Happy Birthday!(I)

[

AN:

-Korean age is two years ahead, for example, 20 Korean years old is 18 years internationally.

-The first section is basically an infodump on the mc's new parents' life. You can skip to the '***' if you want.

- Ill use "{}" whenever the mc speaks english

]

Lee Ji-Hyun came from the countryside.

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Born in Chungcheongnam-do, Lee Ji-Hyun was one of the many children born into their rural family. And like many farm children, as the youngest, she knew that she wouldn't come to own the farm and work its land when her parents retired.

Fortunately, she didn't want to.

The Lee farmers, being one of the moderately successful rice farmers, were able to afford a TV. Every day after school, Do-Hun would watch the TV, seeing those pretty women or handsome live their luxurious lives in Seoul or Busan. She wanted to experience the wonderful city filled with such fabulous people and vibrant colors.

She knew that she wasn't smart enough to get into a University, so as soon as she graduated from high school, she left for the big city.

It was then reality slapped her in the face.

Whatever she expected from Seoul was flushed down the drain on her first day in the city. With little to no money to her name and just the clothes on her back, her fantasy of the big city life was ripped to shreds.

For the first week, Ji-Hyun had to sleep in the outdoors and be constantly chased by policemen for loitering. It was only after she got a job as a cook at the Itaewon bar that she was able to pay rent for a small apartment in Seongbuk-gu, an hours drive away from Gangnam-gu.

Working long and hard shifts in the kitchen at times made her want to quit and go back to Chungcheongnam-do, back to the familiar countrysides, back to where people greeted each other and knew their names. Not the sprawling urban jungle filled with people with little time and even fewer emotions. She felt that it was a mistake coming to Seoul.

That was until she met him.

It was two past midnight, the owner finally closed the bar until evening. While she was a cook, due to the short staffing, the owner had assigned her the closing shift as well on the agreement that he would pay her rent.

Just as she was about to lock the door, she heard a man yelling outside. Through the glass door, Ji-Hyun saw a man run towards the bar, panting as he stopped shortly before the entrance.

This was Lee Sang-Hoon.

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Seeing the deadline for another position for chef at a bar, Sang-Hoon rushed as quickly as he could to the establishment, where he was not panting in exhaustion, frightening Ji-Hyun.

After the interview with Itaewon's owner and a week's probationary period, Lee Sang-Hoon was officially a cook as well.

The two instantly hit it off. Both came from the Korean countryside, so they knew the struggles of working in the city. For Ji-Hyun, it started with the small things, like Sang-Hoon greeting her every time at work or opening the doors for her. Eventually, their glances and small smiles turned to flirtatious remarks and many laughs. It was a rollercoaster of emotions, kisses, and sex that turned the innocent farm girl into a woman. A woman with a boyfriend.

One day at work, Sang-Hoon suggested that they should open their own restaurant. It was then that those dreams finally making it big in the city surged back through Ji-Hyun's heart once again. While she knew that she was no stunner or potential big-time actor in the making that would bring her riches and splendors that would make any woman happy, Ji-Hyun found something else working with Sang-Hoon in the kitchen.

Joy.

Joy at making food that drunks and sober men and women enjoyed. The regular customers slowly stopped coming for the Soju and Beer. From what she heard from her boss's praise, the locals came in with their children to eat their special fried chicken. It was then that Ji-Hyun knew what she wanted in her life now.

Through both Sang-Hoon and Ji-Hyun frugal lifestyle and spending, the couple eventually managed to get a loan from the bank to start their own restaurant. After weeks of searching for the right spot to open up, they found it in Gangnam-gu.

The empty lot sat directly on the shopping district's corner, standing at just three stories tall. The shop had an octagonal shape to its design, the brick walls slightly aged and worn from the weather and time. On one of the windows, a 'FOR LEASE' sign was taped loosely on in bold red characters.

It was perfect.

After negotiating with the landlord, they had managed to secure the first floor for their restaurant. While the construction of their restaurant was underway, the couple had enough money left from the loan to host a small wedding, inviting close family members and friends to attend. It was then that the new restaurant was christened the 'Cheong-San Bistro' in memory of their heritage.

A year later, Ji-Hyun gave birth to a baby boy. During her pregnancy, she had adamantly stuck on naming their child regardless of his or her gender after their beloved restaurant, Cheong-San.

While raising her son, she noticed strange things. Cheong-San would rarely cry or scream, a quiet baby. Sometimes he would just sit there, staring at his toys and baby books. It was a struggle trying to feed her little Cheong-San, Ji-Hyun having to resort to lightly tapping his bum many times to get him to latch onto the nipple. On playdates with their neighbor, it became obvious when she compared Cheong-san's actions to Nam On-Jo, the neighbor's daughter who was the same age as well. She had remembered speaking to of her regulars, a doctor, about Cheong-San's strange behaviors, worried that he may have some form of mental disability. The doctor suggested he be brought to a Pediatric physician that specialized in disabilities.

But Ji-Hyun struggled with this decision. She that new businesses struggled the most in their first two to three years. After discussing extensively with Sang-Hoon, they eventually decided that their son was the most important thing to them.

While Ji-Hyun and Sang-Hoon personally never cared if their children would have disabilities, they worried what would happen to Cheong-San after they died. Ji-Hyun remembered one of her neighbors back in Chungcheongnam-do taking care of their thirty-year-old child with severe autism. The mother and father of that child were well into their sixties.

With the worst prepared on their visit to the doctor's office, the couple was pleasantly surprised at the results. Cheong-San, who they feared was demented, was anything but. His brain scans suggested a higher level of cognitive thinking far above the means of an ordinary baby's brain. After several confirmations from the doctor that their child was fine, Sang-Hoon and Li-Hyun went back to their restaurant with a weight removed from their shoulders.

Over the years, it became more and more apparent to Ji-Hyun that Cheong-San really was a genius baby. While her baby was a bit slow in learning the alphabet, his progression in math was simply astounding. And though it might be her imagination, she believed he was too mature as well. One time when Nam On-Jo stole the book he was reading, he politely asked for it back. She even wondered if the hospital somehow swapped her baby with someone else's. Not that she would ever trade her child back if that was the case. She loved her Cheong-San too much to give him up.

With a successful restaurant, a loving husband, and an adorable baby, Ji-Hyun felt content in her life.

That was until the 2008 stock market crash.

Due to the Korean Won losing its value internationally by almost up to 30%, goods became more expensive and people started to lose their jobs. The Cheong-San bistro was directly hit by this, their supplies becoming more expensive and their customers started to come less and less. Sang-Hoon selling their restaurant. Devasted at the idea, Ji-Hyun understood realistically that it was better to cut their losses than end up in debt. She saw what happened to those people who owed money to debt collectors. Feeling something tug at their pants, both Sang-Hoon and Ji-Hyun looked down at their toddler son.

"Mom, Dad, I can fix this."

***

Troy Letterman, Californian native, and college freshman had died saving his fellow student.

At first, he thought that he had miraculously survived his fall off the dormitory building and ended up in the hospital. But that didn't explain why he was being cradled by a giant woman.

He got used to his new life as Lee Cheong-San, son of Lee Hang-Soon and Lee Ji-Hyun. In regards to acting like a normal baby, he didn't give a damn about that. Of course, he had to learn to speak Korean, but that was easier now with the plasticity of his baby brain.

Having already lived a content life before, Letterman, now going by his new name Cheong-San, decided he would take things as they came. Playing with his fellow toddler Nam On-Jo to pass the time or chuck food at the trashcan mouth Han Gyeong-Su from daycare. There was no point to stress out during his childhood when he could relax and enjoy his freedom until he was thrown into the infamously competitive Korean workforce.

That was until the stock market crashed.

Mom and Pop's shops like the auntie who ran the mochi store across the street from Cheong-San's bistro had gone out of business. That was the fate that awaited their eatery if something didn't change.

Contrary to his earlier statement of living a stress-free childhood, Cheong-San desired to help his parents at work. While he couldn't do much besides carrying small items like cups or utensils to customers, patrons found a chubby-cheeked toddler earnestly trying to help his parents heartwarming.

It also helped that he was perfectly fluent in English. His parents chalked that up to him being some sort of pseudo-genius. Not that he denied those praises.

Because the internet wasn't mainstream in 2007 as it was at his time, Cheong-San was eager to talk to the occasional American tourists that somehow managed to stop by and eat at the bistro so far in the shopping district. All thanks of course to him slightly manipulating his parents to also advertise their bistro in English.

One type, he spoke to a blond man from California, asking how it was to live there. He was eager to know about his state. Surprisingly, the California Cheong-San remembered was different from California the foreigner named Michael described.

"Mickey Mouse? You mean Millie Mouse?"

"What's Target? Oh, you mean Bullseye!"

"In-N-Out? is that a tv show or something?"

He could live with Mickey Mouse being a different name, he could live with Target having a different name, but not In-N-Out ceasing to exist. As a proud SoCal native that lived and breathed the delicious burgers and fresh fries, it was utter blasphemy that this world did not have his favorite fast food joint.

Fine, he'll have to do it himself.

At the ripe age of four, he walked towards his parents with confidence in his admittedly short strides.

"Mom, Dad, I can fix this."

Rubbing his forehead, Sang-Hoon shook his head. "Cheong-San, I know you want to help your parents, let the adults-."

"{Kenai, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska Recreational Property.}" Cheong-San interrupted his father.

"What?" asked his mother confused.

He continued. "There are two lots of undeveloped land in Alaska that add up to be approximately seven acres or 28,000 square meters. They cost an estimate of $20,000 if we include their 10% discount."

Seeing both his parents still confused about how this information would help their impending financial crisis, he pushed on. "And there is a small vein of copper on those properties."

This was a gamble. He didn't know how much this Earth differed from his original one, but the temptation and current circumstances made him finally decide to take out his trump card.

Slightly angry, Sang-Hoon shook his head, "Alaska? I thought I raised not to your life to your parents."

"How sure are you, Cheong-San" spoke up Ji-Hyun.

"Ji-Hyun, don't encourage his lies-" complained Sang-Hoon.

"How sure are you, Cheong-San?" repeated his mother, now ignoring his dad.

Thinking about when he was Troy Lettermen, he remembered eating dinner as his father complained for weeks to his family's annoyance about the missed opportunities to make money on such dirt-poor lands.

"If only I had gotten Kenai..."

"I could've bought their whole company before they started operation on that gold..."

He supposed that the infamous 'Silver Baron' of Colorado needed to be competitive to thrive in his profession.

Cheong-San broke from his recollection of the past and nodded his little head. "I'm sure."

He felt his mom's eyes bore into his own as she stared at his unwavering gaze. Rubbing her chin, she turned to her husband. "Take out our savings, we're buying that land."

Stunned by the sheer absurdity of events, Sang-Hoon gripped his hair. "Wait, we're actually going through with this?! Ji-Hyun, take a moment to think about this! I know that Cheong-San's different from the other kids, but that doesn't justify this out-of-the-world information."

Ji-Hyun walked up to her husband, pleading with her eyes. "Please, Sang-Hoon, just this once, let's listen to our son. I know I sound crazy, but I feel something good about this. Please, honey, let's buy the land."

Sang-Hoon stared at the pleading eyes of both Cheong-San and Ji-Hyun, bursting into laughter as held his stomach.

"I'll have to be crazy to say yes," started his dad, "good thing I was already called crazy by my dad when I moved to Seoul."

In just over a week, with Cheong-San acting as both the negotiator and translator for a confused old woman on a phone, the two lots in Kensai, Alaska was there's.

After a month's wait, the surveyor they hired contacted them back with an offer.

"Two million USD?!" screamed Sang-Hoon. Ecstatically, he picked up both him and his Mom in a group. Mom cried in joy, mumbling incoherent thanks to God for blessing them such a great son. Hmm, I'll take that compliment to soothe my toddler ego.

With my insistence on them bargaining for more money, the figure finally ended up around $2.5 million dollars, and if my calculations were correct, something around three billion in Korean won.

With the money now no longer a problem, I proposed my plan to make a fast-food/diner-style hamburger, french fries, and shakes at a low cost to extend to a broader range of customers that previously couldn't afford to eat at Cheong-San's Bistro.

Back in his world, it was commonly known that while McDonald's dominated the nation in the fast-food industry, In-N-Out was the heart of the west coast fast-food industry. Unlike other chains, they stuck to a simple and constant menu of items that were cheap and high-quality.

Clean. Reliable. Familiar. Those were the words that best described the small fast-food chain.

Surgical precision was put into designing every crook and cranny of their stores, from their tables and chairs to the lights and floor tiles.

But while my parents wholeheartedly agreed to the plan, they held firm on keeping fried chicken on the menu and the name 'Cheong-San' constant. People tend to forget the importance of a restaurant's tone sets.

Cheong-San, whose hidden motive was to change the name of the newly refurbished restaurant, cursed in his head at his failure. Looking at both his parent's amused faces, they knew what he was trying to do as well.

And as the years went by, 'Cheong-San's' grew so popular for its cheap and quick foods people would line up across the block to have a bite. Seeing an opportunity, they expanded, opening another 'Cheong-San' in Busan.

Great, now his name spread far and wide as the burger and fried chicken place. He just knew his friends wouldn't live it down to him for the rest of his life.