Siblings Work in Business (144)
I wanted to write something, inspired by Eun-ji’s composing, but my eyelids felt heavy from exhaustion.
‘An upbeat song…’
As sleepiness washed over me, my mind raced with thoughts.
‘I’m not confident writing lyrics for upbeat songs.’
I couldn’t argue if someone asked if I was ever confident about anything.
But upbeat, cheerful songs were a different kind of challenge.
I had been too consumed by the past.
「“You can’t go back to that time, even if you want to.”」
Briquette’s words seemed to have had an effect; my nightmares gradually started to change.
The scene of the lonely, dust-covered keyboard disappeared first.
Now, I dreamt of Eun-ji’s messy room.
Sometimes, she was even in the dream.
Sometimes, she was pulling her hair out in frustration while looking at the monitor.
Sometimes, she was just lying on the mattress.
And recently, I even dreamt of her sleeping with Briquette.
‘The future…’
The word “future” felt unfamiliar.
Honestly, I had been too preoccupied with the present.
Every day was filled with anxiety, afraid of returning to the past.
「“Just enjoy your new life, you got lucky.”」
A new life.
So many things flashed before my eyes.
The usual scenes, but with a new addition.
The performance at Ihan University.
That stage where I poured my heart out, a completely different feeling from the sadness of the past.
‘Goals… future plans…’
It had been a while.
Since I last thought about the future.
‘The future,’ not just work.
Before Eun-ji’s death, I was too busy chasing after her to have any time for myself.
After her death, I was too heartbroken to think about the future.
I was drunk on work during the day and drunk on alcohol at night, just trying to get some sleep.
Since I drank mostly to numb the pain, not for enjoyment…
…I didn’t like alcohol, even though I drank almost every day.
‘Why…?’
Why did I feel so… excited?
‘Future plans. Future plans.’
I repeated the words, savoring them.
What kind of music should E-UNG make?
What kind of concept would be good?
How far could we go?
What did our E% like about us?
What was the best way to reach them?
What did we want?
Were Eun-ji’s desires different from mine?
How long should we plan for?
The questions were endless.
That night, I had a good dream for the first time.
Our concert, the audience filled with ‘E-UNG’ light sticks.
The mirrored letters of ‘E-UNG,’ our name, sparkling brightly.
And banners with supportive messages.
Eun-ji and I were singing on stage, holding the silver and gold microphones Joo-yeon gifted us.
I poured my heart into the performance, hoping this moment would last forever, despite the sweat dripping down my face and my shortness of breath under the hot stage lights.
It was a happy dream.
A dream filled with only hope, a dream I had never had before.
It was an unfamiliar feeling, pure happiness without a hint of anxiety.
I must have cried in my sleep; my pillow was damp.
The breeze from the fan in the living room felt cool against my tear-stained cheeks.
I liked this.
A roof that didn’t leak.
A home with separate rooms for Eun-ji and me.
A phone to connect with people.
A full stomach.
A CEO who thought of us as his children, which still felt unfamiliar.
The opportunity to make and perform the music I wanted.
Money to buy the things I wanted.
My sister, my family.
And the time I regretted the most, back in my grasp.
The luxury of thinking about the future.
I was happy, simply happy, to have that again, after all this time.
The Suspicious Trainee
Song Nam-chul, the CEO of TaKa Entertainment.
“I apologize. Th-That will take a bit more time, please.”
“Y-Yes, I’ll pay you back soon.”
“Yes… yes…”
Song Nam-chul was bowing and scraping, as if talking to someone important on the phone.
“T-Toxin!”
“Oh, those are just rumors.”
“It’s all fake news!”
Song Nam-chul’s face turned pale, then white, as he continued the call.
“Of course, y-yes, we renewed their contract! Yes.”
“A n-new song…? Soon…?”
“A new idol group debuting… besides Toxin…”
“Ah… B-B&C failed…”
“N-No! That’s not true! Toxin! Yes! We’ll release it! A new song is coming!”
After the call ended…
Song Nam-chul wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and sighed deeply.
A moment later, he picked up the phone and dialed an internal number.
“Have B&C come to my office. Now.”
The board of directors had been convened twice in a short period after B&C’s disastrous debut stage.
The atmosphere at TaKa Entertainment was icy.
Despite their best efforts, they couldn’t erase the disastrous performance.
“What was that performance?!”
“We didn’t have enough time…”
“That’s not an excuse!”
Song Nam-chul threw the phone in frustration.
The phone landed on the floor, narrowly missing Dong-guk’s face.
Dong-guk, gulping nervously, lowered his head.
Song Nam-chul was also startled; he couldn’t afford to injure Dong-guk’s face.
Hwa-rang, the female member of B&C, just stared at him blankly, as if she had given up on everything.
“Kim Hwa-rang!”
“Yes.”
Song Nam-chul, finding Dong-guk too intimidating, redirected his anger towards Hwa-rang.
“You’re on the same team, you should be helping and guiding Dong-guk! I told you to think of each other as siblings!”
Hwa-rang couldn’t help but scoff.
She knew why CEO Song was so obsessed with siblings.
It was because of ‘E-UNG,’ the group created by Team Leader Park Chang-seok, who had left TaKa.
And the rumor that Song Nam-chul was now under Park Chang-seok’s thumb was already spreading within TaKa.
“If you had just taken care of Dong-guk like a sibling!”
Siblings, siblings, always siblings.
She couldn’t even pretend to be siblings with Yoon Dong-guk; they had different last names and didn’t even look alike. Their personalities were also different. And their skills? Even more so! Their training periods? Don’t even get her started!
‘I… I…’
She had trained for seven years.
Enduring the constant comments about it being a waste of time…
She couldn’t give up, she had nothing else. She clung to the title of ‘TaKa trainee.’
Then, about two months ago…
…Yoon Dong-guk appeared out of nowhere, and they became ‘B&C.’
As they prepared together, she realized…
…their views on debut were different.
To Yoon Dong-guk, it was just… something fun to do.
He skipped practice because it was boring…
…because he already knew how to do it…
And then came their debut stage.
‘It must have been ‘fun’ for Yoon Dong-guk. But for me…’
She had a contract.
Or rather, she had one.
For seven years.
And that time was already up, even exceeding it by a few months.
Before debuting as B&C, she asked CEO Song about renewing her contract.
But he just brushed it off, saying they could talk about it after their debut.
The company, having lost its competent staff, was like a robot with missing parts.
It was a hollow shell.
‘How can you even call this a proper company?’
Most of the staff were either browsing the web or playing games, collecting their paychecks without doing any real work.
The company was a mess, a far cry from its glamorous public image.
It hadn’t always been like this.
In the past, there were many trainees who flocked to TaKa, drawn by the success stories of Team Leader Park Chang-seok and Toxin. They held auditions and recruited new trainees… it was a well-functioning company.
But it only took a year.
For the incompetent CEO to run the once successful TaKa Entertainment into the ground.
After Director Yoo left, there were no trainees left at TaKa. They had all transferred to more promising agencies like DI Music or ALV Media.
‘I should have…’
…left too.
She shouldn’t have been fooled by CEO Song’s empty promises of a debut.
She should have abandoned that ‘rotten rope’ and left, instead of clinging to it out of loyalty.
“Get out!”
At CEO Song Nam-chul’s dismissal, Dong-guk hesitantly left the office.
“Kim Hwa-rang, I said get out—”
Song Nam-chul flinched at Hwa-rang’s gaze.
‘Seven years.’
Her eyes were filled with resentment.
All the training programs stopped after Director Yoo left.
For the past year…
…she had been paying for her own training while working part-time.
She had endured, driven by her dream of debuting.
She believed in TaKa, trusting that her seven years of loyalty wouldn’t be in vain.
But this… this disastrous debut as B&C was the result.
Hwa-rang clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her skin.
“You ruined this company.”
“What?”
Hwa-rang ripped the phone, which CEO Park had thrown earlier, from the wall and threw it on the floor.
The plastic phone shattered, its insides spilling out.
“Is she crazy?! Why… why is she doing this…?”
“This company, you, and that bastard outside! I… I!!!”
Hwa-rang gritted her teeth and turned towards the door.
In a way, she was thankful for the incompetent CEO’s haphazard management.
This was her last chance to escape this hellhole.
Bang!
She kicked the door open, and something, or someone, fell with a thud.
It was Yoon Dong-guk, who had been eavesdropping.
He looked up at her with a bewildered expression.
“Go to hell, you bastard.”
Hwa-rang smirked and stomped on his foot.
Then, without looking back, she left TaKa Entertainment.
“And you are…?”
“Kim Hwa-rang.”
“I… I see…”
A few days later…
…a stranger, like a storm, arrived at NRY Entertainment.