Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 576

As the distance between Hyun-sung and her narrowed—30 meters, 20 meters, 10 meters—his heart began to race faster and faster.

There were still about six months left until his wife moved to Bupyeong.

Of course, he had heard that she lived in Bucheon before moving to Bupyeong. But the problem was, he couldn’t find out her exact address.

He had asked the community center several times to confirm her address, but each time he was told that due to privacy protection, they couldn’t provide the information unless he was a family member.

He couldn’t exactly say she was his future wife, so he had no choice but to wait for the date to come.

But now, finally meeting her here today, it was only natural that his heart rate would increase.

“Excuse me!”

When he was about five meters away from her, Hyun-sung shouted loudly.

However, she didn’t turn around and started walking quickly across the crosswalk and onto the sidewalk.

In his haste, Hyun-sung called out her name loudly.

“Yoon Ji-soo!”

But still, she didn’t respond.

Hyun-sung had no choice but to grab her arm and say again.

“Excuse me, Yoon Ji-soo!”

“Oh my? Who are you?”

She was startled and took a step back, shouting. But Hyun-sung was even more surprised than she was.

“Huh?”

He had assumed it was his wife and chased after her, but she wasn’t Yoon Ji-soo. Hyun-sung had never seen her before.

“I, I’m sorry! I thought you were someone I knew…….”

Hyun-sung quickly bowed his head.

The back view was definitely that of his wife, Yoon Ji-soo. But her face was not the face of his wife that he had expected; it was a completely different person.

Hyun-sung could only stare at her back as she walked away.

Perhaps his expectations were too high; after confirming that she wasn’t his wife, the sense of loss was even greater. As a result, he couldn’t leave the spot easily.

Some time later.

Hyun-sung, who had crossed the crosswalk again and returned to the snack bar, still couldn’t let go of his lingering feelings and stared in the direction she had disappeared for a long time.

It was as if he thought his wife might appear at any moment.

After a while.

Hyun-sung snapped out of it and checked the snack bar sign again. Then he immediately opened the door and went inside.

“Welcome.”

As Hyun-sung opened the door and entered, a young man who appeared to be the owner greeted him in a small voice.

If it were someone he knew well, he would have said something about greeting him in such a way, but since he was only going to see him once, Hyun-sung nodded slightly and took a seat.

“What would you like to order?”

“Just a moment.”

Hyun-sung first turned his gaze to the menu board.

It wasn’t much different from the menu boards found in ordinary snack bars. If there was anything that caught his eye, it was that three of the menu items were covered with tape, making them invisible. That meant that they had given up on those three menu items.

Giving up on menu items?

That probably meant that those menu items didn’t sell well.

You can tell a lot from one thing; it meant that this place wasn’t doing well enough to give up three menu items in just one year.

Of course, he didn’t know the reason yet.

“Please give me ramen, tteokbokki [spicy stir-fried rice cakes], and fish cake soup.”

He didn’t intend to eat it all anyway.

The purpose was to taste it.

Hyun-sung wanted to know why the business wasn’t doing well.

Hyun-sung’s gaze turned to the floor after he ordered.

But only for a moment; Hyun-sung immediately frowned.

The basics of the food business are cleanliness.

Looking at the stained floor, Hyun-sung was able to get a sense of what was going on.

“The ramen and fish cake soup are ready.”

About five minutes later, the ramen and fish cake soup came out first. And the side dishes were kimchi [fermented cabbage] and pickled radish.

Hyun-sung’s spoon went to the fish cake soup first.

Slurp.

After tasting it, Hyun-sung immediately put down the spoon.

The life of fish cake soup is the broth. But he couldn’t feel any charm in the broth.

Slurp.

This time, he took the ramen to his mouth with chopsticks.

It was just ordinary ramen. It was a taste that wasn’t much different from what you would cook at home.

“The tteokbokki is ready.”

First of all, the color was okay.

Munch, munch.

He picked up a piece of rice cake and put it in his mouth.

‘What is this?’

The life of tteokbokki is the rice cake, no matter what anyone says. Whether you use wheat rice cake or rice cake, it has to be chewy. But for some reason, this rice cake had a hard texture.

It seemed like they used rice cakes that were in the freezer.

It was at that moment.

A young man came in through the door.

Then the young man in the kitchen immediately greeted him.

“You’re here?”

Judging by the way he spoke, it seemed like they were friends. The young man who opened the door also headed to the kitchen naturally.

Then the two men’s voices were heard right away.

“What time is Myung-hoon coming today?”

As soon as the name ‘Myung-hoon’ came up, Hyun-sung’s attention naturally turned to the kitchen. But the kitchen was so small that there was almost no boundary between the kitchen and the hall. As a result, the conversation in the kitchen flowed directly into the hall.

“He said he talked to the boss there today and decided to leave work early in the afternoon.”

“But is he really going to lend you the money?”

“I asked him just in case, but that sucker is going to lend it to me. He’s always been weak since we were in school.”

Hyun-sung’s face was automatically distorted at the word ‘sucker’.

Wouldn’t you know it if you heard it once? If a friend calls a friend a sucker, you could tell how he thought of him.

‘If so…….’

After thinking for a moment, Hyun-sung quickly took out his cell phone and called Lee Myung-hoon. Now that it had come to this, he thought that letting him hear the sounds from the kitchen as they were was a more sure way than making his own assessment.

The signal rang twice, and Lee Myung-hoon’s voice was heard.

-Hello.

“Just a moment…….”

As soon as Lee Myung-hoon answered the phone, Hyun-sung placed his cell phone near the kitchen. It was to make the sounds from the kitchen clearer.

Meanwhile, Lee Myung-hoon, who answered the phone, was bewildered. At first, it was the voice of the boss, Hyun-sung, but soon he heard a familiar voice. It was the voices of his friends he had met the day before yesterday.

Lee Myung-hoon put his cell phone closer to his ear. Then he could hear it more clearly as if they were talking next to him.

-Isn’t Myung-hoon a little slow?

-That’s what I’m saying. I just asked him to lend me some money just in case, but I didn’t know he would really lend it to me.

-So, are you really going to take that money and repair the store?

-Am I crazy? The contract here ends next year anyway, so why would I pour money into it? I’m going to buy a motorcycle with that money or something…….

“You son of a bitch!”

A curse word immediately came out of Lee Myung-hoon’s mouth.

He was going to lend him money in the hope that he could repair the store and make it do well, but when he found out that it was all a lie, he couldn’t help but curse.

Lee Myung-hoon put his cell phone back to his ear just in case. Then he heard his friends’ voices again.

-He said he has 60 million won [Korean currency, approximately $45,000 USD] in his account, right?

-Yeah, I heard that too.

-When that guy comes later, I should ask him to lend me some money too.

-What are you going to do with it?

-First, I’ll tell him that my mom needs surgery, and I’ll buy a motorcycle and go on a cross-country trip with you…….

Lee Myung-hoon didn’t need to listen anymore, so he took the cell phone away from his ear. A bitter smile had already spread across his lips.

Clunk.

Meanwhile, Hyun-sung, who was eating ramen, put down his chopsticks. It seemed like he had done his job anyway.

Hyun-sung paid the bill, left the store, got in his truck at the public parking lot, and headed to Bupyeong.

30 minutes later.

When Hyun-sung arrived at the parking lot, Lee Myung-hoon immediately approached him. He must have been waiting for Hyun-sung in advance.

“Thank you, boss. If it weren’t for you, I would have just lost 20 million won [Korean currency, approximately $15,000 USD]. No, if the other friend had asked me to lend him money for his mother’s surgery…….”

Lee Myung-hoon shook his head violently in the middle of his sentence. It must have meant that he didn’t even want to imagine it.

Looking at him, Hyun-sung opened his mouth.

“Myung-hoon, this is the world. If you don’t come to your senses, you’ll end up being a sucker until the end of the world.”

“I’m ashamed.”

“You don’t have to be ashamed; those guys are the bad guys. But just know that there are surprisingly many guys like that in the world. And also know that not all friends are the same.”

“Yes, I realized a lot this time.”

“Then that’s good. Let’s go in now.”

“You go in first. I’m going to talk to these guys on the phone and go in.”

Lee Myung-hoon said, shaking his cell phone. Then Hyun-sung nodded as if he knew what he meant and left the parking lot.

Lee Myung-hoon, who was left alone, immediately made a phone call.

-Hello.

“It’s me.”

-Oh, Myung-hoon!

The other person’s voice was bright. Of course. He was a friend who had promised to lend him money today, so he couldn’t help but be happy.

“You said the business wasn’t doing well, right?”

-Yeah, as you know, our store is very old. So people don’t come as much.

“Do you really think people don’t come because the store is old?”

-Of course.

“So you’re going to repair it?”

-Yeah, if I repair it, I’ll have twice as many customers as I do now. No, maybe even more than that. If that happens, I’ll really treat you properly.”

Pfft.

Lee Myung-hoon couldn’t help but laugh because he was so dumbfounded. He was just pathetic for believing in a guy like that and trying to lend him money.

“Hey, you son of a bitch, wake up.”

-Huh? What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?

“They say you should speak straight even if your mouth is crooked. Honestly, isn’t the reason your business isn’t doing well because your cooking skills are terrible? Am I wrong?”

-Hey, Lee Myung-hoon, why are you being like this all of a sudden?

“Why am I being like this? Why are you being like that? Is it okay to ignore a friend like that? Huh?”

-Is this guy crazy? What are you talking about all of a sudden?

“Tell me honestly. What were you going to do with the money if I lent it to you?”

-Hey, of course, I’m going to repair the store…….”

“Hey, Jang Sung-wook!”

Lee Myung-hoon interrupted the other person. Then he continued.

“You shouldn’t do that to people; how could you do that to me?”

-Hey, why are you doing this?

“You were going to buy a motorcycle with my money, right? Am I wrong?”

-Huh? Hey, how did you…….”

“And you were only planning to run that store until next year? Am I right?”

-…….

“How can a friend use people like that? Huh?”

-Hey, how did it happen? How did you…….”

“What does it matter how I found out now? The important thing is that you, no, you and Myung-sik were trying to use me.”

They’ve been friends since middle school, not just for one or two years, so it’s been over 10 years. The more he thought about the fact that those guys were trying to use his sincerity, the more angry he became.

Lee Myung-hoon said again.

“Hey, Jang Sung-wook! I’m warning you for the last time, don’t live your life like that. You’ll be punished, you son of a bitch! And tell Myung-sik too, don’t live your life like that. And don’t even think about coming to the alumni association in the future. Otherwise, I’ll pour shit on your faces in front of your friends! I’m hanging up, you bastard!”

-Hey, hey, Lee Myung-hoon…….

Click.

Lee Myung-hoon ignored the sound coming from the other side of the phone and hung up. He thought that there was no point in talking to a guy like that anymore.

It was then.

“Are you done talking on the phone?”

The owner of the voice was the boss, Hyun-sung.

“Huh? Boss, haven’t you gone back to the store yet?”

“No, I went in and came out again because I had something to say to you.”

“Ah, yes. What……?”

“Of course, there’s not much age difference between you and me, but let me just say one thing. From my experience, I just wanted to tell you that it’s not always good to have a lot of friends.”

He didn’t know when he was in school. But as he got older and time passed, he naturally came to know.

That was his thought about friends.

Not all friends are the same.

In common parlance, he knew that a friend in need is a friend indeed.

No matter how many friends you have on a regular basis, there are hardly any friends you can ask for help when you’re really having a hard time.

The conclusion was that it was okay to have just one friend like that.

“I felt a lot this time too.”

“Even if you have only one friend, if that friend is a true friend, you don’t have to envy ten friends.”

“Yes, I think so.”

“I just wanted to tell you that you don’t have to be too attached to the number of friends. Of course, people may have different thoughts, but that’s the case for me.”

“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Lee Myung-hoon bowed his head to Hyun-sung. Then Hyun-sung lightly patted Lee Myung-hoon’s shoulder.