Episode 49. A Warm Cup (2)
Kang Dae-oh, who suddenly found himself with two students, guided his two daughters to the place he usually used for coffee research.
An empty room on the first floor, closest to the garden. Kang Dae-oh was using this place as his personal cafe.
His most frequent customer here was his wife, Min Seung-yeon.
It was also a familiar place to his daughters, as they had occasionally come here to drink coffee.
“Oh? Dad. Did you buy a new drip pot? I haven’t seen this one before.”
Kang Yera pointed to the drip pot displayed on the desk.
Then Kang Dae-oh nodded.
“That’s right. Yera really has a good eye, as expected.”
“Even if I’m not smart, I’m quick-witted.”
“Because the mind for studying and a wise and intelligent mind are different. Dad doesn’t think our Yera is stupid, just that she doesn’t have a hobby for studying. She’s so kind, diligent, and hardworking. Isn’t that right?”
Kang Yera, with a very satisfied smile, suddenly made this declaration.
“When I get married later, I’ll have to marry someone like Dad.”
Hearing his eldest daughter’s words, Kang Dae-oh laughed heartily for the first time in a long while.
It meant his daughter loved him very much. As a father, he naturally couldn’t help but feel good.
For those daughters.
Kang Dae-oh decided to explain everything he knew as much as possible.
“First, it’s important to grind the beans to make them suitable for dripping. The size is… about this much?”
He explained based on a size similar to sugar granules.
Kang Dae-oh personally demonstrated grinding the beans.
This was because Kang Dae-oh knew better than anyone that demonstrating the process directly was more effective than just explaining it endlessly with words.
As he expected, his daughters were already deeply engrossed in Kang Dae-oh’s demonstration lesson.
“Next, put the filter in the dripper… Oh, before that, don’t forget to wet the filter with hot water. After placing the filter in the dripper like this, you put the coffee beans into the filter. And then…”
At this moment, Kang Yera confidently exclaimed.
“You pour hot water over it, right? I’ve seen this scene a lot in coffee commercials and such.”
When the topic of commercials came up, Kang Dae-oh laughed heartily.
“That’s right. It’s a common sight.”
While waiting for a moment, the coffee beans swelled and released gas.
“The extraction time is ideally about 2 to 3 minutes. When extraction is complete, remove the dripper and lightly stir the coffee, and it’s done. How about that, simple, right?”
If all these processes had been explained verbally, Kang Yera would very likely not have understood them.
However, since Kang Yebin was very interested in coffee, she generally knew about the bean extraction process and such, so she would have understood easily.
Nevertheless, because Kang Dae-oh demonstrated and explained it right in front of them, it was easier to grasp the process in their minds.
At the same time, Kang Yebin caught on to how she could best portray her character on set and the key movements that could be points of interest.
Perhaps because she was trying to approach Kang Dae-oh’s teachings analytically, Kang Yebin’s gaze seemed sharper than ever.
It felt as if it could cut.
Kang Yebin, who was furiously taking notes with her notebook, determined not to miss a single word her dad said, asked a question.
“Dad. What’s the best water to bean ratio?”
“1 to 15. That ratio is the best. You also need to pay attention to the water temperature. If it’s too hot, the bitter taste is strong, but if the temperature is too low, it’ll be very sour. But do you really need to know all this just for acting?”
Kang Dae-oh momentarily reflected, wondering if he was talking too much.
While adjusting the water-to-bean ratio was a very detailed aspect that could be given enough attention, there was no need to consider the taste itself.
This was because the technology to make people watching Kang Yebin’s acting on a TV screen taste the coffee hadn’t been developed yet.
Nevertheless, Kang Yebin showed that she didn’t want to miss even these details.
“You need to know a lot to be able to just throw in ad-libs later.”
At the word ‘ad-lib’, Kang Yera was surprised.
“You knew how to do that too?”
“Why? Is there a law that says I can’t ad-lib?”
“You used to dislike ad-libbing when you acted. You used to complain that actors should only say the lines in the script, and that it was embarrassing for the person receiving unexpected lines.”
At Kang Yera’s words, this time it was Kang Dae-oh who tilted his head.
“Did you? I’ve seen Yebin ad-libbing a few times when I went to the set to see her.”
He hadn’t even thought that his second daughter would have such a prejudice about ad-libs.
Because she had acted so naturally all this time.
However, Kang Yera knew Kang Yebin well from before her regression, so her current appearance felt awkward rather than natural. No, it felt even stranger.
There was a reason why Kang Yebin suddenly changed her attitude towards ad-libs.
“As I did it, I found it to be better than I thought. When I realized that ad-libs unconsciously come out when you’re truly deeply immersed in the situation of the play, it didn’t seem like such a bad thing after all.”
“My dongsaeng. She’s changed. She’s changed.”
For his second daughter, Kang Dae-oh briefly stepped in to defend her.
“Originally, people change through surprisingly simple triggers. I was like that too.”
“How did you change, Dad?”
“Me? I’m not sure if the me in your world said something like this, but Dad originally had no interest in coffee whatsoever.”
This time, not only Kang Yera but even Kang Yebin showed an expression beyond surprise, bordering on shock.
Kang Dae-oh meant coffee, and coffee meant their dad. This connection had been taken for granted from the very beginning.
But to learn that Kang Dae-oh wasn’t particularly interested in coffee after all, it felt like a belief they had held for decades had been shattered, and their daughters were quite shocked.
On the other hand, Kang Dae-oh was rather flustered seeing his children so greatly shocked.
“Is this really so surprising?”
“Yes, it is!”
“That’s right.”
For once, both Kang Yera and Kang Yebin expressed the same opinion.
It was a rare sight to see the two of them speak in unison, in agreement.
Kang Dae-oh had, in a way, personally orchestrated this rare scene.
“Well… anyway, that’s how it was.”
“So, Dad, was there a reason you became interested in coffee?”
“That’s right.”
“What was that trigger?”
Kang Yera’s eyes sparkled as she started pressing Kang Dae-oh.
“It’s fine to tell you, but I’m not sure if this will help Yebin’s acting studies.”
He paused for a moment, wondering what value his extremely personal story would have for his daughters.
It was then.
The door to the room they were in swung open.
Min Seung-yeon, dressed in her going-out clothes, looked alternately at Kang Dae-oh and her daughters.
“Oh my. I was wondering where everyone went. You were all here?”
“Mom, are you going out?”
“Yes. Something came up. Honey. I’m sorry, but could you make me some coffee to put in here?”
Min Seung-yeon took a small thermos from her handbag and handed it to her husband.
“Not water or tea?”
“No. The place is a bit far, so I want to drink coffee while driving. You shouldn’t drive drowsy, right?”
“That’s true.”
At times like this, the power of coffee made by her husband’s own hands was truly needed.
He was already in the middle of teaching his daughters the drip coffee extraction process.
The timing was perfectly exquisite.
“Just wait a little. I’ll get it ready quickly.”
For his beloved wife, Kang Dae-oh rolled up his sleeves.
A moment later.
The “husband’s love coffee” she desired was completed.
After filling the thermos with its contents, he handed it to his wife.
“Thank you, honey. I love you.”
“Me too.”
Even after a long time had passed, their affection and love remained unchanged.
In the past, Min Seung-yeon used to be embarrassed to express love in front of her daughters.
Now, perhaps because they had seen all sorts of things (?), she had reached a stage where she could casually express simple affection even with her children watching.
The same was true for Kang Dae-oh.
As soon as his wife left, Kang Dae-oh said with a meaningful smile.
“You said you were curious about what made Dad interested in coffee, right?”
“Yes.”
“That trigger just came and went.”
Kang Yera and Kang Yebin looked at each other.
“No way.”
“Mom was the trigger?”
Kang Dae-oh slowly nodded.
For Kang Dae-oh, Min Seung-yeon was the one who gave him the courage to do what he loved.
She was also the person who became the trigger for him to create this ‘favorite thing’.
“I used to work part-time at a neighborhood cafe. It was quite small, and the owner often had urgent matters back then, so they were frequently away. Whenever that happened, I would personally make coffee for the customers.”
The recipe itself had already been passed down by the owner, so there wasn’t much difficulty.
Then one day.
Kang Dae-oh encountered Min Seung-yeon as a customer for the first time.
He also remembered exactly the drink she ordered from him back then.
“Vanilla Americano. Medium size, warm.”
That’s when Kang Dae-oh made a mistake for the first time.
He had put in more vanilla syrup than the owner’s recipe instructed.
“At that time, I somehow managed to adjust the espresso ratio well enough to prevent it from being too sweet. But it tasted different from usual. So I thought, ‘Ah, I’m definitely going to get a complaint.’ Because your mom was a regular at that cafe back then.”
She couldn’t have not known the taste of the original Vanilla Americano.
Nevertheless, Min Seung-yeon didn’t say anything special to Kang Dae-oh.
Instead, she said this:
“She said thank you for letting her experience a special taste, different from the usual, in a familiar place. That’s when I first realized it. That this coffee I made could be a special and warm cup for someone else.”
After realizing that was the charm of coffee, Kang Dae-oh embarked on a lifelong journey dedicated solely to coffee.
After explaining the trigger for their mother and father’s meeting, which he hadn’t revealed until now.
Kang Dae-oh smiled awkwardly.
“It wasn’t very interesting, was it? It wasn’t some incredibly special event. I’m not sure if something like this will help with acting.”
Kang Yebin shook her head.
“For acting, maybe not. But…”
Kang Yebin put down her notebook and said this:
“It was very helpful to learn more about Mom and Dad.”
“Me too!”
Kang Yera also raised her voice, revealing that she felt the same way.
Perhaps Kang Dae-oh had intentionally told this story because he wanted to hear such a response from his daughters.
He thought to himself.
