Episode 39. Joining (2)
At his eldest daughter’s sudden cry for help, Kang Dae-oh’s body moved reflexively.
“Why? What’s going on?”
How could a father stand still when his beloved daughter was asking for help?
Kang Dae-oh ran towards the front door barefoot and lost his words upon witnessing the scene before his eyes.
“What is all this…?”
Kang Yera’s hands were full of gifts.
And that wasn’t all.
“There are more gifts that I couldn’t bring from manager unnie’s car yet.”
“Where did you get all of these?”
Faced with such a barrage of gifts for his eldest daughter, Kang Dae-oh couldn’t help but ask about their origin.
Kang Yera replied, “The kids prepared gifts as a group because I won first place on the music show last time. I brought those.”
“They gave you this much?”
“Yes. Not just the kids in my class. Kids from other classes also gave me a lot… I couldn’t handle it by myself. Manager unnie and I, we’re struggling to carry it all. Can you help us, appa? Yeyoung, you too!”
Kang Yeyoung thought she had hidden well, but she couldn’t deceive her eldest unnie’s sharp eyes.
Kang Yeyoung clicked her tongue as if disappointed, let out a deep sigh, and finished preparing to go outside with Kang Dae-oh.
With Kang Dae-oh and Kang Yeyoung joining, the gift-moving operation began to pick up speed.
As he received the gifts that filled one corner of the house, Kang Dae-oh continuously exclaimed in admiration.
“This seems like the largest quantity of gifts I’ve ever received.”
At this rate, it’s a new record.
Kang Yeyoung tilted her head and asked, “Unnie, wasn’t it an all-girls high school?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“It’s always been like this, but unnie is super popular with girls too.”
This was new information to Kang Dae-oh.
“She was?”
“Yes. Unnie, it was during her unknown idol days. There was one time when she was heavily talked about. She released an album with an ‘office raid’ concept. When female fans saw unnie in a suit, it became a huge topic among them.”
“That’s interesting. I thought our Yera was only popular with men.”
“Girls really like pretty girls too. Even if unnie isn’t smart, she’s definitely pretty.”
Kang Yera glared at her youngest sister.
“Everything’s good, but what do you mean by ‘even if she isn’t smart’ in the middle?”
“It’s the truth.”
“It is not the truth!”
Before it could turn into another sisterly bickering, Kang Dae-oh decided to step in first.
“Calm down. What are you going to do with all these gifts?”
“I’m going to gather them all, take a picture, and upload an 인증사진 (proof shot) on SNS. I want to do it today if possible.”
“Why?”
“I have an important meeting tomorrow.”
“A meeting? With whom?”
Normally, Kang Yera would have answered her father’s questions right away.
However.
“It’s a secret.”
This time, it seemed she intended to keep it from her father, showing only a meaningful smile and saying nothing more.
Kang Dae-oh’s eldest daughter sometimes became a woman with many secrets.
This was exactly one of those times.
A few days later.
Kang Dae-oh received a call from Gwak Jong-su PD.
The final members for Yora-ttae had been confirmed, so they should all gather beforehand to get to know each other and say hello before the production presentation.
Kang Dae-oh had been eagerly awaiting these words from Gwak PD.
Because Gwak PD had been continuously reluctant to reveal who would be joining the cast in place of Ji So-yeon.
Could it be someone he couldn’t talk about?
At this point, Kang Dae-oh even had this concern.
‘Could it be someone who caused social controversy in the past?’
If so, the addition of a new cast member would likely be a detriment, not a boon.
Even if they hadn’t caused such problems in the past.
‘If I knew who it was beforehand, I could at least ask our kids if this person has the potential to cause major problems later and confirm it.’
If the cast member caused problems during the program, it would significantly impact Yora-ttae.
Thus, Kang Dae-oh felt very uneasy about Gwak PD’s continuous attempts to hide the cast member’s identity.
On the other hand.
Kang Yeyoung showed no such signs.
Unlike Kang Dae-oh, her steps heading towards Yora-ttae’s meeting room in the broadcasting station seemed lighter than ever.
Kang Yeyoung must also be secretly worried about a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment, just like Kang Dae-oh.
However, from the outside, she looked so peaceful that Kang Dae-oh couldn’t understand it.
“Yeyoung, are you okay?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Gwak PD might have brought a strange person.”
“Ah… that?”
Kang Yeyoung shook her head.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to worry about that. Of course… they are a strange person, but they would never do something like cause social controversy, which appa might be worrying about. They’re probably too dumb to even attempt such a thing anyway?”
What to say.
She gave off a very strong nuance, as if she knew who it was.
“Do you know who Gwak PD is going to introduce?”
“I haven’t heard for sure, but there’s a very, very high chance it’s ‘that person’.”
“……?”
Just as he was about to ask her to tell appa too.
Gwak PD, who had come out to greet them in the hallway, showed a bright smile.
“You’re here, CEO! Yeyoung, long time no see.”
“Hello, PD-nim!”
“Do Sang-ho CEO is already here too. Come in, quickly.”
“Is the person who’s newly joining also here?”
“Yes. We cast them after careful consideration from various angles. Our Yora-ttae has secured many female viewers, hasn’t it? For them, we contacted a female cast member who would likely be popular with female viewers. It’s someone Kang CEO knows very well.”
“……?”
Kang Dae-oh tilted his head again at Gwak PD’s confident words.
Guided by Gwak PD, Kang Dae-oh and Kang Yeyoung entered the Yora-ttae meeting room for the first time in a while.
As he said, CEO Do Sang-ho, who had arrived first and was waiting, greeted Kang Dae-oh and Kang Yeyoung.
“Welcome.”
Kang Dae-oh looked around and asked Do Sang-ho, “Where is that person?”
“That person?”
“Gwak PD-nim said he would introduce us to the person who’s replacing Ji So-yeon today.”
“Ah… if it’s that person.”
CEO Do Sang-ho pointed towards the meeting room entrance where Kang Dae-oh and Kang Yeyoung had just entered and said, “They just went to the restroom and came back.”
The moment Kang Dae-oh turned his head.
He was greatly flustered.
It was because of the familiar face whose identity he couldn’t immediately comprehend why they were standing there.
“Appa! I’m here.”
Kang Yera. She was the identity of the newly joined cast member.
No wonder. It wasn’t Kang Dae-oh’s imagination that he felt the information Gwak PD was dropping about the new cast member sounded strangely familiar.
It was actually familiar because it was information Kang Dae-oh already knew.
Upon hearing the more specific situation, it was confirmed that her casting was finalized last week.
Then, one question arose.
“Why didn’t you tell appa?”
Kang Dae-oh felt like he already knew what Kang Yera would say, but he decided to ask just in case.
Kang Yera replied, “To surprise appa.”
As expected. It was just as Kang Dae-oh had predicted.
Meanwhile, Kang Yeyoung nodded repeatedly as if she had known all along and said, “I knew it would be unnie.”
“How? I don’t think I told you.”
“Just a feeling. And unnie, you kept trying to be careful with your words in front of me at home, so I thought you were hiding something from me. I thought about it a lot, but the only thing that came to mind was this casting.”
It was a plausible guess because she knew Kang Yera so well.
Kang Yera clicked her tongue, genuinely disappointed.
She thought she might have been able to perfectly fool her youngest sister.
Nevertheless, looking at the result, it was a satisfactory outcome for Kang Dae-oh, Kang Yeyoung, and even Do Sang-ho.
Kang Yera would have chemistry with Kang Yeyoung just as well as Ji So-yeon… no, even better than her.
And since she was a very familiar cast member to Kang Dae-oh, there were no worries about disharmony.
Gwak Jong-su PD briefly explained the future schedule to the Yora-ttae new season members, who were gathering for the first time.
“The production presentation will be at the beginning of next month. For the first filming… we’ve set a tight schedule, so it will be almost immediately after the production presentation. We’ll send the list of scouted cafes to CEO Do Sang-ho and CEO Kang Dae-oh first, so you can check them.”
“Yes, understood.”
“The format won’t be significantly different from previous seasons, so everyone doesn’t have to worry too much. If a new face joins and we also change the program format, viewers might get confused. So, in the early stages of the season, we plan to focus on helping viewers adapt to the new face, Kang Yera, so please keep that in mind.”
The cast members nodded simultaneously.
Gwak PD always mentions the direction the program should take during meetings like this.
Such words are very helpful to Kang Dae-oh, who doesn’t have much broadcasting experience.
“Alright! Let’s do our best for this season too!”
“Yes! We look forward to working with you!”
With such a spirited shout, the first meeting concluded.
When the news that Kang Yera, Kang Yeyoung, and Kang Dae-oh, the three family members, would be working together in Yora-ttae’s new season was announced through the production presentation and articles, public interest soared.
Afterward, as Gwak PD had predicted, the first filming date for Yora-ttae’s new season was set.
Kang Dae-oh, who arrived at the filming site, first walked towards Gwak PD and CEO Do Sang-ho.
“Hello. I’m here.”
“Oh, you’re here? I saw Yera and Yeyoung arrived early too.”
“Where are they?”
“Go that way. They were doing a reading together. But since they’re sisters, their chemistry should be good, so I wonder if a reading is really necessary?”
Kang Dae-oh turned his gaze towards Kang Yera and Kang Yeyoung, the sisters who had arrived early at the set and were practicing their lines with a script reading.
Kang Yeyoung clicked her tongue and nagged at her unnie.
“I told you this was unnie’s line.”
“Aren’t you better than me?”
“This was Ji So-yeon sunbaenim’s role, this. I even highlighted it for you. I can’t believe it, really.”
“I-I might not know!”
“You’re not trying to push it onto me because you’re afraid you can’t memorize it since it’s long, are you?”
“I-I can memorize this much!”
Looking at his eldest and youngest daughters already bickering, Kang Dae-oh offered a wry smile.
“A reading seems absolutely necessary.”
Even if they are sisters, their chemistry isn’t always perfect.
