God-Given Business Genius

The rapid tapping sound echoed.

The distant lights spread through the alley as if choreographed.

The once-dark alley suddenly came to life.

“Wow…” Kim Jong-chun’s jaw dropped.

As soon as it struck 11 o’clock, everyone seemed to turn on their lights and open their doors in unison. People began to appear sporadically in the previously empty alley.

It was a truly magical transformation.

“How did this happen?” Kim Jong-chun couldn’t comprehend the situation. Without Song Woo-yeon casting any spells, it seemed as if a dead commercial district had come back to life.

Despite witnessing this mysterious scene, Song Woo-yeon maintained an utterly nonchalant expression.

“This alley? I noticed while passing by that most shops open around 11 AM.”

“Really?”

He hadn’t noticed that detail before. Now he saw the business hours posted outside the shops.

Just as Song Woo-yeon said, many places had signs indicating they opened as early as 10:30 AM, and no later than 11:30 AM.

“To understand a commercial area, it’s best to come out when the shops are opening,” Song Woo-yeon stated, as if explaining common knowledge. This was something even Kim Jong-chun, in his fifties, was unaware of.

‘Do they teach this in schools nowadays?’ he couldn’t help but wonder. However, no matter how many times the curriculum changed, it seemed unlikely they’d teach such business basics.

“As I was passing by, I noticed quite a few places preparing to open inside. Plus, most of the businesses here are restaurants, right? That means it’s an eating district.”

“I see…”

“If there were many places only doing dinner service, it would be a bar district. But since most open at 11 AM here, we can assume there’s high demand for lunch.”

Kim Jong-chun stared at Song Woo-yeon as if looking at something completely foreign. It was truly remarkable.

Despite being barely an adult, her words and actions were just like those of a seasoned businessperson with decades of experience.

“The best commercial areas are those where you can do lunch business with office workers on weekdays, and cater to families in the evenings and on weekends. In that sense, this place is good because it’s close to an office district, and there are apartments near the main street, so it’s not too skewed towards one demographic.”

Kim Jong-chun nodded immediately. Even to him, this alley with its gradually increasing foot traffic seemed like quite a good commercial area.

“However, if there’s a problem…” Song Woo-yeon’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“There’s a problem?”

“There’s no such thing as a perfect commercial area. Since this isn’t completely open to a main street… parking could be an issue.”

“Huh?”

Parking, all of a sudden?

“As you heard at the Hapjae Soup 0212 presentation, a specialized restaurant focusing on one main dish needs to target not just the primary market, but secondary and tertiary markets as well. This means we need to attract customers who hear about us from neighboring areas, not just rely on local business.”

“Ah, right. That’s correct.”

“So while it might be fine for now, the more successful the business becomes, the more likely parking will become a headache. The alley is narrow, so even if we expand the shop, it’ll be difficult.”

Is this place a bust too?

Kim Jong-chun felt his energy drain away. He had been scouting for shop locations for days, putting in countless hours of legwork.

He must have accumulated dozens of realtor numbers on his phone. Yet, he kept getting rejected at every turn.

It felt like he was stumbling over obstacles before even starting. As Kim Jong-chun’s shoulders slumped in disappointment, Song Woo-yeon grinned.

“Let’s go with this place.”

“Huh?”

“This one. It used to be a sujebi restaurant, but now it’s for rent.”

“…!”

Kim Jong-chun whirled around. Looking where Song Woo-yeon was pointing, he saw a small shop with a large “For Rent” sign.

An old-fashioned sign indicating it was formerly a sujebi restaurant still hung prominently.

“But, but wasn’t parking an issue?” Kim Jong-chun asked with a puzzled expression. He regretted his words immediately, fearing Song Woo-yeon might change her mind.

However, Song Woo-yeon replied nonchalantly.

“This building has an underground parking lot, so it’s a bit better. Of course, it might be challenging if the business grows larger… but we can deal with that when the time comes. It’s premature to look too far ahead before even starting.”

Song Woo-yeon’s casual shrug made her appear incredibly impressive.

Although she was at least three hand spans shorter than him, and he was looking down at her, somehow it felt as if he was looking up to her.

Kim Jong-chun was simply overwhelmed by her presence, which was like that of a small giant.

Kim Jong-chun shuddered, then began shedding tears like chicken droppings.

“Oh, oh ahjussi? Are you crying?”

“Oh, Woo-yeon! I couldn’t feel more reassured, you know?”

With that, he grabbed Song Woo-yeon’s hand, who couldn’t hide her bewilderment, and shook it vigorously up and down.

“Ugh! What are you doing, ahjussi?!”

“I’m just so grateful, so grateful!”

In contrast to his tear-stained cheeks, Kim Jong-chun’s expression was nothing but bright.

⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱

“Yes, then I’ll visit you again next time. Alright~.”

Thud.

As Kim Jong-chun put down his phone, I glanced at him discreetly.

“That sujebi restaurant owner, you know. Originally, they made sujebi with rice sent by the wife’s mother, but apparently, her mother became ill and had to give up farming.”

“Ah, I see.”

“The business wasn’t doing great to begin with, so they decided to close shop and put the place up for rent.”

I could understand the situation roughly. As I nodded, Kim Jong-chun’s face, which had been bright-eyed like an office worker waiting for approval, lit up even more.

“Since they’re in a hurry to sell, they’re offering a good price too. I still can’t believe it, Woo-yeon.”

He’s really excited. Usually, the most fun part is right before starting anything.

Once the work actually begins, there will be a heap of headaches, so I wanted to let him enjoy it while he could.

Meanwhile, I was busy contemplating how to transform that small shop.

‘The shop is narrow, making table placement tricky. With a small storefront, fixed costs won’t be high, but that also means there’s a ceiling on potential sales…. To increase profit margins without compromising taste and value, we’ll need to minimize labor costs as much as possible….’

Just because it’s a franchise doesn’t mean the shop layout has to be identical. The main branch and this first branch have different target markets, so the strategy should be different too.

And the shop’s strategy is reflected in its interior design and kitchen layout.

Before starting construction, I should draft several designs to minimize movement and maximize operational efficiency.

My head was spinning with ideas when someone placed a delicious-looking plate of tteokbokki on the table in front of us.

“?”

Looking up, I saw the owner of the tteokbokki shop smiling generously at us.

Ah, right. While exploring the nearby commercial area, it had become lunchtime, so we’d entered a nearby snack shop.

“The fried food will be ready soon. Please wait a moment~.”

“Sure, take your time,” Kim Jong-chun replied good-naturedly. I also gave a slight nod in agreement.

“Wow, it’s been so long since I’ve had tteokbokki!”

“Indeed.”

The menu featured the traditional champions of snack shops: tteokbokki, sundae, fried food, and ramyeon. Just these four items.

‘The owner must run this place alone.’

The shop had only four tables. The kitchen was small but seemed to have everything necessary. A large griddle where tteokbokki waited its turn was visible to customers.

‘It’s lunchtime, but we’re the only customers here. And this should be peak hours. With so few tables, the turnover rate must be at most….’

Oops. My thoughts wandered again.

It’s a habit I developed while analyzing shops. Whenever I enter a store, I find myself observing things like interior design, the number of side dishes, hygiene, and communication between the dining area and kitchen, as if conducting research.

“This must be that famous steamed ramyeon.”

“……”

Kim Jong-chun seemed to be eating happily without a care in the world.

Well, that’s probably for the best.

I smirked and picked up the chopsticks in front of me. I took a piece of tteokbokki and popped it into my mouth.

‘Ah.’

…Now I understand why there are no customers.

Sadly, that was the case. Traditionally, tteokbokki is the symbol of a snack shop. Especially with several elementary and middle schools nearby, students should be frequenting this place…

‘The tteokbokki is too mushy.’

Of course, well-cooked tteokbokki has its own charm, but the sensation of it sticking to my teeth with each chew wasn’t particularly pleasant.

‘This doesn’t seem like tteokbokki made today.’

With this texture, they probably just reheated yesterday’s tteokbokki by adding water and gochujang.

Taking another bite, it got even worse.

‘This one was made today.’

The texture was noticeably different.

On the same plate of tteokbokki, one piece was mushy while another was chewy. Would customers really not notice this difference?

‘The sundae is clearly store-bought and boiled. There’s no innards. It should at least have some seasoning…’

The sundae lacks character. You could achieve this level of taste by buying it from a supermarket and preparing it at home.

‘The ramyeon is… indeed steamed.’

It goes without saying that the ramyeon is pre-packaged. They’ve added some extra chopped green onions and an egg, but that’s about it.

‘What about the fried food then?’

I watched the back of the owner who was busy frying. If anything was going to have some distinctive quality, it had to be the fried food.

“Here, your fried food is ready~”

I took a bite of the freshly fried food.

Crunch!

‘…There’s no sound.’

It’s greasy and soggy. I glanced at where the fried food was displayed. It seems they fry it once in advance and then fry it again when an order comes in.

‘As I thought.’

Kitchen paper towels were covering the pre-fried food.

I wiped my mouth with a tissue.

“Ah~ I’m full.”

“Me too.”

After finishing our meal in silence, we got up from our seats.

“Please come again~”

Seeing the owner smiling brightly as she bid us farewell, I hesitated for a moment. I debated whether to say something or not, but finally opened my mouth.

“Try using a griddle about half the size of your current one for the tteokbokki.”