The Siblings Do Business Together (1)
The Siblings
“How about you two debut together as a sibling duo for this song?”
“What?”
In 2014, the “Sibling Musicians” won first place on a survival program and made their debut.
As the two gained immense popularity, it seemed our representative, who manages us siblings, had an idea.
‘Otherwise…’
The person who clearly knows we fight and tear at each other every day wouldn’t have come up with this idea alone.
The proposal itself wasn’t bad.
The problem was that all the prepared songs happened to be love songs.
“Absolutely not! It’s so disgusting I want to puke!”
“Hey, for me it’s the ultimate worst.”
“A love song while looking at this pale face? Yuck!”
“Lee Eun-ji, I’m your oppa—”
“Yeah. Go X yourself. Oppa bastard.”
A male and female who look exactly alike in the representative’s eyes, like a mirror.
Lee Eun-ho and Lee Eun-ji.
It was no exaggeration to say the two were like ill-tempered hunting dogs who only calm down if one is bitten.
“Eun-ji ya, still, saying you want to puke to your oppa.”
“I’m fine with it.”
Because it’s natural for a dog to bark.
Lee Eun-ji glared at me intensely enough to feel it.
Since it was a daily occurrence not even worth responding to, I ignored Lee Eun-ji and turned to the representative.
The representative who brought up the story let out a big sigh with a troubled expression.
As if he had a headache, he touched his forehead and carefully opened his mouth.
“You know the Sibling Musicians these days.”
“We do.”
Despite their gentle appearance, they confidently won first place on an audition program, and even debuted together as siblings.
“I thought it would be difficult as siblings, but it seems I was wrong.”
“That’s because their oppa isn’t an X like him. And he’s cute-looking too.”
I had no intention of adding anything, but I couldn’t ignore the barking of a mad dog.
“That’s what I should be saying. They’re at least cute, but you…”
“Say one more word. I’ll rip that mouth of yours apart.”
“Yeah, go ahead and rip it. Whatever.”
Intense sparks flew.
The moment Lee Eun-ji was about to go wild.
“Stop, stop.”
As if he was used to it now, the representative sighed and blocked the space between us with a file.
“Your eyes already make you look fierce…”
“Anyway, I don’t want to.”
“If the representative forces us, I’ll have no choice but to do it, but I don’t like it either.”
The representative shook his head, retracting the file he had used to block us.
“Alright. Alright. I’ll just let the broadcasting station know.”
Thinking a broadcast accident would be worse, the representative let out a sigh signifying giving up.
Lee Eun-ho and Lee Eun-ji, siblings who don’t even know the names of their parents, let alone if they’re alive, since childhood.
Though it may be long, the two went through a relatively short 3-year trainee period compared to other idols and were preparing for their debut.
* * *
3 years ago.
“An elementary school graduate… isn’t that a bit much?”
“No talent, no talent.”
“They sing well, but still…”
“They stand out too much and look fierce, so it’s awkward to put them in a group.”
“Hmm, and the songs they brought, they said they didn’t compose them themselves, right?”
“If they try to write alone, they only have singing skills…”
“They have individuality, but they don’t seem to suit commercial songs.”
The constant harsh criticism whenever I stood on the audition stage.
‘Just in case.’
Even when failure was obvious, I forcibly lifted the corners of my mouth, trying to look good and leave a good impression.
I always bowed my head at a 90-degree angle and repeatedly said “thank you” even when there was nothing to be grateful for.
“What did they say?”
Lee Eun-ji, who had been waiting in the lobby, ran up to me and asked as I came out after finishing the audition at TaKa Entertainment.
“About what?”
“My song!”
“They said it lacked commercial appeal.”
A fierce frown formed on Lee Eun-ji’s face.
The songs I sang during the audition were all composed by Lee Eun-ji.
“Forget it! Oppa, we can look at other places. We have plenty of time.”
“That’s true.”
My shoulders, tense from the pouring criticism, finally relaxed.
Although I heard harsh criticism several times at each audition, I was able to endure it largely thanks to Lee Eun-ji.
As if betting on who would tear into the other more. Although we always seemed to have a bad relationship on the outside, it was also because we were that close.
It had been 15 years since we lived in this world with just the two of us, not knowing the names or faces of our parents.
We were a family left alone in this world, having only each other to trust and rely on.
After leaving the building of TaKa Entertainment, boasting a glamorous company building.
I took a deep breath, filling my suffocating lungs with air.
That’s when it happened.
“Hey, you there.”
After hearing the voice along with Lee Eun-ji, I turned around.
A middle-aged man wearing an outdated suit that looked like it was from the 90s.
His face seemed to have just entered his 40s.
“How old are you?”
“Me?”
The middle-aged man nodded.
“I’m seventeen. Why?”
When Lee Eun-ji answered, the man’s eyes lit up.
Lee Eun-ji frowned and showed dislike as if she saw a strange person.
“Ah, I’m this kind of person.”
He rummaged through what looked like a wallet and took out a small white piece of paper, handing it to Lee Eun-ji.
「NRY Entertainment
Representative Director Park Chang-seok」
The identity of the paper we confirmed together while craning our necks was a business card.
Lee Eun-ji raised her eyebrows and stared at him, speaking.
“I’m not interested in celebrities.”
“Ah, is that so?”
A look of disappointment flashed across his face at that moment.
“But my older brother wants to be a singer.”
The gaze of the representative, which had been fixed only on Lee Eun-ji, shifted to me.
I thought about avoiding his gaze because of the rushing feeling of defeat, but I hated the feeling of somehow losing.
So I brazenly looked at that man.
“You have good eyes too. If both of you are interested, come to the company building on the business card tomorrow. I’ll treat you to meat.”
When I was young, I heard from the neighborhood uncle that I shouldn’t follow strangers carelessly.
But I was about to become an adult, and Lee Eun-ji was such a violent kid that I wasn’t too worried.
“Is this the place?”
“I think it’s right.”
The next day.
Lee Eun-ji was lured by the words “I’ll treat you to meat,” and I was fascinated by the entertainment company, so we came all the way here.
The company we arrived at, reeking of the smell of a public bath, was a bit surprising.
“Is this the company?”
In an alley of an ordinary residential area.
Lee Eun-ji tilted her head, looking at the “company building” that was just an old house painted white.
I thought we might have come to the wrong place, but the 「NRY Entertainment」 sign attached below the address was telling us again that this was the right place.
“I think it is.”
When I answered while looking at the sign, Lee Eun-ji pursed her lips, subtly expressing dissatisfaction.
To be honest, the first impression of NRY Entertainment and Representative Park Chang-seok was not good.
‘Could he be a swindler?’
I seriously suspected that.
However, for us who were accustomed to living day by day, the encounter with Representative Park Chang-seok was a turning point that changed our lives.
* * *
“Being an elementary school graduate will make life difficult. Let’s start with the GED.”
“What about vocal lessons?”
“We’ll do that too.”
Won’t it be too hard? As if reading my thoughts, one of the representative’s eyebrows tilted meaningfully.
“If you can’t even do this, forget about being a singer, just give up.”
Following the representative’s words, I shouted back.
“I’ll do it! Who said I wouldn’t?”
“Good. That’s how it should be. Eun-ji, you’ll do it too since Eun-ho is doing it, right?”
A subtle remark that stimulated competitiveness while getting on our nerves.
Representative Park knew better than anyone how to handle us.
“I was going to do it from the beginning anyway!”
‘3 years.’
I studied so hard I bled from my nose.
I didn’t neglect practice or lessons either during that time, which felt like the best I had ever lived.
* * *
“Look at this, I got a gift! The sticker on the letter is so freaking cute!”
“Watch your language now that you’ve debuted.”
“Are you jealous?”
“Ah, get lost.”
“You’re jealous, aren’t you? Be honest.”
“Screw off.”
“I’m going to tell the representative. Oppa said ‘screw off.'”
“Go ahead.”
The representative’s proposal fell through, and we each made our debut.
My first results were neither good nor bad, just mediocre.
But Lee Eun-ji…
“Unnie, I love you!”
At that moment, as we were each heading to our vehicles.
A scream-like voice was heard.
Fans had come to this company building that was remodeled from a house.
‘Of course, they’re always Eun-ji’s fans…’
Most people don’t know my name or even that I’m a singer.
Even if they do, they only recognize me as “Eun-ji unnie’s oppa.”
“Oppa!”
Then Lee Eun-ji, who had been running to her own vehicle, turned back this way.
“What.”
“Show me your hand.”
“Why.”
“Ah, just show it to me.”
Lee Eun-ji handed me something that made a plastic sound on my open palm.
Then, without a word, she grinned and ran back to her vehicle.
Looking at my palm belatedly, there was a foreign language chocolate I had never seen before, perhaps a gift from a fan.
‘That brat.’
Unwrapping the chocolate and putting it in my mouth, my sinking mood was forcibly lifted due to the sugar.
No matter how much we fight, at times like this, I feel like we’re just family.
As Lee Eun-ji’s success story continued, the representative left the company building remodeled from an old house and built a new one.
If I had erected one pillar of the new building, Lee Eun-ji had built this land and the high floors, that’s the level of difference in our results.
I thought Lee Eun-ji’s legend would continue as it had been.
Accidents always strike unexpectedly.
“Eun-ho ya.”
“Huh?”
“The hospital called.”
“Hospital? What hospital?”
On the day I made a comeback on music shows with my 2nd album.
The face of the manager hyung conveying the message was dark.
“Eun-ji was in an accident.”
-[Die].
-[I’m dying].
Those words were jokes we commonly threw around in our daily fights.
At least I thought so.
But there’s no way I actually wanted that to happen.
No matter how bad she is, we’re the only family we have in this world.
“Lee Eun-ho ssi, please stand by. I’ll go in next!”
“Eun-ho ya…”
After the staff conveyed the message and closed the door, manager hyung worriedly called my name.
“It’s okay. I’ll go and come back. Eun-ji is the type to scold me if I do a sloppy job.”
Maybe because it didn’t feel real, I was somehow able to smile.
But the more I smiled, the more manager hyung frowned as if his stomach hurt.
“I’ll be back.”
Saying that, I headed to the stage.
I spoke calmly but…
Honestly, I don’t know what I was thinking or if I sang properly throughout the stage.
“I’ll go in first!”
“Eun-ho ssi!”
The final filming was left until the announcement of the rankings, but I couldn’t stay until then.
“Eun-ho ya, get a grip.”
“I know, hyung.”
I know.
Standing in front of the hospital room where Lee Eun-ji was supposed to be, my heart pounded so hard it hurt.
Opening the door to the hospital room, the strong smell of disinfectant made me choke.
She looked too fine on the outside.
If it weren’t for the bandage around her head, she seemed okay.
“Lee Eun-ji…”
“Oppa…”
When I called her name, Lee Eun-ji opened her eyes.
You’re alive.
Alive.
My body, tense at Lee Eun-ji’s greeting, relaxed.
Thank goodness.
But.
Was that the last greeting?
Lee Eun-ji slowly closed her eyes.
“Hey, Lee Eun-ji.”
“Eun-ho ya!”
That was.
The end.