An Advertising Genius Falls into the Joseon Era – Chapter 2

Author: Cireng

Chapter 2

“So, you got into some kind of accident, and when you woke up, you were here… Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“What kind of accident was it?”

“I don’t really… remember.”

Hayun gave a vague answer. If she said she had come from the future, there was no doubt they would think she was crazy.

“Well, you do seem to have hit your head pretty badly. Judging by all the nonsense you’ve been spouting since earlier.”

The man clicked his tongue and looked Hayun up and down.

A suit skirt covered in dirt, along with a torn blouse. And the pointed shoes known as high heels. Anyone could tell that she did not look like a woman in her right mind.

“Where on earth did you get clothes like that? And why is your hair so short?”

“Ah! This is…”

Hayun hurriedly touched her hair.

Hayun’s current hairstyle was a bob that barely covered her earlobes. She had paid 300,000 won for the short haircut, but this was none other than Joseon. In this Confucian country where people preached “The body, hair, and skin are received from one’s parents,” a woman with short hair was either a criminal or a madwoman.

‘Stay calm. Just get out of this situation first.’

Hayun desperately came up with an excuse.

“I guess this happened when I fell from somewhere, like a cliff. Otherwise, who would cut their hair this short?”

“Tsk, tsk. How did a young lady come to suffer such a misfortune…”

The man looked at Hayun with pity.

Fortunately, it seemed her lie had worked.

“Then what about your family? Do you remember where your family lives?”

Hayun shook her head.

“I don’t really remember that either…”

“Heh heh, you don’t even remember your relatives?”

“No, I don’t remember anything at all…”

“Then your name? Surely you remember that.”

“Hayun… Im Hayun.”

Unable to bring herself to lie about even her name, Hayun revealed her real name.

“Hmm…”

After learning of Hayun’s circumstances, the man looked toward the mountain ridge.

The sun was already beginning to sink. At this rate, they would inevitably have to spend the night here. If a woman who had lost her memory were to spend the night in a place like this, the outcome was obvious.

‘It would be fortunate if she didn’t become a tiger’s dinner…’

The man asked worriedly,

“Do you have somewhere to sleep tonight?”

“No… I don’t.”

“Hmm, can’t be helped.”

The man gestured toward Hayun.

“Follow me this way. I’ll give you a place to stay for the time being.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Sir? What are you talking about?”

Perhaps uncomfortable with being called “sir,” the man introduced himself.

“My name is Munsik. Just call me Mr. Mun.”

“Yes. Uncle Mun.”

Hayun cautiously followed behind Mr. Mun.

***

“Ugh!”

“Argh!”

“Eek!”

Hayun’s ankle kept twisting over and over.

The rough, uneven mountain path of Joseon had not been maintained in any way. Walking along such a mountain path in high heels was impossible.

Munsik turned around and looked back at her worriedly.

“Be careful. You’re gonna fall because of those strange shoes.”

“Exactly. They’re just uncomfortable.”

Hayun stared blankly at her high heels.

Whenever she had a presentation, she always wore high heels. To Hayun, high heels were a sort of tool that inspired confidence. But those same high heels served no purpose here.

Not even as shoes… Nor did they inspire any confidence. Rather, they were closer to torture devices that only twisted her ankles.

‘I probably won’t need these anymore…’

Hayun’s expression became complicated as she stared at her high heels.

Now that she knew she was in Joseon, she would be lucky if those high heels were even useful for hammering nails.

After a while,

“Ugh!”

Whoosh!

Having made up her mind, Hayun threw her high heels far away.

“Huh! Is that really okay?”

Munsik looked at her worriedly at the sight, but instead, a bright smile appeared on Hayun’s face.

“Much better. Let’s keep going.”

“My, what a bold young lady.”

Messy hair, clothes covered in dirt, and even walking along the mountain path barefoot. If someone who knew Hayun had seen her like this, they would not have recognized her.

‘I need to change. If I’m going to survive in this country called Joseon.’

Surprisingly, walking barefoot wasn’t so bad.

At first, she was cautious in case she stepped on something. But there were no discarded cans, plastic, or anything else here. There was nothing that made it difficult to walk barefoot along the road.

The air was also astonishingly clean. The deeper she breathed, the clearer her head seemed to become. To the point that even though she had already been walking for several hours, she wasn’t out of breath at all.

After walking for some time, Munsik pointed toward a shabby building in the distance.

“That place you see over there is our tavern.”

“A tavern?”

“Huh? Didn’t I tell you? My family runs a tavern.”

‘That’s a tavern?’

Munsik’s tavern was almost embarrassing to call a tavern, looking more like a thatched house on the verge of collapse.

The roof was peeling away here and there, weeds had overgrown the yard, and fallen leaves were piled high on the wooden platform. They had even turned on only a single lamp to save oil. No matter how late it was past mealtime, that was unacceptable for a place in the service industry.

‘This place is practically on the verge of closing down.’

Location, appearance, cleanliness, and mindset. It was the worst in every respect.

If she could have given it a star rating, even one star would have been too generous.

“Honey! I’m home!”

At Munsik’s voice, a woman emerged from inside the tavern.

“Why are you so late… Huh?”

The woman stopped in her tracks and glared at Hayun.

“Who’s that young woman behind you? Don’t tell me you’ve taken a new concubine behind my back?”

“Hey now, woman. What do you mean, a concubine?”

The woman had a sturdy build befitting a tavern proprietress. The rough hands resting on her waist and her forearms bore the marks of someone who had fought tooth and nail to survive.

Munsik introduced the woman.

“Say hello. This is my wife, Ok-bun. And this here is…”

“My name is Im Hayun.”

Before Munsik could finish introducing her, Hayun bowed politely.

She had sensed hostility in Ok-bun’s gaze. Even so, Ok-bun’s wariness showed no sign of disappearing easily.

“You didn’t pick her up from some gisaeng house, did you? She’s got a pretty face, so she looks exactly like a gisaeng. And that strange outfit, too.”

“What gisaeng house? You know our circumstances… I found her unconscious while I was out gathering firewood, so I just brought her here.”

“And you expect me to believe that?”

As Ok-bun glared at her, Hayun repeatedly nodded as though to say it was true.

Munsik continued explaining.

“If it weren’t like that, how could I have brought a young lady like her here?”

“No, that’s exactly what I’m asking! Why did you have to bring her here?”

“Ah, come on! Someone was lying there unconscious. Was I supposed to just walk past her? Why are you being so heartless?”

Munsik raised his voice. Then, as if to put the matter to rest, he added,

“She’ll be staying here for the time being, so that’s that.”

“What did you say?”

At the one-sided declaration, Ok-bun’s voice rose as well.

She then practically dragged Munsik inside.

“Don’t argue and follow me this way. We need to have a serious talk.”

“Why are you doing this? Let go and talk. Let go.”

A short while later. Loud voices came from inside, seemingly loud enough for Hayun to hear.

“Are you out of your mind? With our circumstances, who can afford to take care of whom? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to feed another mouth?”

“She says she lost her memory in an accident! What was I supposed to do? Would you have been satisfied if I’d just left that young woman there to die?”

“No, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Why did you have to bring her here? Business is already so bad that I’m dying from the stress!”

“Is it my fault that business is bad? What am I supposed to do about customers not coming?”

“That’s because you’re wandering around all the time! If you’d just stay here properly, do you think this place would’ve ended up looking like this?”

“Good grief, what a nagging wife! Anyway, she’ll be staying here for a few days, so that’s final!”

Bang!

With Munsik slamming the door hard, no more voices could be heard.

Hayun felt as though she were sitting on a bed of thorns because of the argument between the couple that had broken out because of her.

‘I feel bad for causing this…’

She had forgotten.

This was Joseon.

Unlike the materially prosperous modern era, taking care of someone in this era was essentially no different from sharing one’s own flesh and blood. Moreover, Munsik had brought an uninvited guest like herself into a tavern that could close its doors at any moment, so Hayun could fully understand Ok-bun’s position as the person responsible for this place.

“My, what a temper that woman has.”

Munsik scratched his head and approached Hayun. By then, he was holding a single earthenware bowl.

Clack.

Munsik placed the bowl down gruffly.

Inside was a generous serving of gukbap in a milky-white broth.

“I brought you a bowl of gukbap. Eat comfortably.”

“Gukbap?”

“Of course. A tavern should naturally serve gukbap.”

Hayun stared blankly down at the gukbap.

Chunks of meat and plenty of green onions, roughly sliced, were piled on top of the milky broth. The savory aroma rising from the gukbap stimulated the tip of her nose.

“Why aren’t you eating? Go on. I already ate some rice cakes, so I’m not hungry. Don’t worry about me and eat.”

“Ah, well…”

The truth was that Hayun didn’t like gukbap.

No, to be more precise, she had never felt that she needed to eat it.

To a modern woman who could enjoy delicacies from around the world with nothing more than a cellphone, gukbap wasn’t exactly an appealing choice.

Gulp!

But perhaps because she had fallen into the Joseon era, the moment she saw the gukbap in front of her, her mouth began to water on its own.

“Thank you for the meal!”

Hayun hurriedly picked up her spoon.

“…!”

And the moment she took a single spoonful, she froze.

‘…What is this?’

The rich taste of the broth spread throughout her mouth. There was none of the heavy aftertaste or artificial savoriness characteristic of seasoning additives. The deep flavor rising from bones that had been simmered for a long time flowed smoothly across the tip of her tongue.

‘It’s delicious!’

She had experienced Michelin-starred restaurants, omakase, and fine dining. But none of those three could compare to this gukbap.

That was how deep the flavor of this gukbap was… deeper than any dish she had ever tasted. There was no elaborate technique or flashy plating. Just honest ingredients. Because it wasn’t dressed up with unnecessary flourishes, the flavor stood out even more clearly.

The taste of a lifetime devoted to a single dish.

“Whew!”

Before she knew it, Hayun had drunk every last drop of the broth and let out a deep exclamation of admiration.

Munsik looked at Hayun with a pleased expression.

“How was it? Was it edible?”

“Yes! It’s the most delicious gukbap I’ve ever eaten in my life! I’m serious!”

“Even though she doesn’t look like it, my wife is an excellent cook. That’s why I’ve stuck with her all this time.”

Just then,

“Tch, so what?”

Ok-bun had come outside and casually threw out the words as though pouring cold water over them.

“There aren’t any customers, and we’re about to close down. What’s the point of the gukbap tasting good?”

Resignation was evident in Ok-bun’s voice. Judging by how hoarse her voice was, she even sounded somewhat on the verge of tears. They had somehow managed to endure until now, but if this situation continued, they would have no choice but to shut down the tavern after this winter. They would have to leave this place they had grown attached to over the past twenty years.

Having roughly understood the situation, Hayun narrowed her eyes and analyzed the tavern.

‘The location isn’t bad. Since it’s at the entrance to Mungyeong Saejae, there should be plenty of foot traffic.’

As she had seen earlier, the wooden platform was covered in fallen leaves, and the entrance was overgrown with weeds, making it difficult even to tell whether the place was open for business.

The biggest problem was that there was absolutely nothing attractive about it that would make anyone want to enter.

‘It’s a textbook case of a lack of marketing.’

The food was perfect, but the promotion was nonexistent.

A good product, but nobody knew about it.

That had always been the problem.

‘If that’s the case, then it’s my specialty.’

A smile gradually spread across Hayun’s lips.

It was excitement she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Not a simple sense of duty, but passion boiling up from within her heart.

A pure desire she had forgotten was rising again.

Hayun cautiously opened her mouth.

“Business… Would you like me to help you?”

“Huh? You? Run a business?”

Munsik and Ok-bun simultaneously looked at Hayun.

Ok-bun snorted as though she found the idea absurd.

“What skills could you possibly have? Just looking at you, it’s obvious you’ve lived your whole life without getting a single drop of water on your hands.”

She was right.

Hayun had never even washed dishes once in her life. Let alone cooking, she couldn’t even properly boil ramen.

But Hayun possessed a special talent that others didn’t have.

“Even though I look like this, I’m actually quite good at business. I’ll earn my keep, so trust me and leave it to me.”

By now, Hayun’s eyes had changed. They were the eyes of the advertising genius who had carried out countless projects.

“…!”

At that confident gaze, Ok-bun involuntarily drew her shoulders in.

“Exactly one month.”

Hayun confidently declared, holding up one finger.

“One month is all I need. In one month, I’ll turn this place into the best tavern in Joseon.”

“In just one month?”

“You’re saying you’ll turn this place into the best tavern in Joseon?”