Episode 4. Baby Model (2)
Just as lunchtime was passing.
Ding-a-ling! With a small bell sound, the laundry owner, who was friends with Kang Dae-oh, appeared at the cafe.
“Mr. Kang. Have you eaten?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Really? Then do you want to order something and eat with me? I also couldn’t eat lunch because customers suddenly flooded in. I’m starving.”
The laundry owner, having left the laundry to his wife, offered to order delivery food together at this cafe.
Normally, Kang Dae-oh would have readily agreed, but.
“Ah, well······.”
Today, his reaction seemed a bit lukewarm.
The laundry owner tilted his head.
“Aren’t you hungry? Or perhaps. Is it because you don’t want to eat with me?”
The laundry owner asked jokingly.
Then Kang Dae-oh firmly replied that it wasn’t like that, shaking his head.
“I have something to do. I think I’ll have to skip lunch today.”
“Huh? Why?”
Before Kang Dae-oh could explain the situation.
Ding-a-ling-a-ling!
The bell rang once more.
“Oh my, Mr. Owner!”
Min Seung-yeon, who came to the cafe holding Kang Yera, expressed her delight towards the laundry owner whom she hadn’t seen in a long time.
The laundry owner’s joy also doubled, perhaps because he hadn’t seen Min Seung-yeon for over a year due to her pregnancy and childcare, and was now seeing her after a long time.
“Should I call you Yera’s mom now?”
Min Seung-yeon giggled at the laundry owner’s question, telling him to call her whatever was comfortable.
The laundry owner’s gaze turned towards Yera.
“Aww, how pretty! Her eyes are big, and her lips are like cherries, probably because she resembles her mom. Her eyelashes are long too. Shouldn’t she be sent to a Miss Korea pageant or something later?”
“Oh, Mr. Owner, you’re too much.”
Even though she knew these words were clearly intended to make Min Seung-yeon feel good, the corners of her mouth wouldn’t stop curving upwards.
Meanwhile. Kang Yera, upon seeing the laundry owner, didn’t cry; instead, she gave him her first greeting with a bright smile.
The laundry owner found Kang Yera’s reaction very surprising.
“Usually, at this age, they’d be very shy with strangers. My kids used to cry just seeing their grandparents. But Yera doesn’t show any of that at all. Is it because she can’t distinguish faces yet?”
“No. She distinguishes them properly. Yera. Who’s appa? Appa? Show eomma.”
At the word ‘appa,’ Kang Yera looked up at Min Seung-yeon, then quickly turned her head and stretched out her hand towards Kang Dae-oh.
“Appa―!”
The laundry owner’s eyes widened.
“Oh my goodness! Look, she recognizes eomma and appa! How cute!”
“Right? She recognizes people’s faces, but she doesn’t cry when she sees strangers. Isn’t it amazing?”
“Indeed. Yera is very clever.”
Every time praises for Kang Yera poured out, a smile never left the faces of Kang Dae-oh and Min Seung-yeon.
“But why did you suddenly bring the baby here······?”
At first, he wondered if it was to show the baby what her appa does at work.
However, no matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem to be the case.
Kang Dae-oh explained the situation, linking it to his decision to skip lunch.
“There are people I’m supposed to meet here today.”
“Who are they?”
Just as Kang Dae-oh was about to explain.
In a short moment, the bell rang for the third time.
Leaving the diligent small bell behind, a pair of young man and woman in suits entered Kang Dae-oh’s store and asked.
“Excuse me. We were scheduled to meet Kang Yera’s eommonim and abeonim here today······.”
“I am Yera’s abeoji. My name is Kang Dae-oh.”
“Ah, I see! You’re much younger than I expected. I thought you were a college student working part-time here.”
At the mention of ‘college student,’ Kang Dae-oh showed an awkward expression.
The man in the suit handed Kang Dae-oh his business card and introduced himself.
“I am Han Wooseon, the Marketing Team Leader who contacted you last time regarding the Beckien infant and toddler model.”
As soon as he heard the word ‘model,’ the laundry owner’s eyes widened.
The Beckien marketing team staff, now seated across from the three family members—Kang Dae-oh, Min Seung-yeon, and Kang Yera—quickly scanned the store with their eyes.
Han Wooseon, who introduced himself as the team leader, let out a short exclamation of admiration and commented on the store.
“We had a lot of trouble deciding where to hold the meeting. It was such a relief to hear that abeonim runs a cafe. Since we’re here, we’ll try to eat as much as possible to help increase your store’s sales.”
Kang Dae-oh smiled and shook his head.
“It’s alright. I’m already grateful that you came all this way. More than that, I was very surprised when I first heard that you wanted our child to be a model. My wife couldn’t believe it, so she even said, ‘Is it a scam, perhaps?’”
As her husband fully disclosed what she had said in front of the marketing staff, Min Seung-yeon’s face turned bright red, and she strongly jabbed his side with her elbow.
“Don’t say unnecessary things.”
“Ouch! Why, it’s true.”
“There’s no law that says you have to tell everyone just because it’s true.”
Kang Yera glared at the bickering couple, Kang Dae-oh and Min Seung-yeon.
Then, sitting between the two, she vigorously flapped her short arms.
Team Leader Han Wooseon laughed loudly at Kang Yera’s cute behavior.
“It looks like Yera is saying, ‘Eomma, appa, don’t fight~!’”
“We’re not, not fighting, Yera.”
Min Seung-yeon stroked Kang Yera’s head, barely calming her angry(?) flapping.
Meanwhile. The female employee who came with Han Wooseon reacted similarly to the laundry owner’s surprise, watching Kang Yera’s series of actions.
“It’s amazing. She doesn’t cry even when she sees us. It feels as if Yera understands and listens to all of the adults’ conversations.”
“Mijeong-ssi, did you feel that way too?”
“Team Leader-nim, you too?”
“Yeah. I did too.”
Though he hadn’t said anything, Han Wooseon had already been observing Kang Yera’s specialness.
“I saw earlier that she seems to be able to distinguish who people are. Does she perhaps already walk?”
Min Seung-yeon shook her head.
“No. She can stand for a few seconds, but she can’t walk by herself yet. Instead, if eomma or appa holds her hand, she walks forward well.”
“Then she’ll definitely walk before her first birthday.”
“Yes. I think so.”
“Her growth is certainly fast. Is it because she’s a girl······ No. Even for a girl, growing this fast is very rare.”
As it was his job, Han Wooseon had met many infants and toddlers of similar age to Kang Yera.
He could confidently say that among all the babies he had met, Kang Yera’s growth was undeniably unique.
While physical growth was one thing, what was most striking was her mental development.
Perhaps that’s why.
Han Wooseon grew more and more covetous of the baby, Kang Yera.
“As I mentioned to eommonim and abeonim over the phone, we are looking for an infant and toddler model this time. Since you’re already raising a baby, you probably know, but other diaper products have baby models, don’t they? But only our Beckien doesn’t have baby pictures.”
Kang Dae-oh had actually been curious about that too.
“Indeed. My wife and I thought Beckien might have intentionally removed model photos to make the diaper packaging look cleaner. But that doesn’t seem to be the case, does it?”
“Yes. We originally intended to include them, but we couldn’t find a suitable baby model, so we kept postponing it until now. That’s why, as time passed, our sales lagged significantly behind competitors’ products.”
The product is good. But it takes too long for word-of-mouth to spread among mothers and reach nationwide.
The company cannot wait that long.
They had to quickly boost sales and revenue somehow. They couldn’t just sit back and wait until consumers recognized Beckien’s sincerity towards diapers.
So, at this opportunity, they decided to make a big decision and hire an infant and toddler model no matter what, and at that very moment.
Kang Yera’s photo caught their eye.
This was how Kang Yera received the offer to be a baby model.
Han Wooseon signaled to the female employee.
Then, as if she had been waiting, the female employee took out several bundles of papers from her briefcase and placed them on the table.
It was a model contract.
“I thought it would be better to explain while looking at the contract. As you can see, the terms will be better than those of other companies. In addition, if you sign a contract with us, we will send you Beckien diapers free of charge until Yera is potty-trained.”
“Oh my, really?”
“Yes, of course!”
Min Seung-yeon’s eyes began to sparkle.
It was naturally an irresistible condition for mothers.
Kang Yera was already very satisfied with the comfort of Beckien diapers. With the offer of free support, the urge to immediately stamp the contract grew stronger.
However, Kang Dae-oh was different.
As someone who ran his own business, Kang Dae-oh was not the type to take even verbal agreements between close friends lightly.
“May I slowly go through each clause?”
“Yes, of course. If there are any parts that need explanation while you’re looking, please tell us anytime. We will explain everything.”
“Thank you.”
After thoroughly reviewing the contract, Kang Dae-oh found himself nodding.
‘I don’t see any particular issues.’
Perhaps thanks to his experience running his own business and working at a company, Kang Dae-oh had encountered contracts more often than one might expect.
So, he had no great difficulty examining the clauses of the advertising model contract that Han Wooseon presented.
Only a few unfamiliar phrases were a minor concern. Overall, the content was sound.
After carefully examining the last page, Kang Dae-oh asked Min Seung-yeon, who was glancing at him.
“Do you want to take a look too?”
“No······ I’m fine. I wouldn’t understand what it says anyway.”
Unlike Kang Dae-oh, Min Seung-yeon was not accustomed to such things.
Nevertheless, she wasn’t particularly anxious.
Because her husband, Kang Dae-oh, was there.
Isn’t a couple meant to live by complementing each other’s shortcomings?
The saying that a couple is one body doesn’t come from nowhere.
Unlike Min Seung-yeon, who said she was fine.
There was one who was not fine.
“Appa!”
“Huh?”
Kang Dae-oh had a ‘no way’ thought when Kang Yera called him.
“Yera, do you······ want to see it too?”
Kang Yera nodded vigorously.
A baby looking at a contract.
Han Wooseon and the female employee were speechless at the astonishing sight.
“Well······ she’s probably just looking, right?”
“Th-that’s right. Surely Yera wouldn’t be reading the text or anything like that.”
However, Kang Dae-oh thought differently.
Perhaps.
She might actually be reading it.
As if to prove Kang Dae-oh’s words.
Kang Yera stamped her handprint with a thud! on the last page and said.
“Awooah―!”
At his daughter’s cute appearance, Kang Dae-oh smiled and asked.
“Shall we proceed, Mr. Owner?”
“Eung-ah!”
Permission was granted by the baby owner.
