The Gukbap Shop's Shadow
Even though it was Friday, I had taken a day of annual leave for the house contract, which gifted me a golden long weekend.
Strike while the iron is hot, as they say—I planned to move right over the weekend.
I had already booked a one-ton moving truck service.
On the way home, the paper envelope holding the sales contract and the certificate of seal impression felt oddly heavy in my hands.
Yet a strange sense of pride filled me.
I bought a house in Seoul! And a residential one close to the company, no less!
It had not taken five years or even ten. The whole thing had come together in a little over two months.
It was almost impossible to believe.
I still could not quite tell whether this was a dream or reality.
This was the first clear, tangible achievement I had secured in the real world since my brain had gone strange.
Stocks, filming, the company—all of that mattered, but this moment belonged purely to my own life. Of course, my younger sibling factored into it as well.
I boarded the subway home and immediately opened the securities app.
A-Tech Solution, which had been at 209,000 won, had dropped all the way to 158,000.
The amount I could invest sat at roughly 130 million won.
Over the long term, once the correction period ended, it still had more than enough force left to climb again.
But after three days of steep gains, the correction did not look like it would wrap up easily.
I had predicted it would reach 500,000, so of course I intended to reinvest—yet right now was too soon.
I needed to watch a little longer and pick my timing carefully.
This was something that demanded more attention than usual.
Opportunities are always there, but timing never waits.
Once I got home, I started preparing to pack.
I had to move on Saturday and finish organizing everything by Sunday.
Only then would I be able to head to work on Monday without stress.
It was not a full packing-and-moving service; I had to handle the preparations myself. Still, there was nothing to worry about. I barely had any belongings to begin with.
“Where should I start?”
Everything required for the move was already perfectly organized inside my head.
Address change reports, mail forwarding, water, gas, electricity, internet applications, sorting and labeling boxes, setting aside the essentials for moving day—all of it.
I put it into action at once.
I stacked boxes on one side and began sorting items by use, packing them one by one.
Everything in the house was the sort of thing a single-person household would own.
Clothes went by season. Electronics I sealed with tape and photographed by condition, just in case anything failed to work after the move.
The books had piled up quite a bit, so their weight and bulk were considerable.
I planned to just go out and eat for meals.
Before packing up the computer, I went online and filed the resident registration transfer report, then handled address changes for the telecom company, credit cards, banks, and everything else in one go.
After several hours of frantic organizing, the apartment had been neatly divided into boxes and bags.
Anyone looking in would have thought a professional packing crew had been through.
That was when my phone buzzed with a notification.
“Good. Everything’s ready. Time to eat.”
It was already late for lunch.
I left the house in a light mood.
I headed down the alley toward the gukbap place I sometimes visited.
It was a shabby little shop near the mart—reasonable prices, good flavor, generous portions.
Truly three birds with one stone. That was why the place was always packed.
But something felt off today.
There was only a single table of customers inside.
Not many people on a weekday afternoon? That can’t be right…
I sat down and looked around the interior.
Then a young woman approached carrying water and wet wipes.
Huh?
The face was familiar.
Small frame, short bob, cute yet firm features.
It was the girl who had recited criminal law at the thug in the mart not long ago.
“Criminal Law girl?”
“Huh? That ajusshi from back then?”
I am not an ajusshi. Thirty-two. Still a young man.
“No, why are you here?”
The question slipped out before I could stop it.
Strangely, I was glad to see her. Had some kind of comradeship formed already?
She answered with an awkward smile.
“Ah, I help out my aunt at the gukbap place on weekday afternoons.”
So she worked the weekday lunch shift, which was why I had never seen her. I was at the office during those hours.
“Ah, another part-time job at a relative’s place?”
“No. She’s my actual aunt.”
“Ah…”
I looked at her with an embarrassed expression.
So this time it really was her aunt.
“What can I get you?”
“One pork gukbap, please.”
“Yes!”
“But there aren’t many customers today, are there?”
At my question, a faint shadow crossed her face.
“Ah, yes… well… haha! I’ll put the order in first~”
She headed straight for the kitchen.
What was it? Something was definitely wrong.
I looked around once more.
The interior was old but tidy.
The smell of the food was rich and savory, and old photographs hung on the walls—pictures of regulars with her aunt, by the look of them.
Yet the atmosphere felt somehow off.
A short while later the pork gukbap arrived.
Again she said nothing more than a brief “Enjoy your meal” before disappearing.
I remembered her as lively. Something about this felt unsettling.
Did the taste change?
I mixed the gukbap thoroughly and took a bite.
Still delicious.
Exactly the same as before.
So it was not the food that had driven customers away… then what on earth had happened to this place?
In the past I would have eaten without a second thought, but for some reason it bothered me now.
Clatter—jingle!
The wind chime rang as the door opened, and two men large enough to fill the entrance walked in.
One had a short sports cut; the other was heavyset and wore a black padded jacket.
Dressed like that, he really did look as big as a bear.
I kept eating while watching them out of the corner of my eye, then glanced at the Criminal Law girl as she came out alone at the sound of customers.
Even at a glance she looked tense. She frowned and bit her lip.
Don’t tell me.
A hypothesis formed rapidly in my mind.
The tattooed man who had caused trouble at the mart had called in his connections to harass the gukbap shop out of revenge.
Sure enough, the two big men started throwing their weight around the moment they sat down.
“Two large gukbap over here!”
“Ah, fuck, wipe the table properly. It’s too dirty to eat off of.”
They deliberately raised their rough voices toward the customers who were already eating. The other diners shrank back, watching the thugs carefully.
These bastards…
Then the Criminal Law girl stepped between the customers and the men and spoke.
“Sir. As I told you last time, we do not have a large size on the menu. And if you’re going to cause a scene like this, please just leave.”
Her expression was firm. The two men erupted as if they had been waiting for exactly that.
“Ah, fuck, telling a customer to leave?”
“Hey, are you kidding me right now? If you don’t have a large, you make one and bring it over, yeah?”
“Just go. If you keep this up, I’m calling the police. For obstruction of business.”
She held down her anger and swept her hair back once, irritated.
At that the two big men suddenly stood, kicking their chairs backward.
Crash!!
Their builds were overwhelmingly large, yet she did not yield an inch.
I almost stepped in at once, but intervening carelessly could make things worse, so I simply watched closely while staying fully ready to protect her at any moment.
“What kind of shitty dump is this! Fuck! Are you trying to run a business or not? This is pissing me off for real. The gukbap even smells fucking fishy. You need to go under before you learn your lesson.”
“I’m reporting you.”
She pulled her smartphone from her front pocket and prepared to dial. The two thugs left reluctantly, pouring out every curse they knew on the way.
“We’re going, we’re going. Fuck. What a nasty attitude. Hey, don’t eat here, okay? The staff’s got zero manners. Tsk.”
“What a pain in the ass. Ptooey!”
They even spat at the entrance as they left.
They did not forget to scatter loan advertisement business cards on their way out.
It was the classic thug method—harass just enough that no actual crime could stick, then slip away.
These were not amateurs. They were thoroughly seasoned in this kind of work.
“Haaa…”
Once they were gone, she lowered her head and let out a deep sigh.
She started toward the overturned chairs to set them right, but I got there first, picked one up, and stood it properly.
“Ajusshi…”
“Don’t tell me those guys were sent by the mart troublemaker from last time?”
At my words her pupils trembled finely.
She lowered her head and chewed her lip hard.
I could feel her whole body shaking. The resentment she had been holding back all this time seemed to have finally burst.
I quickly guided her to a chair by the counter.
“Where’s the owner?”
“My aunt’s in the back room. She’s not feeling well… She only comes out to the kitchen for a bit when an order comes in.”
Her answer was weak.
Those bastards had clearly made her sick with anger.
“Because of them?”
“……Yes.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
Reluctantly, she began to speak.
The story was fairly long, but the core was simple.
The tattooed loan shark had found out that the Criminal Law girl and her aunt worked at this gukbap shop and had sent his men to make it impossible to do business.
On top of that, once the shop was struggling, they would push them into taking a loan and then demand protection money under the pretense of looking after them.
These human pieces of trash.
Rage surged up even as the thought that my own unnecessary actions had caused serious harm to other people made my chest feel endlessly heavy.
If I had simply looked the other way back then, would any of this have happened?
She must have read my expression, because she quickly continued.
“It’s not because of you, ajusshi. Those guys have been doing thug work around this neighborhood for a long time. They’ve been threatening my aunt’s place for protection money since way before.”
“Ah… I see.”
Her words brought a measure of relief, yet the boiling anger did not easily subside.
“Have you tried reporting them to the police?”
“Don’t even start. They’re so cunning. This isn’t their first time—they stay right on the edge of the law. You can get them locked up if you keep reporting, but then the rest of them just get worse. Retaliation, you know.”
“Hmm… To think there are still people like that these days.”
I was a little surprised inside.
In twenty-first-century Korea, and in the very neighborhood I had lived in, these filthy things had been happening without anyone knowing.
Then again, the area’s public safety had never been great…
“One of our regulars is a police officer, and even they say those guys give them constant headaches. No matter how many times they lock them up, they just reappear like cancer cells.”
The word “cancer cells” made my body flinch.
She seemed to misread the movement.
“Don’t worry too much about it.”
She spoke as if soothing me.
“The police are keeping an eye on them, so good news should come soon. They’re helping us a lot. Of course continuous surveillance is nowhere near enough because of manpower shortages, but…”
“Ah, yes. That’s good to hear. I’m glad the police are involved.”
I answered evenly and glanced around once. She suddenly jumped up from her seat in surprise.
“Ah! I’ve kept you too long. You must be busy…”
“Not at all. If there’s ever anything I can help with…”
I stood as well, wrote my phone number on the counter notepad, and held it out.
“Contact me here. I’ll help with anything.”
“Thank you for saying so. Don’t worry. We have the police.”
“Yes… Well then. The gukbap was really delicious. Thank you.”
I paid, gave a light bow of farewell, and stepped outside.
Of course, memorizing the loan advertisement business cards the thugs had scattered on the counter and at the entrance took only an instant.
“Altteul Credit Loan, huh… How should I deal with these bastards.”
I walked home, lost in silent thought.