Siblings Working in Business (206)
‘These kids, they can be so childish when they’re playing around, but they’re so professional when it comes to work.’
Despite their bickering, the moment a staff member announced, “We’re starting!”, Eun-ho and Eun-ji immediately became serious and focused on filming.
Perhaps because of that, although Eun-ho and Eun-ji bickered all day, the staff, including PD Cheol-soo, had no complaints.
If Eun-ho and Eun-ji’s music were compared to times of day, dawn and sunset would be the perfect fit.
Cheol-soo was waiting for those times.
She could have manipulated the background, but since they were already here…
Since they had already spent the money, it would be better to film realistically, with a cinematic atmosphere, and enhance it later.
The time of day was one of the details Cheol-soo paid particular attention to.
‘Beautiful, so beautiful.’
Cheol-soo looked at the two with a satisfied smile.
She had been worried seeing them arguing so intensely earlier, but it seemed like a needless worry.
‘Are there different people inside them or something?’
Their ability to immerse themselves in a role in such a short time was remarkable.
Eun-ho was sitting on the wooden floor, one leg crossed over the other, one hand lightly holding his gat (hat), gazing at the sky.
The pose suited his calm demeanor.
Eun-ji was squatting in front of him, drawing circles in the dirt with a wistful expression, as if lost in thought.
Three, two, one.
On cue, they both looked directly at the camera.
Cheol-soo wanted to capture that moment, the shift from the melancholic atmosphere to the sharp intensity in their eyes.
Despite their earlier argument, they had to portray a sense of longing.
“Cut!”
Perfect.
“Hey, Lee Eun-ji.”
“What.”
“Isn’t that a nose hair?”
“No, it’s not!!!”
“Wow, Lee Eun-ji’s nose hairs are long.”
“What are you even looking at, you crazy… ! It was just dust! It didn’t even touch my nose!”
“Come on, admit it. Don’t pretend it’s not.”
“It’s not, you crazy Oppa!”
“Ow! Haha! Ow! That hurts! Ouch!”
“Don’t! Laugh! Or I’ll-!”
Eun-ji, enraged, rained blows on Eun-ho’s back.
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry.”
“…”
Eun-ji stopped mid-air at Eun-ho’s apology.
“It wasn’t a nose hair, it was an armpit hair. My bad.”
“Just die. You punk.”
“Ow! Haha! Ouch!”
The siblings, having flawlessly acted out their scene, returned to the monitor and started bickering again.
Eun-ho, groaning in pain, seemed determined to tease Eun-ji.
He kept giggling and provoking her, despite being on the receiving end of her attacks.
‘He’s so mature when he talks to others…’
Eun-ji had a childish, innocent side, but Eun-ho didn’t.
Cheol-soo always found this side of Eun-ho fascinating.
Perhaps their previous scene was only possible because they weren’t touching and were acting while looking into space.
As if to prove her point, in the next scene, Eun-ho and Eun-ji had to maintain a serious expression while looking at each other for over five seconds…
“P-pfft!”
“Ah! Lee Eun-ji’s spit got on my face!!!”
“Ah, sor- haha, ahahaha!”
“Hahaha! Why are you laughing?!”
“I don’t know, uh, your face is funny. Sob.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Your face is funnier.”
“Sob. Lee Eun-ho’s face is so funny. Waaah.”
They burst into laughter the moment they looked at each other, and Eun-ji even started crying because she couldn’t stop laughing.
‘Seriously… they look exactly the same…’
For Cheol-soo, it was one of the most enjoyable, yet also exhausting, filming experiences, despite the NGs.
Fortunately, perhaps because they had no energy left to laugh after their hour-long game of tag, they were able to finish filming on time.
Two days…
In the car, heading back to Gyeonggi Province after filming at the hanok in Gyeongju…
Eun-ji closed her eyes for a moment, watching the lights flashing by as they entered a tunnel.
‘The zelkova tree…’
For two days, while they were busy filming, she hadn’t had time to think about the twig, the accident, or PD Cheol-soo’s words.
Was it because she had laughed a lot while filming with Lee Eun-ho?
She had no distracting thoughts.
Even when she was alone in her hotel room…
She felt surprisingly calm, although she usually overthought things.
‘Ah.’
Come to think of it, she had probably opened a can of beer then.
Exhausted, she had seen the beer in the fridge and downed it in one gulp.
And when she woke up, she was asleep on the sofa.
‘I’m better than Lee Eun-ho, but I guess I can’t hold my liquor either.’
It was a new realization.
However, the problem was that her back ached during the next day’s filming because of it, causing her to make many unnecessary NGs.
The car exited the tunnel and emerged onto a road with a view of green mountains.
“Eun-ji, you’re not sleeping today?”
Seul-gi asked Eun-ji teasingly.
Although Seul-gi still called her “Eun-ji-nim,” she had recently started mixing formal and informal speech with her, like Hyun-woo and Eun-ho.
“Hmm…”
Eun-ho was asleep, leaning against the window, his arms crossed.
Eun-ji glanced at him.
“Unnie.”
“Yeah?”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Anything. What is it?”
“Hmm—”
How should she explain this?
When explaining something unbelievable, the best excuse was a dream.
“I had a dream.”
I had a dream…
Words were difficult.
She had the melody in her head…
But putting it into words was hard.
“Ah, never mind.”
She gave up…
Just then, Seul-gi, looking puzzled, turned around from the passenger seat.
“Eun-ji-nim.”
“Yes?”
Eun-ji hesitated, seeing Seul-gi’s bewildered expression.
“There are two ways to drive someone crazy.”
“R-really?”
“One is to stop mid-sentence, and the other is…”
Ah.
Eun-ji smiled and waved her hand, as if she finally understood.
“It’s really nothing.”
“That ‘nothing’ is killing me.”
“Haha. Okay.”
She lost.
Eun-ji stammered and cautiously began her story.
“A close friend had a dream about, um, a nemesis-like friend dying.”
“Oh my.”
Seul-gi’s eyes naturally shifted towards Eun-ho.
“It’s not about Lee Eun-ho!”
“Really?”
“It’s true!”
“Haha, okay. And then?”
Eun-ji, after a moment of indignation, calmed down and continued,
“But… unsettling things start happening around that nemesis-like friend, as if the dream is about to come true. So the ‘close friend’ is very worried.”
Seul-gi smiled, looking at the troubled Eun-ji.
Although Eun-ji tried to be vague, she knew it was about Eun-ho and Eun-ji.
‘So that’s why they were fighting.’
Although she hadn’t worked with them for as long as some of the other stylists, she had still worked with them for a considerable amount of time and was quite close to them.
At least, during the time they worked together, Eun-ho often acted very mature, like someone in his 30s, except when he was with Eun-ji.
Especially when it came to work, he was surprisingly experienced for a rookie who hadn’t even debuted for a year.
But two days ago…
At the hanok filming location, even if it was because of the ‘zelkova tree superstition’ related to Eun-ji’s death, it was the first time she had seen him so emotionally distraught.
Especially the crying, that was a completely unexpected reaction.
The pieces finally clicked into place after hearing about Eun-ji’s dream.
“What is this nemesis-like friend like?”
“Huh? Ah, that nemesis-like friend is…”
“From the nemesis-like friend’s perspective, it’s like they’re going to die.”
“Th-that’s true.”
Eun-ji stared blankly ahead with a sullen expression, the look she had when she was deep in thought.
“They say dwelling on negative thoughts eats away at your heart.”
“Hmm? Oh.”
Seul-gi added with a chuckle,
“You said it was a dream, right?”
“Yes…”
“They say dreams are the opposite of reality.”
“…That’s true.”
Eun-ji’s voice, previously filled with simple worry, now held a hint of dejection.
But Seul-gi, looking back at Eun-ji, couldn’t ask any further.
Eun-ji was forcing a smile, trying to hide her sadness.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Seul-gi’s heart ached, looking at her.
‘If it were just a dream… that would be true.’
But for Eun-ji, it was reality.
That’s why she was confused.
But Seul-gi’s words, “Dreams are the opposite,” made Eun-ji stop overthinking.
Dwelling on it was exhausting, the chaotic orchestra of thoughts in her head noisy and overwhelming.
She didn’t want to waste her energy on something she didn’t like.
Eun-ji glanced at Eun-ho.
‘It’s because of you, always worrying about useless things, you dumbass.’
The car, driving along the Gyeongbu Expressway, was peaceful.
No music, just the quiet sound of Eun-ho’s soft snores.
Just then…
The peace was shattered by Hyun-woo’s unusually aggressive driving.
Screech.
“That crazy bastard…”
Eun-ho’s eyes snapped open at Hyun-woo’s murmur, who never cursed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah… I apologize.”
Hyun-woo, flustered, seemed to have realized he cursed without thinking, and replied to Eun-ho’s sleepy question,
“Someone behind us suddenly floored it like they were possessed, and then cut back in…”
Eun-ho, fully awake, looked sharply ahead.
As Hyun-woo said, the driver who had been speeding was now slowing down and driving normally.
“…Did you avoid them?”
“Of course. That’s why I’m driving.”
Although Hyun-woo’s reply was sharp, Eun-ho, relieved by the answer, relaxed and leaned back in his seat.
“Hyung-nim, you saved us.”
“I just did what I had to do.”
“Still.”
He was truly grateful.
It seemed they had avoided the first nightmare, at least.
Eun-ho and Eun-ji arrived home without further incident.
However, ‘first nightmare’ implied there was a ‘second nightmare.’
He hadn’t slept a wink during the two days in Gyeongju, his mind preoccupied with the zelkova twig incident.
The only sleep he got was the short nap in the car on the way back.
And then…
He had it.
The second nightmare.
The moment they arrived at the gate…
Eun-ho punched in the code with lightning speed and ran inside before Eun-ji.
He burst into Eun-ji’s room and headed straight for her messy bedding.
“We need to talk.”
“Meow, meow!”
Eun-ho said, grabbing Briquette, who was sprawled out snoring, by his fluffy cheeks and whiskers.
『Haven’t you heard that you shouldn’t poke a sleeping tiger’s nose hair?!』
“It’s a sleeping lion, and we have more important things to discuss, so—”
“What… was that?”