Siblings Work in Business (156)
A Different Interpretation
It was dawn, after falling asleep while crying with Hwa-rang.
Click
Eun-ji’s eyes fluttered open at the distant sound of a door opening.
‘Where is it?’
She fumbled for her phone on the bed.
As the screen lit up…
Flash
“Ugh!”
It felt like she was being exorcised. The sudden flash of light almost made her scream.
“Ugh…”
If it weren’t for Hwa-rang sleeping soundly next to her, she would have. She squinted at the time: 4 AM.
Eun-ji got out of bed. She had heard the clicking sound of a door.
The front door was slightly ajar.
‘Did someone come in? Or go out?’
Eun-ji looked around for a weapon, but there was nothing within reach.
‘If it’s a burglar…’
Eun-ji briefly considered her options, then looked at her hands.
She would just beat the crap out of them.
Trusting in her built-in weapons, she cautiously approached the open door. She was nervous, but she stepped outside confidently, not wanting to alert whoever was there.
“What? Why are you up so early?”
Thankfully, it wasn’t a burglar, but Eun-ho, sitting on a bench in the front yard. He was wearing his round glasses, reading his lyric notebook under the dim streetlight.
Eun-ji relaxed her tense shoulders and approached him.
“What, I came out ready to beat the crap out of a burglar.”
“Wow, legal assault?”
“Yeah. How did you know?”
“Haha, knowing how you can’t stand not expressing your anger…”
“Hmm.”
“Don’t beat me up, even if you think I’m a burglar. I’m your brother.”
“Let’s have a sparring match.”
“No. You’ll just throw dirt at me again.”
“That’s my winning strategy, of course.”
Eun-ho smiled languidly and raised his middle finger. Eun-ji, pouting, returned the gesture with both hands. Then, she sat down on the bench next to Eun-ho, leaving enough space between them for another person.
“Why are you out here?”
“It’s nice.”
Eun-ho looked towards the sea. The sound of waves and the salty scent of the sea filled the air.
“Lee Eun-ho.”
“What.”
There was a question she had been wanting to ask for a long time.
“Do you remember our mom and dad?”
“…”
Eun-ho’s hand, slowly writing in his notebook, stopped.
She had become curious after hearing Hwa-rang’s story last night. Honestly, it wasn’t just curiosity; she was finally ready to hear about it without resentment.
“Hmm…”
Eun-ho, surprisingly, didn’t ask why.
Instead, he looked up at the pre-dawn sky, as if searching for a long-lost memory.
“I don’t remember. I was too young. But… I remember what I know.”
“Really?”
“Should I tell you?”
“Yes.”
She was surprised he didn’t respond with his usual sarcasm.
We had been living on the streets since we were very young.
Perhaps because it was so long ago…
I had no memories of our life before we left home. But I had never asked Eun-ho about it, more afraid than curious.
Eun-ho’s gaze was filled with emotion, but his expression remained calm.
“Well…”
Eun-ho began after a long pause.
“My aunt and uncle… or was it my uncle?”
The house of the people we called ‘aunt’ and ‘uncle’ was always filled with smoke, blurring my vision. And a strange, almost medicinal scent… perhaps it wasn’t cigarette smoke. Anyway, people often gathered there to play Go-Stop (Korean card game). And when they did, they sometimes stayed for weeks, even months. They coughed from the smoke, but for some reason, never opened the windows, which were covered with black plastic. I knew they weren’t our real family. Their treatment of us made that clear.
And then one day, I overheard something.
I was young, but I clearly remember those words.
「“What are we going to do with those brats?!”」
The man we called ‘uncle’ yelled at the woman we called ‘aunt.’
Something about sleeping and money… I didn’t understand their conversation.
Our parents sold us. That seemed to be the gist of it.
The ‘aunt’ neglected us. The ‘uncle’ sometimes hit me. But he also fed us. ‘Captivity,’ that was the perfect word to describe our situation.
We were treated worse than the dog tied up in the yard.
I don’t know how much time passed.
Their methods, fear and violence, were effective in controlling a child’s mind. I didn’t even consider running away.
Until Eun-ji accidentally broke an expensive bottle of alcohol.
Whenever the drunk ‘uncle’ tried to hit Eun-ji, I hid her and took the beating instead, even when I hadn’t done anything wrong… What would he do if she actually did something wrong? I couldn’t even imagine.
I didn’t think about running away.
Not until I heard those words.
「“You’re dead now. Or… is he going to kill the little one?”」
The ‘aunt,’ drunk or high on something, looked at us and cackled.
She reached out, as if to grab Eun-ji. I quickly pulled Eun-ji into my arms and pushed the ‘aunt’ away. She stumbled and fell. I looked back, worried she might be dead, but she seemed fine.
We ran away.
As fast as we could.
Carrying Eun-ji, who was crying.
Then…
Hiding under an overpass, we encountered a group of homeless people.
“The end.”
Eun-ho ended his story there, since Eun-ji already knew the rest.
Eun-ji looked towards the sea, where the sun had risen.
The sound of waves…
…it was calming.
That was it.
That was all she felt after finally hearing his story.
“So, were they selling drugs?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to get involved again. The bakery owner reported them when I told him.”
“What happened to them?”
“What do you mean? They were arrested.”
“Oh, good.”
The bakery owner had cut off many of the chains that bound us.
“I wonder if he’s doing okay.”
“He probably is.”
“I miss him. He must be married with kids now, living a happy life, right?”
“Probably.”
“Ah, speaking of marriage, Unnie Hwa-rang and I talked about it yesterday.”
“Why marriage all of a sudden?”
Eun-ji told Eun-ho about her conversation with Hwa-rang:
‘Hwa-rang also has an older brother.’
‘They’re not on good terms.’
‘Her brother disapproves of her long trainee period.’
‘He keeps pressuring her to get married.’
She briefly summarized Hwa-rang’s situation.
Eun-ho, seeming to understand, chuckled.
“So, you two had a crying session together?”
“OMG, how did you know?!”
“Your eyes are puffy.”
“Are they?”
“Yeah, totally.”
“Damn it.”
Eun-ji pressed her fingers against her eyes, then continued.
“A-Anyway!”
“Everyone’s still asleep. Don’t yell.”
“Seriously… so, I talked about marriage with unnie yesterday.”
“Yeah.”
Eun-ho replied, but his gaze had returned to his notebook.
“I… well…”
“Yeah?”
“We’ve met a lot of… shitty people.”
“That’s true.”
“How… can people trust a stranger enough to spend their whole life with them?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, you know… um…”
Eun-ji struggled to explain. Eun-ho, after listening patiently, stopped writing and asked,
“You’re asking what I think about marriage, aren’t you?”
“Yeah!”
Eun-ji, happy that he understood, jumped up from the bench and clapped excitedly.
“Why did you beat around the bush for so long?”
“You know I’m not good with words!”
“You’re good at cursing, though.”
“Shut up.”
“Seriously…”
“You too.”
“I’m better than you.”
“Anyway! Tell me what you think.”
Eun-ho raised an eyebrow, as if asking, ‘Do I have to?’
“What did you say?”
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“I said I’d get married if I met someone I really loved and wanted to spend my life with!”
“So you’d get married if you met the right person?”
“Of course.”
Marriage. It was something I had never thought about before, which made me think about it even more.
‘Is it because I don’t wear glasses all the time?’
My eyes got tired when I wore glasses for too long, so I only wore them when I needed to see clearly or when my vision was blurry. I had been wearing them for a few hours, and my brow ached. Eun-ho took them off and placed them on his notebook.
“Do your eyes hurt?”
“Yeah, I’m tearing up thinking about Lee Eun-ji never getting married.”
“What the hell?! Why are you suddenly being mean?!”
“Haha, seriously, do you think anyone would marry you?”
“No one is ‘marrying’ me. I’m the one doing the marrying.”
“Oh, right, with your capabilities before the regression, you’d have plenty of options. That’s actually pretty cool.”
“Anyway.”
Eun-ji, as if flustered by his compliment, quickly asked,
“What about you?”
“That’s… a bit personal. And use honorifics, please.”
“Since when did you care about formalities.”
“I’ve always been polite.”
“Bullshit. So, tell me.”
“Wow, you’re so persistent, Lee Eun-ji.”
“Hurry up!”
“I don’t think about it. Would you even consider dating anyone after what happened with Aeseul?”
“If it’s Lee Eun-ho, I thought you might.”
“What do you even think of me?”
“Lee Eun-ho.”
“…”
Eun-ho, ending the pointless conversation, raised his middle finger.