Siblings Work in Business (55)
Colleague
The performance ended successfully, receiving praise from the audience.
However, back in the car, the atmosphere was tense, close to a public quarrel.
“Hey, look, Lee Eun-ji.”
Eun-ho pulled down his collar, revealing a small but distinct bruise.
“Why did you grab my collar?”
“Did I do it on purpose?”
“Oh, you’re being defiant now? Can’t you see the bruise?”
Eun-ji, seemingly realizing she was at fault, turned her head away.
“I can’t see it.”
“Look before you speak.”
The accident happened during the ending pose.
I had forgotten about it during the showcase, caught up in the audience’s cheers, but the moment I got in the car…
The throbbing pain made me wince.
“It… it was an accident.”
“Yes, an accident you caused.”
“Ah, I’m sorry! I said I’m sorry!”
“Is that how you apologize?”
“Tsk.”
As Eun-ho glared at her, Eun-ji clicked her tongue in annoyance.
During the pose, Eun-ji had to lean on Eun-ho for support.
But the moment she saw Eun-ho and the dirty ground…
She remembered the times during practice when he dropped her on her butt.
‘There’s no way this weakling can support me…’
Unable to trust Eun-ho, Eun-ji instinctively grabbed his collar.
In the process, the decoration she had been teased about, the ‘Wolverine with jewels,’ hit Eun-ho’s bone…
And this was the result.
“Sorry. But it’s your fault for dropping me all the time during practice.”
“Again, you’re using informal language. Are we friends?”
“I don’t have any ugly friends like you.”
“I… ha… It was half a joke back then.”
“Then that’s the price you pay. Serves you right!”
“Seriously…”
Just then, a thin hand with prominent veins separated Eun-ho and Eun-ji.
“Guys, why are you fighting after such a good performance?”
It was Roa, the leader of Cloud Dance Team, who was also in the car.
“That’s right. And Eun-ji, you shouldn’t use informal language with your older brother.”
Just as Oh Dal, another member of Cloud Dance Team, sided with Roa…
“Huh?”
Ena (Oh Byeol), Oh Dal’s older sister, who had been watching the situation unfold, let out a sigh of disbelief.
“Hey, Oh Dal, you shouldn’t be saying that.”
“It’s different with him and Eun-ho.”
“‘Him’? You little…”
“Ouch! You crazy bitch! Let go!”
“Let go? Is that how I raised you?”
Eun-ho and Eun-ji looked at each other in surprise, then turned their heads away.
The fire that started in our house had spread to another house and was now blazing.
“B-Byeol unnie, I-I’m sorry…”
“No, our Eun-ji did nothing wrong. It’s Oh Dal, this little bastard, who’s the problem.”
“Ena, you’re going to rip Dal’s hair out…”
“Good. I’m going to teach this little shit a lesson!”
“Agh! Crazy bitch! Let go of me!”
“Yeah, let’s see if you can still talk after I make you bald, you little shit.”
“You’re the one with the dirty mouth!!!”
“‘You’? What did you say? I’m a little hard of hearing, could you repeat that?”
“Ouch! Ouch! Agh!”
Oh Dal’s screams continued for a while inside the car.
Like siblings…
Even though he should have apologized by now, Oh Dal’s stubbornness rivaled Oh Byeol’s grip on his hair.
Witnessing this intense sibling fight, Eun-ho and Eun-ji, relatively tame in comparison, couldn’t help but stop their bickering.
Oh Dal’s screams finally stopped when Hyun-woo timidly spoke up,
“Excuse me… just a moment…”
to answer his phone.
“Hyun-woo, where are you?”
“We’ll be there in about 5 minutes.”
“Okay. Everything alright in the car?”
As Hyun-woo glanced at the back through the rearview mirror, he met four pairs of sharp glares, as if warning him not to say anything.
Hyun-woo flinched and quickly looked away from the rearview mirror under the silent pressure.
“Y-Yes… e-everything’s fine.”
“You don’t sound so sure.”
“N-No, I was just focusing on driving…”
“Really? Okay. Tell me if anything happens. Are the kids listening?”
“Yes, it’s on speakerphone.”
“Okay.”
At Hyun-woo’s answer, CEO Park spoke coldly,
Meanwhile, Roa, the leader of Cloud, was looking out the window, pretending to be oblivious to the fight, as if to prove she wasn’t involved.
“Don’t fight in the car and make things difficult for Hyun-woo, ‘siblings.’”
H-How did he know?
Eun-ho and Eun-ji, Oh Dal and Oh Byeol, exchanged glances, silently asking each other, “Did you tell him?”
Roa, watching the four of them, subtly smiled, covering her mouth with her hand as if resting her chin.
—You have a message~.
CEO Park’s phone vibrated.
He checked the newly arrived message while waiting at a red light.
[The siblings are fighting in the car.]
It was a message from Roa.
There were eight members in Cloud.
Roa, Ena (Oh Byeol), and Oh Dal were in Hyun-woo’s car, which had been quite noisy.
Jeong Hyun-ji and Kim Mi-eun were in Cloud member Kim In-hyeok’s car.
And lastly, Kim Jeong-min and Choi Yeong-guk were in CEO Park’s car.
CEO Park leaned back in his seat and sighed.
“These kids…”
He immediately called Hyun-woo.
Meanwhile, his car had been filled with snoring sounds like “grrr” and “snore” since 5 minutes after they departed.
“Don’t fight in the car and make things difficult for Hyun-woo, ‘siblings.’”
“Yes…”
“Hyun-woo, drive safely, it’s nighttime.”
“Yes.”
“I’m hanging up.”
“Yes! Goodbye!”
“Okay. See you later.”
After the call ended, CEO Park sighed deeply.
But he wasn’t truly angry, as a smile played on his lips.
A moment later, a black sedan entered the parking lot of a barbecue restaurant with a traditional Korean-style roof.
“Go ahead. I made a reservation for 12 people under the company name, they’ll show you to your table.”
Choi Yeong-guk, who was in CEO Park’s car, got out first, his eyes still half-closed.
“Huh? Aren’t you coming, CEO?”
Kim Jeong-min, also about to get out, asked CEO Park, who was still sitting in the driver’s seat.
“I’ll join you after everyone arrives.”
“Aha.”
Kim Jeong-min smiled in understanding.
After relaying the message to Choi Yeong-guk, the two entered the restaurant.
CEO Park watched them leave, then looked up at the star-like artificial satellites and sighed.
“It’s never quiet because of these siblings…”
When one side was quiet, the other side…
‘CEO! Lee Eun-ho is!’
‘CEO, unnie is at it again!’
‘CEO! Oh Dal is!’
He had heard it so much that he was starting to hear auditory hallucinations.
At least Eun-ho wasn’t part of the ‘CEO series,’ which was a small comfort.
“Time really flies.”
3 years. No, 4 years already?
Oh Byeol and Oh Dal were brought in a year after Eun-ho and Eun-ji.
He initially intended to train them like Eun-ho and Eun-ji, but unfortunately, Oh Byeol and Oh Dal had no talent in singing or acting.
The day Byeol and Dal visited Lee Gu-reum’s Cloud practice room…
Inspired by Roa, who was immersed in practice, they became interested in dance.
‘Dancing. To be honest, their chances of becoming idols aren’t good.’
CEO Park wanted to be a good person, but he was a businessman.
‘I’ll take a gamble if it’s worth it.’
He didn’t invest in lost causes.
“I’ll take them as my students.”
When the discussion turned to terminating their contracts, it was Lee Gu-reum who took them in.
If Lee Gu-reum took them in, they were still under CEO Park’s care.
Lee Gu-reum’s academy, like Lee Ha-neul’s, was under NRY Entertainment.
CEO Park owned half the shares, and Oh Byeol and Oh Dal were still his, even if their group name changed.
But realistically, there were losses.
“They worked hard. And more than anything, I see the ‘talent’ you talk about in them.”
Lee Gu-reum’s words were enough to sway CEO Park’s sympathy and concerns.
Personally, having trained several teams over the years, he preferred having a fixed dance team and choreographer like at TaKa Entertainment.
Especially if he planned to expand the company.
CEO Park persuaded himself and made a decision.
“Okay. Train them.”
The results of that simple decision were beyond his expectations.
Perhaps because their teacher was the famous Lee Gu-reum, who had reached the top at a young age…
Oh Byeol, under the stage name ‘Ena,’ and Oh Dal, using his real name, had won dance awards in Korea and abroad.
It was a surprising outcome for CEO Park, who had no expectations for the siblings.
And as time passed, comparisons were inevitable with Eun-ho, who was struggling at the time, since they were also ‘siblings.’
‘They’re here.’
Just as he was lost in thought…
A familiar van entered the parking lot.
CEO Park, looking at the van Eun-ho was in, remembered the recording studio where he first saw Eun-ho’s improved skills.
“Oh, CEO, I thought you were already inside.”
“They said you’d be here soon, and I had something to tell you, so I waited.”
Eun-ho seemed slightly startled at the mention of “something to tell you.”
Hyun-woo turned off the engine.
“You were here.”
“I have something to tell the siblings.”
“Ah…”
“Yeong-guk and Jeong-min are already inside. Go ahead.”
“Okay.”
Roa, getting out of the car after Eun-ho, gave a short reply and left.
Just as Oh Byeol and Eun-ji jumped out of the van…
“Guys.”
“Kyaak!”
It was Oh Byeol who screamed.
Eun-ji, more startled by Oh Byeol’s scream than by the CEO’s presence, stumbled, clutching her chest.
“…Anyone would think I did something to you, Byeol.”
“It’s Ena!”
“Ena my ass.”
Just as Byeol was protesting, Oh Dal got out of the car, muttering.
“Dal, you have a foul mouth too.”
“C-CEO, why are you here…?”
“Haha, can’t I be here?”
Oh Dal froze, seeing CEO Park as soon as he stepped out of the blind spot.
His dumbfounded expression showed that he genuinely hadn’t known the CEO was there.
“Hyun-woo, take this and go inside. You two, come here for a moment.”
“Hey, noona.”
“Where’s the CEO?”
Kim Jeong-min asked as Roa opened the paper door and entered the room.
Roa glanced outside, then shook her head and sat down heavily next to Choi Yeong-guk.
“Where are the others?”
“It’ll take a while.”
“Why?”
As Kim Jeong-min continued his barrage of questions, Roa sighed deeply and replied,
“Eun-ho and Eun-ji were fighting, and then Byeol and Dal joined in.”
“Why were they fighting again…”
“So I told the CEO.”
“Oh dear. It’s going to take a while.”
“Of course.”
Kim Jeong-min also sighed deeply, as if this was as common as Eun-ho and Eun-ji’s fights.
“Should we just start eating?”
Roa firmly shook her head.
“Wait. The person with the corporate card isn’t here yet.”
“I have the corporate card…”
Just then, Hyun-woo opened the paper door, holding a matte black card.
Roa smiled brightly for the first time today and said,
“The corporate card is here, let’s order.”