Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 303

303

Two people sat side by side on the bus.

Shin Mi-sook looked at Hyun-sung and said,

“I was too headstrong yesterday, wasn’t I? Without any consideration…”

“To be honest, I also had my concerns. After the sisters left last night, I thought a lot about it. It was a first for me, so I couldn’t make a decision easily. But…”

“But?”

“In the end, what moved me was what you said as you were leaving. That kept replaying in my head.”

– I want my children, Sumin and Suyeon, to live confidently in this world even without a father.

Those were Shin Mi-sook’s last words as she left last night.

It would be one thing if I hadn’t heard it, but having heard it, it was impossible not to be bothered by it. It was a lie to say it didn’t weigh on my mind.

Shin Mi-sook’s voice sounded like a mother’s cry. That’s why I couldn’t easily refuse and had to agonize over it late into the night.

Shin Mi-sook continued,

“It might sound strange to say this to a young CEO, but I was so scared after the children’s father passed away. It’s embarrassing, but I was just a housewife. So, I couldn’t do anything. Then one day, I came to my senses and realized I had two children by my side.”

“…Yes.”

“The older one said to me, ‘Mom, can we live without Dad?'”

“…”

“Hearing that woke me up. Oh, now I have to take responsibility and raise my children, I thought. It’s a natural thing to say, but after their father suddenly passed away like that, I was out of my mind for a while.”

“It must have been very difficult for you.”

It was an understandable situation.

Hyun-sung nodded, and Shin Mi-sook continued,

“My younger sibling went through a lot to take care of my nieces and nephews. To be honest, I couldn’t do anything and just lay down. Because my personality is a bit different from others, I couldn’t adapt. That’s how I spent three months.”

“…”

“From then on, I pulled myself together and started working. I mainly worked in restaurants, but as you know, this is a rural area, so there aren’t many job opportunities.”

“That’s probably true.”

“In the meantime, I got a job at the Samgeori Restaurant a while ago. But, ridiculously, they fired me in less than a month, saying business wasn’t good.”

Hyun-sung knew about that. It was what Min Doo-shik had done. He fired two employees in less than a month because business wasn’t good.

But he didn’t know that Shin Mi-sook was one of them.

“I heard about it, but I didn’t know it was you, noona [term of endearment for an older sister or female friend].”

“It was absurd, but there was nothing I could do. But the problem was what came after.”

“Problem?”

“Yes, there are no jobs. I was really at a loss then. About ten days later, my younger sibling, Mi-ae, made a tempting offer. She started talking about you, CEO.”

“About me?”

Hyun-sung looked at Shin Mi-sook.

Shin Mi-sook nodded and continued,

“Yes, she said that since you are doing well in this neighborhood, we should figure out the taste of your ramen.”

“So, you two came every day?”

“That’s right. As I said yesterday, I thought that if we ate it every day, we would naturally be able to find out the secret to your ramen. But that was our delusion. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t figure out the secret of that sauce.”

“So…”

“Yes, that’s right. So, we thought of a way to reveal everything and ask for help.”

“Ah, I see…”

Hyun-sung nodded. He already knew all of this because he had heard it yesterday.

Shin Mi-sook spoke again.

“And I didn’t mention this yesterday, but we are actually thinking about opening a franchise.”

“A franchise?”

“Yes, of course, we can’t use your sauce for free. Right?”

“Well, I haven’t really thought about that part yet…”

It was unexpected.

Hyun-sung didn’t know that Shin Mi-sook was thinking that far.

‘A franchise…’

It was something I had never even considered.

After that, the two of them talked about this and that for a long time.

How much time had passed?

It was about five minutes after the bus entered Hongcheon.

“This is it.”

Shin Mi-sook got up and pressed the bell.

After getting off the bus and walking a little, they arrived at Samgeori.

Shin Mi-sook pointed across the street.

“That’s the snack bar.”

Delicious Snack Bar.

A small snack bar was located where Shin Mi-sook pointed. It was on the first floor of a two-story building, and it looked small even from the outside.

Hyun-sung asked,

“You said the key money [security deposit] is 1 million won?”

“Yes, the real estate agent said so.”

“In the end, that means the average monthly sales are less than 250,000 won.”

“Yes? How do you know that?”

Shin Mi-sook looked at Hyun-sung with a curious expression and asked.

Hyun-sung easily continued as if it were nothing.

“You can roughly tell by looking at the key money.”

“That’s amazing. You can tell the monthly sales by looking at the key money. But that’s very different from what the real estate agent said.”

“How much did they say there?”

“The agent said it was over 500,000 won when it’s good. And 300,000 won when it’s not during vacation… So, is that agent lying?”

Shin Mi-sook tilted her head and looked at Hyun-sung. But what was strange was her gaze. While she was verbally doubting the real estate agent, her actual gaze was expressing distrust towards Hyun-sung.

But what was even stranger was Hyun-sung’s attitude.

He didn’t seem to care at all about Shin Mi-sook’s actions.

Hyun-sung looked at Shin Mi-sook and said,

“Well, you can find out whose calculation is correct by talking to the real estate agent. But the important thing isn’t that, but the commercial district.”

“Commercial district?”

“Yes, in my opinion, even though it’s the back gate of the school, the commercial district is too dead. It’s been 30 minutes since we got here, and as you can see, there’s no one around. Of course, school is over, but there’s too little foot traffic.”

The reason why Hyun-sung carefully examined the surroundings as soon as he arrived here was to check the foot traffic.

The importance of foot traffic in business cannot be overemphasized.

Shin Mi-sook continued,

“I can see that there aren’t many people.”

“And what’s strange is the monthly rent. I felt it from the beginning, but the monthly rent is too expensive for the size of the store. It’s even worse now that I’m here. And the surrounding buildings are too old.”

“What do you mean by that…”

“Of course, this is just my opinion, but this place used to be a good business area.”

“How do you know that?”

“You can tell by looking at the monthly rent.”

“Monthly rent?”

Shin Mi-sook tilted her head, as if she didn’t know what he was talking about, and looked at Hyun-sung.

Then Hyun-sung continued,

“There must have been a reason why the monthly rent was expensive compared to the size of the store.”

“Expensive reason?”

“Yes, the monthly rent doesn’t just get expensive for no reason. The reason why the monthly rent is expensive is because the business was good, right?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about. You keep saying that the monthly rent is expensive, but I don’t know why. In a situation where I don’t even know if this place is doing well or not, you keep saying that the monthly rent is expensive, so…”

There was something Shin Mi-sook didn’t understand. It was the issue of monthly rent.

It had only been a little over 30 minutes since they arrived here.

Of course, it was true that there weren’t many people passing by, but she thought it was too early to conclude that the monthly rent was unconditionally expensive based on that.

Hyun-sung continued,

“You seem to have misunderstood something.”

“Misunderstood?”

“Yes, the standard for the monthly rent I mentioned is based on the key money. Usually, the monthly rent has a deep relationship with the key money. Of course, it’s not directly proportional, but it’s somewhat proportional.”

“So, you’re saying that the monthly rent is expensive compared to the key money?”

“That’s right. I think that for that amount of key money, the monthly rent should be around 20,000 to 25,000 won. That’s why I’m saying it’s expensive. Especially for a 7-pyeong [approximately 256 square feet] store.”

“Ah, I see. Then I misunderstood. I thought you were briefly observing and evaluating the commercial district, so I said that.”

Shin Mi-sook nodded as if she finally understood.

Then she immediately asked again.

“You said a little while ago that there must have been a reason why the monthly rent was expensive. What does that mean?”

“As I said before, this place used to be a good business area.”

“So, the monthly rent was also expensive?”

“That’s right. But at the time, they probably didn’t think it was expensive. Because the business was good. The problem is that the monthly rent set at that time has not gone down and is still being maintained.”

“So, you’re analyzing that with the monthly rent and key money?”

“Yes, that’s right. Of course, it would be more accurate to check with the real estate agent, but that’s my judgment right now.”

Shin Mi-sook thought for a moment and asked again.

“Then what’s the reason for that?”

“The shift in the commercial district, right?”

“Shift in the commercial district?”

“Maybe this place used to be the main commercial district. As you can see, there are many shops. And the commercial district hasn’t moved for that long. I guess it hasn’t been more than a year…”

As Hyun-sung finished speaking, Shin Mi-sook tilted her head.

Then she immediately asked.

“A year? Why do you think that?”

“There are no empty shops, right? If the commercial district had moved a long time ago, there would have been many empty shops.”

“What’s the reason for that…”

“The fact that the main commercial district has moved means that business won’t be as good. On the other hand, the monthly rent is the same as before, so naturally people will leave, right?”

“Ah, I see. How can you get so much information just from the monthly rent and key money? I didn’t even think about that, you’re really amazing.”

“No, it’s just speculation. You have to check to be sure.”

“Then shall we go see the empty shops now? It’s not far from here…”

“No, I don’t think we need to go there.”

Hyun-sung spoke before Shin Mi-sook could finish.

Then Shin Mi-sook looked at Hyun-sung with a surprised expression.

“You came all the way here, but you’re not going to see it?”

“This commercial district is a setting sun anyway. No matter how early you regret it, it’s still late.”

“You mean…”

“I mean it’s not this way. It would be better to find out which commercial district is rising. Let’s go to the real estate agent first.”

“Yes? Ah, but… Yes.”

Shin Mi-sook closed her mouth, trying to say something. Then she turned around and headed towards the real estate agent.

10 minutes later.

The two arrived in front of the real estate agent.

Shin Mi-sook said,

“Here it is.”

As the two entered, the real estate agent, Park Young-jin, recognized Shin Mi-sook and greeted her happily.

“Oh? Shin CEO, you’re here? I was just about to contact you.”

“To me? Why?”

“Because of the snack bar you saw last time.”

“What about the snack bar?”

“Ah, someone else is showing interest in it. So, I was going to ask you first what you were going to do.”

Pfft.

The moment Hyun-sung heard that, he couldn’t help but smile. The reason was simple. Park Young-jin’s clumsy sales tactic was too obvious.

Competitive psychology.

It’s the first method used on people without experience.

As Hyun-sung smiled, Park Young-jin, who saw the sight, looked at Shin Mi-sook and asked.

“Is this young man who came with you your son?”

“Son? Hoho, no. This person is a CEO I deliberately brought with me. He’s here to help me with the contract.”

“CEO? But he looks like a student to me. How old is he…”

“Yes, he’s a senior in high school. Although he’s young, he’s a CEO who runs a ramen restaurant. Of course, his business is a huge success. He was also featured as a ‘matjib’ [famous 맛집 restaurant] on TV last year. He’s famous in our neighborhood.”

As Shin Mi-sook’s explanation ended, Park Young-jin jumped up from his seat and approached Hyun-sung.

“Your name is…?”