Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: 4 Dollars?
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4 dollars?
Babsang.
It was the hottest Korean restaurant in the US right now, especially in California.
The attention it was getting was on a whole different level compared to when it only had the original location in Berkeley.
Opening a directly operated branch in LA, where celebrities swarmed, had been the decisive blow.
The place was already hot because it belonged to Kim Ji-hoon, that hotshot figure.
It would be a lie to say he wasn't curious about which celebrities were showing up.
The whole thing started with Rhianna.
The actor with the highest appearance fees in the world.
Once a photo of her with Ji-hoon at the LA branch of Babsang popped up on her SNS...
Various actors, singers, celebrities, and even LA-based sports stars started posting their own proof-of-visit shots, like it was some kind of challenge.
It wasn't even paid advertising.
It was just them showing off that they'd been to the trendiest spot.
America had a strong celebrity culture.
You had to be hot. You had to be cool.
Babsang had become the epicenter of all that hotness and coolness.
Even stars who hadn't cared at first rushed over, not wanting to be left out of the trend.
As a result, all six California branches of Babsang were packed to the brim every single day.
But on the flip side, some dissatisfied voices started cropping up.
America was huge.
Residents from other states began pouring out whiny complaints toward Babsang, which was only opening spots in California.
"Why won't you open one in our area too!!!!!"
They were clamoring for branches as well.
"What the hell is this surprise protest?"
I'd come home from work, laid my head in Lily's lap, and was scrolling through my phone.
The YouTube comments section was in full swing with protests demanding branches in their areas too.
No, damn it! Stop lying down!
I'd open one if I could, but our current scale just can't handle it!
Stores don't pop up just because people lie down in protest.
Our distribution network for Han-sang meals only covered California for now.
Sorry, but it's impossible right now.
Tap tap.
Lily lightly tapped my arm.
"Huh? Hold on."
I flipped over to face her stomach instead.
My ear had felt itchy, and sure enough, Lily was digging it out for me.
Her touch was so delicate, I didn't feel a thing.
Sniff sniff.
I buried my face in Lily's stomach.
Mmm~ Lily smells so good.
Women's bodies were amazing—how could they smell this nice?
...Ji-min didn't smell that great, though.
When I was a kid, I'd wondered why Ji-min never had a nice scent.
I'd looked it up once out of curiosity.
It was scientifically proven.
Everyone has their own unique body odor, and due to genetic similarity leading to similar immune systems, plus the kin avoidance instinct...
Female siblings are so genetically close that they're not perceived as potential mates.
So even if it wasn't a bad smell, it just didn't feel pleasant. That's what I'd heard.
Which meant...
Lily and I, with our perfectly matching scents, were genetically compatible too, right?
Lost in that thought, I burrowed deeper into Lily's embrace.
"Unnie! Me too! Me too!"
It reminded me of a puppy wagging its tail.
No way. This is mine.
"Hey, hey, tell your boyfriend to do it for you. Don't make your unnie mine for you like some miner."
"What are you saying! He's not my oppa! Huh? Unnie, dig mine too~"
"Hehe, alright. Come here!"
Lily patted her snow-white thigh, signaling her to lie down.
As Ji-min excitedly approached the sofa,
I nudged her away with my foot.
Thud!
Ji-min fell flat on her butt.
"Argh! What the hell! Why are you interrupting?!"
She glared like an angry goblin, so I shot back.
"Yeah, she's mine. Mine. You don't have one, do you? Ehehe."
"Tch... tch...!"
Ji-min stood frozen, breathing heavily.
She might have an asthma attack.
"Hubby! Why are you bullying Ji-min like that! Go away! Ji-min, come lie here. Unnie will do it for you!"
Lily laughed and told me to stop teasing.
She must have felt bad for her. How could she have such a kind heart?
"Yesss~ Move it, piggy!"
I got shoved to one side of the living room.
Whatever.
Teasing Ji-min was like my daily quest, and I'd completed it for today~ so I stepped aside.
Oh!
Come to think of it, I needed to check my email.
"I'll be in the study for a bit."
"Okay~"
Lily was already lost in mining Ji-min's ear.
Ahh, was she a miner?
I shuffled into the study and turned on the computer.
Whew, my inbox is exploding.
Since I'd set my YouTube business email to this one, hundreds piled up daily.
Apologies from the women who'd sued me, or collab proposals.
TV show invites, and even YouTubers wanting to merge streams.
"Nah, pass~"
Deleting them every day was a chore in itself.
Once I'd sorted through most of it, I logged into my personal email.
There was a work email from Han-sang.
Let's see...
The report said they'd finalized school lunch contracts across California to the extent they could currently handle.
And the schools already getting the lunches were extremely satisfied.
But there was a new issue.
Some schools didn't have cafeterias, so they usually ate in internal ones.
The report noted they were providing bento boxes for those places.
And inspired by that, someone suggested officially selling bento boxes.
From the company's perspective, mass-producing food was even more profitable.
Hmm... bento boxes, huh.
Sounds good.
The school lunches were a stepping stone to get kids used to Korean food, and bento boxes could appeal to busy office workers or anyone, not just students.
Babsang chain stores often turned away customers due to limited seats.
A bento business could fill that gap.
Meanwhile, in Korea.
At the headquarters of one of the country's top food conglomerates in Seoul.
The ripple effect from Ji-hoon's Colbert Show appearance hadn't just shaken the US—it had rocked Korea's food and school lunch industries too.
"That chaos in the US right now... it's really him? The Berkeley hero, Kim Ji-hoon."
Overseas division employees gathered, passing around the urgent report from the US branch, clicking their tongues in amazement.
"No way... he broke the school lunch cartel with one TV appearance?"
"We went through hell just trying to push frozen fried rice and tteokbokki there..."
"It's on another level. He went straight into the mainstream market—with school lunches, no less."
To them, Ji-hoon's success was beyond surprising—it was awe-inspiring, tinged with a bit of jealous bewilderment.
At the same time, in the top-floor executive conference room.
The mood among the top brass was far heavier and more calculating.
"The US market is opening up."
The head of the business strategy division began the briefing.
"And not by us, but by this individual named Kim Ji-hoon."
One executive, arms crossed, spoke up.
"So, can we snag some of those scraps too?"
"The US school lunch market is massive. Can we break in?"
"Team Leader Kim."
The CEO called on the head of the strategy planning team.
"Form a task force right now and push into the US school lunch market. This is our chance. While the 'Korean food' image is at its peak."
"Understood, Chairman."
"With our frozen tech and distribution network, we've got a solid shot, right?"
The meeting seemed to proceed smoothly, swelling with anticipation for new market conquests.
A few days later. The conference room reconvened.
The strategy planning team leader's face was stiff.
"So, what's the investigation say, Team Leader Kim?"
"...Chairman. To cut to the chase, entry is impossible right now."
"What? Impossible?"
The room's air turned icy.
"Are the existing cartels' walls that high?"
"No. The walls aren't them."
"Then what?!"
"It's Kim Ji-hoon himself."
Kim swallowed dryly.
"Our investigation shows US public opinion equates healthy Korean food with Kim Ji-hoon's Han-sang."
"......"
"So... no way in?"
The CEO furrowed his brow.
"It could even backfire."
"Then we use healthy ingredients like Kim Ji-hoon..."
"And the unit costs don't match."
"Unit costs? How much?"
"4 dollars."
"....."
A heavy silence settled over the room.
"Unless we collaborate with that Kim Ji-hoon guy, we have no way to enter the US school lunch market—at least not currently."
The executives filed out one by one.
In the thick silence, the chairman held back Team Leader Kim.
"Team Leader Kim."
"...Yes, Chairman."
The chairman tapped the desk with his finger.
"Could we... do it for 4 dollars?"
Kim hesitated briefly.
"...If we're willing to sell at a loss, yes."
"But..."
"But what."
"That's not how a company like ours operates. The shareholders wouldn't stand for it."
The chairman's brow narrowed.
"Then how the hell is that Kim Ji-hoon kid supplying at 4 dollars? He's not running a charity."
Kim shook his head.
"That's... a mystery to me too. No matter how we analyze the distribution structure, it shouldn't be profitable at that price. Yet he is. Expanding at a tremendous rate, even. There's something... we don't know about. We haven't figured it out yet."
"......"
The chairman sank into deep thought.
Korea had plenty of top food conglomerates.
And they all said the same thing.
"How the hell is that possible?"
It was a mystery.
To do Korean food right, you'd need to import key ingredients from Korea.
Even with tariffs, how could they hit that 4-dollar price? They couldn't figure it out.
Unaware of local US details, they had no clue he was directly running vast large-scale farms in California.
At Han-sang, farm expansion was the top priority.
They needed massive ingredients to cover the whole US.
Sauce fermentation plants ran nonstop, and farms were busy planting onions, green onions, garlic, and more.
It'd probably take quite a while to cover the entire country.
The shady contractors who'd been ripping off school lunches with scraps.
They were watching the US situation closely too.
"4 dollars? Possible, huh~ heh heh heh."
How could this guy do what even conglomerates couldn't?
"Well~ buy expired stuff in bulk cheap, squeeze the foreign laborers dry, grind it all in, and boom, it's done, right?"
Yeah.
Shit among shits.
Kang Duk-su, president of a tiny, so-called dog-shit food company.
He snagged school lunch contracts for construction sites or small local factories with insanely low bids, then locked in deals on the cheap. That was his schtick.
"This is our chance to spread our wings in America!"
"Uh... sir."
One employee cautiously spoke up.
"We'd have to produce there directly. How do we hit 4 dollars?"
"Hey now~ make it work! Huh? That guy who went to the US was just a restaurant owner before, right? What's stopping us?"
The president lectured like a know-it-all.
"Do it like always! Boil soup with kimchi-water from rinsing meat, throw in some fried anchovy heads. That thing—make it Tex-Mex style like the Chinese do. Serve half-portions as full ones~ that'll turn a profit. Why wouldn't it?"
The employees' heads throbbed at their boss hyping the company's future.
'That shit worked in Korea, but in the US...'
"Hey now~ No risk, no business! They feed kids bread crumbs too, right? By tomorrow, find a way to hit 4 dollars and report! Ahem."
The president said his piece and left.
The employees were dumbfounded.
'Fuck, how do we make the impossible happen, you crazy bastard!'
The words rose to their throats.
"Haa..."
The section chief patted Team Leader Choi's shoulder.
"Choi... At least pretend to try matching the cost. I'll handle convincing him... If we don't follow his orders, he'll throw a fit. Hang in there."
"...Yes."
Watching Team Leader Choi trudge out, shoulders slumped, the section chief's heart ached too.