Today is slow. Unlike yesterday, the rainy weather and dreary conditions have turned people away from the warm foods and comfy seats of Mimi’s Sushi and Gimbap. Tae-joon doesn’t add to the already silent atmosphere of the restaurant, instead busying himself with wiping down the counters and tables currently not in use.

It’s been a few years since his beloved aunt, Mi-Yun, handed over ownership of her restaurant to Tae. She trusted him to keep her restaurant up and running, and he is not about to let his Mimi down, no sir. He’ll find anything, anything to fill the workday just so he can be sure he actually spends each day doing something productive; cleaning the tables, changing out the cooking oils, making orders for more vegetables to be delivered, anything.

Slow days are productive days, after all. Even if Hyun-Seok went home already to study rather than sit in an empty restaurant all day and his cook Minho has been sitting in the kitchen eating snacks for the past two hours, Tae-joon would rather keel over dead than sit still.

It’s almost a surprise when he hears the door’s bell give out its distinct ‘Ring-a-ding!’, indicating a customer’s presence. Tae places down a crate of extra cutlery he’d been carrying and leans back with a groan, cracking his already aching spine before turning to approach the front counter. “Welcome,” He says, gesturing to the many vacant seats littering the empty restaurant. “Please, have a seat.”