God-Given Business Genius - Chapter 190

I forcefully suppressed the nausea rising from within.

To not realize something was wrong even after seeing such badly spoiled kimchi—does that even make sense?

'She must have thought carelessly. Thinking, "This much should be fine."'

Entirely on her own terms, for her own convenience. This level of self-justification is severe.

"Even kimchi with white golmaji isn't good. Its commercial value is lowered, so it shouldn't be used in food for sale."

The idea that you can eat kimchi after removing golmaji only applies to home cooking. You shouldn't use kimchi with golmaji in a food business.

But mold, of all things?

It was an absurd act.

"Owner, this could really lead to serious trouble. You don't seem to realize how dangerous this is. What will you do if someone gets sick from eating this?"

How would you handle the compensation for damages and legal disputes? There was nothing to say other than that it was careless.

But the response was even more outrageous.

-It's fine if you just remove the moldy parts and eat it. Besides, we cook it thoroughly before serving......

"What did you say?"

I didn't even know where to begin criticizing this statement. First, while suppressing my anger, I corrected the error to prevent misinformation from being broadcast.

"Mold isn't just what you see on the surface. When you see a little mold on the edge of bread, you might think you can just remove that part and eat it, right? But you should assume that once you see mold on the surface, the entire inside is infected with mold spores."

I earnestly addressed the cameraman.

"You shouldn't just remove the moldy parts and eat it. Especially since mold spores don't all die even when boiled at high temperatures!"

In other words, all that talk about disinfecting by boiling in kimchi stew is nonsense.

"Viewers, please never eat moldy food."

That warning should suffice. I could no longer hold back and opened my mouth.

"Owner. Come down here."

-.......

"Don't stay in the situation room, come down here."

She didn't seem to grasp the seriousness at all. People like this refuse to admit their mistakes to the end.

Unless there's clear evidence right in front of them.

-...Alright.

Lee Hyo-soon reluctantly answered. Then there was a rustling sound as she got up from her seat.

Meanwhile, I continued rummaging through the refrigerator. Setting aside the mess of ice, I discovered something even more shocking.

"What is this."

Such a mutter escaped involuntarily. A large mixing bowl was covered with thin plastic wrap.

"...Eggs?"

Looking inside, I could tell immediately. It was beaten eggs.

The image of the large rolled omelette flashed through my mind.

"No. Even so, this much......"

As I trailed off and removed the wrap, a foul odor assaulted my nose.

"Ugh!"

The rotten smell caught me off guard and made my head spin. I nearly retched right there.

Forcibly suppressing the nausea, my face inevitably turned pale and my fingertips trembled.

Just then, Lee Hyo-soon arrived and timidly poked her head in.

"Song Woo-yeon-ssi?"

Seeing her face, I could no longer contain myself.

"Owner. You've been serving customers omelettes made with this? Until now?"

I could barely contain my rising anger.

"This is rotten! The smell is so strong. You just leave this in the refrigerator?!"

Lee Hyo-soon saw the mixing bowl in my hand and replied, turning pale.

"No, why did you look at that again. I was just about to throw it away, that's why I put it there for a moment. This wasn't served to customers!"

"Of course it shouldn't be served! If you serve food made with this, people will really die. They'll end up in the hospital with food poisoning!"

How could the hygiene situation be this serious?

Until now, most places had issues with food taste, but none had such severe hygiene problems.

"If you were going to throw it away, you should have thrown it away. Why put it back in the refrigerator? Just because it's wrapped in plastic doesn't mean everything's fine. How could you think to keep this with other ingredients?"

Lee Hyo-soon mumbled in response to my words.

"How was I supposed to know you'd come today? I was going to throw it away this evening, really."

An obvious lie.

It doesn't spoil this badly just from being left wrapped for a day or two. Clearly, it was forgotten and left neglected until now.

If I hadn't come for this surprise inspection, it might have been left there to rot forever.

In that case, it would have completely contaminated the refrigerator.

"Owner. Do you think that makes sense? Do you expect me to believe that?"

"It's true......"

"You've been making excuses this whole time, is that how you'll handle it if a customer gets sick from your food? What about when health inspectors come? Will you tell them you were going to throw it away today?"

"......."

Lee Hyo-soon fell silent as if she had nothing more to say. Seeing her averting her eyes, I took the kimchi I had set aside earlier and held it out to her.

"Look at this. Look at the state of this kimchi. Is this really edible kimchi?"

Even Lee Hyo-soon looked guilty when she saw the mushy kimchi. It seemed she hadn't realized how serious the condition was.

"Look at it properly."

"Ah, alright. I was wrong."

"I said look at it properly."

As Lee Hyo-soon continued to avoid eye contact, I rolled up my sleeve.

Splash!

I then plunged my bare hand into the rotten kimchi container and lifted out a handful. The cabbage couldn't even maintain its original shape and fell apart.

"Oh my goodness!"

Lee Hyo-soon exclaimed in shock. She clearly hadn't expected me to touch this with my bare hands.

It's not uncommon for me to even reach into food waste bins if necessary. What's the big deal about handling some rotten food?

Having lived with food for so long, it was nothing to me, but apparently not to those around me.

Both Lee Hyo-soon and the watching cameraman looked visibly startled.

Apparently receiving some radio communication from the situation room, I could hear the cameraman muttering something.

"Owner. Look at this properly. You made kimchi stew with this?"

"......Yes."

Lee Hyo-soon answered in a deflated voice.

It seems she finally realized I wasn't going to let this go easily. That this wasn't going to end with just bowing her head and saying "Yes, yes."

I held the kimchi out in front of Lee Hyo-soon and said:

"Could you eat this?"

At my words, Lee Hyo-soon looked conflicted for a moment before hanging her head.

"I asked if you could eat this."

"......."

"You can't, can you?"

"......."

"How can you serve food to customers that you yourself can't eat? Hm?"

Lee Hyo-soon remained silent.

She wouldn't have anything to say even with ten mouths. Knowing this herself, Lee Hyo-soon looked a bit shaken but didn't open her mouth.

It was a good choice. Whatever she said would have only fueled my anger.

"Owner, this is seriously wrong. You know that, right?"

"......I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't be apologizing to me, but to all the customers who've eaten this food until now."

I didn't eat it, but what about the people who did? The fact that they didn't get sick is probably because, as Lee Hyo-soon said, it was thoroughly cooked stew.

That might have made her more careless too.

"Here, we don't need to fix the taste, we need to completely overhaul the hygiene first. Otherwise, there's no point in proceeding with other solutions."

I declared firmly.

"Only if you truly believe you can change 180 degrees, contact me then. Otherwise, I can't continue with this solution as it is."

Saying that, I promptly left.

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Returning to the situation room, I could sense the commotion inside.

As I opened the door and entered, everyone looked at me and froze. Oh dear. Did I make too much of a scene before leaving? I was just so angry.

"PD. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can continue with this solution."

Still, with no intention of changing my mind, I conveyed my position in a calm voice.

Kim Hui-seong hurried over and said:

"Oh, that's up to Chef Song. You worked hard. Even we thought it was bad, it must have been so much worse for Chef Song to see."

"Yes. Thank you for understanding. I'll go wash this off first."

Having plunged one arm into rotten kimchi and pulled it out, I felt unbearably gross. I should have washed my arm in the kitchen earlier. My arm seemed to smell of rot.

Kim Hui-seong also responded while keeping a strange distance:

"Y-yes, of course. There's a bathroom the staff uses over there, you can wash up at the sink there."

"Okay, I'll do that. Excuse me for a moment."

Wherever I passed, the staff parted like the Red Sea.

Given my current state, it's understandable, but still, being avoided like some kind of germ is a bit hurtful.

Scrub scrub.

As I was vigorously applying soap and washing my arm clean, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

"Um......"

The voice sounded familiar. I turned to see Do-kyung standing there.

It's a unisex bathroom, but should I make way for him?

But the deliberation was brief. Do-kyung immediately got to the point.

"Are you okay?"

"What?"

"No. You seemed really angry. I've never seen you that angry before."

"......."

Well, that's true. I've never seen a place this disastrous before.

"I always thought you had leadership when doing solutions for other places, but seeing you today, it was definitely different......."

Is he indirectly criticizing my bad temper?

'Well, even before my regression, there was a lot of friction because of this personality that grilled franchisees.'

I should try to curb this. But when I see people who can't even do the basics, I just can't hold back.

'But how can I endure this?'

Thinking about it again makes me angry. As I was angrily scrubbing with soap, Do-kyung brought up an unexpected topic.

"I guess you need charisma to be a company CEO and all that."

"......Huh?"

"You were really cool."

Do-kyung said with a gentle smile.

"Actually, since we're the same age, I didn't really feel it, but you really are the CEO of a huge company, that kind of thought occurred to me."

"?"

"I think everyone probably feels similarly? Like we felt a bit of a wall, you know?"

So...... everyone avoiding me wasn't just because of this rotten kimchi?