Good Customers and Bad Customers
Inside a large van parked a short distance from the Food Truck Zone, Lee Saerom had just climbed aboard, three takeout cup ramen cradled in her hands.
The moment she pulled down her mask and let out a breath, Jang Hansu's voice boomed through the cabin.
"Oh! Finally. You sure took your sweet time, didn't you?"
"You saw the crowd out there, right? I was terrified someone would recognize me!"
"Please. You went with the staff and you're still putting on a show. Is that any way for a TV personality to act?"
"You called me two hours ago and I came running, didn't I?"
"Ah—right, we should've called you two days earlier. My bad!"
"If you're sorry, then both bowls are mine!"
"W-wait—!"
She was a professional. She caught the banter and fired it right back without missing a beat.
Once the mood had warmed up enough, Jang On-gyu stepped in and closed it out.
"All right. Shall we each try one?"
"Well, if we're all tasting one, I guess I have no choice but to eat!"
"Hey!"
Each of them held a cup of ramen. They leaned in first for the rising aroma, then, before long, slurped up a mouthful of noodles.
"Ohh…!"
"Mmm…!"
"This is delicious! How is ramen this good?!"
All three of them let out their own little sounds of amazement. Jang On-gyu, especially, opened his eyes wider than usual—his signature look whenever something truly tasted good.
Get a close-up of that!!
The PD shooting the scene shot a look at the cameraman. They landed the shot clean. Seeing that, the PD allowed himself a private, triumphant smile.
Snagging this… nice. Coming all the way out here was worth it.
The whole visit had been the PD's idea. After the cooking competition, a whole wave of Food Truck Zone owners had made it into the finals.
So this is the gourmet street, huh?
That was the focus. They'd come to film the owners in their ordinary, everyday element after the contest—the concept being secret customers who just happened to drop by.
Shoot a little A/S follow-up segment here, then carry it into the Youth Mall… we could land a huge hit.
Eyes locked on the monitor, the PD was feeling good. Food Truck Zone owners advancing to the cooking competition finals. A winner emerging from among them. That winner becoming an owner at the Youth Mall that was about to open.
Damn. Haven't had a setup this clean in a while. Forget pilgrimage sites—this is a pilgrimage.
And he was the one filming it first, spotting it first. The PD was practically congratulating himself, grinning the whole time.
While he was busy painting the next scene in his head, the three of them finished every last bit of their cup ramen.
"Now I get why they limit it to one per person!"
"Why?"
"Because it's that good! What if someone ate the whole stock alone?"
"They're putting out hundreds of bowls!"
"I feel like I could finish them!"
The praise kept coming. Then the PD gave the signal—time to move on. Jang On-gyu caught it at once.
"Haha. Shall we go find out just how many they can really sell?"
"How?"
"The peak hour's starting to pass. Why don't we head in ourselves?"
"Oh, I like that. Wait—looks like break time might be coming up!"
Their back-and-forth clicked. Jang Hansu had been waiting for exactly this and was already getting ready. Meanwhile, a small group was walking toward the Food Truck Zone bulletin board, something that looked like posters tucked under their arms. Clearly, they were there to put up an announcement.
This is insane.
The PD's dopamine spiked. Why else would anyone be posting on that board right now? It had to be the Youth Mall acceptance results, scheduled for today. The setup was already perfect—and now they could film the notices going up in real time?
Insane. Completely insane.
Far better than just dropping the results in as B-roll later. As if on cue, the food truck owners themselves came running toward the board, eyes bright with anticipation. The cameramen caught every second of it.
Today is the day!
They had to get over there. Film the owners lighting up at the results, then grab interviews. The picture in his head could not have been better. A sequence this perfectly staged almost felt unfair.
"All right—something's happening over there! We can't miss this. Let's go! Hurry!"
"Hey! Wait for me!"
"…"
With Jang Hansu leading the charge, everyone broke into a run. The cameramen followed, practically cheering under their breath.
This is it! This is it! This is the one!
The PD's dopamine hit its peak right as they arrived in front of the board.
"Huh?"
"Hmm…"
Something about the picture was wrong.
I already knew.
She'd been covered by a hat and a mask, but I'd recognized Lee Saerom the moment she showed up. I'd seen her at the cooking competition. Eye for detail doesn't just vanish overnight.
Without that eye in the apocalypse, I'd have been dead.
If I could pick people out through full disguises, a simple cover-up wasn't going to fool me. The broadcast PD had been practically buzzing after the cooking contest, so of course they'd want to film something afterward. That much was familiar. But this—
Ah. This, I am not used to.
What was in front of me could never feel familiar.
"What is this? How does this make any sense?"
Boss Jang had it right. What hung on that board defied all reason. The Youth Mall tenant acceptance list was posted there. The mall was big enough to host a full competition, so the list of accepted names ran long.
"I got in. Boss Jang got in too… so why the hell—?!"
"Exactly! How is this even possible?!"
"…Hmm."
The problem was that my name wasn't on it. I'd won the cooking competition outright. I'd thought I'd drawn the strongest response of anyone there.
Why?
I'd quietly assumed my name would be sitting at the very top. Not arrogance—just simple arithmetic. Getting a result like this left me more than a little rattled. I wasn't the only one. The coffee truck owner and Boss Jang, both of whom had competed alongside me, were furious, and the broadcast crew who'd come charging over kept swallowing their groans.
"This… what on earth is going on. Cameras off for now."
"Mmm…"
The PD who'd come running called cut, then huddled with the others and started making calls. Yes? What? Why? Yes? One-sided answers I couldn't make out, then one of the staff leaned in to whisper to the PD.
"They said there was no bonus for not being a local resident."
"What? That can't be right. What about the cooking competition winner bonus?"
"Apparently they can't discuss the rest…"
"Ha! Fuck! And the setup was so clean!"
The PD's hidden temper finally blew. He started kicking the ground hard enough that it was obvious this wasn't ordinary anger. I wasn't much better. Something was boiling hard in my gut.
"Anyone can see this doesn't make sense, right?"
"Yeah. Whatever excuse they slap on it, it still doesn't make sense!"
The "bonus points" were just a cover. Even without them, I'd been over the acceptance line. Putting Boss Jang and the coffee truck owner on the list while neatly cutting only me out of it was a particularly nasty piece of work.
"This isn't even about taking sides—some people fail and some pass! What is this?!"
"I knew not everyone could get in… but not like this! This still isn't right!"
Both owners looked at me with helpless, pitying eyes, the kind that asked what I was going to do now. Everyone was looking at me that way—and past them, farther off—
Ha. Of course they wouldn't miss this.
In the distance, a group was snickering with open satisfaction. Boss Bang and his crowd. Showing up at exactly the right moment meant they'd already known the results. How they'd known…
I can guess.
People talk about small-town cliques like they're a rural problem, but cities have their own territorial games. Things that wouldn't fly by any normal standard become "the rules" for them. Sometimes it goes far enough to make the news. Sometimes the whole country hears about it.
Somehow I doubt this one will.
Judging by the way the PD, after a few more calls, was already starting to back off, turning this into a public issue didn't look likely right now. Not that I couldn't do it alone. These days there were YouTube channels, personal broadcasts—plenty of options. With the name I'd built from the cooking competition, linking it properly could make a real mess if I wanted to.
Was I scared? No. Could I do it? Yes. But—
I don't want to.
If I blew it up, won, and walked in that way—would that even be a comfortable place for me? It wasn't because of the snickering faces in the distance. I could handle a collision no matter how big it got. Still, the way this had landed left me unwilling. I didn't want to walk into a filthy mud pit and coat myself in it. Getting dirty together with them wasn't appealing.
As for what came next—
"Boss Kim. What are you going to do?"
"Hmm. Hard to say. I didn't see this coming."
I couldn't answer yet. Even for me, this had been completely off the map.
"I'll need to think it over first."
"Think?"
So any concrete decision was on hold. That didn't mean I had no direction at all.
"Yeah. I need to figure out what to do next. There's no law that says I have to open a shop only in the Youth Mall, right?"
"!!!!"
"That's true! You're right!"
"I am opening a shop. That's certain."
A new shop was locked in. Getting into the Youth Mall had only ever been preparation for that. But it didn't have to be the Youth Mall. Making the call from here on out still wasn't too late. And if the method I chose, preferably—
Something that can crumple every last one of those snickering faces would be nice.
One solid hit—or better, a method that would keep their faces twisted for a long time. I had more than enough ability to land a few of those.
Grace repaid tenfold. Revenge a hundredfold. That's how I'll do it.
All that remained was how. And so the thinking began.
In the middle of that thinking, I finished a brief interview. Then, toward the end of the day's business—
"Huh?"
"Could I speak with you for a moment?"
—a visitor arrived with a proposal I hadn't seen coming.