Lee Bong-won confesses to a mountain of debt, “Monthly interest alone is 6 million won” (Jeon Hyun-moo‘s Plan 2)

Lee Bong-won of ‘Jeon Hyun-moo’s Plan 2’ showed off his cheerful mukbang and unstoppable wit.

In the 13th episode of the full-fledged street food documentary ‘Jeon Hyun-moo‘s Plan 2’ (jointly produced by MBN and Channel S) that aired on the 17th (Friday), ‘Eat Bros’ Jeon Hyun-moo and Kwak Tube (Kwak Jun-bin) went on a food trip with comedian Lee Bong-won, a ‘food expert’ and CEO of a jjambbong restaurant, to find great restaurants in Cheonan and Gongju, Chungcheongnam-do.

The three of them not only visited Cheonan’s famous Byeongcheon Sundae and walnut cookies, but also found the original restaurant for ‘MZ food’ Kimpi-tang in Gongju. In addition, they completed the special ‘Taste Map’ by welcoming the special noodle soup ‘Park Chan-ho Pick’.

On this day, Jeon Hyun-moo and Kwak Tube started to discover real local restaurants with the help of a citizen in ‘Mokcheon’, not the famous ‘Byeongcheon Sundae Alley’ in Cheonan. The two, who quickly finished scouted the restaurant reported by the citizen, first ate the assorted menu with a generous amount of offal, such as sundae and osori gamtu, and were happy, saying, “It doesn‘t even smell and it’s so soft.” When the ‘Pure’ Sundae Gukbap that had no seasoning at all came out, Jeon Hyun-moo tasted it as it was, showing his true ‘Pure’ appearance.

The two who ‘wasted’ the deep-flavored Sundae Gukbap visited Lee Bong-won‘s Jjamppong restaurant in Cheonan to meet the ‘food guests’ of the day. After greeting each other warmly, the three headed to a walnut cookie shop with an 88-year history that Lee Bong-won ‘highly recommended’. In the moving car, Kwak Tube suggested, “Let’s bet our popularity by betting on walnut cookies”, and as a subtle war of nerves began, the owner of the walnut cookie shop was the first to recognize Lee Bong-won. After ringing the ‘Golden Bell’ with 10 boxes of walnut cookies, Lee Bong-won confidently led them to the next restaurant.

When the topic of business came up, Lee Bong-won opened his mouth by saying, “Others say they have 7 losses and 8 losses, but I have 6 losses and 7 losses.” He confessed, “My first business was a family pub before I got married. After that, I opened a coffee shop in a department store, but I closed it because the daily sales were 20,000 won. I also sold samgyetang in a department store, but the department store went bankrupt.” Lee Bong-won continued, “Next, I opened a meat restaurant, but it failed in a year, and my fifth business was the entertainment business. I signed promising friends like Kim Gu-ra, Hyun Jin-young, and Park Jun-gyu, but they failed in 2 years. He also confessed, “I opened an acting academy, but there were 8 teachers and 6 students.”

As they talked, the three arrived at their destination, the original ‘Kimpitang (kimchi + pizza + tangsuyuk)’ restaurant. Here, Jeon Hyun-moo and Lee Bong-won, who were greeted with ‘Kimpitang’ for the first time in their lives, exclaimed, “It‘s so delicious?” and their ‘pupils dilated’. The owner proudly said, “We are the original. Kimpitang is a registered trademark.”

While they were eating, Kwak Tube asked, “How did you meet your wife (Park Mi-sun)?” Lee Bong-won said, “At the time, I was at KBS, and (wife) Park Mi-sun was at MBC. But when SBS was launched, Shim Hyung-rae, Choi Yang-rak, and Kim Mi-hwa moved from KBS to SBS, and Park Mi-sun came from MBC. He recalled, ”That’s when I first met my wife.“ Then, Jeon Hyun-moo sharply pointed out, ”Park Mi-sun was the most popular among all three broadcasting companies. The competition must have been fierce,“ and Lee Bong-won boasted, ”Well, I was confident~,“ making everyone laugh.

The three who had even tried kimchi stew next headed to a special noodle house that has been in business since 1953. Jeon Hyun-moo raised the anticipation by explaining, ”This is a place that Park Chan-ho took me to before. It‘s a place my brother always visited before he went to the US.“ Immediately after, the three who entered the noodle house enjoyed delicious chestnut jelly salad and boiled pork salad, stimulating their salivary glands. When the long-awaited noodle house appeared, the three guessed, ”The main ingredient seems to be kimchi.“ However, the CEO surprised everyone by revealing that the main ingredient was ’green onion‘.

Towards the end of the meal, Jeon Hyun-moo cautiously asked Lee Bong-won, ”You talk confidently now, but it must have been really hard for you when your business failed.“ Lee Bong-won replied, ”It was hard. I borrowed a lot of money from private loans. I paid 6 million won in interest every month. (When the business failed) I had bad thoughts because I couldn’t find an answer. I went all the way to Banpo Bridge and just cried. My wife must have found out about this story through the broadcast. He said, “I didn‘t ask for help.”

He also said, “After (visiting Banpo Bridge), I thought I should earn money again and pay it off, so I quit my business and appeared at events and night clubs for 10 years to pay off all my debt.” He showed his sense of responsibility and perseverance in paying off 700 million won in debt and received ‘respect.’.

In the meantime, Lee Bong-won suddenly brought up the issue of marriage to Jeon Hyun-moo, asking, “Aren’t you going to get married?” Jeon Hyun-moo tried to evade him by saying, “I‘m half not going to do it and half not able to do it,” and Lee Bong-won replied, “I think it might be okay to get married at least once. These days, no one even talks about divorce. Legally, it’s like giving half of what you have to each other. My wife has a lot more (property), so she will never (get a divorce), right?”, making everyone laugh with a self-destructive(?) gag.

While the eating trip with Lee Bong-won ended with laughter, emotion, and empathy, the 31st eating trip with Jeon Hyun-moo and Kwak Tube will take place in ‘Sacheon, Gyeongnam’, and can be seen on the MBN·Channel S jointly produced entertainment show ‘Jeon Hyun-moo Plan 2’, which airs on the 24th (Friday) at 9:10 PM.

Jeong Hee-yeon, Donga.com reporter shine2562@donga.com
This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.