Chapter 40
Siwan stood in front of Ju Pyeonghwa and Jang Sinyeong with a stiff face, lowering his voice.
“You followed us all the way here?”
It was too much of a stretch to say their destinations had merely overlapped. He had watched those men circle the building and disappear before entering.
Sure enough, the man with the buzz cut stood by the door, leaning on one leg with a smirk.
When the men behind him nudged him forward, the buzz-cut man chuckled and stepped closer.
“Mm, to be precise, we didn’t follow you. Kid, we were waiting for you.”
“….”
Waiting for him? How could they claim that when they showed up late?
This was obviously a provocation.
‘Did they try to mess with Chief Ju and failed, so now they’re venting at me?’
Instinctively, Siwan scanned for other exits in the restaurant.
He spotted a steel door at the back of the kitchen—probably the back door.
Siwan was torn.
This was Hana’s parents’ restaurant. He could run away through there, sure—but would the restaurant be safe afterward?
And there was a bigger problem.
Their target was Ju Hana. He had to take her with him if he escaped. But he had no idea where she was right now.
Calling the police was also an option, but he didn’t want to cause a scene unless absolutely necessary.
‘Her parents might get caught up in it…’
As he weighed his options, Ju Pyeonghwa suddenly jumped in and shouted.
“Hey, punk! How dare you speak so casually to our Director Hana! I still call her ‘Director,’ you know!”
Siwan blanked out for a second.
How could he speak so confidently even after seeing their scary faces? Maybe running a restaurant wasn’t for the faint of heart.
Ju Pyeonghwa stepped forward, pushing past Siwan, and started rolling up his sleeves like he was about to brawl.
Siwan, startled, quickly grabbed Ju Pyeonghwa from behind.
“P-please, Father, calm down.”
In his panic, he accidentally placed a hand on Ju Pyeonghwa’s chest.
He’d assumed it was all fat, but his chest wasn’t soft or squishy at all—it felt like solid wood boards had been stuffed under his shirt.
More shocking was that, even with Siwan clinging to him, Ju Pyeonghwa was still marching forward with big steps.
Like an angry turtle walking with seaweed hanging from its body.
For reference, the “seaweed” was Siwan.
The buzz-cut man smiled strangely.
“You’re the weird one, hyungnim.”
The word hyungnim tilted Siwan’s head a good 15 degrees.
Hyungnim?
Suddenly, a cinematic story played out in his mind.
A former gang leader who left the organization to open a snack shop and live a peaceful life. But the boss wasn’t pleased and sent subordinates to persuade him to come back.
The buzz-cut man, a field captain with orders to convince or bury the guy if he refused.
Their eyes lock across the room, tension crackling—
While Siwan mentally drafted the movie’s script, Ju Pyeonghwa turned pale and frantically waved his hands.
“Hey! It’s not like that yet, okay?!”
With desperation in his voice, he glared at the buzz-cut man.
We’re just getting to know each other! Don’t go scaring him off with talk about boyfriends!
The buzz-cut man just grinned wider.
“Oh come on, hyungnim. That guy said it himself.”
He took a deep breath, then shouted with full conviction.
“I! AM! JU HANA’S! BOYFRIENNNND!”
Siwan flailed in protest.
“W-wait a minute! When did I ever yell ‘I AM JU HANA’S BOYFRIENNNND!’ like that?!”
“Oh, right. My bad. I misremembered.”
“Exactly.”
“You said—‘I am the boyfriend of the small, precious lady behind me.’ Right?”
For some reason, the three brutish men in the back started shaking with laughter at that line.
A man with a long scar on his face stepped in.
“Boss, I was seriously moved. Even though there were four of us, he still said, ‘She’s mine. Leave her alone and scram.’”
Ju Pyeonghwa chuckled sheepishly.
“Hey now, I’ve been retired for ages. Don’t call me boss.”
“Once a boss, always a boss! You retired as a lieutenant, right?”
“You wanna die? Anyway… So our Director Hana—er, I mean, Do Seobang—really said that, huh?”
Before Siwan could explain himself again, the buzz-cut man chimed in.
“Hyungnim, the whole neighborhood heard him. Hana’s practically married off now. Even the little kids around here know she’s taken.”
With these intimidating men cackling around him, Siwan had no chance to interrupt.
He just stood there, dazed and overwhelmed, until Jang Sinyeong gently patted his back.
“Don’t worry too much, Do Seobang. These guys are just my husband’s old coworkers. Total jokesters.”
“Excuse me, your husband’s old job was…?”
“He was a detective in Violent Crimes.”
“……”
So those scary men were detectives.
Siwan buried his face in his hands. His cheeks were so hot they practically burned his palms.
He’d warned them about calling the cops. How ridiculous must that have sounded in front of actual detectives?
Later, he learned they were all unmarried and saw Hana as their beloved niece or daughter.
Despite the overwhelming embarrassment, Siwan had one clear thought.
‘Ah… so Chief Ju wasn’t being harassed. That’s a relief.’
Meanwhile, what was Ju Hana doing?
She had been hiding behind the kitchen refrigerator, watching everything unfold.
She was shocked, flustered, and beyond embarrassed—but also felt she couldn’t just let Siwan leave without at least feeding him.
She’d tied on her apron with that resolve, but the moment she saw Siwan chatting with her parents, her mind practically exploded.
This wasn’t like when Gudonggeun made her snap—it was something completely different.
She had grown up seeing those uncles, but even she had to admit—they looked like gangsters.
If you lined them up next to real thugs and asked, “Who looks like the criminal?”, nine out of ten people would point at her uncles.
And Siwan… had stood up to them so confidently.
Just thinking about it made her breath hitch.
‘He was so cool… Is this what they mean by a prince on a white horse?’
Seeing him greet her parents so gently, with that handsome face, made her lips curl up in delight.
Then her Uncle Sangpil, the one with the square buzz cut, walked in—and suddenly, she remembered something.
—“I! AM! JU HANA’S! BOYFRIENNNND!”
Siwan hadn’t shouted like that.
Hana remembered it perfectly.
—“I’m her boyfriend. The boyfriend of the lady behind me.”
His soft but firm voice echoed in her ears again, and her face flushed bright red.
She understood completely—it was to protect her. He hadn’t meant it literally.
She wasn’t misinterpreting it at all.
Still, it was… really cool.
“Haah…”
Leaning against the fridge, her face dreamy, she sighed.
“Even so… did he really have to call himself my boyfriend? He could’ve just said we knew each other…”
Grinning like a fool, she murmured to herself.
But suddenly, a chill ran down her spine. Slowly turning her head, her eyes met those of Jang Sinyeong.
“Kyahhh!”
She shrieked in surprise, and Jang Sinyeong smacked her on the arm.
“Why are you screaming at your own mother, you brat? That hurt my feelings.”
“You snuck up on me without a sound!”
“Shh!”
Jang Sinyeong pressed a finger to her lips, then pointed a thumb toward the main hall.
“Your boyfriend’s been waiting forever. He’s surrounded by your dad and uncles right now getting interrogated—go rescue him.”
“H-he’s not my boyfriend…”
“Whatever. Just go.”
Back in the hall, Siwan was still being interrogated by the terrifying detectives when a sudden memory hit him—where had he heard the name Bunsik Heaven before?
⋮
Two weeks ago, his father, Do Myeongjin, had randomly brought it up.
—“Siwan, I want tteokbokki and fried food.”
—“All of a sudden? Should I order some?”
When Siwan opened the food delivery app, his father shook his head.
—“The place I want doesn’t deliver.”
—“In this day and age?”
—“It’s a place called Bunsik Heaven. They have something called ‘Luxury Flaming Rosé Tteokbokki.’ I’ve always wanted to try it.”
After Siwan developed an eating disorder, his father had never once said he wanted anything to eat. So this must’ve really been a sincere craving.
Confidently, Siwan had responded:
—“Yes, Dad. I’ll take you this weekend.”
⋮
‘And I completely forgot about that… I’m such a terrible son.’
