TGMC 17

chapter 17

The Most Delicious Ramen in the World

Lunch service finally came to an end.

The very first day was a huge success.

Every single construction worker remodeling the pension came to our restaurant without exception.

And all of them showered us with praise, saying the rice tasted incredible.

Mom, who had been working in the kitchen, didn’t know what to do with herself after hearing all the compliments.

But that wasn’t all.

There was even more good news.

Every single meal ticket we had prepared was sold out.

The workers had bought them all.

When we told them there were no tickets left, one worker even asked us to write his name down in a ledger.

Buying meal tickets meant they planned to become regulars.

Since most of the workers bought tickets, we wouldn’t have to worry about having no lunch customers for a while.

Another plus was that we could prepare side dishes according to the number of workers on site.

Making too much food only to throw it away as food waste would be a waste of money.

“I’m so relieved everyone enjoyed the food. Really.”

Mom looked proud.

But then, all of a sudden, she gasped and shouted,

“Minwoo!”

“Yes?”

“That water you mentioned—didn’t you say it was from the mineral spring on Bonghwa Mountain?”

“That’s right. Why?”

“Let’s go up Bonghwa Mountain at dawn later and bring back a lot of it. If we keep using that water and run out, what are we going to do?”

Cold sweat broke out on my back.

The Bonghwa Mountain mineral spring was a lie.

Something I’d made up.

The water in our restaurant was water Bangwooli had created herself.

It had nothing to do with Bonghwa Mountain.

I hurriedly made an excuse.

“No, you can’t. Mom, you need to prepare side dishes. I’ll take care of getting the water.”

“Will you be okay on your own? We’re probably going to need a lot of it from now on…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll bring plenty.”

“Really? Okay then. I’ll trust you. You’re working hard, my son.”

“It’s nothing, really.”

Mom was clearly going to be busy from early morning onward.

It was obvious the workers would keep flooding in every lunchtime.

Already, the kitchen was piled high with dirty dishes.

Trays, spoons, chopsticks, and side-dish containers.

“Son, can you keep an eye on Jeomsuni while I do the dishes?”

“Ah, yes. I will.”

She hadn’t had a moment to look after Jeomsuni and her kittens because she’d been preparing for business since dawn.

Only now could we finally catch our breath.

While Mom did the dishes, I headed out to the backyard.

Before I even arrived, Bangwooli popped into view with a poof.

The MVP who had made today’s business such a success.

She was always cute, but today she looked especially lovable.

I asked her,

“Bangwooli, aren’t you tired? You must’ve worked hard constantly filling the water. Are you really okay?”

[Of course! I’m totally fine. I actually enjoyed it a lot. I was happy that people liked the water I made. I want to share even more from now on.]

“Really?”

Since Bangwooli had been putting effort not only into the food but also into the drinking water, I’d worried she might get exhausted—but it seemed I’d been overthinking it.

If anything, she looked more energized than ever.

Then she told me about something that had happened earlier.

[Oh, right. Someone took the water without drinking it and just carried it away.]

“You said once it gets a certain distance away from me, it turns into plain water, right? So that person just took ordinary water?”

[Yes, that’s right!]

“Who took it? Was it the last customer—the one who paid by card?”

[Yes.]

The man who had come near the end of lunch, paid by card, and refilled his rice twice.

He didn’t look like a construction worker.

Probably a village resident—and just as expected, he took only the water.

Once he left the restaurant, it would turn into plain water anyway, so he gained nothing.

Still, from now on, it seemed better to switch the drinking water we served to purified water.

If customers noticed the taste changing and got suspicious, it could become troublesome.

“Come to think of it, Bangwooli… we’ll never be able to do delivery, will we?”

[That’s right. Unless you watch the customer eat everything before leaving, it’d be impossible.]

Haha.

That would be ridiculous.

They’d probably think I was a weirdo.

Chatting with Bangwooli, I stepped into the backyard.

The first one I noticed was Deomdeomi.

While Bangwooli, Hoya, and I had traveled to New Zealand, Deomdeomi had stayed here the whole time.

We still hadn’t signed a contract for him.

Seeing him again after ten days, he looked exactly the same.

Lying in a sunny spot, enjoying a sunbath.

Purr…

Fast asleep.

I left him alone and headed toward the storage shed.

Meow—

I heard kittens crying.

I went inside the shed.

The kittens had grown noticeably and were huddled together.

They were Jeomsuni’s kittens.

One of them stood out immediately.

The image from when it was tiny was still vivid in my mind.

White fur mixed with black, and a faint gray stripe on its head like a bridge.

Because its body had three colors, we called it Sam-saek—Calico.

“Sam-saek.”

I called its name, but there was no response.

‘Where did Jeomsuni go?’

After looking around, I found her.

She was hissing at a stray cat I’d never seen before, behind the shed.

The moment I approached, the stray cat jumped in surprise and ran away.

Only then did Jeomsuni acknowledge me.

But she promptly turned her head away, lifted her tail straight up, and walked off with an aloof air.

Seriously.

She was a cat through and through.

She had zero affection.

Anyway, just like the architect hyung had mentioned, the number of stray cats had increased quite a bit.

The mackerel-tabby stray she’d just confronted—

and not only that.

There was also a white cat hiding behind the stone wall over there.

Just how many had gathered here?

[There are nine cats here in total.]

At Hoya’s words, my eyes widened.

Even excluding Jeomsuni and her three kittens, that meant five more cats.

‘Hmm… what should I do?’

I had no intention of chasing them away.

Jeomsuni and her kittens had been strays too.

They just happened to be rescued and became backyard cats, but we still didn’t let them inside the house.

Jeomsuni refused, and I didn’t yet have the confidence to take responsibility for them for life.

‘I’ll just put plenty of food in the backyard. Feeding cats in my own yard shouldn’t bother anyone.’

That seemed like the most I could do.

Whether the cats would fight over territory—

or coexist peacefully—

I decided to let them handle it themselves.

For now, this was the best solution.

I placed extra food bowls and water bowls around the backyard.

The stray cats bolted every time I approached.

At first, they only sniffed the food and wouldn’t eat it.

They were very wary.

‘They’ll eat when they get hungry.’

Leaving them alone, I returned to the restaurant.

Dinner service would start soon.

During the day, we ran a Korean buffet.

At night, we sold pork belly with alcohol.

From spring to fall, Mom also served lettuce, chili peppers, wild garlic leaves, and other vegetables she grew herself.

“I wonder if we’ll get any customers tonight.”

The workers boosted sales during the day—

but at night, there was a high chance we’d get even fewer customers.

The workers had already finished work and gone home, so only villagers might come.

And villagers tended to prefer Bugyeong Restaurant.

Having to climb the hill to reach Happiness Restaurant wasn’t exactly appealing.

Mom and I were discussing closing early if no customers came within an hour—

when we heard a sound outside.

A car engine.

Someone had driven all the way up here.

Ding—

The door opened.

I turned my head and saw the construction worker who had bought meal tickets earlier that day.

But he wasn’t alone.

He’d brought his wife and kids with him.

Mom greeted them warmly.

“Oh my, what brings you back here?”

“I couldn’t forget the taste of the rice from lunch. I told my wife after work, but she didn’t believe me. So we decided to drive here for dinner.”

“Thank you so much. But just so you know, we don’t do the buffet at night. We sell fresh pork belly and a few other dishes. Is that okay?”

“Of course. We knew that. I wanted to treat the kids to pork belly.”

“I see! You can place your order with my son.”

The worker chatted with Mom, smiling brightly.

His wife looked around the restaurant with curious eyes.

“This place is really clean. You must’ve remodeled recently, right?”

She was right—it hadn’t been long since the renovation.

And it was more stylish than many restaurants in Seoul.

But the elementary-school-aged siblings who followed their father looked sulky.

Their cheeks were puffed out, faces red with irritation.

It was obvious they didn’t want to eat dinner here.

But their father pretended not to notice.

“So, honey, what should we eat? And you guys—what do you want?”

The kids shouted,

“Pizza! Buy us pizza!”

“I want a hamburger! Mom promised hamburgers for dinner!”

Ah.

Now I understood.

Their mom must’ve promised fast food.

But instead of pizza or burgers, their dad had dragged them to a remote countryside restaurant.

And the menu didn’t help.

Pork belly, fried rice, soybean paste stew, cold noodles, spicy hangover ramen, regular ramen—that was it.

Nothing but ramen suited kids’ tastes.

No wonder they were furious.

“You can’t eat fast food at night. I told you it’s bad for you.”

“Mom promised! I hate you!”

“I hate you, Dad!”

The kids whined.

But the worker didn’t even flinch.

He scolded them sternly and ordered pork belly, soybean paste stew, and rice.

“I’ll bring it right out.”

I set up a portable gas stove and placed a grill on top.

Then I brought the side dishes and rice.

The worker immediately grabbed a bowl of rice.

Had he really wanted our rice that badly?

He opened the lid, took a big spoonful, and ate it.

“Ah… this is the taste.”

He looked deeply moved.

His wife shook her head at the sight.

“Honey, can I try some?”

She silently picked up a bit of rice with her chopsticks—

and her eyes widened.

Then she shoveled in a big spoonful.

Not satisfied, she urged the kids to try it too.

“Junghoon, try this rice. It’s really good.”

But despite their mom’s words, the kids only whined more.

They clearly still wanted pizza or burgers.

Hmm. What should we do?

Just then, the worker called out to me.

“Could you make one bowl of ramen? The kids won’t eat rice at all. I’ll have them share the ramen at least.”

“Sure. I’ll make it right away.”

I went into the kitchen.

“Mom, they want one bowl of ramen. How about cooking it with the mineral spring water?”

“Okay. Let’s do that.”

Mom took out the fake mineral spring water from the fridge and started cooking the ramen.

The broth bubbled vigorously.

The noodles wriggled, plump and springy.

Gulp.

Even I swallowed reflexively.

Soon, the ramen in a metal pot was placed on the kids’ table.