RCR 64

Chapter 64

“Not that I’d understand any of it even if I looked.”

At that, Kwon-woo handed the contract to Jang-mi as well.

Jang-mi, who had switched from dating guidebooks to real estate books now that she no longer needed the former, scrutinized every single character on the contract with hawk-like eyes.

“So? Is the money amount right?”

“Yeah, seems like it. And nothing else looks like it’ll be a problem either.”

“I’ll match the price as close to your desired amount as possible.”

Buying it at a low price would have been better for the company, but Kwon-woo genuinely wanted to offer the highest possible price for the mother and daughter.

A look of delight spread across Young-ran’s face.

“What if I call out some crazy number like a few billion?”

“That’s fine.”

Kwon-woo gave a short nod, pulled a pen from his briefcase, and placed it on the table.

“Yes. Write down the amount you want, and I’ll have it deposited immediately.”

His expression didn’t seem like he was lying.

Young-ran looked back and forth between the contract and Kwon-woo, mulling over how much to ask for in her head.

Should she really call out a shocking, life-changing amount while she was at it?

But her conscience held her back.

Goodness, is this what happens when you’ve never made big money before? If she just closed her eyes and wrote it down, he’d give it to her. But asking for several billion won for a small plot of land in the middle of nowhere pricked her conscience—she just couldn’t do it.

Young-ran sighed at her own conscience, which she hadn’t even known existed, and regretfully filled in the empty purchase price box.

At the amount, which was far lower than he’d expected, Kwon-woo’s eyebrows lifted.

“It looks like you missed a zero. Please double-check.”

“Aish, it’s fine. Selling a palm-sized piece of land in the countryside—this is already a fortune. It’s dozens of times what I paid for it. If I asked for more, I wouldn’t feel at ease and wouldn’t be able to sleep with my legs stretched out, so just give me this much.”

Even Jang-mi was surprised by Young-ran’s unexpected thinking, her eyes going wide.

“Wow, Mom, you’re really settling for just this much? I was worried you might ask for enough to buy a bank. I didn’t know our Mrs. Na Young-ran was such a conscientious person.”

“Shut up!”

Young-ran shot Jang-mi a glare.

Then she shoved the contract with the filled-in purchase price toward Kwon-woo.

“Let’s stamp it quickly and get it over with. I’m not that much of a conscientious person, so if we drag this out, I might change my mind and want to add a few more zeros.”

“Are you really okay with this amount?”

“That’s already higher than what other properties were contracted for. Let’s just do it this way.”

Even so, thinking that the Dabang she’d opened every day for over twenty years would disappear made Young-ran feel a mix of relief and regret, and her lips twitched.

“So the Eunhasu Dabang will be completely gone now. When are you going to demolish it?”

At those words, Kwon-woo’s hand paused briefly.

His face, quietly looking down at the contract, grew a little serious.

Jang-mi and Young-ran silently watched Kwon-woo, who had stopped mid-signature and suddenly halted his movement.

After a moment of seeming hesitation, Kwon-woo began moving his pen again.

The name “Cha Kwon-woo” was written in the blank buyer’s section.

Seeing that, Jang-mi blinked.

“Huh? It’s not Taesan Development?”

Kwon-woo set down the pen and answered briefly.

“I thought this way would be better.”

Jang-mi looked at him as if asking what that meant, but Kwon-woo kept his words brief and finished signing the contract.

—

* * *

—

After leaving the Dabang and returning to his lodging, Kwon-woo opened the door to the first floor, which he used as an office. He set his briefcase down on the desk and sat down in front of it.

“Why did the owner of Eunhasu Dabang want to see you?”

“……”

Doo-hwan asked with a curious expression, but instead of answering, Kwon-woo opened his briefcase, pulled out the contract inside, and placed it on the desk.

Doo-hwan’s gaze naturally turned toward it.

“You’ve contracted to purchase the Eunhasu Dabang site?”

Doo-hwan, looking relieved that it was finally settled, quickly scanned the contract with his eyes.

Then, seeing the buyer’s name written at the bottom, he tilted his head.

“The buyer isn’t Taesan Development—it’s under your name, Executive Director?”

Doo-hwan quietly stared at Kwon-woo, trying to gauge his intent, but instead of answering, Kwon-woo pulled out the resort site bird’s-eye view and design blueprints.

“I purchased the Eunhasu Dabang site under my own name, but we need to revise the resort design a bit.”

Kwon-woo pointed with his fingertip at the Eunhasu Dabang site, located right next to where the lobby was planned.

According to the original design, Eunhasu Dabang was to be demolished, and the site was to be reorganized as an entry space connected to the lobby.

“Let’s change this part.”

“Executive Director, if we remove this section, the lobby traffic flow changes.”

“That’s the point.”

“We’d have to redo the vehicle access, pedestrian pathways, and even the landscaping lines.”

With all the design work already completed and approvals finalized, Doo-hwan reported the difficulties when Kwon-woo issued a revision order.

But Kwon-woo didn’t budge.

“Do you think I don’t know that when I’m giving the order?”

“……”

“Don’t assume demolition based on the existing plan. Review it with options that leave that site intact.”

Doo-hwan couldn’t answer easily.

In terms of efficiency alone, this was an unnecessary detour.

Revising a design that had already received final approval was no simple matter.

“Even if we manage to get past the executives, Vice Chairman Min Yoon-sung will pick a fight over this.”

“I’ll handle that myself.”

That meant no more objections.

Doo-hwan thought of the various difficult situations that could arise from this, but he no longer raised any issue with Kwon-woo’s decision.

After Kwon-woo left, silence fell over the Dabang.

Perhaps it was because everything had happened so quickly—from making the decision to stamping the contract.

Neither Jang-mi nor Young-ran could quite believe it had actually happened.

Young-ran’s eyes slowly swept across the Dabang interior, filled with the furnishings Kwon-woo had newly brought in.

Memories of stubbornly running the guestless Dabang all this time came flooding back, and a wave of emptiness washed over her.

“Aish, I’m just wrapping things up properly. If I’d dragged it out any longer, we’d only keep piling up losses. I did well. This was the right choice.”

Now she’d have to clear out all the furniture and cups inside… Thinking that, she began taking out and wiping the things her hands had touched over all those long years.

Jang-mi could feel plainly in her heart what Young-ran was feeling as she washed cups she would never use again, now that the contract was finished today.

“Mom, are you okay?”

“Of course I’m okay. I feel so relieved to have sold this place that only ever lost money with no customers, and at a good price at that.”

Young-ran said that as she meticulously scrubbed the cups she’d never use again, making them squeak.

“I was sick and tired of being stuck in the corner of this damn Dabang my whole life. Now I’m going to travel around and have a blast. With all the money from selling this place, what’s there to worry about?”

But contrary to her words, Young-ran couldn’t easily let go of the cups—even though there was nothing left to wash—and kept fidgeting with them stubbornly.

Seeing Young-ran like that, even Jang-mi, who had been sick of this place, began to feel a little wistful about it.

Back when she was young, there were times she’d counted the days waiting for this damn Dabang to finally close.

Perhaps because she could see Young-ran’s regret, Jang-mi didn’t speak lightly as she usually did.

Her gaze turned toward the contract still lying on the table.

His name, written at the bottom of the contract, came into her view once more.

It wasn’t a name she was seeing for the first time, but seeing Kwon-woo’s name written on the contract made her heart stir.

The reason he had come down to Dongchon-ri.

Eunhasu Dabang was now Kwon-woo’s, and the reason for him to stay here had disappeared.

From the day he first walked into the Dabang to just a moment ago when he signed the contract—the time she’d spent with Kwon-woo flashed before her eyes like a lantern slide.

In such a short time, she had fallen for Kwon-woo so deeply that she wondered how it was possible.

A deep, intense emotion that could only be expressed as love.

That was why she hadn’t been afraid even when she gave herself to him, not long after they’d met, and the time they spent together had been dreamlike and happy.

That time was coming to an end now.

Having achieved his goal, he would return to Seoul as soon as tomorrow, perhaps.

She knew it was inevitable and that it was only natural, but her heart ached.

After Kwon-woo left with the contract, she found it hard to shake off the sinking feeling that kept settling over her.

“Hoo……”

Jang-mi let out a long, involuntary sigh.