episode_0178

When you hear the word “plan,” you might think there’s something grand about it, but in reality, when you open the lid, there’s nothing like that. It’s just that as I get older, and as I live in the neighborhood for a long time like our parents, connections naturally accumulate, and I just wanted to use those connections a little. It’s not just my problem from the start, it’s a problem involving these kids, that is, my cousins who are parents to my nieces and nephews. There’s no way I can just sit back and watch quietly.

“You don’t even know what I do and you’re not interested. If you’re just going to run wild believing in your parents’ reputation, it’s honestly a bit pathetic. If you don’t want to make a big deal out of it, just shut up and play games. In real life, everything is intertwined like a mess…”

“What? Have you lost your mind…”

As he reached out his hand towards me, I slapped his hand loudly.

“Where do you think you’re touching? What era do you think this is, trying to use violence now? Try it. It’ll be fun.”

I brought my right cheek close as if to say, “If you can hit, go ahead and hit.” A situation where action is taken immediately.

His expression, momentarily taken aback as if he didn’t expect me to come out so strong, twisted in an instant as I raised the arm I had slapped away.

He raised his hand not in a fist but with an open palm to strike, but…

-Snap!

It was blocked by someone’s hand. It was none other than Daun, who had been stopping me every time I tried to step forward.

The reason I held Daun back. It was because of his height, standing close to 190cm, and his large build that made most adults look down on him. Besides, he’s a reckless guy who even learns martial arts as a hobby. I honestly couldn’t understand why this guy in front of me, with Daun’s size and appearance, was so cocky.

“Hey, what? Let go?”

“Are you trying to hit our aunt? I’ve been holding back from cursing you (I didn’t hold back. I stopped you) but it seems like it won’t work. Follow me.”

As Daun grabbed his arm and pulled him along, he was dragged away without resistance. He wasn’t small in stature, and he had muscles showing from working out, but he couldn’t resist Daun physically.

“Hey, let go! Won’t let go?! This bastard!”

He swung his fist with his free hand, but…

-Snap!

As expected, Daun turned around and immediately grabbed his fist, pulling his arm along with it.

“Hey, damn it. Let go! You little brat. Do you know who I am?”

As the loud voice echoed in the small internet cafe, a few customers who had been paying attention to this place soon sat back down and resumed their activities after seeing the tattooed man. It seemed that this man had caused trouble before.

“I don’t care who you are, and you’re not that great just because you talk like that. Just don’t say anything.”

“You X! ”

I don’t know, he was so typical of a villain that it was a bit nauseating.

“Even if you do this, do you think you’ll get away with it?”

“So what? Attempted assault, threatening a minor. Just doing these two things doesn’t seem like it will work in our favor, right?”

“Hey, part-timer!”

Suddenly calling out to the young man standing behind the counter, the tattooed man.

“Call the police right now. Can’t you see these kids are gathering and I’m being assaulted?”

Nonsense. But anyway, since the part-timer had been watching us get into a dispute earlier and had kept his hands off, there was a risk of complying with his words.

I picked up the phone and started making a call somewhere.

-Click. “Hello?”

I deliberately continued the call as if suggesting to listen through the speakerphone.

“Hey, Park Byun.”

-“Yes? What’s going on all of a sudden, Cheohyeong?”

“It’s nothing. I have something to ask. What’s the punishment for false statements?”

-“Why… Anyway, depending on the severity, it’s imprisonment for 1 to 10 years.”

As if he heard me, the part-timer glanced at me, visibly nervous, and quietly put down the phone he was holding.

“Okay, thanks.”

-“No, Cheohyeong. What’s going on? You didn’t get involved in any violent incident, did you?”

“Well… I’ll tell you when I get back.”

-“Ugh, be careful. Lately, someone who’s never been in trouble with the police…”

“Stop nagging. I’ll contact you later. Don’t tell the adults for no reason. They’ll worry.”

-“Okay, be careful.”

I hung up and looked back at the tattooed man.

“So, you’re causing a fuss trusting your father too much. Oh, how old are you? You started speaking informally first, so I did too.”

Blatantly showing off his connections as a lawyer seemed to slightly deflate his arrogance. As expected, this type is the typical strong-weak-strong. Those trashy people who are weak to the strong and strong to the weak.

“I’m 32 years old. Oh, why!”

“Ha, still a naive kid… Listen. I’ve lived in this neighborhood for a long time. So I know a lot of people. Um… do you know Hong Younggyu?”

We weren’t very close, but I had a friend from school who was involved in this dark side. We still occasionally keep in touch, and even though he didn’t come to the alumni association before, we still have a drink when we think of each other.

“…!”

Since it’s a small neighborhood, I thought everyone in the same industry would know each other, and it seems he immediately recognized who it was.

“Should I give Younggyu a call? Tell him that this young kid doesn’t know how scary the world is and is talking nonsense? How about that, it seems like it would be fun.”

“T-That…!”

“Hmm… Or did your father say he’s in the loan business? Do you know Park Younggam from the Mulberry House? Honestly, in this neighborhood, there’s probably no place untouched by his influence in the loan business. He’s close with our father.”

By the way, my father is in charge of the neighborhood. So, his connections were wide, and I wondered if there was anyone who could say something to our house with his connections.

Since it’s a rural neighborhood, there are many elderly people, and even among them, there are some wealthy ones. What do those wealthy people do with the money they have? There were quite a few people in the loan business who lent money to people around them and took interest. The Park Younggam I mentioned was a huge wealthy person in this neighborhood who was counted on one hand in that direction. So, no matter how much power this tattooed man’s father had in this neighborhood, in the end, he was under Park Younggam’s influence.

“What do you think, want to consider it?”

“Ah, no. No, I’m sorry.”

Now that the conversation seemed to be going well, I smiled and looked at him.

“Hmm, why did you do that? Disturbing someone who’s just playing a game quietly.”

“That… I was just frustrated because the game wasn’t going well, so I stopped…”

“Did you have to curse at them?”

“No. That’s not it.”

“You did something wrong, didn’t you?”

He rolled his eyes and looked at the kids standing behind me. Maybe he felt embarrassed to apologize in front of the kids?

But anyway, since the kids were the ones who were insulted by this tattooed man, they had the right to hear an apology.

“Well… Yes. I’m sorry.”

“Okay. Well, if you feel bad and say or do anything, how is that different from an animal?”

“Ha… Yes…”

“Alright. Let’s be careful. Got it? Let’s act with some common sense while watching people… No, let’s not watch people and just behave sensibly. Got it?”

“Yes… But, um… How old is Miss…?”

Is it uncomfortable for me, who looks young and naive, to keep talking? Well, even my friend Hong Young-kyu, whom I mentioned earlier, looks like he’s in his 40s at first glance because of his slight presbyopia, so it’s understandable that calling such a person a neighborhood friend might seem strange.

“I’m the same age as Young-kyu. We’re classmates. Yeah. I’m 39. Why? Were you going to speak informally because I’m young?”

“No, no. It’s just that you look a bit young.”

I don’t know. Once you step on it, there seems to be a tendency for people to look a bit pathetic.

“I won’t thank you. You did something. Anyway… Da-un. Let go now.”

Da-un, who was still holding the tattooed man’s hands, looked back and forth between the tattooed man and me at my words, then soon released his hands.

“Oh, auntie. Be careful. Seriously. If I hadn’t stopped this person from hitting you earlier, what would have happened?”

“Ah~ I trust you, that’s why I act like this. Hehe.”

“Anyway…”

Unable to stop him, I just smiled softly at Da-un, who shook his head horizontally.

“Alright, anyway!”

And after attracting the attention of the children, I looked back and forth between the tattooed man and Da-un for a moment.

“Although there was a bad incident, well, we had fun, so let’s start heading home now.”

“Yes. Oh, but auntie. What should we do with this?”

And Da-un handed me the tripod and camera he was holding in his hand.

“Oh, were you still filming?”

“Yes.”

Seeing the embarrassed expression on the tattooed man’s face at the mention of filming, I smiled once and said, “Just save it for now and edit it later, okay.”

After answering, I left the PC room.