Chapter 43

Shwah-shwaah!

The ghosts joyfully consumed the continuous flow of bomb shots from Oh Soon-young’s hand. Meanwhile, she also enjoyed drinking, her cheeks flushed red.

“What is this ghost mumbling about?”

“He’s getting drunk as he drinks.”

With a smile, Choi Ho-cheol took another big gulp, prompting Oh Soon-young to refill his glass with laughter.

Shwah-shwaah!

White foam overflowed from the cup as she poured the bomb shot forcefully rather than gently pouring it. Choi Ho-cheol chuckled at the sight.

“Thank you.”

“Eat and drink well.” Oh Soon-young then poured herself a bomb shot and took it down with ease.

Seeing Mrs. Choi drinking with ghosts, Kang Jin tried to mimic her technique but found it difficult. When he balanced the soju bottle atop the beer glass, too much alcohol spilled out. Additionally, as the soju mixed with the beer, foam formed and overflowed between the bottles, causing liquid to stream across the table.

“Not easy, right?” asked Oh Soon-young.

Kang Jin nodded in agreement. “It looks simpler when watching you do it, ma’am. You make it seem effortless.”

“I learned this technique after spilling several glasses of soju myself. It’s not something you can master overnight by just watching someone else do it.” Smiling, Oh Soon-young took the bottle from Kang Jin and demonstrated how to make bomb shots. Kang Jin was impressed as he watched her pour nearly all the beer and soju bottles without wasting much.

“You’re not just a hangover soup master but also a bomb shot connoisseur!”

Oh Soon-young beamed at his compliment.

“Well, since I sell hangover soup, I’ve had plenty of practice making bomb shots too.”

Kang Jin nodded in agreement.

Considering hangover soup is typically served with alcohol, that makes sense.

As Oh Soon-young mentioned, patrons either come for hangover soup after drinking or order it while enjoying their drinks.

Thus, she was quite accustomed to alcohol.

“And please talk casually with me. We’re around the same age, yet you keep using formal language, which makes me uncomfortable.”

“Then…shall I do that?” Oh Soon-young smiled brightly, her cheeks slightly flushed. She then looked around the restaurant interior.

“This is a nice establishment.”

“Our food tastes good, doesn’t it?”

“Well, of course, the food should taste good at any eatery. What I meant by ‘nice’ is…it’s nice because the owner and guests seem close here.”

“I guess we’re somewhat familiar.”

In response, Oh Soon-young opened up.

“You see…I’ve been running this restaurant for about fifty years now?”

“That’s incredibly long.”

“My husband died when I was twenty-five years old. With children to raise and relatives struggling financially themselves, it wasn’t easy asking for help… That’s how I started selling guk-bap.”

“You must have endured much hardship.”

“Thinking back now, indeed, it was tough. I would load bowls of guk-bap onto my cart and sell them here and there… Eventually, I got into heated arguments with ajummas from other guk-bap restaurants who accused me of encroaching on their territory near their shops.”

“There’s no competition fiercer than fighting over food.”

“That’s right. During one fight, they overturned my cart, spilling all the guk-bap. As I sobbed, I had to gather everything back up…”

Oh Soon-young sighed deeply as she sat down, then stared silently at her bowl of hangover soup, which still had about half remaining.

She stared blankly at her unfinished Sunji hangover soup, which had about half remaining.

“I made this guk-bap while crying…but I find it hard to finish.”

Kang Jin observed Oh Soon-young’s sighs before speaking up gently:

“The living continue on, and those who have passed…must go their own way.”

“Yes, but… Damn you, brat! This guk-bap represents all the education and care I provided for you. How could you ruin it like this?!”

In a sudden outburst, Oh Soon-young grabbed the bowl tightly. Seeing her poised to throw it, Kang Jin hastily interjected:

“It’s sinful to waste food.”

These words immediately halted Oh Soon-young’s hand. With a deep breath, she picked up her spoon and started eating the remaining guk-bap.

“You don’t have to eat if you really don’t want to.”

“But didn’t you say wasting food is sinful?”

“Oh, well…”

“I never wasted food when I was alive, and I hate wasting it even more now that I’m dead.” With that, Oh Soon-young began digging into her meal. Kang Jin grimaced at the sight of Oh Soon-young eating with such intensity, her face contorted.

She’s quite different from my first impression.

Initially, she seemed like a gentle grandmother, but now, she appeared entirely transformed. Moreover, despite being a bombshell, she could both drink and swear profusely.

Feeling Kang Jin’s gaze, Oh Soon-young smiled.

“Did my abrupt change catch you off guard?”

“A little bit.”

“You think raising three kids alone as a single woman is easy? Plus, hangover soup restaurants always reeked of alcohol due to drunk customers coming in or those arriving for their next round. As a woman running such a business amidst all these rowdy patrons, one had no choice but to toughen up.”

“I see.”

“She mellowed out somewhat as she aged and established herself, but…when she was younger, no drunkard dared to misbehave around her. More than one person got their forehead cracked open by a bowl of guk-bap.”

As Kang Jin watched Oh Soon-young speak, sudden confusion washed over his face.

Huh?

Her once snow-white hair gradually darkened from the roots, and both her hairstyle and clothing changed. She now sported long, glossy black hair and wore slightly outdated clothes.

“What?”

In an instant, the grandmother before him vanished, replaced by a young woman with a rustic appearance.

“Wow!” Startled, Kang Jin abruptly jumped to his feet. This reaction puzzled Oh Soon-young.

“What’s wrong?”

Not only her appearance but also her voice and tone changed slightly. When she looked like an elderly woman, her voice was soft and comforting, whereas now it sounded more brusque.

“Your…appearance has changed.”

“My appearance?”

Kang Jin took out his phone to snap a picture of the puzzled Oh Soon-young.

Click!

“Here.” Kang Jin showed her the photo on his phone, and she examined it with surprise written all over her face.

“That’s me?”

“Yes, Mrs. Oh, that’s you.”

“It’s how I looked when I was younger. Wow! I guess dying makes one youthful again.”

With a mix of astonishment and delight, Oh Soon-young touched her face and then inspected her hands.

“Oh my! Look at this smooth skin.”

As she marveled at her own hands, Kang Jin observed the other ghosts, equally surprised by what had transpired. His eyes conveyed disbelief, while the ghosts stared at Oh Soon-young in amazement.

“How did this happen?”

“I don’t know either.”

“Can ghosts suddenly become younger like this?”

The other ghosts were equally surprised by Oh Soon-young’s sudden rejuvenation.

It seems even the ghosts aren’t aware of such occurrences.

Realizing that everyone was clueless, Kang Jin turned to observe Oh Soon-young again. She stood up and examined her body from head to toe.

“It must feel wonderful.”

“Yes, it does.” Smiling, she continued inspecting herself before looking at Kang Jin. “May I ask you for a favor?”

“Please go ahead.”

“My shop…” Oh Soon-young paused and met Kang Jin’s eyes. “Please ruin my shop.”

Kang Jin regarded her with confusion at her unexpected request.

“Pardon?”

“Please ruin my restaurant…I’m begging you.”

“That…”

Kang Jin wasn’t sure how to respond initially but then clarified, “Mrs. Oh, you’re asking me to destroy your business?”

“Yes.”

“You built this establishment through years of hard work.”

“And that’s why I want it ruined.”

“Why is that?”

“The restaurant I created was meant to be…” Oh Soon-young glanced at Kang Jin before looking around at the ghosts nearby. By now, they had recovered from their shock and were drinking, laughing, or chatting amongst themselves.

“It was supposed to be a place where people could enjoy food, drink, and laughter… But it’s not like that anymore.”

“People still come here to eat, drink, and laugh though.”

“Drunkards always laugh. Or else they cry.” Kang Jin nodded at Oh Soon-young’s words.

“Yes…that’s true.”

“This shop is not mine anymore.”

“But your son runs it now.”

“Even if the restaurant fails, I’ve left enough assets for us to live comfortably. What I want is my beloved hangover soup that helped put my children through school and marriage, without any complaints from customers who keep returning for more.”

Kang Jin listened intently before responding, “To avoid complaints, you’d rather see it fail…”

“It’s better to disappear than face criticism.”

“How would you make it fail?”

With a smile, Oh Soon-young responded to Kang Jin’s question, “Isn’t it hard to ruin a restaurant?”

“It is indeed. This place looks quite large.”

“Size doesn’t guarantee success for a restaurant. A good establishment attracts many satisfied customers. Currently, my restaurant does not satisfy its patrons… so it cannot be considered a successful business.”

Kang Jin listened intently and asked, “So how do you plan to ruin it?”

“Oh, that’s easy.” Oh Soon-young scanned her surroundings before turning back to Kang Jin. “If there were two restaurants - one known for truly delicious food and another just decently tasty - which would you choose?”

“The one with truly delicious food, of course,” replied Kang Jin without hesitation.

Oh Soon-young nodded in agreement.

“If you make truly delicious hangover soup, my restaurant will go bankrupt.”

“You want me to make hangover soup?”

“I’ll teach you right beside you. And…”

Oh Soon-young looked Kang Jin directly in the eyes.

“Please ruin my business for me.”

Kang Jin stared at her, taken aback by her request.

I never thought a ghost would ask someone to destroy her own establishment.

He glanced at Oh Soon-young with concern.

“Are you sure about this?”

“About what?”

“Well…it’s still your son’s place.”

At his words, Oh Soon-young’s expression hardened slightly. Then…

Fwshhh! Fwshhh!

Her appearance changed once more. Previously, she had appeared to be in her late twenties or early thirties, but now she resembled how she looked when Kang Jin first entered the restaurant.

What a surprise!

Kang Jin marveled at her transformation once again when Oh Soon-young sighed.

“I wasn’t there for my youngest… I spoiled him too much.”

“It was hard to make ends meet back then, right?”

“Yes, it was. While struggling just to feed us…I couldn’t pay enough attention to my youngest son. As a result, I ended up spoiling him. Now, I deeply regret that. Instead, I should have raised him with more discipline and honesty despite how much I loved him.”

As she continued sighing, Oh Soon-young seemed unaware of her changing appearance.

Observing this, Kang Jin spoke up:

“I understand what you’re saying. However, since I’m currently interning… Wait! The internship is…”

“Oh, as if you need an internship for a restaurant catering mostly to office workers!”

“Well, since I’m just an intern, it seems like I’ll have to sell the hangover soup only on weekends. It takes ten hours to boil the broth, so there’s no way I can manage that during weekdays.”

“You could stick with weekends only.”

“But won’t the restaurant go under if we serve it only then?”

Even if they attracted customers over the weekend, people would still flock to the establishment during weekdays as well.

“Don’t worry about it. In all my experience, I’ve never seen anyone who likes Sunji hangover soup and prefers another place after trying mine. Once they come here once, they return again, and after twice, they won’t be able to stomach any other version.”

Kang Jin observed Oh Soon-young confidently speaking and nodded in agreement.

“All right then. So… please teach me until my daughter’s business goes bankrupt.”

Kang Jin’s words brought a smile to Oh Soon-young’s face.

“Let’s make sure it fails.”

Her response made Kang Jin chuckle.

The ghost is wishing for her son’s business to fail…