I Got the Almighty Tongue - Chapter 128



Only Noblemtl

Episode 128 Andrew Choi

It was an ordinary day like any other. I woke up in the morning, took a quick walk, and had a light breakfast at a nearby shop. I went to a cafe to drink tea, and was about to go in when the tables in the cafe suddenly started shaking.

“Brother!”

Joohee seems surprised and puts one hand on her stomach and holds me tightly with the other.

I held her and whispered in her ear.

“It’s okay. It will pass soon.”

They said that aftershocks were felt in Tokyo, but I didn’t know that such strong shaking would reach Hokkaido. People were rushing out of the building. I hid Juhee under the table and looked around. As if they were used to earthquakes, everyone was taking their seats and preparing for the shock that would come.

Kuuuuung.

It wasn’t a ripple like a violent wave. It was a gentle but constant sway, perhaps because the epicenter was quite far away. That made people even more scared. It felt like a prelude to the coming catastrophe. But the real thing must already be somewhere else.

I took out my phone. There was a sign saying that the base station was having trouble and that I was out of range. Then, people who seemed to be government officials started walking around and yelling.

“There was a big earthquake in the Tohoku region. It’s dangerous here too. You need to get to a shelter as soon as possible. Cell phones won’t work very well, so if you’re worried about your family, you can meet them there!”

“I repeat, please move to the shelter immediately!”

“What are you saying?”

Joohee, who can’t speak Japanese, looks at me with anxious eyes and asks.

“They say there was a big earthquake in Sendai. They told us to go to a shelter, but we can just go to the hotel.”

The shelter is probably a school. I wanted to go and find out more information, but it was not a place to go with Joo-hee. I held her hand and calmly walked to the hotel. The ground was still shaking intermittently. I pulled her while avoiding places where the sign might fall. After walking a little, the hotel appeared.

“Your parents will be worried.”

Joohee says as if an idea just occurred to her.

“Didn’t I tell you that I was going to Hokkaido?”

“You thought I was going to Tokyo and Sendai first. I didn’t tell you because the order was just changed anyway.”

She took out her cell phone and tried to make a call, but the call still didn’t come back on.

“The antenna is up, but something is strange.”

“Half of the people in Japan right now are probably holding onto their cell phones. Let’s look into landlines.”

I went down to the lobby and looked for a public phone or a landline at the reception, but there were already a lot of people there.

When I went back up to the room, I saw Joohee talking to the children.

“Are our babies really surprised? It’s okay. Mommy and Daddy are here.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that sight. I know the damage won’t reach here, but she won’t. What we experienced could have been a foreshock before the main quake, but her face was peaceful. Maybe it was because she knew that her emotions were affecting her children.

“I’m here. I don’t think I can use the phone right now. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine soon. The earthquake seems to be almost over.”

“This is horrible. How could this happen?”

I turned my head to see that Joo-hee had turned on the TV. The news flashed to show the area where the earthquake had struck, and a tsunami was sweeping through the village, washing away houses and cars.

Kuuuunguung.

And once again the hotel shook violently. The furniture inside the guest rooms moved randomly.

“Whoa!”

Joohee lost her balance. I calmly grabbed her and laid her down on the bed.

“Just stay like this for a moment. It’s okay. It will pass soon.”

She nods to my words. Gradually, the aftershocks of the earthquake began to subside. And only in the evening did they stop completely.

* * *

“Honey, can’t connect yet?”

Miyeon asks Chairman Seo while looking at him. Her eyes are red, as if she’s been crying.

“Just wait. The person working in communications said that I wouldn’t be able to call until the afternoon.”

Chairman Seo picks up a glass of water and gulps it down, as if he is feeling hungry.

“Why did you have to go to that area? You’re not even single.”

The TV in the living room was showing the earthquake situation in Japan. Chairman Seo was using his connections to track Joo-hee’s location. However, there was still no news. At that time, a phone call came.

-Chairman. I heard that Chef Shin Je-hee of Segreto went to Japan with Director Seo. We are currently out of contact with Chef Shin Je-hee.

“I get it.”

Chairman Seo hangs up the phone. His expression becomes much more relaxed.

“Is the new chef here too?”

“That’s true. But I’m glad I’m not alone. How scary would it have been if I had been alone?”

Then the TV screen changes and the situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant is shown.

-The nuclear power plant in Fukushima is currently in an automatic shutdown state due to the aftermath of the earthquake. The transmission tower collapsed due to the earthquake, so there is no power supply. The emergency generator was activated, but it is not working because it was flooded by the tsunami. Professor Kim, what do you think about the current situation?

The anchor poses questions to an expert who has already appeared on the show.

-The power plant is designed to be double or triple disaster-proof. Even if the emergency generators don’t work, there won’t be any immediate problems. However, only those inside the power plant can know how long it will last.

-What happens if you can’t hold out?

-If there is a situation where power is no longer supplied, the cooling system will stop. Then, the temperature of the coolant that has not been circulated will rise and eventually all of it will evaporate. The nuclear fuel will be exposed to the outside. When that happens, the fuel rods will react with the water vapor outside to produce hydrogen.

-What do you mean…?

– Think of a hydrogen bomb. The power plant would explode. And a huge amount of radiation would hit the area. It would be a catastrophe.

Gulp.

Chairman Seo’s eyes waver. It is absolutely unacceptable for his pregnant daughter to be exposed to radiation.

“I should go to Japan.”

The moment Chairman Seo gets up and packs his coat, Miyeon’s phone rings.

Ring ring ring.

“It’s Joohee!”

Miyeon shouts at Chairman Seo.

“Hurry up and take it.”

“Joohee. Where are you now?”

Miyeon seems to be in a hurry and skips greetings and asks for the location first.

-Mom. You must have been worried. I’m in Hokkaido right now. My brother Jehee told me to go to Hokkaido first, so I came here, and then there was an earthquake.

Miyeon suddenly loses all strength and slumps down on the sofa.

“Thank goodness we’re not in an area where an earthquake occurred. Chef Shin is a lucky guy.”

-Don’t worry. My brother and I are both fine. We’ll get in as quickly as possible.

“Okay. If anything comes up, call me right away.”

After hanging up the phone, the two breathed a sigh of relief. They had really thought something terrible had happened, but fortunately, they were far from the affected area, so they finally felt relieved.

* * *

I was watching TV anxiously. The screen was broadcasting live the nuclear power plant damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. In the past, Unit 1 exploded before 4 p.m. Then Units 3 and 4 exploded in a chain reaction. Was what I did really meaningful?

Tick ​​tock.

Time passes. And it is now four o’clock in the afternoon. An anchor appears on TV and explains the situation in front of the power plant.

– The power plant’s emergency batteries are said to still have spare capacity. The submerged generator has not been restored yet, but the power plant is expecting that normal self-generation will be possible by tomorrow.

‘Okay.’

We can’t completely relax yet, but if we can just hold out until tomorrow, the Korean people will be able to live in peace without worrying about radiation leaks. And restaurants won’t have to worry about serving seafood.

“Brother. I heard your parents are coming on a charter plane?”

“Isn’t that a bit too much?”

“There are almost no flight reservations right now. There are a lot of people trying to leave Japan.”

When experiencing an earthquake of this magnitude, foreigners lose the courage to live in Japan. I heard that many Korean students who studied abroad returned to their home country after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

We were able to safely return to Korea on the charter plane prepared by Chairman Seo. The earthquake left a deep scar on Japanese society, but it ended without any further damage. And Korea, which was relieved of its worries about radiation, safely returned to its daily life.

* * *

“Is it still full over there?”

Andrew Choi asks, looking out the window with a displeased expression.

“Yes. There are some no-shows, but since the system also accepts people on the waiting list when making a reservation, I don’t think there are many empty tables.”

“What about us?”

“We’re full too.”

Monaka, located across the street from Segreto, was busy receiving customers every day. However, their expressions were not so bright. Unlike Segreto, Monaka provided service with almost no margin except for the cost of materials and labor.

“We are selling for less than half the price they charge, so why is their business so good?”

“It’s probably because Chef Shin Je-hee is well-known. And there are many reviews saying that the food is worth the money.”

Over the past month, many celebrities and influencers have visited Segreto and posted photos on social media to prove their visit. As a result, despite the high price tag for a single meal, Segreto has been gaining recognition as a restaurant that people want to visit on special days, not only among the upper class but also among ordinary citizens. It is becoming an object of envy.

On the other hand, what about themselves?

Andrew looked around the hall. The customers were mostly college students. He looked at other tables. Men and women were eating, chatting awkwardly with each other, as if they were on blind dates. He also noticed many office workers who brought along adults who looked unfamiliar with dining.

This is the typical clientele of an entry-level restaurant. These customers are not the type of people who enjoy dining. They will not come back here again unless it is a special occasion once or twice a year.

How long can they keep the restaurant full? Since they are leaving almost no margin, the moment the number of customers drops even a little, the restaurant will immediately go into deficit.

What is the reason?

Andrew found the answer in branding. Monaka had unknowingly positioned itself as a low-priced fine dining restaurant due to its clumsy chicken game. Segreto, on the other hand, has maintained its premium image.

Having spent his entire life in the restaurant industry, Andrew could tell.

If this situation continues, Monaka’s customers will soon decrease. Even if they leave almost no margin, fine dining is still expensive. If they do not receive the choice of the upper class, they will never be able to meet the supply with the general public. If that happens, they will be forced to make a choice. Raise the price or lower it.

‘What should I do?’

He had no intention of playing dirty games. He was confident in his own abilities and believed that he could beat Segreto now that he had the support of a large company. However, their wrong strategy created an unbridgeable gap from the beginning. Images do not change easily.

“Chef?”

Sous chef Jeon Seung-jin brings Andrew back to reality while he is lost in thought while talking.

“Yeah. We have to find a way somehow. There’s a good opportunity here. We have to actively use the broadcast.”

There is one more option: if we can’t go up, we can bring the other down.