“Ha~~am.”
I feel like I slept like a log.
As expected, in summer, there’s nothing better than pitching a tent on a wooden platform and sleeping there.
I got ready in a hurry and checked the items in my inventory one more time.
Perfect.
Straight to Bukhansan.
Since I’d been there yesterday, today was a little better.
Today, I arrived at nine.
Yesterday, when I arrived at ten and saw that there were already tons of people, I’d thought it would be better to come earlier.
I set up the table like I was used to it now and put the icebox on top.
Then I stuck a sign in front of it.
“Do you have apples?”
A customer came as soon as I opened today too.
It was a young woman in her twenties.
“Yes. They’re delicious apples that just came up from Cheongsong. I washed them clean at home, so you can eat them with the peel on.”
I held out an apple neatly wrapped in plastic wrap.
“They’re usually 3,000 won, but since you’re my first customer, and you’re pretty, noona, I’ll only take 2,000 won.”
“Hohoho. You’re good at business. Give me two.”
I only held out one.
“Just have one. You’re so pretty, noona, that one is enough. You can’t get any prettier.”
“Hmph.”
Even so, she must have been pleased, because her lips were full of smiles.
It was originally 2,000 won anyway. She doesn’t even know and she’s laughing.
The first customer left with an apple in hand, and customers kept coming after that.
“Ice cream, please.”
Of course. As much as you want.
I came all the way here to sell that.
“Is this all? Don’t you have other kinds? Like Häagen-Dazs?”
No.
And isn’t it a bit too greedy to expect to eat Häagen-Dazs in the mountains for 3,000 won?
Häagen-Dazs costs over 4,000 won even at a convenience store.
But you want it in the mountains for 3,000 won?
I hope you trip on the way.
“We’re a group, twenty people. You can do 1,500 won each, right?”
No, I can’t.
What kind of nonsense are you saying?
Do you know how I carried this ice cream all the way here? And you want to get it for nothing?
Absolutely not.
“I only have a card, so what am I supposed to do? I want ice cream. Let me pay by card. It’s not like I’m saying I won’t pay. What am I supposed to do when I only have a card?”
What am I supposed to do when I only take cash?
I don’t have a card reader.
“Do you have kimbap too?”
Of course I do.
As much as you want. Eat up.
I handed over a roll of kimbap.
The man in his twenties who received it was startled.
“What the hell!!!”
His friend, who had come with him, was startled too when he heard him.
“Why?? What? What’s wrong?”
“Fuck, the kimbap is warm~”
“Is it spoiled?”
“I don’t think so. I can feel that cozy warmth from when kimbap has just been rolled.”
“What the hell is cozy warmth?”
“You don’t know? You emotionally barren bastard.”
The man who bought the kimbap carefully peeled off the foil and ate a piece.
“Wow! Shit. It’s damn good. It’s better than the famous kimbap place in our neighborhood.”
“Really? Give me one.”
The friend who came with him received a piece of kimbap and put it straight into his mouth.
“Wow, this is seriously no joke. Did he make it here? How does it taste like this? It feels like it was just rolled right now. So the kimbap hotspot was here? Wait a sec.”
The friend went and bought one roll of kimbap.
“I ate breakfast, so I wasn’t going to eat, but I can’t just pass this up.”
The business that began at nine ended at two.
There were a few drinks left, but everything else sold out completely.
To be honest, the hamburgers and naengmyeon were things I’d bought more for myself than to sell.
“Boss, are you selling that too?”
“Yes?”
“I mean, are you selling naengmyeon?”
“Yes. Of course.”
The man bought a 15,000-won naengmyeon and slurped it down at the summit of the mountain.
Saying it was the best naengmyeon of his life.
As I came down the mountain, I picked up my phone again.
“Boss, I’d like to order some ice cream.”
—How many?
“I’m thinking of challenging myself with 1,000 tomorrow.”
—Mm… Don’t do that. I’ll give you a phone number, so call this person directly.
“Who is it?”
—An ice cream wholesaler. We get our ice cream from there too. It’s not 100, it’s 1,000, so it’s a bit hard for us too. Even today, with 500 gone, the shop looked completely empty, like everything had been cleared out. If it’s 1,000, it’ll be even worse.
Now that I thought about it, he was right.
When I picked up the 500 the owner had prepared at the store, the freezer looked pretty bare.
“Is that so?”
—Yeah. But can you sell 1,000?
“Maybe because it’s hot, a lot of people are buying.”
—We can’t even sell 500 a day at our shop. That’s impressive.
“Boss, do you want to sell in the mountains too?”
—Forget it. If I carried that up a mountain, the hospital bills would cost more.
“Then please send me the number.”
—Sure. I’ll text it to you.
I received the text, made the call, and went to the ice cream wholesaler.
The wholesaler wasn’t far from the unmanned ice cream shop I’d been going to.
It wasn’t that far from my house either.
“Hello. I’m Gong In-bae. I called earlier.”
I greeted the old man sitting leisurely in a chair, wearing hiking clothes and fanning himself.
The old man looked at me with eyes full of curiosity and asked,
“Oh. You’re the one selling a thousand ice creams a day?”
“It’s not like that yet, but I’m trying to. I’m working on it.”
“I like how reckless you are. Can you even carry them up the mountain?”
“My friends help me.”
“You’ve got reckless friends.”
“They’re good friends.”
Though they’re imaginary friends.
“You said you got them from Boss Kim for 500 won each?”
“Yes.”
“I’m a wholesaler, so I should give them to you cheaper, but my price isn’t that different either. In my heart, I’d like to give them to you for 400 won, but I can’t. I’ll give them to you for 450. Instead, if you want to use the freezer warehouse here, you can. You sell bottled water too, right?”
“Really? Thank you so much.”
“I heard you’re still a student. Live diligently. Then something will come of it.”
“Thank you. I’ll work hard.”
I went into the freezer warehouse the old man had told me I could use.
As soon as I opened the door and stepped inside, a biting chill made my body tremble.
I looked at the thermometer. Minus 20 degrees.
The freezer warehouse was about thirty-three square meters.
Even just three square meters would be enough for me.
I only needed to freeze bottled water.
I thanked the wholesale grandfather and went to buy kimbap.
This time, fifty rolls.
As soon as they were made, I pretended to put them into my bag and placed them in my inventory.
I had to put them straight into the inventory to preserve the warmth of freshly made kimbap.
I went to the naengmyeon place too.
I asked if they could make cup naengmyeon with the portion reduced to one-third, and the owner readily agreed.
They said they’d even put an egg on top.
Now both mul-naengmyeon and bibim-naengmyeon were ready.
I returned home, washed up lightly, and calculated the day’s earnings.
After selling 500 ice creams, I had 1,000,000 won left.
Selling kimbap, naengmyeon, bottled water, drinks, and so on left me with roughly another 300,000 won.
I had made 1,300,000 won in one day.
On the first day, I made 200,000 won.
I thought that was a huge amount too, but today it was 1,300,000.
Tomorrow, I’ll have even more goods. I’m looking forward to it.
The next day.
I climbed the mountain with a thousand ice creams, frozen bottled water,
kimbap, and naengmyeon.
I set up the table like I was used to and put the icebox on top.
As soon as I put up the sign, people began to gather.
“Is this the place? The naengmyeon hotspot?”
“I heard the kimbap is good.”
“Boss, is this the Instagram-aesthetic hotspot?”
What the hell is an Instagram-aesthetic hotspot?
When I looked puzzled, a few people tapped on their phones and showed me the screen.
On it was a video of someone eating naengmyeon at the summit of Bukhansan, and it looked surprisingly romantic.
It seemed to be the same guy from yesterday who said he’d eaten the naengmyeon of his life.
“Mister, give me naengmyeon.”
You’re older than me, you punk.
“That’ll be 10,000 won. But the portion is a bit smaller than yesterday. People said yesterday’s was too much.”
“That’s even better. Did I come here to eat naengmyeon? I came to enjoy the romance.”
Is he a YouTuber?
He set up a camera and spent ages eating the naengmyeon this way and that,
changing angles and compositions over and over.
Why is he eating it so deliciously?
Now I want some too.
“They say the kimbap here is killer.”
A lot of kimbap sold too.
Rather, ice cream and bottled water were slower than expected.
Slower isn’t quite the right word.
With ice cream and bottled water, it felt like people were buying them casually while passing by, like, “Let’s have something cool.”
But the naengmyeon and kimbap customers seemed to have come with the intention of eating them from the start.
The expressions of the people who arrived drenched in sweat and then knocked back a cup naengmyeon were almost blissful.
And why are they taking proof shots every time they eat it?
I had prepared fifty kimbap rolls and fifty naengmyeon, and those sold out first.
After that, I only sold ice cream before coming down.
I didn’t sell all 1,000.
Around four, it didn’t look like anyone else would be coming up, so I just went down.
But I ordered 1,000 ice creams for the next day too.
It was the weekend.
Since it was the weekend, I ordered a bit more comfortably.
Anyway, the ice cream in my inventory wouldn’t melt, so it didn’t matter.
I prepared 100 rolls each of naengmyeon and kimbap.
The next day.
Bukhansan on the weekend.
Wow~ It was completely different from a weekday.
Even at the summit, it was bustling.
I arrived at 8:30, but there were already a lot of people at the summit.
As soon as I set up the table, people swarmed in.
Go away~
If you crowd around like this, I can’t take things out of my inventory.
How shocked would you be if an icebox appeared out of thin air?
I brought the icebox over as if I had hidden it in a corner and was carrying it from there.
I put the icebox on the table,
hung up the sign I’d scribbled on a box, the one that was like my identity,
and began today’s business.
“Are you selling now? I almost died of heat waiting. Give me one cup naengmyeon.”
Of course. Of course I’ll give you one.
“Me too, me too. Give me a cup naengmyeon. Do you have bibim-naengmyeon too?”
“Yes. The sauce and broth are inside here. It tastes good if you add a little broth and eat it. Have them together.”
“Oh~ Boss, you’re good at business.”
“Really? Thank you. Please bring your trash over here. We have to protect the environment.”
“Sure. Got it.”
“I’ll have some kimbap, please. I heard the kimbap here is that good.”
“Of course~ Mountain kimbap that tastes like I rolled it myself at home.”
“Hahahaha.”
“Actually, I bring it from a kimbap master with fifty years of experience.”
“Really? No wonder it’s good.”
“Yes, enjoy. If you need some pickled radish, should I give you some?”
“No. That’s fine.”
How would I know who rolls the kimbap?
I just said that because the owner of that shop looked to be in her fifties or so.
Still, seeing you enjoy it makes me feel proud.
Customers lined up to buy naengmyeon and kimbap.
I wondered what was going on, so I asked.
“This place is super hot on Instagram these days. They call it Bukhansan naengmyeon vibes or something. I’ll have one naengmyeon too. Mul-naengmyeon, please.”
“Yes. Here you go. The vinegar and mustard are here.”
“Wow, but eating it here really makes it so cool and so delicious. How is the thin ice still frozen at this hour? Even if I went to a naengmyeon shop, it wouldn’t be this good. The noodles are perfectly alive too. This place is the real naengmyeon hotspot.”
“Thank you for enjoying it. I bring it in from a famous place.”
“Really?”
As expected, the power of naengmyeon dashida is incredible.
Everyone who tried it gave a thumbs-up.
The owner was pouring sacks of naengmyeon dashida into it, after all.
“Don’t you have makgeolli?”
You’re here again, makgeolli parrots.
Two elderly men who looked quite advanced in age were asking for makgeolli.
Elders, it’s 9:30 right now.
Isn’t it a little early to drink?
“I’m sorry. Drinking in the mountains is dangerous, so I don’t sell makgeolli.”
“One cup of that won’t even register in the liver.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Tsk.”
The elder seemed displeased and muttered something unpleasant before leaving.
Honestly, if I wanted to sell makgeolli, I could.
The profit margin is good too.
But there’s a reason I don’t.
The makgeolli parrots who showed up yesterday too.
They kept asking and asking, so I gave them one bottle of makgeolli and one buchimgae.
I was worried they’d be uncomfortable, so I even set up a table and chairs for them. They sat there and chatted for two hours before leaving.
It was a good thing I cleared away the makgeolli bottle.
If other people had seen it, they would have made a huge fuss demanding some for themselves too.
Anyway, once they settled down next to me and started chatting for two hours, I felt my mind going hazy.
And in the middle of all that, why did they want so much?
Do you have soy sauce?
Do you have peppers?
Do you have some broth to spoon up?
Do you have kimchi?
I want young radish kimchi.
Even I don’t get to eat young radish kimchi.
Come on, let’s be reasonable.
In any case, after being so busy all day that I didn’t even have time to breathe, I sold out of everything.
The naengmyeon and kimbap were all sold out before one.
Including what was left from yesterday, I sold off 1,300 ice creams too.
As expected, weekends are scary.
The net profit after subtracting ingredient costs was over two million.
I wish every day were the weekend.