Saving Up
At Lee Chaewon’s suggestion, Park Heungguk went blank for a moment.
Bags of ramen?
Not cup ramen, where you just pour in hot water. She meant he should boil it one portion at a time in a pot.
To do that, he’d need at least some minor kitchen setup, and he’d have to buy proper pots, bowls, and all the rest for a food business. Honestly, it was a bit of a hassle.
So he had been about to politely decline the suggestion when Chaewon said, “They make machines for boiling ramen, too. You can just buy one of those.”
“…Really?”
Now that Chaewon had gone out of her way to say it, it was awkward to flat-out refuse.
Come to think of it, the cup ramen sales that started bringing in decent revenue were thanks to Chaewon, too.
After a little more thought, Park Heungguk finally nodded.
“All right. Well, it’s not construction, and buying a machine or two should be fine….”
In the end, he decided to invest a little more, since there was nothing to lose.
And the result was….
“Boss, me too!”
“Do you have plain rice, by any chance?”
It was a total hit.
Piping-hot bags of ramen were on a completely different level from bland cup ramen.
The firm noodles, the egg yolk gently trembling on top, the little scattering of chopped green onion, and even a small dish of kimchi on the side.
Even sealed cup ramen released a smell that made other customers look up. So what would happen when ramen came out boiling hot from a pot?
The smell of steaming broth spread everywhere, and every nose in the room seemed to twitch at once.
No exaggeration: the people sitting along the aisle where the bowls were carried past all stood up and ran straight to the counter.
M, this is insane!!
At 2,500 won a bowl.
Compared to cup ramen, it wasn’t exactly cheap, but the psychology was simple: if you’re going to eat ramen, might as well eat proper ramen. It sold like crazy.
On the first day, they spent the entire day boiling ramen until it honestly became hard to tell whether this place was a PC bang or a restaurant.
They went through an entire box of ramen before evening and had to sprint to the supermarket to restock.
And best of all, the truly fantastic part was this.
“That’s the pure profit for the day?”
The margin on ramen was substantial, so it brought in far more money than the hourly computer fees.
The fact that all of this had started with a tiny little girl was astonishing.
After that, Park Heungguk was completely helpless whenever Chaewon spoke.
“Chaewon, what do you want to drink? Want an energy drink?”
“It’s okay. More importantly, boss.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“The PC bang is too dark and scary. Could you make the lights brighter?”
“Really? Oh, of course. Sure, that makes sense. Wait here, I’ll call someone tomorrow.”
He had made it dark to match other PC bangs after spying on them and trying to create a similar atmosphere.
Was there really any need for that? If kids like Chaewon are going to come in, brighter is better, obviously!
Nero PC Bang said goodbye to darkness that very day.
The lights were made bright, every corner was polished until it shone, and the place was transformed into the cleanest, brightest PC bang in the neighborhood.
He had worried that players who preferred the dark might leave, but he chose it with the thought that it was a small gift just for Chaewon.
And then.
“Boss, when’s a seat opening up?”
“Do you have two open spots?”
“You don’t take reservations, right, boss?”
Wh, what?
Not only rough middle-aged men, but young college students and schoolkids of every age group began showing up in greater and greater numbers.
Chaewon is the lucky totem of our PC bang!
After the ramen incident, he’d even loaded her account with 100 hours of PC bang time. What should he do this time?
Should he just give her food every time she came?
After failing at one business after another and finally seeing a light ahead, Park Heungguk could barely hide his broad grin.
He went straight over to Chaewon, who was playing a game, to ask whether there was anything else she wanted.
“Something I need?”
“Mm-hmm. Want a hot bar? Or should I top up your time again?”
“Ummm.”
He waited for an answer, prepared to do anything for this adorable child.
“Then… could you make it so it doesn’t smell like cigarettes?”
“Ci, cigarettes?”
“Yes. I hate the smell….”
Park Heungguk slapped a hand to his forehead.
Good grief! I never even thought of that.
Nero PC Bang was now used by people of all ages.
That meant children like Lee Chaewon came here, too.
Even with partitions and a ventilation system, they’d still end up breathing secondhand smoke.
Just as Park Heungguk was reeling from the shock, Chaewon spoke again.
“Wouldn’t it be hard to make a smoking booth and turn every seat into a non-smoking seat…?”
“A booth and… no smoking…. That’s pretty specific. Hmm.”
He knew smoke was bad for kids’ bodies.
He wanted to follow her suggestion, and yet what made him hesitate was that every other PC bang around them let people smoke freely.
Most of the regulars were adults.
If he tried to control them, they’d be inconvenienced.
In the worst case, they might leave.
……Still, if it’s what Chaewon says.
After much agonizing, he made up his mind.
He walked over to one corner where the smokers among his regulars, the ones who had kept coming since opening day, had gathered.
He needed to explain the situation and ask for their understanding.
“Um, guys, I’m sorry, but… if we made every seat non-smoking and set up a separate smoking area, would that be really inconvenient?”
He had been bracing himself for ridicule about not knowing how to run a business, but…
“Ah, no, it’s fine, it’s fine.”
Unexpectedly, the regulars nodded without fuss.
“There are little girls and kids around all the time, after all. It’s a little awkward to sit there puffing away right next to them. That’s why we moved to the corner, too.”
“Exactly. Secondhand smoke isn’t good for kids, right? We can just get up and move if we need to.”
“Whoa, thank you, guys!”
The regulars, who knew Chaewon came to the PC bang often, were remarkably cooperative.
That night, Park Heungguk soaked his pillow with tears of emotion.
With the regulars’ support behind him, he quickly led the PC bang reform.
No smoking at any seat.
Smoking only inside the designated booth!
Even after putting up enormous warning signs.
He still had to deal for a while with people who didn’t know better, and with shameless troublemakers who went, “The PC bang next door allows it, so why can’t you?”
And then another two months passed.
[Nero PC Bang]
(Rating 4.8) (130 reviews)
Nero PC Bang was reborn as the most famous PC bang in the neighborhood.
By blocking smoking and cultivating a clean image, it had become a place on an entirely different level from the existing competitors.
It was growing beyond a simple PC bang and into a mecca for online games.
“What on earth is this…?”
Park Heungguk still didn’t understand what had happened.
I just listened to Chaewon, that’s all?
Sell ramen, brighten the atmosphere, stop people from smoking.
Small things, but things nobody else had done.
It seemed he had realized that finding those gaps was the real method behind business success.
And the one who taught him that lesson was, as always, quietly playing a shooter.
How am I supposed to repay her for this…?
Park Heungguk watched Lee Chaewon closely, trying to figure out what he should do for her, and then finally made a decision.
***
Rustle, rustle-
This is going according to plan!
As she picked out bread at the convenience store, Chaewon silently cheered herself on.
Yesterday, the boss had finally said it.
Chaewon! You’re free forever! Use it as much as you want!
Kyaa-hah.
That was the most exhilarating thing on my entire ssalmeok list.
A free PC bang pass, no less.
The feeling of getting maximum efficiency without putting in any great effort.
Very nice!
From my point of view, it wasn’t even all that huge a deal.
Back then, PC bangs were still a little dark and had that underground image, but as online games grew, they’d quickly come into the light and change completely anyway.
I’d just helped bring in the future PC bang success model a little early.
Maybe I should ask them to make a private game room later, too.
If they soundproofed it so they could host tournaments and such, they’d probably get sponsorship from game companies and all kinds of other benefits.
And I could use it, too, while I was at it.
“Hehehe.”
I’m a genius! The god of ssalmeok!
The satisfaction made laughter spill out of me on its own.
“Chaewon.”
“Huh?”
I was in the middle of admiring myself and rummaging through the bread with great concentration when Kim Siyeon, standing behind me, called out.
“They’re all the same size since they’re factory-made, you know….”
“Hmph.”
As if.
The cream bread I was comparing could let me check the contents through the transparent plastic windows between the opaque parts of the wrapper.
They usually got roughed up in transit, and a lot of them were burst open.
When that happened, some of the cream would escape and the bread would be short on filling.
That’s why I had to inspect them carefully and pick out the ones that looked intact.
“How much difference could there even be…? You look so stingy.”
“What do you mean, stingy? I’m spending the same money, so I’m going to eat the better one. Hmph.”
“Fine. Just don’t let anyone see you acting like this, okay? Got it?”
“……”
At Siyeon’s pitying look, I couldn’t keep rummaging and ended up grabbing the one that looked the least damaged.
Seriously, am I being sincere here? I might be a little hurt.
I just wanted to eat a delicious bread. Hmph.
I bit into the cream bread and headed for the PC bang.
I didn’t need to worry about PC bang fees anymore.
That was really close.
I’d actually pulled out one of my Duel King card boxes at home and lined up the cards to sell.
I had been that close to actually doing it.
Thankfully, by saving the few thousand won I used to spend every day, my allowance started piling up bit by bit.
Human beings are terribly fickle, though.
Once there was a little breathing room, my eyes naturally drifted somewhere else.
(Exclusive Weapon Shop)
[AWR - 30,000 cash]
[Win34 - 20,000 cash]
[AC-47 - 10,000 cash]
[SCER-L - 10,000 cash]
.
.
.
Uuuuuh.
I want it.
Exclusive weapons are cash items in Dead Zone that transform the game’s signature weapons into your own personalized version.
You can customize the appearance, and the more kills you get, the more the level rises, letting you brag, “Yeah, I’m a real veteran.”
And there was more.
With an exclusive weapon, you could trigger special effects when you killed an opponent.
If you mixed the right combinations of annoying emotes, you could create a truly horrible hybrid.
It was a feature clearly meant for making your own effects, but the veterans had turned it into a revenge system.
Still, since the game company never bothered to patch it, I guess that meant they allowed it.
Anyway.
“So expensive….”
I liked snipers, so I wanted to buy either the AWR or the Win34, but those nasty jerks had priced them by popularity.
Thirty thousand won….
That was a heavy burden for an elementary school kid.
Could I maybe ask them to give me some of the money from the ad shoot I did when I was little?
It had already all gone into the stock account. Nothing I could do about it….
As I was smacking my lips in disappointment all by myself, someone nearby suddenly made a racket.
“H-hey, let’s go.”
“N-no! We didn’t do anything!”
“Goodbye!”
A commotion broke out beside me, and a bunch of kids who looked like elementary school students bolted out in a hurry.
What was that?
While I was wondering, one of the regulars seated behind me stood up.
“What, I thought they were your friends, Chaewon. They weren’t?”
“Huh? I don’t know? I asked if they were your friends and offered to buy them drinks, but they ran off.”
“Chaewon, do you know those kids?”
“Huh?”
Why are you asking me?
“No, they were hanging around behind you while you were looking at the screen. I thought they were your friends.”
“Nope?”
I’d never seen those backs of heads in my life.
Hmm.
These guys did look kind of rough.
They’d probably been looking for an open seat, got intimidated, and ran off.
I could understand how they felt.
I still have a hard time making eye contact.
I was already a total loser to begin with, and after becoming a girl, I got even scarier somehow.
Still, they were kind people who bought me food from time to time.
Click—
I stopped paying attention again and pulled my chair in.
Might as well play the game.
.
.
.
Right before homeroom, the teacher suddenly called me out.
“Chaewon, it’s nothing serious, but… has anything happened outside lately?”
“No? Nothing happened, though?”
“Right? The teacher trusts you, Chaewon.”
“???”
Was this the first time my homeroom teacher had ever called me in personally?
Hmm. What a strange day.
Being class president really is a pain.
I brushed it off and went back to class, where I spent the day as usual listening to lessons and dueling to kill time.
After lunch, Kim Siyeon sat down beside me.
“Chaewon, Chaewon. I heard something weird earlier. Can I ask you something?”
“Huh? Whaaat.”
What stupid thing was she going to say now?
“Are your mom and dad in the mob?”
“What?”
Siyeon, whom I had trusted, had just said something that was basically a crack at my family.