Siblings Working in Business (199)
“…?”
It started when the familiar sounds of sibling bickering stopped.
Eun-ho was frozen, facing a fan radiating gloomy energy.
And when the fan, trembling, spoke, Eun-ho replied with an uncharacteristically blunt “Really?”, his true personality slipping through.
‘What’s going on?’
Eun-ji’s curiosity was short-lived.
“Kyaaa, Unnie!”
“Ah.”
Eun-ji let out a short sigh as she turned her attention away from Eun-ho.
She didn’t have the time to worry about him.
Eun-ho was uncannily good at ending conversations with fans on time, but Eun-ji often went overtime, regardless of the schedule.
Significantly overtime.
As a result, her line was still quite long.
But she couldn’t just rush through the remaining fans…
“Can I interlock my fingers with yours?”
“Sure! Here!”
Eun-ji smiled and extended both her hands towards the fan, a middle schooler by the looks of it, who shyly placed her hands in Eun-ji’s, beaming.
“My hand… like this?”
Just then, the fan in front of Eun-ho, perhaps envious, also asked Eun-ho to interlock fingers.
“Ta-da!”
The fan grinned, interlocked her fingers with Eun-ho’s outstretched hand, and then swung their joined hands back and forth.
Eun-ho’s ears turned bright red, flustered, but then he seemed to enjoy it and proactively offered his hands to the next fan, anticipating the finger-interlocking.
To the other fans, Eun-ho simply seemed to be in a good mood.
But Eun-ji, observing him, gave him a suspicious look.
‘What’s he thinking so hard about?’
After a while…
Eun-ji realized who was occupying Eun-ho’s thoughts.
“Um, I…”
Oh, it’s her.
Eun-ji looked up at the approaching fan and hesitated.
The fan mumbled something, but her voice was muffled by the noisy surroundings and her mask.
As if giving up, she looked around and then carefully lowered her mask.
“Uh, ah, h-hello.”
“…Hello. Nice to meet you.”
Eun-ji froze for a moment, seeing the face revealed.
But then she smiled and greeted her like any other fan.
Although her inner thoughts were quite different.
‘Seriously, what is she doing here?’
When she was in front of Eun-ho, she had been wearing a black wig, a cap pulled low, and a black mask, making her unrecognizable.
But even so, it shouldn’t be her.
She shouldn’t be here.
Aeseul.
You’re a weed
I’m the Herbicide meant for you
I’ll step on you, pull you out, and erase you
Until there’s no trace left
Wow, seriously.
So this was how you could fight.
That was her initial reaction upon receiving her first diss track.
Before entering the entertainment industry, she thought fighting meant throwing punches.
She never interacted with other kids, after all.
But after entering this world before Eun-ho, her perspective changed.
‘Was this the attention Oppa wanted?’
She started questioning Eun-ho’s dream, which she had never understood.
In this place, in front of the cameras, she had to force a smile.
But even those who smiled were often met with daggers.
Those daggers were sharper than any physical weapon, piercing deeper than any fist, cutting straight to the heart.
Because of this place…
Because of this world…
She tried to be even more honest.
In this place where even things not meant to be hidden became secrets…
If she intentionally hid something, the moment it was revealed…
The words she spoke, the words she wrote, those daggers would tear her apart.
If she was going to be torn apart anyway, she preferred it to be by her own words, not someone else’s.
Even if her words were twisted and spread, she wanted them to be her truth.
But being too honest was also a problem. Concerned about Eun-ho’s stress levels, she tried to be… slightly less blunt.
Well, she thought she was being less blunt…
「“Eun-ji, please watch your language on broadcasts. The PD is fine with it, but seriously, I’m so worried about what you’ll say every time you open your mouth that I can’t watch TV these days.”」
Judging by CEO Park’s haggard appearance, she wasn’t being as careful as she thought, but she was being honest.
Trash roaming the streets
Doesn’t know its place
So, she found Aeseul, who attacked her out of the blue, even more baffling.
So what about her past?
Did being poor in the past mean she had to stay poor forever?
Honestly, it did bother her.
But she knew that giving a crazy bitch bait would only make her go wild.
So, she just looked away, pretending not to care.
That was the most mature thing she could do.
And the result?
If she had known what Eun-ho would go through because of it, she wouldn’t have done it.
「“Hello.”」
「“Hello. Nice to meet you.”」
She had greeted Aeseul around the time Eun-ho regressed.
When various articles were noisily spreading rumors about her…
She first met Aeseul face-to-face in a broadcasting station bathroom.
It was a ridiculous situation.
She didn’t even know why Aeseul hated her, yet all the articles were portraying them as rivals.
Honestly, she didn’t care.
She had been subjected to inexplicable hate since she was young.
‘At least I’m not being trampled on unilaterally anymore.’
She considered herself successful, having come this far.
And she even thought this diss track incident was an amusing episode in her life.
She was going to let it go.
“Pfft.”
That is, until she heard Aeseul’s condescending sneer, mocking her for her past while praising her own current status.
“The beggar siblings cleaned up nicely, but you can’t hide your origins.”
“Is that a dog barking?”
She completely ignored Aeseul’s subtly mocking tone, pretending not to hear.
“Excuse me.”
Then, she bumped Aeseul’s shoulder as she left the bathroom.
The smile on her face vanished, replaced by a cold expression.
“You’re dead, you bitch.”
She hadn’t intended to respond to the crazy bitch, but now she had a reason.
That girl was seriously messed up.
And the result…
The public’s reaction to was clear.
She thought she had gotten her revenge.
That was, until she heard about what happened to Eun-ho.
You can’t turn back time.
People often said that, but what if you could?
How would she get back at Aeseul if she met her again?
Would she hit her?
Would she unleash a torrent of curses?
“I’m, a, a, f-fan.”
She had considered various methods, but seeing Aeseul trembling before her, like a wet, black puppy…
“U-un-, Unnie.”
Wow.
She never imagined she would hear Aeseul call her “Unnie.”
Eun-ji stared at Aeseul, dumbfounded, as if she’d been hit in the back of the head.
Was this trembling, spin-cycle-battered laundry of a girl really the same venomous bitch who started with ‘ㅅ’?
“You’re, so, c-c-cool.”
She was confused.
Still, perhaps thanks to the repetitive work she had been doing…
Even while her mind was reeling, her hand, as if knowing its job, continued signing autographs as naturally as breathing.
Should she be thankful?
Aeseul, the source of her confusion, her face turning bright red under Eun-ji’s stare, was on the verge of tears.
What? Why was she crying?
“Wait a minute!”
She finally snapped back to reality and stopped Aeseul, but she quickly grabbed the signed album and fled.
“Huh…!”
Eun-ji, letting out a surprised gasp, relaxed her tense shoulders and sighed.
‘Was she always like this?’
Had Aeseul always been this timid?
If so, what had to go wrong for her to become… that?
“Thank you everyone for coming, and we’ll continue to work hard…”
After the fan signing, their wrists aching, Eun-ho and Eun-ji stood on a small platform to give their closing remarks.
Since they had no other schedules, it was time to go home.
Eun-ho and Eun-ji hurried towards the car.
Although they couldn’t mention it directly in front of the remaining fans, there was something they needed to discuss.
“Lee Eun-ji.”
“Yeah.”
“…”
The moment Eun-ho called out to Eun-ji…
The moment Eun-ji looked at Eun-ho…
They exchanged countless emotions and thoughts in a single glance, without a word.
‘Did you see her?’
‘I did.’
As the fan signing was ending…
Ah-yeong thought about her brief hiatus from the fandom.
“Eun…”
Just then…
Ah-yeong urgently reached out towards Eun-jeong, her eyes fixed ahead.
‘I need to film this, now!’
It was a signal for the camera.
“Move, move! Move!!!”
Just then, Eun-jeong swatted away Ah-yeong’s hand.
Ah-yeong looked at Eun-jeong and realized there was no need to explain.
Eun-jeong was already busy filming the scene.
‘This is crazy.’
Eun-jeong had been fine with the Deluxe Set.
But after winning the fan signing ticket, she got excited and bought two new outfits.
And she even went to a hair salon today.
Honestly, she had thought, ‘Is the salon too much?,’ but…
Thanks to that, she was able to talk to Rangi more confidently, so it was worth it.
She would have to survive on instant ramen and convenience store triangles for the next few weeks, but she had no regrets.
‘I’ve gotten my money’s worth. Sob!’
The moment Eun-ho and Eun-ji looked at each other…
She didn’t know what they said, but it didn’t matter.
As if having a silent conversation, they both burst out laughing.
Eun-jeong, filming Eun-ho, remembered a question and the comments on E-FAN from a few days ago.
[Rangi is so polite in front of us. I’m organizing my photos, and I want to create a separate folder for his genuine smiles, so if any E-Per knows how to tell the difference, please let me know ㅠㅠ!!!!!!]
└ Polite lol
└ His cheeks turn slightly red!
└ Polite lol for real
└ I don’t know what that word means, but I understand lol
└ He touches his bangs or forehead, or covers them.
└ This is so true.
└ He smiles like this whenever Ji-ji does something weird!!!
└ Ah, that’s right lol
└ His eyes crinkle, and his eyebrows furrow!
└ Amazing, how did you even notice that?
└ I agree with this too.
A staff member with thick-rimmed glasses knocked on the partition separating the CEO’s office.
But CEO Park, seemingly engrossed in something, didn’t hear the knock, his brow furrowed as he stared at his monitor.
“CEO Park.”
“Hmm? Oh, Song-ju, what is it?”
Song-ju sighed and spoke,
“There’s a guest outside.”
“A guest? What guest? Did we order something?”
“No. They’re from DI Music…”
CEO Park’s face paled at the words ‘DI Music.’
“Don’t tell me. Is it that guy with dark circles down to his chin and pale skin who looks like he has a really bad temper?”
“Well, that’s…”
Just then…
Song-ju, flustered, turned to the side.
“I thought I greeted you politely when we first met…”
“…”
“Did I really seem that unfriendly?”