Siblings Working in Business (165)
The House Next Door is Suspicious
He remembered the drama airing around 2019. Which meant…
…in this current time of 2015, it wasn’t even in pre-production yet.
Eun-ho and Eun-ji were silenced by CEO Park’s words.
A long silence filled the office.
“…I…”
Eun-ho, frozen stiff, let out a barely audible whisper.
Despite the suffocating tension, he tried to regain his composure, his mind racing.
“In a dream…”
He managed to start.
If Eun-ji played along, they could somehow get out of this situation.
So hurry up and respond.
Hurry.
Lee Eun-ji!
Eun-ho looked at Eun-ji with a desperate gaze.
But Eun-ji, flustered, was still frozen.
‘What? I, what? What am I supposed to, I, what do I do?!’
‘Dream!’
Eun-ho desperately gave her another hint with his eyes.
‘Ah, dream.’
Eun-ji finally seemed to regain her composure.
“E-Eun-ho had a dream. A-, ac-, no. That Senior Jeong Bae-chan was in a drama called The House Next Door is Suspicious! Yes!”
CEO Park’s skeptical gaze remained fixed on them.
“Eun-ho had a dream, but you just said ‘that drama that aired before’…”
“Huh?”
“‘I thought it was a romantic thriller, but it turned out to be a comedy,’ and ‘it was a hot topic.’”
CEO Park recounted Eun-ji’s exact words, pressing the issue.
Eun-ho rubbed his face, trying to calm his burning insides.
Eun-ji, seemingly having come up with something, hurriedly blurted out, “That’s right!”
“Yes, in a dream! E-Eun-ho and I had the same dream! That’s why we were so surprised…”
“Hmm.”
CEO Park nodded, as if he understood, although he still seemed suspicious.
“Delivery!”
“Coming!”
Just then, like a savior, a delivery person called out from the front door.
CEO Park went to receive the food, and Eun-ho and Eun-ji let out a sigh of relief, whispering,
“We need to be careful what we say.”
“But come to think of it, wouldn’t it be better to just tell CEO Park we know the future?”
“If you want to be dragged off to a mental hospital, go ahead.”
“You told him.”
“That’s because it was you. And don’t you remember? You kept questioning and grilling me, I had no choice. And…”
Eun-ji tilted her head, seeing Eun-ho’s hesitation.
“And what? Why do you stop mid-sentence? You’re making me curious.”
“No, I’m just saying, isn’t it a bit much to say ‘we know the future’?”
“Why? He already knows.”
“Things have changed a lot since then.”
“That’s true. But why are you suddenly bringing this up?”
“Because you said you wanted to tell CEO Park that we know the future.”
“No, I just said it casually.”
“Anyway, I think it’s best to be careful.”
Eun-ji grumbled but nodded.
Too many things had changed to be certain about the future.
Just then, CEO Park returned to the table, carrying a plastic bag full of food, presumably from the delivery person.
Their conversation, captivated by the spicy aroma of kimchi jjigae, had long ended.
A few days later…
Perhaps because it had been a while since they were on a broadcast, not a stage…
Eun-ho and Eun-ji entered the broadcasting station with nervous steps.
As soon as they arrived, the cameras for Change Partner were waiting, trained on them.
Since it had been prearranged, they ignored the cameras and headed straight to the set they had been told was the ‘waiting room’ during their pre-meeting.
“Oh.”
“Holy…”
Was it because of the show’s concept?
The moment they opened the door…
Eun-ji almost cursed out loud, forgetting they were being filmed.
Eun-ho barely managed to cover her mouth in time.
There was a reason for their shock.
「“We’re going for a slightly, very slightly, spooky vibe—”」
July was the start of the summer heat.
And around this time, horror specials started popping up on TV and in theaters, offering chills to beat the heat.
Change Partner was no exception.
Fortunately, the PD had given them a heads-up during their pre-meeting.
However, they hadn’t expected ‘slightly’ to mean this.
‘No. Hell no.’
He glanced at Eun-ji, whose eyes pleaded with him.
Eun-ji absolutely hated ‘horror.’
Especially eerie settings that screamed haunted house or horror movie backdrop.
Like abandoned schools or houses, for instance.
The waiting room looked like a collection of everything Eun-ji hated.
A dark room.
Eerie cobwebs and rusty lockers.
A mannequin dressed in a school uniform standing in the corner.
And, for reasons unknown…
Wigs hanging from the ceiling with fishing lines, as if floating in mid-air.
In the middle of this scene, a worn-out school desk and chair sat awkwardly.
Five face-down black cards lay on the desk.
Naturally, they had to choose one of the five cards.
“I-, I can’t do this.”
Eun-ji was the one who had flung open the waiting room door initially.
But she gradually backed away and now…
She looked like she was about to climb into the box where the director was hiding, away from the cameras.
“We need to pick a card.”
“You, a-, no. Y-you pick first, Oppa.”
“What are you scared of? The director’s here too.”
“That’s why you should pick first…”
Haha, she reminded him of when they first entered an abandoned house as kids.
He desperately wanted to tease her but held back for the sake of the broadcast.
“Fine. Then I’ll go in first.”
Just as he stepped into the waiting room…
Slam!
The door closed behind him.
As the door slammed shut, he faintly heard a scream from Eun-ji, as if she had yelled from behind the door.
He was startled, worried her hand might have gotten caught, but the dramatic effect wasn’t bad.
‘This is perfect.’
Although he had told Eun-ji there was nothing to be scared of because the director was there…
Once inside, the bright lights made it seem like the staff behind him didn’t exist.
No, were they even there?
It was so dark inside that it was hard to tell.
Fortunately, he could see boxes scattered around, indicating the camera crew’s presence.
He walked towards the desk in the center.
He picked up the card in the middle of the five face-down cards.
The card had a picture of black flames falling.
The camera director, hidden inside a box, filming Eun-ho…
“Holy…”
He was startled.
The moment Eun-ho picked up the card…
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thump.
All the wigs hanging in the room swayed and fell.
The sight was so eerie that…
Even the camera director, who had been in the room for a while, jumped in surprise.
However, Eun-ho, who should have been the most scared…
…remained completely calm.
Actually, according to the PD’s plan, anyone would have screamed and run out of the room.
There was one unscripted, improvised part in Change Partner.
A hidden mission for the right to choose partners.
This waiting room was the setting for that hidden mission.
The person who endured the longest after flipping over a card would have the right to choose everyone’s first partner.
Among the regular members of Change Partner, the person who had lasted the longest was…
Seo Seo-un, a female member known as the ace.
Even she had run out of the waiting room as if fleeing after revealing just one card.
This was the moment her record was broken.
Was it thanks to the ‘pale Eun-ji’ that had tormented him so much before?
Although he knew she wasn’t like that anymore, he had unknowingly developed a strong heart.
Eun-ho glanced at the fallen wigs indifferently, then cautiously asked, looking straight ahead,
“Can I reveal more cards?”
There was no response.
‘If they didn’t want me to, they would have stopped me.’
Eun-ho, seemingly making his own judgment, flipped over the next card.
It was a blank, black card.
Just then…
The lantern, the only light source in the room, went out.
About 20 seconds later, the light slowly returned to its original brightness.
Eun-ho continued to flip over the next card, and the next.
After experiencing all five prepared horror events, Eun-ho leisurely left the waiting room.
The camera director breathed a sigh of relief after Eun-ho left.
Although he hadn’t made any noise after the first event, he had flinched with each one.
Meanwhile, Eun-ho, the subject of his filming, hadn’t changed his expression once.
‘He’s amazing.’
The camera director applauded Eun-ho internally.
“Ah, I’m scared!”
“I told you it’s not scary.”
“It is! I’m scared!”
“Ah, it’s fine, really! It was nothing!”
“Waaah, I hate this!”
“You said you would act like a pro!”
“I want to be an amateur!”
“Stop talking nonsense and go inside!”
“Aaack!”
While the waiting room was being reset, there was a commotion outside.
Then, Eun-ji was practically shoved into the waiting room.
Thud.
Just like before, the door slammed shut as soon as Eun-ji entered.
Perhaps because she had seen the door closing when Eun-ho went in…
Surprisingly, although she was trembling, she didn’t scream.
Eun-ji knew herself well.
Perhaps because of that…
Worried she might accidentally curse, she covered her mouth tightly with both hands, preventing any screams from escaping.
She slowly, very slowly, walked towards the desk.
“Gasp, mmmph! hic”
Click, click.
Had she moved even an ant’s eyelash worth of distance?
The way Eun-ji flinched at the sound of her own heels clicking was comical.
‘Sob.’
Her reaction was the complete opposite of Eun-ho’s, despite their identical faces and his earlier display of incredible composure.
This time, the camera director had to struggle to contain his laughter.
Shake, shake.
‘Wh-what the, what’s with that shaking box?! It’s so scary!!!’
The moment Eun-ji saw the narrow box shaking as the camera director tried to suppress his laughter…
Her terrified eyes welled up with tears.
But she kept her mouth tightly shut, determined not to curse.
It took Eun-ji about twenty steps to reach the desk, which was only two steps away.
It took her over 10 minutes just to get there.
“Phew…”
Standing in front of the cards, Eun-ji released her hands and let out a deep sigh.
「“Keep your mouth shut. You’re in big trouble if they catch you cursing on camera.”」
As if remembering Eun-ho’s warning before she entered, Eun-ji covered her mouth again with one hand.
Then, with her other hand, she slowly reached for the second card from the left.
Even as she slowly reached for the card, Eun-ji looked around cautiously, like a wary cat.
Finally, the moment she flipped over the card…
‘What?’
It was the same card Eun-ho had picked first.
The one with the black flames falling.