NOVEL NEXT 55
Jo I-ruk stood dumbfounded, staring at the empty space Song Woo-yeon had just vacated. What on earth was happening now?
From a table off to the side, Roh Se-hee peeked out her head.
“Aren’t you going to follow her?”
“I suppose I should.”
Jo I-ruk replied, hastily gathering his things.
“I’ll go.”
“You, Roh Se-hee-ssi?”
“Yes.”
Roh Se-hee rose from her seat, pulling out and donning her coat.
“You’re busy with franchise openings, aren’t you?”
“I’ve wrapped up all the urgent matters, so it’s fine.”
“You’ll end up working overtime when you get back, won’t you?”
Hit the nail on the head. Jo I-ruk couldn’t muster a response. Roh Se-hee smirked and snatched the belongings from Jo I-ruk’s hands.
“You’ll collapse at this rate. You need to hang in there until my team members arrive.”
The team members who had worked under Roh Se-hee were one by one submitting their resignations and clearing out their desks.
“Assistant Manager Park will be joining us soon. He’ll clean up the distribution network neatly, so don’t worry too much.”
“……”
“You know that while CEO Song is quite free-spirited, she’s not thoughtless, right? Well, I was surprised when she suddenly came back with a long-term contract with some village. But when I looked at the contract, everything was well taken care of. No toxic clauses, just win-win for both parties.”
Roh Se-hee stuffed the items into a large bag and heaved it up with an “oof.”
“So I’m curious this time too.”
A bright smile spread across her face.
“I wonder how she’ll revive this dying event. It’ll be a good learning experience for me too.”
With her saying all this, Jo I-ruk couldn’t insist any further. As Roh Se-hee said, there was still work piled up.
“…Then, I’ll leave it to you.”
As Jo I-ruk bowed his head, Roh Se-hee returned a slight bow before striding out of the office.
It was time to follow Song Woo-yeon to
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Just as Roh Se-hee turned into the alley where
‘Strange. There’s no reason for more customers to… Ah.’
Roh Se-hee suddenly found herself inwardly marveling as she took in the alley from afar.
No wonder, with
From an ordinary commercial alley, the unique interiors of these shops had harmonized to create a photogenic hotspot.
‘Having the stores clustered together and sharing a concept creates advantages like this.’
It felt as if a part of the alley had become
The ambiance was perfect for taking photos in rented old-school uniforms.
True to Roh Se-hee’s thoughts, couples and young people taking pictures were everywhere.
‘So that’s why she paid such close attention to even the exterior design.’
The buildings themselves were providing excellent promotional effects. Roh Se-hee once again marveled at Song Woo-yeon’s foresight.
Age aside, she was undoubtedly a rare talent.
In the distance, Song Woo-yeon came into view. She stood in front of Happy Snack, arms crossed, staring intently at the store as if pondering something.
As Roh Se-hee drew closer, Song Woo-yeon noticed her and whipped her head around.
“Oh? Roh Se-hee-ssi, you came?”
“Yes. Team Leader Jo seemed to have a lot on his plate, so I said I’d come.”
“Ah, right. We have a string of franchise openings coming up soon, don’t we? I’ve been keeping tabs on it.”
Song Woo-yeon immediately chimed in, as she too had been checking the schedule. It was clear she had a thorough grasp of how the company was running.
“Shall we tackle this first? Da-on!”
At Song Woo-yeon’s call, an employee who had been serving inside the store came out.
“How can I help?”
His brightly smiling face was as fresh as any young man his age. He’s so young, Roh Se-hee realized anew as she saw Song Woo-yeon standing next to Jeong Da-on.
Was it the atmosphere? While Jeong Da-on exuded a strong college student vibe, Song Woo-yeon had a strangely mature air about her.
By looks alone, the two seemed about the same age. It was quite peculiar.
“First, let’s take down that poster.”
Song Woo-yeon pointed to a poster detailing the event.
‘They put it in a prime spot inside the store. So they did intend to promote this event.’
Usually, when a new menu item comes out, posters are hung in such places. It’s unlikely any customers missed the event due to lack of awareness.
“I’ve taken it down. What next?”
“Put it up here.”
“…Here?”
The spot Song Woo-yeon indicated was on the exterior wall of the building.
“Yes. Passersby need to see it. The target audience for these challenge foods is different from the regular restaurant patrons. So putting it inside the store doesn’t mean much.”
I see.
Roh Se-hee immediately nodded in agreement.
Jeong Da-on swiftly affixed the posters to the exterior wall one after another. Song Woo-yeon finally looked somewhat satisfied.
“Oh? Looks like there’s some kind of event going on there.”
“Eat Nuclear Chicken Feet in 20 minutes? Ah~ I think I saw something similar on YouTube.”
“Right. Was it Nuclear Fire Noodles or something? Wasn’t it like eating five of those in 10 minutes? I saw that too.”
Simply moving the posters outside had clearly changed people’s level of interest.
However, no one was volunteering to take on the challenge just yet.
A few people showed interest, hovering around and asking Song Woo-yeon or Jeong Da-on about the event details, but they ultimately left after just getting an explanation.
‘This isn’t enough.’
Roh Se-hee looked at Song Woo-yeon with a hint of disappointment. Song Woo-yeon probably felt the same way.
“…Let’s bring out some outdoor tables. We were planning to do that for summer anyway.”
“Got it.”
“Ah, Da-on.”
Song Woo-yeon called out once more to Jeong Da-on, who was heading towards the storage room.
“Are you good with spicy food?”
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“Huh? What’s going on?”
Gong Tae-min asked his friend beside him as they observed the bustling street.
“Did a fight break out over there?”
“Dunno. Any cops around?”
“I don’t see any police.”
Gong Tae-min tilted his head, continuing to walk. He was a bit curious about the commotion, but not enough to investigate further.
“PC room?”
“Let’s have a quick drink and then head straight to the PC room.”
“Sounds good.”
Their plan was the same as always. Have a few drinks, and once they’re in a good mood, hit the PC room for some gaming. If the alcohol makes them drowsy, they might even doze off there.
“Huh?”
But something strange was happening.
“Why are there so many people here?”
It didn’t look like a fight, but the local snack shop was swarming with people.
As it happened to be the place where they were planning to have some chicken feet and soju, they had no choice but to face the crowd.
“Ah, what’s this?”
“Go check it out.”
“That’s a hassle. Let’s just go somewhere else.”
“There’s no place tastier than this around here.”
“Then you go.”
“You’re taller, so you’ll see better. Go take a look.”
As his friend kept pushing him, Gong Tae-min scratched the back of his head.
Feeling annoyed but thinking, ‘I’m tall, so I’ll put up with it,’ he grumbled as he stepped forward.
Pushing through the crowd, he caught a glimpse of a man sitting at a table inside.
Thanks to his height, he could see over the heads of the people in front of him.
“Wow, it must be super spicy.”
“He’s sweating buckets.”
“I wonder if he can finish it all?”
Amid the murmurs of the crowd, his view finally cleared a bit.
‘Huh?’
A guy about Gong Tae-min’s age was wolfing down an enormous pile of chicken feet and rice.
‘What’s that?’
Behind the man, a flashy poster caught his eye. It explained that if you could eat an incredibly spicy serving of chicken feet within 20 minutes, you’d receive a prize.
Moreover, it stated that milk and carbonated drinks to soothe the spiciness were provided unlimited, and rice could be refilled upon request.
“Only 5 minutes left, doesn’t look like he’ll make it.”
“Could you eat all that?”
“No way, absolutely not~”
Looking at the bowl filled to the brim with chicken feet, Gong Tae-min thought to himself.
‘I think… I could eat all that.’
An unfounded confidence suddenly welled up inside him.
‘Ah, is that so hard? Just eat a bowl of rice right at the start to protect your stomach, then quickly devour the chicken feet. If you stop midway, it’ll get spicier.’
The portion was quite large, but Gong Tae-min was a big eater who usually found a single serving unsatisfying.
‘I think I could do it.’
As he was thinking this, he noticed a woman who looked like an employee standing in front of the poster, holding a piece of paper. He’d been too focused on examining the poster to notice her before.
The content written on the large paper was… ‘Today’s Prize: 300,000 won gift certificate’.
‘300,000 won?!’
For the broke 20-year-old Gong Tae-min, that was quite a sum. How many in-game items and skins could he buy with that?
‘If I try and fail, we can just eat it as our side dish, right? The price is only about three portions anyway.’
Since they had planned to eat about three portions of chicken feet between the two of them anyway, it wouldn’t be much of a burden.
‘How spicy could it be? I’ve eaten Nuclear Fire Noodles before, and that was manageable.’
Of course, he had spent some painful time in the bathroom the next day, but.
Such trivial matters weren’t important to Gong Tae-min.
Beep beep beep beep!
“Ah~! Time’s up, you’ve failed!”
As the alarm blared loudly and the woman holding the paper made her announcement, the sweating man put down his chopsticks with a clack.
It was so spicy that he stuck out his tongue, panting, and hastily gulped down the milk the woman handed him.
Clap clap clap clap!
The crowd gave a round of applause, whether in consolation or encouragement was unclear. The man bowed awkwardly as he stood up from his seat.
“Well, unfortunately, this challenger has failed. Is there anyone else who would like to take on the challenge next?”
At this question, people murmured and looked around. No one seemed eager to step forward.
Gong Tae-min, feeling his heart race, raised his hand high.
“Ah! We have a challenger!”
He could see people around him letting out impressed “Wow~”s as they looked at him. Feeling a bit smug from the attention, Gong Tae-min tried to keep his expression nonchalant.
If he succeeded spectacularly here? He’d get 300,000 won, eat for free, and bask in people’s attention.
‘Oh, this is totally doable.’
With that conviction, Gong Tae-min stepped forward.
“Yes, you can have a seat right here.”
The employee who had put down the guidebook said with a bright smile.
“Welcome, customer.”
That smile somehow resembled a certain manga character thinking, ‘All according to plan.’