<Episode 116>
“…Huh?”
For a moment, I doubted my ears.
What had he just said?
Did he mean that he liked me more than everyone else in the world did…?
The straightforward confession had come so suddenly that my brain completely stopped working.
I could feel all the blood rushing to my face.
If I looked in a mirror right now, I was sure I’d be as red as a ripe tomato.
“U-Um… that is… uh… Hyunwoo?”
As I could only dart my eyes around without finding the words, Hyunwoo let out a quiet laugh.
As though trying to put me at ease, he stepped closer and gently smoothed my messy hair.
“I didn’t say it because I expect an answer right away. I simply wanted you to know how I feel.”
With a gentle smile in his eyes, he took a step back.
“You can think about it slowly. Whatever your answer may be, I’ll gladly wait, no matter how long it takes.”
Then, with an embarrassed smile, he added,
“Besides… today is the day our Haneul finally got her parents’ restaurant back. It’s a day to celebrate, isn’t it?”
Thanks to his considerate composure, my racing heart gradually began to calm down.
Still, I found it difficult to look him straight in the eye.
He held out his hand.
“Now then, shall we go have dinner?”
Just as I nodded…
His phone vibrated lightly.
“It’s a message from one of my teammates. Excuse me for a moment.”
After checking it, he stroked his chin with a curious expression.
“…Did something happen?”
“Not exactly. It seems everyone has heard the news. They want to throw a party tonight.”
Shrugging his shoulders, Hyunwoo said it was unfortunate since he had already reserved a restaurant.
But inwardly, I let out a sigh of relief.
After such a sudden confession, having dinner alone together would have been unbearably awkward.
“We can go to the place I found next time. Shall we head over?”
“Okay!”
And so, that evening, we held a celebration party together with Team One and Ari.
The menu was chicken… Ria Hunter’s favorite.
Holding a drumstick in one hand and a mug of draft beer in the other, she looked happier than ever.
“Let’s make a toast!”
“To President Haneul’s continued success!”
“Cheers!!!”
After the party that lasted late into the night, I began living truly hectic days.
‘Working at the first branch, checking on the other branches in between, occasionally looking after the side-effect treatment center, and then preparing my parents’ restaurant after work…’
On top of that, my parents’ restaurant was in Incheon, so I had to keep traveling between Seoul and Incheon.
After abusing my body for days on end, I finally raised the white flag.
“…I think I need to hire someone to run the first branch.”
The Haneul Shop branches had stabilized to some degree, but Jeongdameun Restaurant, which was preparing to reopen, had not.
Renovations, hiring employees, ingredient procurement…
There wasn’t a single aspect I could simply entrust to others.
Fortunately, Ari nodded without complaint.
“Since Unni’s busy, there’s no helping it! I’m excited to see who the new manager will be!”
I wanted to appoint Ari as manager of the first branch, but she was still a minor.
There were legal issues, and more importantly, I didn’t want to burden such a young girl with that much responsibility.
“Not just a manager, let’s hire more staff too. It’s been hard with just the two of us all this time.”
“Hehe… I wasn’t tired at all. I had fun. But I’m okay with that too!”
Thus, Ari and I squeezed interviews into our work schedule and hired one manager and two employees.
“Hello, I’m Han Jukyung. I look forward to working with you.”
First was Manager Han Jukyung, with her softly waved hair and glasses.
“I’m Lee Dasom! I’ll work hard!”
“I’m Song Taehun. I’ll do my best.”
There was Lee Dasom, enthusiastically pumping her fist, and Song Taehun, calmly bowing his head.
All of them had been hired with Ari’s opinions taken into consideration as much as possible.
“Please take care of us! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me!”
Watching Ari proudly act like a senior employee, I nodded in satisfaction.
All three had good impressions and plenty of enthusiasm.
Once the handover and training were complete, I thought I could finally focus wholeheartedly on reopening the gukbap restaurant.
But things never went exactly as I wanted.
***
Thanks to the new hires, my endlessly busy days finally became a little more relaxed.
‘We’ve hired staff, made a new signboard, and once we improve the kitchen facilities a bit, that should be it.’
While checking on the reopening preparations that were progressing smoothly, I decided to stop by the first branch for the first time in a while.
“Reservation number fifty-three! Two sausage rice cakes and sticky rice donuts are ready. Ms. Dasom, please organize the pickup counter. Mr. Taehun, wipe off the spilled batter over there.”
“Yes, Manager!”
The shop I dropped by unexpectedly was running even more smoothly than I had anticipated.
‘Oh…’
Under Manager Han Jukyung’s clean and efficient leadership, Dasom and Taehun moved like perfectly meshed gears.
Just as I was feeling proud of our successful hires…
“…Enjoy your meal.”
Something about Ari’s back as she organized the fish cake skewers felt different.
The girl who was always smiling brightly had her shoulders drooping.
‘Did something happen?’
I pondered for a while and waited until closing time.
As Ari was tidying up her apron, I approached her and naturally linked arms with her.
“Ari, you worked hard today! Want to have a nice dinner with Unni for the first time in a while?”
“Huh? Unni! What brings you here?”
“Obviously, I came to see our Ari! What do you want to eat? Malatang? Chicken?”
When Ari said she wanted pork belly, we went to a quiet barbecue restaurant nearby.
Even as the meat sizzled on the grill, she didn’t chatter as usual and instead only clinked her chopsticks absentmindedly.
“Ari, is something bothering you these days?”
At my cautious question, Ari flinched and lowered her gaze.
After hesitating for a long while, she sighed quietly and spoke.
“It’s just… I don’t think I get along very well with the new manager.”
“With Manager Jukyung?”
“Yes. She’s a good person, but… I guess our working styles don’t match.”
In a careful voice, Ari shared her worries.
Manager Han Jukyung had come from a large franchise chain and followed procedures to the letter.
On the other hand, Ari, who had worked with me since the early days of the shop, preferred flexibility according to the situation.
The decisive moment that created a subtle crack between them had happened a few days earlier.
“Regular customer Jihyun unni came by recently, and she had injured her leg in a gate. She was still having trouble walking, so I personally brought her order to her table…”
Ari’s voice became gloomy.
“But later, the manager called me aside. She said that personally serving only certain customers could seem unfair to others, so I should be careful.”
Remembering the unpleasant experience, Ari puffed out her cheeks.
“I know the manager’s right, but… if someone’s hurt, isn’t it okay to bring it over just once? It wasn’t even a busy day!”
I shrugged and placed a piece of perfectly grilled meat onto Ari’s plate.
Staring at the golden-brown meat, Ari slumped her shoulders.
“…Things weren’t like this when I worked with you, Unni. Suddenly everything feels so cold and strict, and it’s confusing.”
“So that happened. I should’ve paid more attention. Thanks for telling me now. Let’s eat first. You’re hungry, right?”
At my comforting words, Ari slowly nodded and finally started eating.
I piled more cooked meat onto her plate.
‘This won’t be easy to solve.’
Manager Jukyung wasn’t wrong.
With the shop expanding and customers becoming busier, giving special treatment to certain patrons could easily create dissatisfaction.
But I couldn’t simply criticize Ari either.
After all, taking meticulous care of regular customers was one of Ari’s greatest strengths.
From the look of it, Ari wanted me to continue working at the first branch.
But realistically, that was impossible.
Between Jeongdameun Restaurant and the side-effect treatment center, I had more and more responsibilities demanding my attention.
Still, I couldn’t just abandon the first branch… the place where everything had started, because I was busy.
‘I should talk to Manager Jukyung first.’
The issue was still just a minor conflict.
But before the rift grew deeper, I had to resolve it so the shop could continue operating smoothly.
As I quietly took care of Ari, I sank deep into thought.
Comments (0)