Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 458

[Seoul-60, Gyeonggi/Incheon-30, Other-10]

This was written on the paper that Hyun-sung handed over.

Kim Il-soo put down the paper he was holding and tilted his head. He couldn’t figure out what the contents of the paper meant at first glance.

Kim Il-soo looked at Hyun-sung and asked,

“What is this?”

“What do you think it is?”

“Well, the regions are understandable, but I don’t know what these numbers mean. What do these numbers signify?”

“It’s the percentage of people who visited this restaurant today.”

“Percentage?”

“Yes, percentage. So, 60% of the people who visited this restaurant today are from the Seoul area.”

“Ah, so the remaining 30% are from Gyeonggi and Incheon, and the other 10% are from other regions?”

Hyun-sung nodded instead of answering.

Then Kim Il-soo immediately asked again.

“But how did you find this out?”

“Car license plates.”

“Car license plates?”

“Yeah, I asked the parking attendants to keep track this morning, just in case.”

He didn’t have high expectations. Since the cherry blossoms wouldn’t bloom for more than a month, he didn’t think many people would come.

But that didn’t mean he had no expectations at all.

There had been signs.

It started a month ago. People started visiting the restaurant.

Of course, he could tell that these people weren’t locals but came from the greater Seoul area by looking at their car license plates.

Those people who had started coming suddenly exceeded one hundred last Sunday. It seemed that many people came out because the weather was warmer than usual that day.

Of course, it was a shame, but they had no choice but to turn around without eating.

And today, a week later.

The temperature has continued to rise since last week.

Perhaps that’s why. An unexpected result came out today. Not just one or two hundred people, but a whopping 450 people visited this place.

He had some expectations, but he didn’t expect the number of people to increase so much.

Kim Il-soo nodded and asked again.

“The fact that you told the parking attendant in advance means you had already expected it to some extent, right?”

“Yeah, people started coming a month ago, and there were more than a hundred last week. And as you know, the temperature has risen a lot in the past week. So I was hoping, but I didn’t know so many people would come.”

It’s true. He couldn’t help but be surprised to hear that the final number was 450. It was natural to be surprised since more than four times as many people came in just one week compared to last week.

“I was surprised too. So, how many people came in total?”

“450.”

“450? That’s a lot!”

“Yeah, I was surprised too. Of course, I thought some people might come, but I really didn’t expect this many.”

“That’s strange.”

Kim Il-soo suddenly tilted his head.

Then Hyun-sung immediately asked.

“What’s strange?”

“Of course, it’s true that the temperature has risen since last week, but there’s still more than a month left before the cherry blossoms bloom. So, why did so many people come all the way here? And not just people who live nearby, but people from the Seoul metropolitan area.”

“Don’t you know the reason?”

“Well, honestly, I don’t know.”

Kim Il-soo shook his head from side to side as if he didn’t know.

Then Hyun-sung’s words followed immediately.

“I was worried about that a lot at first. But in the end, the conclusion I came to was the food.”

“Food?”

“Yeah, a meal. A single meal.”

“So, you’re saying that those people came all the way from that far just to eat a meal?”

“That’s right.”

Hyun-sung nodded.

At first, he naturally thought there would be another purpose. But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t find any other reason for so many people to come here.

If the number of people was small, he would have thought that they accidentally saw the sign while passing by and came in. But the number of people who came was too large for that.

So, the final conclusion he came to was that these people came here on purpose to eat a meal.

Kim Il-soo nodded, a bit differently than before, and continued.

“Now that you mention it, I think you’re right. The number of people is too large to say that they came in by chance while passing by.”

“I think so too. I think the number 450 is too large to say that they just happened to stop by while passing by. And those people, though I don’t know for sure, must have come here at least once last year to see the flowers.”

“So, you’re saying they thought the restaurant would be open by now?”

“That’s right. So they came, but it just so happened that today was the opening day.”

“But anyway, they must have felt even better because they ate for free today.”

“I guess so.”

Hyun-sung smiled and nodded.

Even if he didn’t say it, that would be the truth. No one would dislike eating for free, no matter who they are.

But the important thing is not that those people ate for free, but the number of people who visited this place today.

The fact that 450 people came before the flowers even bloomed means that you can predict how many people will come here once the flowers start to bloom.

Hyun-sung’s words continued.

“Do you know what’s important?”

“It must be the number 450. If that many people came before the flowers even bloomed, you can guess how many people will come later when the flowers bloom.”

“That’s right, that’s it.”

“By the way, what’s the story about setting the food prices high for other restaurants?”

Kim Il-soo had been curious since earlier.

He had learned from working at the restaurant that in order to survive, you have no choice but to step on others in the competition. That is the basis of the market economy and the reality.

But earlier, strange words came out of Hyun-sung’s mouth.

He said that he didn’t want to live by stepping on those people who were having a hard time. Does that make sense?

Hyun-sung’s answer followed.

“I told you earlier, I don’t want to live by stepping on those people who are having a hard time.”

“Are you serious?”

“Of course. As I said before, if we charge similar prices for similar menus as those people, they won’t be able to last even a year and will all go bankrupt.”

“That could happen. Because they won’t be able to compete. But isn’t that the market economy? And everyone lives like that anyway, right?”

“That’s why I don’t like it.”

Hyun-sung shook his head from side to side.

Then Kim Il-soo seemed to think for a moment and asked again.

“Okay, let’s concede a hundred times that that’s what you think. Then what is the method you’re thinking of?”

“Coexistence.”

“Coexistence?”

“Yeah, even if symbiosis is difficult, let’s coexist. Let’s each protect our own area in our own position.”

“And you think that’s possible now?”

“Of course.”

Hyun-sung nodded.

Then Kim Il-soo momentarily showed an expression that was difficult to understand.

Perhaps it’s a natural reaction. Because it’s different from the common sense he had learned while working in society since graduating from high school.

Kim Il-soo, who was like that, opened his mouth again.

“How?”

“The method is simple.”

“Simple?”

Kim Il-soo’s voice grew louder. That’s because he couldn’t understand it with his common sense, and he couldn’t help but raise his voice because the method was simple.

Hyun-sung’s answer followed immediately.

“Yeah, just leave them alone.”

“Leave them alone?”

“Yeah, we don’t sell the menus they sell. We don’t even approach them. The analogy may or may not be appropriate, but the best way to protect nature is to leave it as it is.”

“Hmm… So that’s why there’s no kimchi stew or soybean paste stew on the menu?”

“They have to make a living too.”

One of the things that he didn’t understand in his previous life was the entry of large corporations into the neighborhood commercial district. He couldn’t understand the sight of them entering the alley to take away even that, when they could just leave the poor people alone to make a living.

Perhaps this is a similar case. If he were to sell even the menus sold in small restaurants, those restaurants would have no choice but to go out of business within a year.

Hyun-sung couldn’t do such a thing.

Meanwhile, Kim Il-soo’s head was in chaos.

It was the moment when the common sense he had thought of until now was collapsing.

He thought that the way to live was to step on the weak and rise up, and he had lived that way for a short time.

But…

After thinking for a while, Kim Il-soo looked at Hyun-sung and asked.

“Why did you think that way? Most people don’t think that way, do they?”

“We have to live together.”

“Together?”

“Yeah, all together. I don’t know how other people live, but at least let’s live in our own way.”

“……”

Kim Il-soo had nothing to say.

He felt like his confused head was being organized. Until now, he had thought that the law of the jungle was the answer. But after listening to Hyun-sung’s story, he began to think that it might not be the answer.

He thought it was natural to step on the weak, but now he began to think that protecting the weak might also be the duty of the strong.

It was then.

Tap tap.

Hyun-sung tapped the paper on the desk with his finger. The paper contained the data about the people who visited this restaurant today.

Hyun-sung’s words continued.

“Our customers will be these people from now on.”

“These people?”

“Yeah, not the people living in this village, but these people written on this paper.”

He had expected it to some extent from the beginning.

He judged that in order to maintain a restaurant of this size, there would be no other way than to attract people from the metropolitan area.

“Did you expect it from the beginning?”

“Not 100%, but to some extent, otherwise you can’t maintain such a large restaurant in this rural area.”

“Anyway, you’re amazing too, targeting people from the metropolitan area from the beginning in this rural area. By the way, what’s the second reason?”

“Second reason?”

“Yeah, you said there were two reasons why you set the price high? You said one was to save the village restaurant, so now there’s one more left.”

Smirk.

Hyun-sung smiled lightly instead of answering.

Then Kim Il-soo immediately asked.

“What? What’s the meaning of that smile?”

“Think about it carefully.”

“What? Are you telling me to guess?”

“Yeah, aren’t you the vice president of this restaurant? Then I think you can figure that much out by now, right?”

“Hmm……”

Kim Il-soo was silent, wondering what he was thinking. After a while.

Kim Il-soo looked at Hyun-sung and opened his mouth.

“Let’s just check one thing first.”

“What is it?”

“When the cherry blossoms bloomed last year, how many people visited here on average?”

“About 50,000 on average.”

“50,000……”

Kim Il-soo seemed to be lost in thought again and said nothing. It wasn’t even two minutes before he opened his mouth again.

“In the end, it’s all about business.”

“Business?”

“Yeah, which one would make more money, selling ten 1,000 won items or selling ten 10,000 won items? Of course, it would be the 10,000 won item, right? Isn’t that right?”

“I guess so. So?”

“Anyway, if there are an average of 50,000 people a day, at least 50% of them, 25,000, will come here, and even if you sell just one 10,000 won set meal [approximately $7.50 USD] to those people… Huh!”

Kim Il-soo suddenly stopped talking.

Then Hyun-sung immediately asked.

“What? Why are you stopping?”

“Hey, this is no joke.”

“What is?”

“Daily sales. I just calculated it roughly, and it’s at least 250 million won [approximately $187,500 USD]. Even if you only sell one 10,000 won set meal to 25,000 people.”

Kim Il-soo was excited and continued.

“But that’s the minimum, right?”

“That’s right.”

“The second floor is meat, the third floor is Western food, and the fourth floor is Japanese food, right?”

“Of course. I only excluded Chinese food.”

He wanted to include Chinese food as well, but he had no choice but to give up on Chinese food because there was no space to run a cafe.

This was because he knew that cafe sales would also increase over time.

“The story changes if this happens?”

“How?”

“A little while ago, it was based on an average of 10,000 won, but if you include the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors, each person will spend at least 25,000 won [approximately $18.75 USD], right? Then it’s over 600 million won [approximately $450,000 USD], 600 million won a day? Is that an amount that makes sense?”

Smirk.

Hyun-sung just smiled instead of answering.

It’s not a joke, Kim Il-soo’s words are true. It’s the minimum sales based on 25,000 people a day.

The fact that there is a minimum means that there is also a maximum.

If the minimum is 600 million won, what is the maximum?

That was the reason why Hyun-sung was smiling.

Then Kim Il-soo opened his mouth again.

“Oh! One thing is missing.”

“One? What is it again?”

“The cafe.”

“The cafe?”

“Yeah, I don’t think the cafe sales will be a joke either? Then……”

Kim Il-soo started counting again with his fingers. Then he opened his mouth again.

“It’s 650 million won [approximately $487,500 USD].”

“That’s the minimum.”

“Minimum? Does that mean……?”

“The fact that there is a minimum means that there will also be a maximum.”

“Maximum? Wow! Then how much is it……?”

Kim Il-soo couldn’t close his mouth. A huge number came to his mind at first glance.