Siblings Working in Business (194)
“She churns out two or three songs a day…”
While he was struggling to squeeze out even a single lyric…
That monster Lee Eun-ji never seemed to tire, always brimming with new song ideas.
And the quality wasn’t something he could just ignore.
He had long been overloaded by the constant influx of guide tracks.
Even he, a human being, felt like he was on the verge of burnout lately.
He wasn’t sure if he should be happy or worried.
And he seemed to have a knack for creating more work for himself: refining the combined worldview with Toxin, detailing and suggesting directing ideas for the music video, writing lyrics for Hwa-rang’s songs, and so on.
Until recently, he had even handwritten the names of all 200 fans on over 200 letters.
He had burned himself out, taking on so much besides album promotions.
Still, writing the E%’s names had been enjoyable.
He hadn’t written all 200 names by himself.
Since he had taught Eun-ji how to write when she was practicing, her handwriting was very similar to his.
Although hers was much messier, still…
Thanks to that, he wrote about 150 names, and Eun-ji wrote the remaining 50.
After packing…
Eun-ji left, saying she would go down first.
‘What did she even cram into that trunk in such a short time…?’
The zipper on Eun-ji’s trunk was strained, as if it was about to burst.
He remembered when they went to the pension…
Seul-gi, defying the laws of physics, had crammed so much into the trunk…
His curiosity vanished without a trace.
Ignorance was bliss.
‘…’
Anyway, camping…
He liked building fires.
Not arson, of course.
He had cried in front of his sister after failing to build his first fire pit…
But failure was the stepping stone to success.
He had learned firsthand that ‘wet things don’t burn’ and started gathering dry kindling.
He became quite skilled at building and maintaining fires.
When they huddled together in a small box house, using torn padding as blankets, a safe distance from the fire…
The sound of insects chirping filled the grassy field near the abandoned house.
The warmth of the fire, the chirping insects, the crackling flames…
Eun-ji, sleeping next to him, covered with the padding like a blanket, snored strangely, more of a wheezing sound.
All these sounds combined became a comforting lullaby, more soothing than any music.
He liked that peaceful scene, detached from the world…
The sounds…
The time… He cherished those moments.
Although this camping trip was for a sponsorship, perhaps because it reminded him of those times…
“It sounds fun.”
He was excited.
And since it was filming their daily lives, it was a trip just for the two of them, without Seul-gi and Hyun-woo.
‘Isn’t this the first time since we met CEO Park?’
Perhaps because it had been so long…
He went downstairs with an even lighter heart and looked at the car parked in front of the building.
An unfamiliar SUV.
The reason the director asked them to get their driver’s licenses before filming was because of this car sponsorship.
It was a new car from Raum Motors, whose specifications he had memorized for two days straight, afraid of offending the sponsors.
It was called ‘Bubo,’ which he thought meant eagle-owl in some foreign language, but honestly, he wasn’t that interested.
The front design was different from their previous models, and it supposedly resembled an eagle-owl’s face, hence the name.
‘Focus.’
He had one thing to say upon seeing it.
“Wow, nice car.”
“It’s sleek, right?”
Eun-ji, who had been waiting downstairs, spoke.
“Yeah. Is it sturdy?”
“Yep. It passed all safety tests and has a significantly lower risk of accidents compared to other cars (omitted)…”
Eun-ji, that pumpkin head, had really, really studied hard.
He wanted to applaud her successful explanation but refrained because of the cameras.
Instead, he replied as scripted,
“Really? It sounds safe.”
“Yeah. Oppa, you’re scared of accidents.”
“…Uh, ye-, yeah. But who isn’t scared of accidents?”
Although it was in the script, it made him uncomfortable.
‘I don’t think I’ve ever publicly mentioned being afraid of car accidents…’
They might have included it because it was a relatable topic, but he found it unsettling.
Eun-ji also seemed uncomfortable, her expression cold.
But he meant it when he said the car looked ‘sleek.’
A new car, a new place, light luggage…
Although it was work, perhaps because it was a rare outing meant for pure enjoyment…
‘I’m excited.’
That was, until he saw Eun-ji getting into the driver’s seat.
‘Oh my god. She’s driving?’
He prayed to a god he didn’t believe in.
‘Please save me.’
Eun-ji, not Hyun-woo, who drove them every day, was sitting in the driver’s seat.
Eun-ji passed her driving test on her second attempt.
During her first attempt, right before starting…
「“I failed… They failed me the moment I took my foot off the accelerator!!!”」
「“Why?”」
「“They said… I ran a red light…”」
On the way home…
As they drove along the route Eun-ji took for her test, he understood why she failed.
Right above the starting line…
A traffic light, positioned awkwardly so that it would be out of sight once you started going uphill…
It seemed she failed because she started without noticing it.
「“Hahaha, seriously, such an idiot. Haha.”」
He gleefully returned the mockery about the automatic license that day.
But perhaps spurred by his teasing, on the day of her second test…
Eun-ji memorized the locations of every single traffic light on the course and passed with flying colors.
So, yes.
Lee Eun-ji now had a manual driver’s license.
She had a license.
“Get in.”
“…”
He was hesitant.
She had a license, but…
“Ah! Hurry up! It’s okay!”
“It might be okay for you, but it’s not okay for me.”
“Get in! I practiced a lot!”
“How much?”
“You saw!”
“I saw you gleefully running over dozens of boxes during practice.”
Eun-ji avoided his gaze, having nothing to say to that.
“Th-, that was during practice! I have my license now!”
“How long have you had it?”
Eun-ji avoided his gaze again and mumbled,
“Two days?”
“Wow, seriously. Is the ink even dry yet?”
He asked bluntly, forgetting they were being filmed.
“It’s a bit glossy, but…”
“I’m not getting in.”
“Ah, come on, you and your automatic license that’s been gathering dust! If you’re so unhappy, you drive!”
“That’s…”
Honestly, he trusted himself even less than Eun-ji, so he couldn’t confidently say he would drive.
He was technically a driver with an automatic license he got two years ago, but if he included the time before the regression, he hadn’t actually driven in over nine years.
“If you’re not going to drive, then shut up and trust your manual license-holding Noona.”
“Wow, you’re using that against me now?”
“Heehee. It’s not ‘against you,’ it’s a fact.”
“…”
Damn it.
He had nothing to say.
“I’ll drive much better than ‘someone’ with an automatic license, so stop being a wimp and get in.”
“Wow, ha…”
Eun-ji grinned mischievously.
He could only laugh in disbelief.
Seriously.
If it weren’t for the cameras inside the car, he would have stretched her cheeks like mozzarella cheese.
And her nails, painted white with black cat patterns, reminded him of Briquette, lounging at home, beckoning him with his paw.
Perhaps because of her nails…
He felt inexplicably annoyed, imagining Eun-ji and Briquette snickering together.
Although he grumbled, he quietly got into the car.
He couldn’t drive…
…so he had no choice.
He fastened his seatbelt and gripped the overhead handle, steeling himself, and declared,
“…Let’s go.”
“Seriously, such an overreaction!”
Eun-ji shifted the gear from ‘P’ to ‘D’ and slowly drove out of the alley.
Just as they were about to clear the alley…
A mischievous glint appeared in Eun-ji’s eyes.
Just before exiting the alley…
After making sure there were no pedestrians… Eun-ji slammed on the brakes.
“Hey!!!”
Eun-ho yelled, his face pale, forgetting they were being filmed.
“Ahahahaha.”
Eun-ji buried her face in the steering wheel, giggling.
“Ah, just kidding, just kidding. Ah, haha.”
“Seriously! You call that a joke?! Try that again, and I’ll rip out every single hair on your head.”
Eun-ho, seemingly truly frightened, snapped at Eun-ji in his regional dialect.
But his reaction only amused Eun-ji further, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Ahahaha, okay, okay. Ahaha. This is fun.”
“Fun, my ass!”
“I won’t do it again. I won’t. Haha.”
“Ha, seriously, I thought my heart was going to stop.”
“As long as it’s still beating.”
“And your mouth…”
“Okay, okay. Haha.”
Eun-ji knew Eun-ho was serious when he got angry like this.
Afraid he might actually rip out her hair, she stopped teasing him.
When Eun-ji drove seriously, she was actually quite good.
Eun-ho, initially tense, gradually relaxed as the car drove smoothly, letting go of the overhead handle and leaning back in his seat.
As his tension eased, he started to feel drowsy from the white noise of the moving car, his head bobbing before he finally closed his eyes.
When he rode with Hyun-woo, he would try to stay awake to keep him company, but perhaps because Eun-ji was driving…
“Haa~”
Eun-ho fell into a deep sleep, his snores like sighs.
When Eun-ji stopped at a red light, she glanced at the quiet Eun-ho beside her and chuckled.
“Haha, after all that fuss, aigoo.”
Her playful teasing was short-lived.
As the light turned green, Eun-ji focused on the road again and slowly accelerated.
The sky was clear.
‘It’s been a while since we went somewhere together like this.’
Eun-ji smiled faintly, thinking the same thing Eun-ho had before they left.
“Hmm~ hmm~”
A pleasant, country-style melody seemed to have popped into her head.
Eun-ji hummed the tune, tapping the steering wheel to the beat.
She had the memory of the accident, and she was a beginner driver who had only gotten her license two days ago…
But just like her bold personality, the car moved forward smoothly, changing lanes without hesitation.