Episode 16. The Best School Festival Ever (4)
As Kang Dae-oh moved inside the auditorium with his two daughters, Min Seung-yeon, who had arrived early and saved seats, raised her hand to signal her location.
“Honey! Over here!”
Perhaps it was worth coming early, as the seats Min Seung-yeon had saved offered a very good view of the stage.
Nearby, the parents who had visited Kang Dae-oh’s cafe with Min Seung-yeon last time were visible.
“Oh my! Yera’s father is here!”
“Hello.”
Kang Dae-oh exchanged greetings with the other children’s mothers and fathers.
In the case of mothers, since they primarily handle childcare, they tend to socialize frequently among themselves.
However, for fathers, it’s difficult to meet each other’s faces unless there’s a big event like a school festival.
Perhaps because of this, unlike the mothers, the fathers’ greetings were filled with awkwardness and unfamiliarity.
The couple settled down amicably, with Kang Yebin on Kang Dae-oh’s lap and Kang Yeyoung on Min Seung-yeon’s lap.
Kang Dae-oh asked Min Seung-yeon.
“How many turns until Yera’s?”
“Huh? What? I can’t hear you well!”
Even though they were close enough to touch noses, the interior was so chaotic that her voice couldn’t be heard.
Kang Dae-oh raised his voice as much as he could.
“Yera, what number turn is it―!”
“Oh, the order? Fourth! That’s when the Sunflower Class performs!”
“Got it!”
Kang Dae-oh briefly sat Kang Yebin on a chair, then stood up and began setting up the camera he had brought.
For today, Kang Dae-oh had spent a lot of money to buy a full set of filming equipment.
He didn’t know the model name, but he set up the camera his youngest daughter had told him to buy unconditionally because it was good, on a tripod.
As Kang Yeyoung had advised, saying it could be stably set up even in a small space, it was easy and quick to install.
However, there was one problem.
“Is this about right?”
It was good that he had bought an expensive camera, but…
Kang Dae-oh didn’t have the skill to handle it proficiently.
However, there was no need to worry.
This was because a veteran, highly skilled in filming, was with him.
“Appa, the left button!”
Kang Yeyoung began real-time coaching.
In any case, the people around them were also busy preparing to film their own children, just like Kang Dae-oh, so they didn’t notice Kang Yeyoung giving instructions.
Thanks to this, Kang Yeyoung freely advised her appa.
The roughly set tripod position was also re-adjusted according to Kang Yeyoung’s insistence.
To check the camera angle, Kang Dae-oh lifted Kang Yeyoung.
Then, the child’s mother sitting next to Min Seung-yeon chuckled and said.
“It seems Yeyoung is very interested in cameras?”
“Oh, yes. She kept pestering, so her appa is just showing it to her for a moment.”
Min Seung-yeon skillfully overcame the situation with a lie.
This was thanks to her now being quite accustomed to such situations, just like Kang Dae-oh.
Meanwhile, the first team appeared.
“It seems the Mugunghwa Class prepared a short play?”
At the word “play,” a peculiar glint began to appear in Kang Yebin’s eyes.
She suddenly began watching the stage while maintaining an arrogant(?) posture, arms crossed and legs crossed.
At that sight, Kang Dae-oh thought to himself.
‘The switch is on again.’
Kang Yera is like that, but Kang Yebin is also a child who is serious about the stage.
Seeing her changed second unnie, Kang Yeyoung shook her head as if she had expected this.
A short while later, the Mugunghwa Class’s play began.
A girl, presumed to be playing the role of the female lead, walked to the center of the stage and said.
“Prince. Prince. Where are you~?”
Kang Yebin was about to shout “Cut!” for a moment, but Kang Dae-oh noticed beforehand and quickly covered his second daughter’s mouth with a thump!.
Thanks to that, no unfortunate incident occurred.
Kang Yebin seemed to realize belatedly that she had been too immersed, and clicked her tongue briefly.
Still, watching the clumsy acting of the children, her anxiety, nervousness, and irritation did not easily subside.
“Haa… Watching that child playing the female lead, I feel like my insides are going to burst.”
Kang Dae-oh felt as if he wasn’t holding his second daughter, but a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment.
In fact, it almost exploded once earlier.
Kang Yeyoung poked her unnie and said.
“It’s a kids’ school festival. Why are you getting mad over this?”
“Even if it’s a school festival, the stage is still a stage.”
“Unnie, you have no right to get mad when Yera unnie is always over-immersed.”
Because Kang Yebin was exactly the same as Kang Yera.
Perhaps thanks to his youngest daughter earnestly saying what Kang Dae-oh wanted to say, he felt a bit relieved.
Just like during the Mugunghwa Class’s first performance, Kang Yebin maintained an uncomfortable gaze whenever a class that chose ‘play’ appeared.
Of course, she knew rationally.
As Kang Yeyoung had said, it was just a children’s stage.
But instinctively, her attention kept going to the actors’ performances.
This was because she, too, was serious about the stage.
After the performances of other classes’ children had finished.
Finally, it was the turn of the Sunflower Class, to which Kang Yera belonged.
“The Sunflower Class has prepared a choir performance. Everyone, please give the children a big round of applause and support!”
The director encouraged the audience’s response.
Then, the parents cheered so loudly that it seemed as if the narrow auditorium would burst.
It was an effect greater than what the director had asked for.
Kang Yebin muttered to herself as she looked at the heated audience seats.
“It feels like the excitement is hotter than most idol concerts…”
It couldn’t be helped.
Because the people on stage were not their favorite idols, but their very own children.
For the sake of their children, this level of cheering was a piece of cake for parents.
The members of the Sunflower Class entered the stage in orderly rows.
Some parents tilted their heads at the Sunflower Class’s disciplined movements.
“It seems like the Sunflower Class even practiced their movements for entering the stage separately? It’s amazing how perfectly synchronized their walking is.”
Kang Dae-oh suddenly recalled what Kang Yera had said at home.
Just as first impressions hold a very important weight in human interactions.
The stage also has a very important entrance scene, which is the first thing presented to the audience.
That’s why Kang Yera had said she continuously and proactively led the children in practicing how best to make their entrance.
‘Amazing, our eldest daughter.’
Even Kang Dae-oh, a military reservist, could clearly feel how well-disciplined it was.
A short while later.
Kang Yera and the Sunflower Class’s kindergarten teacher appeared next, bowing together in greeting.
Kang Yera, holding a microphone, recited an opening remark to the parents.
“Before we begin our performance, I stand here to express my sincere gratitude to all the mothers and fathers who have taken time out of their busy schedules to come and watch our school festival.”
The parents couldn’t help but be amazed by Kang Yera’s brilliant remarks.
“Oh my, goodness. Who is that child?”
“Why, she’s the child who appeared on the news during the kids’ cafe fire incident last time!”
“Aha! No wonder. I thought she spoke so clearly and well. So it was that child.”
“I don’t know how that baby speaks so maturely and calmly. She’s definitely made for the stage.”
They saw correctly.
The other children were clumsy themselves, as it was their first time singing, dancing, and performing in front of so many people.
But Kang Yera, being “experienced(?),” showed a different level of proficiency.
The parents felt a familiarity as if they weren’t just watching a school festival, but participating in an event recreation.
To that extent, Kang Yera’s remarks flowed as naturally as water.
“Our diligently prepared performance is about to begin, so please give us lots of applause and cheers!”
Kang Yera, who elicited a more enthusiastic response than the director.
The Sunflower Class’s teacher sat at the piano and began to play.
It was definitely a familiar children’s song, but…
‘The melody is a bit different?’
Kang Dae-oh tilted his head.
Then Kang Yeyoung stepped forward to answer her appa’s curiosity.
“She arranged it, I think.”
“Arranged? Are you talking about oranges?”
“No, not that.”
Kang Yebin translated for the frustrated Kang Yeyoung.
“She’s talking about arrangement (re-arrangement).”
“Ah, like a remix.”
“Yes, exactly.”
As expected of Kang Yera. It was a stage she was leading, so she couldn’t just decorate it ordinarily.
Kang Yera’s goal was to present the best performance at the school festival.
And to upload the video on YouTube and get at least 500,000 views or more.
To do that, she naturally had to present a performance of suitable quality.
Frogs go croak croak
Cats go meow meow
We go la la la
Sing a song (sing a song)
Let’s singing
What should I say?
Min Seung-yeon opened her mouth on behalf of Kang Dae-oh, who had so much he wanted to say.
“It has a bit of a K-pop feel, doesn’t it?”
“I was just about to say that too.”
It seemed that the arranged song also looked like Kang Yera’s work.
There was even a bit of choreography included.
Watching this, Kang Dae-oh thought to himself.
‘If we tell our daughter she can’t debut as a singer, the house will probably be turned upside down.’
If they forced a child who was so serious about the stage to give up the path of a singer, they couldn’t guarantee what would happen.
After the school festival.
The parents gathered briefly to say goodbye and share their short impressions of the performances they saw today.
Naturally, the performance that received the most positive response and support was the Sunflower Class’s choir.
“The Sunflower Class, the quality was incredible, wasn’t it?”
“Next year, I should send my son to the Sunflower Class too.”
“Our child also likes to sing. It seems like they’d fit in well if they went to the Sunflower Class?”
The parents’ ambitions were already beginning to boil.
But they didn’t know yet.
The reason the Sunflower Class was able to present such a high-quality performance was…
‘Thanks to our daughter.’
Kang Dae-oh stroked the head of his eldest daughter, who had finally joined them after finishing her school festival performance.
Then Kang Yera tilted her head and looked up at her appa.
“Why, Appa?”
“Just because. I’m proud of my daughter.”
Thanks to having a versatile daughter, Kang Dae-oh’s shoulders remained strong all day today.
Three weeks later.
Lee Seojun, who had arrived at the cafe for work, urgently looked for Kang Dae-oh.
“Boss! Did you see the video?”
“What video?”
“You know, the school festival video that Yera’s kindergarten uploaded! It went viral with views.”
“Oh, really?”
Kang Dae-oh also knew that the video had been uploaded.
However, he hadn’t been able to check it in real-time because the cafe was too busy.
“Let’s see. Shall I check it out for the first time in a while?”
As soon as he entered the Sunshine Kindergarten’s YouTube channel, there was a video that appeared first.
The Sunflower Class choir video.
The number of views was a whopping…
“650,000…”
Kang Dae-oh had half-jokingly thought it should get over 500,000 views.
He never imagined it would exceed the target.
‘Is this what happens when a former idol and a top influencer team up? This is a piece of cake.’
The abilities his daughters possessed were almost a little scary.
