Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 563

“Yes?”

Hyun-sung stared at Yoo Seung-il with wide, startled eyes. Yoo Seung-il immediately waved his hands and continued speaking.

“Not you, but the head office’s Manager Park.”

“Ah, is that so? For a moment, I was surprised you were talking to me. But what about Manager Park?”

“Do you happen to know Manager Park from the head office?”

“Yes, a little.”

Of course, in his past life, he only knew him from rumors and magazines. He actually saw him for the first time on the opening day when he came with Chairman Min Hong-sik.

“That guy came and went. Do you know how much he quoted?”

“I have no idea.”

“He quoted 2 million won and left.”

“Yes? 2 million won? Ha….”

Hyun-sung was so dumbfounded that he could only let out a hollow laugh. He had clearly stated that he gave 8 million won at the opening. Of course, selling and buying are different, but it’s only been a little over four months, and quoting 2 million won doesn’t make sense.

But when he thought about it, it might be natural.

There were more than a few people who had been taken advantage of by Movie Mind headquarters back then.

“You’re dumbfounded too, right?”

“I am.”

“Those head office guys always stab us in the back like this.”

“Are you just realizing that now? I think I’ve told you several times.”

“That’s what I’m saying. I honestly didn’t know it then, but now that I think about it, I’ve been taken advantage of more than once. Last time, during the consignment management….”

Yoo Seung-il’s words grew longer. As if he had made up his mind, he began to explain what had happened. Hyun-sung had expected most of it to some extent, so he let it go, but one thing in particular bothered him.

That was the story about the background check on Hyun-sung himself.

Out of curiosity, Hyun-sung immediately asked.

“Are you saying you did a background check on me?”

“That’s… my wife was just curious and….”

“So?”

“What do you mean, ‘so’? Later, I found out that Manager Park took 3 million won for himself.”

“3 million won?”

Hyun-sung was dumbfounded. He couldn’t understand why he would receive 3 million won for a request fee when it wasn’t even for illegal work.

Hyun-sung asked again.

“Did that guy ask for the money?”

“No, he didn’t.”

This time, it was Yoo Seung-il’s wife, Han Mi-sook, who answered. She continued.

“I just saw it in a TV drama and….”

“So, you’re saying you gave him 3 million won on your own?”

“Yes, I just thought that’s how it’s done….”

“And that guy just took the money?”

Han Mi-sook nodded.

In the end, she gave 3 million won to Manager Park Seon-woo as a request fee.

Hyun-sung shook his head from side to side. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t understand either the person who gave the money or Manager Park Seon-woo, who readily accepted it.

“Hoo….”

Han Mi-sook sighed softly. It seemed to mean that she felt pathetic herself. She continued.

“Now that I think about it, I think I did something really stupid.”

“I agree, there was no need to….”

“But I was really curious about the president at the time. What kind of person he was… But I have a question. Can I ask you something?”

Han Mi-sook’s eyes sparkled. He didn’t know what it was, but she seemed quite curious.

When Hyun-sung nodded slightly, Han Mi-sook immediately asked.

“What happened to that restaurant?”

“Restaurant?”

“Yes, I saw the advertisement in the newspaper last time. They said it was yours?”

“Ah, that….”

Only then did Hyun-sung know what Han Mi-sook was talking about. But the truth was, he didn’t have anything special to say. He couldn’t explain the whole process.

Hyun-sung had no choice but to replace his answer by inviting the two of them.

“Come by sometime.”

“Is it real? I actually couldn’t believe it even when my husband said it was true after seeing the newspaper advertisement. But is it true that the restaurant’s daily sales exceed 1 billion won?”

Crap.

It was awkward for Hyun-sung. He kept getting these kinds of questions. Hyun-sung had no choice but to change the subject.

“What’s important now is not that, but your checkup. So, quickly talk to your doctor….”

“Oh, yes, I understand. Oh! Now that I think about it, it’s business hours, isn’t it? You should go quickly. Honey.”

Han Mi-sook looked at Yoo Seung-il. It meant to send Hyun-sung away quickly.

Then Yoo Seung-il opened his mouth as if he understood.

“President Kim, thank you. Now that I know the approximate quote, I won’t be swayed by the head office. And I’m sorry, but please help me a few more times. I know it’s shameless, but I have no one else I can trust right now, so I have no choice.”

“…… Yes.”

Hyun-sung had no choice but to nod. He couldn’t say anything else now that he had come this far. After all, helping him close down would be the last period.

“Before you go, let me ask you one thing.”

As Hyun-sung was about to move his feet, Yoo Seung-il asked again.

“Yes, what is it?”

“In a way, we have a bad relationship, but can you tell me why you came running right away like this?”

That was what Yoo Seung-il had been curious about from the beginning. The question was whether Hyun-sung would come. But as soon as he called, he came running right away. So he was curious. After all, they had a bad relationship from the beginning, so why did he come running like this?

Meanwhile, Hyun-sung seemed to think for a moment before opening his mouth.

“I thought it was the end.”

“The end?”

“Yes, the period.”

In fact, he was initially puzzled as to why he was called. Moreover, he hesitated because he had more bad memories from his past life. But now that he thought it was the end, he thought he had to put a period to it in some way. That’s why he came to the hospital.

“The period….”

Yoo Seung-il was silent for a moment as if he was thinking about something. It wasn’t even a minute before he spoke again.

“Do you know the saying that the end is a new beginning?”

“Yes? A new beginning?”

“Yes, there’s such a saying. Just like death is not the end but means the birth of a new life. I heard it somewhere, but seeing you today makes me think that way. If we had a bad relationship until now, from now on, we can have a new relationship and a new beginning….”

Yoo Seung-il’s words grew longer. But his words didn’t really resonate with Hyun-sung. He thought that once he closed down this time, he would no longer be involved with him.

After exchanging a few more words, Hyun-sung left the hospital room.

The two people left behind after Hyun-sung left the room.

Han Mi-sook spoke first.

“What should we do? Do we really have to get you checked?”

“Well….”

Both of them were in a difficult situation. It was hard to believe, but it was also unsettling not to believe.

After a while.

This time, Han Mi-sook spoke first.

“I can’t do it. I’m too uneasy.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I think we should get a checkup. I can’t do it like this….”

Han Mi-sook left the hospital room and headed to the nurse’s station.

***

“How did it go?”

As soon as Hyun-sung arrived at the store, Lee Myung-hoon immediately asked.

“It was as expected.”

“Are you finally closing down?”

“Yeah, he asked me for a closing quote. So I gave him a quote based on my standards and left.”

“Huh? That’s strange.”

Lee Myung-hoon tilted his head as if something was strange. Then he immediately continued.

“Isn’t that something the chain headquarters takes care of?”

“That’s normal, but it’s a problem because those guys are greedy.”

“Greedy? What kind of greed?”

“I heard they quoted 2 million won, which is 50% of the normal closing price, and left. In the end, they’re going to take that much more for themselves.”

When he first heard the quote of 2 million won, he was really dumbfounded. Even unscrupulous used equipment dealers usually quote about 70% of the normal price. But how could the headquarters guys rip them off like that?

“Wow! Those guys are really bad guys.”

“That’s what I’m saying. And they’re going to get more than 100 million won for that stuff.”

“Heol… So, in the end, they’re making 80 million won sitting down?”

“That’s the minimum, and if they meet the right entrepreneur, they’ll get 120-130 million won more.”

“Hehe….”

Lee Myung-hoon could only laugh in disbelief. Then Yoo Young-seok, the youngest employee next to him, opened his mouth.

“Then what about the rental fee in the future? We can’t keep going at 100 won forever.”

“I was going to talk about that anyway. We’ll go with 100 won only until this month, and from next month, we’ll go back to 2,000 won as before.”

“Is peace finally coming to Bupyeong?”

“What? Peace? Haha….”

Hyun-sung laughed without realizing it. When Hyun-sung laughed, the other employees around him started laughing together.

***

The next day.

During rounds.

The doctor in charge, Min Woo-bin, looked at Yoo Seung-il with a dark expression and opened his mouth.

“We’ll have to postpone your discharge today.”

“Yes? Why?”

“The results of yesterday’s test came out… and it’s a bit strange.”

“Yes? What do you mean?”

Yoo Seung-il felt his heart sink. The test he had yesterday was a blood test. He said he was going to do a liver function test with a venous blood draw. Of course, he said he would do a detailed examination if there was anything wrong.

“Your liver values are high.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes, and it’s higher than I thought. I think we’ll have to do a detailed examination. So please keep that in mind….”

Min Woo-bin’s explanation continued.

But Yoo Seung-il couldn’t hear his words and felt his mind go blank. Until Hyun-sung told him to get a checkup yesterday, he never dreamed that this would happen.

He had the test done just in case….

Yoo Seung-il began to feel increasingly anxious.

Han Mi-sook was also anxious. She had the test done because she was uneasy, but she never thought that something would really happen.

As soon as the doctor left, Han Mi-sook spoke first.

“Honey, what should we do?”

“Don’t worry too much, nothing will happen.”

“Really?”

“Of course, so….”

Yoo Seung-il wanted to say more, but he couldn’t say anything more. He was saying that he was okay, but the most anxious person was himself.

An hour later.

Yoo Seung-il left the hospital room and headed to the MRI room on the second floor with Han Mi-sook.

That afternoon.

“…….”

Yoo Seung-il, who returned to the hospital room after meeting the doctor, and his wife, Han Mi-sook, next to him. The two of them just stared at other places without saying anything for a long time.

How much time had passed?

Han Mi-sook was the first to speak.

“I’m glad it’s still in the early stages.”

“…….”

“Don’t worry too much. The doctor said it seems possible with medication for now.”

“Yeah, I’m okay, but you must have been very surprised?”

“Well, I… sob.”

Han Mi-sook finally showed the tears she had been holding back.

Yoo Seung-il just comforted her by holding her hand.

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t understand.

The doctor said it was early-stage liver cancer. Then he said, how did you think of getting a checkup?

In the case of the liver, it is such a silent organ that you don’t feel the symptoms even if the disease worsens. He said that even if 80% of it is damaged, there are no noticeable symptoms. But how did you know?

So he had no choice but to talk about Hyun-sung. The doctor who heard the story said that this was impossible.

That was also Yoo Seung-il’s thought.

How could this happen? How can a person know the other person’s pain by holding hands? This doesn’t make sense.

“I’ll be right back….”

Yoo Seung-il left Han Mi-sook behind and headed to the lounge.

After a while.

Yoo Seung-il, who took a seat in the lounge, took out his cell phone and made a call.

Beep, beep.

The other person answered the phone after two rings.

-Hello.

“President Kim, it’s me.”

The person Yoo Seung-il called was Hyun-sung. He was the one he wanted to tell this story to before anyone else.

-Yes, sir, did the test results come out?

“Yes, the results came out a little while ago. But….”

Yoo Seung-il couldn’t finish his sentence. Then Hyun-sung immediately asked.

-Are they not good?

“That’s right, so I’m asking you to save me… sob sob.”

Yoo Seung-il burst into tears without realizing it.