"Let's Reward Them with Money"... Outpouring Support for Mart Owner Who Prevented Customer Who Bought 'Soju and Lightning Gas' from Extreme Choice

Mart owner Lee In-ja (57) / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Eun-young] Following the recent story of a chicken restaurant that gained attention for treating financially struggling brothers to free chicken, citizens are now sending support to a mart owner who prevented a customer's extreme choice after purchasing soju and briquettes, saying "Let's reward them with our money."

On the 6th, an online community post spread widely with the name of a mart located in Hyoja-dong, Wansan-gu, Jeonju City, along with the phrase "Let's go reward them with our money."

According to the post, around 4:45 PM on the 28th of last month, a customer visited this mart. The customer stayed for about 20 minutes and silently purchased two bottles of soju and briquettes. Finding this suspicious, the mart owner immediately followed him.

The mart owner, Lee In-ja (57), followed the customer, checked the vehicle license plate, and reported to 112, saying, "A customer bought two bottles of soju and briquettes, and I have a bad feeling about it." About two hours later, the police confirmed that the vehicle was passing through Buan-eup, Buan-gun.

As Lee suspected, the customer was contemplating an extreme choice, but fortunately, after police contact, he returned home safely with his family.

Later, in an interview with Yonhap News, Lee said, "There were no customers who bought a lot or came in to greet me saying they saw the news," but added, "Although the store name was not mentioned in the news, regular customers came and left happily as if it were their own matter."

She also said, "I hope the customer who bought the alcohol and briquettes can believe that the world is still warm and find strength once again through this incident," adding, "If he comes to our mart again, I want to give him a big hug," which added warmth to the story.

On the 6th, a post introducing Mr. Lee's good deed was uploaded to a local online community, encouraging people to "go support him financially." / Photo by Online Community Capture

In response to this news, netizens also praised the story, saying, "This is a rare heartwarming story in these times," and "It's touching. The owner who saved a precious life is amazing."

The police plan to award a letter of appreciation to Lee for her prompt report that helped save a citizen.

Meanwhile, the recent online trend of 'Donzzul'?a combination of the words 'don' (money) and 'honzzul' (scolding)?is a movement encouraging people to buy goods from stores that have done good deeds after sharing heartwarming stories.

Earlier, on the 28th of last month, the owner of the chicken franchise 'Cheolin 7ho' in Hongdae, Mapo-gu, Seoul, gained attention for treating financially struggling brothers to free chicken, leading to a flood of chicken orders with people saying "We have to give them Donzzul."

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This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.