Chapter 97
97. Please Give It Back
2022.04.02.
Wednesday, after Eun-yeop's request, Eun-bi waited for Eun-yeop's call with a fluttering heart. While not going to work, she groomed and cared for her body, which had become a mess, and pondered how to comfort Ji-heon and Ms. Jang Young-mi.
However, there was no contact from Eun-yeop. Unable to wait, Eun-bi called Eun-yeop first, but Eun-yeop did not answer. Eventually, Eun-bi visited Eun-yeop's company the next day.
"Oppa."
"Why are you here again?"
In just one day, Eun-yeop's appearance had become terrible. He was skin and bones, and his voice was sharp and his reaction was nervous.
"Why didn't you call? What happened? Did you fail?"
Eun-bi asked, but Eun-yeop only frowned and did not answer. It was Oppa's failure.
Eun-bi was dumbfounded. He treated me like a fool so much. He made such a big noise as if he could do everything by himself. I waited silently, but this was the result.
Disappointed with Oppa, Eun-bi left the law firm and went straight to her friend. The friend who had visited Guk-soon's restaurant with her a while ago. She wasn't a popular BJ, but she was a friend who ran internet broadcasting channels on various platforms.
There was a prank that Eun-bi played with that friend on the day they visited Guk-soon's restaurant. Eun-bi found a piece of trash in her bag and secretly put it in the stew that Guk-soon brought out.
Then, she put on a show of being shocked as if she had discovered what Guk-soon had put in. The play was all recorded on the BJ friend's camera. It was time to use the video material that she had been unable to use because Eun-yeop's pressure had prevented her from doing anything.
Eun-bi visited her friend and asked her to put the visit to Guksun Baekban at the end of the food introduction video. She didn't forget to mosaic her face.
She was excited to see the video that her friend had edited well. On the one hand, she was very disappointed. If I had moved a little faster, Jeong Ji-heon would have fallen out of love with Lee Jung-oh a long time ago. I should have told Ms. Jang Young-mi a long time ago.
What is more important than whether Lee Yena is Jeong Ji-heon's biological child or not is the status and dignity of Jeong Ji-heon's family. Jang Young-mi will never be able to stand the existence of Lee Jung-oh, who is making her family shameful.
[Are we going to be okay? We're not going to get sued for lying, are we? We avoided the CCTV well, so...]
The BJ friend, feeling uneasy, asked while editing the video. Eun-bi reassured her friend.
"Of course, of course. There were no other customers, and I blocked the camera well. Now no one knows."
[Why am I so uneasy?]
"It's okay, I'm telling you. Just trust me. I'll reward you if she gets kicked out."
Eun-bi, who had coaxed her friend, who kept whining, to upload the video, watched the situation with a fluttering heart.
However, an unforeseen accident occurred. Around midnight, Jung-o uploaded the video. The BJ friend, who checked the video that Jung-o uploaded, contacted Eun-bi and demanded an explanation.
[Hey, what is this! There was another CCTV? You said there was only one camera. You said you saw it properly!]
"Ah, no... I checked everything?"
Eun-bi also couldn't believe it. She had clearly looked around the store properly. There was only one camera, and she thought she had covered it well with her body when she committed the crime. She didn't know there was another one right across from her.
[How could this happen! You told me to trust you! How are you going to fix this!]
The BJ friend shouted at Eun-bi.
"First, delete the video you uploaded. And close all the comment sections."
Eun-bi was also in the dark, but she calmly advised her friend. Even if something went wrong, her face didn't appear, so she wouldn't be harmed. She thought that she just needed to fix the video and comfort her friend.
However, things kept getting bigger. Even after her friend deleted the video, people continued to create secondary edited versions.
The video went through the hands of other editors, making her friend an even more evil demon. Eventually, a few days later, one of Jung-o's channel subscribers left a comment with shocking news.
- I went to the restaurant today, and they said they were putting it up for sale. I asked the owner if she was transferring it, but she said she wouldn't be running the restaurant anymore. It seemed like the owner was very shocked by this incident. I couldn't go often, but it was a restaurant where I always stopped by once a month to feel like I was eating a precious home-cooked meal, and it's heartbreaking that it's closing down for such an absurd reason. I feel this way, so how must the owner feel?
Time passed quickly, and it was the last business day of 'Guksun Baekban'.
In a few days, the number of customers visiting the restaurant increased significantly. There were those who came because they were sad about the news of the closure, and there were those who visited Guksun Baekban for the first time through Jung-o's channel.
Everyone was impressed by Guk-soon's cooking skills and regretted that the restaurant was disappearing. There were even customers who begged Guk-soon not to close.
It was a restaurant mainly used by office workers in the surrounding area who didn't have a lot of money, but today, customers kept pouring in. Jung-o also took a day off and helped her mother, and Ji-heon also rushed to the restaurant after work.
Guk-soon was in charge of the food in the kitchen and occasionally came out to the hall to greet customers when they left. She gave each of the departing customers a piece of white rice cake. With the same heart as the day she first opened the restaurant. As a way to celebrate a new beginning.
The affectionate customers also didn't just stand by. Gifts piled up in one corner of the restaurant. Everyone cheered for Guk-soon's future and wished her blessings. It wasn't grand, but it was a warm ending.
Before long, the ordered white rice cakes ran out, and even the food in the kitchen, which had been prepared in abundance, was gone. After saying goodbye to the last customers and turning off the sign lights, Ji-heon handed Guk-soon a large bouquet of flowers.
On one side of the table that had been cleared, there was a cake with flickering candles.
"Grandma! Blow out the candles quickly!"
Yena ran over and pulled Guk-soon's arm. When Guk-soon stood in front of the cake, her family sang a song.
La la la la la la. La la la la la la. Dear Guk-soon. Congratulations.
A clumsy song with the lyrics 'la la la' added to the birthday song. It was a celebration where it was impossible to know what they were celebrating, but Guk-soon was simply happy.
I'm really happy. I have a family that I don't envy anyone for.
With a sense of fulfillment filling her heart, she blew out the candles, and Ji-heon, Jung-o, and Yena each offered words of congratulations.
"Mother, you've worked hard all this time."
"Mom! This is the real beginning. Life starts at 53!"
"Grandma! Congratulations on graduating from the restaurant!"
Yena, who clapped her hands, went over to the table where the gifts were piled up. Today, when gifts were piled up, was also an exciting day for Yena, who loves birthday parties.
"Grandma! Can I open the presents?"
Guk-soon's eyes were moist as she looked at the pile of gifts.
"Oh my. I don't know if I can accept these. If I had just closed quietly, no one would have known, but the whole nation knows and I'm embarrassed to quit so noisily."
"Grandma, can I open the presents?"
Before Guk-soon could sigh for long, Yena urgently urged her.
"Okay. Let's open them together, Grandma."
Unable to resist her granddaughter's urging, Guk-soon also went to the next table. Cosmetics, work clothes, shoes, magnifying glasses, books... Various kinds of gifts came out. The gifts that Yena had difficulty opening were passed on to Jung-o.
"Mom. There's a letter here too."
In the flat box, there was a hand mirror and a letter envelope. Jung-o took out the letter paper from the envelope and cleared her throat.
"I'll read it. To the respected Lee Guk-soon."
It was a letter that started with a polite style.
"Hello, Ms. Lee. I am the person who ran an office in the alley across from the market entrance a few years ago. Do you remember taking me to the restaurant and feeding me when my friend, who I was in business with, went into debt and disappeared, and I had to close the store while wiping away tears as I was cleaning up the store?"
Guk-soon frowned, as if she didn't remember well, and listened to Jung-o's voice.
"On the way out of the restaurant, you even packed me a generous amount of delicious side dishes and told me to come again if I needed more. That meal at that time was the best meal of my life... Waaah."
Jung-o, who seemed to be stuttering a little, couldn't hold back her tears. Instead of tears, laughter welled up in Guk-soon's eyes at her daughter's funny crying.
"Oh my. That's her problem. If something happens to me, she pretends to be more sick than I am?"
"When did I ever."
Jung-o pouted, saying that she hated her mother for making fun of her.
"Mom. Stop it. Stop."
Yena stroked Jung-o's back as if she did when Jung-o comforted her. Ji-heon took the letter that Jung-o was holding and finished reading it.
"When I couldn't trust anyone in this world, I was greatly comforted by the fact that there was someone who shared warmth with me, who had lost everything. Thanks to you, I didn't give up easily and started living hard again day by day."
Guk-soon smiled contentedly at Ji-heon's low and polite voice.
"Thank you for the really delicious meal, the warm words, everything. I will cheer you on in whatever you do. Stay healthy and happy."
It was a warm letter. When Ji-heon finished reading the letter and handed it to Guk-soon, Guk-soon touched one cheek as if she was embarrassed.
"I'm sorry, but I can't seem to remember."
It meant that she had done so much good that she couldn't remember each one. Ji-heon and Jung-o, who knew her heart, smiled similarly.
Guk-soon took a refreshing breath as if she was truly relieved.
"Just like our Yena said, it really feels like I'm graduating."
She lived hard. While raising her child, and while the child she raised had another child and she was raising that child, the restaurant became the child's home, clothes, and even a fun toy.
She is going to part with that grateful restaurant and prepare for a new beginning.
"I didn't graduate from school properly, but I feel like I'm graduating from the restaurant properly. I'm really proud."
Guk-soon was so happy to have her family with her for this ending that she didn't envy anyone.
"Post something on the internet too. Say that Mom is not closing the restaurant because of a conflict with that BJ, but because she is preparing to try something new."
"I honestly want to leave her to be criticized a little more."
Jung-o complained at Guk-soon's request. But she couldn't go against her mother's wishes, so she immediately picked up her phone.
"......Huh?"
But as soon as she logged into her account, her brow furrowed. Dozens of messages had arrived in Jung-o's account. It was full of criticism from people she couldn't identify.
"What's wrong?"
Ji-heon approached and asked.
"......It looks like that BJ posted a new article?"
Jung-o immediately went to the BJ's channel and looked at the recent news. A long article was posted on the channel's bulletin board.
- Hello. I would like to tell you about the circumstances of the recent unfortunate incident. The restaurant in question is actually run by the family of my acquaintance's lover's mistress. My acquaintance, who was about to get married, was abandoned by her lover, who she had devoted 4 years to, and is in danger of being kicked out of the company she was working at because of the mistress's slander. I didn't want to go this far either, but after hearing about my acquaintance's sad situation, I couldn't stand it, so I uploaded the video in a fit of anger.
I've become a mistress.
Jeong-o's hands trembled at the BJ's absurd claims.
"I don't care what you say to me. But I don't think I'm the only one at fault. Mistress, please come to your senses now and give back my friend's lover. Whatever you did with him, however much you badmouthed my friend, she says she doesn't care. So please, just give him back."
