Chapter : 04
“Welcome! Thank you for coming to Life Tavern!”
“Huh?”
The pack peddlers exchanged bewildered looks at the enthusiastic welcome.
At an ordinary tavern, they would usually receive nothing more than a curt,
“Lodging? Or a meal?”
But Hayoon greeted them with a bright smile right from the entrance.
“Come this way. It’s nice and cool here, with a good breeze coming through.”
“Uh, y-yes. All right.”
“You must be tired. Give me your luggage. I’ll keep your packs safely inside.”
“Our luggage, too?”
“Yes. I’ll keep everything safe, so just relax and focus on your meal.”
Hayoon practically snatched the pack peddlers’ bundles from them.
It was a carefully calculated move designed to make sure the pack peddlers had no reason to turn around and leave.
“T-thank you.”
The pack peddlers stared at Hayoon with bewildered expressions.
They had never received treatment like this before.
It almost made them feel as though they were members of the nobility.
“Grunt… This is a little heavy.”
“If it’s too much, you can just leave it there…”
“No, Uncle Munsik! Come help me carry this over here!”
“All right! Whoa! That’s heavy!”
Hayoon and Munsik began hauling the luggage together, grunting with effort. The pack peddlers watched them with fascinated expressions.
“Heh heh. I’ve certainly seen all sorts of things in my life.”
“Indeed. I’ve never been treated this well in my entire life.”
“That young lady certainly knows how to treat people.”
“Is that all? She’s quite beautiful, too. She’s practically a fairy!”
Even by the standards of people living in the Joseon era, Hayoon was an exceptionally beautiful woman.
Her fair, spotless skin and large, clear eyes were particularly striking.
She wore a short haircut that was completely out of place in this era, but even taking that into consideration, Hayoon’s beauty was extraordinary. She was every bit as beautiful as a young lady from a noble family.
And when such a woman welcomed them with a radiant smile, the pack peddlers could hardly take their eyes off her.
“She’s beautiful. Truly beautiful…”
“Coming here was a good decision…”
“Ha, if I’d known it would be like this, I would have come here long ago.”
In fact, this too was one of Hayoon’s carefully calculated strategies.
‘There was a statistic saying that hiring attractive employees could increase sales by 30%.’
It was an open secret that attractive employees could boost sales.
That was why, regardless of everything else, businesses in the service industry often selected their front-of-house employees based on appearance.
In the service industry, appearance was practically a weapon.
So, under the guise of making an investment, Hayoon had purchased new clothes and shoes and dressed herself up properly.
‘Heh. By the standards around here, I’m practically celebrity-level.’
Hayoon had never paid much attention to dressing herself up because she had always been too focused on work.
But now that she had been dropped into Joseon, she had to make use of everything she possessed.
Whether it was her appearance, her knowledge, or anything else.
“Cough. We’re hungry, so shall we order some food first?”
“Ah, what am I doing? Let’s order quickly.”
“Then eight bowls of gukbap…”
Just as the pack peddlers were about to order gukbap without the slightest hesitation—
“Wait!”
Bang!
Hayoon hurried over and placed a wooden board on the table.
“What’s that?”
“It’s our tavern’s menu. Take your time and choose whatever you like.”
“A menu?”
The pack peddlers’ eyes widened.
It was the first time in their lives they had ever seen something called a menu.
“W-what in the world is this?”
At the very top of the menu, Hayoon had even added set meals.
[Assorted Set]
(For 2 people) 2 bowls of Life Gukbap + 1 Dongtae-jeon / 12 ◎
[Gukbap]
Gukbap / 4 ◎
Life Gukbap / 5 ◎
[Jeon]
Chili Pepper Jeon / 2 ◎
Potato Jeon / 3 ◎
Dongtae Jeon / 5 ◎
[Seasoned Vegetables]
Seasoned Bean Sprouts / 2 ◎
Seasoned Wild Garlic Greens / 4 ◎
[Alcohol]
Makgeolli / 3 ◎
Dongdongju / 3 ◎
Life Liquor / 5 ◎
.
.
.
The pack peddlers were quite shocked when they saw all the different foods and the prices written beside them.
“There are this many kinds of food at a tavern…?”
“No, more importantly, the prices are all written down!”
“I’ve never seen a place that displays its prices so honestly!”
The pack peddlers examined the menu with fascination.
In an era when fixed pricing was practically nonexistent, the price was usually whatever the owner decided to charge.
That was why travelers from out of town ordered gukbap wherever they went across the country. Since the price was relatively consistent, it helped them avoid being overcharged.
But when prices were displayed this transparently, things were different.
They could order other dishes without worrying about being cheated.
On top of that, being able to choose the food themselves was fun in its own right.
The pack peddlers became completely absorbed in choosing their food, staring at the menu for quite some time.
“Now that everything is written down, I want to try a little of everything.”
“Then gukbap and… a bowl of makgeolli, too. Oh, should we get some dongtae-jeon as well?”
“Order it, order it. Let’s eat well today.”
“Life Gukbap…? What’s this?”
Hayoon, who had been listening to their conversation nearby, answered the question.
“Ah, that’s a special kind of gukbap that we sell only at our tavern.”
“You only sell it here?”
“Yes. It’s regular gukbap with our tavern’s secret seasoning added. You’ll regret leaving without trying it.”
“Hmm…”
Hearing that it was something they could only eat here, the pack peddlers gradually leaned toward the Life Gukbap, despite its slightly higher price.
After all, the difference in price wasn’t that large.
“Hmm. Then I’ll give it a try. I’ll have the Life Gukbap.”
“Then I’ll have the Life Gukbap, too.”
“After receiving such good treatment, how could we not try it? Let’s all go with Life Gukbap.”
The eight men nodded and were about to place the same order when—
“Wait.”
One of them suddenly noticed the assorted set.
“If we’re going to order that much, wouldn’t it be better to get the two-person set instead? If we order that, the dongtae-jeon only costs two jeon.”
“Oh! What?”
“Wow, at that price, they’re practically giving it away!”
The discovery that they could get dongtae-jeon for just two jeon with the set shifted their choice once again.
Their spending had gradually increased from basic gukbap, to Life Gukbap, to the assorted set.
This, too, was one of Hayoon’s meticulous designs.
“Then give us four two-person assorted sets. And two servings of dongdongju. We ought to have a drink today.”
“Yes. Certainly.”
After taking the order, Hayoon turned around and smiled to herself.
‘Just as planned.’
If things had gone normally, these men would have ordered nothing more than a bowl of gukbap each.
But after looking at the menu, they had upgraded to assorted sets and even added dongdongju.
They would originally have brought in 32 jeon, but now they had earned 54 jeon.
That was an increase in sales of a whopping 81%.
A short while later,
Okbun came out carrying bowls of steaming-hot gukbap. Generous portions of meat and green onions floated atop the milky broth.
“Here are eight bowls of Life Gukbap!”
Thud, thud, thud.
As the earthenware bowls were placed on the platform, anticipation began to appear on the pack peddlers’ faces.
“Wow, that looks incredible.”
“Shall we give it a try?”
Just then—
“Wait a moment.”
Hayoon suddenly approached carrying a small plate.
On it was a piece of fish grilled to a beautiful golden brown.
The pack peddlers looked puzzled.
“We didn’t order this.”
“Is this even ours?”
“It’s a complimentary dish.”
Hayoon winked.
“Complimentary? What’s that?”
“Ah, it means an extra. Free of charge.”
“Free?”
“It’s a little gift to commemorate you being our first customers today.”
Hayoon lowered her voice playfully and whispered,
“For your information, I’m giving this to you without the lady owner knowing, so hurry up and eat it. It’ll be a big problem if she finds out.”
“Hahaha! What a capable young lady! We’ll gladly eat it. Thank you.”
“I never would have imagined we’d receive treatment like this.”
The pack peddlers burst into broad smiles at Hayoon’s little gesture.
In truth, a single piece of fish didn’t cost much.
But the effect it produced was enormous.
After being treated like royalty by Hayoon, the actual taste of the gukbap hardly mattered anymore.
The service alone had already given them a reason to come to Life Tavern.
“Ahhh! This is incredible!”
“Wow, the gukbap here is absolutely amazing!”
“This is the best gukbap I’ve ever eaten in my entire life!”
Caught up in the wonderful mood, the pack peddlers quickly polished off their bowls.
Satisfied smiles spread across their faces.
“This is the best gukbap I’ve had in a long time!”
“So that’s why they call this place Life Tavern!”
After finishing their meal in high spirits, the pack peddlers began settling the bill.
“Then I suppose it’s time to pay?”
“54 jeon… That’s a little more than I expected.”
“But we ate well, didn’t we? When else are we going to get a meal like this?”
“That’s right. If only we had more time, I’d come back again tomorrow.”
The pack peddlers counted out their brass coins one by one and handed them over.
Clink, clink.
The cheerful sound of coins rang through the tavern.
“Here you are. Fifty-four jeon.”
“Thank you. And please take this with you, too.”
Hayoon handed them a piece of paper.
“What’s this?”
“This is called a coupon.”
“A coupon?”
“Ah, let’s call it a voucher.”
Hayoon stamped the paper to show them.
The stamped paper contained the following:
[5 Stamps / One Potato Jeon]
[10 Stamps / One Bowl of Life Gukbap]
“You get one stamp for every bowl of gukbap. Once you collect enough stamps, we’ll give you whatever is written there for free. It’s a special benefit for our regular customers at Life Tavern.”
“All of that is free? Good heavens!”
“I’ve never seen a tavern like this before!”
With one service after another, the pack peddlers were almost dizzy with excitement.
They carefully tucked the vouchers into their clothes as though they were precious treasures.
“Life Tavern… I’ll remember this place.”
“Well, thank you for the meal.”
“Yes. Please come again.”
Once the first customers—the pack peddlers—had left, Okbun hurried out of the kitchen.
“Are they gone? They’re really gone?”
“Yes. They’ve all left.”
“So how much did we make?”
Instead of answering, Hayoon opened the pouch containing the coins.
Inside was an amount of brass coinage that Okbun had never seen before in her life.
“Gasp! This much…?”
But her amazement lasted only a moment.
The tavern owner asked worriedly,
“But if we keep giving so much away, will there actually be anything left for us?”
“What do you mean?”
“We lowered the prices, gave them free fish, and now we’ll eventually have to give them free gukbap, too. Won’t we end up losing money?”
“Auntie, don’t worry. Selling it this way is guaranteed to make us more money.”
“How?”
Hayoon kindly began explaining to the puzzled Okbun.
“How long do you think those people were sitting here?”
“About… thirty minutes?”
“Yes. Exactly. Just thirty minutes.”
The greatest advantage of gukbap was its fast table turnover.
All they had to do was add meat and green onions to the prepared broth, so the food could be served quickly. And because customers simply mixed rice into the broth and ate, the meal itself didn’t take very long.
“And in those thirty minutes, we made 54 jeon. What do you think would happen if we had more customers like them?”
“Our sales would increase even more?”
“At that point, making two nyang an hour would be easy. We’d make nearly twenty nyang a day.”
“Twenty nyang!”
Twenty nyang was roughly equivalent to 1.4 million won in modern currency.
For an ordinary tavern that struggled to make even one nyang a day, it was an unimaginable amount of money.
“And those people will come back because of these vouchers.”
“They’ll come back?”
Hayoon confidently continued her explanation.
“And they’ll spread the word about us, too. You can’t even put a price on that. They’ll promote the tavern for us without us spending a single coin on advertising. That’s what you call viral marketing.”
“Is… is that so?”
At some point, Okbun had stopped understanding what Hayoon was saying and simply nodded along.
“Just wait and see. Before long, we’ll be so busy that there won’t even be room to set foot inside.”
Hayoon gazed meaningfully at the departing group of pack peddlers.
