Fire Lodge ( jenlisa )

Part 17

Chaeyoung and Jisoo bought the week's groceries, then went next door to Park's Liquors.

"How much did Lisa give you for the scotch?" Chaeyoung asked.

Jisoo told her the amount - it wasn't much.

"We're going to have to get creative if we want to find a good scotch for that amount. In fact, we're going to have to call in the big guns - I'm going to go ask Mr. Park."

Taking the money from Jisoo, Chaeyoung walked up to the front of the store. "Mr. Park, we have a dilemma. We need your help please."

The liquor store owner looked up from the magazine he was reading and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Chaeyoung! It's good to see you! And how is Jennie doing? That is such a shame, what happened to her parents. We all still miss them."

"Jennie's doing well," Chaeyoung said. "Keeping the lodge running is keeping her busy enough that she doesn't have time to feel sorry for herself."

"That's good," Mr. Park said, nodding. "Now, what is it that you need help with?" He noticed Jisoo for the first time. "And who is this lovely young lady?"

"This is Jisoo, my assistant-slash-girlfriend." She pulled Jisoo up beside her and put her arm around her shoulders.

"Hello," Jisoo said.

Mr. Park gave Chaeyoung an exaggerated wink and a thumbs up, then laughed. "Now, what can I do for you two lovely ladies?"

Chaeyoung showed him the money from Lisa. "Our assistant manager gave us this and asked us to get the best bottle of scotch we can with it."

"That does present a challenge. I could get you a nice Japanese whiskey for that price. Or Tattersall distillery makes a nice bourbon in that price range..."

"That's no good. It's got to be a scotch - sentimental reasons."

"Ah yes," Mr. Park said, nodding wisely. "Often the heart wants something particular even when the tongue cannot tell the difference." He walked up and down in front of the shelf of scotch whiskeys. From time to time he'd stop to look at one, once or twice even going so far as to take it off the shelf before rejecting it. Finally he settled on a bottle from the far end on one of the lower shelves. "There we go: The Famous Grouse. Best-selling whiskey in Scotland. Not the most sophisticated, but certainly far better than one should expect at this price range."

Chaeyoung thanked Mr. Park profusely. "You've made our assistant manager very happy, which will make Jennie very happy."

Mr. Park laughed. "Then I have done my good deed for today."

As they got in the truck and drove away, Jisoo said "I can't put my finger on it, but I feel like I've seen Mr. Park somewhere before."

"I'd be very surprised if you haven't," Chaeyoung said. 'Before he bought his liquor store out here in the mountains, he had a first career as a singer, under the name J.Y. Park."

Jisoo snapped her fingers. "That's it! I knew I'd seen him before."

"Between the town and the valley, you'll meet a lot of formerly famous people while working at the lodge," Chaeyoung said. "Some of them like talking about their 'glory days,' while others don't. It's considered very bad manners for you to be the one to bring it up. Now if they bring it up, then you can talk about it, but the first move has to be theirs."

"That makes sense," Jisoo said, nodding.

"Which brings us to our next stop, Aori Ramen," Chaeyoung continued. "It's owned and operated by Seungri - yes, that Seungri - but he never talks about his music career, and he'll throw you out of the restaurant if you bring it up. I've seen him do it. Something happened that he doesn't like to talk about. But he makes the best ramen and chicken skewers in town."