Jae-young, who had received the beer, slowly walked. While following a different path from his seat, he removed the caps from both beer bottles.
Jae-young stood next to the table of the men who had spilled beer on him.
“What.”
Not yet understanding the situation, the man who had moved his lips curtly started to grin. Jae-young smiled warmly towards them.
“Do you think I brought this for you to eat?”
Unlike his gentle smile, the words he uttered were not kind. Jae-young, holding a bottle in each hand, tilted the beer bottles over the men’s heads.
The yellowish, urine-like beer poured copiously. Suddenly, he recalled a commotion from the past. His already uncomfortable mood doubled in displeasure.
“What? What are you… shibal! Are you crazy?”
“Damn it! What do you think you’re doing?!”
The two Americans opened their eyes wide and jumped up from their seats. It wasn’t fully spilled yet. He wasted no time in pouring the remaining beer over them.
“This bastard!”
“How’s the taste of beer?”
“What?!”
“I didn’t like it much, but I hope you enjoyed it.”
One of the Americans, who had roughly shaken off his beer-soaked hair, grabbed Jae-young’s collar. He was pushed back by the force of the grip and then forcibly pulled towards the man. He couldn’t stop laughing because the man’s face, turning red and blue, was so funny.
“Is this guy crazy?”
“Fight? You have bare fists, but I have a beer bottle…”
“Who do you think you’re putting your hands on?”
Just as he was confronting the American with a wide smile, a new voice interrupted.
“Ugh…”
When a third person firmly gripped the man’s arm, the man’s face distorted mercilessly. The man, who had been trying to twist his arm free, realized he couldn’t easily shake off the grip and removed his hand from Jae-young.
Jae-young’s gaze moved from the third person’s hand to his arm, and finally to his face.
“Jeremy?”
Jae-young exclaimed his name almost like a gasp. Jeremy was stubbornly holding onto the man’s wrist. His gaze began to examine Jae-young.
“You’re not letting go?”
The man continued his endless attempts to escape from Jeremy. Jeremy’s gaze became even more fierce when he noticed that Jae-young’s pants were wet.
Looking at his expression, he realized. This was more Jeremy’s true nature than what Jae-young had been seeing all along.
“Victor…”
Suddenly, the man’s friend’s voice trembled. Victor was probably the name of the man who was being restrained by Jeremy.
Jeremy pushed the arm of the guy called Victor against his chest. The American held Jeremy’s forearm with his other hand and leaned back. His half-lying body invaded the adjacent chair.
“That Tiny is indeed arrogant, but that doesn’t mean just anyone can discipline him. If something happens to him, I’m the one who gets scolded by Logi.”
“Damn it! Can’t you hear me saying let go? Is your ear blocked…?”
“Victor!”
“Why aren’t you helping me quickly…!”
“Goddammit, look at the tattoo on the back of his hand!”
The conversation that went back and forth without a pause finally came to an end. At the man’s last words, the guy called Victor looked down at the hand that was pushing his arm against his chest.
The eyes that had been stained with anger until just a moment ago suddenly widened. What they saw was the tattoo engraved on the back of Jeremy’s hand. The tattoo unique to their family that was also on Sa Gong-hyun’s forearm.
The faces of the two Americans turned pale. Not just pale, they also began to tremble. From their reaction alone, one could feel that the family was quite an infamous organization.
So that’s why they had tattoos. Jae-young’s lips parted slightly at this untimely realization.
As Jeremy took the beer bottle Jae-young was holding, Jae-young’s eyes immediately grew large.
Crash! Jeremy smashed the beer bottle on the edge of the table. The sharp cracking sound penetrated all the way to the eardrum.
“So. What changes after you’ve confirmed my tattoo?”
“…”
Oh… Jae-young let out a small exclamation. He showed an attitude as if he were watching a scene from a movie in real-time.
The guy called Victor silently moved his lips. The mouth that had been spewing rough words until just now had become dumb as a mute who had eaten honey.
“Jeremy.”
“Tiny, you stay put.”
It seemed like the guy might lose his breath before Jeremy could do anything. When Jae-young called Jeremy quietly, he warned without even looking back.
It wasn’t particularly that he wanted to stop him. It was the other side that had first disrespected Jae-young and picked a fight.
“Staying put isn’t difficult, but at this rate, the police will come.”
However, he didn’t want things to escalate either. Jae-young belatedly realized that the inside of the store had become disorderly. The second day had already been wasted like that, and now today would be wasted like this too? Just the thought was distasteful.
“Let them come. With how much bribe money those guys have been fed.”
It seemed he didn’t care about that hint in the slightest. Jae-young frowned. He extended his hand and struck the back of Jeremy’s hand, which was pressing down on Victor’s arm.
“Tiny!”
“That’s enough. Look at him. He looks like he’s about to wet himself. This much is sufficient.”
“…”
“Ah, quickly.”
Jae-young deliberately smiled playfully and grabbed Jeremy’s wrist. He also lightly tapped Jeremy’s shoulder as if to say this was enough. He tried to take away the beer bottle Jeremy was holding, but it was impossible as Jeremy wouldn’t loosen his grip.
It seemed he still wasn’t over his anger. Jeremy looked down at Victor with blazing eyes.
“Should I beat this bastard up if he doesn’t listen now? I haven’t given any bribes or anything to the police here, so you know what will happen if I get arrested like this, right?”
“…Damn it.”
Jeremy, who had been acting as if he would hit Victor’s face with the broken beer bottle at any moment, backed down. He put aside the beer bottle he had received and pulled Jae-young away.
It was agreed that it was Victor and his friend’s responsibility to clean up the chaotic scene. Jae-young, after apologizing to the employee, trudged out of the store. Jeremy’s presence made him too uncomfortable to brazenly sit and fill his stomach.
Why on earth would he get a tattoo in a position that couldn’t be covered? The discomfort from having a mafia member as a companion was greater than expected.
“Ah, I’m hungry.”
Jae-young let out a deep sigh. As he grasped his hungry stomach, Jeremy frowned.
“I told you to eat there. I’ve never seen someone as stubborn as you.”
“Hyun is also quite stubborn.”
“Hyun?”
“You’re supposed to be brothers, but you don’t know your brother’s Korean name? Logi.”
“It’s just not familiar to me.”
“After taking such care of him. But why did you come back after abandoning him?”
“When did I abandon him? Who was the one who disappeared without a trace while I was parking the car?”
“This is ridiculous. Fine, just guide me quickly. Focus on good restaurants.”
“First, change your clothes. It’s funny because you look like you wet yourself.”
The bickering went back and forth endlessly. Jeremy had returned to his talkative, whimsical self as if he had never been angry.
Tsk… I didn’t wet myself. He shuddered unconsciously.
Jae-young was only able to receive proper guidance after spending an hour and a half with him.
The sun had set, but on the streets of Manhattan, it still seemed like the sun was up. The neon signs of the billboards were so bright that there was no need to turn on the street lights.
His legs hurt from having walked around many places with Jeremy until sunset.
Jae-young, crouched in the middle of Times Square, looked up at Jeremy. Jeremy, who was standing with one leg crossed, soon drew an arc with his lips.
Before his hand could rise into the air, Jae-young jumped up from his seat. Following Jeremy’s gaze, he could see Sa Gong-hyun frowning from a distance.
“Hyun-ssi!”
Jae-young’s face brightened. The sight of him at this moment was so welcome that he ran to him first. He held Sa Gong-hyun’s hand tightly and raised the corners of his mouth without hesitation.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
