Siblings Work in Business (79)
Hyun-woo and Seul-gi smiled inwardly, finding Eun-ji’s deflated demeanor cute.
But there was one person in the car who found her annoying.
“Ah, Lee Eun-ho! Just tell me! Where are we going?!”
Eun-ho sighed dramatically and rummaged through his bag, taking out a small, round donut.
“Here— stuffs donut. What’sh thish?”
Eun-ho shoved the donut into Eun-ji’s mouth and leaned back against the window, closing his eyes.
Eun-ji glared at Eun-ho, then chewed on the dry donut in her mouth.
“Hmm? Hmm! Ugh!”
Eun-ji’s initially curious expression crumpled.
Eun-ho finally smiled, seemingly amused.
What he had shoved into Eun-ji’s mouth was a protein donut, which the CEO had baked himself and given to Eun-ho.
Zero sugar, protein powder instead of flour.
In other words, it was tasteless.
Incredibly so.
The CEO’s protein donut…
To put it bluntly, even chewing on a wad of toilet paper would have been more flavorful.
Thanks to that, the car was quiet for a while.
‘Even if Eun-ho likes pranks…’
‘He wouldn’t give her something inedible…’
Seul-gi and Hyun-woo trusted Eun-ho and didn’t think it was a big deal.
‘What is this? It tastes like powder… what did he give me?!’
Eun-ji’s face turned pale as she frantically looked around for something to spit it into.
The car was both quiet and noisy because of Eun-ji’s frantic movements.
Meanwhile, the car continued on its way and arrived at a quiet restaurant in a secluded area.
As Hyun-woo shifted the gear into reverse to park…
Click.
Eun-ji hurriedly unbuckled her seatbelt, opened the door, and rushed outside.
‘Haha.’
Even in her haste, she carefully placed the fan gifts on her seat, which was quite comical.
“Ptoo! Ugh! Ptoo! Blech! What is this?!”
“What?”
Eun-ho casually approached Eun-ji, who was spitting something into a drain.
“What? What?!”
Eun-ji glared at Eun-ho, her eyes wide with anger.
“You crazy bastard, even if it’s a prank, it has to be edible! What did you make me eat?! Ugh! You…”
Eun-ho remained unfazed by Eun-ji’s barrage of curses.
Eun-ji, noticing his calmness, stopped yelling and looked at him with suspicion.
“…What are you hiding? What is it?”
Eun-ho smiled leisurely and said,
“What could I be hiding, little sister?”
“You’re hiding something. Stop that fake smile and tell me. What was that garbage?”
“Garbage? Wow, you can say that?”
“It was garbage, damn it.”
“Really?”
“Yes! Is that even food?! Even the stale bread we ate as kids was better than that shit.”
“Oh, is that so? But Eun-ji.”
“What? What is it?”
“That was from the CEO. He baked it himself.”
“Wha—… huh?”
Eun-ji’s open mouth snapped shut.
She looked at the drain where she had just spat.
Her expression, now calm, was a stark contrast to her previous anger.
Eun-ho, surprised by her reaction, stared at her.
‘What? Is she speechless from the shock?’
It was that bad, but…
Eun-ji just sighed quietly and turned around, without even cursing.
She walked towards Seul-gi and Hyun-woo.
Standing next to them, Eun-ji was filled with resolve.
She would never, ever, not even if she died again, eat anything the CEO made himself.
‘No. If the CEO says he’s cooking, I’m running away.’
‘Where… is this…?’
After she came to her senses, she realized they had arrived at an ordinary restaurant.
But the car looked familiar, and she seemed to recognize some faces beyond the window…
‘Huh?’
Eun-ji’s eyes lit up as she spotted a familiar face among the people inside.
The people sitting with CEO Park.
“That’s, To, Tox…”
Just as Eun-ji stuttered, pointing her finger…
“Hey, hey, hey!”
Eun-ho rushed over and bent her extended finger.
“Don’t point at our seniors!”
Eun-ji, who would normally have brushed his hand away and yelled, looked at Eun-ho with wide eyes, surprised at seeing Toxin.
“Did you know?”
Her question had two meanings:
‘Did you know we were coming to this restaurant?’
‘Did you know our seniors would be here?’
Eun-ho, understanding her intent, nodded.
“It’s our debut. I had a hunch.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?!”
Eun-ji yelled accusingly, and Eun-ho finally let go of her hand and said,
“I wasn’t sure.”
“You don’t know, even though you regressed?!”
“…This… didn’t happen before!”
“Wow, Lee Eun-ho, you’re useless.”
“Seriously, you’re saying that to your brother?”
“Anyway! What do you mean ‘you weren’t sure’?”
“I thought we might have an after-party, but I didn’t know our seniors would be here. Happy now, pumpkin?”
As Eun-ho and Eun-ji bickered…
Eun-ho turned his head and made eye contact with someone waving at him from inside.
It was Ji Ye-chan, sitting across from CEO Park, surrounded by familiar faces who seemed to be the Toxin members.
He had youthful, clear skin, looking much younger than his late 30s.
He could have passed for the youngest, but he was the oldest and the leader of Toxin.
‘Eun-ho, come in.’
Although his voice was inaudible through the window, his mouth seemed to be saying that.
Eun-ho bowed his head in response.
“Why is the senior only greeting you?! What about me?!”
“Gah.”
Eun-ji, watching them, suddenly grabbed Eun-ho by the collar and asked.
She had a surprisingly strong grip for a girl.
“I guess the senior can’t see pumpkins. Haha.”
As Eun-ho joked, Eun-ji, annoyed, shook him by the collar.
Thankfully, their antics had to stop there.
“You two! Are you coming in or not?!”
Both Eun-ho and Eun-ji flinched and looked towards the restaurant.
‘How loud was he…?’
Although he was sitting with Ji Ye-chan, the CEO’s voice boomed through the window.
It wasn’t just my imagination; the other customers in the restaurant were also staring at the CEO.
“You knuckleheads! You should come in right away! Are you fighting again?! Again?!”
Although he usually gave long lectures, he wasn’t usually this loud.
As we entered the restaurant, I immediately understood why he was different today.
“There, there, my babies.”
The CEO was already quite drunk.
‘…?’
Meanwhile, Eun-ho glanced at Eun-ji, who was subtly moving away from him.
Why was she suddenly moving…?
I should have been more suspicious, and as expected…
“Attention, everyone! N.R.Y Enter! Tainment! Park Chang-seok sends his greetings! These are! My children! That’s what they are!”
The slightly staggering CEO Park put his arm around Eun-ho’s shoulder.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
And just as I always had a bad feeling about these moments, CEO Park…
Suddenly…
Grabbed Eun-ho’s wrists and lifted them up.
“Hahahaha! Haha!”
It would have been slightly better if Lee Eun-ji wasn’t laughing. Or if I could at least hide my face—
Ugh, this was bad.
Standing in the middle of the restaurant with my arms raised by the CEO… I couldn’t handle this, no matter how thick-skinned I was.
“These beautiful children! Hahaha! Please look after them! Thank you!”
Stop it. Please stop, CEO!
Damn it! Go bald again!
The forced “hooray” pose was just the beginning.
Eun-ho, his wrists still held by CEO Park, was forced to clap loudly.
Despite his resistance…
His gym-toned body was no match for the CEO’s strength.
“Kyahahaha!”
Eun-ji was laughing so hard she was gasping for air.
The laughter in the restaurant made my blood boil.
My face felt like it was about to explode!
My resentment towards the CEO was short-lived.
Thankfully, after the greetings, the restaurant returned to its normal chatter.
And thankfully, the restaurant seemed to have been booked entirely by the CEO, filled with his acquaintances, current and former colleagues.
“You don’t have to formally greet strangers yet, so go eat somewhere comfortable. Have a good meal, and then we have to work hard on the next album starting tomorrow.”
“Yes!”
“Okay…”
Thwack, thwack!
The CEO patted our backs harder than usual, perhaps because of the alcohol, before returning to his seat.
He usually controlled his strength, but his pats felt like they vibrated through my internal organs.
He wasn’t just for show when he set up a gym at home.
‘I need to increase my pull-ups and dips…’
Remembering the humiliation I just experienced, I mentally added more workouts to my training schedule.
After the chaotic moment passed, we looked around, trying to regain our composure.
Although most of the people were strangers, there were also some familiar faces.
Eun-ji’s composing teacher, Composer Bae Jin-soo, vocal trainer Lee Ha-neul, and dance trainer Lee Gu-reum.
And around Lee Gu-reum were the Cloud members, with whom we had just performed.
‘We should go over ther…’
I hesitated as I was about to join the Cloud team.
I remembered the after-party from the “DUO” showcase.
Besides the soju bottle in Ena’s (Oh Byeol’s) hand, there were already several empty bottles on their table.
She was definitely drunk.
And she wasn’t exactly pleasant when drunk, what should I do?
Just as I was wondering…
Ena suddenly put someone in a headlock.
‘Ah.’
‘Oh dear.’
Lee Eun-ji and I looked at the top of the head visible between Ena’s arms with pity.
We could only see the top of his head, but there was only one person who would struggle like that.
‘Oh dear, Dal.’
‘Why does he always provoke his sister, knowing what will happen?’
It seemed fun, but…
It also seemed like the kind of table that would lead to more exhaustion than fun.
Just as I was debating whether to join them or not…
‘Hyung?’