Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 102

Woojin was very busy now. It had been a long time since he last visited his mother’s shop.

Woojin thought, ‘This shopping area has no elevator. Mom has been working here for so long.’ He arrived at the shop and looked through the glass. He saw his mother making dough for *kalguksu*, a Korean noodle soup. She was working hard, just like always, and sweating. Woojin smiled sadly as he watched her.

He had told her at least ten times that she could stop working now.

His mother couldn’t easily quit a business she had been doing for over ten years.

His mother would say, “How can I just relax and spend your money?” Woojin would reply, “Mom, it’s okay. You’ve worked so hard for so long.” But his mother would insist, “I’m still strong! And you’re just starting your business. Don’t be too sure of yourself, son.”

There was no way Woojin’s business would fail.

Woojin was sure his businesses would do well. Unless something really bad happened, he could earn money for at least ten years with what he had already built.

‘Just building the Cafe Fresco shops…’ Plus, he got rent money every month from a building he owned. After paying for the loan and taxes, he still had a good income each month.

It wasn’t like Woojin was married with a family.

Woojin’s ability was more than enough to support a modest family of two.

But no matter how much Woojin explained this, a mother’s concern for her child was not an emotion based on rational judgment.

“Oh! My son is here?”

“The traffic wasn’t as bad as I thought. Take your time cleaning up.”

“Okay. I’m almost done, so sit there and wait a bit.”

Usually, her shop was full of customers on Saturday evenings. But today was special. She had promised Woojin dinner, and she had been looking forward to it for weeks. She put a sign on the door: ‘Closed for Dinner’.

Thus, the time Joohee finished cleaning up the entire shop and came out was 5:30 PM.

*Sound of shutters closing with a creak and clang.* Joohee laughed, feeling a little strange closing up so early.

“Thanks to my son,” she said, “I get to leave work early! This is the life!”

“I’m telling you, you can close down completely, not just leave early?”

“There you go again. We decided to talk about that later, didn’t we?”

Woojin locked the shutters Joohee had lowered and walked down to the parking lot, chatting happily.

Now that he had adjusted since his regression, the term ‘Mom’ instead of ‘Mother’ didn’t feel awkward at all.

“Son. When did you learn to drive like this?”

“When did I learn? You know I got my license before I went to the army.”

“You got your license, yes, but it was just for show, wasn’t it?”

“Hey. It’s not like it’s a stick shift, driving an automatic isn’t that hard. Step on the right to go, step on the left to stop.”

*Tires screeched* as Woojin stopped in front of the restaurant. His mother was in the passenger seat. As a parking attendant came to take the car, Woojin had a funny thought: *Should I pretend I’m not a good driver in front of Mom?* Just as he was about to go inside, he noticed his mother hesitate.

“Woojin,” she asked, “Is this place… very expensive?”

Joohee had only heard from Woojin that they were going to have dinner together, but she had never heard what they were going to eat.

But when she arrived after riding in her son’s car, she found herself at a very luxurious restaurant.

Seeing the parking attendant come out and kindly park the car, she couldn’t help but worry about the cost of the meal.

Woojin smiled and held out a piece of paper. ‘Ta-da!’

“What’s this?” his mother asked.

“It’s a coupon. A *hyung-nim*, an older friend, gave it to me.”

“A *hyung-nim*?”

“Yes, a friend who works with restaurants.” Woojin thought of Seokjung. He was like an older brother to him. And it was true he worked in the restaurant business, even if he was also from a very rich family.

“Look, it’s an 85 percent discount!” Woojin pointed to the coupon.

“Oh, I see,” his mother said.

“Even if we order a lot, it won’t cost much. So don’t worry, Mom, let’s go in!” Joohee still looked a little unsure, but she followed her clever son into the restaurant.

Dish after dish came, each one beautifully presented and tasting amazing. Woojin enjoyed seeing his mother try new foods and smile. Being with his mother, and sharing this special meal, made him happier than he had been in a long time.

Yoo Junmo had just retired from his job at a big company, SH Group. He was in his late 50s. Like many fathers, he had worked hard to support his family. He had a daughter in her second year of university and a son who just started his first job.

Even though SH Group was a big company and Junmo had saved some money, he felt worried about retirement. He didn’t own buildings or have money coming in every month. People were living longer these days, up to 100 years! Even in his 50s, Junmo knew he still had many years ahead. The money he saved might not be enough for a long retirement.

Junmo sighed, ‘Hoo… I never became a top manager. Maybe if I had worked just two more years…’ He lay back on the comfortable sofa on Sunday evening, but he wasn’t relaxed. He was full of worries about what to do next year.

‘Everyone seems to be opening fried chicken places… Maybe a chicken or pizza shop is easiest?’ If he were younger, he might try something new. But Junmo was almost 60. He didn’t feel like taking big risks. So, he thought about doing something safe, like opening a franchise restaurant, something many people already did.

But he also worried: Could he really earn enough money doing something everyone else was doing? He was glad he had used company money to pay for his son’s very expensive university studies. He had hoped to work two more years to pay for his daughter’s university too. But now that he was retired, he couldn’t do anything about it.

‘Maybe I can find a job working for another company…’ Because he was so worried about retirement, Junmo sighed even when he was just sitting quietly.

A plate of fruit appeared in front of him as he stared at the TV, not really seeing anything. It was a big plate of his favorite fruits, strawberries and apples.

“Honey,” his wife said gently, “I told you not to worry so much.”

“Is it… is it that obvious?” Junmo asked.

“Yes,” she said, “You look very pale.”

Junmo sighed heavily. “Hmph. I just can’t figure it out,” he mumbled, frustrated.

“Sulking won’t help you find the answer. Have some fruit.”

“Shall I?”

While Junmo speared a piece of apple with his fork, his wife picked up the remote and began flipping through TV channels.

There wasn’t a particular show she was waiting for, but Sunday evenings were usually filled with entertaining variety programs.

The TV flashed with bright colours and loud music, silly games and people laughing. It was the kind of thing you could watch without really paying attention, just letting the noise fill the quiet evening.

Junmo, who had already taken a bite of his apple, turned to his wife and spoke again.

“Honey, wasn’t there a new variety show with Park Dooyoung that started last week?”

“Park Dooyoung?”

“Yeah, you know. The one with Park Dooyoung and Yoon Jaeyeop showing off their houses.”

“Ah…!”

“What was it called again?”

“Just a moment. I don’t remember the name, but I think it was on KBC.”

As his wife flipped through the channels, Yoon Jaeyeop’s face immediately appeared in the center of the screen.

Junmo then spotted the logo for tucked away in the corner of the screen and nodded, muttering to himself.

“Yeah, that’s it. Why Did You Come to My House.”

“We only watched the end of it last week, right?”

“Right. I only watched it for a bit, but Park Dooyoung was funny.”

“Ugh. That guy’s been around for so long, he’s getting stale.”

“But, not many comedians have stayed popular as long as Park Dooyoung.”

“Hmm… That’s true.”

The couple turned on simply because of a funny scene they had happened to catch last week.

But that was the nature of variety shows; people watched them for those little moments of fun.

So the two of them turned on , expecting that kind of amusement.

It was around 9:20 PM, so they weren’t watching from the very beginning.

But it wasn’t a drama; there was no need to watch a variety show from the start.

However, Junmo, who was briefly staring at the TV screen, couldn’t help but mutter with a slightly puzzled expression.

“Hmm…? I thought it was a show about celebrities visiting each other’s houses, but today’s a bit different?”

Instead of simply showing the cast visiting each other’s homes, featured a large café in the suburbs.

Yuria’s boisterous voice was blaring from the TV.

[Amazing! Incredible! Finally, a trendy coffee shop like this has opened in our neighborhood!]

But just because it was an unexpected scene didn’t mean it wasn’t intriguing.

[What’s ‘trendy,’ what’s ‘trendy.’ Don’t use strange words.]

[Old man! Don’t nitpick unnecessarily, and look at this interior. I’m only coming here from now on. I can’t go anywhere else!]

Yuria and Yoon Jaeyeop’s bickering made him chuckle.

[You’re deciding that without even tasting the coffee?]

[Can’t you tell just by looking?]

[Tell what?]

[If the coffee tastes bad with an interior like this, it’s a scam! A scam!]

Their jokes didn’t feel strange at all, as the café’s interior looked quite impressive even to Junmo, the viewer.

‘Oh, it looks great even to someone like me who doesn’t know much?’

But while Junmo was only slightly intrigued, his wife, who was sitting next to him, was showing a much more enthusiastic reaction.

“Wow…! Honey, honey!” she said, shaking his arm excitedly. “Quickly search where that is.” She always got really enthusiastic about new places.

“Huh? What’s wrong, dear?”

“What’s wrong? Doesn’t that look completely foreign?”

“Hmm… It does look kind of nice….”

“That’s much nicer than the café we went to in Namyangju last week.”

“Hey, it’s definitely better than that place.”

“You’re just not sensitive enough; that place was really famous too.”

“Really?”

“I think that place is going to be a sensation after today’s broadcast….”

Seeing his wife’s enthusiastic reaction, Junmo began to take a little more interest.

‘Should I search it up…?’

The laptop was conveniently placed on the table, so it wouldn’t be too much trouble.

The café’s name wasn’t revealed on the broadcast, but it wasn’t difficult to search for it anyway.

The moment he typed ‘Why Did You Come to My House’ into the search bar, related articles and content poured out like mushrooms after rain.

[, Where is the café that Yuria admired?]

[The ultimate in ‘Modern Vintage’! Who is Seo Woojin, the designer of ‘Café Fresco’?]

[Already a ‘Hot Place’ even before the broadcast! The landmark of Samsong Station, ‘Café Fresco’!]

Junmo, who had been searching the internet, began to widen his eyes more and more.

The public’s reaction to the café in the TV show, which had the business name ‘Café Fresco,’ was as enthusiastic as his wife’s, if not more so.

‘What is it? Is that café’s design… that amazing?’

Junmo started to think maybe he was wrong. If everyone else liked it so much, and even his wife was excited, maybe this cafe really was special.

Somehow, each color looked luxurious, and the interior props and finishes also began to look more sophisticated.

His wife, who was watching the screen that Junmo was searching from behind, spoke again.

“Honey, apparently their coffee is really delicious too!”

“Y-yeah, so it seems.”

“We should go,” his wife said suddenly. “Next week, when you have a day off.”

Junmo blinked. “Go where? Oh, the cafe? On a weekday?”

“Yes! Weekends will be crazy busy after this show. Weekday will be much better.” She was already planning it.

Junmo, who had nodded absentmindedly at his wife’s fuss, now turned his gaze back to the TV screen.

The articles about were interesting, but the variety show was more entertaining.

And so, just as he was about to close the laptop screen and focus a little more on the TV,

“Hmm…?”

One of the article titles that was floating on the side of the screen caught Junmo’s eye as he was about to turn off the laptop.

[A new café franchise boom? Who is ‘Kang Seokjung,’ the CEO of ?]

And Junmo, after confirming that title, couldn’t help but click on the article almost without thinking.

‘It was a franchise?’

For Junmo, who was already considering joining a decent franchise, it was an article title that couldn’t help but catch his attention.