Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 636

One month later.

Hyun-sung headed to the bakery.

He was visiting today because he had received an urgent call from Lee Se-yi, the bakery owner, asking for help.

“Welcome, sir!”

As Hyun-sung arrived at the store, Lee Se-yi greeted him happily.

“Yes, hello. But why do you look so troubled?”

Lee Se-yi’s expression was clearly uneasy.

“There’s a problem.”

“What problem?”

“The landlord suddenly came this morning and said we can’t do the expansion.”

Until yesterday, the landlord had already given permission. So, she had already signed a contract with the equipment supplier according to that schedule.

If everything went as planned, the construction would start tomorrow.

“Why suddenly?”

“He came this morning and said that demolishing the wall would shock the building and it’s not allowed. He said that demolishing the wall for expansion is absolutely not allowed.”

“What? What are you talking about? There was no mention of that until yesterday?”

“That’s what I’m saying. There was no mention of it until yesterday evening, but I don’t know why he’s suddenly doing this. What should I do now?”

Lee Se-yi’s expression darkened rapidly.

Hyun-sung couldn’t help but tilt his head as he looked at her.

This didn’t make sense. The landlord had permitted the construction until yesterday evening as if there were no problems. But to suddenly say no to the construction the day before it was supposed to start, it was an absurd situation, even for a landlord.

“Was there anything else he said?”

“He just said that demolishing the wall is not allowed because it would shock the building.”

“Hmm…”

Hyun-sung seemed to think for a moment before continuing.

“So, he just doesn’t want the building to be shocked. Then there’s only one way.”

“Is there a way?”

“Instead of breaking the wall, we’ll cut it.”

“Cut the wall?”

“Yes, there’s a machine for that. The landlord said before that this wall wasn’t made of bricks but was made of solid concrete. That’s probably the reason.”

Old buildings sometimes have walls made of concrete instead of bricks. In such cases, demolishing the wall can inevitably shock the building. The landlord probably doesn’t want that.

Perhaps it’s a natural reaction from the landlord’s perspective.

No landlord would like their building to be shocked.

“Cutting the wall would reduce the shock, right?”

“Of course. For now, we’ll have to persuade him with that method. Could you please talk to our landlord? I don’t really know what cutting the wall means, so I don’t have the confidence to talk to him.”

“Well…”

Hyun-sung was silent for a moment, seemingly thinking. It was after some time that he spoke again.

“I don’t think that would work. There’s no justification.”

“Justification?”

“Yes, as you know, I’m just a third party. I don’t think this is my place to step in.”

“Hmm, I guess so…”

Lee Se-yi had to admit it. Whatever the reason, Hyun-sung was a third party, as he said.

Hyun-sung continued.

“Couldn’t you just make a simple call and say that the equipment supplier will explain the details?”

“Ah, I could do that.”

Lee Se-yi’s expression brightened quickly. She immediately started calling the landlord.

Five minutes later.

Lee Se-yi’s expression after the call was completely different from when she made the call.

Hyun-sung, seeing this, immediately asked.

“What’s wrong? Did the landlord say no?”

“Yes.”

“Even though you said you’d do the construction in a way that wouldn’t shock the building?”

“Yes, he said demolishing the wall is absolutely not allowed…”

Lee Se-yi looked like she was about to cry.

Hyun-sung asked again.

“No, why is he suddenly saying no when he was okay with it until yesterday?”

“I don’t know the reason either. He just keeps saying no for some reason.”

“What kind of situation is this…”

Hyun-sung was dumbfounded. There were no problems until yesterday. But to suddenly say no, he couldn’t help but be dumbfounded.

Lee Se-yi continued.

“But there’s another problem.”

“Another problem?”

“Yes, actually, next month is when we renew the contract.”

“And?”

“He’s asking for a rent increase. A million won increase.”

“How much?”

Hyun-sung couldn’t believe his ears.

This didn’t make sense. The current rent here is 1.5 million won. But to raise the rent by a million won, it was an absurd situation.

“What’s the reason?”

“He doesn’t say exactly, but I think he thinks business is going well these days. I expected it to some extent, but I didn’t think he’d raise it this much.”

“He’s a thief. Ha…”

Hyun-sung could only let out a hollow laugh.

It was a typical case of a landlord’s abuse of power. But the problem was that there was no way to stop it. At this time, there were no proper laws to protect tenants from landlords.

“What should I do now?”

“… Haa!”

Hyun-sung sighed deeply instead of answering. Then he was silent, seemingly thinking about something.

After a while.

Hyun-sung looked at Lee Se-yi and asked.

“Has anything happened with the landlord recently?”

It was the conclusion Hyun-sung had come to after much thought. There was no reason for the situation to suddenly worsen like this unless something had happened.

“That’s…”

Lee Se-yi couldn’t continue right away for some reason. The fact that she couldn’t continue right away meant there was a reason.

Hyun-sung immediately asked.

“Something happened, didn’t it?”

“Actually, the landlord has been contacting me since a week ago.”

“What did he say?”

“He kept asking me to have a drink with him on my day off…”

“What? This old geezer!”

Harsh words came out of Hyun-sung’s mouth.

“So, I refused. I think he’s holding a grudge because of that and is deliberately doing this.”

“Did he come yesterday evening too?”

“Yes, so I said no, and he ended up doing this…”

“Haa, this dirty bastard!”

Curses immediately came out of Hyun-sung’s mouth.

There was no end to this abuse of power. In the end, he was deliberately playing tricks ahead of the expansion construction and contract renewal date.

He was trying to mess around by taking advantage of the fact that Lee Se-yi was alone, and when she didn’t listen, he was going to abuse his power like this.

“Just a moment…”

After thinking for a moment, Hyun-sung excused himself to Lee Se-yi and went outside.

Once outside, Hyun-sung immediately made a call.

Beep!

The other party answered the phone as soon as it rang once.

-Hello.

“Mr. Yoo, it’s me.”

-Oh, Mr. Kim. But what’s going on that you’re calling me at this hour?

The person Hyun-sung called was Yoo Young-chul from the real estate office.

Hyun-sung immediately got to the point.

“About the bakery building… Has it been put up for sale?”

-No, there’s been no talk of that. But why?

“Why do you ask? Isn’t it obvious if you ask that question to a real estate agent?”

-Ah, are you going to buy it, Mr. Kim?

“Yes, I think I’ll have to.”

There’s no need to talk to someone like that anyway. The only way is to solve it with money. That was the conclusion Hyun-sung had come to.

And the important thing is that this neighborhood will start to be developed in earnest from 2003, five years from now. When that happens, the land value here will basically increase fivefold from what it is now.

Of course, Hyun-sung is the only one who knows this fact.

Five times in five years, it’s worth investing in. Of course, the person who sells the building now will regret it and beat his chest.

That’s Hyun-sung’s way of screwing over the bakery landlord.

-Shall I contact Mr. Shin right now?

“Yes, please work on it. Before that, how much is the building worth right now?”

-It’ll probably go for about 1.5 billion won. The building isn’t great, but that location is actually a prime spot in this neighborhood.”

That’s right. In five years, a 10-story building will be built on that spot. There’s no better place to invest in this neighborhood.

“Yes, I understand. I don’t care about the amount, just make sure the deal goes through.”

-Okay, I’ll call him right away and get back to you.

“Yes, I’ll be waiting.”

Click.

Hyun-sung hung up the phone and started looking around the bakery building.

If the market price is 1.5 billion won, the deal will be closed for 2 billion won, give or take. In five years, it will be worth at least 10 billion won.

Then the current landlord who sold the building will be beside himself.

“Hehe!”

A bitter smile began to spread across Hyun-sung’s face as he looked at the building.

About ten minutes passed.

Beep!

The phone rang.

“Hello.”

-Mr. Kim, it’s me.

“Yes, how much are they asking?”

-He’s asking for 2.5 billion won. That old man knows that the location is a central commercial district in this neighborhood, so he’s asking for 1 billion won more than the market price. What are you going to do?

“Okay, I’ll sign the contract right away. I’ll stop by the bank and go there right away, so please prepare.”

-Okay, I’ll see you later then.

Click.

Hyun-sung couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. Even if he did nothing, it would be worth 10 billion won in five years, and if necessary, he could build a building there himself, so he couldn’t help but laugh.

Hyun-sung went back to the bakery. Then he said to Lee Se-yi.

“Start the expansion construction tomorrow.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I’ll rewrite the contract tomorrow too. The landlord has changed.”

“What? Does that mean…?”

Lee Se-yi looked at Hyun-sung in surprise. Then she immediately continued.

“Are you the landlord of this building now?”

“I can’t leave that old geezer alone. You can now smile and do business here with Soo-jung. I’m going to sign the contract now.”

With those words, Hyun-sung left the bakery and headed to the bank. Lee Se-yi, who was watching his back, bowed deeply to Hyun-sung.

Thirty minutes later.

Hyun-sung arrived at the real estate office.

“Has Mr. Shin not arrived yet?”

“He’ll probably be here soon. By the way, didn’t you pay too much? With 1 billion won, you could buy another building.”

“There’s a good reason for that.”

“Reason?”

Yoo Young-chul looked at Hyun-sung as if he didn’t know what he was talking about. Then Hyun-sung immediately continued.

“He has a bad habit.”

“Who? Mr. Shin?”

“Yes, so I’m going to teach him a lesson.”

“Huh? What does that mean? Why are you buying a building to teach him a lesson?”

“You’ll find out in five years.”

It was at that moment.

The door opened and Shin Myung-gu, the landlord of the bakery, came in. The way he came in with his belly sticking out was like looking at a toad.

Then he opened his mouth.

“You’re buying my building?”

“Yes.”

Hyun-sung answered briefly. He didn’t want to mix words with him. The thought of him playing tricks with that mouth made him want to put a rag in his mouth.

Hyun-sung looked at Yoo Young-chul and gave him a look. It meant to proceed with the contract quickly. Then Yoo Young-chul opened his mouth as if he understood.

“Okay, please sit down here, and since we’ve already talked about everything, let’s sign the contract right away without wasting time. First, here’s the contract…”

The contract was made smoothly.

Twenty minutes later.

Hyun-sung, having finished all the contracts, got up from his seat and said.

“I’m busy, so I’ll be going…”

“Can I ask you one thing?”

Shin Myung-gu suddenly asked.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Is there a reason why you bought that building for 1 billion won more?”

“You’ll see in five years.”

“Hehe, five years later…”

Shin Myung-gu chuckled and tilted his head slightly. Hyun-sung smiled at him. Then he immediately turned around.

‘Eat this.’