Episode 27. Middle Schooler (1)
Kang Dae-oh, who had spent several seasons, listened to the song from the radio flowing from the car audio on his way to work.
—Next up is a requested song. There’s a young idol singer who made a comeback with her third album last week and is receiving a lot of attention, isn’t there? This is Yera’s song. ‘Love Letter.’ Let’s listen together.
The new song, ‘Love Letter,’ recently released by Kang Yera, made Kang Dae-oh’s ears happy, matching the DJ’s introduction.
Kang Yera, who had entered her third year since starting her full-fledged singing career, had released a total of three mini-albums so far, steadily expanding her recognition as a singer.
Although there were still many restrictions on her broadcasting activities because she was so young, due to the title of ‘elementary school student.’
Next year, those restrictions were expected to be somewhat lifted.
‘It’s already time for Yera to enter middle school.’
Of course, she was already a grown adult on the inside even before she was born, but her appearance wasn’t.
It felt like just yesterday when he was changing Kang Yera’s diapers.
Thinking that she was already old enough to wear a school uniform, an emotion difficult to express in words welled up in Kang Dae-oh.
‘Kids really grow up fast.’
He had already heard and known this from his married senior colleagues.
But hearing it in words and experiencing it himself were distinctly different.
His daughters, growing day by day.
The more they grew, the more the children took a step closer to their dreams.
‘I need to work hard too.’
Thinking of his growing daughters, Kang Dae-oh burned with fighting spirit for his work today as well.
Just a few minutes ago, Kang Dae-oh had thought, ‘I need to work hard.’
But the effect didn’t last as long as he expected.
‘Ah, I don’t want to work.’
The thought of not wanting to work was the same whether he worked as an office worker or became the CEO of a company.
However, he couldn’t just abandon his work and leave as soon as he arrived at the office in the morning.
‘I have to do what I have to do.’
To make a living, he had to work even if he didn’t want to.
This was the fate of a head of household.
As he was tackling the piled-up approval documents one by one.
Knock knock.
Someone knocked on Kang Dae-oh’s office door.
“Yes.”
“Excuse me.”
An office employee came to Kang Dae-oh and spoke.
“CEO-nim. Your friend has arrived.”
If it was a friend who came to see Kang Dae-oh, there was only one person.
Oh Myung-woon. He waved his hand and said.
“CEO Kang Dae-oh. What are you doing?”
“What am I doing? You can see, can’t you?”
Kang Dae-oh pointed to the numerous papers piled up like a tower next to his desk.
At that sight, Oh Myung-woon shuddered.
“Ugh. Just looking at it makes my head spin. Rather than sitting still like you, saying ‘black is writing, white is paper,’ I’d rather do physical labor.”
“I thought the same thing at first. But once you do it, you get used to it.”
Since Oh Myung-woon was here, Kang Dae-oh decided to take a short break.
Before that.
“Is Executive Director Yoo in the office?”
“Executive Director? No, I haven’t seen him?”
“Really? Good. Then let’s talk outside.”
“Do we need the Executive Director’s permission to go out?”
“No. I just feel self-conscious.”
Oh Myung-woon let out a laugh with an expression of disbelief at Kang Dae-oh’s behavior.
“It reminds me of when we secretly went out to play in middle school, trying to avoid the teacher’s eyes.”
“You’re right.”
His daughter was entering middle school this time.
The dad was still living with a middle schooler’s feeling.
Since he had to keep running into executives and employees if he stayed in the store, Kang Dae-oh decided to temporarily escape (?) to Oh Myung-woon’s shop.
In the middle, Lee Seo-jun, who was taking a breather outside the store, spotted Kang Dae-oh.
“CEO-nim! Where are you going?”
Kang Dae-oh brought his index finger to his lips, making a ‘Shhh!’ gesture.
“I’m going to Myung-woon’s hair salon and will be back, so if it’s not urgent, pretend you don’t know.”
“I think Executive Director will look for you.”
“In that case, just say you don’t know where I went.”
This also meant that Kang Dae-oh did not consider Executive Director Yoo looking for him an urgent matter.
Lee Seo-jun chuckled at Kang Dae-oh’s behavior and replied that he understood.
“But don’t run away for too long.”
“I know. I’ll be back in about… 30 minutes.”
That much was enough.
Having successfully reached an agreement with Lee Seo-jun and safely crossed over to Oh Myung-woon’s shop, Kang Dae-oh couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Were there always this many customers at this time?”
All the seats were completely full.
The number of hair stylists working at Oh Myung-woon’s shop had also increased from one to several.
There was a clear reason why the number of customers in the shop had significantly increased.
“This is all thanks to Yera. Yera spread the word everywhere, so the number of reserved customers has increased a lot. And also…”
The moment Oh Myung-woon was about to continue speaking.
The automatic door opened, and a familiar customer visited the shop.
“Oh, director-nim! Hello. I was worried you might not be here, but you are! How fortunate.”
Even though Kang Dae-oh had never met her, he knew this customer well.
Yoon Mi-yeon. A young woman, also active as a singer like Kang Yera, handed something to Oh Myung-woon.
“I didn’t come for my hair today. I just stopped by to give you this as a gift.”
“Oh, you really didn’t have to…”
“No, not at all. I’m so glad that you styled my hair so beautifully for the fan meeting last time. My fans also complimented me a lot, saying it suited me well. This is all thanks to you, director-nim.”
In front of the rapid-fire compliments, Oh Myung-woon’s lips naturally curved upwards.
“If you have a style you want, please stop by anytime.”
“I’m going to be a regular here from now on. I should thank Yera. She introduced me to such a good shop. But the person next to you looks very familiar…”
Oh Myung-woon pointed to Kang Dae-oh and said.
“This is Kang Dae-oh, Yera’s dad. And for your information, Dae-oh and I went to the same middle school and high school; we’re friends.”
“Oh my! So you’re Yera’s father! No wonder. I thought you looked familiar… I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize you right away.”
Kang Dae-oh shook his head and said it was fine.
This was because while many people recognized him, many others didn’t.
Kang Dae-oh wasn’t a celebrity. He thought it was normal for people not to know him, so he wasn’t particularly offended by this.
“I’ll make sure to tell Yera that I met her senior at the hair salon.”
“Thank you, father-nim. I hope we can meet again later.”
“Amare’s main branch is right next door, so after you get your hair styled by Myung-woon, please feel free to tell me anytime you want coffee. I’m usually in the building next door.”
“Yes, I’ll definitely do that!”
As Yoon Mi-yeon left the shop, Oh Myung-woon grinned and said.
“Since our shops are next to each other, this kind of synergy happens.”
“You’re right. More importantly, do a lot of celebrities come here for their hair?”
“Yes. When it gets the title of ‘hair salon frequently visited by celebrities,’ the promotional effect is really something. If it weren’t for Yera, we’d just be swatting flies at this time. Please tell Yera for me too. Thank her.”
“Alright.”
The messages he had to deliver to his eldest daughter were steadily increasing.
Returning home, Kang Dae-oh tilted his head at his daughters’ contrasting expressions.
Kang Yera had a somewhat sulky face, while her younger sisters were reacting with disbelief.
“What happened?”
He was curious about what anecdote had occurred while he was away from home.
Kang Yebin turned her head towards her older sister and said.
“Why don’t you tell him yourself?”
“Hmph. Dad will definitely take my side, won’t he?”
“Well, I don’t know about that.”
After listening to his daughters’ conversation, Kang Dae-oh’s curiosity deepened.
Postponing changing his clothes, Kang Dae-oh walked towards the living room where his daughters were gathered.
As he settled onto the sofa, Kang Yera said, as if asking him to listen carefully.
“I’m planning to prepare a new album next time.”
“Already? You released a new song last week.”
“This time, it’s a full album. So I’m going to put my full effort into preparing it.”
“Ah-ha.”
No wonder. This was why Kang Yera’s face was full of enthusiasm.
“The problem is the concept. I’m thinking of going in a completely different direction from the concepts I’ve shown so far. Should I call it an image change?”
“In what way?”
When Kang Dae-oh asked, Kang Yera curled up one corner of her mouth as if she had been waiting for the question.
Then, she suddenly placed one hand on her chest and said:
“A sexy concept.”
“……”
As soon as the word ‘sexy’ came out, Kang Yebin and Kang Yeyoung burst into laughter again.
“Unnie! I’m dying, I’m dying… Ahahahaha!!!”
Kang Yeyoung, clutching her stomach and rolling on the floor, pleaded for mercy.
Though not as much as Kang Yeyoung, Kang Yebin also reacted as if she had never laughed so hard before.
Perhaps displeased with her sisters’ reactions, Kang Yera raised her eyes sharply and warned the two of them.
“I told you not to laugh, didn’t I?”
However, Kang Yebin and Kang Yeyoung argued back, saying how could they possibly hold it in.
“Someone who would never suit ‘sexy’ is preparing an album with a sexy concept. How can we not laugh at that?”
“Right, right.”
“These guys, really…”
Perhaps thinking that 2 against 1 wouldn’t work, Kang Yera asked her dad for help.
“What do you think, Dad? Huh?”
“Hmm…”
A difficult question had been posed.
In fact, Kang Dae-oh shared the same opinion as Kang Yebin and Kang Yeyoung.
How could his eldest daughter, who still looked like a baby, possibly suit the word ‘sexy’?
So, how should he answer? Kang Dae-oh couldn’t help but be lost in thought.
But he couldn’t just not answer when a question was asked.
After a long deliberation.
Kang Dae-oh forced his heavy lips open.
“I think… it would suit you well. But perhaps it’s still too early. When you become an adult, I think it will suit you well then. That’s what Dad thinks.”
Kang Yera puffed out her chest and shouted to her sisters in a ‘See!’ tone.
“Dad says it’ll suit me well.”
“But in the end, isn’t it ‘doesn’t suit you now’?”
At Kang Yeyoung’s sharp remark, Kang Yera instantly fell silent.
Before Kang Yera could get hurt, Kang Dae-oh quickly stepped in to mediate.
“Having a promising future isn’t a bad thing. Right, Yebin?”
He urgently called for SOS from his second daughter.
Kang Yebin, sighing, decided to help reluctantly because it was her dad’s request.
“Dad’s right.”
“See? So Yera, don’t be too gloomy. Okay?”
Perhaps having regained some energy, Kang Yera nodded her head.
As expected.
Even though they were about to enter middle school, his daughters were still babies to Kang Dae-oh.
