Life’s Second Round in Epic Mode

Chapter 20 Exciting Vacation (Part 4)

In this era, there's a dance called the shuffle dance, and in 1993, a slightly modified version of it, centered around the X-line, was called the diamond dance.

The dance floor in the nightclub had been slightly modified for small movements on stage. It was similar to the shuffle dance, but with slightly different steps.

But this woman...

Her dancing skills were not something one would acquire after just one or two dances at a club.

With a subtle wave in her hips, she grooved and then transitioned back to the shuffle dance steps.

Until the dance song ended, the woman continued to dance impressively.

She had a bit of a black soul groove, definitely not an ordinary person.

Her dancing reminded Yi Geon of the mid-2020s groove of the fourth-generation girl group Hogin, a retro group.

Was she someone from the field of dance and art?

"I quite like her, a woman who dances stylishly is absolutely amazing."

Though other women also danced, the stage was quite spacious, making it a great place to dance.

When two songs had just finished, the lighting suddenly changed, and the rhythm slowed down, breaking the flow.

At this point, everyone on the stage backed away.

However, a few continued dancing while embracing each other as the music changed.

"What's this now?"

Yi Geon, bewildered by his first experience of the 1993-style blues time, was at a loss for words.

Completely out of his element.

With one culture shock after another, he felt disoriented.

The eight people who had come off the stage together,

"Ladies, please come this way."

Since there were eight people, there were too many to be seated in a booth.

"Ah, the booth is too cramped.

Just a moment, ladies. I'll prepare something quickly."

As soon as Sang-il raised a numbered lighting lamp, waiter Kim Gangmo rushed over.

"Did you call for me, sir?"

"Please handle the ladies' bill and get a large room. With Special Set A. Add two bottles of beer and whiskey, three soft drinks, two bottles of cola, and four Ceylon teas."

"Should I clear the ladies' table then?"

"Yes, the ladies' table costs 38,000 won on weekends. They also ordered a 15,000 won snack. You need to handle the ladies' bill too since I'm clearing it."

Despite the club rule of giving women discounts, weekend prices were a bit more expensive than weekdays.

However, compared to the basic 150,000 won tables of 2030, the price was practically a giveaway.

"Yes, please include that as well."

Sang-il handed over the cash.

"Thank you. I'll guide you to a spacious room close to the stage for your convenience."

Yi Geon started to get a sense of how the system worked.

If you liked a woman, you would pay for her table when joining together, right?

It wasn't a bidding table BM, but the system in 1993 was quite strange.

How did they make a profit with this?

What would happen if a fight broke out in the middle?

Yi Geon couldn't understand the 1993-style club system at all.

In 2030 clubs, you would simply chat in English, dance, and flirt with foreign women you liked, then drink together, and whatever happened afterward was up to you.

It was a very simple logic.

If you just wanted to dance and converse with the opposite sex without waiting in a club,

You could go to a moody pub and cling to women in a humble mode.

But.

Yi Geon was a complete beginner in the 1993 club scene.

Not knowing how things worked, Yi Geon whispered a question to Sang-du.

"Hey, do we always pay for the girls?"

"Oh, man, you really don't get it. If we merge tables, the girls' table will be empty. They don't want to worry about their own table, so they keep playing with us and we end up paying."

"Ah, I see. I understand how it works now."

Finally, Yi Geon grasped the 1993 rock café system.

He felt like an idiot since they had traveled back to 1993.

He was only used to the system of making reservations through Instagram or messaging apps.

In 1993, instead of a manager, a waiter handled everything, making it all feel unfamiliar.

"The girls that the waiter just seats usually only drink or dance for a while and then leave quickly. We don't have to pay for them. We're not suckers who pay for others. Honestly, these girls are the best among those who came tonight. You can just think of it like that."

"Right. Now I get the feeling."

From a club's revenue management perspective, it would be a problem if a table for girls was left empty. So, there's a possibility they created the custom of paying as a hurdle.

But the system seems too generous. Can they make money without table bidding?

"So, don't go anywhere else and just play with us. It's our way of being considerate."

Yi Geon finally began to understand after listening to Sang-du's explanation.

In clubs, regardless of the era, girls always have the upper hand.

That's an eternal formula that will never change even after a hundred years.

In 2030, female guests got free admission, drinks, and tables from the manager.

Judging from that, the 1993 standard of paying for tables seems like a reasonable rule.

Given the societal context of 1993, it would require quite a bit of courage for girls to come to clubs in the first place.

"Ah, there's a bit of a cigarette smell in the room."

Yi Geon, who was still a non-smoker, pointed out the stuffy smell in the room.

The 1993 culture was very lenient towards smoking.

The waiter, Kim Gangmo, was flustered and kept bowing his head in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry. I'll ventilate the room and spray some air freshener."

Yi Geon waved his hand.

"No, it's fine. Don't bother with the cheap air freshener. Just bring me a cup of hot water. Oh, and an ashtray or two plastic plates."

"Right away, sir."

The waiter quickly returned with a thermos filled with hot water.

Yi Geon took out a pouch of coffee beans for deodorizing from his backpack, shook them into the ashtray, and poured hot water over it.

The sweet aroma of coffee beans filled the room, transforming the stale air into a pleasant atmosphere.

The girls, shocked by the unfamiliar scene, marveled at the smell.

"Wow, it smells great. This is coffee beans, right?"

"Yes, they're Colombian coffee beans. They were vacuum-packed right after roasting to maximize the aroma. It's a particularly fragrant variety of Colombian beans."

"I've heard of Brazilian beans, but this is my first time hearing about Colombian ones."

"Colombian beans are usually considered the best."

In 1993, people rarely consumed coffee beans.

The girl didn't know that.

Well, it was a time when there was no internet.

"Wow, you're so thoughtful."

The woman seemed incredibly touched by Yi Geon's attentiveness.

"Ha ha ha, it's impressive that you ladies know about whole-bean coffee."

"Thank you. Are you students, though? You look quite young. You all look like high school students – so handsome, and your skin is so good."

"Ha... ha ha ha, high school students? No, we're taking a break from college. We're running a business that combines food and culture, exploring new boundaries."

Sang-du, with his short hair, was blatantly lying. However, it was true that people are shaped by their environment. His knowledge about marketing had grown after reading some books on the subject.

"I can't believe it. You all really look like high school students."

"Really? Have you ever seen a high school student this tall? Can't you see the length of my legs?"

"Yes, they are really long. Excuse me, but how tall are you?"

"184 cm."

Sang-du had grown an extra centimeter since eating tacos. He was originally 183 cm tall. Quite impressive.

"Wow, you're really tall. Everyone is so tall. This person is shorter than the others, but still quite tall."

"Ah, I'm still growing. I'm 174 cm."

Yi Geon had grown quite a bit from 170 cm, but he was still much shorter than the others in the group. He had grown a lot thanks to the tacos, but it made him wonder if they could be effectively marketed. He stored the idea of taco marketing in his mental mind map.

After all, there's only a thin line between having fun and doing business. Doing both can double work efficiency.

"174 cm? That's quite tall, everyone is so tall. And you too."

The woman who said this had a layered short cut that was far ahead of her time, with multi-bridge dye. The layered short cut was a hairstyle that only wealthy feminists or fashion-conscious people with confidence in their face and necklines could pull off. Firstly, the cutting fee was expensive, and the bling-bling hair effect that upgraded one's appearance by two levels would disappear.

It was a hairstyle that stood out even by 2030 standards. In the slang of the time, she seemed like a bit of a wild character but had great manners.

"You ladies are also tall and slender. You have beautiful faces and could be fashion models or celebrities right away."

"Ha ha ha, really? But the person in the middle here is really handsome. Honestly, I've never seen someone so good-looking before."

"Ah, he's our company's CEO."

"Ha ha ha, really?"

The short-haired woman took it as a joke, even though it was true. They were lying about taking a break from college, but the business was real. The atmosphere became warm and friendly as they got to know each other.

"The blues time is over. Let's go dance."

The woman, smitten by Yi Geon's good looks, was quite proactive.

"Yes."

They returned to the stage and danced excitedly.

They danced energetically to the music of Na Tae-joo and his friends. After a while, the music changed back to blues.

"Huff, huff~ I'm tired. But this system is surprisingly good."

When they only went to clubs, they didn't know about the blues concept, and it was only EDM. But now, the club dance was like military interval training.

Running and resting in intervals. As they danced to the dance music and got tired, the DJ immediately switched to a ballad, providing a blues timing.

An exciting system that allowed customers ample time to rest.

"Wow, it's 1993, but this place is quite advanced. This is like the ultimate Think Big."

Even though the era was long ago, the recreational culture seemed more advanced than the clubs in 2030.

What on earth is this?

As if discovering a lost technology artifact, Yi Geon felt a strange thought come to mind.

With a system like this, one could play all night long