Episode 12. The Third Princess (1)
Thanks to the influx of customers at the cafe, Kang Dae-oh began to have some financial breathing room.
Because of that, a good thing happened recently.
“Seo-jun-ah. I’ll be back in a bit, I’m just going to ‘there’ for a moment.”
At the word ‘there’, Lee Seo-jun immediately understood where Kang Dae-oh was referring to.
“Are you going again today?”
“Yeah. I have to go and check it myself. Lately, interior design scams and such are rampant.”
The fact that South Korea was called a ‘fraud republic’ also played a part.
Lee Seo-jun nodded and replied.
“Understood. Have a good trip, boss.”
“Alright. Keep up the hard work. I’ll be back soon, so just bear with it a little longer.”
“It’s a time when not many people gather. You don’t have to worry too much about me.”
“Thanks.”
Kang Dae-oh patted Lee Seo-jun’s shoulder once.
The more he saw Lee Seo-jun, the more a sense of pride swelled up, thinking he had hired a great part-timer.
The place Kang Dae-oh headed to after leaving the store was…
…the building right next door, where construction was in full swing.
“Good work!”
When Kang Dae-oh visited the construction site with both hands full of drinks, the workers dedicated to the interior construction greeted him with bright smiles.
“Boss, you’re here again today?”
“The store is right next door. I have to stop by once in a while. Drink these while you work.”
“Thank you, boss.”
While handing out drinks to the workers, Kang Dae-oh quickly scanned the interior.
This was the new store space that Kang Dae-oh was scheduled to open next month.
Thanks to his two daughters’ help, it was great that customers kept flocking in.
However, since the store itself was too small, there was a limit to its capacity.
There was even a waiting line, which was truly rare to see at a neighborhood cafe.
Now was the time to make a decision.
So, Kang Dae-oh decided to expand and relocate the store this time.
He planned to move to a space exactly twice as large as the current store.
Thanks to this, Kang Dae-oh was immersed in happy 고민 (worry/dilemma) every day, wondering how to decorate the new store so it would be rumored to be well-decorated.
‘I should hang a photo taken with my daughters on that wall later.’
He wanted to get autographs from his two daughters, who would soon become famous, and display them in the most visible spot.
In addition, he planned to place various interior decor items that fully reflected Kang Dae-oh’s taste throughout the space.
While he was busy looking around the store.
A familiar face came to find Kang Dae-oh.
“Oh, you were really here.”
“Myung-woon-i?”
Oh Myung-woon, his best friend, came to find Kang Dae-oh.
“How did you know I was here?”
Oh Myung-woon usually came to find Kang Dae-oh at the cafe he was currently running.
But seeing that he came to the construction site instead of the cafe today, Kang Dae-oh wondered if he had perhaps seen him here while passing by.
However, the answer Oh Myung-woon gave was different.
“I already went to the cafe. Seo-jun told me you were here.”
“Ah, really?”
“Didn’t you come here yesterday and the day before yesterday too? Stop coming so much, you rascal.”
“No, it’s because I’m worried.”
Oh Myung-woon seemed to roughly understand why Kang Dae-oh was saying this.
“This is your first time expanding and relocating, right?”
“Yeah. Since I started the cafe after quitting my job, I’ve only been doing business at the current store.”
It wasn’t like he was moving to a cheaper place due to financial difficulties. Since he was moving for a good reason, he naturally wanted to put even more effort into the opening preparations.
Oh Myung-woon nodded repeatedly with an expression that fully understood Kang Dae-oh’s feelings.
“Yeah. This is an important turning point for self-employed people. I felt the same way when I first relocated my hair salon.”
Perhaps because he was experienced, unlike when he first nagged Kang Dae-oh, Oh Myung-woon now expressed deep empathy.
“Then you must be busy these days, right? You also have to take Yebin to the filming set for her drama appearance.”
“Ah, that finished last week.”
“Already?”
“Yeah. She was contracted to appear only until episode 3.”
Since it was filming a flashback scene of the female lead’s childhood, her appearance frequency wasn’t high.
Even if Director Kim had a good impression of Kang Yebin, he, having a child actor trauma, didn’t initially allocate a large role to Kang Yebin.
Because that was literally a gamble.
Instead.
“He said that if there’s another chance to cast Yebin next time, he’ll give her a bigger role.”
“It seems Yebin properly proved her acting skills with this filming. If the director said that, he must have seen her very favorably.”
“Indeed.”
The more Oh Myung-woon saw the activities of his two nieces, Kang Yera and Kang Yebin, the more amazing it was.
“Neither you nor your wife are particularly good at acting or singing, are you? But it’s strange, isn’t it…?”
Since it was something he heard so often among his friends, Kang Dae-oh now tended to react nonchalantly.
“Well, those cases happen.”
“I see. So, is Yebin at home now?”
“No, she’s going to nursery school starting tomorrow.”
“Yera said she goes to kindergarten. Your wife will be a bit more comfortable now.”
“I’m not sure, but wouldn’t it be compared to when the kids were infants?”
Because Min Seung-yeon finally had free time.
Oh Myung-woon smiled meaningfully.
“But… what if you have a third child?”
“……”
At the mention of a third child, Kang Dae-oh’s expression was tinged with tension.
It seemed not to be the reaction Oh Myung-woon had expected, as the person who brought it up looked even more flustered.
“You, surely you’re not thinking of having a third child, are you?”
“Well, no…”
Kang Yera, Kang Yebin, and even the youngest daughter. In the timeline before they regressed, they said they were three sisters, not two.
This was something Kang Yera and Kang Yebin both said in common.
Because of this, Kang Dae-oh couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.
Up to the second child was okay, but Kang Dae-oh hadn’t considered a third.
Normally, that would be the case.
But having heard his two daughters’ words…
“I guess I have to… have a third child?”
He couldn’t help but think this way.
A long exclamation flowed from Oh Myung-woon’s lips.
“Wow, you’re a true patriot. No, more importantly, did your wife approve? From what I see, I think your wife would object.”
In fact, Min Seung-yeon had already shown a skeptical reaction from the second child.
But if he brought up a third child now, Kang Dae-oh might definitely be kicked out of the house.
She was already telling Kang Dae-oh to ‘tie it up’ (meaning vasectomy or similar).
It was not difficult to deduce what she thought about having a third child just by seeing this reaction.
That’s why Kang Dae-oh had an even bigger headache.
‘I need to think this over.’
The construction for the expanded and relocated store was going well.
But for some reason, his head started to ache.
On days the cafe closed early, Kang Dae-oh usually took responsibility for picking up Kang Yera from kindergarten.
Kang Dae-oh, who had decided to also pick up Kang Yebin and take her home, drove his car towards the nursery school where his second daughter was waiting.
“Yebin-ah, goodbye! Let’s have fun with the teacher again tomorrow, okay?”
“Yes, teacher!”
To Kang Dae-oh, it seemed more like the nursery school teacher was looking forward to playing with Kang Yebin.
As soon as she got into the car, Kang Yebin’s expression completely transformed from that of a child to an adult’s.
“Ha… it’s hard to play with them.”
As expected. It wasn’t Kang Dae-oh’s imagination.
“What did you play with the teacher today?”
“Playing newlywed couple who just got married.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. But the setting was a mess. So I seriously told the teacher that I couldn’t immerse myself with such a simple background setting. At least, there should be concrete settings like how many years they dated before getting married, whether there was family opposition, and what their financial situation was.”
“……”
“Once I set up the scenarios, it finally became a bit more interesting. Of course, it was still incredibly flimsy.”
“Hahaha……”
Kang Dae-oh couldn’t possibly tell what had happened at the nursery school just by listening to his second daughter’s story.
But still.
He also felt relieved that his second daughter was starting to enjoy her nursery school life.
Kang Yera sighed and shook her head.
“If you’re a child, you should just pretend to get along roughly like a child. Did you act like a ‘serious-freak’ at nursery school again?”
“It’s not being a ‘serious-freak’. It’s because I didn’t want to act like an amateur as a professional.”
“What professional. You haven’t even debuted yet.”
“I did debut, you know? What about unnie? Unnie hasn’t debuted either.”
“I released a formal album, you know.”
“It’s not unnie’s album, it’s an animation theme song album, isn’t it?”
The sister battle had begun again.
Kang Dae-oh envied Min Seung-yeon every time this happened.
This was because such arguments didn’t occur in front of Min Seung-yeon.
However, Kang Dae-oh knew all of his two daughters’ secrets, so he had to watch their arguments unfiltered.
“How on earth did the third child mediate this…?”
Kang Dae-oh felt drained just watching these two argue. It was amazing how the young youngest child had managed to act as a mediator for her unnies.
In the midst of that, Kang Yera and Kang Yebin’s ears perked up simultaneously upon hearing the word ‘third child’.
“Appa. Are you going to have Yeyoung?”
“Indeed. I heard that the time she was conceived was around this time.”
At his two daughters’ remarks, Kang Dae-oh recalled his past memories.
“You said the youngest’s name was ‘Kang Yeyoung’, right?”
“Yes.”
“That’s right.”
Thanks to his two daughters’ revelations, Kang Dae-oh already knew the youngest’s gender and name.
That’s one thing, but…
There was something even more incomprehensible.
“Your mom is absolutely against a third child. What on earth did the future me do to have a third child?”
He indirectly asked his two daughters, “Do you happen to know?”
“We don’t know that.”
“Appa didn’t tell us about that.”
“That’s right.”
Indeed. Kang Dae-oh thought he understood why his future self hadn’t told his two daughters how the youngest came to be.
‘He must have been embarrassed.’
Why would he tell his daughters about something that presupposes a marital relationship?
Even if they lived casually as a family, this required a lot of courage.
“Anyway… understood.”
Towards Kang Dae-oh, who nodded briefly, his two daughters in the back seat added words of encouragement, singing them.
“Appa~ Cheer up~”
“You have~ us~”
An awkward laugh escaped Kang Dae-oh’s lips once again.
‘They get along so well in times like these.’
Whether they got along well or not…
It was impossible to tell.
