Episode 57. Filial Piety (1)
Around 3:30 PM, after finishing lunch, Kang Dae-oh was waiting for a special guest to arrive.
As soon as the door opened, Kang Dae-oh’s chief secretary announced the guests’ arrival.
“CEO. Media Today just contacted us, saying they’ve parked their car in the company parking lot and are on their way up.”
“Really? They’re earlier than I expected.”
He had originally been told they would arrive around 4 PM.
They had arrived at the company about 30 minutes early.
Fortunately, Kang Dae-oh had been slowly preparing for the interview with them for the past 30 minutes, so he wasn’t overly flustered.
A short while later.
The reporters from Media Today exchanged brief greetings with Kang Dae-oh.
“Thank you very much for readily agreeing to our interview request, CEO.”
“You’re welcome. I’m just an ordinary person, so it’s an honor that you’ll be featuring my interview in a special article.”
“Oh my. What are you talking about, CEO? You’re the most successful person in the Korean food service industry these days. Aren’t you being too humble?”
At the reporter’s words, Kang Dae-oh gave an awkward smile.
Because it wasn’t wrong.
Kang Dae-oh’s reputation, having successfully launched the Amare brand in various parts of the world, including Japan, China, Southeast Asia, as well as the United States and Europe, was growing day by day.
Moreover, he had been consistently active in broadcasting, so there was hardly anyone who didn’t know Kang Dae-oh anymore.
While cameras and lighting equipment were being set up, the reporter continued to talk to Kang Dae-oh to break the ice.
“It seems like you’ve become more famous than your daughters these days?”
“I still have a long way to go. I became famous thanks to Amare, but my daughters became famous through their own abilities, their own faces, and their own names. The public will probably recognize my daughters before me.”
This time, it wasn’t a humble remark, but words that came from the heart.
The reporter seemed to agree with Kang Dae-oh’s words, nodding continuously.
While they were talking for a moment, a staff member informed the reporters that the filming preparations were complete.
One reporter finished preparing to transcribe Kang Dae-oh’s words directly into her laptop.
The reporter who had been conversing with Kang Dae-oh took on the role of asking him questions verbally and listening to his answers.
“Then, let’s start with the first question. You’re successfully leading businesses in various parts of the world. Could you briefly tell us what your secret is?”
“I believe the secret is ‘localization.’ No matter how delicious the coffee is, if you open a store by completely excluding the culture and customs of that country and simply replicating what we did in our country, customers won’t come. So, I first researched and studied how to create a cafe that caters to the tastes of the people in that country.”
“Even studying… It must have taken a very long time.”
“I suppose so. Thanks to this, I accumulated a lot of airline miles. Haha.”
Perhaps because he had been in broadcasting for a long time, Kang Dae-oh showed composure, even joking, despite sitting in front of the camera, without being intimidated.
Perhaps because he was in front of Kang Dae-oh, the reporter seemed more nervous.
“Then, are you completely engrossed in work these days?”
“Yes. It seems mostly so. Originally, my small hobby was finding good cafes and drinking coffee. But since my hobby became my work, I’ve been wondering if I should find another hobby…”
Because no matter how much you love something, once the goal of ‘achieving results’ arises, you can no longer enjoy it as freely as before.
Still, he genuinely liked coffee and cafes.
But it didn’t seem bad to start looking for new leisure activities.
“Your wife seems very outgoing. How about finding a new hobby together?”
“That wouldn’t be a bad idea. My only concern is whether I can keep up with my wife’s stamina.”
“Oh my. Why?”
“I used to exercise more than my wife, but these days, my wife is working out even harder than me to manage her figure. My personal trainer even tells me, ‘CEO, you need to step up your game. If you let your guard down, your wife will catch up to you,’ it’s become his catchphrase these days.”
While Kang Dae-oh was running his business normally, Min Seung-yeon, in addition to her own business, also worked as a model, so she had no choice but to put even more effort into managing her figure.
Thanks to that, she still maintained her youthful beauty.
But sometimes, Kang Dae-oh would be overwhelmed by his wife’s energy and couldn’t move.
It was the same when Kang Dae-oh learned camping by following Kang Yeyoung.
The couple used to go on camping trips frequently.
Later, Min Seung-yeon became even more engrossed in camping than Kang Dae-oh.
She would suggest going hiking whenever she had a spare moment, and eventually, Kang Dae-oh was the first to wave the white flag.
The reporter chuckled, “Ho ho,” and honestly shared her thoughts.
“Listening to your story reminds me of my parents.”
“My wife and I are just a normal couple when we’re at home.”
The reporter found this human side of the Kang Dae-oh couple rather appealing.
She wondered if this might be the secret to Kang Dae-oh receiving so much attention and love from people.
After finishing the interview filming, Kang Dae-oh did some additional work, then headed home according to his leaving time.
Upon arriving home, he saw Min Seung-yeon with her laptop open, anxiously checking the clock.
“Honey, what are you doing?”
“Huh? Oh… I forgot today was the day for concert ticket sales. So I was getting ready.”
“Concert?”
“Song Hye-yeon’s concert is in July.”
“Ah.”
Even before they got married, Min Seung-yeon had liked a singer named Song Hye-yeon.
She was a singer from a 2nd generation idol group, and now, as a solo artist, she was considered a legendary singer in Korea, highly respected by all other singers.
Kang Dae-oh recalled Min Seung-yeon’s great joy when Kang Yera told her that she had met Song Hye-yeon several times.
However, there was one problem.
“Can you do the ticketing, honey?”
“I’ve practiced, at least. But I’m not confident.”
“What about the kids? The kids are better at ticketing than us.”
Even though they were also celebrities, the daughters sometimes intentionally bought tickets to attend their acquaintances’ concerts.
Perhaps because they had all done some ticketing in their younger days, they showed exceptional ability in such things.
Min Seung-yeon wanted to ask her daughters for help, but…
“The kids all have schedules, so they’re not home.”
“No wonder. I thought the house was too quiet.”
Normally, when their dad came home, they would at least show their faces.
But today, it was unusually quiet.
He had started to wonder if the kids were out for work, and through Min Seung-yeon, Kang Dae-oh learned that his guess was correct.
“Should I help too?”
Min Seung-yeon, as if she had been waiting for Kang Dae-oh to say this, immediately replied, “Yes!” without hesitation.
Kang Dae-oh let out a small chuckle, “Pshh,” at his wife’s honest and cute reaction.
“Alright. I’ll go change and come back, so wait a moment. But what time is the ticketing?”
“7 o’clock.”
“I guess I’ll have to change later.”
It was currently 6:50 PM.
Logging into the ticketing site in advance, completing identity verification, and installing any potential security programs beforehand – 10 minutes wasn’t enough time to set all these up.
Especially since Song Hye-yeon’s concert was notorious for selling out all tickets within two minutes of sales starting.
It was as difficult as buying tickets for a nationally famous trot singer’s concert, so thorough preparation was necessary.
Kang Dae-oh brought his laptop from his study and took a seat opposite his wife.
6:58 PM.
6:59 PM.
59 minutes 30 seconds. 40 seconds. 50 seconds.
9, 8, 7, 6…
“Honey, it’s open!”
With Min Seung-yeon’s shout, Kang Dae-oh clicked his mouse diligently.
However, the reservation page seemed to have crashed, as only a message saying it couldn’t be accessed appeared.
Even pressing refresh only showed a waiting number. It seemed a long way off from reaching the date and seat selection menu.
‘This won’t work.’
Kang Dae-oh cleanly decided to wave the white flag.
“How did you do, honey?”
“……”
Just by looking at his wife’s crestfallen expression, Kang Dae-oh immediately knew what the outcome was.
‘She failed.’
Kang Dae-oh patted her back, comforting her.
“It’s okay. There will be another chance later.”
“……Will there be?”
“Probably?”
Kang Dae-oh wasn’t an executive at Song Hye-yeon’s agency. So, he couldn’t actually be certain.
Still, there might be another opportunity at the next concert.
In that case, if they mobilized their daughters, the chances of successful ticketing would increase even further.
Around 8:30 PM.
Kang Yeyoung, who had returned from filming, was the first of the daughters to come home, looking tired.
“I’m home.”
“Welcome home, dear. You worked hard.”
Kang Dae-oh greeted her in the living room.
Kang Yeyoung looked around and tilted her head.
“Unnies said they’re still on set… Where’s Mom?”
Kang Dae-oh shrugged once and pointed towards the couple’s bedroom.
“Your mom’s not in a good mood today, so just leave her be.”
“Why? Did you two fight?”
“No. Well, you see…”
Kang Dae-oh recounted in detail the events that had occurred while Kang Yeyoung was away.
Only then did Kang Yeyoung learn the whole story, and she chuckled, “Hehehe,” saying,
“Anyway. Mom is really cute.”
“I know.”
Kang Dae-oh thought, ‘Because Mom is cute, perhaps her daughters were born cute too?’
“If something like that happens, you should have told me or unnies in advance.”
“I thought you girls were too busy with work and wouldn’t be able to do the ticketing, so I deliberately didn’t contact you.”
“Oh, it’s not about ticketing, Dad.”
Kang Yeyoung brought up someone’s name on her call log.
The moment he saw the screen, Kang Dae-oh doubted his eyes.
Because it was written on the screen like this:
[Song Hye-yeon sunbaenim]
“No way. Are you acquainted with Song Hye-yeon?”
“Yes. When we filmed together before, Hye-yeon sunbaenim said she was a subscriber to my channel. So we exchanged numbers. If you want, I can talk to sunbaenim and try to get tickets.”
“You can do that?”
“Actually, sunbaenim told me to let her know if I ever needed concert tickets. There won’t be any problem.”
Kang Dae-oh nodded, saying it was a good thing.
“Alright. Then I’ll go tell your mom that Yeyoung will contact her and get the tickets.”
The moment Kang Dae-oh was about to stand up.
Kang Yeyoung quickly stopped her dad.
“Dad! Wait a moment! Stop! Don’t tell Mom that!”
“Don’t tell her? Why?”
A meaningful smile spread across Kang Yeyoung’s lips.
“It’s for your sake, Dad.”
