Episode 31. Strong Supporters (3)
Kang Dae-oh, who returned to his office, chewed over the conversation he had with Lee Seo-jun and fell back into a deep swamp of contemplation.
Just then.
Executive Director Yoo In-seok, who returned from his business trip to Busan, visited Kang Dae-oh’s office.
The face of the company CEO, whom he hadn’t seen in a while, was cloudy, not clear.
From Executive Director Yoo In-seok’s perspective, it was natural for him to be concerned.
“Did something bad happen while I was away?”
“Rather than something bad, there was something that caused me to worry.”
Kang Dae-oh confessed the nature of the worries filling his mind recently to Executive Director Yoo In-seok.
Executive Director Yoo In-seok, after hearing the whole story, nodded, saying it was understandable.
For an event as large as the Seoul Coffee Expo, it was their first time participating under the name Amare.
It was a natural desire for a company CEO to want a successful debut, if possible.
“It seems you haven’t found a method you like yet.”
“Yes. Seo-jun said, ‘Isn’t it game over if you bring your daughters and wife?’ But, well. I couldn’t readily bring myself to do it.”
Executive Director Yoo In-seok knew well why Kang Dae-oh was saying this.
Because relying on his daughters for help, even for the smallest things, too frequently, was something Kang Dae-oh avoided.
Knowing his tendencies well, Executive Director Yoo In-seok, even without explicitly hearing the reason, nodded several times as if he understood.
Instead, he let slip these words.
“From my perspective, I don’t think there’s any need to specifically ask for your family’s help.”
Kang Dae-oh tilted his head, curious as to why he was saying this, taking on a posture that indicated his curiosity for the reason.
To this, Executive Director Yoo In-seok replied.
“Aren’t you already famous just by yourself, CEO? Just by you sitting at the booth, I think many customers will visit our Amare booth.”
“Do you think so?”
“Yes. Think about it. The public probably knows the coffee brands Fevertime and Coffee Angel well, but they don’t know who the CEOs are, do they? If you go down to a store right now and ask any customers if they know the names of the CEOs of those companies, you’ll get your answer immediately. But we are different.”
Most of the public knew who Amare’s CEO was.
It was thanks to YORAETTAE.
YORAETTAE, which boasted high viewership ratings, enough to be among the top 5 entertainment programs.
Thanks to this, Kang Dae-oh also became a celebrity.
Kang Dae-oh himself occasionally realized his own popularity to some extent.
When he took the subway to use public transportation, most of the people in the same car recognized Kang Dae-oh.
This wasn’t all.
Even when he visited a dessert shop to enjoy a date alone with his wife, the store was temporarily paralyzed thanks to Kang Dae-oh’s fame.
Such incidents were more frequent than expected.
Each of these anecdotes indicated that Kang Dae-oh’s recognition and influence had grown to an undeniable extent.
Executive Director Yoo In-seok, to give Kang Dae-oh courage, strongly reiterated his argument once more.
“A coffee expo is a place where people who are very interested in coffee come, isn’t it? Then, it’s even more impossible for them not to know your face and name, CEO. Because YORAETTAE is a program rumored to be fun even among coffee enthusiasts.”
It was a valid point.
After much deliberation, Kang Dae-oh nodded and asked Executive Director Yoo In-seok.
“There will be a place for me to sit at the booth, right?”
“If you, CEO, say you’re coming, we’d have to make one even if there isn’t any.”
The two of them simultaneously curled up the corners of their mouths.
Thanks to Executive Director Yoo In-seok, Kang Dae-oh’s complicated mind could be neatly organized.
The Seoul Coffee Expo, which was to open on Friday, was receiving a lot of attention even before its opening from many coffee enthusiasts and even the general public with even a slight interest in coffee.
The first day of the Seoul Coffee Expo.
As if to prove this interest, countless crowds visited the venue from the very first day.
Kang Dae-oh and Amare officials had booth entry tickets, so they could enter the venue immediately without going through the long waiting line.
Kang Dae-oh looked around the venue and unconsciously let out an exclamation of admiration.
‘It’s spacious.’
Although he had already expected it to be quite large from the moment he checked the location where the expo would be held,
Seeing it directly like this, he felt a new sensation.
Furthermore, it was Kang Dae-oh’s first time seeing the expo venue before general admission began.
Until now, he had always visited the expo as a general attendee.
Since this was his first time participating with a booth, he was able to witness a new sight he had never seen before.
Just with this, Kang Dae-oh felt it was worthwhile to participate in the expo.
The booth that drew the most attention was, as expected, Fevertime and Coffee Angel, which were called the eye of the storm at this expo.
Looking at them located at the wall booth, Kang Dae-oh thought to himself.
‘It might not be the eye of the storm, but a vacuum cleaner.’
Just by looking at the booth interior, he could tell how much investment they had made in this expo.
A huge banner was prominently displayed, large enough to clearly indicate where the Fevertime and Coffee Angel booths were, even from afar.
Just that alone was enough to consider it game over.
It was a privilege unique to wall booths.
If they had been in a regular booth location like Amare, they would have been sanctioned for potentially obstructing other booths.
But on the wall side, there were no booths that could be harmed by obstructed views.
That’s why they could openly use such promotional means to their heart’s content.
Executive Director Yoo In-seok had said that Kang Dae-oh’s presence alone would be a great promotional tool.
‘I wonder how it will turn out.’
Kang Dae-oh was still unsure.
Meanwhile.
As he was blankly staring at their booth, someone approached Kang Dae-oh.
“Hello. Are you perhaps Amare’s CEO Kang Dae-oh?”
“Ah, yes. That’s right.”
“Indeed…! I was unsure when I saw you from afar. It’s an honor to meet you like this. I am Manager Yang Ha-young, overseeing marketing at Fevertime.”
She, with her bobbed hair and neat impression, introduced herself while handing over a business card.
The business card also had a simple and clean design, with a white background and only essential information minimally entered.
Given her first impression, Kang Dae-oh could roughly guess what kind of personality she possessed.
Kang Dae-oh also took out his business card.
From the moment it was decided he would participate in the expo, Kang Dae-oh had already expected that he would frequently meet industry officials like this.
So, he had brought plenty of business cards.
“I am Kang Dae-oh. Nice to meet you.”
“It’s an honor to meet you, CEO. While watching YORAETTAE, I secretly hoped that one day I would meet you like this. I never imagined that dream would come true here.”
Yang Ha-young, with sparkling eyes, expressed that the current situation felt like a dream.
Despite being from a rival company, her interest in Kang Dae-oh felt genuine, not fake.
Indeed. Just because they belong to different companies, there’s no rule that they must always be wary of each other and harbor ill feelings.
Kang Dae-oh also had no ill feelings towards Fevertime or Coffee Angel.
Rather, he hoped that through fair competition, they would become good rivals.
In that sense, the meeting with Yang Ha-young was a good thing for Kang Dae-oh too.
Because outside of such special circumstances, exchanging business cards with rival companies wasn’t common.
“I heard Amare also set up a booth this time.”
“Yes. It’s over there.”
“Oh my! It’s closer than I thought. May I stop by before general admission begins?”
“You can come after it starts too.”
Anyway, Yang Ha-young would have a lot to do. Although he said it implying there was no need to rush.
Yang Ha-young’s intention was different.
“Once general admission begins, more people will flock to Amare’s side than to our booth. So, if possible, I plan to stop by before general admission opens.”
She, like Executive Director Yoo In-seok, actually valued the influence of Kang Dae-oh’s single presence more highly than all the various promotional tools of Fevertime and Coffee Angel.
Despite being affiliated with a rival company.
Although she seemed to want to talk with Kang Dae-oh for a longer time,
“Manager! Could you come and take a look at this?”
“Oh, okay. I’ll be right there.”
She couldn’t ignore her subordinate’s SOS request.
Yang Ha-young, with regret, had to say goodbye to Kang Dae-oh first.
“I’m sorry, CEO. I’ll get going first.”
“Yes. Please visit our booth when you have time.”
“I will definitely visit!”
Promising to meet again, she moved her steps to attend to her own work again.
Kang Dae-oh, seeing Yang Ha-young’s pleasant demeanor, thought to himself.
‘It would be great if our company also had such a talented person.’
Due to the company’s rapid growth, Amare was always suffering from a shortage of personnel.
If it was someone with outstanding ability, Amare and Kang Dae-oh were ready to welcome them at any time.
Secretly, he became envious of Fevertime for having Yang Ha-young.
Admission time was scheduled to begin at 9:30 AM.
The remaining time was barely over 2 minutes.
Until then, Amare executives and employees were busy walking around the booth checking if everything was ready to welcome visitors.
“You can sit here, CEO.”
Kang Dae-oh shook his head and politely declined the executive’s suggestion to sit in the main seat.
“I will also promote our company by interacting with visitors, just like the employees.”
“What? There’s no need for you, CEO, to work…”
“Because I came here to work.”
He emphasized several times that he hadn’t come to play.
And then, he hung the lanyard name tag, which was given only to booth participants, around his neck.
Being like this, Kang Dae-oh was reminded of the time when he ran a cafe by himself.
‘It feels like going back to the old days after a long time.’
Soon, general admission time began.
At the same time, people flocked to the venue.
As if reminiscent of a disaster movie, at the sight of people starting to run in one direction, Kang Dae-oh clicked his tongue in amazement.
‘Incredible.’
At the same time, he wondered where all those people were rushing to.
Highly likely, Fevertime, or Coffee Angel. Wouldn’t it be one of the two?
……he thought, but.
“Huh?”
The direction they were running in was not towards the wall booths.
It was.
Towards the Amare booth where Kang Dae-oh was.
“Whoa, the CEO is really here!”
“Honey! Amare’s booth is over here! Here!”
“Hello? Uh, it’s me. I’m at the Amare booth right now, you know? CEO Kang Dae-oh is really here! Get ready to get an autograph and quickly run over here!”
Kang Dae-oh looked at the customers who had flocked to see him, and swallowed a gasp.
Executive Director Yoo In-seok’s and Manager Yang Ha-young’s predictions were accurate.
