Scarface snorted and gritted his teeth.

“What nonsense is that? Stop hanging around getting on my nerves and get out of here already!”

Before I knew it, Aunt Saetbyeol, Aunt Hana, and Uncle Mingi had come trotting up beside me and stretched their necks to watch the scene.

“......Should I say it’s different from how he looks? Or should I say he really acts the way he looks......”

I thought the same. What kind of refreshingly novel bastard was that?

“But at least nothing serious happened, so that’s a relief.”

Aunt Saetbyeol hooked arms with Aunt Hana and went back into the shop. Uncle Mingi lightly tapped my standing-back.

“Jaeyi, let’s clean up and go back in too.”

“Yes......”

Even as I followed Uncle Mingi back inside, I couldn’t take my eyes off the place where Scarface had disappeared.

So why the hell had that bastard come here?

* * *

Scarface only reappeared thirty minutes later.

“Damn old lady, she sure wandered far.”

Looking as though he had finally escorted the old lady all the way to her destination, the foul-mouthed bastard returned.

Scarface let his shirt flutter and, without saying a word, took out an eel skewer and stuffed it into his mouth.

“Hey, bring me a glass of cold water here.”

“......”

I stood there with my arms crossed without replying, and Scarface rolled the hot fish cake around in his mouth before narrowing his eyes fiercely.

“What are you doing? Go get the water.”

I pointed my thumb toward the back.

“Can’t you see? Water is self-service.”

“Ha.”

Scarface threw the half-eaten fish cake skewer straight into the shop like an arrow.

“Has this thing lost its mind?”

I flinched, remembering the knife he had pointed at me that day, but I pretended not to be scared and lifted my chin higher.

In any case, that bastard could not hurt me. The evidence was that he had shown up alone in broad daylight where everyone could see him. To be honest, the fact that he had come back after helping the old lady made me relax a little too.

“Did Madam Yi send you?”

“Look at you.”

“Did she send you to go threaten me and tell me to leave?”

“Wow, look at this bastard. You know who sent me and you still act like this?”

I tensed the hand under my crossed arms. If it came to it, I was ready to splash the hot oil from the fryer on him.

“If you’re going to count that oden as a donation, then say what you have to say quickly and leave. You’ll drive away all the customers.”

“No. You’re doing well.”

At that moment, as if from nowhere, Beomyeong appeared silently and stood tightly beside Scarface. Seeing me with my eyes wide, Beomyeong smiled softly and looked back at Scarface.

“If something this ugly is staying put, then that’s real business disruption.”

Scarface twisted his lips in annoyance, but he couldn’t say a word to Beomyeong. It was a scene where the power dynamic between the two was painfully clear.

Beomyeong tapped Scarface’s shoulder and pushed open the shop door. As if he had heard the conversation between Scarface and me, he personally drew water from the dispenser, took the center table, and sat down.

“Why are you here again?”

“I told you. I’d disrupt your business. The thing that takes the longest here, that looks good. I’ll have a bowl of banquet noodles.”

Beomyeong ordered while scanning the menu on the wall, then pulled out a single tissue and neatly set up the spoon and chopsticks.

“If you’re not going to eat it, don’t order it. Throwing it away would annoy me more.”

“Why waste something precious? Make it quickly. I’m hungry.”

Beomyeong lifted the corners of his eyes pitifully and lightly grabbed his stomach.

Today Beomyeong was wearing a thick light-pink shirt and pale sky-blue jeans to match.

He had tucked the shirt neatly into his pants, so if you looked only at his appearance, he seemed like a freshman in college. In other words, he looked like someone you’d feel sorry for if he said he was hungry.

Scarface came into the shop looking stiff and uneasy. Seeing him sit across from Beomyeong, I went into the kitchen, made two bowls of noodles, and brought them out.

I set them down carelessly, and Scarface’s brows twitched as if he would burst out cursing at once. I snorted and ignored him, then told Beomyeong.

“Eat this and leave.”

“No.”

“Hey, who do you think you’re messing with?”

Scarface kicked back his chair and stood up.

“I’m telling you, if you keep this up.”

I stepped back in surprise, and Beomyeong raised his hand to stop Scarface. He pushed Scarface back into his seat and calmly poured sauce over the noodles, using his chopsticks to loosen the strands.

“If you have something to say, say it.”

“I didn’t believe what you said from the start, but how could you bring that man here? Don’t you remember that guy threatening to kill me? At the very least you should have considered that much, shouldn’t you?”

If I hadn’t been trained by Madam Yi back then, the average person would have gone to a psychiatrist, gotten a mountain of pills, and not been able to step a foot outside. No matter how you looked at it, wasn’t it too much to put the attacker and victim in the same space, even if the attack had only been attempted?

But when he heard my words, Beomyeong gave a faint laugh.

“I’m not the one who brought him.”

“What?”

“Uncle, did I tell you to do it?”

“No, well, that...... Madam told me to.”

“See?”

Beomyeong shrugged.

“Hah, is that even the important thing right now?”

Clinging to the end of my words was one thing, but who had sent Scarface was not the issue. The important thing was that Beomyeong had put that man and me in the same space without realizing there was anything wrong with it.

I didn’t believe him...... but he said he liked me. If that was sincere, he shouldn’t be doing this.

Beomyeong rested an elbow on the table.

“It is important. Because I agreed with Mom. We set boundaries with each other.”

“What boundaries.”

“Mom doesn’t use violence against hyung, and I don’t interfere with Mom.”

Beomyeong’s gaze moved toward Scarface. Scarface, who had been slurping noodles with the bowl lifted up, caught Beomyeong’s gaze and coughed awkwardly before putting the bowl down.

Scarface’s reaction made it seem like it wasn’t a lie, but it still wasn’t enough to calm my anger. No, it made me even more furious. It felt like a cap was playing territorial conquest against me.

“Am I some kind of trophy?”

“More precious than that.”

After answering, Beomyeong started eating the noodles with neat movements. It seemed like he meant I shouldn’t ask more, so I turned my gaze to Scarface.

While Beomyeong and I had been talking, Scarface had already finished off a bowl of noodles, even the broth, and he shifted his posture arrogantly when he caught my gaze.

“What.”

“I’ll let it slide that you came here to disrupt business. Why did you come then?”

Being treated like “that thing,” Beomyeong gave a faint laugh in the middle of eating the noodles. Scarface took the toothpick on the table and picked his teeth as he said,

“Yeah, I came to disrupt you too. They told me to keep an eye on you so you don’t do anything stupid.”

Mother and son were too similar. They definitely seemed to want opposite things, but the things they did were exactly the same.

“Don’t they tell you why they’re doing this?”

“How would I know?”

Scarface answered shamelessly and looked me up and down.

“I’m curious about you, too. What did you do?”

“If I knew, do you think I’d be asking you?”

I shot back as if he were pathetic, and Scarface’s face quickly twisted into a grimace. Scarface raised his hand sharply, then looked at Beomyeong and dropped it with a slight tremble.

“Ah, damn it. I can’t even hit you.”

Beomyeong looked steadily at Scarface. Scarface clicked his tongue, pushed his chair back hard, and stood.

“You sure look like your father, but the way you act is completely different.”

Scarface deliberately bumped my slanted shoulder as he passed. I was momentarily stunned, then hurriedly grabbed him.

“Are you already close with that man?”

Of course, that day I had gone to the arranged meeting place after receiving Joo Gwansik’s call and met Scarface there, so Scarface knew Joo Gwansik’s face, but the nuance didn’t seem to be limited to just knowing his face.

But there was no way a man like Joo Gwansik would have any decent acquaintances, so the only thing left was a debtor or something similar.

“Does that guy really have gambling debt or something? Like, if he runs away, does his family pay instead?”

Scarface looked at me in disbelief, then burst out laughing.

“Wow, this is really hilarious. You’re not worried about your own father, you’re worried you might have to pay his debt?”

Scarface gave me a shove and pointed behind him.

“If you’re curious, ask that young master over there.”

After patting the area where I had grabbed him, Scarface left the shop and turned into the alley, disappearing. Soon after, I heard the sound of a lighter being flicked.

When I turned sharply to Beomyeong, he was smiling brightly like he knew nothing.

I should have asked the one who would know. Like hell he would answer. I swallowed a sigh and pressed hard on my forehead.

“Why, of all things, did he have to say that...... it’s irritating.”

Calling him a bastard didn’t bother me. It was true. It was only natural for a bastard to be born under a bastard. What bothered me even more was the part about “you look like your father.”

My face, so closely resembling Joo Gwansik’s, was my biggest complex.

That damn man’s recessive genes were so strong that I looked enough like him for me to believe he had made me all by himself. My face, trait, and pheromone scent were all similar. He probably hadn’t meant anything by it, but my mood was ruined.