I’d Rather Live as a Villain

72 This must be the first time.

To the people of Daeyoung Distribution’s FP Division Sensory Evaluation Room, President Kang Moon-jung was a very natural presence.

Ever since her days as an executive, she had frequently visited to personally prepare for the launch of the “Gold Line.”

The first few encounters were novel and challenging, but afterwards, it was as if she was the manager of the place; no one felt particularly uncomfortable or tense when she visited.

“It’s been a while! How has everyone been?”

President Kang Moon-jung, along with Division Manager Im Hyung-jun, visited the Sensory Evaluation Room.

She greeted the familiar faces with a bright smile, and even the employees who were seeing her for the first time since her inauguration as president were only pleased by the long-awaited visit to the Sensory Evaluation Room.

“Senior Han Gyeoul, you seem to have lost quite a bit of weight since I last saw you?”

“Really?”

“Is it due to a failed love, or did you succeed in dieting with the power of love?”

“It’s a diet disaster following a love failure, actually.”

“Despite that, you look so pretty now? Your face has slimmed down.”

“Instead, all that weight has moved over here.”

She gave a sly smile to the senior researcher who patted her own belly, joining in the mood, and then Kang Moon-jung entered the Sensory Evaluation Room.

Division Manager Im Hyung-jun, who entered with her, had a face full of confidence, thanks to the help of the China Division of Mulsan in completing the new menu.

“Did you happen to conduct a sensory evaluation with people who have already experienced Xinlong Coffee before?”

“Of course. Surprisingly, many people knew about Xinlong Coffee. Only a few knew it by name, but those who had traveled to Hainan and tried the Hainan coconut condensed milk coffee were well aware of it.”

“That makes sense. When I first tried Xinlong Coffee, there were a lot of Koreans who had come for golf tourism at a table not far from mine. I’m not sure about Sanya, but around the Hainan Peninsula, based on Haikou, it’s a coffee that people who have gone for golf or surfing tourism must have experienced at least once.”

“Yes. That’s why we are also considering naming the new product ‘Hailatte’ instead of Xinlong Coffee.”

“Hailatte?”

“The word ‘Xinlong,’ as well as ‘Hainan,’ ‘Haikou.’ Perhaps such localized naming itself might raise the threshold for consumers’ new product adventures in Korea, we’ve concluded.”

Moon-jung nodded, agreeing that there was merit in that thought.

“Even if we expand into the Chinese market, the term ‘Hailatte’ itself already encompasses Hainan, so it can be used without any sense of foreignness. It’s a naming that will be naturally accepted in other countries as well.”

“Indeed, when you think of typical Chinese coffee, it’s Yunnan coffee, Hainan coffee, and adding the sea character ‘Hai’ in front would make everyone immediately think of Xinlong Coffee. Hailatte sounds good. It rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Whose idea was it?”

“It was a name recommended by Director Jang Gi-won of the China Division of Mulsan.”

“He has a sense for these things.”

“Yes, his work is very meticulous, which is why we’ve been able to progress this quickly.”

“Shall we start the evaluation then?”

Munjeong settled into a narrow sensory evaluation booth, partitioned like a study room.

Before her, a tray designated for lab tests was placed, containing two glasses of sighe and two of regular coffee.

On each test coffee cup, the letters HW, HC, CW, CC were written with a marker pen.

Starting with HW, which stands for the hot coffee sold in stores, followed by the capsule hot coffee, store iced, and capsule iced, Munjeong tasted each in turn, a pleasant dimple forming on her face.

After tasting all the coffees, including the capsule sighe, Munjeong asked Deputy Manager Im Hyung-jun,

“How did the others rate these?”

Different from other times, President Kang Munjeong’s face brightened up immediately after finishing the sensory evaluation, and Deputy Manager Im Hyung-jun, feeling even more confident, opened his mouth with a pleasant expression.

“Starting with the feedback from those who tried the coffee with coconut condensed milk for the first time, many said they were familiar with the sweet aroma that hits first with the coffee, but never imagined it would be coconut condensed milk.”

“Coconut condensed milk isn’t a popular choice in Korea.”

“Yes, unlike coconut milk, which divides opinions, coconut condensed milk doesn’t feel off-putting at all, and it perfectly neutralizes the high acidity of the Shinlong coffee, making the strong coffee feel smooth to drink,” they said.

“The cold ones are better received than the hot, aren’t they?”

“Absolutely, the cold ones received better responses.”

“That makes sense. What did people who have experienced Shinlong coffee say?”

Deputy Manager Im Hyung-jun answered with a smile on his face,

“They all said it brought back vivid memories of traveling to Hainan.”

Munjeong felt the same.

The moment she took the first sip of coffee from the evaluation stand, memories of her business trip to Hainan with her now-husband, regarding the acquisition of a golf resort, came flooding back.

Would Deputy Manager Im Hyung-jun realize that the dimples on President Kang Munjeong’s face were born from those memories?

It was during that Hainan trip that she first thought her now-husband, contrary to his appearance, had quite a cute side…

Although the resort acquisition fell through due to disappointing facilities, location, and infrastructure compared to the pre-trip photos, the rest of the trip with Yoon Tae-sik was very memorable for Munjeong.

It was through a local interpreter from the Chinese division of the local products that she first learned about the exotic Shinlong coffee.

The shop was shabby, like a night market in Hong Kong or a sari-sari in the Philippines.

They were operating as a coffee specialty store, with just a few parasol tables set outside.

For 6 yuan a cup.

Watching the locals queue up to taste the coffee that cost less than a thousand Korean won, her now-husband insisted they must try the coffee from such a place no matter what.

It seemed his intuition made all the plans for the day go pleasantly well.

In front of the store, a motorcycle with a cart was selling strange green local fruits.

According to the local staff, the older residents of Hainan always enjoy Shinlong coffee with these green fruits.

They were called betel nuts.

Even the local police would stop by on their motorcycle patrols, buy a few nuts to chew like gum, and stash the rest in their chest pocket, as these were very popular snacks in the area, explained the local staff.

But Moon-jung was too scared to try it herself, and yet, she couldn’t ignore the strange curiosity that drew her eyes to the identity of that fruit.

Eventually, a local staff member with experience in such fruits bought a few and started chewing one, placing the rest in front of her and her current husband. Moon-jung felt a mischievous urge to feed it to her husband.

As he began to chew, he suddenly started coughing and downed the bitter Shinlong coffee in one shot, making Moon-jung laugh heartily.

Even now, she vividly remembered how he stuck out his tongue in front of her, wiping it several times with a napkin because of the astringent taste.

Later, when she heard that the fruit contained no narcotic substances but was potent enough to be used for anesthesia in traditional Korean or Chinese medicine, she was terrified.

Hearing this, her husband, who had always been tense in front of her, showed a resentful expression for the first time, and Moon-jung felt a little shaken inside.

It’s only now that she says it, but Moon-jung had found her current husband quite attractive as a man since he started working as her executive assistant.

He was always reliable and trustworthy, and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her.

The tearful expression he showed her for the first time made Moon-jung realize that even a robust man could be adorable.

Her husband probably still doesn’t know.

It was because he was not just anyone, but her husband, Yoon Tae-sik, that she could boldly bring up the idea of a contract marriage, and because he was her husband, she could start a life together without any hesitation in the same space.

And because her husband was always silently by her side, he probably doesn’t know how secure she feels now.

“Are you alright, sir?”

“Yes, I am. The moment I took the first sip, memories of Hainan came flooding back.”

“How does it taste?”

“I think this is the first time for me.”

“What do you mean…?”

“It’s the first time I’ve thought ‘this is it’ after just one sensory evaluation. This recipe, as it is, could be launched as a new menu item.”

At that, Deputy Manager Lim Hyung-jun’s heart was pounding.

He himself had never been so certain about any menu item while launching and managing the Gold Line and Black Bean.

Despite not starting with such confidence, every step of the process felt natural, and every moment of the sample test was more satisfying than expected.

“Then I’ll arrange a schedule for training the franchisees on the new menu recipe.”

* * *

Returning to the distribution headquarters, Moon-jung took a moment to reflect instead of diving straight into work.

She reminisced about the countless business trips she had taken with her husband, including the most recent one to Andalusia, Spain.

Paris, Milan, Bangkok, Mongolia, and Hainan…

If she included all the cities she couldn’t immediately recall, she must have traveled to at least ten countries with her husband as her executive assistant.

She found herself missing those times.

Her husband might not have felt it, but at some point, traveling with him had become an exciting journey for Moon-jung.

But once she married and her husband transferred to the commerce department, the thrilling journeys just for the two of them came to an abrupt halt.

She became eager to settle the succession structure quickly.

She wanted to tidy things up as soon as possible, and then, for about a week—or even just three or four days if a week was too long—she longed to enjoy a carefree trip with her husband, free from worries and concerns.

With that thought, Moon-jung called her husband.

“Yes, I’ve taken the call. Boss!”

“Hehe. What are you doing?”

“Just on a coffee break. Just came back in after having lunch outside with President Min. Have you had lunch?”

“I had lunch with Director Lim, and then stopped by the lab because of the Shinlong Coffee sensory evaluation, and I’ve just returned to the office.”

“How was it? Think it turned out okay?”

“Yeah, it was good. Very satisfying. If we add a double points chance promotion to the distribution points, I think we’ll see a quick response. It’s also perfect timing with the summer season coming up. I have a good feeling about this.”

“Of course, it’s good. Whose idea was it?”

“I usually don’t play along with your self-praise, but this time, I really acknowledge it.”

“What? Every time you sincerely acknowledge something, I strangely start to feel scared.”

“Why?”

“How should I know? You should ask your own heart that always acknowledges first and then orders something difficult.”

“It’s not like that today.”

“I really hope so.”

Was it?

Moon-jung tilted her head for a moment, reflecting on her own actions towards her husband over time.

But today, she genuinely called him because she found him reliable, and she just wanted to hear his voice.

“Let’s have dinner out tonight.”

“Are you picking me up?”

“Yes. I’ll even let Chief Noh leave work early for once.”

“What do you feel like eating?”

“Strangely, my mind is on Hainan right now, but what I want to eat is the steak from that ant hill restaurant in Sacromonte, Andalusia, where we danced Flamenco.”

“Steak, steak… Right. There’s a restaurant that can somewhat mimic it, not exactly the same, but close enough.”

“As expected.”

“What time should I pick you up? 5:30? 6?”

Today, Moon-jung planned to muster the courage to try again for the intimacy that both she and her husband had hesitated to initiate over the past two months due to pain.

For that, a suitable atmosphere and a decent bottle of wine to melt into it were absolutely necessary.