LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 14
Chapter 14
The door opened and Eun-chan came in. Eun-hye, who had greeted her brother at the front door, glared at him fiercely.
Seo-jun and Lee Min-jun held their breath and pressed themselves against the sofa.
Eun-chan had something crinkly in his hand.
He was terrified of his sister, whom he hadn’t seen in a month.
He had stopped by a nearby mart and bought a gift for his target of persuasion.
“Hahaha. This is for Seo-jun.”
“A bribe?”
“…Uh.”
Eun-chan answered with a crestfallen face, his intention exposed. Eun-hye sighed and stepped aside.
Eun-chan cautiously entered the living room. He saw the two people curled up on the corner of the sofa.
“Hello, brother-in-law. Hi, seo-jun.”
“Long time no see.”
“Wow!”
He handed Seo-jun’s gift to Min-jun and knelt down quietly in a corner of the living room. He bowed his head.
“I’m sorry!”
“Give me your phone.”
“I saved it!”
Eun-hye took the phone from Eun-chan and checked the contact list.
She sighed again and sat down.
This time, Eun-hye’s phone number was properly saved.
“How could you not recognize your own nephew?”
“Well, babies all look alike. Besides, it’s been a month since I last saw him. How was I supposed to know Seo-jun became so famous?”
Eun-hye rubbed her forehead at her brother’s evasive answer.
“Yeah. He’s not your son. You could miss him.”
“Hahaha.”
“Register my number again.”
“Yes!”
“Go home today.”
“Uh, about that…”
Eun-chan hesitated for a moment. Eun-hye’s eyes shot up to the sky. Seeing her face, Eun-chan hurriedly explained.
“No, it’s just that our company is new and I got a job there three weeks ago, but we’re so short-staffed that I’m already a manager. So I have to debut an idol group as soon as possible. Somehow, we got to go on a music show in a month, but I’m so busy preparing for that…”
“Busy?”
“…I don’t think I can go home until the music show is over.”
“Where are you staying?”
“Our kids are all boys, so we’re staying together at the dorm that the company provided for them. I don’t know about anything else, but our company has good benefits, so the dorm is nice too!”
Eun-hye ignored her brother, who seemed ready to show her the dorm at any moment, and asked.
“Can you go home after the music show?”
“Uh… if we fail?”
Min-jun and Seo-jun shook their heads vigorously.
No, they can’t fail. Eun-hye looked at Eun-chan with a disdainful expression, as if to say ‘What kind of idiot is my brother?’
“I’m sorry. I’ll try not to fail.”
Eun-chan apologized quietly, feeling the gaze of the three people.
“If it doesn’t fail and actually succeeds?”
“If it does succeed… then there will be events to attend and broadcasts to appear on. I’m only called the manager in name, but I’m also acting as a director.”
“So you’ll be even busier than now?”
“Yeah. I suppose so.”
Seo Eun-chan’s noncommittal agreement led Seo Eun-hye to give up, as if resigned.
“Well, you’ll be thirty next year. You’ll manage on your own. At least call mom more often.”
“Sure! I’ll call more often.”
Seo Eun-chan quickly responded, glancing around cautiously.
“Since you’re here, have some food before you go. Have you had dinner?”
“I have!”
“Then have a cup of coffee before you leave.”
Seo Eun-hye stood up and headed to the kitchen. The three men quietly sighed in relief. Feeling that the commotion had ended, Lee Min-jun spoke up.
“But what’s this about a variety show, brother-in-law?”
“Oh, that.”
Seo Eun-chan hesitated. He had been riding on the popularity of a YouTube baby star, not realizing it was his nephew. He wondered if it was alright to discuss such an unexpected situation.
“So, what’s the story?”
Seo Eun-hye asked, placing coffee on the table.
‘Mom, dad, Uncle Chan’s. None for me.’
Seo-jun, feeling left out, was about to burst into tears when something caught his attention.
“Here, the baby snack your uncle brought.”
It was his father. Seo-jun was grateful.
;Yum yum! Banana flavor!;
Seo-jun enjoyed the snack, gnawing it with his lower teeth. Holding the snack in one hand, he sucked on it diligently.
Seo Eun-hye, who had silently praised Lee Min-jun for averting Seo-jun’s tears, turned her sharp gaze to Seo Eun-chan. Swallowing hard, he began to speak.
“Our group is so unknown that we don’t have a single fan. It would be a blessing to have someone we know. We only got on one music broadcast as a filler. I thought we should at least get our name out there, so I worked hard on a music video and posted articles online, but the views are low. I’m afraid we’ll just fade into obscurity.”
Seo Eun-chan took a sip of his coffee, his throat parched.
“I thought we should at least get our name out there, so one of the members suggested posting a broadcast on YouTube. Not just an introduction, but something like a short variety show. Since parenting shows are popular these days, we thought that might be a good approach.”
“So you’re using Seo-jun?”
“Seo-jun is famous, so we thought we could use that popularity… uh…”
“Exploit it?”
“No, not exploit…”
“No?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Tension rose again. The choice of words about using his nephew was unfortunate. Cold sweat dripped down his face.
Seo Eun-hye fell into thought. Her brother had spent three years unemployed, his self-esteem waning.
But now, employed, his complexion looked good despite not being able to come home.
He was clean-shaven, his hair neat, and his clothes clean.
It seemed he was finally starting to fulfill his role as a person.
‘But, if the company fails, will he become unemployed again?’
It was clear that the fate of the new idol group depended on their debut, since they belonged to a fledgling company.
Even if they didn’t fail completely, things would get harder for them.
Seo Eun-hye took a sip of her coffee.
‘It’s nice to help my brother, but…’
This was different from the two short videos of eating food that they had filmed.
Even though it was on YouTube, not television, it was still a variety show.
Seo-jun would be seen by many people, and his mouth would be moving up and down.
She was worried.
“I agree.”
“Abu!”
‘Agree!’
Lee Min-jun raised his hand.
Seo-jun, who had finished his snack, also raised his hand.
He didn’t expect it, but he was already going to appear on a variety show! He was all for it!
The two father and son, who looked alike, raised their hands in the same pose. Seo Eun-hye relaxed her stiff face and chuckled.
“Look. Seo-jun agrees too!”
“But…”
“It’s okay. This is also a memory. I’m busy with work and you’re busy taking care of Seo-jun. How can we film Seo-jun all day long? It will be a great memory later.”
He said that, but he was clearly agreeing for her and Seo Eun-chan’s sake.
Seo Eun-hye squeezed her husband’s hand. Lee Min-jun also held his wife’s hand. The couple’s eyes softened.
Before long, seo-jun slipped out of his dad’s arms and sat on his uncle Chan’s lap. He leaned his back on his uncle’s stomach. Seo Eun-chan also quietly followed the mood.
“They’re still newlyweds.”
“Amum.”
Seo Eun-chan gave Seo-jun a baby cookie and quietly left the living room. He headed to Seo-jun’s toy room.
He closed the door tightly.
“Phew. Sis. You scared me to death.”
He shivered. Then he flopped down on the floor and hugged Seo-jun, talking to him.
“Seo-jun. Your mom. She’s really scary. Right?”
“Abubup!”
“Be nice to her later, so you don’t get scolded. This is a favor, a favor. If not for your uncle, there’s no one who will take your mother. Your uncle is like Buddha.”
Seo Eun-chan grumbled and looked at Seo-jun. He was sucking on a cookie in one hand. He was so cute.
“Is this because you’re my nephew and you look cute to me? Or are you just cute?”
“He’s just cute.”
“Eek!”
The door opened.
Seo Eun-hye was standing there.
Seo Eun-chan stuttered.
“Did-did you hear?”
“What?”
“Never mind. You didn’thear.”
“That ‘your uncle is Buddha’?”
“You heard everything!”
“Stop talking nonsense and come out.”
“Seo-jun hears everything. He’ll learn bad words!”
Seo Eun-hye snorted and hugged Seo-jun.
“Our Seo-jun is smart and won’t use bad words.”
“Abu!”
‘That’s right!’
“See, that’s what I’m talking about.”
At his sister’s doting words, seo Eun-chan was at a loss for words.
“So, are you going to appear on the show?”
“Let’s hear the plan first. We haven’t discussed what content will be shot. And we need to hear how much will be paid.”
Seo Eun-hye spoke decisively, and Seo Eun-chan nodded in agreement.
“That’s my sister.”
“What?”
“Nothing! Shall we look at this proposal first?”
Seo Eun-chan quickly took out his phone and opened the file.
The file was a proposal created by the members of Cocoa Enter, huddled together with the president’s permission.
It looked a bit rough, as it was something none of them had done before.
Seo Eun-chan began, “We’ve set the filming time to 48 hours.”
“Isn’t that too long?”
Her first comment was a criticism. Seo Eun-chan, with a face full of things to say but choosing not to, continued.
“24 hours is too short, sister. It would end just as they’re getting to know each other.”
“Fine. Let’s move on.”
“Alright… And the number of episodes we’ll upload on YouTube will depend on the footage we get, but we’re thinking about 8 episodes, each 15 minutes long. People watch short videos on YouTube, unlike television. And if we upload two episodes a week, we can release them all before the music broadcast in four weeks.”
Lee Min-jun and Seo Eun-hye nodded. Gaining confidence, seo Eun-chan said, “We’ll upload it on our group channel, but I hope Jun can promote our channel on his channel later.”
“Ah!”
“Of course, we’ll pay separately for the promotion.”
As Seo Eun-hye raised her hand, seo Eun-chan quickly responded, understanding his sister’s intentions. Seo Eun-hye smiled in satisfaction.
“We have Christmas in the middle, so we’ll shoot one or two episodes with that concept, and the rest will be our daily lives.”
Listening to the plan, 48 hours seemed insufficient.
“What if we run out of content?”
“Hmm. We’re also considering 8 episodes of 10 minutes each. Or maybe just 4 episodes…”
Seo Eun-chan trailed off and sighed.
“Will we even get that much? What do you think, sister? Does Jun have a sense of variety?”
“What do you expect from an 8-month-old baby? How about the variety sense of your group members?”
“Uh…”
At Seo Eun-hye’s question, seo Eun-chan racked his brain.
Smart Park Seo-jin, Kevin Kim who blurts out English when rushed, playful Hwang Ye-jun, and the youngest Choi Si-yoon.
They had only been together for three weeks, but their characters were distinct. But as for variety sense…
“…I’m not sure.”
“Ugh.”
“It’ll go well. Jun is already a YouTube star. If all 500,000 subscribers watch it at least once, it’ll be huge.”
Lee Min-jun patted the gloomy siblings’ shoulders. Seo-jun shrugged his shoulders.
“Abup!”
Indeed, the channel [JUN] had already surpassed 500,000 subscribers.