Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 45

It was only natural that Lee Jung-woo and Hyun-sung’s attention would be drawn to the table where the landlord was sitting. After watching for a while, Lee Jung-woo and Hyun-sung’s expressions hardened, as if they had made a silent agreement.

It was because of Shin Myung-soon.

From her constant bowing, as if she were begging for something, they immediately knew something was wrong.

In that instant, Lee Jung-woo shot up from his seat.

Seeing this, Hyun-sung looked at Lee Jung-woo and shook his head emphatically.

It was a clear message, even without words. Lee Jung-woo bit his lip and reluctantly sat back down.

A little later.

The landlord left, and Shin Myung-soon went into the kitchen. As if he had been waiting for this, Lee Jung-woo jumped up again and headed for the kitchen.

Hyun-sung wanted to stop him.

He didn’t know exactly what was going on, but he sensed that Shin Myung-soon was going through a difficult time.

But he couldn’t bring himself to stop him. Lee Jung-woo must be feeling the same way, he reasoned.

Lee Jung-woo entered the kitchen and looked at his mother. But he couldn’t see her face because she was standing with her back to him.

Then he noticed her shoulders shaking.

‘Mom!’

Lee Jung-woo called out to his mother in his mind. He couldn’t bring himself to actually call out to his crying mother.

Back at the table, Lee Jung-woo’s eyes were already red and bloodshot.

Hyun-sung was upset as well. But he felt he was in no position to interfere.

Hyun-sung tried to piece together the situation based on the tense atmosphere.

The landlord comes and goes, and then the tenant cries?

There were two likely possibilities.

One was a rent increase, and the other was the expiration of the lease. Of course, it wouldn’t be a simple expiration.

‘What?’

‘Could it be?’

Something flashed through his mind.

Another case of the landlord’s abuse of power?

Hyun-sung’s last memory from his past life resurfaced.

Landlord Lee Se-ho’s final words: “Contract extension denied.” His heart had started racing like crazy when he heard those words.

In the end, it had led to Hyun-sung’s death.

Shin Myung-soon thought to herself.

She hadn’t told her son, Lee Jung-woo, the details until now. She thought it was better to keep it from him for as long as possible.

The signs had actually been there for months.

It had started three months ago, two months before the students’ vacation.

At first, she thought they were just regular customers. They came for three days in a row, so she didn’t think much of it.

Then, on the third day, they started asking her about how business was, what age group her customers were, and other trivial things. She never suspected they had ulterior motives.

She later found out that the woman was the landlord’s younger sister.

And a month later, the landlord had said something strange. He told her to vacate the store in three months. No contract extension.

She had wondered if it was even possible…

Today, she received the final notice. She had to be out by the end of next month.

She had begged him to raise the rent, but it was no use. He wouldn’t even listen. He had already made up his mind.

She had been running the business here for over 10 years since her husband died in an accident. She had finally settled down and business was doing well, but this was like a bolt out of the blue.

‘What should I do?’

Shin Myung-soon covered her face with her hands.

She couldn’t see a way out.

But she couldn’t keep suffering alone forever. She figured he would have noticed something was wrong from the atmosphere a little while ago anyway.

What was the point of hiding it any longer?

Sigh!

Shin Myung-soon sighed and left the kitchen, heading to the table where Lee Jung-woo and Hyun-sung were sitting.

And she opened her mouth with difficulty.

“Son! Listen carefully to what I’m about to say. So…”

Hyun-sung’s prediction was correct.

Contract extension denied!

If it was simply the expiration of the contract, it was natural for a tenant who didn’t want to leave to feel wronged. But judging coldly, it was an unavoidable situation. It was the tenant’s sorrow, but it was an unavoidable reality.

Later, laws such as the Commercial Building Lease Protection Act that guaranteed 10 years were enacted, but at this time, the landlord was the law.

But the important thing was that it wasn’t just a matter of the lease expiring.

It was a well-known secret that everyone in the surrounding shopping district knew. The landlord was eyeing the place because business was doing well.

To be more precise, the landlord’s younger sister wanted to run a snack shop.

Not a big pork hock restaurant or a bar, but a small snack shop.

And those bastards were greedy for even that.

When Shin Myung-soon finished speaking, tears finally flowed from Lee Jung-woo’s eyes.

Hyun-sung’s eyes also turned red as he watched him.

The same situation that he had suffered from landlord Lee Se-ho was happening again.

Whether it was his past life or now, even though so much time had passed, the landlord’s genes were so unchanged that he longed for a silent gun [a desire for revenge or justice].

Hyun-sung quietly left the store.

Ha!

The breath he had been holding burst out.

How could this happen again? And to his best friend. He thought it was too cruel a twist of fate to be a mere coincidence.

Come to think of it, he vaguely remembered.

It must have been not long after the second semester started. One day, Lee Jung-woo had said something about closing the store.

He honestly didn’t even remember what he had said back then. He probably ignored it, saying it was the adults’ business because it was beyond his ability to help.

Judging by how vague his memory was, he must not have given it much thought.

“Then what about now?”

At least he wouldn’t feel that way now.

It was definitely different now.

And he had lived through so many years in advance, wouldn’t there be a way to do something?

Hyun-sung’s eyes changed. A new resolve sparked within them.

Find it.

He had to find a solution, no matter what.

Hyun-sung thought there must be something he could do.

Hyun-sung left Lee Jung-woo’s snack shop and started walking towards the school.

Had he walked for about five minutes?

A few students walked by and disappeared into an alley. And a little later, two adults came out of the alley and walked towards the market.

“Hmm?”

Hyun-sung stopped walking and began to watch the alley across the street carefully.

Even though it was a weekday afternoon, there were a lot of students passing through the alley. Adults occasionally passed by, but not many.

The alley that Hyun-sung was watching was a shortcut connecting the school and the three-way intersection. It was about 2-3 minutes shorter than going around the main road.

That’s why there were so many students.

“What’s over there?”

Hyun-sung crossed the street and started walking towards the alley.

Step by step.

Hyun-sung’s pace began to quicken.

According to his memory, there was a store a little way into the alley. It had been empty for quite a while, but one day a ramen restaurant suddenly opened.

And that place had become a huge hit. The reason was because of the spicy flavor craze.

It was a ramen restaurant dedicated solely to spicy flavors. There were levels from 1 to 3.

“Wait!”

Hyun-sung stopped walking.

Hyun-sung, who had been slowly moving his head from side to side, suddenly started running.

“I was a senior in high school back then…”

The ramen restaurant had opened at the end of winter vacation in his sophomore year and at the beginning of the new semester in his junior year. Suddenly, word of mouth started spreading within the school.

And everyone’s first greeting was the same.

“What level?” [Referring to the spice level of the ramen]

That’s how strong the spicy flavor craze was. It may have been even more intense because it was a rural area. There were not many food options.

There was even a subtle competition among the male students.

Who could handle the spiciest ramen?

Thump, thump.

Hyun-sung started running into the alley.

A little later.

The place where Hyun-sung stopped was in front of an empty store.

“Here it is!”

Yes, it’s here!

The store in his memory was definitely it.

It was definitely a place that had been a hit. Of course, the store was still empty because it had not yet met its owner.

After looking at the store for a while, Hyun-sung turned around and started running again.

Creak!

Bang!

Hyun-sung threw open the door of Lee Jung-woo’s store.

The door made a loud noise, probably because he opened it too hard.

Lee Jung-woo and his mother, Shin Myung-soon, who were in the store, were startled and jumped up from their seats, turning their eyes to the door.

Then they saw Hyun-sung’s face, with beads of sweat on his forehead as if he had been running.

Lee Jung-woo looked at Hyun-sung and asked.

“What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“I found it!”

Hyun-sung said to Lee Jung-woo and then immediately said to Shin Myung-soon again.

“Mother! I found it!”

“Hyun-sung, what are you talking about finding?”

“A place to relocate the store. It’s not far from here.”

Shin Myung-soon looked at Hyun-sung and didn’t know how to respond. Judging by his expression, he looked like he had found an oasis in the desert, but honestly, she didn’t feel anything.

She had been doing business here for 10 years this year. Since the landlord had told her that the contract could no longer be extended, she had been looking around.

But unfortunately, there was nowhere she could move with this money. It was a rural town, so there were not many empty stores.

Shin Myung-soon’s mouth opened weakly.

“Thank you, but…”

“Please trust me.”

“Hyun-sung, I’m sorry, but…”

Shin Myung-soon couldn’t finish her sentence.

Because Hyun-sung grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the store unconditionally. Then Lee Jung-woo had no choice but to follow behind.

A little later.

Hyun-sung let go of Shin Myung-soon’s hand only after coming to the store he had seen a little while ago. Then he said loudly and boldly.

“It’s here.”

“Here?”

“Yes, this is the store to move to.”

“This place is…”

Shin Myung-soon also knew this place well. It was a restaurant until two years ago. But for some reason, the owner suddenly collapsed in the kitchen, and that was the end of it.

According to rumors, he had an underlying illness, but it had not been confirmed.

The important thing was that someone had died there. As a result, no one had tried to do anything with the space since.

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

“Do you know anything about this store?”

“No. All I know is that there is no better place to move to than here.”

“This won’t work.”

It won’t work!

Shin Myung-soon’s answer was very concise and conveyed a firm resolve.

Hyun-sung was at a loss for words.

He was silent for a moment.

He thought that if she was speaking so stubbornly, there must be something he didn’t know.

He didn’t know what it was, but it was important to listen first.

Hyun-sung looked at Shin Myung-soon and said seriously.

“Let’s hear the reason.”

“What, let’s see?”

Hyun-sung suddenly realized his mistake. Without realizing it, he had used a habit from his past life.

“Hehe, no, that’s not it. I just said that because you were being so stubborn…”

“I thought you were suddenly an old man.”

“I was surprised for a moment too. Anyway, can I ask why it won’t work?”

“I don’t know if I should say this, but actually this place is…”

Shin Myung-soon had no choice but to tell Hyun-sung the hidden story about this place.

A little later.

“And?”

That was Hyun-sung’s reaction after listening to Shin Myung-soon’s story.

“And?”

“What does that mean?”

“Someone died there.”

Shin Myung-soon was dumbfounded by Hyun-sung’s words. She couldn’t understand Hyun-sung, who was talking so nonchalantly even though she said someone had died.

Hyun-sung was frustrated as well.

She was reluctant to come here simply because someone had died?

Of course, he understood to some extent, but he didn’t think this was a valid reason.

Hyun-sung looked at Shin Myung-soon and said again.

“That can’t be the reason.”

“What?”

“It doesn’t make sense to avoid this place simply because someone died there. Everyone dies anyway, right?”

“That’s true, but that’s different from this issue. Anyway, I don’t like it.”

Shin Myung-soon’s position was unwavering.

It was Hyun-sung who was in trouble.

He was going crazy because he couldn’t explain that it was definitely going to be a hit.

Come to think of it, the owner here in his past life was not a local but someone from out of town. Now he seemed to understand the reason.

Hyun-sung looked at Lee Jung-woo.

He had a glimmer of hope that something might change if he went through Lee Jung-woo.

“Jung-woo!”

“Well, my mom…”

Lee Jung-woo was of no help at all in this situation.

Hyun-sung looked at Shin Myung-soon and asked again.

“Even if this place is guaranteed to be a hit, would it still be absolutely impossible?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m saying this place is guaranteed to be a hit.”

“How do you know that…”

She didn’t believe it.