Cheat day

For the Weary and the Depressed (5)

“In the end, we promised to support 10,000 exchange coupons, allowing people to choose either one serving of cilantro mayo fried chicken or two fried chicken meal kits.”

When Muk Eun-ji returned to the office and shared the results of the meeting, no one could say anything.

The shock outweighed the joy.

Everyone exchanged glances between the contract and Muk Eun-ji but struggled to speak.

“How about it?”

Ju Ji-seung asked.

“Are they really just giving us that much?”

“It’s officially support, but it’s part of the marketing strategy. Given your influence, it’s only natural.”

It’s not natural at all.

Every time Muk Eun-ji accomplished something like this, she credited it to the Nam Sadangpa’s recognition, but the fact that she achieved it under much better conditions was purely due to her individual capabilities.

“None of this is natural. If it’s 10,000, we can keep this going until next month.”

“Next month? It could last until the month after that.”

Baek Woo-jin and Cha Ji-chan chimed in.

We all concluded that we wouldn’t be able to continue the “Happy Together” event for long.

Dividing up 1,000 chickens per week for three weeks, we planned to stretch it to a month at most.

But this way, we could really sustain it for three or four months.

And the longer the event lasts, the more people will comment positively and create an atmosphere of mutual help.

Once a habit is formed, people will tend not to deviate from it, and the more people who join in, the more positive influence it will have on internet culture.

“We also agreed to avoid passing responsibility to the branch managers, as you suggested, Chan-yong. However, it seems that Padak Padak Chicken needs some justification for that, so I took the liberty of promising a review broadcast for the cilantro mayo fried chicken.”

From the beginning, Muk Eun-ji and Lee Ji-hye were given full authority regarding the agreement’s details.

Furthermore, it was only right to do at least that much.

More than that, I was just glad that this initiative had become sustainable.

Baek Woo-jin jumped up suddenly.

“We can’t do anything if we’re duplicating chickens!”

He started to circle around the table.

“Hooray!”

In my excitement, I stood up and grabbed Muk Eun-ji’s hand, and everyone erupted in cheers around us.

***

“So, what’s next?”

After celebrating securing 10,000 chickens with a beef feast, Baek Woo-jin asked about the next plan.

I suggested helping Park Heung-bu, while Ju Ji-seung suggested helping Yuk Hye-rin, and now it was Cha Ji-chan’s turn.

“I found that around 600 households in Seoul still use briquettes.”

Cha Ji-chan mentioned unexpectedly.

“Really? That many?”

Ju Ji-seung asked in surprise.

“Where?”

“Hold on.”

When I asked, Cha Ji-chan pulled out his phone and started searching.

“There are 223 households in Seongbuk-gu, 112 in Nowon-gu, 48 in Dongjak-gu, 47 in Yeongdeungpo-gu, 44 in Gwanak-gu, and 30 in Dongdaemun-gu.”

“So, you’re suggesting we distribute briquettes?”

“I’m against it.”

When I inquired, Baek Woo-jin spoke up.

“There’s a lot of donated briquettes, and there’s also a lot of funding available.”

Everyone listened to Baek Woo-jin’s words.

“Low-income households receive subsidies for heating fuels, with kerosene costing 310,000 won and briquettes costing 470,000 won. Since they receive a lot of donations and subsidies, giving out briquettes won’t be very helpful.”

“Oh, really?”

Cha Ji-chan leaned back awkwardly in his chair.

“Then how about rice and kimchi?”

“That sounds good. They’re food items and have a long shelf life.”

As I supported Cha Ji-chan’s alternative suggestion, Ju Ji-seung and Baek Woo-jin nodded in agreement.

“Since we’re at it, let’s include some seaweed as well.”

“How about canned tuna?”

“Sounds good. But how much should we give?”

“Are we trying to help all 600 households?”

“That seems a bit difficult.”

While we hadn’t decided how much to support each household, helping 600 households would definitely be burdensome, especially after already spending a lot on the chickens.

“Then, how about the most households in Seongbuk-gu?”

“Sounds good.”

“I like that too. I think we should provide around 10 kg of rice.”

“About how much would that be?”

“It depends on what we’re getting. Since we can’t get the best quality, let’s think of it in the range of 30,000 won.”

“Then for kimchi. How much for that?”

“I’ll look it up.”

Baek Woo-jin entered a supermarket website to find kimchi prices.

“Non-brand delicious kimchi, 1.9 kg, is 10,980 won.”

“That’s expensive.”

“It’s because it’s non-brand; the branded ones are double the price.”

“Then let’s roughly estimate it at that. 10,000 won for 2 kg. What else did we want to do?”

“Seaweed. Tuna.”

“Look up seaweed and tuna too.”

“Okay… Non-brand roasted seaweed is 4,280 won for 100g, and lean tuna is 2,280 won for 150g.”

“Roughly, seaweed would be 8,000 won for two packs, and tuna would be 10,000 won for five cans. In total, that’s 20,000 won.”

“Adding rice, kimchi, seaweed, and tuna together makes 60,000 won. How many households were in Seongbuk-gu again?”

“223 households.”

“…How much is it?”

“13,380,000 won.”

While Ju Ji-seung and I tilted our heads in confusion, Cha Ji-chan answered.

“If you factor in transportation costs, it’ll be much more.”

“Why would we have it delivered? We should carry it ourselves.”

Everyone was taken aback by Cha Ji-chan’s comment.

“How are we supposed to do that?”

“The roads are too narrow; we probably can’t even fit a car in there!”

This time, even Ju Ji-seung seemed to be opposing the idea.

“Yeah. We’d have to carry everything ourselves. Each person would have to cover 55 households? With 14 kg to carry?”

“Exactly. It’s exercise, it’s a good deed, and it saves money. What’s not to like?”

His confidence was so absurd that it left us speechless.

“This is ridiculous. It’s insane,” Baek Woo-jin bluntly chimed in.

“Hey, are we supposed to just dig up dirt and live off that? We’ve already pooled 20 million won each; why do we have to do more? It’s exercise and saves money, what’s the issue?”

“Ah, for goodness’ sake, stop just sitting there and say something to him!”

Baek Woo-jin pleaded with Ju Ji-seung and me.

“Ji-chan,”

Ju Ji-seung lowered his voice.

“My back has been bothering me lately. Can we just do 50 households?”

“Huh?”

“Or split it over two days.”

“What are you talking about! Let’s not do it!”

As Ju Ji-seung attempted to negotiate, Baek Woo-jin shouted angrily.

“Chan-yong! You need to say something!”

“…”

Everyone looked at me.

“Um, this seems to be a different topic, but we’ve done a lot of good work together. We’ve gained a lot from giving.”

“And?”

“I just feel like it would be nice if we got a little recognition for this effort. Honestly, it’s commendable. Where else can you find people like us? Am I right?”

“Yeah! We’ve done really well! Why do we have to do it ourselves? Have you already forgotten how much trouble we went through at Heung-bu’s place?”

Baek Woo-jin shouted loudly.

“I think it’s because that effort isn’t as visible. Now it’s time for us to show a little pride in what we’ve done; that’ll motivate us further.”

“…So that’s your reasoning.”

Cha Ji-chan exhaled deeply.

“Right. You can’t convey everything through videos. We need to show them our hard work, sweating it out together and sharing drinks like Bacchus. Then maybe they’ll appreciate it more.”

Ju Ji-seung, Cha Ji-chan, and Baek Woo-jin narrowed their eyes in unison.

“Let’s do it during the day instead of at night. That way, more people will see how hard we’re working. If we do it at night, there won’t be any media coverage, and there will be fewer eyewitness accounts.”

“Why are you going off on this tangent?”

Baek Woo-jin shouted again.

“Let’s not do it! We can just hire people! Why are you always thinking about working harder?”

“If we’re going to do it, we might as well show off a bit.”

“Right! Let’s do that! Let’s take it easy!”

“Come on. We need people to see that we did well. Otherwise, they’ll think we’re just being obnoxious, right?”

“I want to split it over two days.”

“It’ll be good exercise!”

Baek Woo-jin looked around at us before slumping down into his chair.

***

We split into two teams to distribute the ingredients.

Park Heung-bu had mentioned he could buy decent rice cheaply, so Cha Ji-chan and I, along with some helpers, went with him.

Ju Ji-seung and Baek Woo-jin went to the kimchi factory to secure domestic kimchi, while seaweed and canned tuna were purchased at the supermarket as non-brand items.

I felt overwhelmed at the thought of moving 223 bags of 10 kg rice, but the six helpers were all so enthusiastic about the exercise that we quickly loaded everything into the car.

It was satisfying to fill up the three Porters we had rented for the week.

“6,244,000 won to settle.”

“Okay.”

Cha Ji-chan handed over the card, and PD Ahn Sang-kyu captured the transaction on camera.

After verifying the receipt, we climbed into the car.

“Wow, we just bought rice for 6 million won.”

“When will we ever do this again?”

“I’m not doing this again. Baek Woo-jin was right earlier. Once you rent the car, that money is already spent.”

“We need to look into people’s eyes to convey our feelings. Meeting the viewers in person while we were working up there in the sky was so rewarding!”

“What if someone collapses? Who would benefit from that?”

“Hey, that’s already in the past! You said it would be nice to show off, right?”

“The video quality is definitely better your way.”

My phone rang; it was Muk Eun-ji.

“Hello, Eun-ji.”

I just got off the phone with the Seongbuk District Office. They said they can guide us the day after tomorrow. It seems social workers will accompany us, so there shouldn’t be any worries about getting lost.

“Thank you. It’s a relief that they’ll help us. Should we prepare something to express our gratitude?”

They’ll probably refuse. It could lead to problems, so just be mindful of meals and drinks on the day of the event.

“Do we need to worry about the amounts too?”

Yes. They’re only accompanying us along the routes we’ll take over the two days, so you don’t need to worry about that.

“Still, it feels like we’re getting into debt.”