Episode 43. Rural Cafe (1)
Including Gyehwado Coffee Street and even the Coffee Festival.
Lately, Kang Dae-oh had been spending his time frequently traveling back and forth between provinces.
While he often used public transportation for very long distances, there were times when he drove himself, especially in areas without train stations or intercity bus terminals.
He had hired a separate driver for such occasions, but today, how should he put it?
“I feel like driving myself today.”
Executive Director Yoo In-seok knew very well why Kang Dae-oh was saying this.
“I heard you haven’t had your car for long.”
A wry smile spread across Kang Dae-oh’s face.
“Who told you that?”
“Your wife informed me.”
“Ah······ that must have been when she came last week.”
Min Seung-yeon had recently visited the company to gift clothes made by the apparel company she co-runs with an unnie to the Amare employees here.
All the employees were very pleased with her surprise gift.
The apparel company Min Seung-yeon represented was receiving good reviews from customers for not only its clothing designs but also its quality.
The prevailing reputation was that the clothes made by this company were definitely worth the price.
In fact, quite a few Amare employees insisted on buying and wearing only the apparel produced by Min Seung-yeon’s company.
For these people, Min Seung-yeon’s gift was even more special.
Executive Director Yoo In-seok had a brief chat with Min Seung-yeon, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time, to ask about her well-being.
It seemed that was when the topic of Kang Dae-oh’s new car came up.
“I heard about it. Your youngest daughter bought it for you?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Kang Yeyoung had said she wanted to gift Kang Dae-oh a new car.
At first, he felt a bit burdened and tried not to accept it.
Kang Dae-oh shows a particular weakness for his daughters. In other words, if his daughters are stubborn, Kang Dae-oh usually gives in to their demands.
In the end, as everyone expected, it was his daughter’s victory again.
“But why did your daughter suddenly offer to buy you a car, CEO?”
“Yeyoung said she wanted to film a vlog with me, oppa, with the concept of going for a walk in Hangang Park. I remember it was a weekend last month, either a Saturday or a Sunday······ Anyway, it seems she bought it for me as a reward for helping her with that.”
“A high-end foreign car for just one vlog appearance. I’m envious, CEO.”
An awkward laugh escaped Kang Dae-oh’s lips.
He had already heard ‘I’m envious’ a lot from his friends, including O Myeong-un.
As O Myeong-un’s name came to mind, a momentarily forgotten appointment popped into Kang Dae-oh’s head.
“Speaking of which, I’m thinking of taking Myeong-un to Uijeongbu next Wednesday.”
“Uijeongbu, you say······.”
“Didn’t you mention it last time, Executive Director? That it might be good to gradually expand Amare stores in the Uijeongbu area, but you weren’t sure where to start? So I’m going to go look around. I used to go on cafe tours frequently by myself, or with my wife.”
He intended to actively utilize the experience he had accumulated over the years.
“So you’ll be driving yourself then too?”
“Yes. I have a few places in mind.”
“Understood. But why is your friend coming along······?”
O Myeong-un has no relation to the food service industry whatsoever.
Taking him along simply because he was a ‘friend’ didn’t make sense.
It wasn’t just a two or three-hour drive. It could potentially take more than half a day. Following along on such a difficult journey felt reckless, even for a friend.
Moreover, O Myeong-un was also on a busy schedule, just like Kang Dae-oh.
This was because the hair salon he operated had recently been expanding its branches to other regions.
The moment his thoughts reached this point, Executive Director Yoo In-seok asked, ‘Surely not?’
“Is your friend also going there to scout for a location to open an additional hair salon?”
“Yes, that’s about right.”
“Haha, I see.”
Since their goals were the same, this accompanying trip could be arranged.
Only now could Executive Director Yoo In-seok understand Kang Dae-oh’s reasoning.
“Understood. Since you and your friend are going back and forth for the first time in a while, I suppose I shouldn’t interfere. Next Wednesday······ just in case, I’ll keep it in mind.”
“Thank you, Executive Director.”
Was it thanks to the new car Kang Yeyoung bought for him?
Or was it due to the excitement of going on a drive with a friend?
Kang Dae-oh’s mind was already in Uijeongbu.
Was it because it was the car his youngest daughter picked out for him?
Kang Dae-oh, who usually didn’t pay much attention to car washes, found a car wash for a hand wash before departing for Uijeongbu.
‘Normally, I would have filled up the gas, immediately gone for an automatic wash, and that would have been it.’
He had no choice but to opt for a hand wash because automatic car washes had a high possibility of causing minor scratches.
He didn’t want to cover the car, which Kang Yeyoung had bought for her oppa, with scratches already.
After meticulously washing the car, Kang Dae-oh then got into the car to pick up O Myeong-un.
Kang Dae-oh, who drove straight to the destination, spotted his friend waiting by the roadside.
He turned on his hazard lights and immediately stopped where O Myeong-un was.
O Myeong-un, who initially had a ‘What is this?’ expression at the sight of the unfamiliar car.
However, as the window rolled down and his friend’s face became visible, he finally showed a ‘Ah!’ expression, welcoming Kang Dae-oh.
“What? It was you? I thought otherwise. I got scared when such an expensive car suddenly stopped in front of me.”
“Why would you get scared by that?”
Kang Dae-oh chuckled at O Myeong-un’s feigned fear.
“Get in. We should leave now so we don’t get stuck in traffic.”
O Myeong-un nodded and got into the passenger seat next to Kang Dae-oh.
As soon as he got in the car, he unconsciously quickly scanned the interior.
“Wow. Nice car. Yeyoung must have spent a lot of money, huh?”
“Well, yeah.”
He had asked how much it cost, but Kang Yeyoung didn’t answer.
It was because she thought her oppa would feel a great burden if she told him the car’s price.
It was Kang Yeyoung’s own consideration.
Even so, an approximate price could be estimated.
This was because searching online would reveal the average price for each trim level.
O Myeong-un, unable to take his eyes off the car’s interior, continuously expressed his envy.
“You’re lucky, man. Your daughters are celebrities and they earn well, so they do things like this for you. Did you save a country in your past life or something?”
“Maybe so.”
He couldn’t be sure, but lately, he had started to feel like it might be true.
“How many places are we stopping at today?”
“I sent you the addresses of the places I found earlier via text, so take a look.”
“Oh, really? My bad. I left home in a hurry and didn’t even realize you sent me a text.”
O Myeong-un, belatedly pulling out his smartphone to check the message Kang Dae-oh sent, nodded and said,
“Uijeongbu definitely feels a bit empty compared to Seoul.”
“It’s not a densely populated area.”
“Ha······ but Uijeongbu reminds me of something. When I enlisted in the replacement battalion there. Do you remember?”
When the topic of military service came up, Kang Dae-oh gave a bitter smile.
“Of course I remember. I met you back then.”
“Exactly. And we didn’t even enlist together.”
It was an incredible coincidence.
But on the other hand, it was also a fortunate coincidence.
Because for Kang Dae-oh, who was already lacking confidence after enlisting alone, meeting and having O Myeong-un there was a great source of strength.
That’s why Kang Dae-oh was still grateful to O Myeong-un.
O Myeong-un, in turn, felt the same way about Kang Dae-oh.
“If I hadn’t met you back then, I can’t imagine how I would have lived in the replacement battalion alone, or how I would have completed training camp.”
Unfortunately, they were assigned to different units, but it was still good that they could rely on each other during the early days of their military enlistment.
“I swore I’d never even look in the direction of Uijeongbu after my discharge. I never imagined I’d go there on my own two feet.”
“They say life is a series of unexpected events.”
Who would have thought his daughters would be regressors from the future?
Kang Dae-oh swallowed a laugh inwardly.
As he chatted with his friend, they arrived at their first destination before they knew it.
“This is the place.”
“What do you think?”
“Well······ it’s good, but.”
O Myeong-un looked around and chuckled softly.
“As I mentioned on the way here, the infrastructure is indeed a bit lacking compared to Seoul.”
“Rather, that’s the point we should capitalize on.”
The lack of infrastructure essentially means ‘no one has yet established a foothold here.’
“What about you, what do you think of this place?”
O Myeong-un asked Kang Dae-oh in return.
“For now, I’m going to look around a bit more before deciding.”
They had only just arrived at the first location.
It was too early to decide, ‘I’ll make this our starting point,’ already.
O Myeong-un seemed to be of the same mind, nodding and showing agreement with Kang Dae-oh’s words.
O Myeong-un, after looking around, re-checked the data Kang Dae-oh had sent him earlier.
Looking at the long list of candidate locations, he said,
“It’s going to be a busy day.”
That was something they had already prepared for.
After looking around various places, they soon reached the time when the sun was preparing to ‘go home’ (set).
“Shall we get going now?”
“Oh, let’s. What about dinner?”
“I’m going to eat at home.”
As soon as O Myeong-un settled into the passenger seat next to Kang Dae-oh, he asked,
“It’ll probably be around 8 PM when we get home. Won’t that be too late?”
“It’s fine. Our kids said they’d be done with work and arrive home around that time too.”
“Right. Those who come from working at a broadcasting station would be busier than us.”
His daughters were also on very busy schedules, just like Kang Dae-oh.
Among them, Kang Yera’s activity proportion had increased exponentially.
Compared to high school, it’s possible to flexibly adjust class schedules in college. And for someone like Kang Yera, the school had no choice but to be very accommodating so she could focus on her broadcasting activities.
“By the way, I was surprised.”
“About what?”
“About Yera. Didn’t you clearly tell me Yera wasn’t good at studying? But how did she get into a university in the Seoul area?”
Kang Dae-oh told him about the hidden story.
“They say the god of guessing descended upon Yera back then or something. Anyway, most of her guesses were correct. So her grades turned out much better than expected, apparently.”
It was a stroke of divine luck, so to speak.
Thanks to that, Kang Yera was able to confidently show her report card to Min Seung-yeon as well.
Although the process wasn’t exactly honorable, the result turned out well anyway.
Just as they were talking about Kang Yera, Kang Dae-oh’s gaze was drawn to one side.
“······Hmm?”
“Why? Is there something bothering you?”
When he received a stop signal, Kang Dae-oh stared intently out the window.
A moment later, he fixed his gaze forward again and said,
“Because I saw a place that caught my attention.”
A place not on the list of candidates had captured Kang Dae-oh’s interest.
