The tough business failure story of comedian Lee Yong-sik evoked sympathy in 'The Boss's Ears Are Donkey Ears.'
On the afternoon of the 3rd, the KBS 2TV variety program 'The Boss's Ears Are Donkey Ears' featured North Korean boss Lee Soon-sil revealing her daily life.
Lee Soon-sil, who was about to open a restaurant, sought out a kitchen outlet to purchase used equipment. The members of 'The Boss's Ears Are Donkey Ears' were also excited as they looked at the various equipment needed for the food industry. Among them, the outlet owner was familiar to the 'Boss's Ears' members. He was actually Kim Byung-hyun, a former baseball player who had come to buy used kitchen appliances when he closed his hamburger restaurant.
Seeing this, Lee Yong-sik also noted, "It doesn't seem like someone else's affair," and confessed, "I have experienced closing down three times." He stated, "I love fishing. I went to Jeju Island three or four times a month to fish. So, I opened a squid restaurant called 'Bbosik's Ink House.' But as it got busier, fishing became difficult for me." He revealed, "I ended up giving salaries to employees with the money I earned from broadcasting and events."
The second closure was a milmyeon (wheat noodle) restaurant. Lee Yong-sik explained, "I was running a milmyeon business, not naengmyeon (cold noodles). I set it up in a large space of about 100 pyeong and bought new equipment without knowing the used equipment. But due to my broadcasting schedule, I couldn't go to the restaurant, so I closed it down after eight months," adding to the shock.
He even stated, "I lost even more during the third closure than this," evoking sympathy. Lee Yong-sik's third business was not a restaurant but his specialty, comedy, yet it also failed. It was all because of COVID-19.
Lee Yong-sik said, "It was heartbreaking to see the juniors losing their positions. So, I set up a comedy theater of 265 pyeong in Cheongdam-dong. But just eight days after the opening, COVID-19 hit," he recounted. "At that time, there were 15 staff members at the theater, and I couldn't tell them to take a break, so I had to pay their salaries in advance and suspended operations. After that, I struggled by myself at the theater for a year. In the end, the landlord even told me to 'wrap it up' due to the situation," he explained.
Ultimately, he said that he had to wrap up the third business as well. Lee Yong-sik lamented, "When I left the building, I didn't even look back. I left all the new equipment I had bought behind."
[Photo] Provided by KBS.
[OSEN]