Episode 44. Unknown Number (2)
Kang Dae-oh, who briefly visited Amare’s first branch overseen by Lee Seojun, began discussing promotions with him.
“I’m thinking of holding a big promotion by selecting a few stores to celebrate Amare’s founding anniversary.”
“So, this first branch is included in that, right?”
“That’s right.”
In terms of sales, many branches that perform better than the first branch have already emerged.
Nevertheless, the first branch was a symbolic place that could be called Amare’s starting point, so they were trying to hold most promotional events there.
This time was no exception.
Thanks to this, Lee Seojun had one more task to do.
Despite this, Lee Seojun did not seem to have any particular complaints.
Rather, he considered it fortunate that he was given an opportunity to further appeal to people with the first branch he was managing.
“By the way, I heard that the countryside cafe that recently opened in Uijeongbu is working hard and gaining momentum. We should also strive not to fall behind.”
When the countryside cafe was mentioned, Kang Dae-oh made an awkward expression.
It was because he felt sorry for having favored that side too much.
“Next time, should I ask the kids to work a one-day part-time job here at the main branch?”
“It’s okay. Since it’s a new store, it was natural for the CEO to pay a lot of attention to it. And it’s good for me too if all Amare stores do well. I’m not particularly jealous or anything.”
“That’s a relief then.”
“And the first branch is the CEO’s regular cafe, isn’t it? I’m satisfied with just that.”
Lee Seojun has a surprisingly strong competitive spirit.
He always had the mindset that he never wanted the branch he was in charge of to fall behind other branches.
Perhaps that’s why. Kang Dae-oh often felt an unbidden sense of apology whenever Lee Seojun said such things.
“Instead, you can look forward to good news soon.”
“Oh, what is it?”
“It’s been a while since this first branch opened, hasn’t it? So, we’re going to renovate the interior and do an extension construction.”
At the mention of extension construction, Lee Seojun’s eyes sparkled.
“Then, can I go on a trip then?”
“Hey, hey. Didn’t you just say you’d work harder than other branches and were burning with enthusiasm?”
“I always have to show that side to the CEO.”
“This guy. When did he become so two-faced?”
Kang Dae-oh and Lee Seojun looked at each other and burst into laughter.
It was then.
Kang Dae-oh felt a short vibration from his smartphone, signaling a text message arrival.
“Just a moment… huh?”
As soon as Kang Dae-oh checked the text message, he tilted his head once.
Then Lee Seojun also showed interest.
“What’s wrong, CEO?”
“This, it’s spam, right?”
He showed the text message to Lee Seojun as well.
The content was simple.
[Honey. I lost my smartphone. If you’re not busy, can you contact me at this number?]
“What do you think?”
Lee Seojun nodded.
“It clearly has a strong voice phishing vibe.”
“Right?”
He had seen countless cases of voice phishing scams on the news that would lead to content like asking to install an app, or to buy culture gift certificates and send them.
Perhaps thinking it was better to just ignore such things, Kang Dae-oh decided to “read and ignore” it.
However, not long after, a second vibration was felt.
“They sent it again.”
“CEO. Wouldn’t it be better to just block it at that point?”
“Should I? …No. For now, I should tell them I know everything and to stop sending more.”
“I think it would be better not to engage with them.”
Nevertheless, Kang Dae-oh sent a reply in a strong tone to the person presumed to be a voice phishing scammer.
He told them he knew everything and not to pull such scams if they didn’t want to be dragged to the police.
It was an action taken with the hope that if he gave such a stern warning, the scammer might give up the thought of voice phishing others.
Of course, he didn’t expect the scammer to meekly turn over a new leaf.
However, if just giving a warning could put even a little psychological pressure on the scammer, Kang Dae-oh thought that alone was enough.
But instead, the scammer even called Kang Dae-oh.
“I got a call?”
“Are you going to answer that?”
“……”
Logically, it would be correct to just block it immediately.
However, Kang Dae-oh somehow felt a strong urge to answer it.
The moment he pressed the call button.
A sharp female voice was heard first.
—Who are you calling a scammer! Honestly, I’m speechless.
“……Honey?”
—Did you forget your beloved wife’s voice already?
He thought it was voice phishing.
He never imagined it would actually be his wife.
“What happened? What about your smartphone?”
—I just sent you a text. I lost it.
“Ah… so that was real.”
Voice phishing was so rampant that Kang Dae-oh even suspected his wife’s text message.
“Then whose smartphone is that?”
—It’s one of our company employees’ phones. I must have dropped my smartphone somewhere while coming to shoot. It doesn’t seem to be in the studio.
“If you dropped it on the street, it’d probably be hard to find.”
—But just in case, can you try calling my phone? I tried calling it first, but I couldn’t get through.
“Alright. Wait a minute.”
Kang Dae-oh hung up the call and tried calling his wife’s number.
However, only meaningless ringing tones continued. There was no response at all.
Kang Dae-oh called the unknown number again and informed Min Seung-yeon that the same result was repeated.
“I don’t think anyone picked it up or anything.”
It seemed to have fallen somewhere out of reach of human hands.
For example, the smartphone might have fallen inside a gutter.
—That’s problematic… It’ll take a long time to find it, won’t it?
“I think it’ll be faster to just get a new phone.”
As soon as Kang Dae-oh finished speaking, Lee Seojun, who had been silently observing from across, added.
“I have a friend who runs a smartphone store, would you like me to connect you?”
“Really? Hold on. I’ll ask my wife.”
As a result of Kang Dae-oh asking her.
A positive answer came back.
“She said to connect her. She’s going to go there sometime today.”
“Are you just getting a new smartphone?”
“She said she’s going to change the number too, while she’s at it.”
“What? Why?”
“There was a big news story about personal information leakage before, remember? My wife’s smartphone number was connected to that, so she gets a lot of weird spam messages from all over. So she said she’s going to change her number this time.”
“Is that okay? You must have all your work contacts saved on there.”
“She said it’s fine because they’re all saved on her sub-phone. She just needs to save family and friends’ contacts again.”
Leaving her sub-phone at the company was a brilliant move.
Because if she had brought her sub-phone, she might have lost that entirely along with her original phone.
As Kang Dae-oh hung up the call, a bitter smile spread across Lee Seojun’s lips.
“It seems madam has been quite busy lately.”
“She’s busy. Just in case, she said she suspended the old phone, so please tell your friend about it later.”
“Yes, I understand.”
That evening.
Kang Dae-oh, who had arrived home first, warmly welcomed Min Seung-yeon, who returned home late.
“You worked hard, honey.”
“I’m sorry. We said we’d go out for a delicious dinner tonight, just the two of us.”
“It’s okay. More importantly, what about your smartphone?”
“It’s still not responding. So, as I said earlier, I just changed the number and got a new one. Ta-da!”
Min Seung-yeon proudly held out her newly changed phone for Kang Dae-oh to see clearly.
“Still, you bought the model you wanted, right?”
“Yes. I didn’t like the color of the previous one, but this time I picked out a pink one. How is it? Pretty, right?”
Although she had lost her smartphone, Min Seung-yeon fortunately seemed to have decided to turn it into a blessing in disguise, and her expression looked bright.
He had secretly worried that his wife might be gloomy.
‘Still, that’s a relief.’
Only after seeing Min Seung-yeon like this, Kang Dae-oh was able to erase the two words “worry” from his mind.
“What do you want to do for dinner? Should we order delivery for the first time in a while?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
It was too late to cook now.
In times like this, delivery is definitely better.
“I’ll order… Oh, right.”
Min Seung-yeon said, a blush spreading across her face.
“I haven’t installed the delivery app yet.”
Kang Dae-oh chuckled softly and comforted her, saying it was okay.
“You probably have more than one or two apps to install, so take your time. I’ll place the delivery order. What do you want to eat, honey?”
“Let’s have that for the first time in a while. Stir-fried beef tripe and vegetables.”
“Alright. Just a moment.”
Perhaps because it was a dish they often ate when they were dating, Kang Dae-oh felt it had been a long time.
Thanks to his wife losing her smartphone, he was able to reminisce about such memories after a long time.
‘It might even be better.’
With a meaningful smile, Kang Dae-oh launched the delivery app.
In the morning, Min Seung-yeon sent her husband off to work first, then began preparing breakfast for her daughters.
Kang Yebin, the second daughter and the first of the three sisters to wake up, entered the kitchen by herself to help her mother.
“I’ll help too.”
“Thank you. Then, can you wash that for me?”
“Yes.”
Min Seung-yeon smiled contentedly as she watched Kang Yebin diligently help with the kitchen work.
Perhaps feeling her mother’s intense gaze, Kang Yebin asked her.
“Why, mom?”
It was to check if she was doing something wrong.
However, Min Seung-yeon wasn’t looking at her second daughter for that reason.
“Mom had a dream, a ‘romance’ as I used to call it.”
“What was that?”
“Preparing food in the kitchen like this, together with my daughter.”
Though she didn’t say it, Min Seung-yeon felt a small happiness whenever her children came to help her like this.
Thanks to this happiness, Min Seung-yeon was able to start her day in a good mood.
However, a moment later.
Something happened that offset this happiness.
Dding.
A short notification sound of a text message arriving reached Min Seung-yeon’s ears.
Kang Yebin, who belatedly checked her mother’s new smartphone, showed a surprised expression.
“Mom, did you change your smartphone?”
“Yes. I lost it yesterday. So I got a new one.”
Yesterday, Kang Yebin had returned home late after filming, so she hadn’t properly heard what happened to her mother.
Min Seung-yeon briefly left the kitchen to her second daughter and moved to check the text message.
In this situation, the only people who could send her a text message were Kang Dae-oh, Kang Yera, or Kang Yeyoung.
This was because she hadn’t yet told many people about her new number.
“Who sent it?”
The moment she checked the text message to satisfy her curiosity.
“……Oh my.”
Min Seung-yeon’s eyes trembled greatly at the unexpected content.
