Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 588

“What is it now?”

Oh Ji-hye, who was at the counter, asked as she approached the window.

Then, Ma Sang-gu pointed to the banner across the street again and said, “I’m talking about that banner over there.”

“Just a moment.”

Oh Ji-hye checked the banner across the street. It didn’t even take 10 seconds before she spoke, meaning the banner was large enough to be easily seen from that distance.

“It says it’s a bakery famous for its shokupan [Japanese milk bread]. And it says they bake fresh bread every four hours.”

“What about below that?”

“It says the first bread comes out at 6:30 in the morning.”

“Take a look at this.”

The corner of Ma Sang-gu’s mouth twisted in what seemed like disbelief. Then he said, “What? Is she declaring war on me now?”

“I know, she’s really going for it. But do we really need to worry too much? There’s no way they can compete with us, even if they do that, right?”

“Well, I wonder if it’s really okay…”

Ma Sang-gu still looked uneasy. Seeing this, Oh Ji-hye hesitated before speaking again.

“Actually, there is one thing that bothers me too.”

“What is it?”

“The timing.”

“Timing?”

“Yes, we get our bread at 9 in the morning, but they get theirs at 6:30.”

“Right? That’s what’s bothering me too. But the important thing is that we can’t just change the delivery time as we please.”

Ma Sang-gu’s expression darkened even further.

Perhaps it was a natural reaction. The other bakery was right across the street, and their bread came out two and a half hours earlier.

But the problem was that they couldn’t artificially change their delivery time. The other bakery was independently owned, so they could adjust their schedule as they pleased, but he was a franchise, so it wasn’t possible.

Ma Sang-gu asked, “What time did that bakery open before?”

“9 o’clock.”

“So that means they deliberately moved up the opening time because of us?”

“Yes, that’s right. They wouldn’t have needed to do that before when they were the only bakery around.”

“Hmm…”

Ma Sang-gu was silent for a while, lost in thought. Then, Oh Ji-hye spoke first.

“Could you ask the head office to deliver the bread a little earlier, even if it’s just by an hour?”

“I already talked about that from the beginning, but they said it’s difficult. The head office has a set route, so they can’t adjust it to suit just one store.”

“I guess so…”

Oh Ji-hye nodded, as if there was nothing she could do.

It was understandable. They had to deliver bread to all the franchises in the area, not just one or two, so they couldn’t change the entire schedule because of one location.

Just then.

*Clang!*

Two customers came in through the store door. They were two women in their 50s.

Oh Ji-hye took the lead and greeted the customers cheerfully. “Welcome!”

“Did you open today?”

“Yes, we opened today. Please come again.”

“Is this all part of the opening event?”

One of the customers looked at the opening event banner hanging on the wall and asked. The banner stated that all items were 10% off for the opening.

“Yes, we’re having a 10% discount for the opening.”

“The place across the street is doing 20%…”

“They’re an individual store, and we’re a franchise, so there’s nothing we can do. But our bread tastes much better.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Yes?”

Oh Ji-hye was momentarily flustered and speechless.

She had assumed that bread from a franchise would naturally taste better than bread from an individual store, so she said that, but when asked why, she was caught off guard.

“Why would the bread from a chain taste better than an individual store?”

“Yes? That’s…”

Oh Ji-hye couldn’t answer properly, so the customer who had asked the question earlier pressed on. “Isn’t that a prejudice?”

“Well, rather than a prejudice, it’s because our bread is delicious. And we have so many people at the head office who research bread.”

“Hmm… I don’t know.”

The customer began to look around at the bread, tilting her head. Then, the other customer who had come in with her continued the questioning.

“What time does the bread come in here?”

“9 a.m.”

“The place across the street bakes bread every four hours…”

“We get it from the head office, so…”

“Yes, I understand. After listening, it seems that being a chain isn’t always a good thing. Young-hee’s mom, let’s go to the place across the street. It’s time for their bread to come out now.”

“Still, let’s buy one or two and go. Either way, we have to compare the taste of the bread.”

“Shall we?”

The two began to pick out some bread from the display.

A little later.

After the customers paid and left, the owner, Ma Sang-gu, immediately started swearing.

“Those bitches, where did they come from with their bad luck!”

“I know, right? They should have just bought bread and left. Ugh, I’m a woman too, but when I see those kinds of women, I really feel unlucky.”

“If they were pretty, I’d say they were worth looking at, but where did they…”

“I know, right? These days, it’s always the ugly ones who are like that. Ugh!”

The two began to gossip about the customers who had left.

Meanwhile, the two women who came out of Paris Baguette crossed the street and entered the bakery run by Lee Se-i.

“Eun-soo unnie [older sister/friend], Soo-hee unnie, welcome!”

Lee Se-i greeted them cheerfully. As they were regulars, she knew their faces and called them by their names.

Then, Lee Eun-soo, one of them, smiled slightly and said, “Honey, we’re on our way back from the place across the street. I’m telling you in advance so you don’t feel bad.”

“Unnie, you’re saying all sorts of things. How can I run a business if I can’t even understand that much? And they just opened a new store today, so we have to taste their bread too.”

“But it wasn’t very good there.”

“Why?”

“It was only bigger than here, and the opening event was only 10% off, and the bread only came in at 9 o’clock. And most importantly, there’s a male owner there who doesn’t even know how to greet people. He didn’t greet us when we came in, and he didn’t even greet us when we left. How can someone like that do business… tsk tsk [sound of disapproval].”

Lee Eun-soo clicked her tongue and spoke ill of him. Then, Han Soo-hee, who was next to her, chimed in.

“That’s not all. The employee who works there is also funny.”

“What about that employee?”

“Well, she said that their bread would taste better than the bread here because they’re a franchise. So I immediately asked her why she thought so, and at first she couldn’t say anything, but later she said, do you know what she said?”

“What did she say?”

“She said that there are many people at the head office who research it. I was so dumbfounded that I was about to say something, but I stopped myself. After all, they’re just selling bread that’s made in a factory. But the problem is that people don’t even know that and just think that chains are always good and go there. It’s just flashy on the outside.”

Tsk.

Lee Se-i had nothing to say. She knew too well that if she said something wrong here, she didn’t know where or how the rumor would spread.

“But is that the smell of bread?”

“Yes, it’s 2 o’clock now, so it’s time for the afternoon bread to come out. It comes out every four hours, starting at 6 in the morning.”

“Yeah, I know that from seeing the banner when I came in. But do you really make bread every four hours?”

“Yes, we decided to do that. Bread tastes best when it’s freshly baked. And bread starts to lose its taste little by little after about five hours of baking. So we’re going to continue to bake bread every four hours in the future.”

Lee Se-i finished speaking and went inside, carrying a few freshly baked breads on a tray. Then, she quickly cut them with scissors and handed them to the customers.

“Unnies, please taste this.”

“Oh? Are you running a tasting corner now?”

“Yes, I haven’t been able to do it until now, but I’m going to do it from now on. I think that will help with business.”

“Whose idea was that?”

“At first, the video store owner told me. But when I thought about it, I thought it was right, so I’m going to do it.”

“Hoho [chuckle]…”

Lee Eun-soo, who was listening to Lee Se-i’s story, suddenly started laughing. Then, Han Soo-hee, who was next to her, immediately asked, “What is it? Why are you laughing all of a sudden?”

“Haven’t you heard the rumor?”

“Rumor? What rumor?”

“Should I talk about this…”

Lee Eun-soo suddenly started to look at Lee Se-i’s face. Then, Lee Se-i immediately asked, “Unnie, is that rumor about me?”

“Oh, that’s…”

Lee Eun-soo couldn’t continue her words for some reason. Then, this time too, Lee Se-i immediately asked, “Unnie, I’m okay, so tell me. Are you talking about me now?”

“I also heard the story.”

“So what is that story?”

“Um…”

After hesitating for a moment, Lee Eun-soo opened her mouth as if she had made up her mind. “What kind of relationship do you two have?”

“You two? What are you talking about? Unnie, maybe…?”

Lee Se-i looked at Lee Eun-soo, dumbfounded. Then, Lee Eun-soo smiled slightly and continued. “I told you, I also heard the story.”

“So, are those two talking about me and the video store owner?”

“That’s right, I heard it a few days ago too. That the video store owner comes to the bakery and lives there.”

“Hoho, hohoho…”

Lee Se-i suddenly started laughing. Then, this time, Han Soo-hee, who was next to her, smiled slightly and asked Lee Se-i, “What is it? What does that laugh mean?”

“It’s so funny.”

“Funny? Not worried?”

“Honestly, what do I have to worry about? It’s not like I have a husband. Isn’t that right?”

“Oh, but still…”

Han Soo-hee looked at Lee Se-i, dumbfounded. Then, she continued to speak to Lee Eun-soo, who was next to her. “It seems like it’s just a false rumor. If that rumor was true, there’s no way Se-i would be so carefree. Isn’t that right?”

“I thought it didn’t make sense either. As far as I know, the video store guy isn’t even thirty years old, so what’s he lacking…”

“Unnie!”

Lee Se-i suddenly cut off Lee Eun-soo’s words in the middle. Then, she immediately continued. “What does that make me?”

“What does it make you?”

“I’m only thirty-four years old now.”

“What’s wrong with you, only? That’s not right. And Se-i has a five-year-old Soo-jung, so how can you ignore a bachelor like that?”

“Hoho…”

Lee Se-i started laughing again. Then, Lee Eun-soo and Han Soo-hee, who were watching her, also started laughing together at some point.

A little later.

Lee Se-i spoke first. “What are we doing now? Putting a perfectly good bachelor on the spot…”

“That’s right. Anyway, from the way you’re talking, it seems like the rumor about you two is just a false rumor, right?”

“Unnie, don’t say things like that. I really can’t live in this neighborhood if that happens. As you know, the video store owner isn’t an ordinary person in this neighborhood.”

“Well, there’s no one with that kind of ability at that age.”

“Do you know that?”

Lee Se-i asked in a low voice. Then, Lee Eun-soo and Han Soo-hee put their ears next to Lee Se-i as if they were talking about a secret and asked, “What is it?”

“I also heard it from the bookstore unnie, but the video store owner…”

Lee Se-i’s explanation continued.

A little later.

After listening to Lee Se-i’s explanation, the two people opened their mouths wide and were speechless for a while. Then, Han Soo-hee was the first to speak. “He makes 1 billion won [approximately $750,000 USD] a day?”

“Yes, and he only makes that much from the restaurant. I heard he has over 200,000 pyeong [approximately 160 acres] of land in the countryside of Gangwon-do.”

“He’s a complete chaebol [conglomerate heir]?”

“There’s no chaebol like that. I almost fainted when I heard that from the bookstore unnie.”

Lee Se-i shook her head. Then, Lee Eun-soo’s expression changed strangely for a moment, and she immediately spoke. “Se-i, why don’t you really try to change your fate?”

“Unnie, are you teasing me now?”

“No, I’m not teasing you, but Se-i is good-looking and her age is about that…”

“Unnie!”

Lee Se-i suddenly screamed. Then, she immediately continued. “I’m not that shameless.”

“No, don’t just think negatively and try to poke him once without knowing.”

“Oh, really, why are you doing this? Unnie!”

“No, that’s not it…”

Right then.

*Clang!*

One person came in through the store door.

“S, sir?”

The person who opened the store door and came in was Hyun-sung.