CH 227

The next morning...

Kang Jin-Ho got ready to leave home early in the morning using his car. His father looked really disappointed when he said he wouldn’t be working at the cafe today. Even so, Kang Yu-Hwan still praised his son for not taking any breaks and manning the cafe from opening until closing, and 'rewarded' him with three days off.

While saying that, Kang Yu-Hwan also muttered something about fifteen minutes being up, but Kang Jin-Ho decided not to sweat over it.

Kang Jin-Ho frowned while inspecting the interior of the garage.

'I've been neglecting the Golden Elephant for too long...'

The bicycle's sleek carbon frame seemed to be crying out to him. To confine a creation born to race inside a dark stable... No, inside a garage! If only the Golden Elephant could speak, it would surely unfurl words of lamentation and resentment in Kang Jin-Ho's direction.

Unfortunately, Kang Jin-Ho's plan for today involved carrying luggage around. He might be capable of performing practically any feat, but even he would stop himself from doing that on a bicycle. However...

Kang Jin-Ho stared at the red supercar, his expression still cramped.

'No trunk space on this thing...'

This Lamborghini was also born to race just like the Golden Elephant, and they shared the unfortunate feature of having no luggage space. However, the Lambo had the luxury of a passenger seat, so maybe he could stuff something in there?

'...Should I buy a truck?'

He might need to carry cargo around more often in the future, so buying a truck now didn't seem like such a bad idea. However, a regular pickup would be a bit too small, so he should think about an LDV with over a ton of load capacity.

Kang Jin-Ho decided to discuss it with his father later, then climbed into the Lamborghini. He turned on the ignition and was greeted by the exciting rumbling of twelve cylinders assaulting his ears.

While thinking about how he would give the Golden Elephant a stroll later, Kang Jin-Ho stepped on the accelerator.

Rumble, vrooooom!

The bassy rumble of the exhaust echoed in the garage. It sounded like music to Kang Jin-Ho’s ears, so he had never bothered to turn on the radio. He found the car's engine note far more tuneful than some throwaway pop song, anyway.

***

His destination was a massive department store selling toys.

'I should buy gifts before heading there...'

Kang Jin-Ho wanted to apologize to the kids for not stopping by sooner at the orphanage, and at the same time, give them toys as gifts. He parked the car by the parking lot, then stepped into the first floor's toys section.

“Hmm...”

Maybe the term 'Another World' was meant to describe a place like this one? All sorts of toys and playthings could be seen displayed on various shelves to his left and right, but... They all looked the same in his eyes. No difference whatsoever. And he couldn't tell what he was supposed to even buy. Various logos, brands, and names were written on the toys, but those jumbled words looked tougher to decipher than advanced-level mathematical formulas to Kang Jin-Ho.

However, he wasn't worried. After all, Kang Jin-Ho was an intelligent, logical person, and he believed that in times of difficulty, he should ask the professionals for help.

“Excuse me…” Kang Jin-Ho called out to a store employee who had been stacking the shelf nearby. The employee looked back at him with a bright professional smile. “Sorry to interrupt you, but I'm trying to buy some toys. Can you help me?”

“Ah, yes. Of course, sir. I'll be glad to. Is the child a boy or a girl?”

“...Let's say boy for now.”

“Mm? Then how old is he?”

“From one year old to ten.”

The employee stared back at Kang Jin-Ho with a face that practically screamed, “What on Earth is this dude even talking about?” before suddenly nodding his head in understanding.

'Oh, we have ourselves a pushover.'

It seemed that a person who knew nothing about toys had shown up today to buy toys no matter what, despite not knowing much about the child he was buying the toy for. The store employees called such 'customers' pushovers.

If this were the employee's private store, he would try to pull the wool over the pushover and squeeze him dry for all his worth. How lamentable, then, that the employee was definitely not the owner of this establishment. Besides, there was not much merit in capturing this pushover, to begin with.

Sure, there was a bit of incentive for the employees to increase sales, but the bonus on offer was so minuscule that it didn't seem worth it to screw over an innocent customer. So, the employee decided to be honest during his sales pitch today. “These ones over here are currently the hot sellers, sir. One of our most popular products on sale—this is called the Raptor King. Actually, all the products in the Tyrano Force series are gaining a lot of popularity lately.”

“...Tyrano?” Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head. What did the dinosaur power and whatever have to do with popularity?

The employee noticed the confused expression on Kang Jin-Ho's face and smiled back. “Children tend to search for toys they see on their favorite TV shows, you see.”

“Aha!” Kang Jin-Ho nodded in understanding.

The employee introduced and explained several more toy products afterward, but Kang Jin-Ho still found them... uninteresting. And he couldn't differentiate any of them, either. Then again, shopping had never been an easy task for him, to begin with!

Kang Jin-Ho continued to mull his options seriously while looking around, only for his eyes to grow wide after spotting a certain object. He urgently pointed at it and asked, “Can you tell me what that is?”

“Oh, that... Dear customer, that is a full-size model of a mecha from a popular Japanese anime.”

Kang Jin-Ho stared at the human-sized assemble-yourself mecha standing tall while feeling utterly arrested by its unexplainable and imposing might. He sobered up soon enough and quickly asked the employee, “Do you sell that as well?”

“Ahaha... If we are, are you planning to buy it, sir?”

“Yes.”

“...It's not for sale, I'm afraid. We can't sell something that big, to begin with, unfortunately. However, we do sell its smaller counterparts.”

Kang Jin-Ho urgently got closer to the employee. “Please show it to me.”

“Of course. Although it costs a bit…” The employee walked toward one of the shelves and picked up a box. It contained a miniaturized version of the human-sized mecha. Despite being 'miniaturized,’ it still looked somewhat larger than other mecha toys.

“Honestly speaking, this isn't meant for children but for adults, sir. As such, it is far more detailed and correspondingly has a higher price tag, as well.”

Kang Jin-Ho curiously asked, “Does it move?”

“Yes, its joints are designed to be movable. Should I demonstrate it for you?”

Kang Jin-Ho briefly shook his head. As long as it could move, it should be fine. It wasn't like anything would change with him personally witnessing it, anyway. “Do you deliver if I buy several toys?”

“Mm... Unfortunately, our store doesn't deliver, dear customer.”

“Hmm...” Kang Jin-Ho frowned a little. Since there was no delivery, he had no way of taking the toys with him even if he bought them now. “I guess that's it, then.”

Kang Jin-Ho sighed and turned around to leave, prompting the employee to hurriedly stop him. “Excuse me, sir?”

“Yes?”

“You said several toys, yes? This particular mecha toy is rather costly, so if you purchase several of this particular product, I think we can arrange a delivery service for you, sir. How many were you thinking of buying, sir? As I've mentioned before, it's expensive, and—”

“How much is it?” Kang Jin-Ho asked, a little more hopeful now.

“This product costs 950,000 won each, sir.”[1]

Kang Jin-Ho nodded in acceptance. “I see. I need thirty of them.”

“Of course. Three... Eh? I'm sorry?”

“I said, I need thirty of them.”

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The employee's jaw fell to the floor as if he had run into a spooky ghost. He urgently alternated his gaze between the toy and Kang Jin-Ho's face, then asked one more time. “D-d-dear customer, how m-many did you say you'd like to buy, sir? I think I might have misheard you just now, so may I clarify it one more time? Did you say thirty?”

“Yes…”

“P-please hold on for me! Store manager! Manaaaager!”

The store manager was stock-taking in the store's warehouse when the employee burst through the door and called out to him. The manager frowned deeply and yelled back, “What's the matter now, you idiot! What's with all this fuss?!”

“A-a-a customer is asking if we can deliver the stuff he wants to buy, sir! D-do we have a spare truck?! A car? Anything?!”

The manager furrowed his brow. “What the heck? How many does he want to buy that we need to deliver?”

The employee sucked in a deep breath first. “Sir, he wants to buy... thirty of the Destiny full set!”

“Say what? How many?!”

“Thirty!”

The manager's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. “T-thirty of a 950 grand product?!”

“Yes, manager!”

The manager finished calculating at the speed of light, then quickly grabbed the back of the employee's neck and yelled at the top of his lungs. “Lead the way, now! Let me speak to the customer!”

***

“And I want thirty of this, too,” said Kang Jin-Ho while pointing at another toy.

“Dear customer, this is a doll playset for girls.”

“Yes, I can see that. I'm buying them for girls.”

“Understood. We'll wrap them up immediately!” The manager resolutely nodded, then turned his head to look behind and silently mouthed. “Stock!”

The employee following them from behind nodded and rushed at full power to the warehouse to see if they had enough stock in-house.

The whole store was in emergency mode at the moment. This was understandable, considering that a whale had shown up on their doorstep to buy toys worth several hundreds of thousands of won each. And thirty of them, too! Even though they weren't some exclusive store dealing in luxury brands…

This was like the advent of a God of Wealth. And this divine entity was exceedingly fair and didn't seem to care whether he was buying for boys or girls. He ordered thirty mechas for boys, then turned around to order thirty more girl's doll playsets, too. He was so fair that even the price range for two different products roughly matched each other!

However, this was making the manager rather concerned.

'...This doesn't feel right.'

That Destiny Mecha full set was not designed for children's usage. Since it was meant for adults, it should only be left as a static display. Unsurprisingly, it was not as sturdy as toys designed to be thrown around by young kids.

Selling them was all good and well, but the manager still felt a little guilty inside, wondering if it was correct to sell them in the first place.

'No. It's my job to sell toys, and that's it.'

It wasn't as if the store had forced the customer to choose that particular toy now, was it? The customer apparently had picked it out himself. So, what could be the problem? No one would criticize him for choosing this path. The... 'correct' thing to do in a situation like this would be to pretend they knew nothing and just sell their wares.

'...Uh-whew! Dang it!' 

The manager inwardly groaned, then addressed Kang Jin-Ho, “Excuse me, dear customer.”

“Yes?”

“I'm guessing you're purchasing these toys for an institution with lots of children. Am I correct? Such as a kindergarten?”

“Something like that, yes.”

‘I bloody knew it,’ the manager bitterly grinned. “Sir, honestly speaking, the Destiny full set you ordered earlier is not suitable for children. Kids tend to throw their toys around and crush them. However, that product was designed to be highly detailed at the expense of being fragile. It'll break in no time when subjected to rough handling by children.”

The manager stopped talking there and looked around before picking up another toy box. “Here. I recommend that you buy this one for your intended purpose, sir. Children love this mecha series of toys, and its cost is much more considerate to your wallet, as well. Most importantly, it's far sturdier. I believe this product will be a better option in an environment with many children present, sir.”

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head. “Mm? How much is it?”

“This one costs two hundred thousand won, sir,” the manager replied honestly as regret began filling him up. To think that one day, he would recommend a customer to switch a 950,000 won product to another one that cost only 200,000 won! If the head office sent someone to evaluate his performance, he would deserve a salary reduction. He had practically lost twenty million won in revenue just now, after all!

However, his conscience didn't allow him to do this even if he would be labeled as an idiot by the higher-ups. Even the other employees observing the situation from behind sighed weakly, but... But the manager still felt better inside.

'Even if we're dealing with an immature kid from some wealthy family, we gotta do our job professionally and honestly.'

His honesty was soon richly rewarded by Kang Jin-Ho. “I see. In that case, give me this one as well.”

“...Excuse me? When you say 'as well,’ do you mean...?”

“Yes. I also want this one. Thirty of them, of course.”

“Y-you aren't canceling the other product, sir?”

“I'm not canceling anything,” Kang Jin-Ho nonchalantly replied. “You said they'll break easily, so I should buy toys that don't.”

What a refreshingly simple line of thought that was. That didn't mean 'normal' people would think that way, though!

“Mm, buying two different toys for boys is a bit unfair, so…” Kang Jin-Ho rubbed his chin and began browsing the girls' toys section next.

After checking out Kang Jin-Ho's expression, the manager beckoned at one of the waiting employees. “...Hey, Jong-Su?”

“Yes, manager?”

“Stick to us like glue!”

“Yes, manager!”

The two men made solemn faces of soldiers about to step into a hail of bullets to occupy the higher ground before following Kang Jin-Ho around the aisles.

***

That was how Kang Jin-Ho got to pick three different toy types for boys and another three for girls. He stood in front of the counter while making a refreshed face. For some reason, his initial plan of buying two different kinds ballooned into three, but that wasn't important at the end of the day.

However, the store manager was dealing with nasty heartburn after receiving the bad news that seemingly came out of nowhere. “Excuse me, dear customer...?”

Kang Jin-Ho looked back at the manager. “Yes?”

“It's regarding the Destiny full set you ordered earlier, sir.”

“Yes?”

“My sincerest apologies, but due to its high price tag, our store doesn't have many stocks of that particular product. Our warehouse at the back only has fifteen in stock. The other fifteen will only arrive after a week's delay, sir. Will it be okay with only fifteen? We are also running short of stocks in other products you wish to purchase as well…” the manager asked while feeling dread creep into his heart.

However, Kang Jin-Ho's response still managed to betray the manager's expectations. “That's fine. Prepare the fifteen you have on you now. As for the rest, please deliver them when you receive your stock later.”

“...W-will that be alright, sir?”

“Yes. I'm fine with it. Besides…” Kang Jin-Ho shrugged his shoulders. His next words left the manager's heart in a flutter. “I was buying fifteen extra as spares, anyway. When the kids inevitably break the first fifteen apart, I mean.”

Cold sweat began dripping down the manager's back. After listening to Kang Jin-Ho, that one concept the manager often heard about but never really understood suddenly screamed loudly in his brain.

'Ah. So, this is what throwing money around looks like, huh.'

This moment was a huge epiphany for the manager.

1. Around $665 at the time of TLing. ☜