Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 164

164

Hyun-sung left the ramen shop, his steps light as he headed straight to school.

“Ha!”

His steps were full of energy.

A concern he couldn’t even share with others had been somewhat resolved.

‘Will students really eat ramen early in the morning?’

It was a problem he’d been worrying about even before opening.

And that problem was finally being addressed this morning. Of course, he couldn’t guarantee anything based on just the first day’s atmosphere, but at least the possibility was sufficiently confirmed.

This meant that there was no need to readjust the business hours.

If students *weren’t* eating ramen in the morning, he would have had no choice but to adjust them.

From the beginning, he had considered all possibilities.

It was a kind of challenge.

In his previous life, the former owner of this place didn’t open in the morning. He probably didn’t think students would eat ramen that early.

Currently, Hyun-sung’s business hours are from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. On the other hand, the former owner’s business hours were from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Comparing the business hours with the former owner, there was a significant difference. Hyun-sung started early in the morning, while the former owner closed late at night.

In the end, it was a difference between morning and night.

In his previous life, there were student customers even until 10 p.m. This was because of the high school seniors. Since their night study session ended at 9 p.m., those students were the last to visit the ramen shop.

Since that was already verified, if it was simply for business, Hyun-sung should also operate until that time.

But Hyun-sung couldn’t do that.

The reason was simple: Hyun-sung was a student who had to study as well as run the business.

If he operated until 10 p.m., his study time would be significantly reduced, meaning he wouldn’t be able to study properly.

Moreover, Hyun-sung would be a high school senior in just one semester.

He couldn’t give up his student status to run a ramen business.

So, after much deliberation, he chose to move the business hours earlier in the morning. That way, he would have enough time to study even after finishing work.

For Hyun-sung, who couldn’t give up either business or study, it was the best choice.

And that was somewhat verified this morning.

More than 50 students visited in a short period of 40 minutes. Of course, that was possible because he renovated the interior and secured a large enough business space.

At this rate, there’s no need to do business at night. This meant he could kill two birds with one stone without giving up either business or study.

And there was another important thing that was verified today.

That was the visit of non-students. Since there was a limit to sales if operating only with students, the visit of general customers was more important than ever.

Business is such that if you don’t establish yourself at the beginning, it will only become more difficult over time.

Especially in Hyun-sung’s case, the main customers are students.

It doesn’t matter during normal times, but the problem is during vacation. No matter how much you increase sales during normal times, if a certain amount of basic sales isn’t supported during vacation, it will be difficult.

Therefore, increasing the proportion of general customers during normal times is that much more important.

Thankfully, the elders of the senior center took the first step. The fact that it’s the first time means that there is a possibility in the future. That’s all that matters.

Word-of-mouth is crucial in business.

You just need to make the person who came once come again, and if that person can bring other people, that business is bound to thrive.

To do that, you have to put in that much effort and gain trust from customers.

That’s the task Hyun-sung has to solve in the future.

It was when Hyun-sung arrived at the school gate.

“Oppa!” [Korean term for ‘older brother’ used by females]

Seo In-hye ran to Hyun-sung. She seemed to have come early and waited.

Hyun-sung greeted Seo In-hye happily.

“Oh? In-hye. Were you waiting for me here?”

“Yeah.”

“If you were going to wait, you should have come to the store. What if I was even later?”

“I thought you might feel burdened if I went to the store.”

Seo In-hye had only briefly shown her face yesterday, saying she didn’t want to burden him when he was busy. She’s been increasingly cautious lately.

Hyun-sung looked at Seo In-hye and said.

“What burden all of a sudden?”

“I just feel that way. It feels like I’m bothering you without any sense when you’re busy, and I need to grow up now.”

Hyun-sung looked at Seo In-hye and chuckled.

What should he say? The change in her appearance in the past few days felt a bit unfamiliar.

“Is something going on with you these days?”

“No, it’s not that something’s going on, but when I think about you suddenly doing business, it feels like you’ve become an adult, and my mom…….”

Seo In-hye trailed off.

Then Hyun-sung immediately asked.

“Why, what did your aunt say?”

“She told me not to keep going to your business. She said it’s not a playground, it’s a business place.”

“Business place?”

Seo In-hye nodded.

Hyun-sung looked at Seo In-hye and tilted his head.

Of course, it’s not wrong, but it was hard to understand Seo In-hye’s mother for saying that to a child.

Then Seo In-hye said.

“Oppa, what time does your business end today?”

“It ends at 7 today too, why?”

“Does it end at 7 even on Saturday?”

“Instead of resting on Sunday, it’s always the same from Monday to Saturday. And today is market day.”

Seo In-hye nodded as if she understood.

After a moment of silence, Seo In-hye looked at Hyun-sung and asked again.

“Can you come to my house today?”

“House?”

“Yeah, my mom was asking if you could come home after work. She said she wanted to have dinner with you to thank you for what happened to me last time.”

Last time would be about Seo In-hye’s runaway.

After thinking for a moment, Hyun-sung immediately said.

“Okay, I’ll go right after work. I’ll probably be able to go by 7:30.”

“Okay, Oppa. I’ll tell my mom.”

It was a dry response from Seo In-hye.

Hyun-sung couldn’t help but feel unfamiliar with this side of Seo In-hye.

“But you seem strange today no matter how I look at it. Do you know you’re too different from other days?”

“Well……, I don’t know either. My head is a bit strange. Oppa, I’m sorry, I’ll go first. See you later then.”

Seo In-hye disappeared from the main gate before Hyun-sung could even answer.

‘What’s going on?’

No matter how he looked at it, she was too different from usual. Hyun-sung stared at Seo In-hye’s disappearing back for a long time before turning his steps to the classroom.

Seo In-hye, who had left the main gate, headed to the classroom.

‘Why am I……?’

I ended up getting angry at Hyun-sung oppa without even realizing it. Even though my heart didn’t want to, the words that came out were strangely curt.

Oppa didn’t do anything wrong.

It’s my mom who changed. At first, my mom listened to Hyun-sung oppa’s stories well, but after I ran away from home, she started to change little by little, and now she tells me not to meet Hyun-sung oppa.

I asked her why, but she didn’t tell me in detail and just kept repeating that I was too young.

I don’t want anything.

Right now, I just miss a warm embrace, but I don’t know why my mom tells me not to meet Hyun-sung oppa.

‘Why on earth?’

It was when Hyun-sung was almost at the classroom.

Someone called from behind.

“Hyun-sung.”

He could tell who it was just by the voice without even turning around, it was Kim Il-soo.

“What? Are you coming now?”

“I overslept. I guess I was a bit tired yesterday.”

“You must have been more tired yesterday because it was the first day.”

“It’s not because of that, I just went to bed a bit late last night.”

At the words ‘late’, Hyun-sung looked at Kim Il-soo.

“You went to bed late?”

“Yeah, I studied until dawn for once. Hehe…….”

Kim Il-soo was laughing as if he was embarrassed to say it himself.

Hyun-sung stopped walking and looked at Kim Il-soo.

Of course, it’s true that he’s been studying differently from before these days, but he himself said until yesterday that doing it until 10 at most was the limit.

“Really?”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“Of course I’m surprised. The sleepyhead stayed up until dawn to study, so until what time did you do it?”

“2 o’clock.”

“You really studied until 2 a.m.?”

Kim Il-soo nodded proudly. He meant that he was proud of himself even when he thought about it.

Hyun-sung asked again.

“What on earth happened?”

“Because of you.”

“What?”

What was this again?

It was a word that didn’t make sense even if you heard it.

Hyun-sung immediately said.

“Did you decide to make fun of me this morning……, what does that mean? Explain it so I can understand.”

“Actually…….”

Kim Il-soo’s explanation followed.

He said that he realized something while looking at Hyun-sung yesterday.

He said that even though they were the same age, he compared himself to Hyun-sung, who was responsible for running a store, and thought a lot all day.

And even after finishing work and going home, that thought didn’t leave his head.

Hyun-sung, who was listening to the story, asked.

“So?”

“I lay down to sleep, but I couldn’t fall asleep.”

“So you studied?”

Kim Il-soo shook his head and continued.

“It’s not that, but I thought about it and I felt pathetic.”

“Pathetic?”

“Yeah, I felt so pathetic about myself until now. You’re already working hard by opening a store at this age, but what have I been doing until now?”

“…….”

Hyun-sung couldn’t say anything for a moment at Kim Il-soo’s answer.

It was completely unexpected. He couldn’t see that side of him at all while working together yesterday. He was just grateful that he was working hard like it was his own work.

But he really didn’t know that he was thinking that at that moment.

Then Kim Il-soo’s words continued again.

“It felt strange here.”

Kim Il-soo lightly tapped his chest with his fist.

Hyun-sung was still speechless and looked at Kim Il-soo. Then Kim Il-soo continued again.

“And at some point, I realized.”

“……?”

“This is not it. I can’t keep living like this. Let’s really come to my senses. I felt that way.”

“Damn it, you’re giving me a proper blow from the morning.”

At first, he was dumbfounded, but he even felt grateful for Kim Il-soo.

Thud.

Hyun-sung lightly hit Kim Il-soo’s shoulder.

Then Kim Il-soo smiled and continued.

“It’s embarrassing to say, but I started crying without even realizing it.”

Hyun-sung looked at Kim Il-soo for a moment. No matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem like the usual Kim Il-soo.

If it was as Kim Il-soo said now, it meant that there was that much inner resonance that he cried.

Hyun-sung smiled and said.

“Damn it, what’s embarrassing about that?”

“Well, I shouldn’t be embarrassed about this in front of you. I’ve done a lot of things. Anyway, after crying like that, I couldn’t just stay still.”

It was a moment when Kim Il-soo’s eyes shone especially.

“So you got up again and studied?”

“I didn’t do it right away, but I thought about it first. You told me to be a chef before, right?”

“I did.”

“To be honest, I said I would do it because you told me to do it, so I was swept away by the atmosphere.”

“Did you? Anyway, the important thing is that you decided to do it, right? Isn’t that right?”

At Hyun-sung’s words, Kim Il-soo shook his head slightly.

Then Hyun-sung looked at Kim Il-soo with puzzled eyes.

Kim Il-soo immediately continued.

“It’s different.”

“Different? Well……, it could be. So you’re saying that your heart is different after thinking about it yourself?”

Kim Il-soo blushed as if he was a little embarrassed. When you see him like this, he was just a high school sophomore who was only big.

Hyun-sung smiled at Kim Il-soo.

Whatever the reason, it was natural to smile when he saw him looking back on himself and realizing it.

Then Kim Il-soo said again.

“I took out my old notebook again.”

“Old notebook? What’s that again?”

“A notebook of cooking secrets that I asked my grandmother and organized since I was very young.”

“You had that?”

Kim Il-soo smiled and nodded.