Chapter 19. Customer Satisfaction Is Hard
Chapter 19. Customer Satisfaction Is Hard
On a plane headed for Seoul.
Lauren knew they had passed over the Pacific and entered Asian airspace.
A mission in Seoul.
She had only been rotating through the Middle East and Africa, so she was full of anticipation for Korea, a country that had recently risen into the ranks of advanced nations.
Of course, it was also a dangerous region caught between great powers, full of threats of war—but this was an astonishing country that had become an advanced nation by pushing through harsh conditions.
Considering that most advanced countries had once been empires during the colonial era, for a country that had been colonized to break out of the so-called middle-income trap—something that was hard to escape—was practically a miracle.
As expected, for a person or a country to develop, danger was more effective than abundance. Just look at how most resource-rich countries were among the poorest nations now.
The mission Lauren had been given right before leaving for Korea had also been important.
But headquarters suddenly canceled almost all overseas operations and rushed most agents to Korea.
Lauren was curious what kind of mission she would be given in Korea.
Since just yesterday things had nearly reached the brink of nuclear war, it might be centered on stealing Korean government secrets or running covert operations. Or, since she had exceptional talent for assassinating key figures, it might focus on eliminating anti-American figures.
The plane landed, and as she left the spotless Incheon Airport, her first directive arrived on her phone.
It contained a single photo of a red rubber tub floating in midair, along with a short order.
[Investigate the addresses in the next directive and find an object identical to the one in the photo!]
Then hundreds of satellite photos and addresses were sent.
The satellite had captured rubber tubs identical to the one in the photo on rooftops across Seoul.
The attached addresses were the locations of the buildings storing those tubs on their rooftops.
Lauren let out a sigh.
She had handled every difficult order without hesitation, but this was awkward.
She was being told to figure out which one, among hundreds of rubber tubs, was identical to that photo…
What the hell was she supposed to do?
7:00 a.m.
I went up to the rooftop and did some light stretching.
Under the container eaves where the cleaning aunts had stayed, I could see the rubber tub I’d ridden and flown in yesterday.
My brain had short-circuited and I acted on impulse, but it had been an interesting experience.
At 300 meters up, it wouldn’t have caught anyone’s eye…
Flying on it from time to time might not be a bad idea.
Maybe I could even travel the world.
I hadn’t realized my flight speed was that fast.
When I moved at full power using telekinesis, I reached the skies over Gangnam almost instantly.
There was a shock from flying that fast. If a normal person rode something faster than a fighter jet with a bare body, they’d be seriously injured.
But that didn’t apply to me, protected by my field.
Still, thinking about it now, it had been pointless.
Since I’d left a telekinetic link in place, I could’ve used telekinesis from my room without flying at all.
Yesterday I’d just panicked and flown on the tub. I’d had that prejudice that I could only exert my power properly if I was nearby.
That’s why people need to stay calm.
Yesterday, Cheolmin hyung thought he’d crushed the monster’s head, but it was actually me.
If I hadn’t stepped in, Cheolmin hyung and the Isu Gang juniors would’ve all been badly hurt on the spot.
With police waiting nearby, none of them would’ve died, but they definitely wouldn’t have dodged the first shots fired by the Chinese thug.
But what were those monsters?
Seeing them scatter to pieces after their heads disappeared, they were definitely monsters…
They felt like vampires.
To think vampires—things that only exist in imagination—were real…
Well, if someone like me existed, there was no reason vampires couldn’t.
At this rate, there might even be zombies or aliens.
I opened the lodging the cleaning aunts had been using.
The traces of hurried packing were obvious.
I tidied the blankets and miscellaneous items.
They were people I’d grown attached to over five years—sending them off like that made something in my chest itch.
When someone leaves, you notice the emptiness.
While eating boiled eggs, bananas, and soy milk I’d bought at the convenience store, I read a human anatomy book—then headed to the front desk at 9:47.
At the counter, Chanhyeok hyung was nodding off.
“Hyung!”
“Ah… Chan. Is it already time?”
Chanhyeok hyung wiped drool off the corner of his mouth and stretched. He looked like he’d slept deeply.
Checking the counter system, I saw we’d sold eleven rooms yesterday.
At this rate, the motel would go under.
Nothing matters more than peace.
“Wow… I’ve seriously never seen a day like yesterday. Even with war and everything, I never thought it’d be that bad!”
“Yeah. It’s serious. Still, it’ll probably get better after a few days. You worked hard. Go in.”
“Hello!”
The front doors opened, and the six would-be gang recruits who’d come as the cleaning team yesterday walked in.
They looked around my age or a year or two younger, but each of them was a muscle-bound lump twice my size.
“Ah… hello!”
“We’ll begin work immediately.”
The six muscleheads gathered their cleaning uniforms on their own and readied the cleaning carts.
They even tied towels tightly around their heads and put on clean aprons, but no matter how you looked at it, they looked weird.
“Yeah, good luck. If there’s anything you don’t know, contact me right away.”
“Yes, understood.”
After the muscleheads went up to the fifth floor, Chanhyeok hyung looked at me and asked,
“Why the hell are those gangsters kissing your ass? What are you?”
“I know, right? They’re all nice to me. Maybe it’s because I’m close with the guest in Room 105?”
“The way they treat you and the way they treat me is totally different!”
Chanhyeok hyung grumbled like he had no intention of leaving even though he’d slept all night, and then the door to Room 102 opened and Bella came out.
Instead of her pink tracksuit, she was wearing short shorts that showed too much and a short top that exposed her navel.
“Hi, Bella!”
Chanhyeok hyung gave her a fresh smile and greeted her. It was smooth, like he’d practiced it a bunch of times.
“Kang Chan! Today work day?”
“Yes, today is my work day. Hello!”
“Then he today off?”
Bella pointed at Chanhyeok hyung.
Chanhyeok hyung quickly stepped in.
“Yes! Starting now, I’m free. Ms. Bella, do you need any help?”
“Long. Still long, Bella no know Korean!”
Bella was learning Korean at an absurd speed.
Just remembering that she couldn’t say a single Korean word when she first arrived said it all.
If I’d studied Russian for the same amount of time, I definitely wouldn’t have reached even half her level.
“Yes! Bella. Me off!”
“Come with me. Me shopping. Guide me!”
“Yes, Ms. Bella. I’ll escort you today. We’ll do shopping and a full course of famous restaurants!”
Chanhyeok hyung looked like he was about to jump for joy, but Bella kept repeating “Long, I don’t know” and led the way out.
Chanhyeok hyung would probably spend a full course worth of money today.
Even though Bella obviously had far more cash than he did…
Clicking my tongue, I went upstairs to check the rooms that had checked out.
But because rooms weren’t selling, there was barely anything to do.
When I tried to restock supplies by floor, the six muscleheads rushed over and insisted they’d do it.
Since there weren’t many rooms to clean today, I asked them to do a full deep-clean of all the empty rooms after the stayover cleanings, then went back down.
It was so quiet that even after coming down, the boss and manager still weren’t out.
What should I do… train?
Then Cheolmin hyung walked into the motel looking exhausted.
He’d finally returned after being questioned by the police all night.
As a key witness at a shooting scene, Cheolmin hyung had been dragged in—then spent the whole night yelling at the cops, asking what the hell they were doing letting Chinese guys wave guns around in the middle of Korea. He’d only gone because he’d been contacted, so he was confident.
“Little Brother, I’m back.”
“You worked hard. You look tired—go rest.”
“Yes. It was rough. Still, if I hadn’t trained in martial arts, it would’ve been really dangerous. Thank you again. I’d like to ask for guidance again tonight.”
He spoke in an old historical-drama tone, bowed ninety degrees, and went back to his room.
Just as the door to Room 105 shut behind him, the Manager came to work.
“What is this?!”
The Manager looked at yesterday’s sales report and nearly had a fit.
What—did he think the rooms would be packed because we almost had a war?
I ignored him, organized the room keys, and cleaned off the counter.
Since I finally had time, I should dust all the corners I never had time for.
Then the owner came in too, and the two of them sighed over the sales slips.
After staring for a while at the fat muscleheads cleaning rooms, their expressions got even darker.
“Hey, Donggeun. Did you check? The cleaning team?”
“Brother-in-law, it’s chaos right now. All the foreigners are saying they’re going home, so there’s no one to work. Even illegal overstayers are turning themselves in and leaving. They say Korea is scary.”
“Then at least try to get people from a staffing agency at minimum wage.”
“Ah, hyung. These days you can’t get people at minimum wage. Restaurants and motels have a reputation for being hard work, so if the pay is low, they won’t do it. I already begged agencies, but when they heard our hours and the cleaning volume, they said we’d need at least five people.”
“Then tell them to send them anyway. I don’t want to see those gangsters anymore. I feel like I’ll collapse from blood pressure!”
“I already said it yesterday. They said they’d look into it, but they haven’t contacted me. Because of the war crisis, they’re telling us to wait a few days!”
“Hey. Then you go up and clean. It’s only ten rooms, so you can handle it alone!”
“Ah, hyung. We tried it before. If I do ten rooms, I collapse. I can’t do it!”
Listening to them made me feel a little irritated.
They knew how hard the work was, yet all they’d ever done was ride the cleaning aunts, calling them lazy or slow.
Honestly, the muscle juniors we had working now seemed perfect for this motel.
I should ask Cheolmin hyung to let them keep working longer.
12:30 p.m.
Most guests had checked out, and the few rooms left had come in at dawn, so their checkout time was still a bit away.
“I’ll go eat.”
“Chan, we have something to do today, so we need to head out now. Order something here.”
The owner and Manager left those words and disappeared.
From the look of it, they probably weren’t coming back today.
I didn’t really care, but lately I’d been paying for most of my meals myself, and the spending wasn’t small.
I should start using the designated restaurant for breakfast or meals on my days off.
Then the phone rang from Room 204.
“Yes, front desk.”
“I’m in 204. The door won’t open.”
“What? What do you mean…?”
“We’re trying to open the door to go out, but it won’t open, so we can’t leave. It feels like we’re trapped.”
“Don’t you just pull the lever down and push? Doesn’t it open?”
“It won’t open. Please help.”
I tilted my head at a request I couldn’t understand and went upstairs.
Our door system was a mix of mechanical and electronic, but from the inside it worked mechanically, so it “not opening” was impossible.
Just in case, I checked the latch mechanism with telekinesis—nothing was wrong.
I used the master key and opened the door.
Inside was a couple in their twenties.
The woman was lying in bed with her face turned away, and the man with glasses looked at me with a gloomy face.
“It opens fine.”
“It didn’t open earlier… weird!”
I closed the door from inside and told him to try opening it himself, just in case.
He lowered the lever a bit and pushed, and I told him he had to pull it all the way down.
Then the door opened normally.
“Ah… yeah, it opens!”
“If you have any inconvenience, call us.”
I went back down to the counter.
About five minutes later, the man came down alone with a dark expression.
“Do you need something?”
I asked with a smile, and he hesitated before speaking.
“Anyway, earlier the door didn’t open, right? That’s the motel’s fault.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“When I tried to open it, it wouldn’t open, so my girlfriend got really scared. The motel should formally apologize!”
“Formally apologize?”
Stopping a nuclear bomb was easy, but customer satisfaction was always hard.
“Apologize.”
“Yes. We’re sorry for the inconvenience, sir.”
“Not like that. I’ll tell you my email, so write it clearly as the motel and send a formal apology letter.”
I thought about it, but this wasn’t right.
A door that hundreds of people open and close every day wasn’t broken—he just failed to open it, and now he wanted a written apology email on record…
Was he trying to sue and get compensation?
If he filed formally, that email could become evidence that hurt us. I shouldn’t comply.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. And we’re not a hotel—we’re a motel.”
“Motel or hotel, the door didn’t open earlier.”
“It opens now.”
“It didn’t open earlier.”
“It’s not broken.”
“Ah… don’t do that. Just do something. My girlfriend is telling me to come back with a formal apology!”
Now I finally understood.
I felt sorry for him, but like I’d thought earlier, if he sued, it could create problems that didn’t need to exist. I wasn’t giving him formal written evidence.
“I’m sorry, sir. I can’t do that.”
When I said it with an unwavering smile, he looked even darker, like he wanted to say something—then went back up to his room.
About ten minutes later, the woman stormed out first and disappeared outside, and the man chased after her with a panicked face.
There were really all kinds of guests at a motel.