Coffee Prince Chapter 7: “Good Dogs Don’t Rebel”

by javabeans

(Random) SONG OF THE DAY

Fanny Fink – “향을 담은 비” (For Haru) which translates to “Fragrant Rain.” [ zShare download ]

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All right! A little more excitement gets going in this chapter…… keke.

 
CHAPTER 7: “Good Dogs Don’t Rebel”

Now that Han Gyul has decided to take on the Coffee Prince cafe, he instructs Manager Hong to interview potential employees according to his stringent requirements. Manager Hong thinks Han Gyul is out of his mind — he wants to hire three employees to work in this minuscule cafe? He’s even more surprised when the employment notice turns out a fair amount of applicants. The resultant situation resembles auditions for movie roles more than a part-time cafe job.

Still, he picks out three satisfactory guys, then finds out from Han Gyul that there will be four — the last one is Eun Chan. Manager Hong remembers Eun Chan’s vitriolic reaction to the mention of Han Gyul (presumably after the kiss): “That he was a pervert, that he was a disgusting jerk, that he’d better be afraid to meet him in his dreams. It was the first time he’d seen someone’s face so shuddering with dislike. But to think she’d work under this guy? It seemed absurd.”

Han Gyul lists his reasons for hiring Eun Chan:

“He’s a little on the short side, but I can use him, since he’s got a face women’ll love. I’ve watched for a few days and it seems like this place’ll do well with females in their twenties and thirties. People who sit drinking coffee in cafes are mostly women, so we can assume that will be our clientele. Young and good-looking male employees are just the type that these women prefer, and are comfortable conversing with. Go Eun Chan fits right in. Since he’s a metrosexual.”

Manager Hong doubts Eun Chan will agree, but Han Gyul tells him to call Eun Chan and say he still has their “slave contract” and will be enforcing it. Although Manager Hong doesn’t understand the full situation, he feels sorry for Eun Chan and tries to induce Han Gyul’s sympathies by bringing up Eun Chan’s hard life. She (or rather, “he”) has been head of his family since his last year of high school. Father died in a car accident, mother’s rather senseless, racking up tons of credit card debt, and younger sister’s just like the mother. Eun Chan works multiple jobs to take care of everyone.

Han Gyul asks about his extended family (doesn’t seem to have any), and whether he really teaches Taekwondo (yes) instead of food delivery (she does both, and milk delivery too). Han Gyul muses, “Then, he’d probably do any kind of work for money.” He asks if he’d do anything unscrupulous like thievery, and Manager Hong is emphatic — Eun Chan’s absolutely not that kind of person.

After the deliberately ruined blind date, Han Gyul was summoned by his enraged father, who had heard all the rumors. His father had let his fiery temper loose, while his mother had caught on and pretended it couldn’t have been true. But in any case, thanks to Go Eun Chan, he wouldn’t have to deal with those incessant dates.

What, a pervert, a caterpillar? Punk, who says it wasn’t disgusting for me either?

Han Gyul thought back to that incident and smirked.

Well, it was a pretty crazy thing to do. Why’d that go in his mouth, dammit? Not even Dick had used tongue. But why’d his tongue go in his mouth? Damn it to hell.

Go Eun Chan had reason enough to be surprised. He admitted it. That’s why he took all the abuse Eun Chan had heaped on him.

Han Gyul has made a deal with his grandmother to run Coffee Prince: “If you triple the sales in three months, you can do whatever you want. Whether that’s playing basketball, or wandering around the world for the rest of your life, I won’t say a word. … But if you don’t, you have to come into the company.”

Meanwhile, Eun Chan hears the message that Han Gyul still has their contract and reacts with fury. He was supposed to rip it up when they finished their agreement! She bursts into the Coffee Prince, ready to give him a piece of her mind. But Han Gyul merely tells her to be quiet and listen. He gives the newly employed Coffee Princes an introductory speech, and Eun Chan notices how good-looking everyone is. First off is Nak Gyun:

The guy wearing the black horn-rimmed glasses spoke up. Eun Chan caught a glimpse of him and gulped. What’s this? Who’s that guy? Why is he so handsome? Ah, geez. I can’t meet his gaze.

Then, Ha Rim:

This time, it was the yellow-haired guy who spoke. His voice was extremely energetic and bright. She found herself automatically looking over at him. With his bright yellow hair, enormous eyes, and small face, he was the most radiant guy Eun Chan had ever seen in person.

And lastly, there’s Sun Ki:

He was right next to Eun Chan, but she couldn’t dare turn to look at him. Even just taking a look by moving her eyes a little made her heart thump. For a while, she’d been conscious of his wonderful scent. On top of that, he had that shiny black hair. Ah, I’m dying! Is he even human? The ridge of his nose is art. He’s like a sculpture. I wonder if this is what it feels like when you see a movie star. Hell, what star did this good-looking trio come from?

Finally, Eun Chan faces the stoic Han Gyul, preparing as though for combat. She demands to know why their contract is still around, and Han Gyul admits he doesn’t have it. So is Eun Chan gonna work for him or not? She turns him down flatly.

“That time, on Valentine’s Day, we mutually agreed to end everything. Even if we happened to cross paths, we’d pretend not to know each other…”

“Then pretend you don’t know me. That’ll work.”

Eun Chan tells him how just thinking of their last meeting makes her nauseous, and that she’s been haunted by nightmares because of him. Han Gyul tells her to forget his offer, then, and gets in his car to leave. At that moment, Eun Chan realizes maybe she ought to be practical — she’s just kicked away a job that rolled right into her path. With the Taekwondo studio losing students, the owner had decided to close shop and return to the countryside. And now, she’s just thrown away a hope that had dropped right into her lap. She gets in his car and asks if he’ll stop thinking of her as a thief now, and they go on an errand to look for kitchenwares.

On the way, a reckless driver cuts them off, inciting the excitable Eun Chan into a competitive spirit. She spurs Han Gyul on to regain the lead, to show that punk who’s boss, and they weave in and out of traffic in an ego contest. When Han Gyul slips through a yellow light that the other car gets stuck behind, they high-five and Eun Chan rejoices, hooting with laughter.

At Bon China, the luxury kitchenware supply store, Eun Chan looks around in wonderment, not even aware such places existed. Han Gyul inspects various items with meticulous attention, surprising Eun Chan with his seriousness. (Cutely, she sees a price tag in alarm and tries to warn Han Gyul — does he realize how expensive that coffee cup is? Telling him not to be too alarmed, she informs him It’s not 12 dollars, it’s 120! A hundred! Twenty!)

She asks him, “Do you have that much money?” and Han Gyul knows her well enough to know the best way to deflect her attention:

“Let’s go have lunch.”

Ooh, food!

As they leave the store, inside which Eun Chan has been too afraid to touch anything lest she break it, they ride in an elevator with an arguing couple. The spoiled girl pouts to her guy that her mother would have paid for everything, but clearly the guy has put his foot down — if he doesn’t buy it, they’re not getting such ridiculously expensive kitchenware. He tries to tell her to calm down and be quiet, but the girl keeps whining.

In the underground parking lot, Han Gyul is already seated in his driver’s seat when Eun Chan, lagging behind, turns around at the sound of quickly approaching footsteps, and BAM! Something crashes into her. It’s the other girl. Although Eun Chan’s physical training allows her to remain standing, the girl sprawls flat on the ground. Worried, Eun Chan asks if she’s okay — and from a distance, her pissed-off boyfriend storms at her: “What the hell are you touching, bastard?”

Without giving her a chance to react, he punches Eun Chan in the eye and she falls to the ground.

“What are you doing? What the hell?!”

Oh, that voice! Surprised, Eun Chan got right up. And she couldn’t believe the scene in front of her eyes. Wasn’t that him, that guy slamming his car door with enough force to crumple it, running toward her?

“You bastard, what are you bitching about? Who touched who?”

So now, in times like these, he shows his chivalrous side. Eun Chan rushed at him and held him back at the waist.

“Ajusshi!”

Luckily, his fist just connected with empty air.

“Let go of me, punk!”

Shouting, Eun Chan held tight to the enraged Han Gyul. He really looked nearly insane. Not at all like a well-bred pedigree dog.

“Run away quickly! Before I let go!”

“Stay right there! You can’t just piss me off and run away like that!”

“Come on! Get a grip, ajusshi!”

Her eye hurt like hell. Dammit.

 
/end Chapter 7.