Siblings Working in Business (191)
[Ah-yeong ― Show me]
[Me ― What?]
[Ah-yeong ― The album]
― Show me!]
[Me ― Didn’t you say you already bought the album?]
[Ah-yeong ― I had to cancel my order because I needed cash, and I reordered it ㅠㅠㅠ]
― Mine’s still a long way from arriving ㅠ]
[Me ― See?
― I told you, you can starve yourself, but not your fandom lol]
― You were going to buy it anyway, so you should buy it before the price goes up.]
[Ah-yeong ― So true lol]
― Anyway]
― Hurry hurry hurry hurry]
― Hurryhurryhurryhurry]
― Show me!]
At Ah-yeong’s urging, Eun-jeong finally opened the box.
Inside, among the eight variations of the Behind the Scenes Photobook in rainbow colors, matching the album packaging design, she received the red one.
“Oh, what’s this?!”
There was one difference from the description on the website.
“It’s hardcover?”
Eun-jeong tapped the cover with her knuckle to test its sturdiness.
“Wow.”
When she first ordered it, she thought it would be a cheap, magazine-like quality.
‘Usually, they cut costs by making them like magazines…’
But it seemed NRY Entertainment prioritized quality over cost-effectiveness for their E%.
Even for a mini-album, the attention to detail was evident, from the sturdy case to the material that didn’t show fingerprints.
The regular photobook under the Behind the Scenes Photobook wasn’t hardcover, but it was still made with a sturdy hard case.
Another photo session ensued.
Eun-jeong, excitedly taking pictures of the album, was choosing which ones to send to Ah-yeong when…
Initially, she planned to send aerial shots like she did with the box.
But…
‘I can’t see it. The highlight on the corner, I can’t see it!’
There was an EG logo on the left corner that shimmered only when it caught the light.
But unfortunately, it wasn’t visible from the front.
Moreover, on the side, depending on the angle of the light, and she would repeat this because it was important…
‘depending on the angle of the light on the side’…
E-UNG.
First Mini Album.
The cursive ‘TIME.’
And finally, the NRY Entertainment logo…
…appeared and disappeared with the light. This, this, this…
The album’s iridescence couldn’t be captured in a single photo!
Some might say, ‘Just send multiple photos,’ but no.
There was an impact that came from a single image.
She didn’t want to dampen Ah-yeong’s rekindled E% spirit with a single, boring picture that didn’t capture all the highlights.
Eun-jeong pondered, even more seriously than when composing an email to her professor about problems with her grades, and finally opened her laptop.
‘My dear Seoyong, although you’re a bit sluggish for Photoshop, I hope you’ll pull through today…!’
Ah, ‘Seoyong’ was the name she gave her laptop when she bought it, short for ‘document use.’
‘Lend me your strength for my fellow fan today, Seoyong!’
How much time passed?
[Ah-yeong ― Eun-jeong
― Eun-jeong
― Eun
― Jeong
― Eun-jeong]
Just as Ah-yeong started calling out to Eun-jeong, worried about her silence…
Eun-jeong replied with a picture.
Ah-yeong burst out laughing, spamming “lol.”
[Ah-yeong ― Lol (omitted)
― Kim Eun-jeong, are you crazy? Seriously lol (omitted)]
[Me ― A lot of effort went into this]
[Ah-yeong ― Lol what’s with the glitter highlights lol]
[Me ― Remember these details]
― Engrave them in your eyes and experience it in person!!!]
― The details that appear and disappear with the light!!!!!!]
― Feel this emotion too!!!]
[Ah-yeong ― Lol ahahaha
― Ah, Kim Eun-jeong, you crazy bitch lol]
[Me ― Stop laughing and memorize them, okay?]
[Ah-yeong ― Lol okay lol]
Eun-jeong smiled with satisfaction at Ah-yeong’s reply and closed her laptop.
“Good work, Seoyong.”
“…”
“You saved a fellow fan today.”
After laughing and chatting for a while, it was time for bed.
Thanks to those fluttering damn fairies outside the window, she couldn’t ignore that it had gotten dark.
[Ah-yeong ― Bye]
― Oh, and]
― Did you finish your assignment?]
[Eun-jeong ― Good night~]
[Ah-yeong ― Are you telling me not to ask? lol]
[Eun-jeong ― Sweet dreams~]
[Ah-yeong ― Lol you too~]
After ending her conversation with Ah-yeong, Eun-jeong was playing with the packing peanuts when…
“OMG, oh, right.”
Eun-jeong suddenly remembered there were more items wrapped in black paper packing peanuts inside the box.
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, the Deluxe set had a lot of extras.
As expected…
Rummaging through the peanuts, she found 10cm keychains of Ji-nyang and Ho-nyang in different poses from the ones she had, each carefully wrapped in a transparent plastic bag.
A stack of 25 photocards, each individually wrapped.
The EG Lamp.
A sticker book.
An E-UNG calendar, and so on.
Each item was individually wrapped in black paper, making it feel like a treasure hunt.
Just then…
‘Wh-what is this, igniting my collector’s spirit?!’
There was a palm-sized, black photo album designed to hold photocards, matching the album’s design.
This was clear evidence that they were well aware of the sheer number of photocards.
A ploy to open the wallets of collectors who couldn’t stand empty spaces!
But if this was their ploy…
‘Ha, my wallet hurts, but I welcome it.’
Who would refuse free official merchandise?
“Haa…”
Eun-jeong took out all the precious merchandise and let out a satisfied moan.
“This is the -censored- life. Ah.”
She was basking in the bliss when…
Her eyes landed on a long, rectangular box she hadn’t opened yet.
Come to think of it…
She had two boxes when she came back to her room.
The long, rectangular box and the shipping box with the packing peanuts.
The poster, which wasn’t in the first box, was probably in there…
“Wow, this is insane.”
Her satisfaction was already overflowing, and now the value was exceeding her expectations as well.
Excited, she carefully opened the box with her fingernails.
As expected…
Inside was a black poster tube wrapped in paper packing peanuts.
After removing the black cap…
She turned the tube upside down, and the poster slid out.
‘What the, holy moly…’
She wasn’t envious of Ah-yeong anymore.
She now had a poster, a large version of the photocard Ah-yeong received.
Eun-ji, dressed similarly to Eun-ho, with a jacket over bare skin, sat facing him, mirroring his pose.
The only differences were her long hair, decorated nails, and slightly heavier makeup.
Were they all different?
Anyway.
It was amazing.
Gulp.
Eun-jeong swallowed, her mouth watering.
Just then…
As she checked the box again, just in case there was anything else…
Eun-jeong’s breath hitched.
Her heart pounded.
She hadn’t felt this nervous even during her first crush.
‘This is, don’t tell me, the raffle event…’
‘Why is it so fancy?’
‘It’s making me nervous…’
In the corner of the box, a black envelope sealed with red wax stamped with the EG logo sat alone.
They probably put it in the second box to make sure it wouldn’t get lost among the packing peanuts.
Did they put it in a separate box because the winners were determined after the albums were packaged?
Eun-jeong solemnly placed the black envelope on her desk and thought seriously.
She turned off the room lights and turned on only her desk lamp, creating a detective movie atmosphere.
She rested her elbows on the desk, clasped her hands, and pressed them against her lips.
The lighting made the atmosphere heavy…
But the real reason she turned off the lights was because her dorm was near the mountain.
She didn’t want to see those damn fairies, more ‘fluttering’ than ‘flying,’ drawn to the light and crashing into her window screen.
That was the only reason.
Although that was how the atmosphere came about, it suited Eun-jeong’s solemn mood.
Eun-jeong pondered.
She didn’t want to break the EG wax seal and tear open the envelope.
She also didn’t want to tear the envelope itself.
She wanted to keep it as it was, it was so pretty.
But she also wanted to see what was inside.
Slide.
Eun-jeong finally took out a cutter knife.
She even changed the blade, just in case.
“Haa…”
Carefully maintaining a straight line, she slit open the top of the black envelope.
The result of her painful decision was two pieces of black paper.
One was an ornately designed fan signing event ticket.
And the other…
‘Holy shit.’
Seriously.
She would have cried later if she hadn’t opened it.
Eun-jeong, speechless, covered her mouth, unable to even touch Eun-ho’s letter.
It was 1:00 AM.
It was basic courtesy not to scream and disturb others at this hour.
Although the letter, except for the name, was just a printed copy of a handwritten letter, God Chang-seok, as always…
It was seamless, and the name, at least, seemed like it was personally written by Eun-ho.
Did he really send this to all 200 winners?
Was his wrist okay?
She was worried, but also filled with a guilty pleasure. What could she do?
She loved it.
Moreover, NRY Entertainment truly understood what mattered.
‘CEO Bit Chang-seok is definitely an E-UNG fan himself.’
Between the words ‘From’…
A faintly erased word, ‘love.’ It seemed like he started to write ‘ㅅ’ (the first consonant of “sarang,” meaning “love”), then erased it, embarrassed.
NRY Entertainment could have easily erased it completely, but…
They probably left it there because they found it cute.
Eun-jeong gave a thumbs-up to CEO Park in her mind, her nose figuratively bleeding.
‘Good job. Very good.’
She felt like turning into the Hulk and smashing the table in front of her, but it was university property.
And this precious letter was on it, so she restrained herself.
Eun-jeong carefully placed the letter and the fan signing ticket back into the envelope, worried it might get damaged, and thought,
‘What should I wear to the fan signing?’
Although it was still weeks away, for Eun-jeong, it was ‘only’ a few weeks away, and she was already getting anxious.
Bragging to Ah-yeong was the last thing on her mind. Eun-jeong opened her closet, lost in thought about what to wear.
Skipping class that day was a given.
The Letter
While the albums were still being packaged…
Eun-ho, visiting the company before leaving work, made a suggestion during a meeting.
“Write what?”
“Handwritten congratulatory letters to the winners.”
“Suddenly, why? No, you know you’ll ruin your hand for days, no, weeks, if you write that many letters.”
“We can just write one and print copies. It’s for the E% anyway.”
Eun-ji, seemingly agreeing with Eun-ho, looked back and forth between him and CEO Park with sparkling eyes.