Chapter 24: The Internship Offer

Kang Jin looked at the ghosts with surprise as they surveyed the interior of the restaurant. As if mesmerized by the sight, Sung Yongsoo nudged Kang Jin.

“Serve your guests.”

“But…they’re ghosts…”

“I’m also a ghost, and so is everyone here.”

Kang Jin was momentarily taken aback by Bae Yongsoo’s words.

This is insane. Why aren’t these ghosts fully manifested?

He had grown somewhat accustomed to serving fully manifested ghosts, but encountering such faint apparitions for the first time terrified him immensely.

Hesitating briefly, Kang Jin took a deep breath before reaching for a bottle of soju and pouring it directly into his mouth.

Gulp! Gulp!

After consuming two large gulps, Kang Jin stood up and approached the ghosts. They consisted of an adult man, woman, and two children who appeared to be elementary school-aged.

Are they ghosts of his family members?

As Kang Jin pondered this thought, the man looked at him.

“We came here because we heard there was food.”

“Please have a seat over here.” In response to Kang Jin’s words, the man led the woman and children to empty seats nearby.

“What would you like to order?”

The man glanced at the woman and children before replying to Kang Jin’s question.

“Can we have some pork belly?”

“Pork belly?”

“Yes. The kids…they love pork belly.” The man spoke with a voice filled with sorrow.

Kang Jin nodded sympathetically upon hearing the emotion in his voice.

“Understood.”

Having taken their order, Kang Jin gestured for Bae Yongsoo to follow as he headed towards the kitchen. Sung Yongsoo rose and accompanied him inside.

“What do you need help with?”

“They ordered pork belly.”

“Just grill it for them, along with some pa-jeon (scallion pancakes).” As Sung Yongsoo spoke, he moved aside and took out a portable burner, setting it up on the table.

Bae Yongsoo took out a portable burner and set it up on the table. He then addressed the ghost family:

“Would you like to grill your meat yourselves or should I do it?”

“We will grill our own.”

“Yes ma’am.”

As Bae Yongsoo prepared the vegetables for grilling, Kang Jin quietly asked him:

“Why are they like that?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, why don’t they look human?”

Bae Yongsoo glanced at them briefly before responding:

“It’s because they haven’t been dead for long.”

“Not long dead?”

Kang Jin sounded puzzled, prompting Bae Yongsoo to explain further:

“When a person dies, their spirit remains connected to their body for three days. That’s why these ghosts appear only partially transformed.”

“Three days?” Kang Jin repeated, nodding thoughtfully as he watched the ghosts.

“In any case, they seem quite pitiful.”

“Why is that?”

“It looks like their entire family died at once… It seems as if they weren’t able to receive proper funerals before coming here.”

“Funerals?”

“When someone dies, the funeral lasts for three days… During this time, the deceased lingers around and partakes of the food served during the funeral. However, it appears there was no one left to conduct their funerals properly. I had some great meals during my own funeral though.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes indeed! The chef from South Korea’s best traditional restaurant, Woonam Restaurant, prepared the meal… Mrs. Suk personally cooked and hosted the guests. At that time…

Bae Yongsoo started speaking at length again, sounding almost like a ghost who couldn’t hold back its tale. Kang Jin pointed his knife at him.

“Get on with it quickly. We don’t have much time.”

Bae Yongsoo glanced at the time after Kang Jin’s comment.

[12:15]

Even if they started cooking now, there wouldn’t be much time left to eat.

“You’re right; as someone wandering this earthly realm, who am I to feel pity for others? I’m the most unfortunate one,” Bae Yongsoo muttered softly before swiftly chopping the vegetables. As he watched, Kang Jin briefly looked towards the ghost family members.

He then opened the refrigerator and retrieved several Vienna sausages.

Shhhk!

Kang Jin sliced open the sausages, placed them in a frying pan, and began stir-frying them. After adding the chopped onions and scallions from Bae Yongsoo, he finished by pouring tomato sauce over everything. With that, he had quickly prepared sausage stir-fry with vegetables, commonly known as ‘soya.’ Kang Jin served it onto a plate.

Although simple, it would still taste good, considering it was made using a recipe from the Cooking Practice Room.

Kang Jin brought out a burner and sliced pork belly on a tray before serving it at the table.

“It might not pair well with the pork belly, but I made some stir-fried sausages since children seem to enjoy them.”

“Thank you.”

After hearing this, Kang Jin increased the heat of the burner and stepped back.

“Would you like a bottle of soju?”

“Is it okay to drink here?”

“Of course. Everyone else is drinking.”

As Kang Jin gestured around, the man nodded awkwardly with a smile.

“Well then… could you bring me a bottle of soju please?”

In response, Kang Jin provided him with a bottle of soju and glasses. Meanwhile, as the woman placed meat on the grill, it began sizzling loudly while cooking.

“Let’s hurry up…and eat.”

Following her words, the children started enjoying the stir-fried sausages.

Watching this scene, Kang Jin smacked his lips and entered the kitchen. Sung Yong was cleaning up.

“What will happen to them?”

“An employee from the afterlife should come for them in three days.”

“In three days?”

“They usually cremate bodies on the third day. If they’re cremated earlier or buried, employees still arrive within those three days.”

“So what do they do during these three days?”

“They likely wander around places related to their life.”

“Poor souls.”

“It’s too soon to say if they’ll truly be pitiful.”

“Why is that?”

“If no employee comes…they’ll end up like us.”

Hearing about becoming wandering ghosts in this world, Kang Jin grimaced as he observed the ghost family.

“Why isn’t the employee coming?”

“Do you think I’d be here if I knew?”

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t know.” Sung Yongsoo continued to clean up the kitchen with indifference as he glanced at the ghost family. Then, he opened his mouth and spoke:

“There is…”

“What?”

“They say if you have unfulfilled resentment, it weighs heavily on your soul preventing ascension. Thus, one becomes a ghost.”

“Say? You aren’t sure either?”

“I heard bits and pieces here and there. However, no one knows exactly why unfulfilled resentment prevents ascension.”

“Isn’t it because of their own resentment?”

Bae Yongsoo paused momentarily in his cleaning task upon Kang Jin’s words. He then looked at Kang Jin.

“What was the biggest regret in your life so far?”

“Regret?”

“Yes. Tell me about it.”

“Well…” As Kang Jin searched through his memories, his face hardened. After a momentary pause, he spoke.

“To my mother… I got annoyed at her.”

“Annoyed?”

“In the morning… she woke me up five minutes late. Instead of smiling and saying it’s okay…”

It happened when Kang Jin was eighteen years old and in his second year of high school. His mother woke him up five minutes late one morning. He had been annoyed because he arrived late to school due to those mere five minutes… In truth, his mother had let him sleep for five extra minutes out of kindness.

On that day, Kang Jin’s homeroom teacher informed him about the accident. Both his parents had passed away…

The annoyance from earlier turned into immense pain for Kang Jin. It stemmed from the last words he had spoken to his mother:

If I’m late for school, it’s all your fault.

Why…didn’t I say ‘thank you,’ or ‘I love you’?

As Kang Jin silently lamented within his thoughts, Sung Yongsoo spoke up.

“That could be a regret, but is there anything else?”

“I wonder why I didn’t curse at my relatives more?”

“Cursing twice?”

“You mean, if only I had given them some choice words when they sent me to the orphanage?”

“Anything else?”

“I can’t think of any other regrets right now.”

“So there must be something?”

“There probably is.” Bae Yongsoo nodded at Kang Jin’s words.

“In life, people experience numerous regrets. It’s uncertain which ones turn into grudges.”

“I see.”

“That’s why…there are so many ghosts like this.” Sung Yongsoo surveyed the ghosts in the dining hall as he continued, “None of them know what their grudge entails.”

“They need to resolve their grudges but don’t even know what they are?”

“That’s why it’s difficult for these ghosts to ascend.”

Bae Yongsoo shook his head, checked the time, and left alone. He too had limited time if he wanted to finish eating by one o’clock. Observing Bae Yongsoo depart, Kang Jin joined the ghosts at their table and started drinking soju.

As Kang Jin drank, snippets of conversations among the ghosts drifted past his ears. Before he knew it, it was already 12:55 PM.

When the alarm he had set earlier started ringing, Kang Jin stood up.

“It’s 12:55 pm now. Everyone, please finish your meals.”

Following Kang Jin’s words, the ghosts quickly finished eating and drinking. As they rose one by one and exited outside, Kang Jin observed the ghost families who were also stopping their meals and standing up.

“Did you enjoy your meal?”

“Yes, it was delicious. How much do we owe you?”

“Please pay me.”

The man looked puzzled at Kang Jin’s request.

“Well, since we ate here, I suppose we should pay.” With that, the ghost pulled out a card from his pocket.

“I believe this can be used to settle the bill…”

‘A card?’

Kang Jin was surprised to see a ghost carrying a payment card; it was something he’d never witnessed before. In fact, he had never encountered any ghost attempting to make a payment.

The man looked puzzled, as he had never seen such a card before. In fact, it was his first time witnessing a ghost paying for anything. Kang Jin accepted the card.

Indeed, it’s from JS Finance.

Kang Jin explained, “In our establishment, there is no fixed price. We accept whatever amount you wish to give. Please contribute what you feel appropriate.”

“So, your restaurant operates on a pay-what-you-want basis?”

“Our restaurant caters specifically to the deceased. Since many of them don’t carry money, we simply accept whatever they can offer.”

“In that case… I’ll pay 30,000 won for the pork belly, 10,000 won for the soy sauce, and two bottles of soju at 8,000 won each, totaling 48,000 won.”

Upon hearing this, Kang Jin took the card, paused briefly, and then responded:

“In some rural areas, they still charge three thousand won for one bottle of soju, so I’ll also charge you three thousand won. And let’s say seven thousand won for the pork belly instead of ten thousand won, and four thousand won for the soy sauce. So just five thousand won will do.”

Kang Jin swiped his card for 32,000 won.

Bzzz… Bzz!

As soon as the receipt printed from the card machine, Kang Jin handed it along with the card back to the man.

“You’ll need money in the afterlife. Spend wisely.”

“By any chance…do you know what happens when we go to the afterlife?”

“How would I know that as a human? Even these ghosts here haven’t been to the afterlife, so they wouldn’t have much information either.”

“A human?” The man hastily asked upon hearing ‘human.’ “Are you a human?”

He likely assumed the owner of this restaurant frequented by ghosts would be a ghost himself.

“Yes.”

“How can humans feed ghosts…?”

“It just happened that way.”

“Then I have a favor to ask.”

“A favor?”

“Yes, if you could…”

Whoooosh!

Just as the man was about to elaborate, he and his family of ghosts vanished.

It was exactly 1 o’clock, their time had come.

Kang Jin watched them disappear before speaking aloud.

“They should still be around somewhere. Although I don’t know what kind of favor they need… Please return here tomorrow at 11 PM. After hearing your request, I’ll decide whether to help or not. Oh! And if you don’t have anywhere else to go, feel free to stay inside this shop. It’s more comfortable than wandering outside.”

With that, Kang Jin glanced at where the ghostly family had been standing and began tidying up the store.