Siblings Work in Business (117)
After agreeing to be her errand boy, I glared at the smirking Aeseul and said,
“How are you going to prove you’re not lying?”
“Should I write you a contract?”
“Of course. Do it.”
Aeseul seemed to take it as a joke, but I was serious.
“Let’s go to a law firm.”
“What?”
“We need to notarize it.”
Aeseul, although looking dumbfounded, obediently followed me to a law firm.
During the taxi ride, she kept grumbling, “I’ve never met anyone like you.”
“You’ve only lived for 20 years.”
“Still.”
We arrived at the law firm. It was someone I had a connection with from before.
The lawyer who handled Eun-ji and my guardianship case, and Eun-ji’s sexual harassment case after the regression.
“What brings you here, Eun-ho…?”
Although I had contacted him in advance, the lawyer still seemed surprised by my sudden visit.
Aeseul, who had initially taken it lightly, became serious once the lawyer was involved.
We wrote a contract and had it notarized.
The errands themselves weren’t difficult.
Most of Aeseul’s requests were trivial.
Six months passed.
[ㅗ – I’m sick, buy me medicine.]
I was resting after a recording session when…
…I received a message from ‘ㅗ,’ the person I hated seeing.
It was Aeseul.
“What kind of medicine?”
I was a bit puzzled because she never made typos.
I wasn’t worried, just curious.
I replied, asking what medicine she needed, but she didn’t answer.
I called her, and her usually loud, boisterous voice was unusually weak.
“Hello.”
“Buy me medicine…”
“Seriously, there are hundreds of different medicines.”
“I have a fever and chills. Muscle aches too…”
“Go to the hospital.”
“I’m asking you to buy me medicine because I don’t want to go! Hurry up! Bring it within 30 minutes.”
So much for a weak voice.
My ears were ringing.
“Fine, fine.”
I hung up and looked for my manager.
“Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“I need to go to the pharmacy.”
“Why? Are you sick?”
Manager Do-jin, oblivious to the grease stains on his glasses, was eating a potato pizza.
“No, not me…”
“Is your sister sick? She has a concert coming up, it’ll be a disaster if she’s not feeling well.”
“No, not her either.”
“Then who?”
Do-jin, about to take another bite of pizza, suddenly looked at me.
“Don’t tell me…”
He dropped his pizza.
He asked incredulously,
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“What the hell, no!”
“Ah, you scared me. Why are you yelling…?”
“Sorry. You said something stupid.”
I shouldn’t have reacted like that, but the thought of Aeseul being my girlfriend…
…was horrifying, and I blurted out a curse.
Do-jin grumbled, picked up his dropped pizza, and folded it in half.
He shoved the half-eaten pizza into his mouth and said,
“Let’sh go.”
“Won’t your mouth explode?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re… okay?”
Do-jin, his mouth full of pizza, stood up.
“No, you don’t have to come. I can just take a taxi—”
“I’ll drive.”
“What?”
“I’ll drive.”
“You’re offering to drive?”
“Yeah.”
“Seriously, just swallow your food and speak properly. Don’t be like Lee Eun-ji.”
“I’m fine.”
Although it sounded like he was yelling, I couldn’t understand his muffled words.
Do-jin sometimes acted like Eun-ji.
Stuffing his mouth with food and mumbling…
If it weren’t for their different appearances, I would have thought he was our older brother.
But strangely, Lee Eun-ji hated Do-jin.
「“Oppa’s manager is disgusting!”」
That was her reason.
Do-jin also disliked Eun-ji, calling her disrespectful.
From my perspective, stuck between them, it felt like mutual hatred.
“Burp.”
Do-jin chugged a glass of cola and finally answered, after swallowing his food.
“Let’s go together.”
“It’s fine. It’s nearby.”
“Who are you buying medicine for?”
“…Someone annoying.”
“A friend?”
“…”
Friend, my ass.
I decided it was better not to answer.
“I’ll drive you.”
“It’s fine.”
“You’re so stubborn.”
“I’ll be back.”
“If it takes too long…!”
“It’s fine. I’ll be quick.”
I thought I would be back soon.
[ㅗ – Deliver it to my house.]
That was, until I saw Aeseul’s message.
I wanted to quit right then and there, but Aeseul had been fulfilling her part of the contract.
She had cleaned up the mess she made with the rumors.
I didn’t know if she did it herself, but…
Whenever an article about Eun-ji’s past surfaced, it disappeared before it could gain traction.
Since she was handling things well, I also treated her like a human being, as per our agreement.
I arrived at the address she sent.
I was a bit surprised when the navigation showed a hotel, but…
‘I thought it would be a luxury apartment in Gangnam or something…’
It was a five-star hotel owned by Divide.
♬
The phone rang.
Aeseul, with much effort, sat up and answered.
“A guest…”
“I know. Send him up.”
“…Okay.”
Aeseul hung up irritably.
—♩
A moment later…
Aeseul opened the door at the sound of the doorbell.
Eun-ho, seemingly nervous in the unfamiliar place, flinched as the door opened.
Aeseul, finding his reaction both pathetic and amusing, chuckled.
“Come in.”
“No. Just give me the medicine.”
“I asked for porridge, so come in.”
“…”
Eun-ho sighed deeply.
His annoyance was short-lived, as he looked around the room with wide eyes.
“Wow, it’s like a whole house inside a building.”
“How uncultured.”
Eun-ho clicked his tongue at Aeseul’s mutter and turned his head away.
“Do you have ingredients for porridge?”
“My manager probably bought some. Make it yourself and wake me up.”
Eun-ho, without replying, started preparing the ingredients, eager to leave.
Perhaps because he often made it for Eun-ji…
He was being meticulous, even though he could have just made something simple.
“Hey Seul, how do you use this?!”
“Don’t call me by my real name! Just press the buttons, you idiot!”
“I’m asking because I can’t see any buttons.”
“I don’t know either, I’ve never used it. Figure it out.”
“Your temper—”
He had learned her real name from a bill, after running errands for her for six months.
Aeseul said she hated her real name, ‘Seul,’ because she was often teased as a child.
So, she used her stage name, Aeseul, as her real name.
Eun-ho called her ‘Eoiseul’ whenever he had to use her name.
Just because he didn’t like her.
Looking at Aeseul by the refrigerator, Eun-ho frowned and said,
“Hey, take it with water. I don’t want to clean up a corpse.”
“What does cola have to do with a corpse?”
Aeseul was about to take her medicine with cola.
“Haven’t you heard about some chemical reaction that can kill you?”
“No.”
“Then just eat it and die, whatever.”
Aeseul was about to ignore him, then, seemingly bothered by his words, she put the cola away and filled a glass with water.
After taking the medicine, she was about to go back to her room when…
‘How long does it take to make porridge…?’
He thought it would be simple, but Eun-ho was washing and soaking the rice…
Intrigued by his meticulousness, Aeseul sat down and watched him.
“Ah, wow. It’s touch-sensitive.”
Eun-ho muttered in surprise, seemingly having figured out how to use the induction stove.
‘Haha.’
Aeseul was smiling at him.
‘Oops.’
She quickly composed her expression when she realized she was smiling, but it was too late.
“Why are you smirking? Just eat.”
Despite his harsh words, the porridge Eun-ho made was smooth and creamy, without a single lump.
Although it wasn’t seasoned, it was subtly sweet, the flavor of the rice itself enhanced.
“…It’s delicious.”
“I made extra, so it should last you a day. Put it away when it cools down. If you’re going to leave it out, reheat it before eating.”
“Okay…”
“I’m leaving.”
“…”
Eun-ho, as if having done his duty, left without waiting for a reply.
The hotel room door clicked shut, and silence returned, as if he had never been there.
Aeseul turned her gaze towards the pot of porridge.
She picked up a spoon with slightly trembling hands and started eating.
When she first had a fever…
She couldn’t contact her manager, who she usually relied on.
Her manager, who had been with her since 6th grade, had quit.
「“Unnie, how could you do this to me?!”」
「“I wonder…”」
The manager smiled at Aeseul, a bitter smile.
「“I tried to endure it, thinking I had to take responsibility, since I was the one who messed up…”」
It was too much.
I’m sorry, Aeseul.
The manager finished her sentence silently, her lips forming the words.
Aeseul went to the CEO of DI Music first.
She thought her uncle would convince her manager to stay.
But his answer shocked her.
「“I’ll find someone better, someone more obedient. Don’t worry.”」
As if replacing a broken part, her uncle simply offered to find a new manager.
‘No, uncle, that’s not what I—’
The more she protested, the more he shook his head, as if he couldn’t understand her.
Clink, clink.
“Sniffle, ugh…”
The sound of the spoon scraping against the ceramic bowl and Aeseul’s muffled sobs filled the spacious hotel room.
[ㅗ – Thanks for the porridge.]
Eun-ho, without even reading the message from ‘ㅗ,’ turned off his phone and entered the house.
“Where were you?”
“…Running errands.”
“For the CEO?”
“No. Someone else. Why?”
“Ah! Guess what! I went to see Ji Ye-chan before the broadcast today!”
“Ji Ye-chan from Toxin?”
“Yeah! It was amazing!”
“What was.”
“He listened to my song! Isn’t that amazing?!”
“…It is.”
“Right?!”
“Yeah, your face is.”
“Ugh…”
Eun-ji, who had been excitedly talking, deflated like a punctured balloon.
“I’m not talking to you anymore!”
Eun-ho chuckled as Eun-ji stomped off to her room, slamming the door shut.
“If you don’t come out, I’m eating all the jjajangmyeon myself.”
“What?! No way! Save some for me!”
“No.”
The door opened again.
Haha.
‘Ah…’
The stress from earlier finally melted away.