AGFJE 03

Chapter : 03

The Next Day

“Hmm.”

With her arms folded, Ha-yoon paced around the tavern, inspecting every corner.

Her eyes were sharp as she carefully observed the establishment.

There are more problems than I expected.

A courtyard overgrown with weeds.

Earthen walls that looked ready to collapse.

A wooden platform that creaked with every step.

The first rule of running a business was making sure customers didn’t feel uncomfortable.

That might not matter for a place supported entirely by long-time regulars.

But if they wanted to attract countless new customers, they had to eliminate as many sources of discomfort as possible.

Ha-yoon already knew very well that the success or failure of a business wasn’t determined by taste alone.

Don’t leave customers with an unpleasant experience.

No matter how delicious the food was, finding an insect in it would ruin everything.

The foundation of a food business was making sure customers didn’t leave with a bad memory.

Ideally, Ha-yoon believed, they shouldn’t have any unpleasant memories at all.

The experience should be so natural and comfortable that they wouldn’t even notice how much time they had spent there.

Especially with a tavern like this, she believed it needed to feel comfortable enough that people could visit every day without getting tired of it.

The entrance is narrow and gloomy. There’s absolutely no reason anyone would want to go inside.

Ha-yoon’s gaze settled on the entrance.

An old straw mat had been crumpled up carelessly, while a pile of firewood blocked half the doorway.

On top of that, a musty smell drifted from somewhere.

It was an unpleasant mixture of old, rain-soaked wood and mold.

No wonder nobody comes here…

An entrance was like a person’s face.

And the face of this establishment had been completely neglected.

From a customer’s perspective, this was a place they simply shouldn’t enter.

No matter how good the food is, it’s meaningless if nobody crosses the threshold.

Just as a person needed to take at least some care of their appearance if they wanted to date, a business needed a certain level of maintenance as well.

I’d like to tear the whole place apart and rebuild it, but…

Ha-yoon let out a long sigh.

They had no money.

No time.

Everything was in short supply.

All she had was a healthy body and the knowledge inside her head.

I need to pick my battles. I have to get the maximum effect for the minimum cost.

As Ha-yoon pondered, her footsteps suddenly stopped.

Something hanging in the air had caught her attention.

An old, tattered flag.

“Tavern”…?

The piece of cloth had been so torn and faded by the wind that it was impossible to tell what the original characters had been.

The writing fluttering in the breeze was so worn that it was difficult to distinguish the letters from ordinary stains.

“A sign!”

Ha-yoon suddenly shouted.

“Oh! You startled me!”

Ok-bun, who had been peeling garlic in one corner of the courtyard, looked up in surprise.

“A sign? What’s that? Can you eat it?”

Ok-bun narrowed her eyes.

Apparently, even the word sign was unfamiliar to her.

“A sign is like a business card for a store. I’ll make you a proper one instead of that piece of cloth.”

Ha-yoon pointed toward Munsik.

“Mr. Moon! Do you have any spare wooden boards? The bigger, the better! And please give me some ink and a brush, too!”

Munsik, who was setting down his wooden carrier in the courtyard, looked confused.

“What do you need a board for? Firewood?”

“I’m going to give the tavern a new name. And I’m taking down that flag.”

The moment Ok-bun heard that she intended to remove the flag, she cried out in surprise.

“What? Why would you take down a perfectly good flag? People passing by see that and know we’re here.”

“Or do they see it and run away?”

“What did you say?”

Ok-bun’s face turned bright red.

But Ha-yoon didn’t stop being blunt.

“You need to make it immediately obvious that this is a place of business. Who’s going to look at those faded characters and realize this place is open? They’ll think the tavern went out of business.”

“Hmm… Now that you mention it, you have a point.”

Ok-bun was gradually won over and nodded.

Truthfully, she already knew.

Lately, more and more people had simply been walking past the tavern.

She had known there was a problem, but she had never known where to begin fixing it.

Now, however, Ha-yoon was pointing out every problem with astonishing precision, like someone scratching an itch she couldn’t reach herself.

Creak.

Munsik opened the door of the shed and rummaged around inside.

A moment later, he came out carrying a rather large wooden board.

It wasn’t palm-sized.

It was almost as large as his torso.

“Will this do?”

“Perfect!”

Munsik handed her a stubby brush along with the board.

Half the bristles were missing, and the handle was cracked.

“We don’t have any ink. It’s too precious to waste. But I do have some soot mixed with oil… You can use that, if you want.”

“Hmm. That should work.”

Ha-yoon placed the board in the middle of the courtyard.

Then she began thinking carefully about what she should write on it.

This is where the real work begins.

Who names a business carelessly?

Simply calling it a tavern wasn’t enough.

Ha-yoon understood the importance of naming and fell into deep thought.

We need differentiation. If I simply write ‘Tavern,’ there’s nothing distinguishing this place from any other.

Dozens of words appeared and disappeared in Ha-yoon’s mind.

When people thought about design, they usually imagined visual elements.

But language was surprisingly important as well.

Naming a store.

Naming a product.

Creating words that could establish an identity.

All of those things were part of branding.

A logo would be difficult…

She considered creating a highly visible pictorial logo.

But there was no telling whether people in this era would even understand the concept of a logo.

More importantly, pictures had limited power when it came to spreading by word of mouth.

No matter how perfect the logo was, there was no easy way for people to describe it verbally.

In an age where word of mouth was everything, Ha-yoon realized she ultimately had to compete with a word.

Something simple and easy that anyone can remember!

One word that perfectly fit those requirements suddenly appeared in her mind.

Yes. That’s it!

Having decided on the name, Ha-yoon boldly picked up the brush.

Swish!

Ha-yoon was exceptionally skilled at calligraphy.

Creating an identity through nothing but handwriting was one of her strongest weapons.

Good lettering is a design in itself.

She wasn’t quite at the level of the legendary calligrapher Han Seok-bong, but Ha-yoon had studied calligraphy extensively.

Without hesitation, she began writing.

Scratch—swish, scratch!

The surface of the wooden board was uneven, but that didn’t stop her.

The black paint made from soot and oil soaked into the wood.

There won’t be a second chance.

I have to get it right in one stroke.

The most important thing when writing calligraphy was not to hesitate.

Hesitation left traces behind.

Even if the result wasn’t perfect, the key to good calligraphy was committing boldly to every stroke.

The same principle applied to drawing.

Swish!

Ha-yoon put extra force into the final character and completed the name of the new tavern.

Munsik and Ok-bun, who had been watching the entire process from beside her, widened their eyes.

“Oh my, what in the world is that?”

“I’ve never seen writing like that before.”

“The letters twist and bend, then suddenly get bigger… It looks like a chicken scratched it!”

“And yet I can somehow read it perfectly. That’s mighty strange.”

Of course, it was difficult for people from the past to understand calligraphy that pushed the boundaries of Hangul to such an extreme.

Ha-yoon had created a unique style of lettering that didn’t exist in this era.

She freely manipulated the strokes, allowing them to intrude into the territory of neighboring characters.

The sweeping strokes.

The subtle control of pressure.

And the final character with its distinctive flourish.

The letters Ha-yoon had written seemed almost alive.

As though they were breathing.

“Phew. Done.”

Ha-yoon, who had been wielding the brush as if possessed, wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Written across the wooden sign were the following characters:

[INSAENG JUMAK]

A combination of the words insaeng, meaning “life,” and jumak, meaning “tavern.”

Ok-bun stared wide-eyed at the new name.

“Insaeng Jumak? What does that even mean…?”

“It means a tavern you absolutely have to visit at least once in your life.”

Ha-yoon put down the brush and grinned.

“It could also mean that a single meal here might change your life. What do you think? Isn’t it good?”

In truth, the meaning could be interpreted however she wanted.

It was all about how you framed it.

What mattered was the impact of the words.

Insaeng-ju. Insaeng-jeon. Insaeng-gukbap.

There are so many things we can build from this.

And because nobody has claimed the name yet, now is the perfect opportunity.

Naturally, in the future, she couldn’t simply use a business name however she pleased.

She would have to check whether someone else was already using it and go through complicated procedures such as trademark registration.

But none of those concepts existed here.

This was essentially an open field.

Whoever used the name first could claim it.

Like painting on a completely blank canvas, what kind of picture would be drawn across Joseon was now entirely in Ha-yoon’s hands.

“Insaeng Jumak…”

Ok-bun stood motionless, staring at the sign.

The messy-looking lettering strangely drew her attention.

More than anything, the word insaeng—life—seemed to strike a chord in her heart.

“The letters are a little crooked, but somehow they suit the place.”

“That’s true. It’s neither proper Chinese characters nor ordinary Hangul. It’s strange, but I can’t stop looking at it.”

“All right, then. Hang it somewhere at the entrance where people can see it clearly.”

Once the sign was finished, Munsik picked it up and carried it toward the tavern entrance.

Ha-yoon followed behind him, directing him where to place it.

“Higher! Make sure people can see it from across the road!”

“How about here?”

“Raise the left side a little. It’s not level.”

“How about now?”

“Center it. Move it a little farther to the right.”

“Here?”

“More, more, more!”

“Good grief, you’re awfully picky…”

Munsik grumbled, but he didn’t seem particularly displeased.

When Ha-yoon had first offered to take charge, he honestly hadn’t expected much.

But now that she was demonstrating her abilities, it was obvious that she was a professional.

And a highly skilled one at that.

“Perfect. Nail it down securely. Make sure it won’t get soaked if it rains.”

“My goodness. Anyone watching this would think you’re the owner.”

While Munsik secured the sign to the post, Ha-yoon approached Ok-bun.

“Auntie Ok.”

“Yes? What is it?”

“Besides gukbap, do you sell any other food? Things like seasoned vegetables or jeon, perhaps?”

“Of course we do.”

Ha-yoon immediately continued questioning her.

“Then what exactly are all the dishes you sell here? And please tell me the prices as well.”

“What are you going to do with that information?”

“I’m going to make a menu.”

“A menu?”

“Or, well, let’s call it a food list.”

Ha-yoon’s next plan was to create a menu board.

Most people who eat gukbap are men between their twenties and sixties.

And they never ask about the menu.

The most common phrase associated with taverns was probably:

“Miss! One bowl of gukbap here!”

It wasn’t because they didn’t want to eat anything else.

It was because they didn’t even know other dishes were available.

If they don’t ask, how would they know?

Men were even notoriously bad at asking for the hairstyle they actually wanted when getting their hair cut.

If I want to attract more customers, we have to offer a variety of dishes.

No matter how delicious the gukbap was, eating the same thing every day would eventually become boring.

Gukbap could remain the main attraction, but they needed a variety of side dishes to support it.

That was how they could appeal to a wider range of customers.

And customers needed to be able to see all those choices at a glance.

“Chili pepper jeon, two jeon. Potato jeon, three jeon. Pollock jeon, five jeon. Seasoned mountain-garlic leaves, four jeon. Seasoned bean sprouts, two jeon…”

“Good. Keep going.”

Ha-yoon brought over the remaining wooden board and began writing down everything Ok-bun listed.

She arranged the dish names in a neat column on the left and their prices on the right.

Instead of writing the currency symbol, she drew cute illustrations of yeopjeon, the traditional round coins.

She added decorative elements around the border of the board, completing the menu.

“Done.”

Ha-yoon looked at the finished menu with satisfaction.

It was simple because it had been made entirely with a brush, but that was also its strength.

Everything was immediately clear and easy to understand.

The menu Ha-yoon had created read:

[Gukbap]

Gukbap / 4 ◎

[Jeon]

Chili Pepper Jeon / 2 ◎

Potato Jeon / 3 ◎

Pollock Jeon / 5 ◎

[Seasoned Vegetables]

Seasoned Bean Sprouts / 2 ◎

Seasoned Mountain-Garlic Leaves / 4 ◎

[Alcohol]

Makgeolli / 3 ◎

Dongdongju / 3 ◎

Insaengju / 5 ◎

.

.

.

Once the menu was complete, Ha-yoon looked proudly at Ok-bun.

“What do you think? It’s much easier, isn’t it? Customers can see every dish at once.”

“Oh! It’s neat and easy to read. You really do have a talent for this.”

“What did I tell you? I’m going to turn this into the greatest tavern in Joseon.”

“You certainly know a thing or two about business.”

Ha-yoon had begun renovating the tavern as diligently as if it were her own home.

Her enthusiasm gradually broke down Ok-bun’s wariness.

“All right. The next thing we need to do is…”

And before they knew it, a month had passed.

During that time, Ha-yoon carried out various renovations, including completely reworking the kitchen.

She also trained Munsik and Ok-bun in customer service, improved hygiene management, and added various visual elements both inside and outside the tavern.

“Today is D-Day.”

They hadn’t intentionally closed the tavern.

But because they had spent the entire month tearing things apart and rebuilding them, even fewer people had visited.

Occasionally, someone would approach out of curiosity.

But after seeing the chaotic appearance, they would assume the tavern was finally closing and turn around.

Now, however, Insaeng Jumak was preparing for its grand reopening.

The wooden floor had been thoroughly cleaned.

The tables had been neatly arranged.

The sign gleamed brightly.

It had transformed so completely that even the phrase “a complete rebirth” didn’t seem sufficient.

Munsik and Ok-bun nervously asked,

“Do you really think people will come?”

“Don’t worry. In a few days, there’ll be a line stretching all the way to the wall.”

“How wonderful that would be.”

Once most of the preparations were complete, Ha-yoon suddenly strode toward the kitchen.

“Where are you going?”

“We’ve finished preparing. Now we need to attract customers.”

As she spoke, Ha-yoon looked at the enormous iron cauldron sitting in the middle of the kitchen.

Inside was a rich broth that had already been simmering for several hours.

“All right!”

Without hesitation, Ha-yoon used a pair of tongs to lift the lid.

Whoosh!

Ok-bun jumped in surprise and hurried over.

“What are you doing? You’re going to let all the broth evaporate!”

As Ok-bun tried to close the lid again, Ha-yoon explained.

“We need to lure people in with the smell! What’s the point of trapping this delicious aroma inside?”

“Lure people with the smell?”

“Yes. From now on, we’re going to spread this aroma as far as possible. This smell is more precious than any perfume.”

With that, Ha-yoon threw the kitchen door wide open.

“Don’t you have a fan? Hurry and fan it toward the road! Lunchtime is the perfect time!”

“Uh… What?”

Although Ok-bun was bewildered, she picked up a fan.

“Here.”

“Good. Fan as hard as you can!”

“Good grief, what on earth am I doing…”

Even while grumbling, Ok-bun began fanning enthusiastically.

They had come this far.

At this point, all she could do was trust Ha-yoon.

Flap! Flap!

Hot steam poured out of the kitchen.

Carried by the wind toward the road, the steam was thick with the rich aroma of meat broth.

Everything is ready.

Now all we have to do is wait.

Ha-yoon gazed meaningfully in the direction the aroma was drifting.

Meanwhile, at the entrance to Mungyeong Saejae.

A group of traveling peddlers carrying bundles was making its way along the road.

There were eight of them in total, and each man’s back was loaded with a heavy bundle of goods.

“Ugh.”

Crossing Mungyeong Saejae while carrying such a load was exhausting.

Back then, traveling peddlers typically carried bundles weighing around 30 kilograms and walked approximately 20 kilometers every day.

By modern standards, it was practically the equivalent of marching every day.

As a result, these peddlers were constantly hungry.

They had to keep eating whenever they could if they wanted to continue walking.

The group continued trudging along in silence.

Then—

“Sniff, sniff.”

One of the peddlers at the front flared his nostrils.

“Huh? Big brother, what’s that smell?”

“This… Isn’t that the smell of meat being boiled?”

“My, that smells incredible.”

The other peddlers gradually stopped walking as the aroma reached their noses.

A rich, savory broth was spreading through the air on the wind.

“Come to think of it, isn’t it about time to eat?”

“I was getting hungry anyway… Why don’t we head over there and take a look?”

“Sounds good. Let’s go.”

Drawn in by the aroma, their feet naturally began carrying them toward the tavern.

A short while later—

The eyes of the peddlers widened as they reached the entrance.

“Good heavens!”

The courtyard was neatly arranged.

The walls were decorated with murals.

And, most eye-catching of all, was the sign bearing the words:

INSAENG JUMAK.

“Insaeng Jumak? Was there a place like this here?”

The peddlers tilted their heads in confusion as they stared at the sign.

“Come to think of it, wasn’t there a tavern here before?”

“Oh! I remember! It was practically falling apart…”

“You mean this is that place?”

The peddlers who remembered the old tavern looked around in disbelief.

They had been traveling this road for more than a decade, yet not once had they stepped inside Munsik’s tavern.

Even when storms poured down, they avoided that particular establishment.

It simply hadn’t looked like a place anyone would dare enter.

But today was different.

Instead of the shabby thatched building, there was a clean and orderly courtyard.

A neatly mounted sign stood prominently at the entrance.

Above all, the savory aroma drifting on the wind seemed to hold them by the ankles.

It didn’t take long for their hesitation to turn into curiosity.

“Did the owner change?”

“Hmm. Should we go inside and take a look?”

“Sure. Let’s give it a try. We might as well see what all the fuss is about.”

Half skeptical and half curious, the peddlers stepped into Insaeng Jumak.