June 11th, Hours before the meeting, Cloud studio, Itaewon.
Kim Ae-ri pressed the doorbell of her brother's studio and stepped back. She had stopped by on her way to the company after receiving a late-night call from him. A few minutes later there was a loud ding and the door was pulled open by a man with rose pink shoulder-length hair in a huge white hoodie and black sweat pants. He crashed the small stumble of beards under her chin and smiled at her, "did you bring it".
Kim Ae-ri raised the transparent bag of sandwiches and two hot cups of coffee in her hands and nodded. His smile widened, "come in my dear sister".
She passed the bag of sandwiches to him as she walked in, she frowned as her gaze fell on the old takeaway plates on the ground, "how long have you been in here?"
Kim Ha-Jun cleared two spots on a table and dropped the bag of sandwiches, "Three or four days give or take".
"Why am I not surprised", she shook her head and opened a window by the side then walked to one of the clean work sections.
He cleared up the work section next to hers, pulled out the seat and sat. He took one of the sandwiches and handed her the other one while she took out his coffee order and kept it on the table.
"Thanks", he said, carefully unwrapping the paper bag covering the club sandwich.
He sighed and nodded as he took a bite of the sandwich, shaking his head as the flavours sunk into his taste buds. "When are the girls coming over, I need to get a feel of their individual and group vocal texture"
She nodded, "I already spoke with their manager, Mira has her midterm tests. They will come in once that is settled".
He paused and covered his mouth with his palm as he chewed carefully, "She is still in high school?" at her nod, he asked, "What class?"
"Senior year, she will be done in a few months".
"That is good, her age won't be much of a restraint since she is already 18", he took another bite of the sandwich.
She chuckled, "There will be a team meeting in three hours. I need to have everything sorted out to an extent before the meeting. A lot of those men worked under dad and are pretty much think like him. They don't believe I could do a better job than him and will be waiting to attack whatever concept I chose for the girls. I need to make sure that I have everything settled".
"Don't worry, Noona. I have got everything settled", he dropped his sandwich and stood. He rushed to his mixing table and picked up a flash drive and placed the flash drive on the table beside her cup of coffee as he returned to his seat.
"Here, I have ECHO's tracks ready. I will communicate with Manager Koo to arrange the recording scheduled, once everything is set." He slid the flash drive closer to her and continued,
"Don't worry about those men they are just angry that you achieved all that they couldn't. A few of them lobbied the shareholders to be appointed the new CEO after dad's scandal. They knew I wasn't interested in the position and Haneul is too young. Dad's backwards thinking about women was no secret".
He shook his head as he remembered one of his father's many sexist statements. "instead of focusing on just the two of us, he should have paid more attention to you. Haneul and I had no interest in taking over the company and even if we did, when compared to you, I cannot compare."
She looked at him quietly for a few seconds, grinning she flicked his cheeks and pulling them slightly said, "you have gotten better at Flattery, Junnie. Mum will be proud".
He grinned, "Thank you".
She picked up her hot cup of coffee and took a few sips, "mum asked me to come home tomorrow night, are you going to be there?"
He frowned, "Maybe, depends on my mood. And you? are you going to attend?"
"Yes, I cannot avoid him forever".
"You are too kind, I know that mum does this with good intentions but I doubt we can go through a family dinner without a fight. Dad is a sore loser".
"I will be fine, I am used to his snide comments", she said with a wry smile.
"That was before you kicked him out of his position_" he sighed and rubbed in-between eyes, "on second thought, I will be there. I can divert some of his ire, we all know mum is too soft to do that".
Kim Ae-ri watched him silently as he ate, memories of the other failed family dinners came up in her head. Their father was very vocal about his opinion on her brother's life choices during every family dinner. Most of the time, Hajun avoided coming to their family dinners but the fact that he was considering coming this time warmed her heart, "You don't have to do that".
"Please what Kim family dinner would be complete without the family's biggest disappointment", he winked at her.
"You know that is not true, you are not a disappointment."
"Tell that to Dad", He gestured to her half-eaten sandwich, "eat your sandwich, don't worry about me. I no longer care about what he thinks about me. In the end, he is just a sad old man".
Kim Ae-ri left as soon she was done eating, as she stepped out of the elevator, she was approached by a sweaty Plump man in a loose ash-coloured T-shirt, dark blue trousers and white sneakers. His black curls clung to his forehead. She glanced at her assistant in question, who stepped closer and whispered, "ECHO'S manager, Koo Hyung".
She nodded and turned to the man, "The meeting is at noon, how can I help you, Manager Koo".
Manager Koo paled and glanced at the staff walking past them, "This", he glanced down at the envelope in his hand and looked back at her, "can we.... please can we speak at your office?"
She narrowed her eyes, 'this must not be good', she sighed and nodded. "This way", she said as she continued forward to her office.