Eun-ji with affectionate gazes, touched by their appreciation.
‘My’ celebrity cherishing the gift she gave…
And expressing their gratitude by putting on an even better performance.
It was an incredibly rewarding and happy feeling.
“Seul-gi.”
“Yeah.”
Joo-yeon, staring at Eun-ho, who had given the audience goosebumps with his brilliant high notes and techniques, said,
“I’m going to create an E-UNG fan cafe.”
“You said you weren’t going to be that invested in a fandom after Toxin.”
“How can I not, after seeing that?”
“Then I should join too.”
Joo-yeon looked back at Seul-gi in surprise at her unexpected words.
“With the gift and everything, what’s gotten into you?”
“The song was good, but… Honestly, I wasn’t that interested when you were looking for him.”
“That’s true.”
Seul-gi looked at Eun-ji with an affectionate gaze, like an older sister looking at a cute younger sibling, and continued.
“But the sister is cute.”
“Isn’t she more on the cool side?”
“She’s cute in my opinion. My favorite unnie loves the gift I gave her and is showing it off like that, it’s hard not to like her.”
Joo-yeon nodded, strongly agreeing with Seul-gi’s statement that it was hard not to like her, although she didn’t quite see Eun-ji as cute.
“Thanks to you, for the first time in my 26 years of life, I’m stanning siblings, not idols.”
Haha.
Joo-yeon chuckled at Seul-gi’s words.
Perhaps thanks to our legwork in promoting the event…
It seemed like more people came than at the Suwon Station busking event.
Or maybe it felt that way because it was indoors.
We had a blast.
One might ask how we could have fun when we were there for work.
But before the regression, Lee Eun-ji said,
「That’s what I think, Lee Eun-ho.
We’re in the business of selling ‘ourselves’ through songs and performances to entertain people.」
More accurately, that’s what she wrote in her diary.
So I tried not to show my struggles to the world.
And now, as Lee Eun-ji said, we diligently sold ourselves.
People jumped, waved their hands, sang along, and had fun with our music.
Meanwhile, we hid our ambition while having fun.
Exchanging chorus lines…
Perhaps because we were family…
Or just because it was us…
Lee Eun-ji and I seemed to be thinking the same thing.
‘With our own song, created by us.’
Performing OSTs was great.
Almost too much happiness.
But just like the saying, human ambition is endless…
‘I want to debut.’
I want to officially debut and promote with our name, with our song.
Next time, I want to have ‘our’ own concert, our own stage.
I had always felt that way, but after this enjoyable performance, I wanted it even more desperately.
Perhaps thanks to our combined wishes…
The performance ended successfully.
So cutie