Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 537

Two days later.

“Boss, big news!”

Park Cheol-ho, who had gone out for a delivery, announced as he came in to see Hyun-seong.

Hyun-seong immediately asked,

“What’s going on?”

“It started a little while ago.”

“Started? Who started what?”

“That Movie Heart place up there. I just passed by, and they had a huge amp in front of the store, balloons set up, and three gorgeous helpers…”

Park Cheol-ho continued his explanation. The gist of it was that they had started their grand opening event just 12 days after opening. Also, the person at the counter wasn’t the original owner but another man who looked to be in his 30s.

Hyun-seong smirked lightly, as if it was nothing, as Park Cheol-ho finished his explanation.

Lee Myeong-hoon, who was next to him, immediately asked,

“Aren’t you worried, boss?”

“About what?”

“Movie Heart is starting their offensive, right? They’re bringing in girls and a professional manager.”

“It’s meaningless anyway.”

“Huh? Meaningless?”

Lee Myeong-hoon stared at Hyun-seong as if he couldn’t understand. The other employees looked equally puzzled. Naturally, all eyes were on Hyun-seong.

Then Hyun-seong continued,

“There’s no solution with a rental fee of 500 won [approximately $0.40 USD] anyway.”

“No solution?”

“Yeah, no matter how much the helpers dance and make a fuss in front of the store, how many videos do you think they’ll rent out in a day?”

“Well, I don’t know…”

“They won’t exceed a thousand. No, even if they rent out a thousand, that’s only 500,000 won [approximately $400 USD] in revenue, right? And…”

“Wait a minute!”

Lee Myeong-hoon raised his hand, interrupting Hyun-seong, as if he had thought of something. Then he continued,

“We rent out over 1,500 videos a day at the store, excluding deliveries, right? And over 2,000 on weekends. Why are you so sure that Movie Heart won’t exceed a thousand?”

“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”

“Yes, I…”

“I think I said this from the beginning, but we can’t even compare ourselves to Movie Heart. Think about what I said at the beginning.”

As Hyun-seong finished speaking, Lee Myeong-hoon frowned as if he was thinking again.

After a moment.

“Aha!”

Lee Myeong-hoon clapped his knee and continued,

“Purchase cost, right? We have 10 times more purchase costs than Movie Heart. That’s why you said it’s not even a competition. Ah, I remember now.”

“There won’t be anything to watch even if they want to.”

“Huh?”

Lee Myeong-hoon tilted his head as if he didn’t understand what he was thinking. Then he immediately continued,

“There’s something strange.”

“What is it now?”

“Judging by what they’re doing now, the headquarters must have provided support, but doesn’t the headquarters know that with that level of purchase cost, the number of videos they can rent out is limited, no matter how many customers come?”

“Of course, they know. Do you think Movie Heart headquarters wouldn’t know that much?”

“Huh? They know?”

Lee Myeong-hoon tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand. That’s because he couldn’t understand why the headquarters would do such an event even though they knew that fact.

Lee Myeong-hoon immediately asked out of curiosity,

“They’re doing this even though they know?”

“They have to in order to make money.”

“Huh? Money? Are you saying that they’re not doing this for Movie Heart but to make money for themselves?”

“Of course, the event helpers and the person at the counter are probably just getting paid a daily wage. But that’s not all.”

“Huh? What else is there?”

Lee Myeong-hoon’s expression showed that he really didn’t know.

Hyun-seong smiled and continued,

“Our Myeong-hoon still has a long way to go. Think about who else could be involved.”

“Could it be…?”

“Could it be what? Do you have something in mind?”

“The higher-ups? Are you saying that the people who are here now are just hired by the headquarters, and the people who are making money are separate?”

“That’s right. Remember those two guys who came to our store last time? They’re the ones who are doing this. In the end, only CEO Yoo of Movie Heart is getting bled dry. They probably asked for at least one ‘jang’ [10 million won].”

“One ‘jang’… is that 10 million won?”

Hyun-seong nodded, and Lee Myeong-hoon immediately continued,

“How much will they take? Those two guys?”

“They’ll take at least half. They wouldn’t be making such a fuss if they weren’t taking that much. But the really important thing is that this is just the beginning.”

“The beginning?”

“Yeah, they’ll keep doing this for at least a few months. Of course, this event with the helpers will be the last, but they’ll prepare something else. They have to in order to keep getting the crumbs.”

“So, in the end, they didn’t start this for Movie Heart but for their own money-making scheme at the headquarters?”

“That’s how the Movie Heart headquarters I know operates.”

That’s what a Movie Heart store owner who operated the business in his past life said with tears in his eyes.

At first, he thought it was for his own good, but later he found out that more than half of the money taken under the guise of event expenses went into the pockets of the chairman and the director.

He said that after being dragged around like that for three months, he realized that their purpose was different from the beginning.

Then Park Cheol-ho, who was next to him, looked at Hyun-seong and asked,

“Is the Movie Heart CEO an idiot? Does he believe the headquarters without knowing that?”

“He’s not an idiot, but he can’t help it. Because he doesn’t have any experience, he doesn’t know anything. And the headquarters works on him in that way.”

“Are they deliberately working on him?”

“Of course. They probably started planning this a few days after opening. They can tell exactly how things are going after seeing how the business does for the first few days. In the end, only the clueless franchisees get taken advantage of.”

“Wow! The world is really scary. I mean, some guy asked for 20 million won [approximately $16,000 USD] for a small scratch on his rearview mirror…”

Park Cheol-ho stopped talking and glanced at Hyun-seong.

Then Hyun-seong immediately asked,

“What? Why are you looking at me?”

“I’m sorry to you, boss. To be honest, I thought I was going crazy when that guy demanded 20 million won at the police station that day. But you know what’s even more absurd?”

“What?”

“It’s you, boss. I really didn’t think you would actually give that money to that guy.”

“I promised from the beginning that I would take full responsibility for accidents during deliveries.”

“Of course, that’s true, but it’s not easy, is it? It’s not just a few bucks, it’s 20 million won.”

That’s when it happened.

“Hehe.”

Lee Myeong-hoon, who was next to him, suddenly started laughing.

Then Hyun-seong immediately asked,

“What? Why are you laughing all of a sudden?”

“I can picture you smashing the rearview mirror with a brick. No matter what, how could you smash a Lamborghini’s rearview mirror… hehe.”

Lee Myeong-hoon started laughing again before he could finish speaking.

Then Park Cheol-ho, who saw that, immediately continued,

“Hyung [older brother/friend], that scene was really something. I was completely smitten with you that day after seeing that, boss. It was so satisfying.”

“Wow! No matter how I think about it, this is…”

Lee Myeong-hoon shook his head as if he couldn’t imagine it.

That’s when it happened.

Ding-dong!

Someone opened the door and came into the store.

The first one to react was Hyun-seong.

“Oh? Hee-yeol hyung [older brother/friend], what brings you here at this hour?”

The person who opened the door was Moon Hee-yeol. The reason Hyun-seong was surprised was because he should be working at the factory at this hour.

Moon Hee-yeol immediately replied,

“Do you have about an hour to spare right now?”

“Huh? Right now?”

“Yeah, why? Can’t you?”

“No, I can. It’s not a busy time right now, but why?”

“I have something to tell you.”

Moon Hee-yeol’s expression was uneasy. It seemed like something had happened.

Confirming that, Hyun-seong looked at Lee Myeong-hoon and immediately said,

“Myeong-hoon, I’ll be back in a bit, so take the guys and run the store. Call me right away if anything happens.”

“Yes, boss, I understand. Don’t worry and go.”

Lee Myeong-hoon also knew the seriousness from Moon Hee-yeol’s expression, so he immediately replied.

10 minutes later.

The two entered a coffee shop near the store.

As soon as they sat down, Hyun-seong asked first,

“Hyung [older brother/friend], what’s going on?”

“That’s…”

For some reason, Moon Hee-yeol couldn’t open his mouth right away. His expression still looked uneasy.

Hyun-seong ordered first. It was to give him some time to gather himself.

After a while.

“Hyung [older brother/friend], have some cold cider first. And talk slowly.”

Hyun-seong ordered cider with ice. He thought that something cold would be better than something hot to relieve tension.

Was it effective?

Moon Hee-yeol, who had drunk about half a cup of cider, slowly opened his mouth.

“100 million… is gone…”

Moon Hee-yeol was stuttering.

Hyun-seong was also nervous looking at him. Until just now, he couldn’t figure out what he was uneasy about. But the moment the word ‘100 million’ [approximately $80,000 USD] came out of his mouth, he seemed to know the reason.

But the problem was the amount. The amount was unexpectedly large.

That’s why Hyun-seong couldn’t help but ask right away.

“Hyung [older brother/friend], what are you talking about? 100 million suddenly disappeared?”

“Sto-, stock…”

“Stock? Hyung [older brother/friend], by any chance…”

Hyun-seong roughly had a feeling. It had already been five days since he told him to liquidate his stocks. But the fact that he was talking about it now meant that he hadn’t liquidated his stocks yet…

As Hyun-seong’s thoughts reached this point, he immediately asked,

“Hyung [older brother/friend], don’t tell me you still had those stocks?”

“…Yeah.”

“What? Are you crazy?”

Hyun-seong’s voice immediately rose. This didn’t make sense. He had clearly told him everything that day, so he thought he would have liquidated all his stocks the next day.

But that wasn’t the case, so how could this be?

Hyun-seong emptied the cider in front of him in one gulp and immediately continued,

“Why did you do that? I clearly told you to liquidate all your stocks.”

“My father…”

“Your father? Did your father oppose it?”

“He told me to wait and see a little longer…”

“So, in the end, you didn’t believe what I said?”

“…”

Moon Hee-yeol couldn’t bring himself to say yes, so he didn’t say anything.

Hyun-seong looked at him and continued,

“Then why did you come to me? You wouldn’t believe me anyway.”

Even though he had told him everything, it was all meaningless, so Hyun-seong couldn’t be in a good mood. That’s why he couldn’t help but put emotion into his words.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, there’s nothing to be sorry about. It’s not my money, it’s your money, so why would you be sorry to me?”

“Don’t talk like that. I’m having a hard time too. And my position… No, this is all useless anyway, no, but I also…”

Moon Hee-yeol was rambling incoherently, not knowing what he was trying to say.

Hyun-seong’s heart wasn’t comfortable looking at him either.

Well, maybe it was natural. Of course, it was true that Jinro Soju had gone bankrupt, but it wouldn’t have been easy to believe so many things that hadn’t happened yet based on that one fact alone.

Moreover, it wouldn’t have been easy because he had to persuade not only himself but also his father.

“Hee-yeol hyung [older brother/friend]!”

Hyun-seong quietly called Moon Hee-yeol. He thought that the one who was having the hardest time right now was him no matter what, so he wanted to comfort him in any way he could.

“Oh, yeah.”

“I’m sorry, hyung [older brother/friend]. I was upset, so I was a bit harsh.”

“Why are you sorry? It’s my fault for not believing you.”

“No, I thought about it, and even if I were you, it wouldn’t have been easy to believe those words and act on them. Moreover, it would have been impossible to persuade not only myself but also my father.”

“No, that’s not it. Maybe my father is just an excuse. To be honest, I couldn’t persuade my father because I didn’t trust you.”

Thump, thump.

Moon Hee-yeol hit his head with his fist as if he was blaming himself.

Then Hyun-seong, who saw that, immediately asked,

“Okay, what’s done is done, so what’s the reason you came to me today?”

“I think it’s not too late even now.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“If what you said is true, it will fall even further anyway, right?”

“That’s right, so?”

Hyun-seong was curious about what Moon Hee-yeol was trying to say. That’s why his expression was completely different from when he was talking bluntly a little while ago.

Then Moon Hee-yeol opened his mouth again.

“I want to confirm one last thing for sure.”

“What is it?”

“Our father.”

“Your father?”

“Yeah, you said that our father might be in danger that day, right? So I’m going to confirm that one last time.”

There was seriousness in Moon Hee-yeol’s eyes as he spoke. That meant he was serious right now. Well, it was natural since it was about his father, not someone else.

“What do you want to know?”

“The truth.”

“Before that, there’s something I need to confirm first. Are you really going to believe what I say this time?”

“Yeah, that’s why I came. I can’t just ignore it since it’s about my father, not something else.”

“Okay.”

Hyun-seong nodded and paused for a moment before opening his mouth again.

“It’s true. In January of next year, the factory will have difficulties, and my father will also…”

That’s when it happened.

Before Hyun-seong could finish speaking, Moon Hee-yeol jumped up from his seat.

Then Hyun-seong immediately asked.