Siblings Working in Business (173)
Winning by getting my or Lee Eun-ho’s vote…
“But there’s something strange.”
“What?”
“Both Oppa and I had a favorable impression of Bae-chan Sunbae. He might be a bit materialistic, but we were genuinely grateful for the gifts he gave us.”
“Right.”
“Then why did he eliminate me?”
“What do you mean?”
Eun-ji crossed her arms, rubbed her cheek with her left hand, and continued,
“Bae-chan Sunbae was the one who suggested we team up. The atmosphere wasn’t bad until we set off…”
Eun-ji seemed to hesitate to say more.
“What is it? Another one of your hunches?”
“Ah, yeah. The mission paper, the one we got at the beginning, not the number one.”
“Yeah.”
“It might be a crappy deduction, but when I saw it, Sunbae said he didn’t know what it meant, but it felt like he was lying.”
“It’s not like you haven’t been right with your ‘gut feeling’ before. I trust your instincts.”
Eun-ji smiled, surprised by Eun-ho’s firm words of confidence, and looked back at him.
“That’s a little bit nice of you.”
“If you’re grateful, stop acting like we’re equals.”
“Haha, no thanks.”
“Of course. Anyway, forget about that. When was this?”
“Right before Oppa left… I think. Because Oppa was in front of the Everland staff member.”
When he was in front of the Everland staff member…
「“Uh uh! Mr. Eun-ho, you have to find the mission area yourself.”」
Just then, he remembered the PD’s flustered outburst.
He had blatantly asked the staff member about the location on the mission slip, figuring he had nothing to lose.
‘Ah…!’
Eun-ho’s half-closed eyes widened as if he had found a clue.
“Hey, I figured it out.”
“What?”
“I asked the staff member about my mission location earlier.”
“Yeah, so?”
“You and Sunbae were nearby. What if Sunbae overheard, and it was a location he wasn’t supposed to know?”
“Why wouldn’t he be supposed to know?”
“It’s a crucial area for eliminating spies.”
“Is there a doll there?”
“Yes! The doll!”
Eun-ho hurriedly turned on his phone and reread the message.
[The spy base located in ‘Everland Horror House’…]
A base.
“That’s Bae-chan Sunbae’s base!”
“Oh? So he abandoned me to keep Oppa from going there?”
“Exactly.”
“Why me?”
“Because you’re my sister.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“He probably thought I would come to save you.”
“…Ah.”
A short gasp escaped Eun-ji’s lips, a mix of complex emotions, as the fact that Eun-ho came to save her sunk in.
“If that’s the case, then this must be the score.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I casually showed Sunbae my score paper, and I saw his too.”
Eun-ji was 1 point.
Jeong Bae-chan was 2 points.
Assuming spies’ scores didn’t count, what did that mean?
“Since only the spies have lower scores than Oppa, even if he kills me—”
“‘Eliminates’ you.”
Eun-ho was less averse to words related to death than before.
But still uncomfortable hearing them directly from Eun-ji, he quickly corrected her.
Eun-ji, understanding his feelings, accepted the correction without complaint and continued,
“Right. Even if he eliminates me. Anyway, the person who gets Oppa’s vote wins.”
“But what about the notification that Jeong Bae-chan was eliminated right after the one saying you were eliminated?”
“Isn’t that it?”
“What?”
“The secret item.”
“Ah…! Can it send fake messages?”
“I think so.”
“But you know…”
“Huh?”
“That Jeong Bae-chan wasn’t eliminated.”
“Right. Oppa came in right after he left. Was it a miscalculation?”
“Probably. He wouldn’t have expected me to come so quickly. I was walking slowly on the way there, but I ran like crazy here in case you started cursing.”
Eun-ji quietly nodded, seemingly having nothing to say to Eun-ho’s teasing remark.
“Let’s move first. We know how to win, but it’s a waste of time to just stand around.”
“You know how to win? How?”
Eun-ho shone the flashlight on the paper again, the writing having faded.
Even if death tears us apart, we were always together.
Even before joining this Change Partner, we were already a team.
Whether one of us is eliminated or not, that doesn’t change.
I walk and walk, trusting you who trust me.
This was the biggest hint.
We just needed to trust each other.
That’s what we do best.
“Let’s go to the spaceship first. I think Future City is Bae-chan Sunbae’s base.”
Jeong Bae-chan’s strategies in Change Partner were always decent.
However, there was one reason why he had never won.
‘Complacency.’
Whenever victory was within his grasp, his vision and thinking became extremely narrow.
He often lost to other members at the last minute.
This time was no different.
Jo Sa-rang arrived at the ‘Dollhouse’ first, using a shortcut she knew.
As Jeong Bae-chan leisurely approached the Dollhouse, completely unaware that Jo Sa-rang was hiding right behind him…
“Jeong Bae-chan! Give me back my doll!”
“Aaaaagh! Ouch! Ouch! That hurts!”
“Give me back my doll!”
The two engaged in the fight of their lives.
As Jeong Bae-chan raised his arm to prevent the doll from being taken…
Jo Sa-rang, smaller than Jeong Bae-chan, seemed to judge that she couldn’t win with strength and bit his side.
But as he lowered his arm, determined not to give it up easily…
Jeong Bae-chan cradled the doll like a bird protecting its egg, hunkering down on the floor and shouting,
“If a spy’s base is discovered, you should just surrender!”
“How can you do this?!”
“I just did!”
“Alliance, yeah! Let’s form an alliance, huh?”
“No way! You’re a spy!”
“Fine, don’t! Let’s both die today!!!”
Jo Sa-rang struggled to flip Jeong Bae-chan over, but it wasn’t easy.
Even though she bit the back of his head, Jeong Bae-chan showed no signs of letting go.
Amidst the chaos, a message arrived on both of their phones.
[Team C, Lee Eun-ji has been revived by Soul Link…]
Jo Sa-rang checked the message, and Jeong Bae-chan seized the opportunity to run towards the Dollhouse with her doll.
“No, stop!!!”
Jo Sa-rang desperately chased after him and grabbed him, tearing his shirt in the process.
But Jeong Bae-chan finally managed to stuff Jo Sa-rang’s doll into the Dollhouse.
“Aaaaagh!”
Jo Sa-rang screamed as the black-gloved staff dragged her away.
“I did it! I did it!!!”
The sight of two adults in their early to mid-twenties fighting over a doll would have been comical to any outsider, but for Jeong Bae-chan, it was a hard-won victory.
“Now, to go to Eun-ho… huh?”
Jeong Bae-chan’s face turned pale as he checked the message he had just received, basking in his victory.
He had tried so hard to run to Eun-ho to get his vote, but…
All that remained after the long struggle was a shirt that had become off-the-shoulder.
For the record, it had been a crew-neck t-shirt that fit perfectly.
‘E-Eun-ji is alive…?’
It was still okay.
At least Eun-ho and Eun-ji didn’t know there were five spies.
He could use this to somehow regain their trust.
Jeong Bae-chan held onto that vain hope.
Jeong Bae-chan wasn’t the only one flustered by the ‘notification.’
The PD, who had been enjoying the spectacle between Jeong Bae-chan and Jo Sa-rang…
“Wh-what?”
The smile vanished from the PD’s face the moment he received the call from a staff member.
“How?!”
“I don’t know either. They suddenly started guessing and figured it all out…”
“Does that even make sense?”
“It’s true!”
“Did you tell them?”
“No! Absolutely not! There was no time to interrupt!”
The staff member on the other end of the line pleaded their innocence against the PD’s suspicion.
But the PD couldn’t easily shake off his doubts.
How was this possible?
He had given them hints, yes.
He could understand them figuring out there were five spies.
That was the hint he had given them, after all.
And even the method of destroying the spy bases using the dolls.
But figuring out how to win was a different matter.
He had left a hint using the lyrics, but they deciphered it?
Usually, when he presented problems like this, the Change Partner members only realized, “Ah, that was a hint!” after the game was over, combining the hidden hints scattered throughout.
So, around this time, he would usually reveal the spy using the S-grade hint…
“If I reveal it here, the broadcast won’t have enough content…”
“…Let’s just let it play out.”
The PD held a brief meeting with the staff.
But thanks to Eun-ho and Eun-ji’s scheme to prank Jeong Bae-chan, there was no problem with the broadcast content.
“The ones in Extreme World and Tulip Park are gone too.”
Meanwhile, had the two been fighting each other during that time?
Or had one of them collected and eliminated both dolls?
A notification popped up, announcing that two spy bases had disappeared simultaneously.
Eun-ho and Eun-ji had arrived at Jeong Bae-chan’s base.
Eun-ji, having been eliminated once, knew the condition of ‘not shining a light on the doll.’
Thanks to this, Eun-ho turned off his flashlight, waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, then entered and retrieved the doll.
He shone the flashlight on the white paper he took, but surprisingly, the hint seemed to be the same.
“Huh? This one is wearing a blue dress.”
“Why?”
“The one at the Horror House was wearing red. I guess they have different clothes.”
“Clothes?”
“The eye color seems to match the clothes, but it’s not very noticeable since it’s a dark color. Similar.”
“Really?”
Eun-ji was terrible at remembering names but had an excellent memory for people’s appearances and objects.
If Eun-ji said they were ‘similar,’ to Eun-ho and others, they would look ‘practically identical.’
“Different clothes…”
Eun-ho pondered for a moment.
He could end the game here…
But he had a more interesting idea, and it would be a shame not to try it.
“Lee Eun-ji.”
“Yeah?”
Eun-ho spoke with a sly smile, like a snake hiding its intentions.
“Want to make Bae-chan Sunbae self-destruct?”
“Self-destruct? Ah…”
Eun-ji’s smile widened.
Their faces were identical, but because of Eun-ji’s eyes, or maybe her makeup…
Eun-ji had a much more mischievous aura as she replied,
“Totally in.”
Jeong Bae-chan, wandering around looking for Eun-ho and Eun-ji, first went to his own base.
Although there were traces of someone having been there, the doll remained untouched.
He then went to the mission areas he and Eun-ji had received, but both the papers and dolls were already gone.
As he returned to his base empty-handed…
“Oh!”
He recognized them instantly from their tall figures.
“Eun-ho!”
Eun-ho and Eun-ji turned their heads at the familiar voice.
Jeong Bae-chan hesitated and slowed his approach.
The moment they turned around…
Like prey slowly approaching a trap…
Eun-ho and Eun-ji were smiling brightly, a chilling glint in their light brown eyes.
‘…What’s going on?’
Jeong Bae-chan felt uneasy.