Siblings Work in Business (43)
“Would you please move, Oppa?”
“Suddenly calling me ‘Oppa’ so creepily…”
“Move before I turn you into a grilled squid, you bastard.”
A moment later…
When Eun-ho turned around in surprise…
Eun-ji, switching from a request to a threat, stopped smiling and whispered menacingly,
‘Try it.’
…She was about to provoke him further, but seeing Eun-ji’s expression…
Eun-ho stopped talking and moved away from the heater, as she requested.
“I-I moved!”
“No, it’s okay. Why are you still standing there?”
Eun-ji’s eyes were unfocused.
And at some point, she had unwrapped the blanket and even taken her hands out.
It was a chilling gaze, as if she was about to push him into the heater.
“Hey, you said you were cold!”
“It’s okay. I’m more curious about how a grilled rockfish tastes.”
“Hey, hey, hey! You’ll get burned!”
“Wow, that sounds amazing.”
“She’s crazy.”
Eun-ji’s unfocused, irrational eyes seemed even more menacing because of her contact lenses.
And since she seemed like the type to actually do it…
I was genuinely scared and moved away from the heater.
Although I was cold because of my prank, the set was gradually warming up from the body heat of the people gathered, so it was bearable.
‘Ugh, brrr.’
I thought that, until the cold outside air rushed in through the briefly opened door.
“My, it’s quite cold today, isn’t it?”
It was Director Go Tae-seo, who had briefly left and now returned.
As the cold air swept through the set, the people huddled around the heater moved closer together like penguins, shivering.
“O-Oh… you’re here?”
“Yes! It’s freezing!”
Eun-ho, despite the cold, politely greeted Director Go.
Meanwhile, Eun-ji, as always, yelled honestly.
Eun-ho, having instinctively returned to the heater, quickly covered Eun-ji’s mouth.
But despite Eun-ho’s efforts, Director Go burst out laughing and said,
“Haha. As Eun-ji said, it’s ‘freezing,’ so let’s quickly finish filming and change into warmer outfits.”
Should I call this Eun-ji’s ‘doing’?
It was good news, considering the cold.
Not just us, but also Cloud Dance Team and the staff cheered in unison.
“Alright, let’s hurry up and get started! We’re short on time!”
Perhaps because we spent more time than expected setting up the set…
We weren’t on a relaxed schedule.
And after the costume change, we had a quick photoshoot with CK Music Life Magazine.
“Just walk over there with a thoughtful expression.”
Eun-ji was the first to film.
Still wrapped in the blanket, she listened to the director’s explanation of the scene.
The director pointed to a wide, worn-looking plank.
According to the storyboard, the plank represented a broken bridge over a lake.
“Ready!”
“Okay!”
A staff member called out, and Eun-ji walked towards the plank, unwrapping her blanket at the same time.
When she was about three steps away from me…
“Oppa, hold this for a sec.”
“Huh? Whoa!”
Eun-ji, as if taking revenge for earlier, threw the blanket at me like a fastball, instead of just handing it over normally.
“Eun-ji!”
“Yes, I’m going!”
At the staff’s call, Eun-ji, seemingly unconcerned about the blanket, turned her gaze towards the camera and walked onto the set.
‘What’s this?’
I looked inside the unusually warm blanket, and it was filled with heat packs.
“Oh…”
As I wrapped myself in Eun-ji’s blanket, my frozen body started to thaw.
She must be freezing, wearing that…
“Ready, action!”
The director’s voice echoed through the set.
At his signal, Eun-ji walked calmly onto the worn-looking bridge.
As Director Go requested, she lowered her eyelids and made a thoughtful expression.
‘As expected of Lee Eun-ji…’
Just like before the regression, she was always serious when it came to work.
Eun-ji, visible through the monitor, seemed completely immersed in the scene, showing no signs of being cold.
“Cut! Eun-ji, let’s do it one more time!”
“Okay!”
“Okay, cut! Good! Let’s move on!”
After repeating the same scene three more times, the director finally signaled the end of the first scene.
I took the blanket Eun-ji gave me and approached her.
“Aren’t you cold?”
“Do you think I wouldn’t be?”
She had been acting fine during filming, but as soon as the director yelled cut, Eun-ji started shivering like a wet rat.
“Hyung, can you get Eun-ji some more heat packs?”
“Okay.”
I asked Hyun-woo, who came over to wrap the blanket around Eun-ji.
Hyung ran off before I could even finish my sentence.
“What’s gotten into you, Lee Eun-ho?”
Eun-ji asked, looking at the unusually kind Eun-ho with a puzzled expression.
“If you catch a cold and can’t perform, it’s my loss too.”
“Of course. I won’t catch a cold!”
“Right, idiots don’t catch colds.”
“Look who’s talking.”
“And you, what’s ‘talking’ to your older brother? Show some respect.”
Eun-ji grumbled, but as soon as Director Go called her, she turned serious and focused on filming.
After Eun-ji walked away, the surroundings felt quiet.
‘That’s right…’
It was because of one missing person.
Before the regression, the CEO was always present at my music video shoots.
Once, I playfully asked him why he came, since he was just watching.
He said, “I have to see it with my own eyes to feel at ease.”
So I thought he would come today too.
‘But he couldn’t…’
Actually, the CEO had intended to come this time as well.
But he had an urgent matter at the broadcasting station that morning and went there instead.
‘Since our debut date is approaching…’
Although he went there for face-to-face meetings, knowing the CEO, he would probably also hand out promotional CDs to his PD acquaintances.
He always did that.
“Sorry I’m late!”
I brushed aside my thoughts as Hyun-woo came running with a bag of heat packs.
“Here are the heat packs.”
“Thank you, hyung.”
“Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Haha, okay.”
Just then…
“Oppa, Oppa!”
“Huh?”
“Eun-ji, get ready!”
“Okay! Hold onto the blanket!”
I sat back down, taking the blanket Eun-ji threw at me.
And during the filming of the second scene…
I started my cottage industry of attaching heat packs to my blanket and Eun-ji’s.
“Aren’t you cold?”
“Do you think I wouldn’t be?”
A staff member, watching Eun-ho and Eun-ji bickering in the corner…
“Um…”
“Yes?”
Worried that their argument might escalate, she approached Cloud Dance Team, who were peacefully waiting by the heater, and asked.
“The actors are arguing, shouldn’t we stop them?”
“Actors?”
A member of the dance team tilted their head at the word “actors,” and the staff member pointed at Eun-ho and Eun-ji.
“Look who’s talking.”
“And you, what’s ‘talking’ to your older brother? Show some respect.”
The eight members of Cloud Dance Team, looking at Eun-ho and Eun-ji, all had the same thought.
‘Here we go again.’
Cloud had seen the two bicker every day during dance practice.
So, this kind of banter had become a daily occurrence for them.
“It’s okay. They just talk tough, they’re not actually fighting.”
“R-Really?”
As one member waved their hand dismissively, the others chimed in.
“Seriously. They bicker like that, but they take care of each other.”
“Ah, right, right. Haha. Especially Eun-ho, he’s so indifferent to everyone else, but he becomes like a little kid around Eun-ji.”
“They just express themselves roughly. They’re good kids. They even gave me a cake for my birthday!”
“Eun-ho did?”
“No, both of them.”
“Aww, that’s cute.”
“They’re just embarrassed to express their feelings.”
Cloud Dance Team burst out laughing.
Meanwhile, the staff member who asked the question turned her gaze back to Eun-ho.
Just then, she saw Eun-ho attaching the remaining heat packs to Eun-ji’s blanket after filling his own.
「“Seriously. They bicker like that, but they take care of each other.”」
As if understanding what the dance team meant, the staff member chuckled softly.
“Action!”
Eun-ji started her dance steps at the cue.
Perhaps thanks to all the practice…
As the heavy drumbeat of “DUO” started, her feet instinctively moved to the steps.
And as the wobble bass, signaling the end of the intro, started playing, Eun-ji threw herself backwards from the edge of the plank, towards a soft mattress.
As Eun-ji fell…
The camera focused on the green chroma key wall behind her.
“Cut! Good!”
As Director Go gave the signal, Eun-ho took the blanket he had been working on and approached Eun-ji.
“Hey, blanket.”
“Oh, thanks.”
Eun-ji calmly wrapped herself in the blanket Eun-ho handed her, her eyes fixed on the monitor.
It was an important part of the process, checking if the scene they just filmed turned out well.
Eun-ji had been repeating the same scene several times.
Although the lighting was warm, the cold air seemed to have stiffened her body.
She made frequent mistakes in the beginning, unable to smoothly connect the dance moves.
But even after she warmed up, they kept repeating the same steps for different camera angles.
Perhaps that’s why…
Eun-ji’s gaze, as she watched the screen, was sharper than usual, having become more sensitive.
“I didn’t mess up the choreography this time, right?”
“No.”
Eun-ji asked, her eyes still glued to the monitor.
Eun-ho answered casually, but then he raised his eyebrows, as if noticing something.
“Lee Eun-ji.”
“What?”
“Just now, you stumbled a bit.”
“Where?”
“After the intro starts, thump, thump, thump, you hesitated.”
“Ah, damn it. I don’t know how many times I’ve messed up that part…”
Eun-ji was about to pull her hair out of habit, but she stopped mid-air, remembering the hours spent styling her hair.
Just then…
“Alright, Lee Eun-ji, let’s reboot your choreography. Bzz.”
Eun-ho pressed two combs, which appeared out of nowhere, against Eun-ji’s temples.