CH 304

On the surface, the Jaegyeong Department Store looked calm. However, it was anything but calm inside. Its extremely nervous mood was akin to moments before the commencement of a critical military operation.

The department store manager personally phoned the various sub-managers of individual departments and threatened them with, "Make a mistake today, and it won't just be your head rolling off your shoulders! Got it?!"

Those sub-managers noticed that their store manager wasn't his usual uptight boomer self but quite clearly intimidated by something, which made them very cautious in return.

The several sub-managers gathered together in a group and began whispering to each other.

“What the heck? Did the chairman show up or something?”

"Nah. Have you seen our chairman ever come here to shop? Folks in the financial sector often say our chairman operating a department store is one of the greatest comedies since the founding of our nation, don't they?"

“Well, they do say that now, don't they?”

A man who still drove a car he bought fifteen years ago and still wore the same business suits from twenty years ago owned a department store? To make matters worse, the car and the suits in question weren't even from famous brands, either!

To think that a man embodying the spirit of 'Fancy or not, clothes are meant to be worn, and cars just need to be driven. As for shoes, keep wearing them until their soles wear out, then get new soles!' owned a chain of department stores, the pinnacle of convenient shopping experience!

“In that case, just who came to our store today?”

"Apparently, no one knows. Even then, the Office of Secretaries called the store manager and told him to register them as VIPs and show them the best hospitality we can provide."

“Heol...”

Wasn't the Jaegyeong Department Store the number one in the country for being inflexible? So strict were its policies that a client who successfully remained a top VIP for a decade straight unceremoniously lost her privileges the following year. And her only crime was not meeting the VIP requirements by only around a million won due to going on a brief overseas trip![1]

The client threatened to shop elsewhere, claiming hurt feelings, but the department store manager at the time brazenly told the former VIP, "We'd like to thank you for your patronage until this point, dear customer." Those words soon became one of the slogans representing the Jaegyeong Department Store even to this day!

According to various rumors, the customer's yearly spending was over five hundred million won. Apparently, she was a madam of some up-and-up corporation. In Jaegyeong, though, someone like that customer would immediately lose her VIP grade because she missed the qualifications by a hair's width.

So the meaning behind a department store like that issuing the highest-grade VIP card right away, and not just an upgrade to an existing VIP account, meant something huge was afoot.

One of the sub-managers rubbed her chin. “Maybe... He's the chairman's secret son?”

“Nah. No way.”

"How can you be so sure, though? I can't see any other explanation except that one, you know? Let's be honest, only the chairman's blood relatives might enjoy treatment like this. Didn't we stop that other chairman from a different corporation from entering the exclusive lounge since he wasn't a VIP?"

"Yeah, we did that, didn't we?"

“That chairman asked if spending fifty million won in a day would be enough, and we replied the VIP list is only renewed at the end of the year, so he should come back next year!”

“Right. Now I remember... Holy cow, aren't we like, super ballsy?”

“So, that leaves Chairman Hwang's immediate family members, doesn't it?”

The older sub-manager shook his head. “Ahh, I see now. You don't know about that incident, don't you, Manager Ji-Ho?”

“What incident?” The manager named Ji-Ho tilted her head.

“You see, one of Chairman Hwang's sons stopped by at our department store many moons ago.”

“Okay?”

“And he acted a bit like the son of a chairman, as you'd expect. Although, he wasn't going overboard or anything like that. Still, it led to one hell of a problem back then and raised lots of stink.”

“Really? What happened?”

“Chairman Hwang's son ordered one of the salespeople to bring him a cup of water, you see?”

“...?”

"And the chairman got wind of what happened soon afterward. Apparently, he called that son to his office and beat him up to a pulp with his cane."

“Heol...”

“What did the chairman say back then...? Ah, right! Apparently, he said to his son 'You think the employees are your servants?! You dare bring shame to our corporation with your rubbish behavior?!' Or so the story goes.” The older manager shrugged.

“Holy cow! Chairman really did that?”

"Yup. And the stink I talked about is related to that. When the new department store manager showed up for the first day at work, he summoned the sub-managers and told us that the owners of this store aren't the customers but us. You should've seen his pale face back then... Where would you find a department store as insane as ours?"

“Right, right... Now that you mention it, this place is pretty crazy, no?”

"Chairman Hwang is probably even more strict with his own kids. And... From what I heard from the managers on the lower floors, that young man definitely cannot be Chairman Hwang's son."

“Eh? How come?”

“He's too good-looking, apparently.”

“Oh...” Manager Ji-Ho nodded away as if she understood what that reply meant.

***

“Here they come!”

Min Ji-Ho's in-ear radio speaker crackled with an urgent voice.

- The VVIP is heading to the third floor. I repeat, the VVIP is heading to the third floor! He's on the third floor's left-side escalator, going up!

"My side, huh..." Manager Min Ji-Ho's expression stiffened with nervousness.

She had no idea who was about to show up, but one thing was for sure: the VVIP possessed enough clout to chop her head off her shoulders with just one word!

'Keep your wits about you, Min Ji-Ho! No mistakes!'

According to the information she gathered, the true VVIP among the trio was the lone male.

'Right, he is on a shopping trip with his mom and little sister.'

In cases like these, one had to be especially careful. Men instinctively knew how to put on airs, even those who usually wouldn't act that way. When inside a store to show off their purchasing power, men would inevitably become haughty and all boss-like.

And humans in such a buoyant mood were fragile enough to get their pride hurt when someone committed a tiny little mistake or had an unintentional slip of the tongue. As such, Min Ji-Ho knew she had to be doubly, triply careful today.

If a female customer were hit with problems, she would demand to speak to the manager. However, male customers would just leave the store altogether, never to return. This time, though... Things wouldn't just end with the VVIP customer leaving the store.

'Out of countless department stores out there, why did you have to come here? Argh, gimme a break! And I wanna go to the toilet, too!'

Since she had no idea when the VVIP would come up the escalator, Min Ji-Ho couldn't even vacate her position. The VVIP spent over four hours on the first two floors with his group and was finally heading up to the third floor.

Min Ji-Ho tensed up when she eventually spotted a group coming up the escalator.

'Hmm. The mother looks kind and thoughtful, at least.'

The mother didn't seem that old. Considering the ages of her children, the mother seemed to have been blessed with a natural baby face.

Having worked in the hospitality industry for so long, Min Ji-Ho had developed a keen intuition that allowed her to estimate her opponent's personality just from taking one look at their face. According to Min Ji-Ho's intuition, the mother's estimated hospitality difficulty was below 'D'. When nicely put, the mother was a naturally-kind person who wouldn’t want to raise her voice to other people if she could help it. In other words, a kind-hearted neighborhood auntie, then.

'...Oh, no!'

Unfortunately, the young woman following the mother emitted a suspicious aura from her entire body.

'...Yup, she's a Grade A Karen!'

That young woman emitted the aura of 'Get your manager here, right now!' without even trying. Although she didn't seem the type to openly go full-on Karen at this stage... Right, that young woman was the type to smile innocently first, then march straight into the department store manager's office next!

Once she got older, she would most likely evolve into Grade S!

'Wait a second, isn't she...?'

Wasn't that young woman Kang Se-Ah? Kang Se-Ah, the idol, came to this place to shop?! She was the most popular solo female artist currently, wasn't she?

Of course, idols would need to buy things just like everybody else, so Kang Se-Ah showing up in this particular department store shouldn't be seen as strange.

What confused Min Ji-Ho was something else. And that was Kang Se-Ah, a top celebrity, wasn't the VVIP in this situation. Min Ji-Ho's tense eyes locked in on the man following right behind Kang Se-Ah.

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'...Eh?'

Min Ji-Ho was so nervous that sweat soaked her palms, but then... She had to tilt her head slightly at the sight of the man following the idol.

'What's... this?'

Countless shopping bags were dangling not just in his hands but even on his arms like some fruits on a tree's branches. His expression even resembled a tree's bark, too. That... was the VVIP responsible for sending the entire department store in a state of emergency for the first time in its history?

'In that case, doesn’t that mean he’s just a pushover?'

Not just a regular pushover, but a super-duper pushover with zero shopping sense! That was the impression Min Ji-Ho had gotten from that young man. She could already picture him sheepishly scratching the back of his head and going 'You think so?' when a salesperson tells him 'Dear customer, look! This shirt looks so amazing on you~!'

'What a weird combination...'

Min Ji-Ho wanted to shake her head at this sight. A kind mother, a ferocious daughter, and then a pushover son...

This combination didn't exactly lend itself to be a special target for surveillance and extra caution now, did it? Besides, look at all those shopping bag fruits dangling on the VVIP's arms! Weren't they enough proof that the VVIP's shopping trip was unfolding swimmingly?

'No, I take that back. It's not going swimmingly at all.'

The dark circles below the man's eyes were about to touch his chin. On closer inspection, the man was indeed incredibly handsome, but his deeply-scowling expression pretty much hid all semblance of handsomeness from the public.

'In any case, don't let your guard down, Min Ji-Ho!'

This combination nearly robbed Min Ji-Ho of her tension as soon as she clapped her eyes on them, but the fact of the matter still hadn't changed. One mistake here, and it wouldn't be this trio but the department store manager trying to kill her!

The VVIP’s group walked past Min-Ji-Ho while talking to each other.

“Jin-Ho, why aren't you choosing things for yourself? Son, how about splurging on yourself for a change?”

“...Mother, I'm about to die here.”

“Ohohoho~, you're such a comedian, son.”

Min Ji-Ho's face cramped up slightly. 'No, dear customer's mother... Your son really looks like he's in a precarious condition. At this rate, we might need an ambulance on standby...'

Kang Jin-Ho's complexion was as pale as it could get. Which only made his dark circles look darker than usual. Even in hospitals, one wouldn't get to see the likes of his condition that often!

'Just how harsh the shopping trip has been to him so far for him to look that way...?'

Min Ji-Ho suddenly grew emotional and wanted to shed a tear or two. Seeing how only four hours of shopping had turned that young man into a soulless shell of his former self put a heavy burden of lament in Min Ji-Ho's heart.

“Son? Do you want to take a short break?”

“...Please,” Kang Jin-Ho muttered weakly.

"Mm, I see. I'm more or less fine, but since my son looks tired, we might as well stop and take a break."

Kang Eun-Yeong suddenly butted in. "You crybaby! How dare you say you're tired when our mom is busy shopping!"

Kang Jin-Ho faltered visibly. “No, it's not that I'm tired, but...”

"The words 'I'm lonely' came out of our mom's mouth, you know! Neither you nor I have any right to complain, even if Mom insults us for the rest of day and makes us roll around in the mud! But now, just four hours of shopping later, you're ready to cry like a little baby?"

'I’d rather roll around in the field of knives than this.'

Kang Jin-Ho tutted inwardly. He preferred that scenario to this. Actually, he'd rather jump buck-naked into the Five Poison Gates' pride and joy, the Spring of Poison, than jump inside a pile of clothes!

Despite yapping on and on about how that red fabric was their favorite color or the blue uniform symbolizing something important to them, the martial artists of Zhongyuan would usually stick to wearing one set of clothes for over a decade. Force those people into a two-hour-long shopping trip, and Kang Jin-Ho was a hundred percent certain that one would be able to threaten them with clothes instead of swords and spears!

Indeed, they might freak out and quickly flee while tossing their weapons away!

'And my current problem is that... I'm in their shoes.'

Kang Jin-Ho groaned nonstop.

"Eiii, you're such a weakling!" Kang Eun-Yeong frowned deeply before groaning as if she couldn't help it. Then, a radiant smile bloomed on her face. "Mom, since we have that VIP card and all, should we check out the VIP lounge?"

Baek Hyeon-Jeong tilted her head. “Mm? The VIP lounge, you say?”

“Yup! I feel like I can walk and put on airs today. And I gotta post a few pics to my socials, too.”

Baek Hyeon-Jeong tutted, unimpressed. "Eun-Yeong, I told you to stop doing things like that. That hobby of yours is so strange, you know? Why do you want to upload your private photos so that strangers can see them?"

“Eh? So, you don't wanna go?”

“Who says I don't? I’m not all that interested in this lounge or what but look at your orabi. He's about to keel over, isn't he? So, let's go!”

“Ehehet~!”

Despite four hours of an intense shopping spree, the two females of the Kang family were still brimming full of energy as they cheerily strolled toward the VIP lounge.

Kang Jin-Ho's frown only got deeper.

'Those two are not even remotely tired...!'

Just where did their monstrous stamina come from?! Some wise men once said that when womenfolk started shopping, they would suddenly develop the strength of a monster. It seemed those wise men were right on the money. This phenomenon definitely deserved exhaustive scientific research!

“Urgh...!”

Kang Jin-Ho trudged behind the two as a desperate hankering for a smoke break started making itself home in his head.

Kang Eun-Yeong glanced at the nearest shop assistant. "Excuse me, where is the VIP lounge?"

“It's this way, dear customer.”

“Aha, this way, you say?” Kang Eun-Yeong refreshingly grinned and followed the assistant's guidance. Her nose was so high up in the air that it might even fall off if she kept that up!

Kang Jin-Ho slowly shook his head.

'I don't get it. What's so great about this?'

This shopping trip was meant for Baek Hyeon-Jeong, but it seemed Kang Eun-Yeong was enjoying it more than her mother.

'...Still, as long as they are happy.'

Today was the day of his sacrifice. He resolved himself to never say anything to sour the mood, at least for today. With that, he followed his family toward the VIP lounge.

Unfortunately, a sharp yell slammed into his ears not too long after he finished making his resolution.

“Hey, you stupid f*ckers! Do I look like a joke to you?! Ah?!”

Kang Jin-Ho frowned and directed his gaze toward the entrance of the lounge.

1. A million won is just over $800US. ☜