Siblings Work in Business (132)
My arm, raised high for the “doodoomchit” pose, trembled.
I had done it on impulse, out of frustration, but I suddenly felt a wave of embarrassment as I realized what I was doing.
I slowly lowered my arm and sat back down.
“Are you oka—”
“Shut up. Just be quiet. Don’t say anything.”
“O-Okay…”
Eun-ji looked at me with genuine concern, instead of her usual laughter.
Damn it, it was all because of that damn cat.
Later, Eun-ji went to change, as if nothing had happened, and I was about to leave when…
Speak of the devil.
The black cat was sitting in front of the box house Eun-ji prepared, grooming itself.
‘…’
‘…’
As our eyes met…
『Hi?』
The cat raised a paw and greeted me from inside the box.
It was the same gruff, old-man voice I had heard yesterday, when it seemed to be complaining.
“L-Lee Eun-ji! Hey!”
I quickly called Eun-ji, my eyes fixed on the cat, afraid it might disappear.
This was my chance to prove I wasn’t lying.
The black cat leisurely licked its paw and then tucked it back inside the box.
“What.”
A moment later, Eun-ji emerged from her room, wearing black shorts and an oversized t-shirt with a bulldog print.
“The cat I told you about is here. The black one.”
“Oh, you’re here early today.”
“Meow.”
The cat meowed at Eun-ji.
As Eun-ji approached, the cat rubbed against her legs affectionately.
It was acting like a normal cat, as if it had never spoken.
Just as I was staring at it in disbelief…
“Wait a minute.”
“Wait for what.”
“Not you, idiot.”
Eun-ji suddenly went back inside.
She returned with a bowl of cat food.
“Where did you get cat food?”
“The CEO gave it to me. He told me to take care of it.”
I hadn’t heard about this, so I stared at Eun-ji as she placed the bowl in front of the cat.
Eun-ji, as if reading my mind, said,
“I didn’t tell you on purpose.”
“Why?”
I was a little surprised; it was the question I had been wanting to ask.
“I thought you didn’t like cats.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You.”
Honestly, I liked cats.
Except for this weird black cat.
“How did you even get that idea?”
“You screamed when you saw it, and you kept glaring at it.”
“That’s because… back then…”
It was mainly because of the pale Eun-ji hallucination.
Eun-ji gently stroked the black cat’s head and said, her voice sickeningly sweet,
“This little one says you can talk now.”
“Meow.”
I felt nauseous.
“Ugh.”
Eun-ji, hearing me, smirked and gave me the finger.
‘Should I bite it off?’
I considered it, but then decided against it, bothered by its yellow eyes staring at me.
I wanted to ask so many questions, but I held back because of Lee Gu-reum’s class.
“We’re going to be late.”
“Ah, right. Let’s go.”
Eun-ji stood up.
“I’ll just wash my hands.”
“Okay. I’ll be going down.”
“Sure.”
After Eun-ji went inside, I glared at the black cat, which was eating.
It stopped eating and stared back.
There was a strange tension in the air.
“You.”
“…”
“What are you?”
If it were before, I would have dismissed it as an auditory hallucination. Before I knew that the pale Eun-ji was actually Eun-ji, that’s probably what I would have done.
The black cat ignored my question and continued eating, the only sound the crunching of kibble.
“Cat, you can talk.”
“…”
“You said ‘Hi’ and raised your paw, and yesterday, you did that weird pose.”
I whispered, not wanting Eun-ji inside to hear me.
But it didn’t answer.
One of its ears twitched, as if telling me to go away.
‘So that’s how it is…’
I wanted to sit down and ask it all sorts of questions.
But unfortunately, I had a schedule.
And if I was late for Lee Gu-reum’s class, I would be punished with 10kg ankle weights.
‘If it weren’t for her class…’
Eun-ji said the cat came here several times a week to eat.
I could talk to it later.
So, I turned and headed for the stairs.
Honestly, I was also a little afraid of what it might say.
Just as I was about to leave…
『Huh? Hey, you ask a question and then just leave without hearing the answer?』
I had given up, but it seemed determined to annoy me.
Was it mocking me?
“I’m not interested if you’re not going to answer right away.”
『Ooh, feisty, aren’t we?!』
It sounded a bit irritated.
“Eun-ji will be out soon, and you don’t talk in front of her anyway.”
“Meow.”
The cat suddenly perked up its ears and meowed like a normal cat.
“What?”
I wondered what was going on, and then…
Eun-ji burst out of the door.
“What? You’re still here?”
“…Yeah.”
Eun-ji’s expression was dark.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s… bad. I clogged the toilet.”
Why did she clog the toilet after just washing her hands?
Eun-ji, as if she heard my thoughts, yelled,
“What was I supposed to do?! Nature calls!”
“…Just… go and fix it.”
“Are we late?”
“Not yet. We can avoid the ankle weights.”
I deliberately answered Eun-ji, ignoring the cat, which was staring at me.
“I’ll be back, Black!”
“Meow.”
Black?
“You gave it a name?”
“Yeah, because it’s black.”
“Then call it ‘Kkamy’ (Blacky). Why ‘Black’?”
“I don’t like it.”
“Meow.”
“Hmm.”
Just like when she suggested ‘Eung-ga’ as a fandom name, Eun-ji had her own way with names.
Meanwhile, the cat seemed to like the name ‘Black,’ its expression looking pleased.
And that annoyed me.
「“That dog hates me…”」
「“Why do all the cats like Oppa?!”」
Eun-ji was oblivious to how animals felt, just like when we were young.
Dogs avoided her because she kept pulling their tails, and cats disliked her because she kept approaching them even when they hissed.
But she loved animals.
I, on the other hand, wasn’t like Eun-ji.
I was more like, ‘I won’t bother you, so don’t bother me.’
But perhaps because that was better for them, animals often clung to me and slept near me, avoiding Eun-ji.
‘Hmm…’
I looked at the cat rubbing its head against Eun-ji and had an idea.
A petty revenge for keeping me up all night.
“Hey, Lee Eun-ji.”
“What.”
“How about ‘Briquette’ (Yeontan) as the cat’s name?”
“Briquette?”
“Meow?”
The cat meowed anxiously as Eun-ji seemed interested.
“Or ‘Coal’ (Seoktan).”
“Coal, Briquette, oh, Briquette, Briquette.”
“Meow!”
“See, it likes it.”
“Meow.”
“It really wants that name.”
The cat glared at me, its eyes narrowed.
It was a completely different expression from its smug look earlier.
As I smirked back at the cat, its tail twitched against the floor.
It was showing its annoyance, which only fueled my amusement.
“Hey, look, it’s even wagging its tail.”
“Oh! You’re right! Coal, do you want to be called Briquette?”
Thwack, thwack, thwack!
The black tail twitched against the floor.
‘Too bad.’
Lee Eun-ji thought cats, like dogs, wagged their tails when they were happy.
Then, the cat bared its teeth, as if about to hiss.
If it was so upset, it should talk.
“Lee Eun-ho, is Briquette smiling?”
“Yeah, it seems to like ‘Briquette’ much more than ‘Coal.’ Hey, look at the time.”
“The time? OMG, we have to go. Bye, Briquette!”
As Eun-ji greeted the cat—Briquette—it stared at her, its mouth agape in shock.
‘I win, haha. How do you like that, Briquette?’
I followed Eun-ji down the stairs, smirking at the cat.
‘…’
I was happy about winning against a cat…
My joy was short-lived, as self-deprecation washed over me.
‘Why am I being so childish lately…?’
On my way to Cloud’s practice room with Lee Eun-ji…
“Is today’s choreography for ‘Hae-ga’?”
“Yeah.”
“What part of the album is ‘Hae-ga’?”
“Morning.”
“Oh, right, right. Ugh!”
Eun-ji stretched and said,
“We’ll be able to perform this one properly, right?”
“Of course.”
“I’m not complaining about the collaborations with the seniors, but it was a shame we couldn’t perform. And the last ‘Wise’ broadcast got canceled too…”
I had been distracted by ‘Briquette,’ but…
Eun-ji’s words brought me back to reality.
“We have to perform even more this time…”
“Yeah.”
Despite the release of the “Hot Afternoon” music video, E-UNG’s schedule for the next three weeks was completely empty because a company blocked us.
Rat
We couldn’t perform “Hot Afternoon” or even do the last broadcast of “Wise.”
To put it bluntly, “Hot Afternoon” was doomed from the start.
It was incredibly difficult for a song without broadcast exposure to chart high.
The song itself was good.
Most fans praised it, and even non-fans had positive reviews.
But it “failed” for one reason.
‘Its association with Toxin.’
According to the seniors in our group chat, TaKa was closely monitoring even Toxin’s individual schedules.
TaKa Entertainment seemed to be holding onto a sliver of hope, unwilling to let go of Toxin before their contract renewal.
And then there was CEO Park Chang-seok and us, his artists.
If our relationship with Toxin was revealed, CEO Park’s past with Toxin would naturally resurface.
Although it was a story that brought them to the top, it was still a sensitive issue for TaKa.
But the reporters were different.
They were waiting for any hint of conflict between TaKa Entertainment and NRY Entertainment.
And “Hot Afternoon” was the trigger.