“Hey, Owner! Aren’t you going to wipe this down? Just how many times do I have to tell you!”
Ah… That damn bastard, seriously.
As I was pulling espresso into a cup, I grimaced at the unwelcome voice coming from behind me.
That jerk has been calling me over for a while now, nagging me to wipe here, wipe the floor, pointing out some spot over there, picking on absolutely anything and everything just to torment me.
“Gosh, Owner. Why is that incredibly rude punk still sitting over there instead of leaving? He’s been acting like that for two full hours. Doesn’t he get tired of it?”
“He swarmed in here with his friends and found a fun hobby in ordering me around, so why would he get tired of it?”
“I’ll go over this time. Our owner is going to end up falling sick at this rate. I need to give him a piece of my mind. That kid is Jinsu, the grandson of the Sora Raw Fish Restaurant, right? I heard he came back to the island because his university went on break. Let me go over and say something.”
Why on earth is his name Jinsu and not Jinsang?
They sound so similar, they might as well just call him Jinsang (a nuisance).
I held back my employee, who was thoroughly determined to head over to him.
It was obvious he would just call me over again anyway, so there was no need to make an innocent person feel bad.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll go. The customers have thinned out a bit, so please take a break and catch your breath.”
After soothing the employee who was getting angry on my behalf, I left the kitchen and headed toward the table.
I couldn’t possibly ask an employee who was well over sixty to deal with a young, troublesome customer.
Who knows what that insolent punk might do to my precious employee…
It was truly difficult to hire staff around here.
Even though it’s on a small scale, this area is the central district of the island, so government offices, companies, hospitals, and markets are clustered together.
Because of that, there were quite a few customers looking for coffee before work or after meals.
When customers poured in during the lunch rush, we were short-handed, but there was simply no one around the right age demographic to work a part-time job.
Seojoo was around, but he had days when he had to go out to Seoul, so I needed a permanent, resident employee.
After a truly difficult search, I met someone who was interested in cafe work, and we’ve been working together ever since while I slowly taught him the ropes.
Contrary to my initial worries, hiring him was a massive success. I was extremely satisfied with my choice.
She possesses a level of skill and experience that young people my age lack, and she even builds a great rapport with the customers, making them feel comfortable visiting this place.
I’ve benefited so much from him that she even introduced me to another acquaintance, allowing me to secure a weekend part-time worker as well.
Therefore, I could never send this lucky charm of an employee to face a ruffian like him.
It’s much better for someone like me, who has been through all sorts of hardships, to go and clear the mess.
I must absolutely protect my precious employee.
Believe it or not, I have a high tolerance for humiliation and a strong resilience.
Being taken advantage of, being betrayed, being beaten up—I’ve experienced all of these situations and maxed out my stats.
Dealing with a slick, mocking punk like him is a piece of cake.
He’s a guy who will disappear before March anyway, so I just need to deal with him with a casual smile and send him on his way.
What’s the point of getting stressed over it?
Smile, Cha Haejoo.
A smile is the best weapon in the service industry.
As I approached him, he frowned and looked me up and down.
“Owner. Your actions are way too slow. Is this your first time running a business?”
Yeah. It’s my first time, so what are you going to do about it?
“It’s obvious at a single glance that you’re a novice. But if you run a business like this, you won’t be able to build competitiveness anywhere. Huh? Just because your business is doing okay on this tiny, cramped island, it seems like you don’t know much. Why don’t you go out to the city sometime and do some market research? Aren’t you around my age? Move around diligently and take a look at some franchises. Since you wiped what was spilled over there, bring me a glass of water too.”
Water?
Why does this bastard keep speaking down to me informally?
There’s no need to fall for his amateur provocations, but it’s a fact that a young kid using informal speech is highly unpleasant.
Filtering out the nuisance’s babble through one ear, I put on a soulless smile.
“Thank you for the good feedback. And as for the water, you can pour it yourself over there.”
Can’t you see the water dispenser right next to the syrup?
Good feedback, my foot—stop acting so pathetic and shut your mouth.
You’ve barely left this island for Seoul for a hot second.
I found this young thing, who was acting all knowledgeable and looking down on people, completely laughable.
A young kid being so bratty… It seems he suddenly wants to act prestigious just because he got a taste of Seoul life.
“No, I don’t mean that kind of lemon water, I mean pour me some regular bottled water.”
“You have to purchase bottled water separately. Ah… Did you spill here too? Why do you spill so much? Is there a hole in your jaw?”
“……?”
Oh no, my inner thoughts slipped out of my mouth without me realizing.
I mean, why is a fully grown adult spilling things left and right, calling me over multiple times?
“What—what did you just say?”
“I said you have to purchase bottled water separately.”
“Not that part, repeat what you said right after that.”
Seeing how he’s asking me back, he clearly heard it perfectly fine, so why is he asking again?
Does he want to hear an unpleasant phrase twice?
Having finished wiping the table, I lifted my face and forced a bright grin.
Ah, running a private business is so exhausting.
Because I forced myself to smile, a cramp formed near my mouth.
“I heard it perfectly clearly with my own ears, so don’t act innocent and say it again. To a customer, what? A hole in your jaw? Is this how you run a local neighborhood business?”
Look at this.
Since you heard it perfectly fine, why do you keep wanting to hear it again, you nuisance? I’m running my local neighborhood business perfectly fine, okay?
“I am completely offended right now, so give me your name and phone number, Owner. I can’t just let this slide.”
“My name is ‘Owner’ and I don’t own a phone.”
It was right when I was engaging in a trivial war of words with this young thing.
I felt a strange gaze from somewhere and instinctively turned my head.
However, excluding a few customers chatting in the seating area, no one was looking at me.
Strange… I definitely felt a gaze just now?
I scanned the outside of the cafe with anxious eyes.
Lately, I’ve been feeling an inexplicable gaze uniquely more often.
Although I haven’t caught anyone directly looking at me, it just felt that way based on my intuition.
Am I being too sensitive?
Now that I’m finally settling down, clearing my head, and living my own life, I’m anxious that something might happen again.
Because I went through far too many incidents and my period of wandering was quite long, am I just perceiving everything too sensitively?
I carefully looked around my surroundings.
“You son of a bitch, what do you think you’re doing right now?”
While I was turned around looking toward the back window, Seojoo had entered the cafe before I knew it.
Without loosening his fierce expression, Seojoo brushed past me and strode directly over to the nuisance sitting among his friends.
“Hey, why do you keep coming here to cause a scene? You look like an Alpha, so are you acting this crazy because you don’t know what happens when you carelessly threaten an Omega?”
Without hiding his rage, pheromones began to leak from Seojoo’s body.
It was a unique pheromone scent that blended fragrant coffee and whiskey.
Should I call it a heavy, thick, typical Alpha pheromone?
It was a moment that made me realize anew that Seojoo was indeed an Alpha.
Due to a pheromone imbalance, the only Alpha pheromones I could smell were those of my family members.
I could distinguish the pheromones of Seojoo, dad, and Hanbin Hyung well enough to know exactly whose was whose.
I remember being startled when I first caught a whiff of Seojoo’s pheromones a few days after escaping.
It was a pitch-black night.
Standing against the ocean breeze, Seojoo was standing there blankly by himself, lost in thought.
He didn’t even seem to realize his pheromones were leaking out.
My guess was that he was thinking about Hyunwook.
The pheromones leaking from Seojoo like that were shockingly mature, and remarkably, I wasn’t affected by Seojoo’s pheromones at all.
Just like with Hanbin Hyung’s pheromones, there was no reaction or change in my body.
Even between Alphas and Omegas, one is completely unaffected by the pheromones of blood-related family.
However, genetically speaking, Seojoo and I are strangers in this world.
Although we were blood brothers before my transmigration, we share no blood relation here.
Yet, for some reason, my body didn’t react to his pheromones, just like a real blood sibling.
I can’t describe how fortunate that was.
If I had been affected by dad’s or Seojoo’s pheromones and gone into heat, it would have been the ultimate, trashy mess.
We were classified as strangers and lived in different environments as members of different families.
But seeing how we don’t react to each other’s pheromones like this, we truly are an undeniable family after all.
“C-Can you do something about your pheromones first? Let’s talk it out, let’s talk.”
The nuisance, blocking his nose and mouth, barely managed to speak.
While I was feeling familial love through Seojoo’s pheromones, the nuisance was crying out in pain due to them.
If a blatant hostility is mixed into the pheromones of a matching Alpha, it must feel incredibly nauseating.
Though he isn’t a dominant type, Seojoo’s pheromones are quite strong.
Even if they are both Alphas, there’s no way the nuisance could suppress Seojoo.
I lightly tugged on Seojoo’s sleeve, signaling him to wrap up his pheromones.
Given that even I could sense the pheromones this clearly, the nuisance might actually die at this rate.
Understanding my intent, Seojoo reluctantly withdrew his pheromones, grabbed the nuisance threateningly by the scruff of his neck, and dragged him toward the door.
He then flung him outside like he was throwing trash and issued a ban from entering the cafe.
The other customers in the cafe seemed to find the punk quite bothersome as well, looking thoroughly refreshed by the sight.
While I apologized to the customers for causing a disturbance, Seojoo dusted off his hands and walked back inside.
“I’m sorry. I was being indecisive, so only you ended up suffering.”
“What do you mean suffering? If he ever talks crap to you again, Hyung, I’m seriously not letting him off.”
Seojoo displays a sensitive demeanor whenever anyone so much as approaches me.
The shock Seojoo experienced upon hearing everything about what I went through in the palace and how I was treated was immense.
He had a hard time to the point of being bedridden with an illness caused by pent-up anger for several days.
After that, he tried his best not to bring up past events.
Even now, if I don’t quickly change the subject, the sensitive Seojoo will end up worrying a lot.
With a bright expression, I pointed at the piece of paper in Seojoo’s hand.
“By the way, what is that?”
“Ah, this? It got completely crumpled because of that bastard. Didn’t you say you wanted to learn how to make desserts a while ago, Hyung? It turns out a place like this opened up here.”
Seojoo handed over a flyer with a brightened face. What is this? A dessert class?
“If it’s a dessert class, is it learning baking and pastry making?”
“It’s not just simply learning, they say they connect you with a sponsor so that you can generate income with the bread you make? I guess an institution is sponsoring it. The deadline for application and the required documents for applicants are listed here.”
Oh, this looks pretty good? Let’s see. You don’t even need a license.
A health certificate, a copy of your identification card, a copy of your bankbook, a certified copy of your residency registration.
There’s nothing difficult.
I checked the required documents with sparkling eyes.
