NOVEL NEXT 34
“Welcome~. Oh?”
As I opened the door and entered, Kim Jong-chun greeted me with a broad smile. I’ve always said this man is better suited for the dining area than the kitchen.
“Hey, Woo-yeon! What brings you here without notice?”
“I’m here to eat soup rice at a soup rice shop. Is there any other reason?”
“What’s this? A surprise inspection?”
“Something like that.”
Hahaha. As we exchanged jokes with laughter, Kim Jong-chun chuckled and patted my shoulder.
“Just one bowl of Hapjae soup rice, please. I’d like to see the new chef’s skills too.”
“Sure thing. I’ll tell them to make it exactly the same as what we serve to other customers.”
“Thank you.”
Kim Jong-chun called out loudly, “One bowl for table 4!”
In response, an older man wearing a chef’s hat echoed, “Table 4, one bowl!”
He looks kind-hearted and fit. His soup-making skills seem quite decent too. As he finely chopped some extra green onions to sprinkle on top, his knife skills appeared quite proficient.
“We’ve got some customers now. It might take a while.”
“That’s fine. Take your time.”
Even though soup rice is considered K-fast food, when customers flood in, all bets are off.
I deliberately came between lunch and dinner hours, but it’s still this busy. It must be packed during meal times.
After a short wait, thud.
An appetizing bowl of soup rice was placed on the table.
“Here’s your Hapjae soup rice~.”
“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”
As I tasted a spoonful, I immediately noticed the rich, savory broth characteristic of this dish. Yet it wasn’t greasy, maintaining a clean taste.
There was hardly any change in flavor, suggesting it had been made faithfully according to the standardized recipe.
I wanted to give high marks for that point.
“It’s delicious.”
“Isn’t it?”
“You’ve hired a good chef.”
“Hehe. This is a secret, but….”
Kim Jong-chun lowered his voice, glanced towards the kitchen, and whispered.
“At first, he kept saying my method was wrong. He wanted to do it his way because that’s how he used to do it. It took some time to work that out, but when I stubbornly insisted that I’d just handle the kitchen myself if he didn’t like it, he backed down.”
“I see.”
“Just like you said! If I hadn’t known anything about kitchen work, I might have gone ‘Huh?’ and gotten swept up in his pace, changing the taste and everything.”
It’s a common occurrence.
Everyone wants to work comfortably, after all. The desire to endure inconvenience for better taste is purely the owner’s ambition. Kitchen staff are more concerned with how to reduce their workload.
So owners without kitchen experience are bound to be pushed around.
When kitchen staff criticize, saying “This is the right way. You don’t even know,” the owner often becomes intimidated and gives in.
“You did well. You handled it nicely for your first time. It must have been quite startling.”
“Who do you think I am? I’m a pro at dealing with people. At first, there was some awkwardness due to hurt feelings, but now we’re getting along well, calling each other ‘big brother’ and ‘little brother.'”
“Who’s the big brother?”
“What do you mean? Of course, as the owner, I’m…”
Kim Jong-chun, who had been chattering excitedly, glanced towards the kitchen and lowered his voice even more.
“…I should be called ‘big brother,’ but since he’s older than me, I decided to be the ‘little brother.'”
This is really funny.
As I chuckled, Kim Jong-chun widened his eyes and started explaining how he had made a concession. Yes, I’m sure you did.
“Oh, right. I heard In-cheol’s place is expanding and relocating?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“That expert you assigned to him? In-cheol can’t stop praising him, saying how good he is. You should hear him go on and on.”
“They must have gotten close after looking at properties together. I’ll introduce him to you sometime too.”
“Really?”
“Yes. We’ll probably need to introduce a waiting system here soon too. You can discuss most operational matters with him first.”
“Wow~. CEO Song, now you even have your own staff. You’re really becoming a proper CEO, aren’t you?”
Kim Jong-chun joked. While I waved off his comments, I felt proud inside at how smoothly things were progressing compared to the past.
Usually, by this time, Kim Jong-chun and I would be pounding the pavement, handing out flyers we’d made ourselves in an attempt to save a dying soup rice shop…
“I saw they’re doing construction at Boss Han’s snack shop too. Is it going well?”
“Yes. We’re planning to hold a renewal opening event once the construction is finished soon.”
“Since we’re like sister restaurants, I hope it does well. I’ve been seeing Boss Han’s face often as I come and go. She’s a really nice person.”
Of course. I’m only proposing collaborations with nice people, so naturally.
To be more precise, rather than nice people, they’re more like docile individuals who hang on my every word.
‘Right now, I look like a green rookie on the outside. It’s much better to start with people like this in the early stages.’
Even if I have to teach them everything by hand. No matter how business-savvy or quick-handed someone is, I can’t work with people who don’t listen.
That’s been my experience in the past.
“Oh, by the way, how’s the parking situation these days?”
“That? Ugh…. It’s giving me a headache. With more customers, the parking lot is always full.”
Oh dear.
It’s good that the shop has established itself well, but the problem that worried me from the beginning continues to be a stumbling block.
The alleys here aren’t wide, and it’s close to residential areas. Solving the parking issue has been quite a challenge.
“For now, the nearby residents are understanding, and I’m on good terms with them, so they turn a blind eye if we just put a note saying ‘Hapjae Soup Rice car’ on the vehicles, but….”
Even that is quite an accomplishment.
“But that only works so many times. I feel sorry, and especially the cafe across the street keeps complaining. They say our customers are illegally parking and blocking their entrance. I’ve put up notices asking people not to do that, but what can I do when the underground parking is full and there’s nowhere else to park?”
That’s the problem. We can’t tell people to leave the cars they’ve already driven here somewhere else. The nearest public parking lot is a 30-minute walk from here.
We can’t ask people to walk for an hour round trip just to have a meal, can we?
“I’m at my wit’s end, Woo-yeon. What should I do? Huh?”
“Even if you ask me that…. It’s not like I can magically create a parking lot.”
“I thought you could do it! You know, like suggesting we use the rooftop as a parking lot. Don’t you have any alternatives like that?”
As if.
He seems to think of me as some kind of magic wand. I’m sorry to disappoint Kim Jong-chun, but I don’t have that kind of ability.
We could expand and relocate to a place with parking like In-cheol, but that’s not something a restaurant that’s just established itself should do.
There’s no good solution, just…
“Is the cafe owner across the street there now?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. They’re probably there. They seem to be at the shop most of the time.”
“I’ll try talking to them.”
“Really? That’d be great for me. But that owner, you know, they’re a bit irritable. Of course, they have reason to be annoyed, but still, it doesn’t feel good.”
They must have clashed quite often. Kim Jong-chun must have been at his wit’s end, not knowing what to do.
This is perfect timing.
I pushed aside my now-empty soup rice bowl and stood up.
“The soup rice was delicious. I’ll pay by card.”
“Aw, come on. How can I charge you for soup rice? Huh?”
“You should. We need to be strict about these things. Right? That way there won’t be any discrepancies when calculating sales.”
“Geez. You’re so heartless.”
Kim Jong-chun grumbled but took the card anyway.
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Ding-a-ling.
“Welcome~.”
As I entered the cafe, the soft music and fragrant coffee aroma wafted over me.
The owner, looking slightly tired, greeted me from behind the counter.
“One iced Americano, please.”
“Certainly, one iced Americano. For here or to go?”
“I’ll have it here.”
“Alright, I’ve processed your card~.”
The conversation flowed naturally, almost robotically. I quietly observed as the owner swiped the card and said, “I’ll bring it to you shortly,” before heading to the coffee machine.
“I’m the only customer here.”
At my sudden comment, the owner paused for a moment. Then, with an awkward smile, they replied.
“That’s right. Maybe it’s because a pretty big cafe opened up nearby.”
That’s most likely the reason.
Independent cafes are easily overlooked unless they have something unique. Whether it’s beautiful interior design, exceptional taste, or a special signature menu unique to the place. Without these, it’s all too easy to lose customers.
“Here’s your Americano.”
“Thank you.”
I took the coffee and sipped it. The taste of an ordinary Americano. No, wait. There’s a slightly unpleasant bitterness at the end. The beans have been over-roasted.
This indicates a problem in the roasting process…
The cafe owner doesn’t seem to realize what the problem is. Using the excuse of having no customers, we engaged in casual conversation.
The cafe owner, though somewhat puzzled, responded well as the flow of conversation wasn’t bad. I gently broached the subject.
“I saw a new soup rice shop opened up front. Have you been there?”
“Oh, that place?”
Their voice suddenly turned sharp. Realizing their tone, they cleared their throat with a “Ahem, ahem.”
“There are so many people, I haven’t been able to go. It’s incredible how many customers they have….”
Their customers keep blocking the front of the cafe, and it’s killing me. Especially when business is already slow… The unspoken words were crystal clear.
I think I understand without them having to say it.
“Is that so? You should drop by sometime. I’ll treat you to a bowl on the house.”
“…Pardon?”
They widened their eyes as if to say, “What are you talking about?”
“I apologize for the late introduction. This is who I am.”
As I handed over a business card, I got straight to the point.
“I’d like to acquire this cafe. Do you have a moment to talk now?”