Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 44

“Mom, we’re here.”

“Welcome, my son. Oh? Hyun-sung is here too.”

“How have you been? Mother!”

Hyun-sung greeted Lee Jung-woo’s mother, Shin Myung-soon, with a cheerful voice. It had been so long since he’d seen her that his voice was full of energy.

Shin Myung-soon looked at Hyun-sung and said,

“Is something the matter today?”

“Pardon?”

“You’re just so different from usual.”

It felt strange to be asked by a friend’s mother if something was wrong just because he gave a big greeting, but what could he do? That was Hyun-sung’s past self.

Hyun-sung smiled and replied,

“I was terrible back then, wasn’t I?”

“That’s what I mean. Anyway, it’s good to see you. Sit down there.”

“Yes, Mother!”

Shin Myung-soon looked at Hyun-sung once more.

It was natural to call his friend’s mom ‘Mother.’ But the strange thing was that today was the first time he had ever said it.

Until the school break, he couldn’t even bring himself to say the word ‘Mother.’ But now, he was adding ‘Mother’ to the end of every sentence, which felt good but also awkward.

Anyway, she thought it was a relief that it wasn’t a bad thing.

Even when her son went to school, she couldn’t help but feel anxious because of his health issues. But thankfully, she felt reassured knowing that the two boys were always together.

Lee Jung-woo’s mother, Shin Myung-soon, looked at Hyun-sung and asked,

“What can I get you?”

Before Hyun-sung could answer, Lee Jung-woo spoke up first.

“Mom, give us ramen. Make mine a double portion, I’m starving.”

“Alright. Just wait a bit.”

Shin Myung-soon acknowledged and was about to turn toward the kitchen when Hyun-sung spoke.

“Mother, if possible, please make it spicy Shin Ramen.”

“What ramen?”

“Shin Ramen from Nongshim.”

Shin Myung-soon tilted her head and asked Hyun-sung again,

“Shin Ramen? Is there such a ramen? Is it new?”

“Pardon? …Just a moment.”

Hyun-sung had a fleeting thought that he had made a mistake. He had just mentioned the ramen he always ate in his past life without thinking. But she didn’t seem to know it, especially Shin Myung-soon, who ran a snack shop.

That meant…

‘Ah!’

Hyun-sung realized it then. Shin Ramen hadn’t been released yet.

Shin Ramen was released in October 1986. Until then, Samyang Ramen was the dominant player in the ramen market. However, with the release of Shin Ramen by Nongshim, a major change occurred.

When this product first came out, there was a fixed idea that ramen shouldn’t be spicy, so it wasn’t initially targeted at the mainstream market, but rather as a niche product.

However, when the Chun Doo-hwan regime hosted the 1986 Seoul Asian Games, they used the promotional slogan “Let’s show foreigners the spicy taste of Koreans” to promote the idea that “Korea, which had been devastated by the Korean War, had developed so rapidly that it was able to host the 86 Asian Games and the 88 Olympics in just 36 years.”

As a result, spicy flavors began to be emphasized in Korean food, and thanks to this spicy craze, Shin Ramen became a huge hit and took the top spot in market share.

Hyun-sung belatedly realized his mistake and said to Shin Myung-soon,

“I misspoke… Please just add some spicy chili powder.”

“I thought some ramen I didn’t know about had come out.”

Shin Myung-soon went into the kitchen, and Hyun-sung had a thoughtful expression on his face.

‘Shin Ramen hasn’t been released yet…’

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

Lee Jung-woo asked as Hyun-sung sat there without saying anything.

Hyun-sung grinned and said,

“Just wondering if there’s anything I can make money off of…”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“These days, my mind only revolves around that. Who knows? Maybe something good will happen if I keep thinking like this.”

“What is it, Kim Hyun-sung? You were saying strange things during Korean class the other day too…”

A few days ago, when the Korean teacher was talking about dreams, Hyun-sung had said that his dream was to be a building owner. It was an answer that made everyone laugh.

Lee Jung-woo was referring to that time.

Creak.

Just then, someone opened the door to the shop and came inside.

It was a familiar face. It was Choi Mi-yeon, the math teacher.

Hyun-sung quickly got up from his seat and greeted her cheerfully.

“Oh? Hello, Teacher?”

“Hyun-sung, it’s you. Oh? Jung-woo, hello too?”

Lee Jung-woo got up from his seat and bowed to Choi Mi-yeon.

“Hello.”

“Yes, hello.”

Hyun-sung quickly moved towards the refrigerator. He wanted to bring Choi Mi-yeon some cold water.

At that moment, Shin Myung-soon came out of the kitchen and said,

“Is Hyun-sung going to serve?”

“Yes, I’ll do it. Mother, please take care of the kitchen.”

“This is really something else.”

“Mother, please forget about the past from now on. Haha…”

Hyun-sung thought it was such a childish thing to say, so he covered up his embarrassment with a laugh. Shin Myung-soon lightly greeted the math teacher and went back into the kitchen.

Hyun-sung immediately grabbed a water bottle and approached Choi Mi-yeon.

“Teacher, please sit over here. This seat is cooler because of the fan.”

“Hoho… Thank you.”

“Here’s some cold water. And I’ll help you order. What would you like?”

“Oh my, you’re quite the helper. Just a moment… I’ll have Jang Kalguksu [knife-cut noodle soup].”

As soon as Choi Mi-yeon finished ordering, another customer came in.

Hyun-sung naturally took the order from the other customer and then sat down. Lee Jung-woo asked,

“What’s with you lately?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re so different from before.”

“A person has to improve, right? I’m going to try to live differently from now on. Haha…”

There was no need for any other words.

Lee Jung-woo asked again,

“By the way, what happened with Kim Il-soo?”

Hyun-sung was also wondering about that. At some point, he seemed to be able to see the opponent’s movements, and after that, he could see them incredibly clearly.

He didn’t know exactly what it was, but the important thing was that he had been able to safely escape from dangerous situations in Wonju and today as well.

“Well, I don’t really know, but I could see the opponent’s movements. So I avoided them.”

“Does that make sense?”

“Of course, it doesn’t make sense, but that’s what I felt.”

“I guess so…”

Lee Jung-woo had nothing to say. That’s because Hyun-sung’s words were true. He had seen it with his own eyes.

Lee Jung-woo asked again,

“Hey, could it be that your dynamic visual acuity has improved?”

“Dynamic visual acuity?”

“Yeah, sometimes baseball players or boxers practice it on purpose, right?”

“You mean the ability to see moving objects?”

Come to think of it, he had heard of it.

In the case of baseball, the time it takes for a pitcher’s ball to reach home plate is only 0.4 to 0.45 seconds.

Therefore, the batter must identify the type of pitch and decide whether to swing within 0.2 seconds, so the batter’s dynamic visual acuity is directly related to their batting average.

That’s why baseball players train to read fingernail-sized numbers written on tennis balls flying towards them to improve their dynamic visual acuity, and some major league teams even have ‘visual function enhancement specialists’.

It was even a hot topic when it was revealed that Lee Seung-yeop [a famous Korean baseball player] doesn’t even use the internet during the season in order to maintain his dynamic visual acuity at its best.

Lee Jung-woo continued,

“That’s amazing.”

“You’re telling me.”

Hyun-sung spoke casually on the outside, but that wasn’t the case on the inside. He had just passed it off casually in Wonju, but today he could tell exactly.

Just like Lee Jung-woo said, his dynamic visual acuity was excellent. In fact, he had been testing it while coming to the snack shop with Lee Jung-woo a little while ago, but he didn’t show it.

It was an exercise to look at passing buses for a moment.

But surprisingly, he found out that he could accurately recognize not only the car number but also the faces of the passengers on the bus.

He repeated it several times, but the conclusion was the same.

Clearly, his ability to recognize moving objects had definitely improved.

Pfft.

A smile suddenly spread across Hyun-sung’s face.

Lee Jung-woo couldn’t just stay still.

“Let’s laugh together.”

“Huh? It’s nothing, I just thought that I probably won’t get beat up anywhere anymore.”

“Right? I was actually thinking the same thing… Hehehe.”

As expected, those who have been beaten up think differently from others. The two laughed and began to eat their ramen.

A little later.

Creak.

The shop door opened and someone else came in. He looked to be in his 60s at a glance.

They naturally assumed he was a customer.

As Hyun-sung was about to get up, Lee Jung-woo reached out and quickly stopped him.

Hyun-sung asked in a small voice,

“Why?”

“Leave it. He’s not a customer.”

“Who is it?”

“The landlord.”

At the word ‘landlord,’ Hyun-sung didn’t say anything more. But Lee Jung-woo’s atmosphere was strange. He didn’t think there was a need to be so sensitive just because he was the landlord.

That meant… he had a bad feeling.

The landlord who came in then took a seat at the table in front of the kitchen.