Siblings Work in Business (58)
“…”
Eun-ho was in shock.
When he opened his eyes in the barbecue restaurant, hoping the hallucination would be gone, it was, as he wished.
Relieved, he had forgotten about it, but the moment he arrived on the second floor of the dorm…
He saw the pale Eun-ji standing at the front door, as if waiting for him.
He wanted to scream.
But it was pointless.
After Eun-ji’s death, during the year he saw hallucinations, he tried everything: throwing things, yelling, visiting churches and temples, even shamanistic rituals.
But the only thing that worked was ignoring it.
It kept following him, like a child craving attention.
He shuddered, remembering that agonizing time.
「“Aww, little one, where did you come from?”」
When he arrived at the dorm, he clearly saw the corpse-like face in a hospital gown.
But when he blinked, it turned into a black cat.
Perhaps it had been a cat from the beginning.
But when he met the cat’s yellow eyes, he felt a chill.
‘Something…’
An unsettling, unpleasant feeling lingered.
‘I need to sleep.’
His mind told him that, but his body refused to cooperate.
The stage, the unsettling visitor—whether a cat or a ghost—the lyrics for the new song…
He had so much on his mind that he couldn’t sleep, despite feeling tired.
Honestly, he felt like sleeping was a waste of time.
♩♪♪♪
Perhaps Lee Eun-ji also couldn’t sleep.
He heard music coming from her room.
It wasn’t loud enough to be heard outside the house, but it was loud enough to reach his room.
The warm, gentle melody of an unknown string instrument filled the house all night.
Despite his racing thoughts, the lyrics flowed smoothly, perhaps because of the busy day.
“I’m done.”
He had to match the lyrics to the melody, but looking out the window, it seemed like the sun was about to rise.
He decided to get at least two hours of sleep.
The keyboard sounds and Eun-ji’s humming from her room continued for another hour and then stopped.
When he opened his eyes again, the sun was just rising.
Thump, thump, thump.
Was it the wind?
A loud noise came from the thin aluminum door, easily rattled by even the slightest touch, as if something blown by the wind had hit it.
“Ah… it’s past 4…”
His voice was hoarse as he checked the time on his phone.
Perhaps due to the hectic day, he had overslept by 30 minutes, unlike usual.
“Ahem.”
I drank the water I had left by my bedside and cleared my throat, opening the door.
“Ugh,uwaah!”
Then…
A scream, followed by a loud bang from next door.
“Why are you screaming?! You scared me.”
“W-Why is that here?!”
“What?! Oh?”
Lee Eun-ji, seemingly having just woken up, looked in the direction I was pointing at, one eye still half-closed.
“It’s a kitten!”
“What kitten?”
“A cat! I brought it inside because it was cold outside.”
“What?”
Did I mishear?
I looked at the front door again, and there was Eun-ji in a hospital gown, her face pale…
There was definitely Eun-ji squatting there, but now there was a black cat.
The same cat from yesterday.
“Did you lose your mind during the performance? Why are you acting like this?”
Bang, bang.
Just as I stood there speechless, hyung arrived, the aluminum door rattling loudly.
Eun-ji sighed and went to the front door.
I watched her.
The black cat with unsettling yellow eyes stared at Eun-ji with an emotionless gaze.
“Good… huh?”
The front door opened.
Hyung, who was about to greet us as usual, stopped mid-sentence, his eyes widening in surprise at Eun-ji’s unexpected appearance.
Hyun-woo’s gaze shifted downwards.
“A cat? Aww, it’s cute.”
Hyun-woo’s words confirmed it.
The cat was just a normal cat.
My racing heart calmed down.
It became clear that it was just a hallucination, visible only to me.
‘I’m losing it again.’
It wasn’t common, but it was common for me.
The first time it happened was when Lee Eun-ji was gone, but anyway…
It was something I had experienced before.
‘I’ve practiced acting normal when I’m not.’
This was better than before, when I could see it, but others couldn’t.
Yes, that’s it.
I decided to think that way.
“I brought it inside yesterday because it looked cold.”
“But isn’t it difficult to keep a cat in the dorm? Because of the cost and everything.”
“It is, right? I just made a place for it to sleep last night and gave it some water. I’ve never taken care of an animal before…”
“You can ask the CEO, I think he has a cat. The cat pictures he sometimes includes in the O-Tube videos are his cat—”
While I was calming myself down, Lee Eun-ji and Hyun-woo were discussing the cat’s situation.
After their conversation about the cat ended, hyung clapped lightly to change the subject.
“Let’s get ready and go downstairs. The CEO is waiting.”
“Oh? The CEO came to work early today?”
“He said, ‘How can a father not see his children off to war?’ He’s coming with us today.”
Lee Eun-ji grinned, seemingly pleased with Hyun-woo’s words.
Normally, having the CEO tag along might be burdensome, but for us, the CEO was like a father, so it was reassuring.
My tense shoulders relaxed thanks to the chaotic morning.
“Get ready and come down on time.”
“Okay.”
“Yes!”
Hyun-woo relayed the message and went downstairs.
“I’ll shower first.”
I went into the bathroom, craving cold water.
Pouring ice-cold water over my head cleared my mind.
‘Ah.’
I had to wash my hair again at the shop…
It was too late now that it was already wet.
Since it was already wet, I washed my face as well and came out.
“What, you washed your hair?”
“Yeah.”
“To wake yourself up with cold water?”
Lee Eun-ji teased me.
Normally, I would have bickered with her, but perhaps because I was preoccupied today…
I didn’t have the energy.
I desperately wanted to be on stage, to forget about the distracting thoughts.
“I’m going down first.”
“Okay~”
I got dressed and headed downstairs.
The cat by the front door stared at me, then turned its head towards the bathroom as Eun-ji closed the door.
‘It’ll be okay.’
Resolution
<Are they really rookies? Visuals, vocals, and talent! “We are E-UNG!”>
<‘Father of TOXIN,’ Park Chang-seok’s solo venture, debut group ‘E-UNG’ releases ‘DUO’!>
<The unpretentious, real-life siblings, E-UNG!>
As I entered the CEO’s office on the first floor, he showed me numerous articles with a smile.
They were all filled with positive stories about us.
Judging by the complimentary headlines, it was clear that the CEO had cherry-picked the good ones.
“The responses seem good.”
“They’re great! I took a gamble, but thankfully, it seems to have paid off. Oh, and there’s this too.”
The CEO rummaged through his drawer and pulled out the February issue of “CK Music Life” and a rolled-up, laminated sheet of paper.
“This didn’t include the busking performance because of the delay, but it turned out well.”
“What is it?”
“This?”
I understood that our article was in the magazine.
The only thing left was the rolled-up paper, and the CEO’s expression turned meaningful at my question.
“Ta-da!”
The CEO unrolled the paper and exclaimed.
And I froze.
“Holy crap, what is that monstrosity?!”
Lee Eun-ji, who had just come downstairs, saw the poster the CEO was holding and yelled instead of me.
The CEO, as if expecting this reaction, chuckled and said,
“What do you think? Turned out well, right?”
“No. Not at all. It’s horrifying.”
“Hahaha.”
Although Lee Eun-ji was being serious, it seemed like the CEO didn’t take it that way.
If she meant the quality of the picture, then yes, it was good.
But the picture itself…
“Why this one? You took thousands of other photos.”
At my question, the CEO tilted his head as if I was talking nonsense.
“The rest of them were all of you with constipated faces.”
Oh dear.
This was more of a headache than the cat situation.
As expected, it was the photo taken during the music video shoot, during the rushed schedule.
When I was catching Lee Eun-ji as she stumbled during a pose.
But perhaps because the photo was enlarged…
It looked similar to the awkward ending pose from the showcase, when Lee Eun-ji grabbed my collar.
‘She’s a repeat offender.’
As I rubbed my bruised collarbone…
The CEO placed his hand on the February issue of the magazine, a thoughtful expression on his face.
“The May issue is the last for CK Music Life.”
“Why…?”
“It’s not a small company like ours.”
The CEO smiled wryly and fell silent.
CK E&M wasn’t a small company.
‘Ah, it’s not a small company…’
That explained everything.
CK had two other magazines besides Music Life.
Although they had been around for a long time, the magazines with low readership probably weren’t profitable for the company.
“It’s bittersweet, but that’s why things moved quickly. They used me as leverage.”
“You, CEO?”
“I have a lot of stories to tell.”
The CEO chuckled, as if joking, but his past was indeed colorful.
But no matter how impressive his past was, our company was still a startup.
Not many publications would dedicate several pages to a rookie group that hadn’t even debuted yet.
“So that’s why it was so rushed.”
“Well, haha. Yes.”
After the music video shoot was scheduled…
We didn’t even have time for a proper interview.
The rushed schedule and the photoshoot seemed strange, but now I understood.
“Thankfully, the editor seemed to like you, they wrote a very detailed article. They might be a fan.”
“Nah…”