Siblings Work in Business (140)
The ’10 seconds’ that saved them was, again, a tip from Seo Seung-yeon.
While CEO Park was counting to 10, Eun-ho, although still arguing, was also counting internally. The moment he closed his mouth, Eun-ji, as if on cue, did the same.
‘What?’
‘Smile, if you want to live, just smile.’
‘Suddenly?’
‘I’ll explain later, just agree with him. Even if it’s annoying, just do it.’
Eun-ho quickly gave Eun-ji instructions with his eyes.
Thankfully, the message was delivered correctly this time, as both of them forced smiles.
‘Look at these two…’
CEO Park chuckled in amusement.
“Ha…”
As he sighed, Eun-ho and Eun-ji’s shoulders flinched simultaneously. CEO Park, about to scold them, also started laughing.
‘How can I even control you two?’
He shook his head and said,
“Don’t fight like that on stage.”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Now go and practice. And Eun-ji, clean your room.”
“Okaaay…”
“You can go now.”
That was all he wanted to say. These two wouldn’t listen to anything more anyway.
Perhaps relieved that the lecture didn’t drag on, Eun-ho and Eun-ji bowed their heads with brighter expressions.
“Hey, don’t push!”
“You’re the one pushing.”
They bickered briefly by the door, then quickly ran out of the office at CEO Park’s glare.
‘Those two…’
CEO Park chuckled, shaking his head.
A few days later, at the end of May, the first day of the Ihan University festival…
“Shin-il, aren’t you going?”
“I have a ton of assignments, are you mocking me?”
“Haha. I told you not to take that professor’s class.”
“I know, damn it, what am I supposed to do now? I need the credits.”
“Tsk, tsk.”
His roommate clicked his tongue, looking at Shin-il with pity.
Shin-il threw a roll of toilet paper at him and yelled,
“Get out of here!”
“Hey, let’s go together. There are some famous people coming.”
“Bullshit. They’ll only have rookies and nobodies on the first day. No, thanks.”
“I heard a sibling duo is performing.”
“The Sibling Musicians?”
“No, not them.”
“There are other sibling singers?”
“E-UNG? M-EUM?”
“What kind of weird names are those? I’m not going.”
“The girl is incredibly pretty.”
“I said I’m not going. Singers should be good at singing, not just pretty. I have assignments to do!”
His roommate, who seemed to have been teasing him from the start, chuckled and waved his hand as Shin-il got angry.
“Fine, I’m going to enjoy the festival since I don’t have assignments, you loser.”
“Just get out!”
“Haha.”
The three-day festival… It was also the dreaded assignment season between midterms and finals, especially for Shin-il, who had a professor notorious for piling on the assignments. He was pulling his hair out.
The only consolation was that famous singers usually performed on the last day, or at least later in the evening.
So, the current performers were nobodies. Shin-il’s plan was to finish his assignments and then watch the famous singers later.
The stage set up on the university field was quite far from the dorms.
But he could faintly hear the music.
—We are E-U, N, G! E-UNG!
—E-UNG!
“What a messy introduction.”
Good thing I didn’t go.
Shin-il thought.
Perhaps because they were the first performers, or because they were rookies…
…the E-UNG team seemed to be spending a lot of time talking to the small audience before their performance. They even seemed to be bickering.
Then, after a while, a familiar melody started playing.
Shin-il, who had been writing a long equation, stopped and looked out the window.
“Oh, this…”
It’s hard to even breathe
You know, Last Day
Ah, that song.
The OST from that ridiculous drama his mom always watched. Something about a CEO with multiple personalities… he remembered hearing it. He didn’t know if it was E-UNG’s song, or if they were just covering a famous hit. A high-pitched voice, either male or female, singing… the note ended cleanly, leaving a lingering feeling. And the following voice was a captivating low tone, contrasting with the previous high note.
‘They’re good singers.’
They were definitely talented.
He was a bit curious about who they were.
But not enough to abandon his assignments. He went back to his work.
[Dude, they’re amazing!!!]
[You’re not coming?]
[Seriously, they’re so good!]
[You’ll regret it if you don’t come ㄹㅇ (really)]
…He tried to focus.
Until his roommate, who had been teasing him about the festival, bombarded him with messages.
“So annoying.”
He said that, but by the second song, he was already putting on his jacket.
“We are E-U, N, G!”
“E-UNG, Lee Eun-ji.”
“And Lee Eun-ho.”
Strange.
It wasn’t like they were trying to be out of sync, but they were.
“Does anyone know us?”
“No!!!”
“Yes!!!”
“Ji-ji! Rangi!”
A few people in the audience were yelling their nicknames, clearly E%.
They were holding the light stick they designed, and also dolls of a black cat with a fish mask and an orange cat with a pumpkin bag. The newly released merchandise.
「“On the count of three, say the first word that comes to mind.”」
When we were designing the characters, Eun-ji and I decided to say the first word we associated with each other. And to incorporate that into the design.
‘That was a mistake.’
Eun-ji, predictably, said “rockfish” and “seafood.” I chose “pumpkin.”
Since “seafood” was too broad, we decided to go with “rockfish.” And then we got stuck again.
「“Lee Eun-ho wears a mask all the time outside.”」
「“What mask?”」
「“You pretend to be nice and polite. That’s a mask.”」
「“I’m not pretending, I am nice.”」
「“Bullshit.”」
Although we bickered, Eun-ji’s suggestion of a “mask” wasn’t bad, so we incorporated it into the design. And I wanted to make Eun-ji wear a pumpkin mask too, but the company vetoed the idea, so we settled on the pumpkin bag.
The cat dolls were more popular than we expected; even people who didn’t know E-UNG seemed to be buying them.
‘By the way…’
The atmosphere was different from Eun-ji’s university performance before the regression, although it was a different university.
‘Back then, the entire field and even the building across the street was packed with people…’
Now, most people were just passing by.
The empty space seemed larger than the crowd gathered in front of the stage.
It was a little past 6 pm, so the crowd might grow.
‘I heard another famous group is performing at this university later tonight.’
I knew that. We were still rookies.
…But I needed time to accept that.
“Haha, it seems like most of you don’t know us.”
“We do!!!”
Our fans’ shouts soothed my disappointment.
So, Eun-ji and I chose the best song to introduce ourselves.
We needed to draw a crowd.
We could have sung “Wise” with Toxin, but we deliberately chose “Last Day.”
We had to surpass the success of “Last Day” on our own.
That’s why we chose it.
Don’t hurt me
If you care, don’t move
Perhaps thanks to practice, or the excitement of being on stage after a while…
…or the support of the fans singing along… I was in great condition today.
I hit a higher note than usual, and Eun-ji, surprised, looked at me.
I smirked, and she, as if accepting the challenge, took over my part, even though it wasn’t hers. I stepped back, giving her the stage, and she flawlessly hit the high note.
“This time… everyone, you know this one, right?”
“Yes!!!”
Our second song wasn’t ours.
But it was a popular song, good for getting the crowd excited. As the energy built up, Eun-ji and I stepped off the stage and high-fived the audience beyond the fence as we sang. We even posed for the fans taking pictures with their professional cameras.
After we finished the song and returned to the stage…
“Waaaaah!”
Loud cheers erupted.
I felt a lump in my throat, but I suppressed it and enjoyed the moment.
“Whew! I’m a bit out of breath after getting so excited. We’re about to perform our last song, oh…”
I had been so caught up in the performance that I hadn’t noticed…
…until I turned around and looked at the field. I paused, slightly moved, at the sight.
The crowd had grown considerably.
It wasn’t comparable to Eun-ji’s past popularity, but it was still a large crowd for rookies.
“Haha, to those who arrived late, hello! I’m Lee Eun-ho from E-UNG.”
“And Lee Eun-ji.”
Then…
“Hey, Lee Eun-ji.”
I had a fun idea, so I called Eun-ji, lowering the microphone.
Eun-ji, initially grumbling about being interrupted, seemed excited after hearing my idea.
“Oh, I like it. But is it okay?”
“Let’s try it.”
After a brief discussion, Eun-ji took the microphone.
I let her lead, since she had more experience with live performances.
“We’re going to perform our new song for promotion, but… the lyrics are a bit…”
“I wrote the lyrics.”
I interjected, holding the microphone, offended by her comment.
But Eun-ji ignored me and looked around the audience with sparkling eyes.
“Hmm, let’s see…”
Then, as if she had found someone, she jumped off the stage.
“Lee Eun-ji! Where are you going?!”
“Wait!”