Episode 28. Studying (1)
Even though Amare was growing in size, Kang Dae-oh had no intention of just staying cooped up in his office handling paperwork.
He believed that as the representative of a company, he should also be thoroughly aware of how practical operations were running.
So, Kang Dae-oh often left the office to visit the main store and personally greet customers.
Additionally, he would listen attentively to customers’ voices.
Working in the store offered many learning opportunities in various ways.
Today, after carefully observing Executive Director Yoo In-seok, Kang Dae-oh was finally able to step into the store.
As soon as Lee Seo-joon saw Kang Dae-oh, he brightened with a welcoming expression.
“Representative-nim. It seems you successfully escaped from the Executive Director.”
“Escaped? Anyone who hears that would think I abandoned my work and really ran away here, you know.”
“Wasn’t that it? I thought that’s what happened until now.”
“This guy, really……”
“It’s a joke, a joke.”
Perhaps it was because they had worked together for a long time.
Thanks to their deep friendship, light jokes like this often came out.
“Choi Se-in-ssi stopped by briefly earlier.”
“Why? Did she have something to tell me?”
“No, not that. It’s her day off today, but she happened to be near here and seemed to want to see your face after a long time. She was very disappointed when she heard you weren’t here.”
Kang Dae-oh tilted his head, seemingly not understanding Lee Seo-joon’s words.
“If it’s her day off, people usually wouldn’t intentionally come to see their boss’s face at work.”
The average mindset of a Korean office worker on their day off is to try and erase everything even remotely related to work from their mind.
Kang Dae-oh was the same when he worked at a company before starting his business.
Knowing the mind of an office worker well, he couldn’t understand Choi Se-in’s actions.
On the other hand, Lee Seo-joon reacted as if he somewhat understood Choi Se-in’s behavior.
“Choi Se-in-ssi benefited a lot from Representative-nim. You introduced her to a place where house prices would go up in the past. Thanks to that, she was able to move to a better place this time. For Choi Se-in-ssi, Representative-nim is like a savior.”
Because she considered Kang Dae-oh not just a company representative but a life savior who rescued her from a crisis, she could even think of coming to see him on her day off.
However, the word “savior” sounded very exaggerated to Kang Dae-oh.
“I don’t think it’s that much……”
All Kang Dae-oh did was convey future real estate information, which his youngest daughter told him, to Choi Se-in. That was all.
But Choi Se-in perceived that information as having been given by Kang Dae-oh.
Kang Dae-oh felt sorry, as if he had intercepted the gratitude that his youngest daughter should have received.
Lee Seo-joon seemed to recall something and brought up a story connected to Choi Se-in’s move.
“She said she’s having a housewarming party after she finishes moving. Representative-nim, you should come too.”
“Should I?”
“Yes. Choi Se-in-ssi would like it too.”
A housewarming party wasn’t too much of a burden.
They decided to discuss the housewarming party again later if Choi Se-in formally invited him.
Just as their conversation concluded at an opportune moment, familiar faces streamed into the store.
“Oh my, hello! Yera’s father!”
“We’re here.”
“With Yera’s mom! Hoho!”
The mothers of his daughters’ friends, whom he had known for a long time, along with Min Seung-yeon, all visited Amare’s main store.
It was a familiar sight, so Kang Dae-oh offered a faint smile and warmly welcomed their visit.
“Welcome. Your order is……”
“Please don’t say Yera’s father will pay. This time, we’ll pay with our own money.”
“That’s right. We strongly urged Yera’s mom on the way here, so please calmly accept our cards today. Understood?”
Kang Dae-oh turned his head towards his wife.
Min Seung-yeon gave a wry smile and briefly nodded her head up and down.
It meant to do as the mothers said.
Kang Dae-oh let out a small laugh and replied.
“Alright. It seems I have no choice today.”
Since they spoke like this, it became awkward for Kang Dae-oh to insist any further.
The showdown between Kang Dae-oh VS the mothers over who would buy the drinks and desserts.
The result was a victory for the mothers.
The mothers, along with Min Seung-yeon, took over a large table and settled down, chatting amongst themselves.
Their interest was focused on Min Seung-yeon.
“Don’t you think Yera’s mom has been dressing so well since she started working in fashion?”
“That’s right. If she walks around with us, people won’t think we’re around the same age.”
“Won’t they see us as an unnie and dongsaeng with a big age gap?”
“They might even see her as a mom and daughter!”
“Oh my, perhaps. Hoho!”
Min Seung-yeon shook her head, repeating that it wasn’t true.
Among the mothers, Min Seung-yeon was also called a star.
Besides being pretty, she had great fashion sense and even looked young, so it was natural for the mothers to envy her.
“Yera’s father must be so lucky. To have met a wife like Yera’s mom.”
Kang Dae-oh nodded vigorously, saying it was an undeniable fact.
Even after receiving their drinks, the mothers’ chatter continued.
They had a recent topic of interest.
No, to be precise, it could be seen as their daughters’ topic of interest.
“These days, kids really love Deokgun.”
“That’s right! A while ago, they said a 20-piece Deokgun House set came out, and they asked if we could buy all the different kinds…… My husband and I just sighed when we heard that from our child.”
“Isn’t one of those 50,000 won?”
“50,000 won? These days, the price has increased to 70,000 won.”
“Oh my, really? That’s unbelievable!”
When Deokgun was mentioned, Lee Seo-joon, who had been listening to the mothers’ conversation, spoke up knowingly.
“Was it two years ago? You’re talking about that duck character that started trending then, right?”
“Seo-joon, do you know what Deokgun is?”
“Yes. Don’t you know, Representative-nim?”
“Oh. I’m hearing about it for the first time.”
Lee Seo-joon took out his smartphone and sent a few text messages to Kang Dae-oh.
They weren’t text, but emoticons.
When Kang Dae-oh checked the emoticons, cute SD-style duck characters wearing various outfits were moving before his eyes.
“That’s Deokgun, what I sent you.”
“Ah, this one? I think I’ve seen it a few times before.”
“You probably have. It’s a very popular character these days.”
“I see.”
Being busy with work, Kang Dae-oh was completely unaware that such a mascot character was trending.
“Later, when our cafe grows, how about a collaboration with Deokgun?”
“Looking at it, it seems we’d have to pay a lot in royalties.”
Collaborating with a nationally popular character in an event is more difficult than one might think.
Not only are there many competitors, but the conditions they demand would also be tough.
“That just means we need to work harder and grow Amare even more.”
Lee Seo-joon revealed his excitement with a very enthusiastic expression.
At that sight, Kang Dae-oh realized something.
“You like Deokgun, don’t you?”
“How did you know?”
“How could I not? I can tell just by seeing that you have all the Deokgun emoticon series.”
People who aren’t interested wouldn’t collect all the emoticons.
Lee Seo-joon said, ‘As expected of Representative-nim,’ and readily admitted his point.
“Actually, I have a lot of Deokgun merchandise at home too.”
“That’s unexpected. I didn’t know you’d like something like this.”
“It wasn’t like that until last year. But the kids around me kept recommending Deokgun, saying it was cute, and as I saw more of it, I got drawn in too.”
“You got sold on it.”
“You could say that.”
Nevertheless, Lee Seo-joon didn’t seem to have much dissatisfaction with being “sold” on it.
Instead, he added that meeting such a cute character as Deokgun felt like his quality of life had increased by 0.5 times.
Perhaps it was because it was a character that even adults found cute.
The effect of its cuteness seemed to remain strong even in the eyes of children.
“Oh, right. How’s Yera’s mom doing?”
“About what?”
“I was wondering if your kids ask you to buy Deokgun toys or dolls.”
Min Seung-yeon thought for a moment, then shook her head and said.
“No. My kids have never done that.”
“Well, Yera said she just entered middle school this time. So she’d have relatively less interest in toys and dolls.”
Of course, liking cute things has no age limit, but it’s true that interest wanes compared to when one was younger.
It wasn’t a wrong statement.
At that moment, another mother talked about Kang Yebin and Kang Yeyoung.
“Yebin and Yeyoung are still in elementary school. They’re probably very interested in Deokgun.”
“I heard that elementary school girls really love Deokgun.”
Of course, if Kang Yebin and Kang Yeyoung were girls of similar age, the mothers’ assertions might have been accurate.
However, the two of them were only children on the outside. Inside, they were already adults who had gone through many hardships.
Because of this, they didn’t show any signs of jumping on trends like other kids.
After all, they had never even talked about Deokgun at home.
From the mothers’ perspective, Min Seung-yeon was simply enviable.
“You’re lucky, Yera’s mom.”
“That’s right. At least you won’t be pressured to buy Deokgun dolls.”
“My kid threatens her mom and dad that she won’t go to school tomorrow if we don’t buy her a doll.”
In the face of the mothers’ struggles, all Min Seung-yeon could do was offer a wry smile.
Because her children were mature, Min Seung-yeon often found herself unable to empathize with the mothers’ common concerns like this.
Should this be seen as a good thing?
Or a bad thing?
Kang Dae-oh, observing, was also confused.
While the mothers were deep in their Deokgun-related worries.
The children, in fact, were contemplating how to nag their moms and dads to buy them Deokgun-related merchandise.
Kang Yebin’s friend, Yang Ji-yoon, was no exception.
“The Deokgun Princess Set is coming out this time. Isn’t it so cute?”
“……Is that so? I don’t really know.”
Kang Yebin couldn’t deeply empathize with Yang Ji-yoon’s words.
She knew Deokgun was cute, but if asked if it was charming enough to be so completely engrossed, she would tilt her head.
Yang Ji-yoon, seemingly hoping Kang Yebin would share her hobby, grabbed her hand, saying a good idea had popped into her head.
“You said you don’t have any schedules today, right? Then after school, let’s go there together.”
“Where’s ‘there’?”
“You know that intersection with the takoyaki shop? They’re having a Deokgun pop-up store or something there. They said it’s only open until this week, so let’s go and look around to our heart’s content. How about it? You’ll come, right?”
She wanted to refuse from the bottom of her heart.
“Alright. I’ll go.”
Maintaining a good relationship with her friend was quite challenging for Kang Yebin.
