A Stroke of Luck
It was a shame he could no longer set up a street stall, but that didn't mean he was giving up entirely.
The important thing was that selling lunchboxes was one viable option. If he looked for other methods, plenty would surely come to mind.
Besides, he didn't have to set up his stall right next to the shopping district.
“Right. There are so many ways. I won't give up.”
He could sell online, or he could go out and hustle in person.
If he visited the guilds directly and secured contracts, he would gain stable clients without needing to advertise at all.
Best of all, it would be something Jungwoo could handle alone, without dragging anyone else into the busyness.
The number of customers visiting the restaurant wouldn't change much, but the profits would.
‘In that case, should today's menu be lunchboxes?’
It wouldn't be anything fancy.
Just the kind of food that naturally came to mind when you thought of a lunchbox.
Even so, Jungwoo could never settle for something merely ordinary.
The number of dishes inside had to be special, or the flavor had to be exceptional. At the very least, one of those things needed to stand out.
“Hmm… but I can't leave the restaurant unattended.”
He couldn't just call people out of the blue and say he'd make lunchboxes for them from now on and propose a contract.
Sales calls were exactly the kind of thing people tended to reject outright.
And if he tried going out on his days off, well… those days were meant entirely for Seia. Jungwoo wanted to spend them with her.
When he thought about it that way, it really was difficult.
Catching two rabbits at once.
Wanting to do everything was simply his own greed.
He had learned long ago that to gain one thing, you often had to let another go.
“…I guess I'll have to change the restaurant's operating hours.”
Currently, the restaurant was open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.—twelve full hours dedicated to the business. But looking at the recent customers, most of them arrived right around lunchtime.
“Starting at noon instead of ten seems just about perfect.”
The two hours of free time that created would be used to visit nearby guilds in person.
Rather than going empty-handed, if he prepared a lunchbox for each visit, surely some places would give him a favorable review?
The first few times might be tough, but once the number of lunchboxes he could supply to the guilds increased, both he and Seia would have an easier time.
“Daddy!”
“Yes, Seia?”
Seia's voice pulled Jungwoo out of his deep thoughts. He had finished preparing for the day's business and had been lost in contemplation.
As always, her voice was pitched just a little higher than usual. It was full of aegyo, whether she meant it to be or not.
“I want to see more cute animals.”
“Really? What should we watch today…”
After the manul cat documentary, they had watched a few others, but Seia only ever watched documentaries at the restaurant.
She spent far more time here than at home, so they hardly ever turned on the TV back at the house.
“Cute ones!”
“Haha. Okay. Let's go with something cute.”
Ever since the first time Seia had watched the manul cat documentary, Jungwoo had set aside several cute animal documentaries for her.
So today's choice was a documentary featuring Arctic hares.
As soon as he turned it on, Seia headed straight for her designated seat as if she'd been waiting for it.
The moment she sat down, Jungwoo's phone began to ring.
“Who could this be at this hour?”
He checked the number. It was unfamiliar.
Who on earth…?
“Hello?”
“Good afternoon. Is this Mr. Lee Jungwoo?”
What could this be?
The voice carried no particular emotion.
Yet it sounded somehow familiar.
While Jungwoo hesitated to answer, the voice on the other end spoke again.
“Is this not Mr. Lee Jungwoo's phone?”
“Ah, no. This is Jungwoo. May I ask who's calling?”
“I see. Nice to speak with you. This is the shopping district management office.”
The management office.
He had just been there earlier and had even been told not to get his hopes up.
What could they possibly want now?
There hadn't been any issues in the meantime.
“I just came by a little while ago. Is there a problem?”
“No, not at all. The reason I'm calling is about the street stall permit for the shopping district.”
“Ah, don't tell me…”
“Yes, that's right. The permit has been approved.”
“Already?”
He had hoped against hope, but to think the results—and approval, no less—had come through so quickly.
It was hard to believe, but this was definitely the same voice he'd heard earlier.
It wasn't just any management office employee. It was the person in charge.
“You got lucky. A spot just opened up.”
“Haha… I really did get lucky.”
“Once you've finished all your preparations, feel free to come by anytime.”
“Is there any kind of deadline? Like, do I need to come within a few days?”
“Oh, no, nothing like that. Just come whenever it's convenient for you.”
Jungwoo had no idea why the man sounded flustered by such an ordinary question, but the outcome was the absolute best he could have hoped for.
“Thank you. I'll get everything ready as quickly as I can and come by.”
“Understood. Then… ah, by the way…”
“Yes?”
“Never mind. Have a good day.”
“Thank you. Take care.”
Not only had the result changed, but the person's attitude had completely shifted as well.
Why the sudden change?
The answer to that question, of course, was something only the person in charge knew.
‘What a relief.’
This meant he wouldn't have to change the restaurant's operating hours after all.
From 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
It might feel like a long stretch, but neither Jungwoo nor Seia considered the time they spent at the restaurant as mere “work.”
“Then all I need to do now is set the exact time.”
If the shopping district permit hadn't come through and he hadn't thought of approaching the guilds directly, he would have been left with no options at all.
Approaching the guilds had been a good idea, but it was only his backup plan in case the permit fell through.
“Seia, are you hungry?”
“Yes! Seia's tummy is hungry!”
She must have been so absorbed in the documentary that she'd completely forgotten she was hungry.
There she was, clutching her rabbit doll while watching a rabbit documentary.
Every time a cute rabbit appeared on screen, Seia would gently stroke the head of the doll in her arms.
“Alright. What should we eat today?”
Since he was already planning to make lunchboxes, maybe they could just have those for the meal?
As Jungwoo pondered aloud, Seia had already made her way into the kitchen.
“Hmm? Is there something you want to eat?”
“Umm…”
Seia fell into deep thought.
The sight of her resting one hand on her chin with her mouth pursed made a soft chuckle escape him.
He paused the documentary and gave her more time to decide.
“Today, Seia wants to choose herself.”
“Shall we? Then…”
When he held out his hand, Seia took it with the hand she'd been using to think.
Together, they arrived in front of the refrigerator.
“Now that I think about it, Seia has never looked inside the fridge herself, has she?”
“Nope!”
There were three refrigerators in the restaurant in total.
One was a freezer, another was the fridge in the corner of the dining area that held drinks and water, and the third—the largest one—was in the kitchen. This one stored all kinds of fresh ingredients.
“Seia gets to pick after looking for herself.”
Seia had shown curiosity about the fridge before, but she'd never been able to see inside it.
It wasn't that Jungwoo had stopped her.
She simply hadn't been strong enough yet to open the heavy door.
Even during hide-and-seek on her last birthday, she hadn't been able to open it and check if anyone was hiding inside.
“Here we go, then…”
The refrigerator door swung open.
Just its size alone made it the largest object in the restaurant, and Seia's eyes swirled with a whirlwind of emotions.
It was like stepping into a whole new world.
Curiosity, interest, and an overwhelming sense of anticipation that surpassed them all.
Inside the now-open fridge were things Seia had never seen before.
Well, she had seen them individually.
But seeing them all at once like this was a first.
It looked exactly like the market she visited with her father every morning, transported right into the refrigerator.
“Whoa…”
The eyes that had been filled with such enormous expectation now sparkled even brighter, shifting into pure fascination.
He didn't know exactly how much she had been looking forward to this, but judging by the look in her eyes now, it seemed her expectations had been more than met.
“Now, would you like to choose, Seia? What do you want to eat?”
“Yes!”
He lifted her up so she was eye-level with the shelves. Her sparkling eyes began darting quickly across the contents.
What would catch her attention?
After staring inside for a long time, Seia finally pointed at something.
“What's that one?”
As expected, she was pointing at the meat section.
“Our Seia wouldn't not know it's meat. She must be asking what kind of meat it is.”
“Hehe. That's right.”
Seia really loved meat.
Well, not many people disliked it.
Her little finger was pointing to the very back of the meat compartment.
And there, of course, was Grade Two beef.
Why was such high-quality beef in there?
There was only one reason.
He had simply wanted to eat it.
It wasn't often in life that you got to enjoy beef of this quality.
He had planned to age it one more day before sharing it with Seia, but eating it now wouldn't make much difference.
“My daughter has quite the eye, doesn't she?”
“Hehe. Because I'm Daddy's daughter~”
“Oh my. Haha.”
Her unexpected answer made Jungwoo burst into laughter again.
Where on earth had she learned to say things like that?
He rubbed his cheek vigorously against hers, then reached deep inside and pulled out the beef.
Its lustrous appearance.
Jungwoo, who had seen plenty of meat while cooking, naturally recognized its quality, but Seia didn't.
When the full, gleaming cut that had only been partially visible inside the fridge was revealed, even she could tell.
It was different somehow. She didn't know exactly how, but she knew it was special.
“What do you think?”
“Looks yummy…”
“Hmm?”
He hadn't even started cooking yet, but Seia was already licking her lips.
Usually people said their mouths were watering.
But looking into Seia's eyes, it seemed as if even her eyes were watering with anticipation. It was that honest.
“Daddy will show you the best meat flavor in the world.”
“World… best…!”
Her eyes now held an even greater anticipation than before she'd looked into the fridge.
If he made even the slightest mistake, he probably wouldn't be able to live up to that expectation.
But Jungwoo was confident.
This beef?
It was the strongest beef of all time.
‘I'll approach this with the mindset that a Michelin inspector has arrived.’
Though the inspector was quite young, if he could earn three stars—no, five stars—in Seia's heart, that would be more satisfying than anything.
“Alright. Our daughter should go watch the documentary now!”
“Yes sir!”
His resolute determination must have reached her, because Seia answered energetically and returned to her seat.
He restarted the paused documentary, then tightened the strings of his apron.
For the perfect steak.