AGFJE 05

Chapter : 05

A few days later.

It was just as Munsik was chopping firewood at the entrance of the tavern.

“Is this the tavern called Insaeng Tavern?”

“Pardon? Yes, it is…”

Three sturdy-looking men approached the tavern.

They were faces Munsik had never seen around these parts before.

“I heard this is the place where you get a free bowl of soup after eating ten bowls of gukbap?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I also heard you give out grilled fish for free…”

“Ah, that’s only a special opening promotion. We’re offering it for one month.”

“One month… So we can still get it?”

“Yes. There are about three weeks left.”

“Good. Everyone, come this way.”

Once the information matched what they had heard, one of the men turned around and beckoned to the people behind him.

Rumble, rumble.

Then, as if they had appeared from nowhere, a huge crowd began pouring into the tavern.

“Gasp!”

Munsik’s eyes widened at the sight.

Dozens of people had arrived all at once.

“W-What in the world is all this?”

Hayoon was flustered by the sudden influx of customers, but she quickly pulled herself together.

“Welcome! Welcome to Insaeng Tavern!”

Hayoon quickly scanned the customers and counted them.

“Auntie! Customers! Twenty-two of them!”

“What? Twenty-two?”

At the unexpected number, Okbun’s jaw dropped.

Sure enough, nearly twenty people were already packed inside the tavern.

“What in the world…!”

Seeing Okbun standing there in a daze, Hayoon called out.

“Don’t panic. First, prepare three potato pancakes and seven pollack pancakes. And grill only four fish for now.”

“They haven’t even ordered yet!”

The customers were still looking over the menu.

They were fascinated by the strange menu they had never seen before, so ordering was the last thing on their minds.

But Hayoon saw this as an opportunity and urged Okbun to start preparing the food immediately.

“Based on the data we’ve gathered so far, we’re guaranteed to sell at least that many. We need to start preparing now so we don’t fall behind.”

“Oh, all right.”

If Hayoon said so, then it must be so.

By now, Okbun trusted Hayoon so completely that she would believe her even if Hayoon claimed that she could make fermented soybean paste from red beans.

Okbun hurriedly began preparing the food.

Meanwhile, out in the courtyard, the situation soon began to resemble a battlefield.

“Three bowls of Insaeng Gukbap here!”

“Yes, coming right up!”

“Five bowls of makgeolli!”

“Yes, here you go!”

“One more potato pancake!”

“Two plates of pollack pancakes!”

“Three sets of the two-person platter!”

“Yes, yes! Got it!”

Hayoon was running around like a madwoman.

Even while she was taking one order, another came in. She carried trays loaded with five bowls of gukbap at a time.

But that was only the beginning…

“Is it true the gukbap here is that good?”

“I heard the young lady working here is incredibly friendly, too.”

“We heard the rumors and came all the way from the village across the way.”

“We’d like a bowl of gukbap, too.”

Customers continued arriving without end.

The benches had been completely full for some time already.

With nowhere to sit, customers milled around nearby, watching the others eat.

Seeing this, Hayoon quickly stepped in to organize the crowd.

“All right, please line up from here in order. As soon as the customers inside finish their meals and leave, we’ll let you in.”

“What? The place is already full?”

“Can’t we just wait here?”

“No. We might make the other customers uncomfortable. What if someone gets indigestion while eating?”

“Good grief, she’s awfully strict.”

Although the customers grumbled at Hayoon’s instructions, they still went outside.

The power of marketing was tremendous.

Before long, the tavern wasn’t merely packed with customers—the line stretched all the way along the wall, creating a massive crowd.

Now, customers were actually attracting more customers.

“What’s going on here? Are they having some kind of festival? Why are there so many people?”

“I heard the gukbap here is supposed to be incredible.”

“Really? Then I should try it myself.”

Even people who hadn’t heard the rumors began gathering simply because of the spectacle.

It wasn’t every day that such a large crowd gathered in one place, so people came just out of curiosity.

“Here, have this while you wait.”

Hayoon handed out cool sikhye to the customers waiting in line.

“Ohhh, thank you.”

“I heard that young lady is really good at her job.”

“Really? No wonder she’s so friendly.”

“Ahh! This sikhye is wonderfully refreshing!”

Customers who would normally have complained about the wait cooled their tempers after receiving the sikhye from Hayoon and quietly waited for their turn.

Whew… At least that’s one thing taken care of.

The chaos that had begun in the morning showed no signs of calming down, even though the sun had already climbed high into the sky.

“Auntie! The gukbap still isn’t out!”

“Just a moment! It’ll be out soon!”

Okbun’s hands moved frantically as she answered.

“Two regular gukbap and three Insaeng Gukbap, right?”

She ladled broth into bowls, piled on the meat, and sprinkled green onions over the top, repeating the motions without pause.

There was no time to think.

She simply concentrated on making each dish according to the orders, like a machine.

“Ugh… Next is five potato pancakes and seven pollack pancakes…”

Sweat poured down her face, and her wrists had begun to ache, but she couldn’t afford to stop when customers were waiting.

Okbun had run this tavern for more than thirty years, but she had never experienced anything like this.

For someone who was accustomed to seeing nothing but empty seats every day, she would gladly let her body break apart before disappointing the customers now.

“Three bowls of Insaeng Gukbap are ready!”

That determination kept Okbun moving.

“Ha! Hyah!”

Meanwhile, her husband Munsik was just as busy, chopping firewood and hauling water.

Wham! Wham!

The sound of his axe echoed behind the tavern.

He was chopping five times as much firewood as usual, yet he didn’t feel tired at all.

If every day could be like today, he felt as though he could cut down every tree on the entire mountain.

“Honey! Firewood! Put some more firewood under the cauldron!”

“I’m already doing it!”

He couldn’t remember the last time they had been this busy.

Even when they first opened the tavern, it had never been this hectic. There had occasionally been days when customers crowded in, but nothing compared to this.

The energy radiating from the customers.

The lively atmosphere inside the tavern.

It was something Munsik and Okbun had never experienced before.

That energy made them forget their exhaustion.

Hayoon, meanwhile, was just as busy.

“One Insaeng Gukbap!”

“Yes! Coming right up!”

“Check, please!”

“Yes, I’ll be right there!”

Greeting customers, taking orders, carrying food, clearing tables—the cycle never stopped.

Her feet were swollen, and her neatly arranged hair was soaked with sweat, but Hayoon didn’t care much.

“Good grief. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve kept things a little more manageable…”

Despite her complaint, Hayoon’s face was filled with a satisfied smile.

If there was one moment most glorious to an advertising professional, it was watching a project they had planned succeed right before their eyes.

Watching the customers enjoy themselves filled her with a deep sense of pride.

I’d forgotten.

The reason I became an advertising planner.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had thrown herself into the field and worked like this.

At some point, she had stopped taking on projects because they were what she wanted to do and had instead focused solely on projects that would make her successful.

As a result, her love for her work had gradually faded.

Every day, she merely whipped herself forward, struggling to get through one day after another.

But now, for the first time in a very long time, Hayoon was experiencing a pure emotion she had forgotten.

She felt as though she had returned to the days when she was a little girl helping her father with his antique business.

The reason Hayoon had dreamed of becoming an advertising planner had originally come from a simple desire:

She wanted to help her father with his shop.

That feeling was coming back to life.

“Huh? We’re out of broth!”

“We’ve already used up all the firewood we prepared yesterday.”

“What? Already?”

Thankfully, the situation that seemed as though it might last forever had finally reached its end.

Even though they thought they had prepared enough, they had run out of ingredients in just four hours.

“What about all the people waiting outside?”

“Exactly. It looks like some of them have already been waiting for hours…”

“Don’t worry. I have a plan.”

When Munsik and Okbun began worrying, Hayoon went outside and made an announcement.

“I’m sorry, but we’ve run out of ingredients, so we’ll have to close for the day. However, as a token of our appreciation to everyone who waited for us, we’ll give each of you one stamp.”

Hayoon handed out vouchers and stamped each one.

Even the customers who had waited for nearly an hour left without much complaint.

“What? They’re already sold out?”

“Nothing we can do. I guess we’ll just have to come back tomorrow.”

“I didn’t even get to eat gukbap, but I got a stamp. Maybe I came out ahead after all?”

“At this rate, we’ll just keep lining up every day until we get our free bowl of gukbap! Hahaha!”

The waiting customers were happy because they received stamps, while Hayoon was happy because she had gained new customers.

It was a win-win strategy for everyone.

“Thanks for the meal. We’ll be back.”

“Take care on your way home.”

When the final customer finally left, Hayoon, Munsik, and Okbun collapsed on the spot as if they had run out of strength.

“Haah… It’s finally over…”

“My goodness! Every bone in my body hurts! At this rate, one of us might actually die.”

“Ugh… I’ve never chopped this much firewood in my entire life.”

All three groaned in exhaustion, but their faces were filled with the satisfaction of having accomplished something tremendous.

“Ugh!”

Ignoring the throbbing pain, Hayoon forced herself back to her feet.

Munsik and Okbun watched her with worried expressions.

“Don’t push yourself. You can do the cleanup later.”

“No. There’s still the most important thing left to do. I can’t rest until that’s finished.”

“There’s still work left?”

At those words, Munsik and Okbun’s eyes widened.

Hayoon smiled and said,

“The accounting.”

“Oh!”

With that, Hayoon emptied a sack filled with copper coins.

A small mountain of coins formed on the bench.

Clatter!

“Good grief! How much money is all this?”

“One, two, three…”

Munsik began counting the coins one by one.

“…Ninety, one hundred!”

“That’s one nyang.”

“Don’t just stand there. Help me count.”

“All right.”

Once the coins reached the hundreds, Okbun joined in as well.

Ten pun made ten jeon.

Ten jeon made one nyang.

And they had already passed ten nyang.

“Ten nyang… twelve nyang…”

The higher the number climbed, the more Munsik and Okbun’s voices began to tremble.

“H-Honey…”

“Stop making such a fuss and keep counting.”

“Nineteen nyang… twenty nyang!”

“Twenty nyang?”

A little while later, after finishing the accounting, Munsik and Okbun were left speechless, staring blankly at each other.

A brief silence followed.

“A-All of this… is what we earned in a single day?”

“That looks like about twenty times what we normally make…”

“T-Twenty times!”

On an ordinary day, they could barely make one nyang.

One and a half nyang on a good day.

But today, they had made twenty nyang.

And they had earned it in just four hours.

It was almost impossible to believe.

“Hayoon, thank you!”

Munsik and Okbun tightly embraced Hayoon.

“How did such a lucky charm ever come into our lives?”

“Honey! We’ve worked so hard all these years!”

The three of them remained locked in an embrace for a while, savoring this moment.

Tears glistened in the corners of Okbun’s eyes.

Hayoon gently comforted them.

“It’s too early to celebrate already. This is only the beginning.”

“Hayoon…!”

“Compared to the kindness you two showed me when you saved me, this is nothing. We have to earn several times more than this from now on.”

The first project Hayoon had undertaken in Joseon—the Insaeng Tavern project.

After making Insaeng Tavern a spectacular success, Hayoon was already planning her second project.

At the same time.

Sanmaru Tavern, the long-standing powerhouse at the entrance to Mungyeong Saejae.

Normally, this place should have been packed with customers.

Instead, it was practically deserted.

“Ugh, tsk!”

Daljae, the owner of Sanmaru Tavern, stared displeasingly at the empty tavern.

A table overflowing with food and drinks had been set before him.

Sanmaru Tavern had been built several years later than the Insaeng Tavern where Hayoon was currently staying.

Normally, opening another tavern within an established commercial district was considered against the principles of fair trade.

But Daljae didn’t care.

He had scraped together every bit of money he had, borrowed whatever he could, and built the grandest tavern in Mungyeong Saejae.

Once Sanmaru Tavern was completed, customers began flocking to it.

As a result, the original tavern run by Munsik and Okbun had been pushed to the brink of closure.

But now, the positions of the two taverns had completely reversed.

“Damn it! This liquor tastes awful!”

The tavern, which normally would have been packed with customers until late at night, was now so empty that even the flies seemed bored.

In frustration, Daljae hurled his drinking cup.

Crash!

Then he staggered to his feet.

“Why the hell are there so few customers these days? Where is everyone eating and drinking?”

Only a month ago, Sanmaru Tavern had been packed with customers.

Then, all of a sudden, the customers had stopped coming.

It wasn’t as though their numbers had merely been cut in half.

They had practically disappeared altogether.

“Something must have happened. Otherwise, there’s no way a tavern that was doing so well could suddenly end up like this. That’s for sure.”

Daljae suddenly shouted toward the kitchen.

“Honey! Did you put alcohol in the gukbap? Why does the soup taste so bitter?”

“Alcohol? You’re the one who drinks so much that you can taste liquor even in the gukbap!”

His wife answered irritably.

“The owner spends every day drinking instead of doing anything useful, so of course customers don’t come! Why don’t you go out and promote the tavern instead of wasting your time drinking?”

“Hmph! If that’s the case, then how do you explain the fact that business was doing so well before? I was drinking back then too, and business was still good.”

“That’s because this was the biggest and finest tavern in the area! It wasn’t because you were particularly capable!”

“…”

Daljae had no answer to that, so he shut his mouth.

Just then, the voices of passersby could be heard from beyond the wall.

“Wow, the gukbap I had today was incredible, wasn’t it?”

“Absolutely! It’s the best tavern I’ve ever been to.”

“The food is delicious, too. They even give you grilled fish and vouchers. Where else can you find a tavern like that?”

At the mention of a tavern, Daljae’s ears perked up.

“And that young lady working there… She’s so well-mannered and pleasant. I’m going back tomorrow just because of her.”

“Exactly! That young lady with the unusual short haircut. She was incredibly friendly.”

“Insaeng Gukbap! From now on, whenever I want gukbap, I’m going there.”

“Same here! Hahaha!”

The voices gradually faded into the distance.

Daljae’s expression turned cold.

“Insaeng Tavern? Is there such a place?”

He had never heard that name before.

Every tavern in the surrounding area was either on the verge of going under or had already been driven out of business.

If a new tavern had opened, there was no way he wouldn’t have known about it.

He had enough influence to make sure of that.

Then, suddenly, a memory flashed through his mind.

“Wait… Could it be…?”

There had been rumors about a tavern on the mountain pass that had been on the verge of collapse, only to suddenly change its name and begin attracting crowds.

But Daljae had dismissed the rumors as unimportant.

He heard rumors like that several times a day.

Could that actually have been true?

As Daljae realized how serious the situation was, his face stiffened.

The alcohol seemed to sober out of him instantly.

“I need to go see for myself.”

Daljae hurriedly put on his clothes and rushed out of the tavern.

His wife’s nagging followed him from behind.

“Where are you suddenly going? At least clear the table you were eating at before you leave!”

“This isn’t the time for that! Don’t talk to me! The fate of our tavern is at stake!”

“Good grief, that man…”

Still drunk despite it being the middle of the day, Daljae staggered down the road toward Insaeng Tavern.