NOVEL NEXT 19
Everyone feels nervous on the first day of opening a new shop. Even when you think you’ve prepared for everything, you might forget something important, and it’s easy to fumble when greeting your first customers.
If you’re using part-time staff, the coordination between the dining area and kitchen often falters.
You’ll be tense, and if customers don’t come, you’ll worry about why they’re not showing up.
“…Even so. How long have you been like this?”
I arrived much earlier than the usual start time, but the lights were already on inside the shop. Curious, I went in to find Kim Jong-chun, looking like he’d spent the night wide awake, shivering in front of the broth pot.
“W-well… It’s bone broth that’s been simmering for days. I was worried something might go wrong… I started checking on it last night and before I knew it….”
“You’ve been here all night?”
“Y-yeah. That’s how it turned out.”
Kim Jong-chun said, rubbing his bloodshot eyes. Sigh. This is hopeless, really.
“Ahjussi. I told you, didn’t I? Don’t put too much meaning into the first day of opening.”
Even the most experienced business owners get nervous on the first day. It’s natural to think about how much time and money you’ve invested in this shop.
That’s why it’s all the more important to let go of greed.
“I know. You’ve been telling me repeatedly. But I just couldn’t sleep at all.”
He was like this since last night when we did the final shop check…. But human hearts don’t always follow logic, do they?
Understanding his feelings to some extent, I decided to stop nagging.
“Actually, my wife wanted to come too, but I stopped her.”
“You did well.”
“You said absolutely no family members serving on opening day, right?”
“It’s easy to get tangled up.”
When someone inexperienced in serving tries to help, it often leads to confusion in movement and orders.
“…But it’s the first day of opening, shouldn’t we at least serve some head meat as a service?”
“Ahjussi. I told you, on the first day?”
“…Only 70% of my skills.”
“You know this, so why are you suggesting it? Wanting to serve head meat as a service is greed. It’s like saying you’ll perform at 130% of your capacity.”
On the inevitably tense and nervous first day, not many people can perform at 130% of their capacity.
There’s a high chance orders will pile up and the kitchen will be paralyzed.
“The advantage of a single-menu restaurant is that even a novice kitchen can manage somewhat. If you start offering extra services, you’re likely to make mistakes like serving some tables but not others.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“Unless you don’t serve it to anyone at all. But if the table next to me gets it and I don’t? That customer probably won’t come back.”
Kim Jong-chun nodded at my harsh tone.
“That’s true….”
I have to give him credit for how quickly he agrees. If he were someone with stronger opinions, we would have had several arguments by now.
‘That’s partly why I chose Kim Jong-chun as the branch manager.’
Right. When you don’t know much, just accepting expert advice well is usually enough. …The problem is that most people can’t even do that.
Anyway.
There was something Kim Jong-chun needed to do before opening the shop.
“I’ll keep an eye on things here, so you go distribute rice cakes to the nearby merchants first.”
“Huh? Ah, right. I should do that.”
In one corner of the shop, carefully prepared rice cakes were packaged and ready.
“But Woo-yeon. It’s not for the customers, but giving them to nearby shops… does that really mean anything?”
“It does. Quite a lot, actually.”
Even in a world where you might not know who lives in the apartment next door, the world still runs on human connections.
Especially when people are face-to-face buying and selling things.
“Greet them with a smile and be polite. If you run into local residents on the way, bow to them too.”
“Uh, even if we don’t know each other?”
“Yes. Do it.”
When I replied firmly, Kim Jong-chun looked confused but nodded anyway.
After all, this is a neighborhood business. He’ll soon experience firsthand how these greetings will come back to benefit him, so let’s talk about that later.
While Kim Jong-chun went out to distribute the rice cakes, I busily started preparing for the opening.
10:50 AM.
The opening time is exactly 11 AM. Just before the shop doors opened, Kim Jong-chun barely made it back in time.
“Did you distribute them all?”
“Yeah. Around this area.”
As he nodded, Kim Jong-chun put on an apron.
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
The clock began to strike 11 o’clock precisely.
And the dining area….
Was empty.
“No one’s coming.”
Kim Jong-chun muttered, sounding dejected. Well, we had been eagerly waiting for the opening time, but that doesn’t mean customers would pour in as soon as we opened.
We’ve opened the doors and put out the new opening sign, so one or two people should come soon.
“From now on, it’s a test of patience. Absolutely no using your phone in the open kitchen when there are no customers.”
“Of course not.”
“I’ll mention this again later, but try to keep staff meals out of sight of customers if possible.”
“Ah, like at In-cheol’s place?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
At the main branch, it was routine to quickly eat meals where customers couldn’t see. While staff should be given enough time for meals, I insisted on providing a separate space for it. That was my principle.
Kim Jong-chun nodded, saying he understood.
“But why? I’ve been curious about that for a while.”
“You can’t eat soup rice every day for lunch and dinner just because you work at a soup rice shop. It gets tiresome.”
“That’s true.”
“So people tend to order from elsewhere, or make something like kimchi stew with leftover ingredients in the fridge.”
“I guess so?”
He still looked like he didn’t quite understand what the problem was. I explained it kindly.
“How would it look to customers? If a Chinese restaurant chef doesn’t eat the jajangmyeon from his own shop.”
“Ah…!”
“They might wonder if it’s not clean, or if we’re careless when making food we’re not eating ourselves. It raises suspicion.”
There’s a reason restaurants often have signs saying things like ‘We prepare food as if our own family were eating it.’
Moreover, what if employees are eating something other than their own menu items for their meals? It severely undermines trust in the menu.
“I see how it could look that way.”
Kim Jong-chun nodded vigorously. It was quite endearing to see him absorb each piece of information like a baby bird being fed.
Of course, on the surface, he looked much older than me.
“I’ll have to be careful from now on….”
Thump. I poked Kim Jong-chun’s side and quickly moved to the side of the door. Kim Jong-chun’s puzzled face soon turned to surprise.
Swoosh.
The sound of the door opening was heard, and a customer who looked to be about college age entered.
“Welcome. How many in your party?”
“Just one.”
“Alright, I’ll show you to your seat.”
I guided him to the innermost seat with a bright smile.
“We only have one menu item, is Hapjae soup rice okay for you?”
“Ah, yes. That’s fine.”
“Thank you.”
After bowing slightly, I went to the POS system to enter the order.
Chijijik.
The sound of the receipt printing echoed from the kitchen. I grinned as I looked towards the kitchen.
“Table 1, one soup rice.”
Kim Jong-chun nodded with an emotional face.
“…One soup rice!”
After calling out the order once more as he’d been taught, he started moving busily.
Finally, business had begun.
⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱
“Boss!”
Han Mi-ae snapped back to attention. Looking up, she saw the owner of the neighboring rice mill standing in front of the tteokbokki pan.
“What are you doing? Haven’t you eaten lunch?”
“Ah, I should. There’s still a customer inside. Go ahead and eat first.”
“My goodness. Business is good these days, huh?”
Han Mi-ae responded to the rice mill owner’s words with a beaming smile.
“Isn’t it?”
“What was it again? You said some benefactor gave you some good advice. Looks like they really were a godsend.”
“You have no idea.”
Han Mi-ae pointed to the tteokbokki pan, which was now smaller than before.
“Since switching to this, tteokbokki orders have increased a lot. The fried food tastes much better too.”
“Your face is glowing, really.”
Han Mi-ae gave a sheepish smile.
“Anyway, I’m trying to decide what to eat for lunch. I’m so sick of kimchi stew.”
“Ah!”
Han Mi-ae leaned forward and quickly continued.
“There’s a new soup rice place next door. Have you been?”
“Oh, that one? No, I haven’t. I saw them working on it for a few days, and it looks like they opened today. The owner was going around distributing rice cakes this morning.”
The rice mill owner snorted.
“Giving rice cakes to a rice cake shop owner, does that make any sense?”
“It’s a nice gesture, isn’t it? How many places do that these days?”
“Well, I suppose you’re right.”
The rice mill owner nodded in agreement.
“Sigh. But I still can’t go there.”
“Why not? It’s such a good place.”
“You’re talking like you’ve already been there, even though it just opened today.”
Han Mi-ae felt a pang of guilt and held her tongue. Her recommendation had been full of personal bias.
The rice mill owner waved his hand once more.
“I couldn’t get out because I was busy today. I heard it’s packed with people right now.”
“…Huh?”
“It’s so crowded, I can’t go~”
At those words, Han Mi-ae’s eyes widened. After briefly checking inside her shop, she stepped outside to look at where the soup rice shop had opened.
“Wow….”
It was just as he said.
The place was absolutely packed with people.
And this was on their first day of opening!
‘…How on earth?’
Han Mi-ae’s mind was filled with such questions. Just then, someone’s voice echoed in her ear.
– Business isn’t going as you hoped, is it?
That youthful face with a surprisingly old-soul manner of speaking.
It was incongruous yet oddly fitting.
– My name is Song Woo-yeon. I look forward to our future relationship.
“…Song Woo-yeon.”
Han Mi-ae found herself muttering that name.
An inexplicable certainty washed over her.
The certainty that the mastermind behind this unbelievable miracle was none other than that ‘Song Woo-yeon.’