An Advertising Genius Falls into the Joseon Era - Chapter 3

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 3
The next day.
“Mm.”
Ha Yun paced through the Tavern with her arms crossed, her sharp gaze taking in every corner.
‘There are more problems here than I thought.’
The Courtyard was choked with weeds.
The earthen walls looked ready to crumble.
The wooden platform sagged and creaked.
The foundation of any business was ensuring customers felt no discomfort.
A shop frequented only by longtime regulars might survive on reputation alone.
But to attract scores of new customers, eliminating every source of friction mattered more than anything.
Ha Yun already understood that a business’s success or ruin wasn’t decided by flavor alone.
‘Never leave them with a bad impression.’
No matter how delicious the food, a single hair in the dish was ruinous—and so the essence of running a tavern lay in sparing customers from unpleasant experiences altogether.
Ideally, they shouldn’t remember the place at all.
Not when they’d been there, nothing about the visit.
A tavern especially should feel so comfortable that people could return day after day without tiring—or so Ha Yun believed.
‘The entrance is cramped and dingy. I wouldn’t want to step inside either.’
Her gaze fixed on the Tavern’s entrance.
A worn rush mat lay crumpled haphazardly, and a woodpile blocked half the doorway.
On top of that came a musty reek—the stench of rain-rotted wood mingled with mold, acrid and thick.
‘No wonder no one comes.’
An entrance was a shop’s face.
And this one was left to rot in plain sight. It was appalling.
From a customer’s perspective, this Tavern was a place to avoid.
‘No matter how good the food tastes, it’s worthless if people won’t step through the door.’
Just as one needed at least basic grooming to attract a romantic partner, running a business required its own kind of upkeep.
‘I’d tear the whole place down and rebuild if I could…’
Ha Yun exhaled a long sigh.
Money was scarce, time scarcer still, and everything else in short supply.
All she had was a strong body and the knowledge inside her head.
‘I need to be strategic. Maximum effect with minimum cost.’
As she stood deliberating, Ha Yun’s footsteps halted.
Her attention snagged on something: a tattered flag hanging in empty air.
‘Alcohol, water…?’
A scrap of cloth so sun-bleached and torn that the original characters were illegible.
Something that might be a character or might be a stain fluttered in the breeze.
“A Signboard!”
Ha Yun exclaimed suddenly.
“Oh my, you frightened me.”
At the sound of Ha Yun’s voice, Ok Bun looked up from peeling garlic in one corner of the Courtyard.
“A signboard? What’s that? Some kind of food?”
Ok Bun squinted as she asked. The word “signboard” itself seemed unfamiliar to her.

“A Signboard is like a shop’s calling card. I’ll make you a proper one to replace that rag.”
Ha Yun gestured toward Mun Sik.
“Mun Sik, do you have any spare wooden boards lying around? The larger the better! And I’ll need ink and a brush too!”
Mun Sik, who had just set down his A-frame carrier, looked bewildered.
“Boards? What for? Firewood?”
“To give the shop a new name. And take down that flag.”
At the mention of removing the flag, Ok Bun cried out in alarm.
“But why throw away a perfectly good flag? Everyone passing by sees it and comes right in.”
“Or they see it and run away, don’t they?”
“What—what did you say?”
Ok Bun’s face flushed red with indignation.
Yet Ha Yun’s bluntness showed no signs of stopping.
“Customers need to see at a glance that this is a working business. Who’s going to think this place is operating when they see that faded scrawl? They’ll think it’s abandoned.”
“Well… now that you mention it, there’s some logic to that.”
Ok Bun, gradually persuaded by Ha Yun’s words, nodded slowly.
In truth, Ok Bun knew it already.
Recently, she’d begun to notice customers passing right by the Tavern without stopping.
She knew it was happening, but couldn’t figure out where to start or how to fix it, so she’d left things as they were.
Now, though, Ha Yun was here—scratching that itch, pinpointing the exact problems with surgical precision.
Creak.
Mun Sik emerged from the Barn, rummaging through its depths, and hauled out a remarkably large wooden board.
This wasn’t something the size of a palm—it was substantial, almost as tall as a man’s torso.
“Will this do?”
“Perfect!”
Mun Sik handed over the board along with a worn brush, its bristles half-fallen out and its handle split and weathered.
“There’s no ink lying around, but we’ve got some charcoal black mixed with oil. Think that’ll work?”
“That should be fine.”
Ha Yun set the wooden board down in the center of the Courtyard.
She stood there, pondering what characters to inscribe.
‘This is where it really begins.’
You don’t choose a name carelessly.
A simple name like “Tavern” wasn’t enough.
Ha Yun, who understood the weight of naming, sank into deep consideration.
‘I need to stand out. Just writing “Tavern” like everyone else won’t set us apart from the competition.’
Dozens of words bloomed and faded in her mind’s eye.
Design usually meant visual elements, but naming a shop or choosing product names occupied a surprising portion of it too—the language itself was crucial.
‘A logo would be too ambitious, though.’
She’d considered a visually striking logo, but she doubted people in this era would even recognize the concept of one.
And beyond that, images simply didn’t spread the way words did.
No matter how perfect a logo you created, there was no way to explain it verbally to someone else.
In an age where word-of-mouth was everything, Ha Yun realized the real power lay in the words themselves.
‘A single word—easy, simple, unforgettable.’
One word rose in her mind that fit perfectly.
‘Yes. That’s it.’
With the shop’s name settled, Ha Yun picked up the brush with bold confidence.
Whoosh!
Ha Yun was a skilled practitioner of Calligraphy.
Creating an identity through handwriting alone.
It was one of her greatest weapons.
‘True handwriting becomes design itself.’
Though not quite at the level of Han Seok-bong, Ha Yun possessed genuine mastery of the art and began writing without hesitation.
Sweep—swish swish!
The wooden surface was rough, but suitable for writing. The black pigment—charcoal mixed with oil—seeped into the board.
‘No second chances. One stroke, and it’s done.’
The most crucial thing when writing with a brush was never to hesitate.
Hesitation leaves its mark, visible for all to see.
Even if you failed, the key was to move boldly and decisively—true for calligraphy and painting alike.
Swish!
Ha Yun pressed down hard on the final character, completing the name of the new establishment.
Mun Sik and Ok Bun, watching from the side, eyes went wide as saucers.
“My, what in the world is that?”
“Never seen letters like these before.”
“The strokes twist and swell—it’s completely wild, not like anything proper!”
“And yet, somehow the words are perfectly clear. Truly wondrous, it is.”
For people of this era, understanding Calligraphy taken to such extremes was naturally difficult.
This was no ordinary manipulation of brushstrokes—it was an entirely new form of writing, crossing into territories never before explored. It was Ha Yun’s original script, unique to this age.
Strokes that flowed with unrestrained energy.
Masterful control of thick and thin.
And finally, characters accented with perfect emphasis.
Ha Yun’s letters began to breathe as if alive, as if possessed by spirit.
“Whew. Done.”
Still entranced by the act of writing, Ha Yun wiped the sweat from her brow.
On the board she had written the following:
Inseang Jumak
The word for “life” combined with “tavern.”
Ok Bun’s eyes widened as she took in the new name of the establishment.
“Inseang Jumak? What does that mean……?”
“It means a tavern you simply must visit at least once in your life.”
Ha Yun set down her brush with a soft laugh.
“A single meal here could change your life. That’s another way to think of it. What do you say? It works, doesn’t it?”
Truth be told, a name’s meaning was whatever you wanted it to be.
Put it on the nose and it becomes a nose ring; put it on the ear and it becomes an earring. What mattered was the impact the words carried.
‘Life Wine, Life Pancakes, Life Gukbap. There’s so much I can derive from this. Now’s the moment to seize it before anyone else does.’
Of course, in the future, even if people wanted to use names like this, they wouldn’t be able to do so freely.
They’d have to verify that the name wasn’t already taken and go through complicated processes like trademark registration.
But here and now, with no such system in place, it was like unclaimed land.
Whoever used it first would be its rightful owner.
Like painting a picture on a blank canvas, what she would sketch onto the kingdom of Joseon depended entirely on Ha Yun’s hand.
“Inseang Jumak…….”
Ok Bun stood motionless, gazing at the signboard.
The rough, uneven script somehow seized the eye. Above all, the word “life” itself stirred something in her chest.
“The letters look a little crooked, but somehow it suits the place better than I expected.”
“Doesn’t it, though? It’s neither Chinese characters nor Korean script—something odd about it that keeps drawing your gaze.”
“All right then, please hang it in the most visible spot at the entrance.”
Once the signboard was finished, Mun Sik picked it up and headed toward the tavern’s entrance, with Ha Yun following behind to direct its placement.
“Higher! High enough so people across the street can see it clearly!”
“This high enough?”
“Move the left side a bit higher. The level isn’t straight.”
“How’s this?”
“Center it properly. Move it a bit more to the right.”
“Here?”
“More, more, more, more!”
“Good grief, you’re awfully finicky about this…….”
Mun Sik grumbled, though his expression wasn’t unpleasant.
When Ha Yun had first said she’d take the lead, he’d honestly held no great expectations.
But as she began to demonstrate her abilities, it became unmistakably clear that she was a true professional.
A remarkably skilled one, at that.
“Perfect. Fix it there securely, and make sure to take precautions so it doesn’t get damp if it rains.”
“Honestly, if anyone saw you now, they’d think you were the tavern owner.”
As Mun Sik fixed the signboard to the post, Ha Yun turned toward Ok Bun.
“Ok Bun.”
“Yes? What is it?”
“Besides gukbap, do you sell other dishes? Things like namul or pancakes, for instance?”
“Of course I do—I sell all kinds.”
Ha Yun pressed on with her next question at once.
“Then what exactly are all the dishes you serve here? Can you tell me the prices too?”
“What do you need that for?”
“I’m going to make a menu board.”
“A menu board?”
“Ah, let’s call it a price list.”
Ha Yun’s next task was to create a menu board.
‘The vast majority of gukbap customers are men between twenty and sixty. They absolutely never ask what else is available.’
The iconic phrase of a tavern was surely “Auntie! One bowl of gukbap!”
This happened not because diners disliked other foods, but simply because they didn’t know those foods existed.
‘How could they possibly know if no one tells them?’
Men were so reticent that they’d barely ask a barber to cut their hair in a particular style.
‘To draw people in, there’s no choice but to sell a wide variety of dishes.’
No matter how delicious the gukbap was, eating nothing else every day would eventually grow tedious.
Gukbap needed to be the main offering, but it required diverse side menus to support it.
Only then could the tavern welcome many different kinds of people.
And those options needed to be displayed clearly, all visible at a glance.
“Red pepper pancake, two coins; potato pancake, three coins; pollack pancake, five coins; seasoned wild greens, four coins; seasoned bean sprouts, two coins…….”
“Excellent. Please keep going.”
Ha Yun brought the remaining wooden board and began writing down everything Ok Bun recited.
The method was to list the dish names in a single column on the left and their prices aligned on the right.
For the coin denomination, she drew cute little copper coin symbols instead.
Ha completed the menu board by adding decorative elements to the edge of the wooden panel.
“That’s it.”
Ha Yun gazed at the finished menu board with satisfaction. Created solely by brush, it was simple, yet possessed the distinct advantage of being instantly readable and intuitive.
Ha Yun’s menu board looked like this:
[Gukbap]
Gukbap / 4◎
[Fried Vegetable Pancakes]
Red Chili Pepper Pancake / 2◎
Potato Pancake / 3◎
Pollock Pancake / 5◎
[Mixed Vegetable Side Dishes]
Bean Sprout Namul / 2◎
Miner’s Lettuce Namul / 4◎
[Alcoholic Beverages]
Makgeolli / 3◎
Dongdongju / 3◎
Inseang-ju / 5◎
.
.
.
With the menu complete, Ha Yun looked at Ok Bun with a pleased expression.
“What do you think? Being able to see all the food at once makes it far more convenient and appealing, doesn’t it?”
“Ah, it’s clean and looks wonderful. You certainly do have some talent, don’t you?”
“I told you. I’m going to make this the finest tavern in all Joseon.”
“You certainly know a thing or two about running a business.”
As Ha Yun worked with painstaking dedication to transform the tavern as if it were her own home, Ok Bun’s guard gradually began to lower.
“Well then, the next thing we need to do is…….”
A month passed before either of them realized it.
During that time, Ha Yun undertook various renovation work, including gutting the kitchen.
Beyond that, she conducted service training for Ok Bun and Mun Sik, implemented sanitation protocols, and added various visual elements inside and outside the tavern.
“Today is the day.”
Though Ha Yun hadn’t deliberately locked the doors, the month of constant renovation work had discouraged visitors rather than drawing them in.
The few curious souls who did approach would see the chaotic state of things and think, “Is the tavern finally closing?” — and turn back the way they came.
And now the Inseang Jumak stood on the brink of its grand reopening.
The floor swept clean.
The tables set in neat rows.
The signboard gleaming.
It had transformed so completely that the phrase “reborn anew” hardly seemed sufficient.
Mun Sik and Ok Bun asked with trembling hearts.
“Will people actually come?”
“Don’t worry. In a few days, they’ll be lined up clear past the wall, eating.”
“That would be wonderful.”
Once the preparations were essentially complete, Ha Yun suddenly began striding purposefully toward the kitchen.
“Where are you going?”
“Now that we’re ready, it’s time to draw people in.”
Ha Yun said this while gazing at the large cauldron sitting in the center of the kitchen.
The cauldron was already filled with rich broth that had been simmering for hours.
“Heave!”
Without hesitation, Ha Yun lifted the pot lid with tongs.
Whoosh—!
Seeing this, Ok Bun gasped and rushed over.
“What are you doing? You’ll evaporate all the broth!”
As Ok Bun moved to close the lid, Ha Yun explained herself.
“We have to tempt people with the aroma! What good is this delicious smell if it stays trapped in here?”
“Tempt people with the aroma?”
“Yes. Starting now, I’m going to spread this smell far and wide. This scent is more precious than any perfume.”
Saying this, Ha Yun threw open the kitchen door wide.
“Do you have a fan? Quick, fan it out toward the road! The lunch hour is perfect timing!”
“Um, uh, what?”
Though bewildered, Ok Bun picked up a fan.
“Here, take the fan.”
“All right. Fan it hard!”
“Sigh, what am I doing….”
Ok Bun grumbled as she began fanning with all her might.
Having come this far, she had no choice but to trust Ha Yun.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The hot steam billowed out of the kitchen. The smoke that drifted along the breeze toward the road carried with it the rich, savory aroma of meat broth.
‘All the preparations are complete now. All that’s left is to wait.’
Ha Yun watched the direction the smoke was spreading with a meaningful expression.
***
At that same moment, the entrance to Mungyeong Saejae.
A group of peddlers crossing through Mungyeong Saejae was walking down the road.
Eight of them in total, each carrying peddler’s bundles fully loaded on their backs.
“Ugh.”
Carrying a bundle and crossing the pass was exhausting work.
In the old days, peddlers would carry bundles averaging thirty kilograms and walk about twenty kilometers daily.
In modern terms, it was like a daily forced march.
Because of this, peddlers were always plagued by hunger.
They needed to eat regularly just to keep moving forward.
It was just as these peddlers were trudging along silently.
Sniff.
One of the peddlers at the front wrinkled his nose.
“What? Brother, what is that smell?”
“That’s… isn’t that the smell of boiling meat?”
“My goodness, that meat smell is absolutely magnificent.”
The other peddlers, their noses teased by the aroma, began stopping one by one.
A rich, savory broth smell was drifting toward them on the breeze.
“Come to think of it, isn’t it about time for dinner?”
“I was getting hungry anyway… shall we go check that way?”
“Good idea. Let’s hurry over.”
Enchanted by the smell, their feet naturally turned toward the tavern.
A moment later,
The eyes of the peddler who stepped into the tavern entrance widened.
“What?”
A neatly tended courtyard and walls decorated with murals. And a signboard that caught the eye: “Inseang Jumak.”
“Inseang Jumak? There was a place like this here?”
The peddlers who saw the sign tilted their heads in confusion.
“Now that you mention it, wasn’t there a tavern here before?”
“Oh! I remember! It was completely falling apart….”
“This is that place?”
The peddlers who remembered the old tavern’s appearance exchanged puzzled looks.
Though they had traveled this road for over a decade, they had never set foot in Mun Sik’s tavern.
Even when rain poured down, they avoided that place.
It was simply impossible to bring themselves to stop there.
But today was different.
Instead of the dilapidated straw roof, a neatly organized courtyard.
A properly erected signboard.
And above all, the savory smell flowing on the breeze seized their steps.
It didn’t take long for hesitation to shift into curiosity.
“Did the owner change?”
“Well, why don’t we go in and have a look?”
“All right, let’s risk it and see what we find.”
With cautious hearts, the peddlers stepped into the Inseang Jumak.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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