Episode 44. Unknown Number (3)
Yeon Seong-hwa, who arrived at the office earlier than the other employees, unknowingly let out a deep sigh from the morning.
Just then, Min Seung-yeon, who had finished her commute, witnessed her unnie sighing and spoke to her.
“Why, unnie?”
“Huh? Oh… remember what Manager Kang said at the last meeting?”
“What was it that Manager Kang said?”
So many agenda items came up during the meeting that if it was spoken vaguely, it was hard for Min Seung-yeon to immediately grasp what exactly was being referred to.
For her, Yeon Seong-hwa explained in more detail.
“The Plavie promotion.”
“Ah, that?”
It was the most widely known apparel-specialized shopping mall platform to the public, and also the place responsible for the largest portion of sales for apparel retailers like MSH.
Plavie conducts a large-scale promotion once a year.
At this time, sales vary greatly depending on which company gets featured as the main promotion.
Naturally, all apparel manufacturing companies hope to be featured as the main.
Therefore, the competition rate was bound to be high.
MSH also ambitiously put out a challenge this time, but…
“It was hopeless.”
Yeon Seong-hwa adjusted the angle of her monitor so Min Seung-yeon could see it well and said.
It contained the reply email content sent from Plavie.
To get straight to the point.
“It says ‘it seems difficult.’”
“These guys. At least they could have given us a review. They just received the proposal email and rejected it immediately. It seems they don’t even want to give a chance to new companies like us.”
“It can’t be helped. There are so many well-established companies in this industry.”
As Min Seung-yeon said, the problem was that there were too many companies claiming to be veterans.
They must have already built up connections by meeting with Plavie a long time ago.
The arm bends inward. Since this is ultimately a human endeavor, it was natural for them to want to maintain good relationships with companies that were already verified and that they had previously pushed as main promotions multiple times, rather than new companies with no contact.
For MSH, the key was how to break through this strongly established network.
However, since they weren’t even given the qualification to be reviewed, it was inevitable that sighs escaped Yeon Seong-hwa’s lips from the morning.
“Isn’t there any way?”
“What way?”
“…Well.”
In fact, no brilliant idea came to mind immediately.
She just said it out of regret.
Min Seung-yeon massaged her unnie’s shoulder to comfort her, who was deep in thought.
“Don’t stress too much, unnie. If we grow steadily, someday Plavie will contact us first.”
Perhaps thanks to her dongsaeng’s comfort, Yeon Seong-hwa drew a faint smile.
“Right. There’s nothing we can do right now anyway, and for now, we just have to find what we can do and do our best.”
“That’s the spirit, unnie.”
“I really gain strength thanks to Seung-yeon, I tell you.”
Yeon Seong-hwa hugged Min Seung-yeon tightly and patted her beloved dongsaeng’s back.
“Oh right. What happened with your smartphone?”
“That? I just quietly gave up and got a new one yesterday. Ta-da!”
Min Seung-yeon began to show off the new smartphone she got yesterday.
“How is it? It’s pretty, right?”
At Min Seung-yeon, who was happily showing off like a child, Yeon Seong-hwa burst into laughter.
“You like it that much?”
“Yeah, I do!”
“You didn’t lose your smartphone on purpose because you wanted to get a new one, did you?”
“No way.”
Yeon Seong-hwa didn’t say that because she genuinely suspected it.
The color was also Min Seung-yeon’s favorite, so it felt like it matched her image well.
“How is it? The new smartphone.”
“It’s all good, but I also changed my number. It seems like someone was using the previous number.”
“Huh? How do you know that?”
“Because I received a text like this.”
Min Seung-yeon showed her the text message content directly.
The content was simple.
[My beloved daughter. How are you doing? I wish we could get in touch again sometime.]
Yeon Seong-hwa, who confirmed the text message content, tilted her head.
“Didn’t they send it by mistake?”
“Maybe.”
“Why don’t you send a text? ‘I think you have the wrong number, ma’am.’”
“Not yet… It’s just one text that just came. And no more texts came after that. Maybe the mother who sent this realized belatedly that she had sent the text to the wrong number?”
That might be why she hasn’t sent any additional texts.
Yeon Seong-hwa nodded, deeply empathizing with Min Seung-yeon’s speculation.
And for them, the problem related to Plavie was bigger than one wrong text message.
“I told Manager Kang to contact me when he comes to work, right? To have a strategy meeting. Since the Plavie promotion fell through. We should try to secure promotions on other platforms, don’t you think?”
“Right. We have to make up for the sales.”
It was already expected that today would be another difficult day.
She diligently looked for other platforms that could replace Plavie, but…
No suitable place was visible.
And it wasn’t like she could just randomly try anywhere.
Haa.
Min Seung-yeon’s sigh upon returning home was deeper than when she was at work.
Kang Dae-oh, who came home at a similar time to her, listened to his wife’s sigh.
“Was there something bad at work?”
“There was, but… I can’t see a clear way to solve it.”
Suddenly, Min Seung-yeon had this thought about her husband.
“You must have gone through much more difficult things than me when you were doing business, right?”
“Well… mine has been around longer.”
And the business scale is also several times larger.
Since it’s so big, it’s not just one or two troubles that arise.
Nevertheless, Kang Dae-oh had successfully grown and maintained the brand Amare until now.
His wife was once again deeply impressed by her husband.
“Maybe it’s because I started a business, but I’ve started to respect people who run stable businesses.”
At his wife’s words, which were full of sincerity, Kang Dae-oh laughed again.
“You must be really suffering from work lately. For you to say something like that.”
“I feel like I’m going crazy.”
If things were resolved as she wished, she would at least be less stressed.
But that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t just once or twice that she felt frustrated.
The Plavie matter was similar.
His wife sat closer to her husband and complained a little about her troubles.
Kang Dae-oh, who now understood the whole story of the incident, slowly nodded his head.
“I had times like that too, back then.”
“How did you find a breakthrough?”
At the word ‘breakthrough,’ Kang Dae-oh briefly recalled old times.
“I think I solved it according to the situation back then. Sometimes I even used cheat codes.”
“Cheat codes?”
No sooner had he finished speaking than the three sisters, Kang Yera, Kang Yebin, and Kang Yeyoung, returned home amicably after finishing their photoshoot.
“We’re home!”
“Oh, both of you are here.”
“Mom, I’m hungry!”
Kang Dae-oh pointed at his daughters and repeated what he had said earlier.
“Cheat codes.”
“Aha…”
Unlike Min Seung-yeon, who showed a reaction of understanding, the three daughters showed a reaction of not understanding at all what Kang Dae-oh was talking about.
“What is it, Dad? What were you talking about with Mom behind our backs?”
“Ask your mom directly later. Dad has a company dinner today, so I have to go out again.”
“What?! You can’t make people curious and then run away!”
Kang Yera strongly protested, saying it was unfair, but perhaps because he had dealt with his eldest daughter’s tantrums so many times, Kang Dae-oh was now immune to such things.
“Dad will be back. Be good with Mom, okay?”
Kang Dae-oh moved towards the door at a faster pace than usual when leaving the house.
At his walking speed, as if he were running away, Kang Yera clicked her tongue briefly, saying ‘Tch!’
“He used to do everything I asked for. Dad has changed too.”
Min Seung-yeon chuckled at Kang Yera’s cute grumbling.
“Back then, you were so young and babies. Now you’re adults.”
Next year, the second child, Kang Yebin, will also turn 20.
Watching her daughters gradually grow into adults, Min Seung-yeon became thoughtful.
As Kang Dae-oh said, if they borrowed their daughters’ recognition, they could effectively promote their products.
In fact, Min Seung-yeon had also benefited from that in the beginning.
However, she wanted to put more effort into this winter’s products, so she couldn’t easily give up on the promotion.
Just as the thought of sending another inquiry email to Plavie, suggesting they recruit her daughters as models for advertising, crossed her mind.
A text message arrived on Min Seung-yeon’s smartphone.
“This number…”
It was a familiar number.
Even the text message content was familiar.
[I was eating strawberry cake and thought of my daughter, so I sent a text. You liked eating Americano with strawberry cake the most, right? I miss you especially today.]
“…”
Min Seung-yeon found something she couldn’t understand while looking at the text.
Who exactly is this ‘daughter’ that she never contacts her mother?
If she had called or texted even once, her mother wouldn’t keep sending texts to Min Seung-yeon’s number by mistake.
“…No way.”
Suddenly, a certain speculation popped into her head.
Perhaps concerned about her mother’s state, staring blankly at her smartphone, Kang Yebin cautiously approached.
“Are you okay, Mom?”
“Huh? Oh, I’m fine. Just something that’s bothering me a little.”
Hoping her speculation was wrong, Min Seung-yeon turned off her smartphone and forced herself to walk to the kitchen to prepare food for the children who said they were hungry.
The next day, Min Seung-yeon, who went to work, fiercely discussed the problems concerning the Plavie promotion with the executives and employees, just like yesterday.
She spent a long time trying to find a way to create a breakthrough, but…
No suitable solution was visible.
The more they talked, the more clearly they felt something.
Just then, Yeon Seong-hwa directly mentioned it.
“Indeed, there’s no place quite like Plavie.”
“Indeed.”
Another executive also nodded, agreeing with her opinion.
Since Plavie almost completely dominates the domestic apparel shopping sector.
For those in the apparel business, doing business without Plavie was impossible.
Another executive asked Yeon Seong-hwa.
“So, we can’t get into the promotion at all?”
“Yeah. It’s not a matter of being main or anything. That’s why it’s more serious.”
“It’s a headache.”
At this time, when the atmosphere had settled heavily.
Min Seung-yeon kept fiddling with her smartphone.
Yeon Seong-hwa asked her.
“Are you expecting a call from somewhere?”
“No. Just something that’s bothering me.”
What she had been displaying on her screen and continuously looking at was none other than…
The text message that came from an unknown number yesterday.
After a long deliberation, Min Seung-yeon suddenly stood up from her seat.
“Unnie. I’m going to make a quick call.”
Something she wanted to confirm had come up.
