Seeing office workers at the table across from them glancing over, Aunt, passing by, grabbed their attention.
“Boss, do we have such a menu for lunch and dinner when we come here?”
“Oh, no. It’s not on the menu. That’s just our son’s meal. Since he’s a son we can’t see often because he’s so busy, we try to feed him everything he can eat.”
“Oh, was that it? I almost became a guy who stole someone else’s son’s meal. Euhaha!”
Listening to the guests and Aunt joking behind her, Yoonbin, who had been quietly laughing, picked up his chopsticks.
“Eat a lot, Eunsoo.”
“Yeah. It seems so delicious from the smell alone.”
Nodding her head, Eunsoo quickly tasted the rice and side dishes.
“Even though I’ve been to quite a few Korean restaurants in search of settled home-cooked meals, this place is really delicious.”
“Is that so? Well, when we renewed our contract, there was a condition that the accommodation aunt shouldn’t change. If there’s no aunt’s food, we can’t do our activities.”
Eunsoo chuckled softly and glanced at Yoonbin.
“Did you know about a place like this by yourself? Knowing that both Nana and Oppa are in the same situation, craving homemade food, it’s fatal.”
Yoonbin’s eyes shook briefly and then settled.
“Feel free to come even when I’m not here. I’ll tell Aunt about it.”
“That’s a relief. Oppa’s aunt is my aunt too, sort of.”
Eunsoo, who had been speaking with a smile, stopped abruptly.
“Ah… that sounds a bit strange. Sorry.”
Eunsoo lowered her head, and using chopsticks, she split a remaining piece of tofu stew in half, placing one piece in front of Yoonbin and the other on her own rice. As Eunsoo looked at Yoonbin with her eyes downcast, his shoulders slightly went up and then down.
“So, did the shoot go well?”
Eunsoo nodded.
“Yeah. But it’s not as peaceful as I thought. I’m nervous about how it will be portrayed on the broadcast.”
“Don’t worry too much. It doesn’t seem like the show is trying to sensationalize things too much.”
“But, Oppa, what if…”
Eunsoo’s voice became a bit lower.
“If the broadcast becomes a bigger issue than expected, various rumors might circulate.”
“It’s possible.”
“And if… if details about you and me become known?”
Yoonbin put down his utensils.
“At first, when you had similar concerns, I mentioned that if it was going to be revealed, wouldn’t it have happened sooner? When Crescent was sweeping the awards, revealing it would have had the most impact.”
Yoonbin’s tone was calming and composed.
“I’ve been in the industry for over 10 years since my debut. All sorts of things have happened during that time, but we’ve kept quiet about them so far, and from now on, it will remain something only we know.”
Eunsoo slowly nodded her head. When Yoonbin smiled, Eunsoo followed suit.
“I’ll be right back; I need to use the restroom.”
“Sure.”
Eunsoo got up from her seat and went outside. He said the restroom would be visible if she entered the building next door.
At that moment, there was a man smoking a cigarette a bit away from the entrance of the building. He had been absentmindedly watching Eunsoo enter.
“Seon Eunsoo?”
It was Jang Hyeonman, the owner of Moem, where Eunsoo had worked for about two months after moving to Vida. He had briefly stepped outside while drinking with acquaintances and coincidentally saw Eunsoo.
There wasn’t a warm greeting. He had been paying close attention since he heard the rumor that Vida was shooting a broadcast at Moem.
‘I thought the business would fail soon, and it’s not enough that it’s lasted this long. Now it’s becoming a nuisance, and what’s worse, what if they press Moem and force us to close it?’
‘Could they still be shooting something now?’
Jang Hyeonman discarded the cigarette thoughtlessly and kept an eye on the entrance. Not long after, Eunsoo came out and went back into the restaurant. Jang Hyeonman cautiously approached.
Fortunately, the restaurant had a visible layout even from outside. There were no visible cameras, and a man was sitting across from Eunsoo. Naturally, she thought it might be Kim Juhwan, but upon closer inspection, it seemed otherwise.
A group of customers exited in a rush, leaving only Eunsoo and the man in the restaurant. At that moment, the man took off the hat he was wearing and ran his fingers through his hair.
“Huh?”
It was clearly a familiar face, but it seemed hazy. As he adjusted his hat, Jang Hyeonman’s mind, desperately scrutinizing the face that quickly became obscured again, caught a clue.
“Oh, that…!”
Opening the door to his daughter’s room, the face stuck along the wall was unmistakable.
‘Right, that must be Yeongbin or Yoonbin…!’
Jang Hyeonman carefully observed Eunsoo and Yoonbin, who looked friendly.
Then he discreetly took out his phone.
“Whew…”
Having finished the meal and returned home, Yoonbin collapsed on the sofa without turning on the lights.
The food from Aunt’s restaurant, which he had eaten to his heart’s content after a long time, was indeed delicious. He had eaten so much that his stomach felt as if it would burst. Eunsoo also seemed to eat well, making Yoonbin proud, but in reality, he didn’t feel as good as he thought.
Throughout the meal, the ring on his left hand, placed on the table, caught his eye. He thought he should ignore it, but in the end, he couldn’t resist uttering a pointless comment.
“The ring is pretty; it’s a shame to take it off.”
However, Eunsoo’s reaction to those words was a bit strange.
He expected her to either feel embarrassed or laugh it off, but she made a face he had never seen before. It seemed like a face hurt or embarrassed, and she seemed to be about to say something but closed her mouth tightly.
Could it be that she was about to say the thing he was most concerned about?
Leaning back even more against the sofa, Yoonbin closed his eyes.
‘…I’m fed up.’
An overwhelming feeling of that sort filled his mind.
From the beginning, Eunsoo was a problem with an obvious answer.
The answer was ‘siblings,’ formed through the remarriage of my father and Eunsoo’s mother.
At first, he accepted it graciously. The suddenly appeared younger sister at sixteen wasn’t related by blood, yet he quickly grew fond of her.
But despite his feelings, there were almost no memories of actually treating her well or doing something together. She was a trainee busy going back and forth between school and the company, making it impossible.
Nevertheless, Eunsoo smiled at him without fail whenever they met. Although there was the awkwardness that came with the situation, it was as if she already felt very close from the start. Knowing how interesting the topic of ‘step-siblings’ was among kids their age, he never pretended to know when he was at school, but sometimes, when he saw her from a distance, he had to suppress a smile when he heard her say she was glad to see him with her eyes.
Having a handsome older brother and receiving praises as straightforward as a mirror, saying that it’s delightful, was something I couldn’t quite adapt to, yet deep down, it made me feel good.
The unique bond that was once different seemed to break on one day at the end of the year after a successful debut when we swept the rookie award trophies.
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
