Episode 4. Baby Model (1)
The day the results of the photo event challenge, initiated by Kang Yera and set up by Kang Dae-oh, were to be announced.
As Kang Dae-oh was frantically preparing drinks due to the sudden influx of customers, his smartphone rang.
Confirming it was a call from Min Seung-yeon, Kang Dae-oh quickly wiped his wet hands on his apron and picked up his smartphone.
“Hello… ”
Before Kang Dae-oh could finish his sentence.
His extremely excited wife’s shout was heard.
—Honey! It’s done!!!
“What’s done?”
—The photo event! Yera won it!
“Oh, really?”
Perhaps because her husband’s reply was unexpectedly bland.
Min Seung-yeon asked, her voice distinctly deflated, as if challenging him.
—What? Yera got first place in the photo event. Aren’t you happy as a father?
“Of course I’m happy. But we already expected this, didn’t we? That’s why.”
As Kang Dae-oh had said when he first persuaded Min Seung-yeon, he had unconditionally declared that Kang Yera would win.
Since it had simply turned out exactly as he said, he wasn’t particularly moved.
But Min Seung-yeon was different.
Although Kang Dae-oh had reassured her, saying ‘It’s okay, it’s okay,’ Min Seung-yeon still couldn’t hide her anxiety until the results were announced.
Despite the results being announced today, she had been constantly checking the website for three days prior, repeatedly confirming if the event results might have been released early.
Even though Kang Dae-oh had told her multiple times that there was no need to be so anxious.
As the two had such differing perspectives, their reactions were naturally bound to be opposite.
“When do they say they’ll give the prize money? Did they contact you?”
—They said if I stop by the cultural center this week and tell them, I can receive the prize money right there. I was going to go grocery shopping at the mart anyway, so I’ll try to go today.
“Don’t forget to always be careful when carrying a lot of cash.”
—Yes. Just in case, I’ll wrap it up tightly in my bag and bring it. On the way, I’ll also buy the shoes Yera liked.
At the mention of shoes, Kang Dae-oh showed deep interest.
“Yera, has she started walking slowly?”
She had grown to the stage where she could pull herself up by holding onto walls, fences, or sofas. But she still couldn’t walk on her own power.
That’s why he asked Min Seung-yeon, just in case.
Min Seung-yeon let out a short ‘hehehe’ laugh and said.
—Just now, she stood by herself for about 5 seconds.
“Oh, really?”
—At this rate, I think she’ll be able to walk before her first birthday.
Every time his child accomplished something, Kang Dae-oh felt small moments of happiness.
‘When Yera was a newborn, I couldn’t get proper sleep due to breastfeeding every two hours, and it was incredibly tough.’
However, as time passed, the ‘parenting hell’ was gradually turning into ‘parenting heaven’.
At this point, Kang Dae-oh suddenly had a thought.
“Honey. Later, if you have time, a second child too… ”
—Huh? What did you say? Sorry. Yera just spilled some formula while drinking. I couldn’t hear you because I was wiping it with a handkerchief. Can you say it again?
“No, nothing. It was just me talking to myself, so don’t worry about it.”
His first daughter was so beautiful that he almost, without realizing it, brought up the topic of a second child, which wasn’t yet part of their plans as a couple.
Giving birth to a child places far more burden on women than on men.
Because of this, Kang Dae-oh couldn’t readily bring up the topic of a second child with his wife.
‘Right. And it’s too early anyway.’
He firmly decided to seriously discuss the topic of a second child with Min Seung-yeon later, once Kang Yera had grown up a bit.
After ending the call, Kang Dae-oh smiled wryly at the thought of a second child.
“The path of patriotism is rough, indeed.”
It’s not as easy as he thought.
Sunday morning.
Today, Kang Dae-oh, who chose an outing with his family instead of opening the cafe, dragged his tired body towards the large supermarket.
He wished he could postpone grocery shopping, but since there were immediate necessities, he had no choice but to move.
“Diapers and formula, and also… we need to buy a sponge for cleaning baby bottles.”
“That? Didn’t we have that at home?”
Kang Dae-oh tilted his head and asked.
Then Min Seung-yeon told him that it shouldn’t be used, explaining why.
“I saw mold inside the sponge.”
“Is it because we used it for too long?”
“They say it’s good to replace them periodically. Baby bottles too, pacifiers too. And we need to buy a straw cup. She has to stop using baby bottles now.”
“So, we won’t be holding Yera and feeding her formula like before anymore?”
“Probably? Actually, she’s been holding her own bottle and drinking by herself for a while now.”
“Oh, really?”
Kang Dae-oh was happy about his daughter’s growth, but also felt a sense of regret.
This was because he already missed the unique coziness and warm embrace he could only feel when holding his little daughter in his arms and feeding her formula.
As if sensing Kang Dae-oh’s feelings, Min Seung-yeon smiled wryly and said.
“Hug Yera a lot when you have time. You can hug her to your heart’s content now, but when she grows up, you won’t be able to, even if you want to.”
“True. By then, she’ll probably prefer hanging out with her friends rather than with mom and dad.”
A hint of bitterness washed over him.
At this moment.
Suddenly, Kang Yera reached out her hand, grabbed Kang Dae-oh and Min Seung-yeon’s sleeves, and tugged them gently.
Kang Yera, looking up at them with sparkling eyes, seemed to be saying, ‘I still love you, Mom and Dad.’
Kang Dae-oh kissed Kang Yera’s forehead and said.
“Daddy loves our daughter as much as the sky and the earth.”
Kang Yera chuckled, ‘heheh’.
Min Seung-yeon, who had been smiling while watching the affectionate father-daughter scene, turned her head towards the diapers on the shelf.
“About Yera. I think we need to put her in size 4 diapers now.”
“Then how about this one? They’re having a two-plus-one promotion right now.”
“Oh my, it’s true! Let’s buy this! I heard from other moms that this diaper brand is the best these days.”
“Let’s see… Bekien Natural Dry, this one?”
“Yes. That one.”
Information about parenting products is indeed fastest and most accurate when it comes from mothers.
Kang Dae-oh scanned the packaging of the Bekien brand product.
Then Min Seung-yeon asked.
“What’s wrong?”
“Other product packages have baby model photos printed on them. But this Bekien one doesn’t have anything like that.”
“Oh my, you’re right! You have a good eye.”
“It’s nothing much.”
He just noticed it because he felt an inexplicable sense of incongruity.
“But why didn’t this company hire a baby model?”
Min Seung-yeon expressed her curiosity.
In response, Kang Dae-oh stated his guess.
“Maybe they couldn’t find a baby model they liked?”
“Oh, come on, no way.”
Of course, Kang Dae-oh wasn’t serious either.
They might have made this choice thinking that having just a logo or suitable design elements without a baby model could give customers a cleaner impression.
Anyway, all of Kang Dae-oh’s thoughts were merely speculation.
Only Bekien’s internal staff would know the truth.
‘Well, if it’s good, we’ll buy it.’
As they transferred the size 4 diaper set into the cart, Min Seung-yeon jokingly said.
“It would be great if our Yera could be a model for this product. Don’t you think it would look pretty if we appropriately edited and put in the photo we uploaded when she won the photo event?”
“That’s true, but…”
Thanks to the photo event, Min Seung-yeon showed a noticeable increase in confidence.
His own child as a model.
Just thinking about it filled Kang Dae-oh’s heart with emotion.
To attend the cultural center class, Min Seung-yeon and Kang Yera visited the mart once again today.
The morning class, which had only three teams, was now completely full with 20 teams.
Their purpose was only one.
“Yera! Here! Come this way.”
“Oh my! Look at the kids following only Yera!”
“Yera is the leader of the morning class, isn’t she?”
As Kang Yera crawled at the front, young babies moved in a line, like children following the Pied Piper.
At this overflowing cuteness, mothers quickly pulled out their smartphones, busy taking pictures, without anyone needing to go first.
Min Seung-yeon also naturally joined their ranks and began filming a video.
Then Hong Yiseo’s mother, an original member of the morning class along with Kang Yera, naturally struck up a conversation with Min Seung-yeon.
“Yera’s mom. Did you buy that and use it for Yera?”
“Bekien diapers? Yes. Yera seems to be very comfortable with them.”
“Really? That’s a relief. Yiseo also seemed much more comfortable after changing diapers, so I recommended them to Yera’s mom.”
“I’m planning to only use Bekien diapers for a while. Thank you for the recommendation.”
“No problem. Considering how much Yera took care of Yiseo and played with her, this is nothing.”
While feeling the strong bond between the original members.
Today’s cultural center class also quickly came to an end.
Just as she was about to finish preparing to go home, after putting Kang Yera in her stroller.
“Yera’s mother!”
A cultural center staff member urgently called out to her.
“Do you have a moment?”
“Yes? Why?”
She had already paid for the cultural center fees with part of the prize money she received from the photo event recently.
There wouldn’t be any particular reason for the cultural center to stop Min Seung-yeon and Kang Yera.
However, the story the staff member brought up contained enough to surprise Min Seung-yeon.
“You sent Yera’s photo for the photo event, didn’t you? It seems a Bekien representative saw it on the website.”
“Bekien… you mean the diaper brand, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Could it be a coincidence?
She had just been talking about that with Hong Yiseo’s mother.
She never expected to hear about it from the staff member.
“What they contacted us about was… ”
Upon hearing the news from the staff member, Min Seung-yeon had to let out a silent scream.
“Phew! I feel alive again.”
Kang Dae-oh, who had finally sent all the customers away, was able to have some time to himself for the first time in a while.
Thanks to Kang Yera, mothers who had received a lot of help in the cultural center class promoted Kang Dae-oh’s cafe in many places, resulting in a significant increase in customers recently.
He never imagined that he himself would benefit from his daughter.
“Yera is truly a lucky charm, a lucky charm.”
However, the blessings brought by his young daughter had not yet ended.
It was just the beginning.
“Huh?”
Kang Dae-oh, seeing that Min Seung-yeon had called again, pressed the call button.
“Oh, honey. Why? …Huh? What did you say?”
Kang Dae-oh, belatedly receiving the news from Min Seung-yeon, wore a dumbfounded expression.
Wondering if he had misheard, he asked his wife again to confirm, just in case.
“So, Bekien contacted us saying they want to hire our Yera as a model?”
What he thought was impossible had actually happened.
