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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: An Uncle's Proposal
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The door opened and Uncle Chan came in. Seo Eunhye, who greeted her brother right at the front door, had a murderous glint in her eyes. Seojun and Lee Minjun held their breath, huddled together on the sofa.
Seo Eunchan's hands were full of bags.
The sister he was seeing for the first time in a month was terrifying. Seo Eunchan had stopped by a nearby mart to buy a gift for his target of appeasement.
"Ahahaha. This is a gift for Seojun."
"Is it a bribe?"
"…Yeah."
His ulterior motive exposed, Seo Eunchan answered with a crestfallen expression. Seo Eunhye sighed and stepped aside.
Seo Eunchan cautiously entered the living room. He saw two figures scrunched up in the corner of the sofa.
"Hello, Hyung. Hi, Seojun."
"It's been a while."
"Oohng!"
After handing Seojun's gift to Lee Minjun, Seo Eunchan knelt quietly in a corner of the living room and bowed his head.
"I'm sorry!"
"Hand over your phone."
"I saved it!"
Taking the phone from Seo Eunchan and checking his contact list, Seo Eunhye sighed again and sat down. This time, her number was properly saved.
"How could you not recognize your own nephew?"
"Well, all babies look pretty similar. Besides, it's been a month since I last saw him. How was I supposed to know Seojun had gotten so famous?"
Seeing her brother answer evasively, Seo Eunhye pressed her hand to her forehead.
"Fine. He's not your son. I guess you might not recognize him."
"Ahahaha."
"Just make sure you save the number right away."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"And go home today."
"Ah, about that…"
Seo Eunchan hesitated for a moment. The corners of Seo Eunhye's eyes shot up. Seeing her expression, Seo Eunchan quickly began to ramble.
"No, see, my company is a startup. I got the job three weeks ago, but they're so short-staffed that I'm already a manager. We have to debut an idol group quickly. We somehow managed to get a spot on a music show a month from now, so I've been busy preparing for that…"
"Busy enough to?"
"…I don't think I'll be able to come home much until after the music show."
"Where are you staying?"
"The group members are all guys, so I'm staying with them in the dorm the company provided. I'll say this, our company has great benefits, so the dorm is really nice!"
Ignoring her brother, who looked ready to show her the dorm at a moment's notice, Seo Eunhye asked.
"And after the music show, will you be able to come home?"
"Uh… if we flop?"
Lee Minjun and Seojun, who were listening, shook their heads.
He can't just let them flop. Seo Eunhye must have had the same thought, because she shot her brother a look that screamed, 'You idiot,' and stared at him with pity.
"I'm sorry. I'll work hard to make sure we don't flop."
Sensing the gazes of the three, Seo Eunchan quietly apologized.
"And if you don't flop and do well?"
"If we do well… we'll have to go to events and appear on broadcasts. I'm a manager in name only; I'm also doing their road management."
"So you'll be even busier than you are now?"
"Yeah. I guess so, right?"
Hearing Seo Eunchan's half-hearted agreement, Seo Eunhye finally said, as if giving up.
"Fine. You'll be thirty next year. I'm sure you can take care of yourself. At least call Mom often."
"Okay! I'll call her often."
Seo Eunchan quickly replied, gauging her mood.
"Well, since you're here, have dinner before you go. Did you eat?"
"I ate!"
"Then at least have a cup of coffee before you leave."
Seo Eunhye got up and headed to the kitchen. The three men quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Sensing the commotion was over, Lee Minjun spoke up.
"So, what's this about a variety show, brother-in-law?"
"Ah, that."
Seo Eunchan fidgeted. He'd planned to ride the coattails of the N-tube baby star's popularity, only to find out it was his own nephew. He wasn't sure if he should bring it up in this unexpected situation.
"Yes. What's it about?"
Seo Eunhye asked, placing the coffee on the table.
*Mom's, Dad's, and Uncle Chan's. Nothing for me, I see.*
A pouting Seojun opened his mouth to cry, but something popped in.
"Here, a baby cracker from your uncle."
It was Dad. *Thanks.*
"Amummumum! Aboob!"
*'This is tasty! Banana flavor!'*
Gnawing on it with his bottom teeth was delicious. Seojun held the cracker in one hand and eagerly sucked on it.
After giving Lee Minjun a look of praise for stopping Seojun's tears, Seo Eunhye turned her sharp gaze back to Seo Eunchan. He swallowed hard and began to speak.
"Our group is completely unknown, so they don't have a single fan. Forget fans, we'd be lucky if anyone even knew who they were. Plus, we're only appearing on one music show as a last-minute replacement. I thought we should at least get their name out there, so we uploaded a music video we worked hard on and put up some articles online, but the views are low. At this rate, I'm afraid they'll just fade into obscurity."
His throat dry, Seo Eunchan took a sip of coffee.
"We were thinking we had to get their name out there somehow, and one of the members suggested we upload a show to N-tube. Not just a simple introduction, but something like a short variety show. Since childcare variety shows are the trend these days, the idea came up that it would be a good fit."
"So you want to use Seojun?"
"Since Seojun is famous, his popularity… uh…"
"You want to use him?"
"No, I wouldn't say 'use'…"
"No?"
"No, ma'am. That's right."
He snapped back to attention. 'Using' his nephew—the choice of words had been poor. Cold sweat trickled down his back.
Seo Eunhye fell into thought. Her brother had been unemployed for three years, and his self-esteem had plummeted.
But now that he had a job, despite not being able to come home, he looked healthy.
He was clean-shaven, his hair was neat, and his clothes were clean. It seemed he was finally starting to get his life together.
*'Well, if the company goes under, will he be unemployed again?'*
Since it was a startup, the fate of the company clearly rested on this idol group's debut. Even if it didn't completely fail, things would definitely get tough.
Seo Eunhye took a small sip of her coffee.
*'Helping my brother is one thing, but…'*
This was different from the two short mukbang videos they had filmed.
Even if it was on N-tube and not television, a variety show was still a variety show.
Many people would see Seojun, and he would become a topic of conversation. She was hesitant.
"I'm for it."
"Aboo!"
*'I agree!'*
Lee Minjun raised his hand. Having finished his cracker, Seojun raised his hand too. A variety show appearance already, and he hadn't even expected it! He was all for it!
The father and son, who somehow resembled each other, were striking the same pose with their hands raised. Seo Eunhye's stern expression softened without her realizing it, and she let out a small laugh.
"See? Even Seojun agrees!"
"But…"
"It'll be fine. This will be a good memory. I'm busy with work and you're busy taking care of Seojun. How else could we film him all day? It'll be a great memory to look back on."
He said that, but he was clearly agreeing for her and Seo Eunchan's sake.
Grateful, Seo Eunhye squeezed her husband's hand. Lee Minjun squeezed back. An intense look passed between the couple.
Seojun, who had wriggled out of his father's arms, was now sitting on Uncle Chan's lap, leaning his back against his uncle's stomach. Seo Eunchan also quietly gauged the atmosphere.
"You two are still like newlyweds."
"Amum."
Seo Eunchan placed another baby cracker in Seojun's mouth, quietly left the living room, and headed to Seojun's playroom.
After firmly closing the door, Seo Eunchan.
"Phew. Nuna. I thought I was going to die of fright."
He shuddered. Then he plopped down on the floor, holding Seojun and cuddling him as he spoke.
"Seojun. Your mom. She's really scary, isn't she?"
"Abuboob!"
"Behave yourself later so you don't get scolded. This is nothing, just a taste. If it wasn't for your dad, no one would put up with her. He's a total saint."
Seo Eunchan grumbled, then looked at Seojun. The sight of him holding a cracker in one hand and sucking on it was just too cute.
"Are you this cute because you're my nephew? Or are you just naturally this cute?"
"He's just naturally that cute."
"Heek!"
The door opened. Seo Eunhye was standing there. Seo Eunchan stammered.
"D-did you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"Nothing. If you didn't hear, then it's fine."
"That your brother-in-law is a saint?"
"You heard everything!"
"Stop talking nonsense and come out."
"Seojun can hear you. He'll learn your bad words!"
Seo Eunhye scoffed, taking Seojun into her arms.
"My Seojun is smart. He won't use bad words."
"Aboo!"
*'That's right!'*
"See? He says so himself."
Faced with his doting sister, Seo Eunchan was at a loss for words.
"So, are we going to do it?"
"Let's hear the plan first. You haven't told us what you're planning to film. And we need to hear about the appearance fee."
Seo Eunchan nodded at Seo Eunhye's firm words.
"Now that's my sister."
"What?"
"Nothing! First, this. Should we look at the proposal?"
Seo Eunchan quickly took out his phone and opened a file.
This file was a proposal created with the permission of the CEO of Cocoa Entertainment, huddled together with the group members.
Since it was something none of them had ever done before, it looked a bit crude.
Seo Eunchan began to explain.
"First, we've set the filming time for 48 hours."
"Isn't that too long?"
She shot him down from the very first sentence. With an expression that said 'I have a lot to say, but I'll hold my tongue,' Seo Eunchan continued.
"24 hours is too short, Nuna. It would be over as soon as they get to know each other."
"Fine. Let's move on for now."
"Okay… got it. And the number of episodes we upload to N-tube will depend on how much footage we get, but we're thinking about eight 15-minute episodes. People on N-tube tend to watch shorter content compared to TV, right? And if we upload two episodes a week, we can release them all before the music show in four weeks."
Lee Minjun and Seo Eunhye nodded. Gaining confidence, Seo Eunchan continued.
"We'll upload it to our group's channel, but I was hoping Seojun's channel could promote ours later on."
"Ah!"
"Of course, we'll pay a separate promotion fee."
As Seo Eunhye raised her hand, Seo Eunchan, having grasped his sister's intentions, quickly added that. Seo Eunhye grinned in satisfaction.
"Christmas is coming up, so we can film one or two episodes with that as a concept, and the rest will just be their daily life."
Hearing the plan, it seemed like 48 hours wouldn't be enough.
"What if you don't have enough footage?"
"Hmm. We're also considering eight 10-minute episodes. Or maybe four 10-minute episodes…"
Seo Eunchan trailed off and sighed.
"You don't think we'll even get that much? What do you think, Nuna? Does Seojun seem to have a knack for variety shows?"
"What are you expecting from an eight-month-old baby? What about your group members? Do they have any variety show sense?"
"Uh…"
At Seo Eunhye's question, Seo Eunchan searched his memory.
Smart Park Seojin, Kevin Kim who blurts out English when he's flustered, playful Hwang Yejun, and the youngest, Choi Siyun.
He'd only known them for three weeks, but they definitely had distinct personalities. But a knack for variety shows…
"…I don't know."
"Sigh."
"It'll be fine. Seojun's already an N-tube star. If all 500,000 of his subscribers watch it, the response will be huge, right?"
Lee Minjun said, patting the gloomy siblings on the shoulder. Seojun shrugged.
"Aboob!"
That was right. The [JUN] channel's subscriber count had already surpassed 500,000.
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