They looked like an ordinary mother and daughter.
After all, they were a daughter in her early thirties and a mother around sixty, each pushing a cart side by side and shopping together pleasantly.
But no matter how I looked at it, the contents of their carts were suspicious.
“Mom, did we eat all our bread?”
“If we freeze it, we can eat it for a long time, so let’s buy some.”
“Okay.”
The mother and daughter each picked up the exact same loaf of bread and put one in each of their carts.
In that way, their carts ended up filled only with identical products, enough that you could call them twins.
“You’re filming well, right?”
I asked Myeongjin as we followed them without letting the mother and daughter notice.
“Yeah. But this is kind of weird. Are there people who shop like that?”
“You could say it’s not normal, right? You told the others not to follow us, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. I told them it was DEFCON 3, so they probably understood.”
When did they get close enough to set secret codes among themselves and understand each other perfectly?
As I listened to Myeongjin talk about that, my heart warmed without me realizing it.
The only problem was that, unlike my warmed heart, the mart where we had been cheerfully preparing for the MT had instantly turned into a reporting site.
The mother and daughter we were reporting on had not noticed our presence at all.
“Oh, right. The television remote had a red light on. Let’s put in those batteries over there, the pack of twenty-four.”
“Okay. Do we need anything else, Mom?”
“Since we’re here, let’s buy some tissues too. And put in that frying pan. It looks much better than the one at home.”
“Okay. Should we put in the gopchang Dad likes too?”
“What’s so lovable about that man that I’d even buy him gopchang?”
“I want to eat it too. It looks new, so let’s try it, Mom.”
“Goodness, no one would doubt you’re your father’s daughter. Even your tastes are exactly alike. Put in the one on the second shelf over there, the most expensive flavor.”
Listening to their conversation, it did not seem like they lived separately. They were clearly choosing things they would eat together and use together.
As the mother and daughter swept through each aisle of the large mart, their carts became packed with goods.
The carts, filled neatly item by item as if they were playing Tetris, were full in an instant.
“This isn’t the work of someone who’s only done it once or twice.”
The way the mother and daughter each put identical items into their own carts was far too natural.
“I’ll go pay, so you go sample some dumplings over there.”
“Okay, Mom. Hurry back.”
One of the twin carts was pushed to the checkout by the person called Mom.
“Hey, let’s go too. We need to check out right behind that woman, so grab anything.”
“Okay, hyung.”
Ju Myeongjin filmed the woman’s cart and her back with the hidden camera while grabbing something that came to hand.
“That will be 543,700 won. How would you like to pay?”
“Here, card. One payment.”
Because there were so many items in the cart, checkout took quite a while.
People who were quick to notice avoided standing behind her on their own.
Thanks to that, Myeongjin and I were able to stand at the checkout right after the woman.
“I’ll help you check out these overnight wing-type pads.”
“Pardon?”
The cashier said that while the woman who had finished paying was putting her credit card back in her wallet.
Two men had come with a single sanitary pad.
“Ah, not this. I’ll buy this instead.”
I canceled the pad and picked up a piece of gum near the register instead.
“Hey, what were you thinking, picking something bulky? Were you planning to carry it around the whole time?”
“You said to buy anything. That’s what my hand grabbed at the time. Huh? That woman is heading straight to customer service.”
When you buy things, the usual order is to put them in a shopping bag, go to the packing area and put them in boxes, or else head to the parking lot.
But as expected, that woman did not disappoint me.
Lee Yonghye was in a very good mood again today.
Even while there were many people and she had to take a number and wait, she naturally began humming.
“This is how you make money.”
Her life had always been one of scraping by.
Her husband, who lived with the phrase “life is one big chance” on his lips, and her daughter, who wanted to eat and wear everything other people did, never let money remain in the house.
Lee Yonghye was not that different.
She hated earning money through hard work.
“I hear the restaurant where I work is hiring. Have you thought about working there?”
“You can apply for public work until tomorrow. Hyunmi’s mom, aren’t you going to do it?”
“They’re giving out tissues at the new supermarket. Want to go together?”
Even when the neighborhood women said things like that to her, it irritated her.
Weren’t the things they talked about all hard, troublesome, and the sort of things that quickly made you tired?
Lee Yonghye felt bad because it seemed as if those women thought she was on their level.
“As expected, big marts are the best. Go all the way to the market to get tissues? You all go ahead. I’ll get mine comfortably while being treated like a customer.”
Ding-dong.
“Customer number 375.”
At last, it was Lee Yonghye’s turn.
The employee, greeting her with a smiling face, asked Lee Yonghye,
“How may I help you, ma’am?”
“Well, I forgot that I didn’t bring my car and ended up buying this much. I’ll just return it and come back another time to buy it again. Please cancel the card payment.”
“If it’s difficult for you to take them with you, we also have a delivery service, ma’am.”
For a moment, Lee Yonghye was annoyed, but she soon spoke with a kind expression.
“Delivery is a bit awkward. I have somewhere to go right now, and I’m going home very, very late today. There’s no one at my house.”
“Then I’ll help you cancel it. Could you give me the receipt and the card you used for payment?”
“Please hurry up.”
Lee Yonghye urged the employee along, handing over the card and receipt as if throwing them.
Because she wanted to rattle the employee.
“Here is your card, your payment receipt, and your cancellation receipt.”
As soon as the card cancellation was finished, Lee Yonghye snatched up the card and receipts and left customer service without even saying goodbye.
Returning to the mart entrance, Lee Yonghye looked around for her daughter.
“Mom, here! Why’d you come so late?”
It was Hyunmi, calling for her mother with messy pronunciation while breathing out, “Hot, hot,” as if she had just put a freshly fried sausage in her mouth.
“What about mine?”
“They said the one I just ate was the last one.”
She chewed for a moment, swallowed with a gulp, and spoke.
“They said if they start cooking now, we’ll have to wait thirty minutes.”
“Honestly, just like your father, only your own mouth counts as a mouth.”
“You’re hungry too, right, Mom? Let’s hurry home and cook this.”
Hyunmi pointed to the frozen chicken skewers in the cart.
Lee Yonghye had also been feeling hungry as she came out of customer service.
Seeing the appetizing photo of chicken skewers on the packaging made her mouth water.
“Excuse me, we paid for all of this earlier. We’ll just go.”
Lee Yonghye spoke to the security guard standing at the mart entrance, putting on as much refined dignity as she could.
In her hand, she was holding not the refund receipt, but the original payment receipt.
“As expected, if your head is bad, your hands and feet suffer. If your head is good, you can eat comfortably and live well. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Hehehe.”
Thinking that she had earned over 500,000 won in living expenses today as well, Lee Yonghye failed to notice the security guard’s expression hardening.
She simply thought that, like before, he would glance at the receipt and gesture that she could leave.
“Just a moment.”
The security guard, who normally would have sent her on her way immediately, showed his palm and blocked Lee Yonghye and her daughter.
Then he picked up his radio and said something into it.
.
.
.
“Hyung, change your name from now on. Not Lee Hyeonwook. Call yourself Lee Conan.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You don’t know Detective Conan? Wherever that kid goes, there’s a murder case one hundred percent of the time. Wherever our Reporter Lee Hyeonwook goes, exclusives just pop up.”
“Myeongjin, you can’t call something like this an exclusive.”
It was not quite an exclusive, but you could call it news that would draw people’s attention.
A story that gets talked about enough to circulate in communities, an interesting incident that is small in scale but catches anyone’s ear once they hear it, or sensational content like a makjang drama can be made into a report even if it is not an exclusive.
As I was thinking about the weight and types of news like that, another thought came to me.
“Maybe Myeongjin is right. I’ll keep solving the cases in my reporter’s notebook from now on.”
Myeongjin had filmed with the hidden camera according to my instructions without even understanding what was going on.
Afterward, when I found the mart’s security guard, was introduced to the person in charge, and suggested reporting it to the police, he did not understand it all at once either.
But only after the police were dispatched and he captured on camera Lee Yonghye and her daughter getting angry as if they were the wronged party did he click his tongue in amazement.
He said the picture was too good.
“Myeongjin, I’ll be counting on you from now on too. I really might become Lee Conan.”
When I said that while patting his shoulder, Myeongjin shuddered.
“Ah, hyung! I told you, I like women!”
“Would you believe there are people who enjoy free shopping at marts?”
“Yes! I believe!”
“A mother and daughter who paid for the items in their cart, received a refund, then used the pre-refund receipt to pretend their checkout had been completed were caught at the scene. By whom?”
“Lee Hyeonwook! Lee Hyeonwook!”
Myeongjin and I returned to the broadcasting station and made a news report.
Seo Suyeon, Jeon Yeongsu, and K had gone ahead as the advance team, and we decided to join them later.
After getting approval from the desk and safely getting the report on that evening’s news, we arrived at the MT site.
And there, Reporter Seo Suyeon was repeating the anchor comment from the news, while K and Jeon Yeongsu matched her rhythm perfectly and acted like soulmates.
“Sunbae! Even if you couldn’t stop the kids, what are you doing taking the lead?”
“What do you think? I’m praising our Reporter Lee! Reporting is his everyday life, day or night. A reporter’s spirit that can bring even a dead ember back to life!”
“I told you not to run ahead without me, right? I’m about to get hurt here, okay?”
Myeongjin swiftly sat down and spoke while mixing beer and soju.
“Kraaah! Alcohol after work tastes like honey! Department Head Lee was so happy, saying he sent us on vacation and we made news there too. He said if that’s how it is, he should send us overseas too, and then wouldn’t we bring back worldwide news or something……”
“Hey, either eat or drink. Pick one.”
I stopped Myeongjin from chattering by putting some gimbap the landlady had packed into his mouth.
With the meat and alcohol bought at the mart, and the landlady’s food on top of that, it was nothing short of a feast.
“Hyung! I prepared something for today. Look over here!”
I turned my gaze to where K was calling. And then I saw it.
[Congratulations, Reporter of the Month Lee Hyeonwook! Exclusive Genius Lee Hyeonwook Forever!]
When I received the Reporter of the Month Award, I was honestly happy. I also thought about how nice it would have been if my parents had been there.
That regret disappeared the moment I saw the placard K had prepared.
I was so grateful and moved.
“Huh? Hyung, are you crying?”
“Huh? Seriously. Your eyes are moist.”
“Don’t cry! Don’t cry!”
These guys, seriously.
It was not just my tastes that had regressed. It felt like even the heart of a middle-aged man going through menopause had regressed with me.
My body is twenty-nine, so why does my heart keep acting menopausal?
Hup! Don’t cry. Bad thoughts! Bad thoughts!
That was when I was pinching my thigh to hold back my tears.
“I also have something to say.”
Jeon Yeongsu, who had only been smiling quietly, opened his mouth.
“No matter how much I repay you over and over, Mr. Hyeonwook, it won’t be enough. But unfortunately, I think I’ll be going abroad to study, so this is small, but I made something quickly.”
As the contents of the reporter’s notebook changed, Jeon Yeongsu’s future changed too. Jeon Yeongsu, who had the will to study, said he would go abroad and try doing proper research.
It was a good thing. But what had he made?
Jeon Yeongsu showed me his laptop screen and continued.
“I made ‘Isamo.’ It’s a fan café called ‘Gathering of People Who Love Reporter Lee Hyeonwook.’ You can archive all your articles here, receive tips, and communicate with fans.”
“A fan café? Yeongsu-hyung! That’s really great! Me, me, me! Make me the café owner.”
“Actually, since I’m going abroad to study, I thought it would be good for K to run it.”
A fan café.
I had never thought of it even once.
And I could not predict even more how this fan café would affect things in the future.
Because Jeon Yeongsu’s fan café would lead me to meet someone I could never have imagined.
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