Weekend

"Yaaawn."

I felt completely refreshed. There was really nothing like pitching a tent on a wooden platform in the middle of summer. After a quick wash, I double-checked the items in my Inventory. Everything was perfect. I set off for Bukhansan Mountain Peak immediately.

Having done it yesterday, today felt a bit easier. I arrived at nine in the morning. Seeing how crowded it had been at ten yesterday, I figured getting an earlier start was the smart move. I set up my table with practiced ease and placed the cooler on top. Then, I hung up my sign in front.

"Do you have any apples?"

Just like yesterday, a customer approached the moment I opened. She was a young woman in her twenties.

"Yes, ma'am. These are delicious apples fresh from Cheongsong. I washed them thoroughly at home, so you can eat them skin and all." I held out an apple neatly wrapped in plastic wrap.

"They're normally three thousand won, but since you're my first customer—and because you're so pretty—I'll let you have it for just two thousand."

"Hoho, look at you, quite the salesman. Give me two."

I only handed her one.

"Just take one. You're already so beautiful that one is more than enough. We can't have you getting any prettier."

"Hmph." She scoffed playfully, but a wide smile spread across her face, clearly pleased. Little did she know, two thousand won was the actual price. Hilarious.

Though my first customer departed with just one apple, a steady stream of people quickly followed.

"Ice cream, please!"

Of course, take as many as you want. That's exactly why I climbed all the way up here.

"Is this all? You don't have any other brands? Like Häagen-Dazs?"

Nope, don't have it. And honestly, expecting to eat Häagen-Dazs on top of a mountain for three thousand won is pure greed. A single cup costs over four thousand won even at a convenience store. Yet you want it on a mountaintop for three thousand? I hope you trip on your way down.

"We're a group of twenty. Can we get them for fifteen hundred won each?"

No way. What kind of nonsense is that? Do you have any idea how hard it is to haul ice cream up a mountain, and you want to rip me off? Absolutely not.

"I only have a card, what should I do? I really want ice cream. Let me pay with card. It's not like I'm trying to steal it. What am I supposed to do if I only carry a card?"

Well, what am I supposed to do when I only take cash? I don't have a card terminal.

"Do you have gimbap too?"

"Of course I do. Help yourself."

I handed him a roll. The young man in his twenties who took it gasped in surprise.

"Whoa, what the hell?!"

His friend, startled by the sudden shout, jumped. "What? What is it? What's wrong?"

"Holy shit, the gimbap is warm!"

"Is it spoiled?"

"I don't think so. It has that cozy, freshly rolled warmth to it."

"What the hell is 'cozy warmth'?"

"You wouldn't get it, you soulless bastard."

The guy who bought the gimbap carefully peeled back the aluminum foil and popped a piece into his mouth. "Oh, damn! This is insanely good. It's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠better than the famous gimbap place in our neighborhood!"

"Seriously? Give me a piece." His friend took a piece and shoved it straight into his mouth.

"Whoa, this is no joke. Did he roll this up here? How does it taste like this? It feels like it was literally just made. The ultimate gimbap joint was right here on the mountain! Hold on."

The friend immediately bought a roll of his own. "I ate breakfast before coming, so I wasn't going to eat, but I can't just pass this up."

The business that started at nine in the morning wrapped up by two in the afternoon. A few drinks were left over, but everything else was completely sold out. Honestly, the hamburgers and cold noodles were things I had bought to eat myself rather than sell, but...

"Excuse me, boss, is that for sale too?"

"Pardon?"

"Are you selling the cold noodles?"

"Oh. Yes, of course."

The man paid fifteen thousand won and slurped down the cold noodles right there on the mountaintop. He left after declaring it the greatest cold noodles of his life.

On my way down the mountain, I pulled out my phone. "Boss, I'd like to place another ice cream order."

—How many?

"I'm thinking of challenging myself with a thousand tomorrow."

—Hmm... Tell you what, let me give you a phone number. Call them directly.

"Who is it?"

—An ice cream wholesaler. That's where we get our stock from. It's just that handling a thousand at a time, rather than a hundred, is a bit much for us. When you took five hundred today, the store looked completely empty. A thousand would be even worse.

Come to think of it, he was right. When I had packed up the five hundred ice creams he prepared, the freezer had looked incredibly bare. "Is that so?"

—Yeah. But can you really sell a thousand?

"People seem to eat a lot of it, probably because of the heat."

—We can't even sell five hundred a day at our store. That's amazing.

"Do you want to try selling them on the mountain too, boss?"

—Forget it. If I carried all that up the mountain, my hospital bills would cost more than I'd make.

"Please send me the number, then."

—Sure. I'll text it to you.

After receiving the text and making a quick call, I headed over to the ice cream wholesaler. The wholesale warehouse wasn't far from the unmanned ice cream shop I usually visited. It wasn't too far from my house, either.

"Hello. I'm Gong In-bae, the one who called earlier."

I greeted an elderly man who was sitting comfortably in a chair wearing hiking gear, leisurely fanning himself. The grandfather looked at me with curiosity-filled eyes before asking a question.

"Ah, yes. You're the young fella who sells a thousand ice creams a day?"

"Not quite yet, but I'm trying to make it happen. I'm working hard."

"I like your recklessness. Can you even carry that much up the mountain?"

"My friends help me."

"You've got some reckless friends."

"They're good friends."

Even if they only exist in my imagination.

"I heard you were buying them from Boss Kim for five hundred won each?"

"Yes, sir."

"Since I'm a wholesaler, I should give you a better deal, but my margins aren't that wide either. I'd love to give them to you for four hundred, but I just can't manage that. I'll give them to you for four hundred and fifty won. In return, you can use my walk-in freezer if you need to. I heard you sell bottled water too."

"Really? Thank you so much!"

"You're still a student, right? Work hard. It'll pay off eventually."

"Thank you. I'll do my best."

I stepped into the walk-in freezer the grandfather had offered. The moment I opened the door and walked in, a biting chill washed over me, making my entire body shiver. The thermometer read minus twenty degrees Celsius. The freezer was about ten pyeong. I only needed a fraction of that space anyway, since I was just freezing water bottles.

After saying goodbye to the wholesale grandfather, I went to buy gimbap. This time, I ordered fifty rolls. As they rolled them, I pretended to pack them into my backpack while secretly slipping them straight into my Inventory. Storing them immediately was the key to preserving the warmth of the freshly made rolls.

Next, I visited the cold noodle restaurant. I asked the owner if he could make cup-sized cold noodles with the portion size reduced to a third, and he readily agreed. He even promised to top them with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠boiled eggs. Now, I had both cold broth noodles and spicy mixed noodles ready to go.

Returning home, I took a quick shower and sat down to calculate my earnings. Selling five hundred ice creams had brought in a net profit of one million won. Selling the gimbap, cold noodles, water, and various beverages added roughly another three hundred thousand won. I had made 1.3 million won in a single day. On my first day, I had made two hundred thousand won and thought that was a fortune. Today, it was 1.3 million. And tomorrow, I'd have even more stock. I couldn't wait.

The next day, I climbed the mountain carrying a thousand ice creams, frozen water bottles, gimbap, and cold noodles. I set up my table in my usual spot and placed the cooler on top. The moment I put up my sign, people began to swarm.

"Is this the place? The cold noodle spot?"

"I heard the gimbap is amazing."

"Excuse me, boss, is this the Instagram-worthy spot everyone's talking about?"

Instagram-worthy spot? What on earth is that? Seeing my bewildered expression, one of them tapped on their phone screen a few times and showed it to me. The screen displayed a photo of someone eating cold noodles at Bukhansan Mountain Peak, and it actually looked incredibly picturesque and romantic. It looked like the middle-aged man who had claimed it was the cold noodles of his life yesterday.

"Mister, cold noodles please."

You're older than me, you punk.

"That'll be ten thousand won. But the portion is a bit smaller than yesterday. People said yesterday's portion was too big."

"That's even better. Did I come here just to eat noodles? No, I came for the romance."

Was he a YouTuber? He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠set up a camera and spent a long time eating the noodles, constantly adjusting the angles and composition. He made it look so delicious that even I started craving a bowl.

"I'm telling you, the gimbap here is out of this world."

The gimbap sold like hotcakes too. Surprisingly, the ice cream and water sales were relatively sluggish. Well, maybe "sluggish" wasn't the right word. While ice cream and water were impulse buys for people passing by who wanted something cold, the cold noodle and gimbap customers seemed to have climbed the mountain with the sole intention of eating them.

The expressions on the faces of people dripping with sweat as they downed a cup of cold noodles bordered on pure ecstasy. And why did they have to take a proof shot every single time they took a bite? I had prepared fifty rolls of gimbap and fifty cups of cold noodles, and they were the first to sell out. After that, I just sold ice cream until it was time to pack up. I didn't manage to sell all one thousand ice creams. By four in the afternoon, it looked like no more hikers were coming up, so I headed down.

Even so, I ordered another thousand ice creams for the next day. It was the weekend, after all. I ordered a bit more generously because of the weekend crowd. Besides, it didn't matter since the ice cream stored in my Inventory would never melt. I prepared a hundred rolls of gimbap and a hundred cups of cold noodles.

The next day. Bukhansan on the weekend. Wow. It was on a completely different level compared to weekdays. Even though it was the peak, it was absolutely packed. Despite arriving at eight-thirty in the morning, the summit was already bustling. The moment I set up my table, people began to crowd around.

Back off, guys! If you crowd me like this, I can't pull things out of my Inventory. Imagine how terrified they'd be if a cooler suddenly materialized out of thin air. I made a show of retrieving the cooler from a hidden corner, pretending I had stashed it there earlier.

I placed the cooler on the table, hung up the hand-scrawled sign that had practically become my brand identity, and kicked off the day's business.

"Are you open now? I almost died of heat waiting. Give me a cup of cold noodles."

"Of course, of course. Coming right up."

"Me too! Give me a cup of cold noodles too. Do ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you have the spicy mixed ones?"

"Yes, we do. The sauce and broth are already inside. It tastes best if you pour in just a splash of the broth. Enjoy."

"Oh, look at you, boss. You really know how to run a business."

"Is that so? Thank you. Please bring your trash back to me when you're done. We have to protect the environment, after all."

"Will do."

"I'll take some gimbap. I heard the gimbap here is amazing."

"Of course! It's fresh mountain gimbap, tastes just like home-cooked."

"Hahaha!"

"To be honest, I source them from a master artisan with fifty years of experience."

"Really? No wonder it's so good."

"Yes, enjoy. Would you like some pickled radish to go with it?"

"No, I'm good."

How would I know who actually rolls the gimbap? I just said that because the owner of the shop looked to be in her fifties. Still, seeing them eat so happily filled me with a sense of pride.

Customers lined up to buy cold noodles and gimbap. Wondering what was going on, I asked one of them.

"This place is super hot on Instagram lately. They call it the 'Bukhansan Cold Noodle Vibe' or something. Give me a bowl too, please. Cold broth noodles."

"Sure thing. Here you go. Vinegar and mustard are right here."

"Wow, eating this up here is seriously so refreshing and delicious. How is the slushy ice still frozen at this hour? Even at a proper cold noodle restaurant, it's rarely this perfect. The noodles are still so chewy too. This place is the real deal!"

"Thank you for the kind words. I source them from a very famous restaurant."

"Really?"

Ah, the incredible power of beef dashida. Everyone who tasted it gave me a thumbs-up. I had literally watched the restaurant owner pour dashida in by the sackful.

"No makgeolli?"

Here they come again, the makgeolli beggars. Two elderly gentlemen were looking for rice wine. Gentlemen, it's only nine-thirty in the morning. Isn't it a bit early for a drink?

"I'm sorry. Drinking on the mountain is dangerous, so I don't sell makgeolli."

"Tsk, a single cup wouldn't even register."

"My apologies."

"Hmph." Grumbling in dissatisfaction, the old men muttered under their breath and walked away.

Honestly, I could have sold makgeolli if I wanted to. The profit margins were great. But there was a reason I refused. Yesterday, some other makgeolli beggars had pestered me so much that I finally relented and gave them a bottle of makgeolli and a savory pancake. Worried they'd be uncomfortable, I even set up a table and chairs for them, only for them to sit there and chatter loudly for two straight hours. It was a miracle I managed to clean up the bottle before anyone else saw. If other hikers had spotted it, they would have thrown a fit demanding some too. Having them camp out right next to me and babble for two hours straight nearly drove me insane.

And they had so many demands! Do you have soy sauce? Any chili peppers? Do you have soup to wash it down? No kimchi? I'd love some young radish kimchi.

Hey, even I can't afford young radish kimchi. Let's draw the line somewhere, people.

In any case, I was so busy all day I barely had time to breathe, but I ended up completely sold out. The cold noodles and gimbap were gone before one o'clock. I even cleared out thirteen hundred ice creams, including the leftover stock from yesterday. The weekend crowd was truly terrifying. After deducting the cost of ingredients, my net profit was well over two million won.

I really wished every day was the weekend.