Jong-seok, who left work a little early, was entering Taejin-dong after a long time.
Jong-seok, who stopped his car in a paid parking lot in Taejin-dong, slowly began to walk around the neighborhood.
I was going to take a walk around the village after a long time.
"The town has changed a lot."
It's been about three years since I moved, but the road was very colorful. And there was one painting for each shopping mall.
When Jong-seok moved in, some shops used to paint such printed murals, but now most of them had pictures on the walls of the stores.
"You've changed a lot here, too."
"That's why it feels a little harder than when we were dating."
"I've got a lot of murals......I think it's been warmer before.”
Jong-seok, who was moving his steps while looking at paintings painted in the shops, glanced at them in a conversation between a couple passing by.
Listening to the conversation, he seemed to have come to see the place where he came from when he was dating.
Jong-seok, who was looking at the couple, began to walk toward his old house.
"Oh! Isn't that Jong-seok?"
Jong-seok turned his head at the sound of calling him and smiled young on his face.
"Hello."
It was the bakery owner who called himself.
"What are you doing?”
"I'm supposed to meet my high school friends. How's the bakery doing?"
"I closed my bakery and now I'm in a coffee shop."
"Oh... ...the bread was delicious...….”
"I'm still making bread at the coffee shop. They sell coffee, they sell bread, they manage."
"But why did you suddenly sell coffee?"
"It's a neighborhood where lovers come often, so there's no advantage in selling just bread. That's why we decided to sell coffee together. How's your brother doing?”
"Yes."
"Yes, then go play."
Jong-seok's appetite was stimulated by the sight of the bakery owner walking with a smile.
"That's true, bakeries don't feature in tourist attractions."
It's not even the '70s and '80s, and there's no one to date at a bakery.
That's why they sell coffee together. So that I can take a break and drink coffee and buy bread.
When he looked around Jong-seok, many of the old stores had disappeared or were newly opened.
"You've changed a lot."
Jong-seok muttered into it and walked away. However, there was something that did not change in Taejin-dong.
The paintings by Jong-seok still remain on the wall or in the shopping mall.
As time went by, I was still feeling warm, although I was very tanned.
Jong-seok, who had moved his steps thinking that it was quite a good painting, could soon arrive near his old house.
In front of the tteokbokki restaurant, people were waiting in line for their turn.
'You must be doing a good job.'
The people who bought the building said they wanted to sell tteokbokki together, so I taught them how to make tteokbokki and various menus at home for several months.
The store was still doing well, perhaps because of its good taste.
And Jong-seok felt better when he saw it. This reminds me of my old parents' business.
At the time, you had a hard time making tteokbokki sauce every day.….’
Jong-seok, who was reminded of the usual spicy smell at home, nodded.
'Let's sell you a plate while you're here.'
When I waited in line, it was Jong-seok's turn about ten minutes later. A student who looked like a part-timer saw Jong-seok.
"Would you like it wrapped? Or would you like to have some?"
"Can I eat and go?"
"You can go inside and sit where you can eat. How would you like it?"
"One tteokbokki and one fried food, please."
At Jong-seok's words, the staff quickly put tteokbokki and fried food in a plastic-covered bowl and held them out.
"It's 7,000 won."
I've raised the price.’
In the past, Jongseok's house sold tteokbokki for 2,000 won.
Jong-seok paid for it and went into the store with a bowl. There was nothing different in the store than they used to run.
The paintings and interiors on the wall remained the same. The interior design did not seem to be changed on purpose to create the same atmosphere as before.
'I still have my picture.’
On one side of the wall was a picture of himself, his parents, and Kim Sook-soo.
Jong-seok smiled at the article written under the picture.
'Is my face being promoted?’
Thinking like that, Jong-seok sat down looking for an empty seat and soon ate tteokbokki.
And soon Jong-seok put down his fork.
'Taste......'
Jongseok's tteokbokki sauce was characterized by a spicy and cool taste.
The reason was not water but radish juice, which was not tasty now.
It was just a spicy and sweet taste. Jong-seok, who was there for a while, tried fried food.
Fortunately, the fried food tasted the same as before. The only thing that changed was tteokbokki.
Jong-seok shook his head after a while.
'There must be some sort of situation.
Jong-seok, who ate fried food with such thoughts, took an empty bowl and brought it to the kitchen.
I didn't ask anyone to bring it, but it's a habit of moving the dishes.
"Thank you..." ...what?"
The owner, who was receiving the dishes, looked up at the leftover tteokbokki and recognized Jongseok.
"Chef Lee Jong-seok?"
Jong-seok smiled and bowed his head as if he knew the owner.
"Hello."
"Hey, how long has it been?"
"I think it's been a year or three."
"How are your parents doing?"
"You're just doing fine. But you're doing great."
At Jong-seok's words, the host smiled and said.
"It used to be a very popular place, so regulars come to see us."
Then the owner suddenly looked at the remaining bowl of tteokbokki and said,
"By the way... ...does it not suit your taste?”
Jong-seok glanced at his master and said softly.
"It tastes a little bit... It's changed, but I don't think you put radish in the recipe we gave you."
"Ah......."
At Jong-seok's words, the owner relished his appetite and opened his mouth.
"You recognize me right away because you're the chef.”
"Fries are the same taste we told you about...... only the tteokbokki has changed its taste, did you change the recipe?"
"That's... ...it didn't change the recipe."
The owner, who had hesitated for a while, sighed and said,
"These days, radish prices have gone up too much."
"No price?"
"It's five thousand won a piece...….”
"Five thousand won is expensive."
"Yes, so I feel pressured...….”
Jong-seok shook his head as he looked at his master.
"Okay."
"What? You had something to say...….”
"You already know what I'm going to say. That's why you hesitated for a while when you said the price went up."
When asked if he had changed the recipe, he hesitated and said that the price of radish had risen, which was his excuse for not keeping the taste.
And Jong-seok, who heard the excuse, had nothing more to say.
There is no reason to talk more about problems that the opponent knows.
Jong-seok said as he watched the owner shake his head with a small sigh.
"If the owner saves the ingredients, the number of customers decreases. And bringing back a disappointed guest is harder than building a regular fever."
"Whoa! I see. Thank you for your kind words."
"Good business."
Jong-seok, who bowed his head, turned around and moved his steps.
'You must have gone up a lot. Is it because the passage is closer?'
It was Chuseok soon, so it was time for all prices to rise. But for 5,000 won for a radish...….
"It's expensive."
While shaking his head, Jong-seok answered Kim Young-woo's call.
"Where are you? School? Yeah......okay. Let's have a look at the school after a long time."
When Kim Young-woo said to see him at school, Jong-seok hung up and twisted his body.
Boom boom! Boom boom!
"Let's run to school after a long time."
Jong-seok, who had been rubbing his body several times, quickly began to run where the school was.
Tata blame!
Jong-seok, who was running fast, stopped running. Then I went back the way I came and glanced at the alley.
Some children were smoking in the alley. It's also about opening up a student.
And looking at the school uniform, they were students from Taejin High School.
"Did you ask me to bring you 50,000 won today? Didn't you?"
"Well, you got your allowance last week and you gave it to me.”
Jong-seok's appetite was filled with the sight of a student muttering in fear among the smoking children.
I didn't have that back then.’
When Jong-seok was in school, there was something that bothered him. In fact, Jong-seok was also bullied a little in his first year.
A boy who reads books quietly is a weak sheep. But there was nothing to take money from.
It was just a slap on the wrist. Then Jong-seok got his experience book when he was a sophomore, and even such harassment disappeared.
"So that's last week's, and you'll have to bring this week's too?"
"It's hard to bring 50,000 won a week. Last week's allowance was also for this week."
"Yes, that's your business and...... let's just make it this week. Get down."
"Jaewoon, next week I'll...….”
"Let's start with a blow."
The child, who was smoking with a horse, pulled a bag as big as his arm out of his bag and swung it downwards.
Squeeze! Squeeze!
And Jong-seok's face was a bit bewildered by the appearance of the unfolded peak.
'Samdanbong?'
A student took out a three-tier stick that would only be used by the police. The student, who was being torn apart, fell on his knees in a hurry.
"I'm sorry, Jae-woon. I'll make sure I...….”
"Get down! You twin cub."
Jong-seok shook his head when the student fell down crying. I think the children will get hurt if I watch more.
"Hey students! Let's stop there."
Students saw Jong-seok as he appeared shouting.
"Cigarettes, you might think you started early because you were a little precocious, or you could just pretend you didn't know because of the sincerity of smoking in the alley.... it's a crime to rip open the yoke."
Then Jong-seok pointed to the triad in the hands of a student.
"And hitting people with it is a bigger crime."
Students who smoked at Jong-seok's words laughed.
"This guy is very funny."
"Mister, in times like this, just go the way you go. Or you can secretly report it to the police and watch it in secret. It's not that I'm getting hit for no reason.”
Jong-seok laughed at the student's tapping on the wall with a triple rod as he spoke.
"But they're junior students at school, so how can they hand it over to the police? As a senior in school, I'm going to end it in a good way."
"Did you graduate from our school?"
"Yes."
At Jong-seok's words, the students inhaled a cigarette deeply and smiled and looked at each other.
"Hey, he's a senior at our school."
"You're my senior, so why don't you give me some pocket money for my juniors?"
I laughed at the students' words.
"Do you need any pocket money?"
"Give it to me?"
Jong-seok took his wallet out of his pocket at the student's words. Then he opened it up and showed it.
"Oh! You have a lot of money!"
Jong-seok doesn't usually carry a lot of money with him, but today, I went to see Kim Young-woo and Lee Chang-sik to get some money.
Lee Chang-sik is now accepted as a police official, and since he makes more money than Kim Young-woo, he wants to pay for the drinks.
So now Jong-seok's wallet had a little bit of cash worth 50,000 won.
When the students looked at each other and looked at each other, Jong-seok held up his wallet and said,
"If there's anyone here who can take my wallet, my senior gives me an allowance."
"That's true, isn't it?"”
"Take it."
One of the students crept up to Jong-seok's words and reached out his hand. And just before the student's hand reached his wallet, the wallet slapped him on the cheek.
Fa'at!
"Uh!"
Jong-seok said to the student, who was startled and stepped back.
"Why can't you get it?”
At Jong-seok's words, the student looked at him with a stiff face and shook his fist.
And the wallet of Jong-seok's fist quickly hit him.
Papapot!
"Crrrrrrrrrr!"
And the student fell on his knees screaming at the blow of the purse.
I got hit with my wallet, but it was painful as if I had been hit with a hammer.
At the sight, the students shouted as they looked at Jong-seok.
"Hey! George!"