Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 519

521

Returning as a Building Owner

“What is all this?”

Lee Myung-hoon, returning after handing out rice cakes, asked, looking at the video boxes piled on the floor.

Hyun-sung immediately replied.

“‘Heat’!”

“‘Heat’?”

“Yeah, this is ‘Heat,’ the action crime movie starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro that was released last August. It’s the biggest hit this month.”

“Ah, I see. But, why is it out so early? It’s not even 9 o’clock yet.”

“There’s a reason for that. Actually…”

Hyun-sung began to explain why the video was available so early. After Hyun-sung’s explanation, Lee Myung-hoon nodded in understanding and continued.

“Ah, there was a reason. Anyway, the important thing is that our store is the only rental shop in Korea that has ‘Heat’ in stock at this hour, right?”

“If you want to put it that way.”

“Wow! I feel so proud.”

Lee Myung-hoon smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

Seeing this, Hyun-sung asked with a smile.

“You like it that much?”

“Of course, I do. This means our store is number one in Korea, doesn’t it?”

“Huh? Does it mean that… Haha.”

This was something he couldn’t even imagine in his past life. That’s why Hyun-sung’s laughter grew louder.

“What are you two doing? What’s so fun?”

Yoo Young-seok, one of the employees who had been handing out rice cakes, asked, looking at Hyun-sung and Lee Myung-hoon.

Lee Myung-hoon stepped forward and began to explain the reason. After his explanation, all the employees smiled and looked happy, just like Hyun-sung and Lee Myung-hoon had done a moment ago.

Hyun-sung, watching them from behind, smiled once again. It was because he could feel with his whole body that all the employees were thinking and enjoying it as if it were their own work.

A little later.

Hyun-sung continued.

“So, since we need to start delivering videos earlier than planned, we should hurry up with the rice cake distribution.”

“Yes, don’t worry. We’ll be as fast as lightning from now on…”

Lee Myung-hoon, being the oldest, took the lead in setting the mood. As soon as he finished speaking, the other employees shook their fists as if they understood, burning with determination.

“I’ll say it again, I don’t eat alone [I share profits]. If the business does well, that much will go back to you as salary, so trust me and do your best. In that sense, let’s each drink one of these and cheer up.”

Hyun-sung held out Bacchus energy drinks to them.

***

Movie Heart Headquarters.

Chairman Min Hong-shik asked Director Park Sun-woo.

“Is that true?”

“Yes, we just received a report from an employee in the field that they started delivering ‘Heat,’ which was scheduled to be released today at 10 o’clock.”

“Does that mean ‘Heat’ has already been delivered to that kid’s store?”

“Yes, that’s right. But that’s…”

Director Park Sun-woo stopped talking in the middle of his sentence.

Chairman Min Hong-shik frowned and immediately asked.

“Why? What is it that you’re not saying?”

“I heard something so absurd.”

“Absurd? What is it?”

“The branch manager himself, along with a sales representative, loaded the videos into a van before 9 o’clock and went to that kid’s store.”

“What? The branch manager himself?”

Chairman Min Hong-shik was dumbfounded.

Until now, he had opened countless video stores across the country, but never once had a branch manager personally delivered videos.

Moreover, it was before 9 o’clock.

Usually, the sales representatives’ working hours start at 9 o’clock. That means they had already finished preparing and left the branch at 8 o’clock, before others even started working.

Isn’t this blatant discrimination?

Chairman Min Hong-shik asked again.

“Is that true?”

“Yes, it is. It was definitely Manager Ma of Starmax.”

“That son of a bitch!”

A curse immediately came out of Chairman Min Hong-shik’s mouth.

Director Park Sun-woo cautiously observed Chairman Min Hong-shik’s expression and then slowly opened his mouth again.

“Um… and there’s more.”

“More? What else is there?”

“All the branch managers and sales representatives in Incheon sent congratulatory wreaths to that kid’s store without exception.”

“These sons of bitches, really…!”

Chairman Min Hong-shik clenched his fist.

Director Park Sun-woo, unable to contain his anger, frowned and immediately continued.

“They’re really sly bastards. We have so many Movie Heart stores across the country, but they never showed their faces when we opened…”

“Stop!”

Chairman Min Hong-shik raised his hand to stop Director Park Sun-woo’s words. Then he immediately continued.

“Stop it, it’s embarrassing.”

“Yes? Ah, yes…”

“Anyway, how many copies of ‘Heat’ did they get?”

“They got nine boxes.”

“Nine boxes? That means they got 60 copies as a push [extra copies given as incentive], right? Since they said they would buy 300 copies anyway.”

“But that’s…”

Director Park Sun-woo stopped talking again this time.

Chairman Min Hong-shik, sensing something, frowned and asked.

“What? What is it this time?”

“That’s… they’re getting one more box in the afternoon.”

“What? One more box? Does that mean they’re going to push 100 copies as a service?”

“In conclusion, yes. This is clearly giving preferential treatment. They’re so stingy with us, but to that kid…”

Bang!

Chairman Min Hong-shik couldn’t contain his anger and slammed his fist on the table next to him.

“In the end, that bastard Manager Ma is screwing me over, is he?”

“Shall I call Manager Ma right away?”

Director Park Sun-woo said, opening his phone.

Chairman Min Hong-shik looked at him with a pathetic expression and said.

“What if you call?”

“Yes?”

“What will change if you call? We’ll only embarrass ourselves, won’t we?”

“But we can’t just sit still like this…”

“Director Park!”

Chairman Min Hong-shik suddenly called out to Director Park Sun-woo, who was speaking.

Director Park Sun-woo straightened his posture and replied loudly.

“Yes, Chairman!”

“Why are you acting like an amateur? If Manager Ma cared about us, would he have done that?”

“That’s…”

“In the end, money is everything in a capitalist society. Because that kid ordered 300 copies, they sent congratulatory wreaths and even visited him in the morning. Do you know what I mean?”

“That’s true, but…”

“What do you mean ‘but’? Anyway, even if we call about this, we’ll only embarrass ourselves. Okay, let’s say we actually called, what would we say?”

Chairman Min Hong-shik took a breath as if he was out of breath and then immediately continued.

“Are we going to ask why they pushed 100 copies to that store? Okay, let’s say we did, what do you think Manager Ma would say?”

“……”

“‘Then, Mr. President, order 300 copies too, and we’ll push 100 copies as much as you want.’ What would you say then?”

“……”

Director Park Sun-woo had nothing to say.

In fact, Chairman Min Hong-shik’s words were all correct. After all, the most important thing for a branch is sales volume.

Chairman Min Hong-shik paused for a moment as if trying to calm down and then continued.

“Of course, I know you’re not saying that because you don’t know. But we need to stay focused, especially at times like this, right?”

“Yes, I understand. I was a little angry, so I lost myself without realizing it…”

“It’s okay, I also lost my reason because I was angry for a moment. The problem is the future. It’s important to see how that kid manages to circulate those 400 copies.”

“Well, I don’t know, but he’ll probably be completely overwhelmed. An inexperienced newbie with only greed, bringing in a lot of goods and not knowing what to do. By the time he closes, at least 200 copies will be left over.”

“Well, what special talent would he have?”

A bitter smile began to spread across Chairman Min Hong-shik’s face.

Director Park Sun-woo, seeing that, twitched one corner of his mouth as well. He immediately opened his mouth.

“Chairman, shall we start heading to Incheon now?”

“Let’s do that. Let’s go to Incheon, have lunch with Director Yoon, and see how that kid is doing. Let’s go and have some fun watching…”

The two smiled bitterly at the same time, as if they had made a promise, and disappeared from the office.

***

As the afternoon came, Hyun-sung became even busier.

Besides deliveries, people in the neighborhood started coming to the store one by one in the afternoon.

Among them, there were especially many visits from children aged 5 to 10.

That’s because, back then, watching videos was almost the only entertainment children could enjoy at home.

The children’s voices could be heard.

“Wow! It’s Flashman [a popular superhero series].”

“Bio-Man [another superhero series] is here too.”

“Oh? This is the Uremae series [a Korean superhero film series] with Shim Hyung-rae? Wow! All the way from episode 1 to 9.”

“Hey, what are you going to watch?”

“There are so many, I’m worried. There weren’t this many before, but the owner changed this time, and there are so many cartoons. That owner must be very rich.”

Hyun-sung looked in the direction of the sound and chuckled.

In fact, the part he paid the most attention to when expanding the store and filling it with videos this time was children’s shows and dramas.

The reason is simple.

He knew that if children and women moved [were drawn in], the whole family would naturally come to the video store.

At that moment.

Clang!

The store door opened and someone came in.

“Welcome!”

Being busy, he greeted them happily before even checking their face.

Then, a reply came back immediately.

“It’s me, Mr. Kim, Jin-soo.”

“Oh? Hyung [older brother/friend] Jin-soo!”

The person who had just opened the store door was Jeon Jin-soo, the sales representative who had visited in the morning. He was holding a video box in his hand.

“I tried to come quickly, but I don’t know if I’m late.”

“I thought you would come in the evening, but you came earlier than I thought.”

That’s right. In his past life, the sales representative came to this neighborhood after 7 p.m. That’s why the time to rent new releases was inevitably late.

But he couldn’t say anything about it. After all, the sales representative was just following a set course.

“Actually, I changed the course starting today. I used to go around this neighborhood in the evening, but I couldn’t do that because of Mr. Kim.”

“Yes? Because of me?”

“Honestly, we can’t help it either. We have no choice but to prioritize places with high sales. But now, no matter what anyone says, Mr. Kim is my best customer, so I have to change the course. I’ll be coming around this time from now on, so keep that in mind.”

Hyun-sung looked at the clock on the wall.

It was just past 2 o’clock. That means it was at least 5 hours earlier compared to his past life.

Chuckle.

Hyun-sung couldn’t help but laugh. It was another moment when he felt that money was important in a capitalist society.

“Hyung Jin-soo, drink this.”

Hyun-sung quickly handed Jeon Jin-soo a Bacchus energy drink.

Anyway, it was true that he had received help from him in his past life. He wasn’t always like that, but he sometimes gave him push copies for every 3 copies he bought.

“By the way, how many copies of ‘Heat’ have been rented out?”

Jeon Jin-soo asked, putting down the empty Bacchus bottle.

That was probably the most 궁금한 [curious] thing for him too.

It was 9 o’clock when he gave him the videos in the morning. And now it was just past 2 p.m., which means 5 hours had passed since the videos were stocked.

Of course, the video business is a night business. But even so, at least 1/5 of them should have been rented out by this time to be normal.

1/5 of 360 copies is a little over 70 copies.

Jeon Jin-soo looked at Hyun-sung with curiosity.

“Dongshin Apartment, Building 105, Unit 301!”

Hyun-sung handed the ‘Heat’ video to the delivery staff and said briefly. Then he looked at Jeon Jin-soo and continued.

“This is the 398th person. Only two more people need to rent for it to be 400.”

“……”

Jeon Jin-soo was speechless.

Does this make sense? The total number of videos was clearly 360. But Hyun-sung said it was 398 people. That means all 360 copies have already been rented out once and are being rented out for the second time.

How could this happen…….

Jeon Jin-soo asked again.

“What happened? Have they really all been rented out once and are being rented out for the second time?”

“It’s thanks to you, hyung. Because you brought the videos early…”

Tring!

Hyun-sung stopped talking and answered the phone.

“Yes, this is Cinema Paradise. Ah, yes, ‘Heat’? We’ll deliver it as soon as it comes in…”

Swish!

Jeon Jin-soo gestured to Hyun-sung, who was on the phone, and left the store. He thought it would only be a hindrance to stay any longer.

Jeon Jin-soo shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it even as he left the store.

That’s because he thought that if many were rented out, about 70 would be a lot, but now he said that it would soon exceed 400, so he couldn’t believe it even after seeing it with his own eyes.

A little later.

Lee Myung-hoon pointed to the video box on the floor with his hand and asked.

“Boss, aren’t you going to release that [put them out for rent]?”

“I’m going to distribute 8 copies each to five video rental stores around here.”

“Ah, that’s right. You said you were managing those rental stores too, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. I’ll have the kids deliver it when they come later.”

At that moment.

Clang!

People started pouring in as the store door opened. There were already about thirteen people in the store choosing videos.

So, including the people who just came in, there were about twenty people filling the store.

Clang!

Right then.