Siblings Working in Business (236)
Perhaps because they were sharing a room…
The women’s room was filled with relaxed chatter and laughter as they changed clothes.
But the men’s room, with its two separate rooms…
“The big room is spacious enough for four people. Should we have one person use the sarangchae?”
Eun-ho’s casual remark sparked a conflict.
The sarangchae, a smaller room connected to the main room by a narrow hallway, was closer to the bathroom.
The main room was larger, but they would have to share it with more people.
There were five male members, so it would be spacious enough even if they split into groups of three and two.
But the desire for a private space was instinctive, and a battle for the sarangchae ensued.
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
“Rock, pa-, scissors!”
Choi Si-woo, the youngest, desperately wanted to escape the hyungs, and Seok-hyun, the only one in his 40s, wanted a peaceful night’s sleep away from the younger members.
A peaceful night’s sleep was also what Choi Tae-hyun, in his late 30s, desperately wanted.
And with the unexpected addition of Tae-hyun, the competition heated up.
Seo Seung-yeon, although not interested in having a room to himself, joined in, amused by the competition.
Only Eun-ho, uninterested in both the room and the competition, watched them with a dumbfounded expression.
At first, they seemed serious about deciding with rock-paper-scissors.
‘Should I call this a good match…?’
They kept tying, with all three options appearing every round, for over ten rounds.
“Let’s split into two groups and decide. This is going nowhere.”
Tae-hyun suggested, but Si-woo seemed unhappy.
Just as he hesitated to speak up against his senior…
“Hey, Hyung, that’s no fun.”
Seung-yeon, as if speaking for Si-woo, blocked Tae-hyun’s suggestion.
“Why? It seems fine.”
“I agree with Seung-yeon Sunbae-nim.”
Although Ryu Seok-hyun raised his hand in agreement with Tae-hyun, Si-woo blocked him.
‘Oh, is this going to be a popcorn moment?’
Originally, they were supposed to have a casual chat after changing clothes.
But would a simple talk show be possible in this heated atmosphere?
‘It will be.’
Everyone here, except for Si-woo, was a professional.
Top-tier professionals, at that.
Eun-ho thought for a moment, his arms crossed.
While he pondered, chaos unfolded behind him.
“Let’s just arm wrestle!”
“Uncle, are you scared?”
“No! Don’t you have any respect for your elders?!”
“You’re the one who said not to discriminate based on age!”
“A-anyway, I’m not arm wrestling. You’ll lose anyway.”
“We won’t.”
Although his pride tempted him to accept the challenge, Ryu Seok-hyun glanced at Choi Tae-hyun and shook his head.
Honestly, if they hadn’t washed the cauldron together, he would have shouted, ‘Let’s do it!’ immediately.
But he knew, even before washing the cauldron…
Ryu Seok-hyun’s back had protested when he tried to carry the surprisingly heavy cauldron, a warning sign.
He hurriedly called out to Tae-hyun,
「“Tae-hyun!”」
「“Ah.”」
Tae-hyun, sensing his distress, immediately came over and took the cauldron.
「“Are you okay?”」
「“…Yes. Isn’t it heavy?”」
「“It’s fine.”」
Tae-hyun lifted the cauldron, which Seok-hyun had been carrying with both hands, with one hand, proving his point.
“Not lose? Si-woo, you didn’t see it.”
Although his pride tempted him to accept, remembering that moment, he couldn’t bring himself to say yes.
The winner was obvious.
Click.
Just then…
As the four of them were bickering, Eun-ho suddenly left the room.
“…?”
“Eun-ho, why did he suddenly leave?”
“Does he… feel left out…?”
The four exchanged puzzled glances, wondering why Eun-ho left.
“PD-nim!”
Eun-ho went looking for PD Yoo.
“…Eun-ho?”
PD Yoo, who seemed to be eating a late dinner, quickly swallowed his sujebi and replied.
“Sorry to interrupt your meal.”
“No, no, it’s fine. But what’s wrong?”
“Ah, it’s about our next segment, the talk show.”
“Right.”
“I wanted to ask for your opinion…”
PD Yoo adjusted his posture, as if inviting him to speak.
Eun-ho told him about the room competition happening in the men’s room.
“Oh…”
PD Yoo, who also seemed to have issues with the planned talk show, welcomed this development.
He had initially left them to settle in comfortably, but now that the cast themselves wanted content, he was delighted.
However, there was one drawback to turning the talk show into a room competition.
“The women’s team, who have already settled in, might not be as interested…”
Just then, Eun-ho brought up that very issue.
“So how about this?”
“…”
PD Yoo showed great interest in Eun-ho’s idea.
The Deal
Currently, the only food the Let’s Live Together a Bit members had was canned ham.
Even with that, they couldn’t just add it to the sujebi like today.
The only stove was being used for the sujebi, so they couldn’t cook anything else.
He honestly wanted to open the canned ham and grill it, but there was no place to do so.
Soups and stews took a long time to cook because of the boiling time, and moving the heavy cauldron afterwards was also a hassle.
So, the staff had transferred the sujebi to a separate pot and heated it up on a portable burner.
He envied them, so he made the suggestion.
“Since we’re in the countryside, there are some things we can’t easily get. And the staff have them.”
The staff had portable burners that didn’t require building a fire.
They had gas canisters and ramen.
“But wouldn’t that detract from the show’s premise?”
“It’s not like we’re suddenly living in the city just because we’re watching TV and using a kimchi refrigerator instead of a jangdokdae (traditional Korean earthenware for storing fermented foods).”
“That’s… true.”
“It just makes things a bit more convenient, and it could also create new stories.”
“Hmm…”
Eun-ho, smiling, proposed a deal to the pondering PD.
“How about a point system?”
“A point system…?”
“Start with the room that’s in higher demand.”
“Like real estate?”
“Yes. Assign a price to each room, and we buy them with points earned through missions.”
“So the women’s team would buy the room they’re currently using, and since the men’s team has two rooms, we assign a price to each…”
Just then, as PD Yoo was pondering, Eun-ho shook his head.
If they followed the PD’s idea, the women’s team would have limited options, which could be a problem.
Some of them might want a room to themselves.
The reason they had initially divided the rooms based on gender was simple.
Bathrooms.
The men got more space but a smaller bathroom, and the women got a smaller space but a larger bathroom.
“Wouldn’t it be better to start on equal footing? Like, if you can’t afford a room, you sleep outside.”
“Sleep outside, haha.”
“Since we’re already enduring discomfort and filming our daily lives in the countryside, we could use that discomfort as content.”
“Hmm, that’s not bad. Writer Kim!”
PD Yoo, seemingly intrigued by Eun-ho’s suggestion, called the main writer.
Eun-ho, intending to leave the decision to the PD, was about to return to his room when…
PD Yoo stopped him.
“Eun-ho.”
“Yes?”
“Thanks for the good idea.”
Eun-ho simply smiled in response.
He had made the suggestion partly because the room competition seemed interesting, but also for a more personal reason.
A peaceful, simple life in the countryside, cooking and eating together, was nice, but…
‘It’s just…’
Eun-ji indulged her appetite and then worked out to compensate.
He, on the other hand, suppressed his appetite because he didn’t want to work out as much.
He and Eun-ji were different.
Eun-ji called this “laziness.”
He would have usually argued, but he couldn’t anymore because of a recent incident.
A few days before this variety show appearance…
Wanting to challenge the fans’ perception that he ‘wasn’t suited for variety shows,’ he watched some of his past appearances.
Do-jin, who was incredibly good at pointing out his flaws, was also there.
Do-jin’s weakness was his inability to tolerate boredom.
But when it came to work, he could focus even on the most tedious tasks.
And he was uncannily good at identifying strengths and weaknesses.
「“Hey, Eun-ho, you’re good, but why do you have those weird habits when you sing?”」
「“Habits?”」
「“Yeah. You’re stiff. Here.”」
He had been stubborn back then.
Clinging to his own way, even when experts pointed out his flaws.
Yes, he admitted it.
He had a bad personality.
Beyond bad, it was terrible.
That stubbornness was the reason he couldn’t break his habit, even during Ha-neul’s vocal lessons.
Do-jin was the one who helped him fix it.
「“What about it?”」
「“That habit makes your singing sound like shit.”」
While experts used flowery language to describe problems, Do-jin was blunt.
His language was similar to Eun-ji’s.
So…
It made him even angrier.
「“Really? Then tell me exactly when that ‘shitty’ habit appears.”」
He had snapped and thrown the lyric sheet at Do-jin.
Do-jin calmly caught the lyric sheet and then proceeded to mark it up.
As he sang the parts Do-jin marked, he finally realized, ‘Huh?’
Only then did he acknowledge the problems Ha-neul had pointed out.
He finally abandoned his foolish pride.
After acknowledging it, focusing on it, and finally fixing the problem… even CEO Park, who never praised him, noticed the difference, saying, “Eun-ho, your vocals have become much cleaner.”
That’s why he had called Do-jin.
He had changed, but he thought Do-jin would be the same.
Do-jin readily agreed to watch his variety show appearances with him.
The time they spent together was considerable, each episode about an hour long.
“You know…”
“…”
After Change Partner ended, and as they watched another show, Do-jin finally spoke.
Eun-ho, slightly nervous, looked at him.
“It’s, it might be a bit awkward to say this, but…”
“It’s okay. Tell me anything, everything you think.”
“Hmm…”
Do-jin paused the video and spoke apologetically,
“Eun-ho, um, do you…”
“…”
“Find… broadcasting annoying?”
“Ugh…”
He had expected it, but not such a direct hit.
He felt a sudden surge of emotion.