"Come now. I said let's wait out front here."

"Why wait at the door? We agreed to meet inside anyway."

"Still, how can we go into the company and wait? We ought to wait in front of it."

At the words of Seong-ho's father, Pan-seok Kim, his mother, Myeong-ja Jang, looked at him as if it were strange.

"Did you eat something bad this morning?"

"Eat something bad?"

"Why are you talking nonsense after eating a good bowl of rice?"

"Nonsense? Is that a thing to say to your husband?"

"So you're telling me it's strange to go into the company even while you're looking at that?"

Myeong-ja raised a finger and pointed at the people going in through the department-store entrance.

"To your eyes, those people look like folks going to a company on business?"

"No—well… those people are folks going to buy things, but we…"

"Aigo. Stop the useless talk."

Myeong-ja shook her head as if she'd heard enough and turned around.

"I'll go browse the first floor first, just like our daughter-in-law said, so wait here or don't, as you please."

Finishing, Myeong-ja walked off like the wind without so much as waiting for Pan-seok's answer.

Pan-seok watched her retreating figure for a moment, then moved his feet along with a muttered word.

"Good grief. What's she going to do if the employees recognize us… Hey. Come on, together."

Pan-seok hurried his feet to chase after Myeong-ja, and so the two of them went into the Ilhyeon Department Store's Gangnam branch.

Slowly making her way around the first floor, Myeong-ja said in a low voice to Pan-seok, walking beside her,

"How is it there's not a single person touting for customers here?"

"Woman. This is a department store. A department store. Have you ever heard of touting at a department store?"

"I've never heard that they don't, either."

Myeong-ja said it as if she wouldn't be outdone by Pan-seok, and looked around. Then, as some place that caught her fancy came into view, she pointed a finger at it and said,

"Let's go over there."

"Tsk. Just…