novellhall Chapter 62 Buying a New Building
Chapter 62 Buying a New Building
I bought the building in the end.
It wasn't the original building. The one that Jung Cheol-min snatched away for 10 billion won, Su Yu didn't compete for anymore. Manager Park was so anxious that he couldn't sleep for several days, running all over Gangnam District, and finally found a six-story office building in Nonhyeon-dong. It was a bit far from the subway station, but the area was larger and the price was cheaper.
The landlord was an old man surnamed Li, over seventy years old, with completely white hair and a slightly hunched posture, but his eyes were very bright. He had lived in Nonhyeon-dong for forty years, and this building was built by him thirty years ago. Now his children were all abroad, and he wanted to sell the building and move there to retire.
"Seventy-five billion." Old Li sat in the coffee shop, holding a hot Americano in his hand. "No bargaining."
Su Yu glanced at Agent Park. Agent Park whispered, "The market price is around seventy to seventy-two, seventy-five is a bit high."
"Deal," Su Yu said.
Old Li paused for a moment, then laughed, revealing a set of false teeth. "You young man, just like me when I was young, straightforward."
On the day of the signing, Old Li wore a suit and his hair was neatly combed. He waited for an hour at the entrance of the registration office. When Su Yu arrived, he was chatting with the security guard about the recent rise in egg prices.
"You're here?" Old Li patted his suit pocket when he saw him. "I've brought all the materials. Let's go."
The procedures were completed quickly. Signature, stamp, transfer. When Old Li received the money, he glanced at his mobile banking balance, remained silent for a few seconds, and then turned off his phone.
"Representative Su."
"Um."
"I've been building this building for thirty years, and I watched every single brick being laid. Use it well."
Su Yu nodded. "Yes."
Old Li left. He walked slowly, his back hunched, descending the steps one step at a time. When he reached the roadside, he glanced back at Su Yu, waved, and then hailed a taxi and drove away.
Cai Xiubin stood next to Su Yu, watching the taxi disappear at the intersection.
"He seemed very reluctant to part with it."
"Anyone would feel reluctant to leave a place they've lived in for forty years." After saying that, Su Yu turned and walked towards the parking lot. "Let's go, call Yin Shiyun over."
It was already afternoon when Yoon Shi-yoon arrived. He was currently filming a movie, and he was still wearing makeup, his hair was slicked back and shiny, and he was wearing a black leather jacket. When he walked in, he looked like he had stepped off a magazine cover.
"Wow." He stood in the lobby on the first floor, looked up at the ceiling, and said, "This building is much bigger than the previous one."
"Six floors," Su Yu said. "You'll be the supervisor."
Yoon Shi-yoon was stunned. "What?"
"Keep an eye on the renovations."
"I'm an actor, and you want me to be the supervisor?"
"Why can't actors be supervisors?" Su Yu glanced at him. "Don't you have nothing better to do?"
"What do you mean I have nothing to do? I have a photoshoot the day after tomorrow, and a fan meeting in Busan next week..."
"Those are all half a day's work," Su Yu interrupted him. "The renovation will take a month, so you only need to come for two hours every day."
Yin Shiyun opened his mouth, wanting to retort, but seeing Su Yu's expression, he swallowed his words. Having worked with Su Yu for so long, he had learned one thing—what Su Yu said was basically non-negotiable.
"Alright then." Yoon Shi-yoon sighed. "So, what do I need to do?"
"Keep an eye on the workers and make sure they don't slack off. Inspect the materials when they arrive, and call me if there are any problems."
"That's all?"
That's all.
Yoon Shi-yoon thought about it and decided that the job wasn't difficult, so he nodded in agreement.
The next day, the renovation team arrived, and Yoon Shi-yoon appeared downstairs on time. He was wearing a tracksuit and a baseball cap, looking like a construction worker. The team leader was a man in his fifties surnamed Park, who had been in the renovation business for over twenty years and had seen it all. But he was still taken aback when he saw Yoon Shi-yoon.
"You are... that Jin Daoqi?"
"Okay." Yoon Shi-yoon nodded. "I'll be the supervisor."
Uncle Park looked at him, then at the construction drawings in his hand, unsure of what to say. He had spent most of his life in the renovation industry, and had seen homeowners personally supervise the work, as well as real estate agents acting as supervisors. This was the first time he had ever seen an actor act as a supervisor.
"Well... Mr. Yoon, take a look at this. This is the wall that we're going to demolish today." Uncle Park handed over the construction drawings.
Yoon Shi-yoon took it and looked at it. It was full of lines and numbers, and he couldn't understand a single word. But he pretended to understand and nodded.
"Okay, let's dismantle it."
Uncle Park turned around to greet the workers. Yoon Shi-yoon stood in the middle of the hall, holding the construction drawings, looking at them over and over again, before finally giving up, folding the drawings up and stuffing them into his pocket.
Su Yu said that all he needed to do was keep an eye on the workers and make sure they didn't slack off. He didn't need to worry about the blueprints.
The first day went smoothly. The workers removed two partition walls on the first floor, moved the electrical wiring, and changed the water pipes. Yoon Shi-yoon stood by for two hours, going to the convenience store three times to buy two bottles of water, a pack of cigarettes, and coffee for the workers.
When Uncle Park accepted the coffee, his expression was somewhat subtle. "Mr. Yoon, you don't need to be so polite."
"It's nothing, it's my duty." Yoon Shi-yoon waved his hand. "Thank you for your hard work."
The accident happened the next day.
When Yoon Shi-yoon arrived at the construction site, he noticed that one worker was missing. He asked Uncle Park, who said the worker had taken the day off due to family matters. Yoon Shi-yoon didn't think much of it and continued to supervise the work.
At 2 PM, while he was wandering around the second floor, he heard noises coming from the third floor. The renovation team was only working on the first and second floors today; there was no one on the third floor. He went up the stairs and saw a young man wearing a gray hoodie squatting on the ground, holding an electric pickaxe, demolishing a wall.
"Who are you?" Yoon Shi-yoon asked.
The young man was so frightened he almost dropped the electric pick. He turned around, his face covered in ash, making it impossible to see his features.
"I...I'm from the renovation team."
Which renovation team is it?
"It's... Uncle Park's team."
Yoon Shi-yoon stared at him for a few seconds, then took out her phone and called Uncle Park.
"Uncle Park, is there a young man in your team who wears a gray hoodie?"
"No, there were only five people who came today, and I know them all."
Yoon Shi-yoon hung up the phone and looked at the young man. The young man looked back at him, and the two stared at each other for three seconds. Suddenly, the young man threw down the electric pickaxe, turned around, and ran towards the stairwell.
Yoon Shi-yoon grabbed his hoodie hood and pulled him back.
"Why are you running?"
"Brother, brother, I was wrong." The young man panicked, clasping his hands together in a gesture of apology. "I just wanted to steal some electrical wire. I saw no one in this building, so..."
"Stealing electrical wires?" Yoon Shi-yoon looked down at the stun gun on the ground. "You stole electrical wires and brought a stun gun?"
"I...I want to tear down the wall and pull out the electrical wires inside..."
Yoon Shi-yoon was so angry he laughed. What kind of thief was this, tearing down a wall to steal electrical wires, making such a racket that the whole street could hear it, as if he wanted everyone to know someone was stealing something.
"How old are you this year?"
"Twenty-one."
"What do you do?"
"Just got out of the military, haven't found a job yet, and's short on money..."
Yoon Shi-yoon loosened his hat and sighed. He remembered when he first debuted, he was just as poor, living in a basement, eating expired rice balls from convenience stores, and sometimes not even being able to top up his transportation card.
"Let's go," Yoon Shi-yoon said.
The young man paused, taken aback. "Aren't you going to call the police?"
"Why call the police? You didn't steal anything." Yoon Shi-yoon waved his hand. "Get out of here, and don't let me see you again."
The young man, feeling as if he had been granted a pardon, turned and ran. He stopped at the stairwell and glanced back at Yoon Shi-yoon.
"Thank you, brother."
"Wait a minute," Yoon Shi-yoon called out to him.
The young man froze, thinking he was about to change his mind.
"You really want to find a job?"
The young man hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"I know a renovation team owner. Go find him and say you were referred by Yoon Shi-yoon." Yoon Shi-yoon took out a business card from his pocket and handed it over. "Work hard and don't steal anything."
The young man took the business card, glanced at it, and his eyes suddenly reddened.
"Big brother, I... I will definitely be a good person from now on."
"Alright, alright, let's go."
The young man was gone. Yoon Shi-yoon stood in the empty room on the third floor, looking at the dust and rubble on the floor, and suddenly found it a little funny. He, a respectable actor, had come to a construction site to supervise, and even helped a thief find a job. If reporters found out about this, it would probably be trending on social media again.
When Uncle Park ran up, he was covered in sweat. "Mr. Yoon, where's the thief?"
"I'm gone."
"He's gone? You let him go?"
"Yeah, a kid who just got out of the military and has no money for food." Yoon Shi-yoon dusted off his pants. "By the way, Uncle Park, is your team still hiring?"
"We are indeed short of supplies, so what?"
"That child wanted to work, please take him in."
Uncle Park glanced at him and sighed. "Mr. Yoon, you...you're too soft-hearted."
"It's not that I'm soft-hearted," Yoon Shi-yoon smiled. "It's just that I've been poor before."
Somehow, the workers spread the word. When Yoon Shi-yoon arrived at the construction site on the third day, he noticed a change in the way the workers looked at him. Before, they were polite but somewhat distant; now, they genuinely respected him. Some brought him homemade food, some bought him drinks, and one older woman even held his hand and said, "You're such a good person."
Yoon Shi-yoon felt a little embarrassed by the commotion and arrived at the construction site early for several days in a row to help move things and hand over tools. The workers also worked harder and harder, and Uncle Park said that this was the fastest renovation he had ever done in his more than 20 years in the industry.
When Su Yu came to inspect the construction site, she saw Yin Shiyun squatting on the ground helping the workers lay tiles.
What are you doing?
"Laying tiles, can't you tell?" Yoon Shi-yoon didn't even look up.
"You are the foreman, not the worker."
"I'm just idling around anyway." Yoon Shi-yoon finished laying the tiles, stood up and stretched his back. "Besides, I can learn a trade from them, so I can still do renovations if I ever stop acting."
Su Yu looked at him and smiled, a rare occurrence for her.
"What's wrong?" Yoon Shi-yoon noticed his expression. "What are you laughing at?"
"It's nothing." Su Yu turned and walked upstairs. "Well done."
Yoon Shi-yoon paused for a moment, then grinned. Su Yu rarely praised anyone; hearing "well done" from him was harder than winning ten acting awards.
"Wait for me." Yoon Shi-yoon caught up with him. "The wiring on the fourth floor isn't finished yet. Can you check if it's correct?"
The two went up to the fourth floor. Su Yu looked around and found that the routing of the water and electricity lines was basically fine, but the positions of a few switches were not quite right, so he asked Uncle Park to fix them.
It was almost dark when he came out of the building. Yoon Shi-yoon stretched at the door and lit a cigarette.
"Su Yu".
"Um."
"The building is renovated, what are you going to use it for?"
"Office work."
"Just for offices? All six floors are offices?"
Su Yu thought for a moment. "Two shops on the first floor, one to be rented to a coffee shop, and the other to be used as a convenience store. Offices on the second to fourth floors, a recording studio and photography studio on the fifth floor, and I'll use the sixth floor myself."
"For personal use? You live here?"
"No, the sixth floor will be used for meeting rooms and a rest area."
Yoon Shi-yoon took a drag of his cigarette and nodded. "Your company has grown bigger and bigger. When I first met you, you were still working at a convenience store."
Su Yu didn't speak. He recalled the first night he met Yoon Shi-yoon. Shirley was standing in front of the convenience store shelf picking out oden, while Yoon Shi-yoon was in line behind her, muttering, "I'm going to be eating instant noodles again this month." At that time, he only had a few million US dollars leaking from the cracks in the black line in his hand. He was uncertain, but he never showed it on his face.
Things are different now. He has a company, bought a building, his show is airing, and the ratings have broken 10. Everything seems to be going smoothly, but only he knows that this is just the beginning.
The matter of Zheng Zhemin is not over yet.
There's still no news from Kim Dong-wook. Kang Min-young said she'll keep an eye on the Jung family's movements and will let them know if anything happens.
Su Yu glanced at his phone; there were no new messages.
"Let's go, I'll treat you to dinner," Su Yu said.
Yoon Shi-yoon's eyes lit up. "Really? What are we eating?"
Stir-fried rice cakes.
"...You're treating us to stir-fried rice cakes?"
"Fine, don't eat it then."
"Eat, eat, eat. Fried rice cakes it is." Yoon Shi-yoon stubbed out his cigarette and followed Su Yu's footsteps.
The two walked along the streets of Nonhyeon-dong. The streetlights had just come on, and there weren't many pedestrians. An autumn breeze blew by, carrying a chill.
Yoon Shi-yoon rubbed his hands together. "Su Yu, do you think our drama has a chance of winning an award?"
"able."
"You're that confident?"
"It's not about confidence," Su Yu said. "It's about a good script, good actors, and good filming."
Yoon Shi-yoon looked a little embarrassed by his words and scratched his head. "So, do you think I can win Best Actor?"
Su Yu glanced at him. "Finish laying the tiles first."
Yoon Shi-yoon laughed, his laughter echoing through the empty street.
The stir-fried rice cake shop is located deep in an alley and has been open for over twenty years. The proprietress is a woman in her sixties. When she saw Yoon Shi-yoon come in, she paused for a moment, and then smiled.
"You're that...that character from the TV series..."
"Kim Do-ki," Yoon Shi-yoon replied with a smile.
"Yes, yes, yes, it's Jin Dodge!" The woman's hands were trembling with excitement. "What are you doing in my shop?"
"Just passing by, got hungry."
Without a word, the woman served them double portions of stir-fried rice cakes and two bowls of fish cake soup, refusing to accept any payment. Feeling embarrassed, Yoon Shi-yoon secretly placed a 50,000 won bill on the table.
"You..." Su Yu saw it and shook his head.
"It's not easy for them to run a business, we can't just eat for free." Yoon Shi-yoon picked up a piece of stir-fried rice cake and stuffed it into his mouth, hissing as he burned it. "Besides, I'm a celebrity now, I can't embarrass celebrities."
Su Yu didn't say anything more and lowered her head to eat the fried rice cake.
The TV in the shop was on, playing a rerun of "The Model Taxi." It was the scene from episode three where Ahn Go-eun cries in the car. Chae Soo-bin's face appeared on the screen, crying her heart out.
Yoon Shi-yoon stared at the TV for a few seconds, then put down his chopsticks.
"Su Yu".
"Um."
"Are you serious about you and Soo-bin?"
Su Yu looked up at him. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, just asking." Yoon Shi-yoon picked up his chopsticks again and casually stirred the contents of his bowl. "Sulli called me the other day and we talked for a long time."
Su Yu didn't reply.
"She said you gave Soo-bin a key," Yoon Shi-yoon said, "to the new house."
Su Yu put down her chopsticks and looked at him. "What exactly are you trying to say?"
Yoon Shi-yoon hesitated for a moment, then sighed. "I just feel sorry for Sulli. You know she likes you."
Su Yu fell silent.
Of course he knew. Shirley had liked him from the first time she saw him at the convenience store, and as they spent more time together, that liking turned into love. She had countless opportunities to confess, but each time the words got stuck in her throat. Until the day they bought their new house, she came to the company, saw the key in Cai Xiubin's hand, said nothing, and turned away.
That night she sent Su Yu a message: "Congratulations on moving."
There are only these four words.
Su Yu replied with "Thank you," then put down her phone and stood on the balcony for a long time.
"My relationship with Shirley isn't what you think," Su Yu said.
"What is it?"
Su Yu didn't answer. Some things are hard to explain, and there's no need to explain them. He knew Shirley liked him, and he knew Cai Xiubin knew Shirley liked him. All three of them knew, but no one dared to say it aloud.
This balance is fragile, but so far, it hasn't broken.
Seeing that he didn't speak, Yoon Shi-yoon didn't press him further and finished eating the stir-fried rice cakes.
"Let's go." Yoon Shi-yoon stood up. "We have to supervise the construction tomorrow, so let's go home and get some sleep."
The two walked out of the tteokbokki shop, and the wind on the street picked up. Yoon Shi-yoon zipped his jacket all the way up and walked forward with his neck hunched.
"Su Yu".
"Um."
"No matter who you're with, I'll always be on your side."
Su Yu glanced at him. "What's the use of you being on my side?"
"Tsk, you have a really harsh way of talking." Yoon Shi-yoon laughed. "I'm a public figure with some influence, you know?"
Su Yu didn't reply, but the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, which could be considered a smile.
The car was parked on the side of the road. Su Yu opened the car door and glanced back at Yin Shiyun.
"Don't be late tomorrow."
"Okay, okay, stop nagging."
Su Yu got into the car, started the engine, and saw in the rearview mirror that Yin Shiyun was standing on the roadside waving at him before turning and walking into the night.
My phone vibrated as I drove onto the main road.
Kim Dong-wook's message: "I found something, let's talk about it when we meet tomorrow."
Su Yu glanced at the phone, put it down, and continued driving.
Outside the car window lay the night view of Seoul, a dazzling sea of lights, like a constellation of stars. Su Yu's headlights traced an arc on the highway before disappearing into the distance.
The building renovation is still ongoing, and Zheng Zhemin's matter is not yet over, but today's work has been completed.
Let's talk about tomorrow's problems tomorrow.