“I heard that elder brother calls that woman ‘elder sister’ and always uses polite speech with her, so she must be quite a bit older. Do you perhaps know anything about this senior?”

Eun Seo almost let out a gasp.

…It’s me!

She recalled what Na Eun had said before.

[I heard Seung Joo oppa is 33 years old, and if oppa calls someone ‘noona’, they must be older than that. Then she’s an ahjumma, isn’t she?]

Using the same calculation, it seems she had become the “older woman”. Judging by the talk of columbarium, someone must have seen her there with Seung Joo.

Eun Seo desperately tried to control her expression.

“I’m just a regular employee who hasn’t even made team leader yet. How would I know about the CEO’s private life?”

“I guess that’s true.”

Fortunately, Kwon Seung Hyun seemed to accept that.

A beeping sound came from the coffee machine behind Eun Seo. It was urging her to quickly take the finished coffee.

“Then I’ll excuse myself.”

As she turned to grab the coffee cups, Kwon Seung Hyun spoke again from behind her.

“If you have any other feelings for my elder brother, I’m telling you to give up, so take note of that.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re rejecting me because of my elder brother right now, aren’t you.”

Eun Seo was dumbfounded. I’ve flat out told you to your face that I’m not interested in you, yet still…! Where on earth does this overconfidence come from?

“Thank you very much for your unnecessary kindness.”

Responding coldly, Eun Seo left the break room, avoiding him.

*

The writer threw down her pen and burst out angrily.

“Look here, Chris. Why are you refusing when I’m giving you an opportunity? Don’t you know how important a narrative is in a survival show? Do you think we offer sob stories to just anyone?”

“I have no desire to sell out my family to debut.”

Chris firmly refused.

Having barely survived the first round of voting and now preparing for the team missions, the production staff suddenly called him out with a proposal. They wanted to use the fact that Chris was adopted, pretending his dead sister was alive and creating a story about him searching for her.

‘I joined this program because I want to find my elder sister.’

Chris, who was six years old when adopted, couldn’t even remember his own name accurately. He couldn’t recall his family name, only remembering the name Yoon Ho. Actually, he originally thought it was Yuno, but Koreans told him it was probably either Yoon Oh or Yoon Ho. Most likely Yoon Ho.

His sister, six years older, was very mature and affectionate. She always played with Yoon Ho and often gave him piggyback rides, instead of their mother who was always depressed or drunk due to their father’s affairs.

So Yoon Ho missed his sister even more than his mother.

[Yoon Ho!]

Though all memories are hazy, he still vividly remembers his sister’s bright smile. He thought his sister was much prettier than his mother or kindergarten teacher.

The prettiest person in the world, our sister.

There’s no need to call your only older sister by name. So he always just called her ‘noona, noona’, and though he doesn’t remember exactly, he thinks her name was probably Yoon Seo. He has a vague memory of his mother calling “Yoon Seo!” Since his name is Yoon Ho, Koreans told him it’s even more likely.

His memory of the adoption was like this. While waiting for his sister to return from school and playing at the neighborhood playground, his father suddenly appeared.

By then, his parents had already divorced and were living separately. Though his father had never even bought him candy, Yoon Ho was just happy to see his father after a long time.

[Your mother and sister died in a car accident.]

His father blurted that out and made a gesture of slitting his own throat.

[You know what dying is, right? They went ‘squeak’.]

Hugging the shocked and crying Yoon Ho, his father headed somewhere.

[I don’t have the ability to raise you alone, so I’ll send you to much better parents instead.]

After that, Yoon Ho spent a few days in what seemed like an orphanage before being adopted to America.

After becoming an adult, he tried to find the agency that had handled his adoption, but it had already closed down and he couldn’t find any related documents. All he knew was that his birth father had died. When Chris was about 10 years old, the agency, which still existed then, had contacted his adoptive parents to inform them that his birth father had passed away. This was also something his adoptive parents told him after he became an adult.

In other words, all his family members in Korea had long since passed away. Even so, the reason he appeared on this survival program was in hopes that perhaps some distant relative might recognize him. He wanted to at least find his mother and sister’s graves and lay flowers.

However, he had no desire to use that for the broadcast. Moreover, pretending his dead sister was alive and searching for her was clearly an insult to the deceased.

If his sister were really alive, he would beg on his knees for a chance to find her, but that wasn’t the case.

“Chris, just listen to the production team. You’ll only end up at a disadvantage.”

During the project period, they were living together in a dormitory. When he returned to the room, his roommates all voiced their concern for Chris.

“That’s right, you already have so little screen time, if you get on their bad side it’ll only get worse.”

“Then you’ll really be eliminated in the second round of voting.”

He knew. Having dared to refuse the production team’s proposal, he would face retaliation through editing. But he couldn’t lie and say his already deceased sister was alive. It would be a deception to both his sister and the few people supporting him.

Though everyone was a competitor, friendships still bloomed. He was grateful for the younger ones who were genuinely worried about him.

“Thanks for worrying about me.”

Forcing a smile, Chris went outside the dormitory. He looked up at the night sky, searching for stars.

Among those stars, could our sister perhaps be there?

If she were, she would probably be the brightest star.

Our poor sister, who died at the young age of twelve without even getting to bloom.

‘Yoon Seo noona…’

A single tear rolled down Chris’s cheek as he gazed up at the night sky.

*

Seung Hyun had been curious about Eun Seo for a while. Why does that woman dislike me so much?

It turned out to be because of his elder brother.

[I don’t know anything about it.]

That night, Yoon Eun Seo was fiercely interrogated by the security team members one by one, but she kept her silence to the end.

He thought that perhaps she had feelings for his elder brother, Kwon Seung Joo. If so, it would explain why Yoon Eun Seo disliked him from the start. Because he was a half-brother and rival.

He tested the waters just in case, and his suspicions were confirmed.

[My elder brother is seeing someone.]

The moment she heard those words, a clearly hurt expression appeared on Yoon Eun Seo’s face.

[That’s not my business.]

She quickly managed her expression to seem unaffected, but Seung Hyun didn’t miss that brief moment.

In other words, Yoon Eun Seo was in unrequited love with Kwon Seung Joo.

It was both ridiculous and pathetic, and on the other hand, pitiful. Did she think someone like Kwon Seung Joo would even glance at a mere employee?

Sure enough, even after seeing the woman who had suffered so much because of him, all that guy said was this:

[It seems I caused trouble,]

Yet you’re rejecting me because of a guy like that? Seung Hyun became even angrier.

[Thank you very much for your unnecessary kindness.]

Seeing Yoon Eun Seo still treat him coldly even after going through all that made his body heat up even more. He wanted to somehow turn that attention towards himself. Even if he would throw her away later, he wanted to have her for now.

It was for Yoon Eun Seo’s sake too. Wouldn’t I be better than that guy who treats her openly as disposable, not even apologizing or saying he’s sorry for causing her trouble?

Thinking he should forcibly take her out for dinner soon, using the dog as an excuse or not, he was returning to the office when he suddenly heard Yoon Eun Seo’s voice through the slightly open meeting room door.

“I’ve been using a lot of half days lately so work has piled up. No, I can leave early until today. Tomorrow is the last day of November, so I think I’ll have to work overtime because of the deadline.”

It seemed she was on the phone with someone.

Seung Hyun smiled silently. If she’s working overtime, she’ll need to eat dinner first. So tomorrow then?

However, his smile disappeared at the words that followed.

“Let’s eat out for dinner today. Don’t cook, Seung Joo.”

Seung Hyun’s face hardened.

*

[Let’s eat out for dinner today. Don’t cook, Seung Joo.]

His elder brother Kwon Seung Joo is 33 years old this year. A much younger woman is calling him “Seung Joo”, so normally one would think the other person is a namesake with the name Seung Joo.

However, Seung Hyun’s intuition was telling him something else. That something was suspicious.

Judging from the phone conversation, the other person was clearly someone living together. Seung Hyun discreetly called out another female employee from the team.

“Miss Team Leader, would you like to have a coffee with me for a moment?”

The female employee with the team leader position followed him out with an excited expression, not knowing what this was about. Entering an empty meeting room and handing her coffee, Seung Hyun got straight to the point.

“About senior Yoon Eun Seo. She’s not already married, is she?”

When another woman’s name came up, the team leader’s face showed obvious disappointment.

Seung Hyun sneered inwardly. What’s the use if you’re this openly easy? If you have nothing to offer, you should at least know how to play hard to get like Yoon Eun Seo.

“No, she’s not.”

The team leader replied glumly.

“Then does she perhaps have a younger sibling?”

“As far as I know, Yoon Eun Seo lives alone.”

That means this ‘Seung Joo’ is not family. The suspicion deepened.

“By the way, where does senior Eun Seo live?”

“I think she said Yeonsa-dong.”

The neighborhood sounded familiar, and after thinking for a moment, Seung Hyun snapped his fingers.

“Ah, Yeonsa-dong!”

It was the neighborhood where Kwon Seung Joo had lived with his deceased birth mother.

Seung Hyun’s heart started racing. Could this really be a coincidence?