Chapter 13, Cafeteria
Chapter 13, Cafeteria
But just showing up out of the blue is a bit much.
Even if she is my Jageun-nuna, she must be incredibly busy with work, so just barging in would be the height of rudeness.
I should get permission first.
I took out my smartphone and opened KakaoTalk.
[Jageun-nuna.]
[I went to Mom and Dad's place last night.]
[I slept there and just got home, but I've got nothing to do.]
[Want to grab lunch together today?]
Even I think I sound pathetic.
Doesn't the nuance of a cute younger brother begging his nuna to buy him lunch just ooze out of this?
As bait for asking her to buy me a used car, this is excellent.
The reply came in less than a minute.
[OK]
[Come to the office.]
[See you in the lobby by 12:10.]
Jageun-nuna is so cool.
Without delay, I turned on the Kakao Taxi app and called a cab.
Lownix Seoul Campus, Solution Development Division, Solution Design Department.
On one side of the office, beyond the partitions, the air felt different than usual.
A few young employees were stealing glances and whispering while making coffee.
"Hey, doesn't Deputy General Manager Kim look like she's in a great mood?"
"I know, right? She's been smiling at her phone since earlier."
"I can't get used to it. Did she get a boyfriend or something?"
"Nah, the DGM dating? She'd die of overwork before that happens."
FW Design Team Deputy General Manager, Kim Jae-min.
A workaholic who holds the title of the youngest Deputy General Manager in a major corporation due to her unrivaled performance, and who stands at the center of bonus parties.
It was only natural that the department staff were curious, seeing her smiling at her phone.
Her gaze was fixed on her smartphone screen.
A text message from her 21-year-old baby brother asking for a lunch date.
The way he followed instructions to visit their parents' house to show his face, and then wagged his tail asking his nuna to buy him lunch, was quite cute.
Of course, she had already figured out that the kid's real motive was a used car.
But that shamelessness was something she couldn't hate; it was the privilege of a youngest sibling.
Since he had admirably completed the mission she gave him, buying him a meal was well worth it.
Just then, a Manager from the department approached her desk with a file folder.
"Deputy General Manager. What are your plans for lunch today?"
At the Manager's question, Kim Jae-min put down her phone and smiled faintly.
"My younger brother is coming today, so I'll be eating separately."
"Ah, your younger brother is coming? Understood."
Because this had happened a few times, the Manager nodded naturally.
Kim Jae-min checked her watch and stood up from her seat.
"Then I'll be heading out first."
She walked out of the office with a confident stride.
As soon as Kim Jae-min's back completely disappeared, the employees who had been whispering earlier rushed over to the Manager's desk.
"Manager! The DGM's lunch appointment, was it her younger brother?"
"Even if they're close, usually at the DGM's age, wouldn't her younger brother be busy working too?"
Since it wasn't common for someone to come all the way to a major company's cafeteria on a weekday afternoon to eat, everyone tilted their heads in confusion.
Seeing the employees pouring out questions, the Manager chuckled and nodded.
"You guys haven't been in our team long, so you don't know."
"Yes? Is there some secret?"
"The DGM's youngest brother is a late-born child. He's only twenty-one."
Hearing that, one of the employees opened their eyes wide and dropped their jaw.
"Twenty-one?! Wow... he's younger than my youngest sibling?"
"What's the age gap exactly... at that point, isn't he basically a son rather than a younger brother?"
Everyone covered their mouths in surprise.
The fact that the strict Kim Jae-min, who seemed like she wouldn't have a drop of blood or tears, had a late-born brother who was practically the age of her son.
It was the moment they instantly understood why she had been smiling like that.
I arrived in front of the Lownix building by taxi, right on time.
After paying the fare and getting off, the massive glass building overwhelmed me.
My Keun-nuna's corporate building is big too, but the scale of a global conglomerate's headquarters campus is on another level.
I was loitering near the lobby entrance when the automatic door opened and a familiar face walked out.
It was Jageun-nuna, wearing her ID card around her neck.
"Nuna!"
As I approached, waving lightly, Jageun-nuna spotted me and walked over with a bright smile.
And before we could even greet each other, her hand naturally headed for my butt.
Pang-pang! She patted my butt twice with a satisfying sound.
"My little puppy. You came early?"
"It's one thing at home, but can you not pat my butt in the middle of a big company lobby? What if people see?"
"I can pat my cute younger brother's butt if I want."
That's not the problem, I'm telling you.
News might break that a Deputy General Manager at a major corporation committed sexual harassment by patting a man's butt in front of the company.
But Jageun-nuna just smirked and linked her arm with mine.
"You're acting pretty stiff for a guy who came to act cute so I'd buy him a used car, aren't you? Is this really the situation to be saying that?"
"Uh..."
I was speechless for a moment.
Right.
I'm the guy who came to suck up for the grand goal of a car.
Pissing off the sponsor is a stupid move.
"N-no way. If Nuna wants to, you can spank my butt all you want. I can offer both cheeks."
As I tucked my tail and replied with a sly grin, Jageun-nuna chuckled.
But this conversation.
It feels strangely familiar.
'Ah. Ha-young.'
I was reminded of Baek Ha-young, who declared a while ago that she could touch my butt whenever she wanted after receiving 50,000 won in allowance.
In the end, I guess it runs in the family; I'm selling my butt for the price of a car, even if it's not 50,000 won.
"Alright. Let's eat. Let's go in."
We entered the office building.
To pass through the gate, Jageun-nuna hung a guest reel holder around my neck.
We tapped our ID card and guest card and went down to the floor with the cafeteria.
The cafeteria of a major corporation had multiple menus, and the interior was as neat as any decent restaurant.
As we entered the cafeteria entrance, Nuna tapped her ID card on the terminal, checked for two people, and printed the receipt.
"Thanks for the meal."
"Eat up."
I handed over the receipt, grabbed a tray, and put side dishes on it from the serving line.
Perhaps because it was peak lunch hour, employees wearing ID cards were flocking into the cafeteria.
Just as I was about to scoop some rice, a few employees approached us.
"Oh? Deputy General Manager, you were already here?"
I looked up at the voice and saw someone I'd seen before.
I remembered him being a Manager in Jageun-nuna's department.
I had greeted him a few times when I came near Nuna's company before.
"Yes, my younger brother arrived early, so I'm feeding him first. Enjoy your meal."
Jageun-nuna nodded nonchalantly.
When I bowed my head to greet him, the Manager greeted me back warmly.
"It's been a while for you too, younger brother. Congratulations on your discharge."
"Thank you. Enjoy your meal."
"You haven't shaken off the military tone yet, I see."
"Haha..."
The Manager finished his short greeting and left.
But the gazes of the other employees following behind the Manager were strange.
They were glancing at us as if they found it fascinating.
'Well, I'm used to the looks of people finding a late-born child fascinating.'
Even seeing a late-born child with a five or six-year age gap makes people go "wow."
So it's no wonder they find it fascinating to see a late-born younger brother who is nearly twenty years younger sitting right in front of them.
On top of that, their strict boss, who usually only works, is smiling brightly while putting meat side dishes on my rice, so it must feel even more unfamiliar.
"Jageun-nuna. I scooped a ton of my own, so you eat what you scooped."
"If I don't take care of you at times like this, when will I?"
Still, everyone tactfully sat elsewhere and didn't interrupt our mealtime or try to talk to us.
As expected of people working at a major corporation, they have good sense.
"Did you go to Mom and Dad's place well yesterday? What did Mom and Dad say?"
"What do you mean, what did they say? Dad just bluntly congratulated me on my discharge, and Mom said I was creepy and told me to go back to the army."
"You're lying. They cleaned your room completely and were waiting for you so much."
Jageun-nuna chuckled and sipped her soup.
I know for a fact that my mom would never say such a thing to me.
"So? What kind of car did you look at?"
"Anything that just rolls is fine. If you buy me a base model used Avante, I'll bow to you for the rest of my life while driving it."
"It doesn't look good if a Deputy General Manager's brother drives a piece of junk. Should I just get you a decent new car?"
"Hey, what new car for a 21-year-old unemployed guy? I can't afford the insurance premiums. A decent used domestic car is the best."
When I acted humble, Nuna nodded as if satisfied.
"Got it. I'll look into it after work, so let's go see it together on the weekend."
"Oh. Thank you."
"You came well."
"Isn't that an old joke?"
"I still think it's funny?"
Anyway, mission complete.
I succeeded in acquiring a used car.
I was happily munching on the rest of my food when...
"Oh, right."
Jageun-nuna finished her meal, drank some water, and suddenly asked a question.
"I heard you agreed to be the editor for Ha-rin and Ha-young?"
For a second, the rice I was swallowing got stuck in my throat.
I coughed urgently and gulped down some water.
"How do you know that?"
"How do I know? I knew about Ha-rin's channel, didn't I? But looking at the video uploaded this time, the quality is completely different. There's no way she could do something like that. So I asked, and she was bragging about how she pays you a salary and works you to the bone?"
Ah...
I held my head.
I had specifically asked Keun-nuna.
I had specifically begged her not to tell her mom, but...
This girl spilled everything to her aunt, Jageun-nuna.
"I watched the video, and the editing was incredibly good? The timing of the zoom-ins and the sound effects were amazing. You said you learned it by yourself before going to the army, but your skills are totally pro-level?"
Jageun-nuna exclaimed, heaping praise on me.
Since it's a video the AI App whipped up in a minute, the quality is perfect, but I felt a twinge of guilt for taking credit when I didn't do it myself.
"Well... I guess I had some talent. It wasn't bad for pocket money, so I accepted."
"Right. It's much better than just playing games in your room and grinding for cash. You said to keep it a secret from Keun-eonni, right? Don't worry. I won't say a word to her."
"Yeah. Thanks."
Jageun-nuna tapped my shoulder and winked.
"But Ha-young, that little thing, she does a mukbang channel too, right? 80,000 subscribers? Wow, I guess the attention-seeker DNA flows in our family's women."
It wasn't wrong.
Ha-rin's shorts where she dances pretending to be fatal, or Ha-young's spicy soup mukbang.
And wasn't Jageun-nuna a bit of an attention seeker too?
I heard she used to be an ulzzang or something.
"You're editing Ha-young's videos too, right?"
"Yeah. It bothered me that she just uploaded them without any editing. I decided to touch them up here and there."
"Good job. If they hit the jackpot later, you'll get some crumbs too."
Crumbs...
I want to grow my nieces' channels more and use that title to try various businesses.
It wouldn't be fun if it just ended at the level of "crumbs."
Actually, the car is also a stepping stone for that.