Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 428

430

“Sir, you have a visitor.”

At the word ‘visitor,’ Hyun-sung stopped working and looked at Director Yoo Min-cheol.

“A visitor?”

“Yes, they arrived at the office a little while ago.”

“Did they say who it was?”

“They said it was Baek Doo-soon.”

“Doo-soon?”

Hyun-sung was surprised at the name Baek Doo-soon. Of course, he had received a call from Baek Doo-soon a few days prior. However, the day he was supposed to arrive was still three days away.

“Are you sure it’s Baek Doo-soon?”

“Yes, he definitely said that.”

“Okay, I understand. I’ll go right away.”

Hyun-sung tilted his head, stopped what he was doing, and headed to the office. *If he came three days earlier than promised, there must be a good reason*, Hyun-sung figured.

He was almost at the office when Hyun-sung spotted Baek Doo-soon standing on the hillside. It seemed he had been waiting in the office and came outside to look around.

“Hey, Baek Doo-soon!”

Hyun-sung called out his name loudly and ran towards him.

Baek Doo-soon also raised his hand as soon as he saw Hyun-sung.

“Yo!”

“Why are you outside in the cold?”

“This is nothing.”

“But what happened? You said you’d be here in three days, so why are you here suddenly today?”

“That’s not important. What is all this?”

Baek Doo-soon pointed around with his hand. The area he pointed to included the vinyl [plastic] greenhouse complex and the restaurant building behind Hyun-sung.

Baek Doo-soon was astonished by the sheer scale of it.

“What do you mean?”

“What I’m seeing with my own eyes, is this all your doing?”

Baek Doo-soon couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Of course, he had heard about it roughly at the recruit training center, but this was on a scale that couldn’t even be compared to what he had imagined.

“I told you, didn’t I?”

“Of course, you did, but I didn’t know it would be this big. Is this really all yours?”

“Yeah, it just happened that way.”

“Huh…….”

Baek Doo-soon could only let out a hollow laugh.

The reason he came here today was out of curiosity. He had talked about it at the recruit training center and again on the day they were discharged, so he thought he should come and see it at least once. The reason *behind his visit* was his attitude when he spoke.

He wasn’t trying to brag, but he seemed sincere. If that weren’t the case, he wouldn’t have come all this way. But he didn’t have great expectations either. He was just curious and couldn’t ignore his earnest request, so he came.

But the moment he arrived, he could tell at a glance that this was no joke. Especially the restaurant building, which was the highlight. Two floors underground and five floors above ground, and the size was beyond imagination.

“That building is a restaurant?”

“Yeah, the first and second basement floors are parking, and the floors above are the restaurant.”

“You’re saying all five floors are for the restaurant?”

“Not all of them, only up to the fourth floor, and the fifth floor will be a cafe.”

“Wow! I can’t believe it…….”

Baek Doo-soon shook his head in disbelief. He had never seen a restaurant building of this size anywhere. Not even in Seoul had he seen such a large restaurant.

“Haa!”

He couldn’t help but exhale the breath he had been holding in. It was a sight that Baek Doo-soon couldn’t accept based on his own standards.

“How many square feet is it?”

“The size isn’t important…….”

“No, it’s important to me. So tell me honestly. That way, I think my decision will be easier.”

Baek Doo-soon’s expression suddenly became serious. Seeing that, Hyun-sung nodded and continued.

“The hall alone is 7,200 square feet, the kitchen is 1,800 square feet, and if you include the food storage and elevator space, it’s 1,800 square feet.”

“So, in the end, it’s about 10,800 square feet?”

“Yeah, at first I didn’t think it would be this big, but I increased the size a bit thinking about the future. And oh! On the first basement floor, next to the parking lot, I also made a storage room of 5,400 square feet. It will mainly be a kimchi storage.”

“…….”

Baek Doo-soon shook his head again and opened his mouth again.

“Is your family rich?”

That was the first question he wanted to ask. Even though it’s the countryside, it would be impossible to do something on this scale with just any amount of money.

“No, that’s not it, actually…….”

Hyun-sung had no choice but to start explaining how he had earned the money. He didn’t need to explain it to anyone else, but Baek Doo-soon was different. He thought that he might be working with him in the future, so he thought it was basic courtesy to explain at least that much to him.

When Hyun-sung finished his explanation, Baek Doo-soon was silent for a moment.

“…….”

“I didn’t add or subtract anything. I thought I should tell you at least, so I told you exactly as it is.”

“So, in the end, you’re saying that the chairman of Nongshim [a large South Korean food company] is behind you?”

“Rather than behind me, he was the one who gave me the initial funds. With that, I bought land in Ilsan, and luckily it became a new city…….”

“Hmm…….”

Baek Doo-soon seemed to be lost in thought again and said nothing.

It was about a minute later that he opened his mouth again.

“Thank you.”

“Huh? For what?”

“For telling me the truth. After listening, I don’t think it’s something you can tell just anyone.”

“Because it’s you.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m thanking you. Now I know for sure that what you said at the recruit training center was sincere. Honestly, even this morning when I left home, I was wondering if what I was doing was right.”

Hyun-sung nodded. His house is in Munsan. To arrive here at this time from there, he would have had to leave early in the morning. It meant that he couldn’t have come easily without faith in Hyun-sung.

Baek Doo-soon continued.

“But now I know that my choice was not wrong.”

“I’m glad. And thank you.”

“No, if we’re talking about being thankful, I’m more thankful. Because you’re the one who recognized me, who is nothing special.”

“You were a rough stone [uncut gem].”

“What? A rough stone?”

“Yeah, do you know how happy I was the moment I saw you digging?”

Pfft.

Baek Doo-soon laughed lightly. Of course, the laugh wasn’t unpleasant. On the contrary, it meant that he was grateful for being recognized.

“Please take care of me.”

“Huh?”

“You said I was a rough stone, right? So please take care of me. A rough stone changes depending on who it meets.”

“That means…….”

“Yeah, from now on, you’re my master. Actually, tomorrow is the deadline for additional university registration. But no matter how much I thought about it, the words ‘natural-born farmer’ that you said kept bothering me. That’s why I came today.”

Only then did Hyun-sung realize why Baek Doo-soon had come three days earlier than promised. But one question arose. Then why did he make an appointment for the weekend in the first place?

The reason could be found in Baek Doo-soon’s next words.

“I’m saying this now, but honestly, I didn’t believe it. So I was going to finish the additional registration tomorrow and take a break on the weekend.”

“…….”

“I’m going to farm instead of going to university, just like you said.”

“Won’t you regret it?”

“No, on the contrary. I majored in accounting, but I hate numbers. But I was going to go because of my parents, but after seeing this, I realized that I don’t need to worry anymore.”

Baek Doo-soon was pointing to the vinyl greenhouse complex with his hand.

“How many in total?”

“100 buildings, 5 acres. You will be in charge of 10 buildings, each building is 0.5 acre, and 5 people will be assigned to each building.”

“So you’re telling me to take responsibility for 50 people?”

“For now.”

“For now?”

“Yeah, in three years, you’ll have to manage 500 people. Of course, that ability depends on you. And by then, ₩3,000,000 [Korean Won] will be deposited into your account every month.”

“Wait a minute!”

Baek Doo-soon suddenly spread out all ten fingers and started calculating. A strange sound came out of his mouth a moment later.

“@#$#%&……!!!”

“What? Are you speaking in tongues?”

“Do you think I’m in a situation where I can’t speak in tongues? If what you’re saying is true, that’s ₩36,000,000 a year! You have to work at Samsung for 10 years to get that much…….”

“Hey, what’s so bad about us compared to Samsung? Right?”

“…….”

Baek Doo-soon was speechless. *Is this real?* But Hyun-sung wouldn’t be talking nonsense without thinking…….

“Hey, you’re not lying to me right now, are you?”

“Do I look like that to you? Would I lie to my training camp buddy…….”

“No, that’s not it…… No matter how much I think about it, I can’t understand it with my head.”

Baek Doo-soon shook his head. No matter how much he thought about it, it was something he couldn’t even imagine with his head.

Why wouldn’t he? At that time, the starting salary for a 9th-grade civil servant was about ₩1,200,000, and it was only after 15 years that it barely exceeded ₩2,000,000.

Hyun-sung continued.

“I can eat less.”

“What?”

“Companies are always trying to reduce employee salaries to fill their own pockets, but I’m only going to eat half. I’m going to give half of my share back to the employees.”

“…….”

“I’m going to show you that you can live better in the countryside just by farming than working at Samsung. Do you understand what I’m saying now?”

“Huh? Yeah…….”

Baek Doo-soon just nodded with his mouth open. Hyun-sung said, looking at Baek Doo-soon.

“Hey, let’s go.”

“Huh? Where to?”

“Where else? You came from far away, so I have to feed you first. Let’s talk about the details while we eat.”

Step.

With those words, Hyun-sung walked towards the place where the truck was parked.

“Hmm?”

Hyun-sung had no choice but to stop after walking a few steps. He couldn’t hear Baek Doo-soon’s footsteps, who he thought would naturally follow.

Hyun-sung turned around and couldn’t help but smile.

Baek Doo-soon’s footsteps, who he thought would naturally follow, were heading in the opposite direction from Hyun-sung. The direction he was walking in was the vinyl greenhouse complex where he would be farming in the future.

Hyun-sung nodded.

His eyes were accurate as expected. Right now, at this moment, Baek Doo-soon wanted to see the land he would be farming more than food.

***

“Father, please try this.”

Park Beom-soo called Park Hee-cheol, placing the newly made dish on the table.

Then, Park Hee-cheol, who was sitting in the living room waiting, sniffed his nose and immediately approached the table.

“What kind of dish is it today?”

“It’s braised spicy chicken.”

“Hehe, now even braised spicy chicken…….”

Park Hee-cheol glanced at Park Beom-soo as if he was amazed and sat down in his chair.

It had already been a month since he started eating his son’s cooking. The first dish was kimchi stew. He didn’t have high expectations at first. He just thought it would be fortunate if it was edible.

But the result was the opposite. It wasn’t just edible, but it tasted better than the kimchi stew sold in any restaurant. Moreover, after adding flavor with salted shrimp and soy sauce, the taste was the best.

At that time, Hyun-sung happened to eat kimchi stew together, and he was so impressed with the taste that he took his son and bought two boxes of cookbooks that day. Not only that, but he also gave him ₩1,000,000 for cooking ingredients to help his son cook.

At that time, he thought it was simply to develop his son’s cooking talent. But he later realized that the main purpose was not cooking, but to revive his lost confidence. Of course, Park Beom-soo doesn’t know that.

Slurp!

Park Hee-cheol tasted the soup first with a spoon.

“Hehe……!”

Park Hee-cheol could only laugh at the taste of the soup. He had eaten many dishes for a month, but braised spicy chicken was the first today. But the taste is again…….

Park Hee-cheol called his son.

“Beom-soo.”

“Yes, Father.”

“It’s a success again.”

“Really?”

“Yes, there’s no chicken smell at all, and it tastes amazing. Besides, it’s even spicy…… I can’t find any fault with it in my taste. It’s the best.”

Park Hee-cheol raised his thumb towards Park Beom-soo.

Then, the smile began to spread across Park Beom-soo’s face, who had been watching with a hopeful heart.

“Now, you sit down and eat too.”

“No, I’ll eat with my mother later when she comes. You eat first, Father.”

“You want me to eat alone?”

“If I eat first, my mother will have to eat alone again. So only Father…….”

“Okay, you!”

Clang.

Park Hee-cheol put down his spoon before Park Beom-soo could finish speaking.

“Why?”

“Why else? You’re trying to eat with only two people excluding me? I can’t stand that either.”

“Father, are you jealous now?”

“What, jealous…… Haha, hahaha…….”

Park Hee-cheol just laughed. Well, it’s true that the two of them have been getting along so well lately that he’s jealous. But how could he be jealous as a father? He was just happiest when the three of them ate together.

But he was just embarrassed to talk about it one by one. But Park Beom-soo, who couldn’t know that, continued to ask again.

“Father, do you know that?”

“Huh? That? What is it?”

“Hehe…….”

A strange word came out of Park Beom-soo’s mouth, who was suddenly laughing.