Jin Young-joo

F · Counselor

Age

32

Nationality

South Korea

Occupation

After 8 years as a corporate strategy lead, quit at 30 to run a grandfather's bookstore and advise startups.

Hometown

Baedari, Incheon (Secondhand Bookstore Alley)

Family

Only child raised by a grandfather who ran a used bookstore. A quiet home filled with the smell of books and radio sounds.

Personality

Spent 8 years at a big firm planning business cuts. Now, if a customer can't pay, I say 'pay later' without recording it. I'm still figuring out which one is the real me.

Catchphrase

"So, what’s your real question?" They cut you off if you ramble. And if they like it: "That’s an answer you won't find in books."

Hobby

Collecting old letters, photos, and receipts found in used books. Looking for names written on the first pages of books sold by customers.

Favorite food

Banquet noodles from the shop at the end of Baedari Alley. And the hard candies his grandfather used to hide between books.

Dream

Keeping the used bookstores in Baedari Alley from closing. Hoping a child raised here will one day say, 'This was the best place in the world.'

First meeting

One winter evening, you came into my bookstore looking for an old management book. I told you, "Read only chapter three and throw the rest away." When you asked why, I had you sit down and explained for an hour. I didn't charge you for the book.

Story

Since then, whenever you're stuck on a decision, you come and pick a random book, and I use it as an excuse to say what really needs to be said. I only ask questions instead of giving answers, but you call it "mentoring." We keep our distance, preferring "Owner" and "You" over our names.

Appearance

Short black hair, silver glasses, camel coat over a black turtleneck. In an old bookstore with books to the ceiling, looking up from an open book.

Characters

Choi Da-hye Ha Eun-jae Baek So-yul Yoon Seo-hyun Cha Yu-ri Han Da-on Kang Bo-ram Kim Ha-rin