First Regulars
The dinner was filled with laughter and joy.
Though hosts like us earned good money and drank every day, enjoying free, hearty servings of Hanwoo was not something that happened often.
The women we met preferred restaurants that served steaks the size of a palm rather than traditional meat restaurants.
“Maknae. You worked hard.”
Lee Sang-soo poured Kim Namhu a glass of soju right away.
“Changing the atmosphere of the shop isn’t easy, Maknae. You really accomplished a great deal.”
The successful boxes had one thing in common.
Someone’s performance would be noticed by the main, who would officially praise it.
In this industry, getting paid well for doing good work was only natural.
Supporting aces who performed well or promising young hosts who showed potential was crucial.
Otherwise, they might lose talent to another box at any moment.
Lee Sang-soo had been terrifyingly strict in the waiting room not long ago, but now he was as gentle as the Buddha himself.
Kim Namhu took the soju with a smile.
“I was lucky.”
“Lucky? That’s a big exaggeration. I’ve worked the floor before. Seduce women? Not luck. Meet women? Luck. Seduce women? Must be skill.”
Lee Sang-soo laughed brightly and drank his own soju.
He dipped the high-quality meat into the oil and munched on it like a well.
The meat was so good that it tasted excellent even with this rough eating.
Lee Sang-soo asked Kim Namhu.
“But why did you bully the hosts so much a few days ago?”
Lee Sang-soo had been a host for a long time.
He knew the talent of the new recruits and assumed he could judge how far it would go.
But Kim Namhu’s talent seemed limitless.
That was why Lee Sang-soo asked him directly.
If it was just because sales were down and he wanted more money, it would be simple.
If the atmosphere was ruined and it continued for long, it would be average.
“My brother isn’t the owner of The Queen, is he?”
Kim Namhu had no intention of hiding his abilities and gave a high-level answer immediately.
“Explain it in more detail.”
“This box is also made up of people hired by the owner of The Queen, right? If sales drop, the owner of The Queen will either bring in another box or tell my brother’s box to leave. Of course, my brother has a reputation, so he could easily get another shop, but… abandoning a thriving shop and starting over would be difficult. You’d lose many regulars. There’s no guarantee that the new shop’s facilities would be as good as The Queen’s. In the end, it’s best to stay at the shop in Gangbuk that’s doing the best.”
Lee Sang-soo had the personality of a saint.
Even if he moved to another shop, his earnings would only decrease slightly.
The hosts on the front line suffered the most if the box moved.
Especially those middle-tier or lower hosts who had few regulars.
Lee Sang-soo had deliberately become the villain to keep the waiting room tense in order to avoid that.
Lee Sang-soo felt as though he was talking to a ghost when he realized that Kim Namhu, who had only recently become a host, understood his intentions.
“Wow. What are you going to do? Namhu. I think I’ve fallen for you.”
“I will decline a man’s interest politely. If you like men, you should be working at a gay bar.”
Kim Namhu threw out a light joke, and Lee Sang-soo laughed loudly.
“Namhu. Let’s stay together for a long time. I’ll take good care of you.”
“Yes. That sounds good.”
“It’s really going to last a long time. Such a lucky charm just came to me.”
With Lee Sang-soo in such a good mood, the dinner atmosphere naturally improved.
Lee Sang-soo told them not to worry about the card bill and to eat as much as they wanted, and the young hosts in their twenties ate like they were possessed.
Most of them were ordinary men who preferred grilled meat with soju over wine and steak.
Kim Namhu also ate with great enthusiasm.
After returning to his younger body, he had never enjoyed such high-quality meat like this.
And he could drink without worrying about his alcohol level.
When drinking with female clients, he had to stay sober and not get drunk, so it was not always enjoyable.
But today was a day when he could get drunk without worrying.
The beef seemed to dance on his tongue, and the soju flowed down his throat.
‘I should pack some meat and take it home.’
This shop was on another level compared to the neighborhood butcher.
If he brought his mother and younger brother here, they would surely look at the price list and complain.
It would be better to buy only the meat separately.
With the tips from the female clients in Kim Namhu’s pocket, he could buy this amount of meat.
After the dinner, when about half the food was gone, Kim Namhu quietly stood up.
He told Lee Sang-soo.
“Brother, I’ll head out first.”
“Huh? Our maknae has a human side. Hosts should be able to drink well. Are you weak?”
“It’s because I get drunk fast when I drink with good people.”
“Hahaha. Yeah. Our kids are all good people, aren’t they? Alright, go ahead.”
Lee Sang-soo handed Kim Namhu a 500,000-won bill and told him not to worry about the taxi fare.
When Kim Namhu left the shop, he packed a generous amount of nine servings of meat.
After showering at the gosiwon to remove the party smell and changing into normal clothes, Kim Namhu headed home.
With the work and dinner finished, it was already past nine in the morning.
His body was tired, but his eyes sparkled with energy.
**
When he returned home, the atmosphere had changed a lot.
His younger brother was secretly putting some money into the piggy bank every day.
Even adding only 100,000 won every day would make 3 million won in a month.
Since there was money in the house, the atmosphere naturally improved.
It was still early in the morning.
His mother, who hadn’t seen Kim Namhu in a long time, welcomed him.
“Oh my. Our eldest son. What’s going on?”
“I missed you, Mom.”
Kim Namhu smiled warmly and handed over the beef wrapped in a black plastic bag.
“What’s this?”
“Beef. There was a butcher shop near my gosiwon that was having a huge sale. I got a bonus for doing well on my part-time job, so I brought it home for Mom’s health.”
Kim Namhu knew his mother well.
If he just gave her the meat, his brother would eat it all or turn it into soup.
“Beef should be grilled right away to taste best. It says it loses flavor if it’s refrigerated.”
Kim Namhu immediately took out the frying pan and started grilling the meat.
Even though grilling over charcoal would be better, the meat itself was so expensive that the flavor didn’t drop much.
“We have to open the shop soon. I’ll help with the preparations. Eat a proper meal today and let’s go together.”
His brother had already set up the table to eat the meat properly.
His brother first wrapped a large samgyeopsal and put it in his mother’s mouth.
Then he quickly wrapped one for himself and ate it too.
It was his way of saying for Mom to eat comfortably.
His brother looked at her with wide eyes and said,
“Wow. What is this? This meat is really delicious!”
“If it’s delicious, I’ll bring more next time I get the part-time bonus.”
His mother knew that the meat was good.
And it seemed like tears of joy welled up in her eyes because of the meat.
“Mom, why are you crying?”
“Your father. I wish we could have eaten together.”
Then his brother deliberately spoke loudly.
“Mom! Business is going well these days! No need to borrow money for hospital bills. Dad will recover quickly. If not, we can transfer to a better hospital. I heard that not all hospitals are the same. Better hospitals have better treatments too.”
Kim Namhu thought it was fortunate to have a brother like this.
If he didn’t have his brother, he wouldn’t have been able to continue hosting while leaving his mother alone.
Otherwise, his mother would have been running the shop alone and taking care of his father’s illness, ignoring her own body.
Seeing his mother and younger brother eat the beef until they were full, Kim Namhu wanted to earn more money even faster.
So he wanted his father to be transferred to a better hospital too, as his brother suggested.
In the past, it had taken too much time to become the best host in Korea and earn a fortune.
That was why his father had suffered in hospitals for years and eventually passed away.
This time, there was a chance to fix that.
It was giving Kim Namhu strength.
Kim Namhu told his mother.
“Let’s eat meat like this occasionally. Mom needs to eat properly to stay healthy.”
His mother nodded with a smile.
The three of them ate the nine servings.
Since Kim Namhu had eaten a lot at the dinner, he ate little.
So his mother and younger brother ate the beef until they were full.
After that, the three of them went to the shop together to prepare for opening.
All three had smiling eyes.