NOVEL NEXT 47
Jung Da-on hesitated for a moment, then put his apron back on.
“Okay. I’ll do it.”
As I watched him walk out with the bowl of dakbal, Han Mi-ae felt compelled to make excuses beside me.
“I’m sorry, Woo-yeon. The kid doesn’t know much about the real world yet. This kind of thing is common in business, but he’s making a fuss over nothing.”
“It’s fine.”
“I’ll have a serious talk with him when work is over today. I’ve told him so many times, but he still acts like this. Even if he’s young, you’re like our head office CEO to us.”
Han Mi-ae kept glancing at me nervously.
“We’re only able to run this decent business thanks to your investment. 3 million won wasn’t nearly enough, but thanks to you, we could renovate and completely change the menu…”
“You don’t need to think of it that way.”
I smiled at Han Mi-ae.
“I’m not a philanthropist. I’m a businessperson. I just invested in what seemed promising.”
How could this be solely for Han Mi-ae’s benefit? It’s for
“So maintain your dignity while being respectful.”
One can’t last long in business with a weak heart.
“Because we’re business partners, right? I decided to invest based on your potential, Boss. Why do you always seem to put yourself down?”
“……!”
Han Mi-ae’s eyes widened at my words.
We’re not in a hierarchical relationship. Just like how the head office and franchises aren’t in a superior-subordinate relationship.
We’re just in the same boat for mutual benefit. Just as it’s the franchise’s duty to diligently operate in their respective locations, it’s the head office’s role to look after the franchises and point out what they might miss.
I think we just have different roles, but some franchise owners, like Han Mi-ae, often take this submissive attitude.
There’s no need for that at all.
Frankly speaking, franchises could operate without a head office, but a head office is nothing without its franchises.
I watched Jung Da-on serving the dakbal to the troublesome customer through the kitchen and said,
“Customers like that will be endless once you start selling alcohol.”
“Yes. I’m prepared for that.”
“But you know, Boss, from my experience, people aren’t made of iron. They wear down quickly.”
There are too many reasons why people wear down. Difficult customers, hard physical labor, stagnant growth, social perceptions…
“So don’t just endure everything. You’ll get sick. We’re all in business to make a living, so there’s no need to cater too much to customers like that.”
Of course, it would be problematic to intentionally pick fights with customers, but Han Mi-ae doesn’t seem the type to do that. I’m more worried she might close shop early from being intimidated by customers.
As Jung Da-on returned to the kitchen, I added a word to him as well.
“Jung Da-on, you help out well from the side.”
“…Okay.”
“I’ll be heading out now.”
The situation seemed more or less resolved, and staying longer would only make everyone uncomfortable.
“It’s quite late. Jung Da-on, you walk Woo-yeon home.”
“What? No, it’s fine. It’s not far from here.”
“That’s exactly why you should walk Woo-yeon home. It’s not far. All the tables are full now, and all the orders are out, so it’s okay for a bit. Jung Da-on, hurry!”
“Alright~ I was planning to anyway.”
Really, it’s fine. I’m not a child, and surely I can find my way home when it’s right around the corner.
Of course, I understand the concern given the time and the potential for drunk people, but…
As I hesitated for a moment, Jung Da-on, who had already taken off his apron and put on his coat, tilted his head.
“Aren’t you coming?”
“I’m coming.”
Well, as Han Mi-ae said, it’s not far, so a quick trip shouldn’t be a problem.
“Ugh. It’s still chilly at night though. Right?”
“Yeah.”
Jung Da-on exaggeratedly shivered.
“About earlier. I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Just. For getting angry based on my own assumptions.”
Oh, that? Why worry about such a trivial thing?
“It’s fine. You’re young, that’s why.”
“Hey. We’re the same age, you know?”
Right. Physically, that is. If we’re talking mental age, you couldn’t even guess how old I am, kiddo.
“But you… seem so different.”
I should be. It’d be more problematic if we were the same.
But Jung Da-on, unaware of the details, seemed to envy that I had started my social life early, despite being the same age.
“I’m busy with assignments and stuff, but you’re already running a business.”
“Student days are the best.”
“Why do you sound just like my mom?”
Well, we might be of similar age, actually…
“But you know. I heard you provided all the money for remodeling my mom’s shop.”
“I lent it. As an investment.”
“That’s the same thing! It must have been millions. How can someone our age have millions in cash?”
Ah, I remember now. The reason I found Jung Da-on uncomfortable. He was incredibly noisy. Unfortunately, Yu-sol wasn’t here today to mediate.
“Be honest. You…”
Jung Da-on narrowed his eyes and looked at me suspiciously.
“Aren’t you like the youngest daughter of some chaebol family?”
“What?”
“You’ve been taking management lessons since you were young, right? Wait. Could this be… your grandfather giving seed money to his grandchildren to see who can grow it the most, and whoever does gets to inherit the company…?!”
What a wild imagination.
Jung Da-on seemed completely absorbed in the story he’d concocted. As I chuckled in disbelief, he pressed on, thinking he’d hit the mark.
“Why. Am I wrong? Come on, it doesn’t make sense otherwise!”
“What doesn’t make sense? I’m just naturally gifted.”
Jung Da-on made a face of disgust at my words. But it’s true!
“You played marbles when you were young, right?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
“How did you play marbles?”
“What do you mean how? You just hit the other person’s marble with yours, and if you hit it, you get to keep it. That sort of thing.”
Jung Da-on asked as if there could be no other way. Right. That’s the typical consumer mentality.
“I used marbles to breed on the side.”
“What are you talking about?”
“When someone ran out of marbles while playing, I’d lend them ten. But they had to pay back fifteen.”
“What?!”
Jung Da-on looked at me in shock. Come on, it’s not that big a deal.
“There were other things too. I’d order rare marbles and sell them to kids for double the price, set different loan limits based on the kids’ credit ratings…”
“……”
“I was like that since I was young. For some reason, my brain just worked well in that direction. It was fun too.”
How long ago was this? Talking about my childhood after so long brought back amusing memories.
Though they’ve become faint now.
“You know why I still remember this? I must have been in the lower grades of elementary school. At first, the school didn’t know, but when they found out everything, all hell broke loose. You should have seen how perplexed my homeroom teacher was…”
Being so young, I didn’t understand concepts like private loans or interest rates. To adults, it must have looked like I was running an illegal loan shark operation. How flabbergasted they must have been.
“You did this in elementary school?”
Jung Da-on blinked, still unable to believe it. Don’t believe it if you don’t want to.
“Here we are.”
We had almost reached my place.
“You should head back now. Thanks for walking me.”
“Huh? We’re here already?”
“Yep.”
I pointed to the one-room villa where I lived.
“I live here.”
“…Alone?”
“Alone.”
At my words, Jung Da-on had an ‘oh’ moment. He seemed to realize what it meant for a barely twenty-year-old like me to live alone in a one-room apartment instead of going to university.
‘Actually, it’s not like that.’
If I wanted, I could move to a bigger place. This was just the first place I found when I urgently needed to move out of the terrible semi-basement I lived in while working part-time at Boss Lee In-cheol’s shop. Since returning to being twenty, I naturally haven’t had time to move, so I’m just staying here.
I hardly spend any time at home anyway.
‘It’s not exactly a misunderstanding, though.’
I lost my parents early and grew up moving between relatives’ homes. As soon as I became an adult, I moved out with nothing and lived off part-time jobs.
‘It’s far from being the youngest daughter of a chaebol family taking management lessons.’
But I’m long past the stage of being hurt by my birth circumstances or family situation. I already know how far I can go, having experienced it before.
“Go inside. Your mom must have been quite shaken today, so take good care of her.”
“Oh? Okay.”
Seeing him feel awkward, I changed the subject to show there was no need for that.
Right. Should I offer some words of encouragement?
“Study hard~”
“…You’re really not twenty, are you?”
Seeing Jung Da-on’s incredulous look, I felt a bit caught out.
Oops. Is it that obvious?
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“Hey, hey, hey! Let’s go quickly!”
“Huh? Where?”
Sim Chae-yoon asked with a puzzled face. Her friend looked at her in disbelief and started pulling her hand forcefully.
“Wh-what?!”
“We’ll be late! Hurry up and come!”
“Where are we going?!”
Sim Chae-yoon asked as she ran blindly.
“You’ll see when we get there!”
What an irresponsible answer. Sim Chae-yoon inwardly made a sulky face as she hurried along.
And just as they turned the corner,
“…Huh?!”
The first thing that caught her eye was a sign that read [Bingwa] in large letters on a neat-looking cafe.
They seemed to have been doing construction for the past few days. Looks like a new shop had opened.
Below, she could vaguely see a crowd of people. Even through the shop’s windows, it was clear that it was packed with people.
“Wow~ What’s this? Why is it so popular?”
“Hey, do you really not know?”
Her friend said as she stood at the end of the line.
“It’s the official opening day for the snow flower bingsu!”
“…Ah!”
Come to think of it, that was happening. Sim Chae-yoon gaped at the line stretching out in front of her.
“All these… are people who came to eat snow flower bingsu?!”
It was the grand opening of Bingwa, the first snow flower bingsu specialty shop.