Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 513

Yoo Seung-il.

The person across the street was none other than Yoo Seung-il, the CEO of Movie Heart.

Of course, he wouldn’t know Hyun-sung well, but the same couldn’t be said for Hyun-sung. He had visited him several times in his past life, so he recognized him instantly.

In his past life, he didn’t care about Hyun-sung because he thought it was a lost cause, but it wouldn’t be the same this time.

That’s why he was watching from afar like this.

Hyun-sung approached Yoo Seung-il and asked, pretending not to know him.

“What’s going on? Why have you been watching our store since earlier?”

“Me?”

Yoo Seung-il asked back, feigning ignorance.

It was the answer Hyun-sung had already expected. He was secretly watching someone else’s store out of curiosity, so what else could he say?

Hyun-sung asked again.

“If not, then what have you been doing here all this time?”

“What I do is none of your business. Young man, how dare you speak so rudely out of the blue…”

Yoo Seung-il retorted, seemingly annoyed.

Hyun-sung wasn’t one to back down, especially since he had nothing to lose.

Hyun-sung asked again, as if it were nothing.

“Why are you so upset?”

“Of course, I’m upset.”

Yoo Seung-il’s tone became shorter as if they had known each other for a long time.

He was always like that in his past life. When Hyun-sung visited him about the rent, he would say, ‘I’ll run my business as I please, so don’t interfere.’

So, when he went with other rental store owners the next day, he was even more taken aback.

Before they could even say a few words, he called the police, claiming they were interfering with his business.

That’s the kind of person he was.

Hyun-sung asked again.

“Then why have you been watching our store for so long?”

“I wasn’t watching.”

Yoo Seung-il was still shameless as ever.

But what could he do? He said he wasn’t watching.

Hyun-sung smiled and asked again.

“You weren’t watching?”

“Yes, young man, are you deaf? Why are you falsely accusing me? I’m busy…”

With those words, Yoo Seung-il turned around.

Then, he immediately started walking away.

Hyun-sung was dumbfounded by the sight. He couldn’t just let their first encounter end like this, not after what he had suffered in his past life.

“Yoo Seung-il!”

Hyun-sung immediately called out his name.

Yoo Seung-il stopped and turned to look at Hyun-sung.

“What? You knew me?”

“How could I not? You’re the one who came to kill all the rental stores in this neighborhood.”

It was a provocation.

He couldn’t resolve things with him anyway. That’s why he had to speak harshly.

Yoo Seung-il approached Hyun-sung and smirked.

“Kim Hyun-sung, was it?”

He already knew Hyun-sung. That meant he had already done a background check on Hyun-sung. He didn’t know how much he knew, though.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“You’re as bold as I’ve heard. But you shouldn’t openly show hostility to your elders like that, should you?”

“It’s the truth anyway, so there’s no need to hide it, right?”

“Hmph, I guess so…”

Yoo Seung-il nodded as if he admitted it.

The reason he chose this neighborhood in the first place was that the rental stores were all small.

Small meant they were less competitive, and he concluded that he would be the only one to survive in the end, so he moved into this neighborhood.

Of course, that worked in his past life.

But now, there was a variable called Hyun-sung.

Yoo Seung-il spoke again.

“So, what are you going to do now?”

“What do you mean? The die has already been cast. We’re going to go all the way. I may have been fooled once, but I won’t be fooled twice.”

“Twice?”

“There’s that.”

“Hmm…”

Yoo Seung-il tilted his head for a moment and then continued.

“By the way, let me ask you one thing.”

“…?”

“That banner hanging there, are you really getting 300 copies of that?”

That was probably what Yoo Seung-il was most curious about. In fact, that was probably why he was secretly watching from here.

Hyun-sung confidently replied.

“Of course.”

“Is this your first time running a rental store?”

“Yes.”

Smirk.

Yoo Seung-il smiled.

Hyun-sung knew what that smile meant.

Hyun-sung also smiled.

The two men looked at each other and smiled strangely.

Yoo Seung-il was also running a rental store for the first time. That’s why he probably didn’t understand Hyun-sung’s actions.

He probably thought it was pathetic and that he would close down soon.

Was that why?

His smile even seemed to have a sense of余裕 [composure;余裕 is Japanese word, often used in Korean to describe someone who has a relaxed and confident attitude].

On the other hand, Hyun-sung was just laughing at him for being so naive.

Then, Yoo Seung-il spoke again.

“Let me ask you one more thing. Are you going to get that many copies of other titles too?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Hmm, I see. I enjoyed the show. Oh! Congratulations on your opening in advance.”

Yoo Seung-il was being as 余裕 [composed] as possible.

Hyun-sung looked at him and said.

“Let me tell you one thing.”

“Hmm, go ahead.”

“Let’s see each other in six months.”

“Six months… Well, by then, we’ll have a good idea of who’s winning. This is kind of exciting, isn’t it?”

Yoo Seung-il shrugged his shoulders.

It was an expression of confidence.

He was probably relying on the chain store headquarters.

But Hyun-sung, who knew the headquarters’ 영업 방식 [business practices] inside out, still thought he was pathetic.

Hyun-sung parted ways with Yoo Seung-il and entered the store.

Lee Myung-hoon was on the phone.

He could tell what kind of call it was at a glance. He was writing down notes while talking on the phone.

It was a reservation call for ‘Hit,’ which was being released tomorrow.

After a while.

Lee Myung-hoon hung up the phone and immediately called Hyun-sung.

“Boss, we’ve hit the jackpot.”

“How many did we get?”

“While you were talking outside, we got over twenty calls. At this rate…”

That’s when it happened.

Ring!

Lee Myung-hoon stopped talking and immediately answered the phone after the first ring.

It was another reservation call.

***

Yoo Seung-il returned home after parting ways with Hyun-sung.

“That crazy bastard!”

Yoo Seung-il immediately cursed.

His wife, Han Mi-sook, who was in the living room, immediately asked.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

“No, that guy. That young owner of Cinema Paradise down there.”

“What about him?”

“That guy told me to see him in six months.”

“Six months? What does that mean?”

Han Mi-sook stared at Yoo Seung-il, as if she didn’t understand.

Then, Yoo Seung-il immediately replied.

“What do you mean? It means one of us will be gone.”

“Gone? Who? Us?”

“He didn’t say it directly, but isn’t it obvious?”

“No, that young punk is so rude to say such a thing… By the way, is this true?”

Han Mi-sook held out a flyer.

It was an advertisement that Hyun-sung had 배달 [delivery] employees distribute. It had the phrase ‘300 copies of Hit in stock! Reservations now open!’ along with a phone number.

Yoo Seung-il immediately asked.

“Where did you get this?”

“It was on the door earlier. But is this really true?”

“Yes, it’s true. That crazy bastard even put up a banner in front of the store. He’s seen things somewhere and is copying them…”

Yoo Seung-il’s voice was full of annoyance.

Then, Han Mi-sook immediately asked.

“Are you worried about him?”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. He’s a thorn in my side right now.”

“What does the headquarters say?”

“They told me not to worry about it. They said he’ll go bankrupt anyway. They said if he operates like that for two months, he’ll just end up in debt.”

“Do you really think so?”

“I have to believe them since that’s what the headquarters says. But that’s…”

Yoo Seung-il stopped in the middle of what he was going to say.

Then, Han Mi-sook immediately asked.

“No, what were you going to say?”

“Oh? It’s just a little…”

“A little what? Are you talking about the headquarters?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Actually, I went to the store a little while ago, and those guys were just smoking and playing around instead of working.”

“So?”

“I said something to them.”

“And then?”

Yoo Seung-il sighed as if he was dumbfounded and then continued.

“They left.”

“What? They left? No, how can people be like that? How can they just leave in the middle of work, no matter what?”

“That’s what I’m saying. I want to change the interior company, but I can’t because they’re designated by the headquarters, and it feels like I’m just wasting money in every way.”

“I really think those people are going too far. I get curious sometimes and go out to see, but there’s no progress in the work. It seems like they’re just killing time.”

“I’ve only heard about it, but I didn’t know they were such vampires. Sigh…”

Yoo Seung-il sighed once more.

He had a lot of 고민 [worries; 고민 is Korean word, often used to describe someone who is in deep thought or contemplation] after retiring from the bank. He looked into various things for two months, but the last thing left was a video rental store.

He chose Movie Heart, a chain store, because he was told that he could have a fixed income if he chose a good location even without special skills.

Of course, it cost more than he thought, but he consoled himself with the thought that he could make about 5 million won a month with that much investment.

But problems arose even before he started.

That was the interior construction.

It was strange from the beginning. It seemed like there wasn’t much to do for the interior, but they were going to do construction for 20 days.

But that was also the headquarters’ exclusive right, so he couldn’t do anything about it.

But today, that problem exploded. He said something because there was no progress, and the workers who were working left.

It was as if they had planned it from the beginning, so Yoo Seung-il was frustrated.

Han Mi-sook asked.

“Vampires?”

“Yeah, it seems like these guys planned it from the beginning. They say that chain stores usually skim off the top from the interior construction.”

“Then what do we do now?”

“What can we do? We have to endure it, even if it’s dirty.”

That’s when it happened.

Ring!

Yoo Seung-il’s cell phone rang.

“Hello.”

-This is Manager Park from the headquarters.

It was Park Sun-woo, the manager of Movie Heart headquarters. He was probably calling because of the interior construction a little while ago.

As expected, a complaint immediately came out of his mouth.

-Did you say something to the workers?

“Why? Did those guys say something?”

-Those guys? That’s a bit much…

“Am I not supposed to be angry? Every time I go, there’s no progress in the work, and they’re just smoking instead of working…”

-Mr. Yoo!

Park Sun-woo interrupted Yoo Seung-il. Then, he immediately continued.

-Why are you doing this? Don’t you trust us?

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that it’s too much. It takes two days to make just one counter…”

It was the moment when Yoo Seung-il’s complaints that had been building up exploded.

After a while.

Park Sun-woo immediately asked after Yoo Seung-il finished speaking.

-So?”

“So? What does that mean?”

-You have so many complaints, so I’m asking if we can work together in the future. Are you saying you want to terminate the contract even now?

Clench!

Yoo Seung-il clenched his fist as hard as he could.

All the expenses had already been paid more than 60%. If he terminated the contract here, he would be responsible for the responsibility and the financial loss.

The knife was already in the hands of the headquarters.

Yoo Seung-il held back his anger and barely grabbed his cell phone again.

“That’s not what I meant…”

He had no choice but to speak at length.

Even in the midst of that, one of Yoo Seung-il’s hands was trembling.

Park Sun-woo’s leisurely voice was heard over the receiver after Yoo Seung-il finished speaking.

-Since you apologized like that, let’s pretend today didn’t happen and move on. But you can’t do this in the future. And what’s certain is that all the construction will be finished by the end of this month. So, if possible, don’t go to the site…”

Yoo Seung-il couldn’t listen anymore and took the cell phone away from his ear.

After a while.

Yoo Seung-il hung up the phone and threw it on the floor.

“You bastards!”