Her Rock (1/1)
Chapter 9 : Her Rock August 31, 2020 – New York City, United States of America After Mr. Bank, the lawyer, left—Jihyo called Mijoo and Bopil for a meeting about the reports she has been reviewing for 8 months now. Normally, she only took the responsibilities for Sun and Moon, 2 other bars, and Song Prime Hotel which were located in New York City, and she kept a close attention on them. But in January, she asked the staff at the Song International Head Quarter office in Seoul to send her the monthly reports from the clubs in Itaewon. The main purpose was to see if the reports have something in common with the ones from New York, and to see if she can mix something to generate the sales and everything. But Jihyo found something else instead. “Now both of you, look at these and tell me honestly—does this make sense?” Jihyo let Mijoo and Bopil examine the files she gave them. Mijoo gasped. “A decline in general, Sajangnim?”Jihyo nodded. “These reports showed that the clubs are falling behind, and I checked with CEO Lee and he said he also noticed them just last month. We had the money and all the upgrades, and this is how it pays off?” “There must be something going on, Sajangnim.” Bopil finally put down the files. Jihyo agreed with him. “Extend my visit to Seoul until further notice, Mijoo-ya. I will see everything myself.”“Sajangnim, should we book ourselves tickets too?” Jihyo shook her head. “We have things to do here so I’ll go by myself.” September 17, 2020 — Seoul, South Korea Jihyo arrived back a little after a month, but this time, she took a commercial flight and came there alone. She purposefully didn’t tell anyone about the trip, only Mijoo and Bopil knew but both stayed in New York to keep an eye on the clubs and the hotel. Jihyo took another flight to Jeju Island, where her mother’s grave is located. She lost her mother to cancer 29 years ago. Jihyo chuckled to herself when she saw a fresh bouquet of flowers laid neatly on top of her mother’s grave. She wanted to hate her appa, but he still does this even after 29 years passed. He paid people to change the bouquet every couple of days at the least. “Eomma, I’m here.”Jihyo whispered to the wind, who greeted her back by moving her hair and long skirt gently. “Eomma. I miss you.” A single tear fell. All her life, Jihyo kept in mind that the only thing she didn’t—or more likely couldn’t have—is the love from her mother growing up. Don’t get her wrong because she was showered with love up until Kang Youngji passed away. But still, girls need their mother’s advice growing up, in which she didn’t get to experience. “Eomma, why didn’t you tell me that I have a half-brother out there, eomma? If I knew earlier, maybe I’d be able to come to terms with it over time.” The breeze hit her face once again, it felt like Jihyo’s mother was there, brushing the hair out of Jihyo’s face. “I used to dream about having what you and appa had, eomma. But even appa was capable of being a disloyal man, how can I trust someone now?” Jihyo sniffed. She only cried a couple of times in public, but she always cried when she visited her mother’s grave alone like this. Only her mother knew. “Eomma, I miss you. Please visit me in my dream, eo?” Jihyo took a direct flight back to Seoul that night, there was no need for her to spend the night in Jeju Island because she had no one to meet there. She took a cab from Gimpo Airport to a hotel in Itaewon, she found the place from a website and everything they provided was enough for Jihyo to stay comfortably. Jihyo deposited her luggage and changed into a more comfortable outfit since it’s getting chilly in Seoul, and she went right back out. She found a near-by street-stalls and enjoyed the usual noisy and crowded Itaewon, it takes her mind off things. September 18, 2020 “Sajangnim, are you sure you don’t need any help? I can send some people to check the clubs instead.” Mijoo re-checked for like the 10th time that night. Jihyo shook her head, Mijoo saw it through the screen and sighed. “If you say so, Sajangnim.”“I will find what’s going on with the clubs so we can fix this as soon as we can, Mijoo-ya.” For months, Jihyo had been suspicious about the declining number from her 3 clubs in Itaewon. Dragon’s Breath is doing great, despite the unexplainable slightly loss of income. But the other two, Witch’s Potion and Flying Chair, not so much. The best way to check is to come as a regular customer and see what is really happening there. Jihyo planned to check the clubs tonight. “Mijoo-ya. I have to go now, I will contact you later so stay with your phone, okay?”“I will, Sajangnim. With Choi Issanim too here.”“Good. Talk to you later.” Jihyo hung up. Jihyo put in a lot of effort to disguise herself for this mission. She curled her hair to give it more volume and to make the illusion of it being shorter than normal. Jihyo put on enough makeup and wore her reading glasses. With just a comfortable but still proper outfit, she went out to the busy street of Itaewon. To make it fair, Jihyo also planned to visit neighboring clubs and bars, but she has to visit Witch’s Potion first. Witch’s Potion was the name Jihyo picked when she started getting into more Song Bars & Clubs’ outlets. It was the first real project she took, right before she graduated with her master-degree. Jihyo delicately decorated the whole place to suit the target market, which are college students and younger foreign tourists. It was a successful upgrade, to say it simply. When she arrived at the Witch’s Potion, the place was disappointingly not very crowded, it was a Friday night for God’s sake. She purposefully asked the waiter to explain the menu in English, using her perfect New Yorkers’ accent. She almost scoffed at the poor woman for not being able to explain as she had to call other staff to help her. First note, the on-duty waiters are not able to communicate in English. Jihyo was really surprised when she heard almost all the lower priced drinks are not available to order. Second note, the stock op-name is off. The available drinks to order, didn’t really match the target market they set. Jihyo discreetly set the timer on her phone after placing the orders. Third note, her orders took 20 minutes to be served, when she specifically set the order-to-serve time limit to be 15 minutes at the latest when she still had Witch’s Potion under her care. Whoever was in charge of the operation of this club will have to go once Jihyo gathered everything she needed to kick them out. She found exactly the same thing at Flying Chair not even 2 hours later. She checked the neighboring bars of Witch’s Potion and Flying Chair, and they truly didn’t disappoint. It explained the decline and loss of customers in both places. Examining Dragon’s Breath is a little trickier than the other two bars, since it’s more similar to Sun and Moon, target market wise. Just 30 minutes of sitting on Dragon’s Breath, she instantly knew this baby of hers was being taken care of a lot better than the other two seniors. Everything pissed her off. On the cab back to her hotel, Jihyo called Mijoo.“Sajangnim, how was it?” Mijoo picked the call up quickly. “Disappointing, to say the least. I’m going back to the hotel to write down everything I found, and I will send them to you to see, also CEO Lee to review.”“Ne Sajangnim, we will be waiting.” Jihyo exhaled loudly. “On another note, see if you can find someone to form a team of investigation, Mijoo-ya. I want a full-on investigation because whoever is responsible for this will be kicked out to the street, I’m not going to let this slide.”“Ne Sajangnim, I will see what I can do.”“Geure, I’m hanging up.” Jihyo knew she needed something or someone to bring her mood up, so she decided to text the first person that came to mind. Song Jihyo : Oppa, eodiya? He didn’t disappoint as he replied quickly. Kim Jongkook : At my apartment. Are you in Seoul? You texted me with your Seoul’s number Song Jihyo : I am. Can you pick me up at Itaewon in like an hour or so, oppa? Kim Jongkook : Of course but what are you doing at Itaewon?