Epipsode 5. I Found Out My Daughter’s Secret (3)
Around 7 AM, Kang Dae-oh, who had opened his eyes, cautiously headed to the living room, trying his best not to make a sound, lest Kang Yera wake up.
He put on his shoes and slowly unlocked the front door so that it wouldn’t make a loud sound.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“Be careful on your way, honey. You said you’d be late today because you have a drinking appointment with your friends, right?”
“Oh, right.”
“As I told you yesterday, don’t drink too much.”
In front of Min Seung-yeon’s second warning, Kang Dae-oh nodded several times, promising to keep it in mind.
Thud.
As the front door closed, a rustling sound began to be heard from the baby’s room.
It seemed Kang Yera had just woken up from hearing the door close.
A bitter smile formed on Min Seung-yeon’s lips.
Her husband had said he’d be careful, so careful. But the house and the doors were so old that sometimes loud, unintended noises would be heard.
Just like now.
“Anyway, I have to feed her breakfast.”
When she opened the baby’s room door, Kang Yera was seen wiggling her small arms and legs on the bed.
At that sight, Min Seung-yeon postponed waking the baby for a moment and took out her smartphone first.
“Even though she’s my daughter, how can she be so cute and pretty?”
The daughter’s appearance she liked the most was indeed her drowsy look right after waking up.
The sight of the baby looking up at her mother with a puzzled expression always made Min Seung-yeon’s heart ache.
But she couldn’t keep Kang Yera asleep forever.
“Princess Yera~ It’s time to wake up.”
She lightly patted her small bottom pang pang pang.
Only then did Kang Yera’s eyes slowly, slowly open.
The moment her eyes opened, Kang Yera abruptly sat up and frantically began to look around.
“Ah-eu-yuh-beu-ah……”
“Oh my. Are you talking in your sleep?”
Where was Kang Yera, who used to always say ‘Eom-ma!’ in a clear voice every time she was woken up in the morning?
Now, still half-asleep, she uttered something with a mumbling pronunciation and voice.
The memory of yesterday came to Kang Yera’s mind.
The story about her dad’s business friend that she had accidentally overheard in her sleep.
As soon as she heard those words, Kang Yera instinctively realized.
That they shouldn’t get involved with that friend. If they did, they would be swindled out of tens of millions of won.
In reality, because of that incident, Kang Dae-oh and Min Seung-yeon were swindled out of all the money they had saved for nearly 5 years, under the pretext of moving, by a man named Jung Eun-seo.
Because it was a story that always came up whenever Kang Dae-oh and Min Seung-yeon fought, Kang Yera couldn’t forget this incident even if she tried.
She had to tell him.
Her dad.
“Eomma!”
Kang Yera called her mother with clear pronunciation.
At that sight, Min Seung-yeon showed a reaction as if she had noticed something.
After confirming her mother’s reaction, Kang Yera’s expectations soared.
Could it be that her mother understood her feelings?
However.
“Alright. You want your diaper changed, right? Eomma will change it to a fresh, dry one, so let’s go quickly.”
“Ah-woo-euh!”
She flapped her arms and legs padak padak trying to say that wasn’t it, but Min Seung-yeon still thought Kang Yera was reacting like this because her heavy diaper was uncomfortable due to urine.
After lifting Kang Yera’s two legs with one hand and pulling out the diaper, Min Seung-yeon said in a tone that indicated she had expected it.
“Oh my. How uncomfortable must that have been. There’s no one like Eomma, is there? Hmm?”
It was ambiguous to answer yes to that.
Because Kang Yera’s true intention wasn’t about the diaper.
Somehow, she had to meet Kang Dae-oh by this evening and convey what she knew by scribbling with a ballpoint pen, just like yesterday.
The moment the word ‘ballpoint pen’ came to mind.
“……!”
A light bulb suddenly lit up in Kang Yera’s mind.
“That’s it!” thought Kang Yera, pointing to the black ballpoint pen placed right near the changing table.
“Eomma! Eomma!”
She wanted to utter more words, but.
Not only had her teeth not fully grown in, but her oral structure wasn’t perfectly formed like an adult’s, making various linguistic expressions impossible.
Eomma, Appa, Mamma, Unga. With just these words, it was extremely difficult to convey the message to be careful of Jung Eun-seo.
But with paper and a pen, communication was possible without problems.
Although Kang Dae-oh had told Min Seung-yeon to keep his identity a secret for the time being.
Since it was a crisis, Kang Yera had no choice but to inform her mother that she was a regressor.
But there was a problem.
Just a little more.
If she stretched her arm just a little more, she could grasp the ballpoint pen.
“Oh dear, that was close.”
Min Seung-yeon suddenly moved the ballpoint pen that Kang Yera had targeted far away.
“No, Yera. A ballpoint pen is still a dangerous object for our princess. So you shouldn’t touch it. Understand?”
“Ah-woo-!!!”
At her mother’s actions, Kang Yera became furious.
She could have grabbed it!
However, Min Seung-yeon merely saw even this ‘angry’ (?) expression of Kang Yera as full of charm and loveliness.
“Alright, alright. This time you want mamma? Eomma will prepare your food, so just wait a little.”
Her mother, after seating Kang Yera in the high chair, headed to the kitchen.
While a mother’s loving heart for her baby was truly good.
At times like this, it was an obstruction, not help.
Kang Dae-oh, who had no way of knowing what kind of struggle Kang Yera was waging in her baby body at home, used a moment to catch his breath and check the current time.
“It’s five thirty in the afternoon… Myung-woon should be arriving soon.”
As soon as Kang Dae-oh finished speaking.
Oh Myung-woon came to his shop.
“Brother! I’m here.”
“You’re here. I was just waiting for you.”
“You haven’t closed the store yet?”
“Yeah. I was going to close it when you came. It’ll be over soon, so just sit there for a bit.”
Since they had a drinking appointment with Jung Eun-seo today, both of them decided to close their businesses early.
Closing the store a day early wouldn’t cause them financial hardship.
Oh Myung-woon, who had been exchanging messages with Jung Eun-seo on his smartphone, stood up and called Kang Dae-oh.
“Eun-seo said he’s almost here. Let’s head out too.”
“Okay, got it.”
Kang Dae-oh, after locking the store door for the last time, headed with Oh Myung-woon to a nearby local pub where they had arranged to meet Jung Eun-seo.
It was a small pub with only 4 tables, but since it was like a small hideout for Kang Dae-oh and Oh Myung-woon, they decided to set the meeting place here.
As soon as the owner saw the two men, he greeted them with a bright smile.
“Did you come for a drink with a friend? This combination, it seems like a long time since I’ve seen it.”
Oh Myung-woon pointed to Kang Dae-oh and explained why they hadn’t been able to visit the place together with a friend for so long.
“Dae-oh is busy with the baby this and that. Every time he goes for a drink, he says he has to be mindful of his wife. So, opportunities to drink together rarely arise.”
“Haha! Of course, he has to be like that now that he’s a proper family man. Come and sit. Can I just give you two sets of dishes and glasses?”
Kang Dae-oh shook his head.
“No, please make it three.”
“Three?”
“Yes. We have another friend we’re meeting.”
Kang Dae-oh and Oh Myung-woon took a seat at one of the four tables and waited for Jung Eun-seo to arrive.
About 5 minutes later.
While they were chatting about this and that, the store door opened once again, revealing the welcome face they had been waiting for.
“Oh, Kang Dae-oh! Oh Myung-woon! It’s been a really long time, ya!”
Jung Eun-seo approached the two men and greeted them warmly.
Unlike Kang Dae-oh and Oh Myung-woon, Jung Eun-seo was dressed in a neat navy suit.
The clothes were one thing, but.
Oh Myung-woon showed interest in the watch on Jung Eun-seo’s left wrist.
“What’s with the watch? It looks really pretty.”
“Ah, this? Just. I bought one for a change of mood.”
Jung Eun-seo deliberately adjusted the angle to make the wristwatch clearly visible and asked the two men.
“How much does this look like?”
“Around… 1 million won? Or maybe 1.5 million won?”
Oh Myung-woon had called out a high price, in his own way, but.
The answer Jung Eun-seo gave precisely exceeded Oh Myung-woon’s expectation by 10 times.
“Fifteen million won.”
“Hee-ee-eek……!!!”
Oh Myung-woon, who had tried to briefly touch Jung Eun-seo’s watch, recoiled in shock and quickly withdrew his outstretched hand.
Kang Dae-oh was also greatly surprised.
Because he hadn’t expected to see such an expensive watch, which he had only heard about, right before his eyes.
‘He must really be earning a lot of money, just as Myung-woon said.’
Kang Dae-oh simply found it amazing that he had enough to spend fifteen million won on a watch.
If he just sold that one watch, Kang Dae-oh and his family could live worry-free for half a year.
As that thought crossed his mind, Kang Dae-oh swallowed a bitter smile inwardly.
Because he felt an inexplicable sense of self-reproach due to the widening gap between his successful friend and himself.
Just then, the dakgangjeong (sweet and spicy fried chicken) and draft beer they had ordered earlier arrived.
After lightly clinking their glasses together clink!.
Jung Eun-seo slowly began to speak.
“How are your sales these days, both of you?”
“It’s just enough to make a living, you know. But Dae-oh’s luck has turned around a bit.”
“Dae-oh? Why? Did he win the lottery or something?”
“This guy’s daughter takes good care of other babies in her cultural center class, and in doing so, she’s really captured the hearts of the other mothers. The mothers are always indebted to Yera, and a mood has formed where they want to repay the favor by increasing sales at Yera’s father’s store, so Dae-oh’s store has a lot of customers these days.”
“Dae-oh, you’ve made it big.”
Kang Dae-oh shook his head, denying Jung Eun-seo’s words.
“It’s nothing compared to you. I heard you’re making a lot of money with your business?”
“Ah, that? Not a huge amount. Just earning a modest amount, you know.”
Contrary to his words, Jung Eun-seo’s SNS only had posts that clearly showed off his desire to boast, “I’m earning a lot of money.”
That’s why Kang Dae-oh was curious.
“What kind of business are you doing?”
He was earning good money. But there was absolutely no hint about what kind of business he was making money from.
Jung Eun-seo’s eyes changed.
“Curious?”
“Of course, I am curious.”
“Good. I happened to have a proposal for you two.”
At the word ‘proposal’, Kang Dae-oh and Oh Myung-woon tilted their heads simultaneously.
Jung Eun-seo briefly put down his beer glass.
The atmosphere suggested a long story was about to come, even at a glance.
“I’ve found a good investment opportunity. The principal is absolutely guaranteed, and the return rate is a whopping 500 percent. How about it? Tempting, isn’t it?”
“Is there such an investment opportunity?”
“There is. A friend of mine is creating a cryptocurrency. Don’t tell anyone about this. I’m telling you this in advance because it’s you guys…”
Jung Eun-seo showed his smartphone screen and held an impromptu investment briefing.
At that moment, yesterday’s events flashed through Kang Dae-oh’s mind.
The contents of the future that Kang Yera had told him about fit together like a puzzle in Kang Dae-oh’s mind.
Before long, Kang Dae-oh reached a conclusion.
‘This is a scam.’
He realized that his old classmate, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time, had returned as a swindler.
