God-Given Business Genius

“What would you say if I told you I have a way to increase the shop’s revenue by 3 times, no, 10 times?”

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting?”

Lee In-cheol asked as he casually picked at his ear. It was obvious he wasn’t taking the words of this young upstart seriously.

But I was dead serious.

This shop definitely had that kind of potential.

“Let’s say such a thing exists. Would you take the opportunity to increase your revenue tenfold?”

“Are you even listening to yourself?”

Lee In-cheol snorted derisively. I smiled and continued.

“Boss. Give me one month. In just one month, I’ll triple your current revenue, and in three months, I’ll make it ten times what it is now.”

“What? What on earth are you talking about, you…!”

Lee In-cheol was about to berate me but flinched when our eyes met. He must have noticed there wasn’t a hint of jest in my expression.

“…Are you serious?”

“Of course.”

“Listen, kid. You seem to be under some delusion just because you’ve helped out in the kitchen a few times. The food service industry isn’t that simple!”

Naturally, Lee In-cheol seemed to be dismissing my declaration as mere youthful bravado.

It’s understandable. After all, here was someone who had only worked part-time for a week, spouting such outlandish ideas.

“Boss. You’ve tried everything to keep this place afloat, right?”

“Of course!”

“And the results have been dismal, haven’t they?”

“Ugh….”

“Then don’t you think it might be a good breakthrough to borrow ideas from a completely new person?”

There was a reason I was making this proposal to Lee In-cheol of all people.

“…You have a point, but…”

It’s because he’s the type of person who would seriously consider advice even from a green youngster.

‘It was the same before my regression.’

It all started with me offering bits of advice here and there while working part-time, noticing areas that could be improved.

Lee In-cheol would tell me to my face not to spout nonsense, but after mulling it over for days, he would gradually change the shop according to my suggestions if he found them reasonable.

As the revenue steadily increased, two years later, we expanded and moved to a larger location across the crosswalk.

‘That was my beginning. But now, there’s no reason to wait two years.’

We needed to grow much bigger.

In this industry, if you don’t have power, you get trampled. I couldn’t afford to be helpless in front of big corporations anymore.

‘To do that, we need to grow quickly enough not to be underestimated.’

For that purpose, even this “Jeongseong Hall” needed to make a leap forward in one go.

“Boss. You said your daily revenue is only 100,000 won now. Even if it drops further, it’s all the same at this point, isn’t it?”

“You little…”

“You can’t hold out much longer like this. You know that better than anyone. So we need to do something before it becomes completely unsalvageable.”

I continued in a bold, confident tone.

“Give me just three months.”

“…….”

“If the revenue is lower than it is now after three months, I’ll make up the difference myself.”

“What?”

Lee In-cheol’s face registered shock. He clearly hadn’t expected me to go this far.

“You said the monthly revenue is 3 million won now, right? Ten million. If we don’t reach ten million in revenue, I’ll make up the shortfall out of my own pocket. That way, you won’t lose anything, right?”

“W-well, that’s true, but….”

Lee In-cheol wore an uneasy expression. The conditions seemed too favorable to him, which made him suspicious.

Any good businessman should have that kind of wariness. Indeed.

“However.”

This was my main point.

“If we actually achieve ten million in revenue, I’ll take 5% of it, and 10% of anything over that amount.”

“Huh.”

“How about it? I need to get something out of this too, right?”

I said with a grin. Lee In-cheol exhaled in disbelief.

“Song Woo-yeon…. You’re still young, so you probably don’t understand, but…”

“Boss.”

I cut Lee In-cheol off mid-sentence.

Even before my regression, countless people looked down on me because of my age. Each time, I responded with the same words.

“Let’s deal with this as one businessman to another.”

“…!”

Those words seemed to touch something dormant in Lee In-cheol’s heart. Unlike before, his eyes suddenly changed, sparkling with interest.

“You cheeky brat.”

Though his words were scolding, his expression was serious. He seemed to have decided to carefully consider my proposal.

Having worked closely with Boss Lee In-cheol for a good ten years, I could roughly guess his thoughts just by looking at that stern face.

“One week. I need some time to think too. I’ll give you an answer within a week.”

“Of course.”

“Aish, tsk. What wind suddenly blew in…. Sigh. This is giving me a headache.”

“You were already stressed out because business was so bad, weren’t you?”

“Watch your mouth.”

Lee In-cheol retorted irritably and waved his hand dismissively.

“Now get out of here! You’ve made my head all complicated, I need to cool off before I go home.”

“Yes, sir! I’ll see you tomorrow then!”

I bowed slightly and turned to leave. The soup restaurant closed at 9 PM. By the time all the closing tasks were finished, it would be well past 10.

Walking down the dark alley, I was swept up in nostalgia for the past.

‘Ah, right. There used to be a hardware store here. Wow, that building is going to be rebuilt soon. It looks so old now. Was there a shop like that here before?’

I walked down the familiar street, lost in trivial thoughts.

The winter I had just turned 20.

I entered society as a penniless young adult. Even before that, I had been living paycheck to paycheck, moving from one part-time job to another, so turning 20 didn’t change much.

I had heard that Seoul paid higher hourly wages, so I recklessly came up here after renting a tiny semi-basement room.

‘I can’t forget this place.’

The memory of walking home through the bitter winter wind was still vivid. Thanks to that, I was able to find my way to the semi-basement room where I lived without getting lost.

Rummaging through my pockets, I found the house key. It was an old place that didn’t even have a common digital door lock.

This was the only place I could afford with the deposit money I had saved from part-time jobs during my school days.

Click.

Opening the door, I found the inside of the house was like an ice box. It was barely warmer than outside, which made me laugh dejectedly.

After barely managing to wash up with ice-cold water, I burrowed into the blankets and finally started to feel real.

I sat down at the barely furnished desk. Taking out a blank sheet of paper and a pen, I began to scribble down my thoughts.

“Regression. 20 years ago…. Why? Don’t know the reason. Am I dreaming?”

Tap tap. I struck through the “Am I dreaming?” part with the pen tip.

It felt too vivid to be a dream. The sensation of my toes curling from the cold was something I could never experience in a dream.

So if I really had come back 20 years…

‘Then was that real too? Even that… someone pushing me at the end.’

The sensation of fingertips touching my back was clear.

‘I was sure I was alone.’

Was someone else there? Since when, and who?

‘…What a coincidence.’

A murder attempt just as I was about to expose Hyeonmu’s weaknesses. It’s too perfect to be mere chance.

“Haa…. Damn. It’s already a non-existent event here.”

You can’t punish someone for a murder that hasn’t happened yet. I swallowed my anger along with a sigh.

There’s no point in dwelling on something that’s already in the past.

‘What matters is what I do from now on.’

I tried to sketch out the framework of the future I knew as concisely as possible on paper.

What I brought back with my regression wasn’t just countless business secrets, but also knowledge of the future.

‘This item became popular at this time. Then it quickly faded, but… Ah, this one lasted longer than expected. And at this time….’

Before I knew it, time had flown by as I filled one blank sheet after another. Two full pages weren’t enough, and I had to pull out a third sheet.

As I quickly scrawled with my pen, I felt my heart swelling with excitement.

Yes. I’m starting over from the beginning.

Without mistakes, much faster than before.

‘And above all else.’

I stared at the name clearly written in the center of the paper.

‘This time, I won’t be pushed around so easily. Hyeonmu.’

“Ah, right.”

Come to think of it, there was a place I needed to visit before going to work tomorrow.

⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱

“Ha~am.”

After a jaw-splitting yawn, I surveyed the dining area.

As expected, after being fully packed once during lunch, it was now completely empty.

With only five tables in this small shop, turnover was crucial. But once the lunch rush was over, that was pretty much it for the day’s revenue.

As a result, I, the part-timer, was spending a boring afternoon.

“Song Woo-yeon. Did you wipe down all the tables?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What about the dishes?”

“All done, of course.”

Lee In-cheol eyed me suspiciously and ran his fingertip along the shelves in the dining area.

“…It’s clean.”

Of course. Hygiene is fundamental for a restaurant.

“You’ve been looking tired lately. Is restaurant work too hard for you?”

“No way.”

Before my regression, I had done much more difficult work than this. Food service is inherently physically demanding.

If I found this level tiring, I wouldn’t be able to run a business anywhere.

“It’s not that, it’s just before work… Actually, more importantly, Boss, have you thought about it?”

Lee In-cheol flinched at my question. Right. Time had flown by, and it was already the end of the promised week.

“Ahem. About that.”

Lee In-cheol paused for a moment before slowly opening his mouth.

“…If the revenue is still the same after three months, we’ll go back to doing things my way.”

“Of course.”

“And you can’t change the taste of the food!”

Lee In-cheol barked.

“You know, there are often cases where they try to increase profit margins by skimping on ingredients. I won’t stand for that! If we’re going to do business half-heartedly, I’d rather just close up shop.”

This is why I like this boss.

“Don’t worry, Boss.”

I grinned.

“I don’t agree with that kind of business practice either.”

It might increase profit margins in the short term, but it’s always a loss in the long run.

We’re not planning to run this business for just a short while and then close. I intended to develop this shop well and use it as the foundation for the bigger picture I had in mind, so I had no intention of doing anything like that.

“So, do we have a deal?”

As I extended my hand, Lee In-cheol grasped it firmly.

“Alright, Woo-yeon. Let’s see what you can do!”

Now that’s what I like to hear.

Woong-woong-woong-!

Clang, crash-bang…!

Just then, a loud construction noise came from outside. Lee In-cheol jumped in surprise, looking as if he might faint at any moment.

“W-w-what is this…!”

I looked out the window and continued with an “Oh, right.”

“I was planning to change the shop’s sign first.”

I had been nagging them to finish it within a week. I even visited the sign shop owner every morning before work to check on the progress.

“You….”

Lee In-cheol stared at me blankly, at a loss for words.

“You said I could do as I please, right? Is this okay?”

I flashed him a grin.