Normally, he would never be welcome, but just for today, there was no guest more welcome than this one who visited the office.

"Thanks for letting me use it."

It was Seo-jun.

As Hwang Tae-su received the car key back, the past few days flashed through his mind.

Ahh… what painful days those were. He couldn’t even show it to his subordinates, only sweating profusely. But now… now, he didn’t have to do that anymore.

Sniff.

He felt like he might burst into tears at any moment. And for some reason, he felt grateful to Seo-jun again.

Even though, technically, it was just getting back what he had lent out.

"…Thank you."

"I'm the one who should thank you."

"Did you have a good vacation?"

"Thanks to you. Ah… though there was a little accident."

Thud!

Hwang Tae-su felt his heart drop.

Accident…?

What kind of accident?

No way. Surely not…

"It lightly bumped into a tree, and the rear bumper got damaged. I had it replaced locally, but I thought I should at least let you know."

Damn it!

Rage surged through him for a moment.

Do you know how much that car costs?

And yet, he couldn’t even drive it carefully?

No… wait. Maybe I should just be grateful it wasn’t worse.

That thought suddenly occurred to him.

His car came back intact after being in the hands of Monster 1 and 2, didn’t it?

Anyway, the rear bumper’s a consumable part…

Thinking that way lightened his heart.

"Haha. That kind of thing is practically just a daily scratch."

"Well, I’ll be heading off now."

"Already?"

"Would you rather I stayed here longer?"

"…."

Seo-jun smirked and walked out of the office.

A short while after Seo-jun left the office, Hwang Tae-su went down to the parking lot to check the car. He looked it over thoroughly.

"The interior is clean."

It seemed they had even cleaned it before returning it. It used to smell like cigarettes, but now there was a fresh lavender scent.

"Did they replace the rear bumper too?"

It actually looked cleaner than before. The previous bumper had some scratches.

Taking out a cigarette, Hwang Tae-su chuckled.

So Monster 1 wasn’t that bad after all.

Well, maybe he’s even a good guy. I mean, he cleaned it before returning it.

Come to think of it, he even got a delicious meal from him last time, didn’t he?

"You bastard."

As he, in his forties, experienced the dangerous charm of a so-called bad guy, his eyes suddenly caught sight of the wheel.

"Huh?"

Something seemed off.

"Huh? Huhhh?"

He squatted down and inspected the wheel closely.

"…."

It felt like time had stopped.

The wheels he cherished, polished to a shine… had scratches on them!

All four of them!

"Compensate… Just one car. Just one… compensaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE—!"

Scratch, scratch.

"What's wrong, Demon God?"

"My ears suddenly started itching."

"Shall I take a look?"

"It’s fine."

With that, Seo-jun opened the store door. He wasn’t planning to open for business or anything.

For Yeon-jun, this vacation was his first in six years. So he was going to let him rest fully at least until today.

He came to the store because, while Yeon-jun was resting, he figured he might as well do a full cleaning.

"I'll start with the bathroom."

Was it because their relationship had shifted from Demon King and Hero to creditor and debtor?

Surprisingly, Park Yeon quietly picked up the mop and headed into the bathroom.

"Demon God, what should I do?"

"I told you to call me hyung."

"But I'm not used to it yet…"

"Then you need to get used to it. What excuse will you make if someone hears you?"

"That’s… true."

"So just call me comfortably from now on."

"Understood, Seo-jun hyung."

"Good job."

"Yes, Seo-jun hyung."

"Right."

"Yes, Seo-jun hyung."

"…That's enough."

"Understood, Seo-jun hyung. Then what should I do?"

"Can you clean the windows?"

"Of course. I’ve seen it a lot in dramas."

"Do dramas show that kind of thing?"

"In That, they do. The protagonist does a bunch of part-time jobs."

"I see."

"You spray this and wipe, right?"

Doo-shik pointed to the glass cleaner and microfiber towel. Seo-jun nodded.

Seo-jun wiped down the tables. They were already pretty clean, so there wasn’t much grime, but cleaning is sometimes for your own peace of mind.

While at it, he swept and mopped the floor. How much time had passed since the full cleaning began?

As he was mopping the floor, Seo-jun sensed a familiar presence and turned his head.

At the store entrance stood an unexpected person, hesitating.

"Aren’t you the teacher?"

"Ah… hello."

It was Lee Ra-hee, formerly Park Yeon’s goddess, now Seo-woo’s daycare teacher.

"You were cleaning, huh?"

"Yes. What brings you here?"

"Well, I saw on TV that something happened in Tongyeong. So I wanted to check if everyone was okay, and… also see if you enjoyed your vacation…."

She trailed off and tilted her head. Her face was full of regret.

Seo-jun had a good idea why she came.

"You came to see Seo-woo, right?"

"Huh?"

"Seo-woo. You came to see him, didn’t you?"

"…Yes. You're right."

"Seo-woo’s at home with Yeon-jun."

"Ah…."

"Shall I call him over?"

"No, it’s okay. I knew he was on vacation and still came. That’s on me. I’m just glad to see everyone’s safe."

As Ra-hee expressed her disappointment, Seo-jun scratched his chin.

"Since you’re here, would you like to have dinner?"

"Huh?"

"You probably haven’t eaten yet."

"No, no, it’s okay. I’ll get going. See you tomorrow!"

Waving her hands, Ra-hee practically ran out of the store.

And watching her like that…

"Already done with the bathroom cleaning?"

"A while ago."

Park Yeon, holding a mop, was watching.

I wonder how the great goddess is doing.

Looks like I’ll have to visit her soon.

"Now this is gimbap."

Chewing with his mouth full of gimbap, Park Yeon nodded in satisfaction.

Seo-jun looked at him, a bit dumbfounded.

After finishing the cleaning, they made gimbap for dinner. They hadn’t gone to buy new ingredients at the mart or anything.

The gimbap was made because the ingredients left over from when he cooked for Choi Sungkyun and his team were about to spoil.

The ham had dried out and gone hard, and the crab sticks smelled off.

So Seo-jun also picked up and ate a couple, then stopped, but Park Yeon was eating with great enjoyment.

Whether Seo-jun found it strange or not.

With his mouth full of gimbap, Park Yeon turned his gaze. This time, it was tteokbokki.

He stirred the tteokbokki sauce with a spoon, then placed some rice cakes and fish cake on top with his chopsticks. Then he put it into his mouth.

A smile spread across his lips.

“This is what you call tteokbokki.”

“People will think you haven’t eaten in days. Eat slowly, you damn Hero.”

“Iyam eadinn slowwy.”

“What are you saying?”

“Are you an orc who can’t understand human speech? I said I’m eating slowly.”

“It doesn’t sound like human speech though.”

“So arrogant for a monster.”

“So arrogant for a so-called Hero.”

As always, the two were engaged in a power struggle.

Then suddenly, both of their phones rang at the same time.

“Seven o'clock.”

“It’s seven.”

“What about seven?”

Just like the alarm, their answers came simultaneously.

“It’s time.”

“It’s time, Seo-jun hyung.”

The two of them headed side by side to the front of the TV.

“Today Tae-su’s going to report them to the Labor Office, right?”

“Tae-su’s personality is too soft. If it were me, I’d have reported that scumbag boss ages ago.”

“He really needs to report him today.”

“I saw the preview. Looked like he would.”

“Then that’s good.”

At that moment—

“Hey!”

Someone entered the store with an air of authority.

“I said it’s fine.”

“No, sir. It’s not fine.”

“I really said it’s fine.”

“No, I mean—if you borrow something, you borrow it. But to scratch the wheel and not say a word, what is that?”

“I compensated him.”

“Even so. Just how big of a debt do you owe that bar owner's father to be acting like this?”

“...Kind of a big one.”

“To the point where it can’t even be converted into money?”

“Yeah... I have a pretty big emotional debt.”

Go Hyung-gu huffed in frustration. The other big guys chimed in as if it had happened to them.

“Hyung-gu hyung is right. Do you know how much this thing costs? And it’s not even been six months since you got it.”

“Even if it was borrowed, people shouldn’t act like strangers afterward, sir.”

“We’ll go and show him what’s what!”

Hwang Tae-su let out a sigh and smacked the back of Go Hyung-gu’s head.

Smack!

“I said I’m fine, so why are you guys making a bigger deal out of it?”

Usually, Go Hyung-gu would sulk after getting hit, but today he was different.

“Boss! Just think what happens if the guys from District 13 hear about this! It’d be embarrassing, wouldn’t it?”

“Hyung-gu’s right, boss. You put all that effort into creating this grand bus transport business plan, but it could go up in smoke just like that.”

Is this what they call excessive loyalty in movies…? Looked super cool on screen, but in real life it’s freaking annoying.

Hwang Tae-su let out a quiet sigh and looked over at the big guys. They were practically ready to barge into Cheers at any second.

‘If these idiots cause trouble…’

He’d end up taking the blame. And the price of that blame...

‘...would be the subspace.’

Just imagining it made his knees ache.

Tae-su shook his head to rid himself of the thought of subspace and opened his mouth.

“Now that I think about it, Si-hyun’s got a point.”

A painfully accurate point.

“Exactly, sir!”

“If I make him kneel and properly apologize, will that calm you guys down?”

“Yes!”

With a solemn expression, Hwang Tae-su nodded and got into his car. Then he headed to Cheers.

Just like in a movie, black sedans followed close behind.

“What the? Isn’t that the Hwang Tae-su crew?”

“Looks like it. That’s his car, right?”

“Where are they going, all packed together like that?”

“Is it war?”

“Come on, they already took over District 12.”

“District 13’s still left.”

“Is that it?”

A short while later.

In front of Cheers, an unusual scene unfolded.

Like black waves rolling in a night sea, Hwang Tae-su and the big guys’ cars lined up in succession.

They got out of the cars with an overwhelming aura.

“You all wait here.”

“But...”

“No matter what, I’m still the boss. I can’t make him kneel in front of all of you.”

“Oh, I didn’t even think about that. You’re truly a generous man!”

“It’s nothing. I’ll be back.”

Tae-su loosened his neck and headed to the store. Then, checking the eyes of the big guys, he boldly opened the door and shouted:

“Hey!”

Jingle!

With the sound of the wind chime, the store door closed. The heavy breath from Tae-su’s nose also closed along with it.

“...did you know?”

“Hey?”

“Yes. Apparently, the handle of a millstone is called ‘eoi.’”

“I know.”

“As expected of someone so knowledgeable. Hahaha.”

“But why are you looking for a millstone handle here?”

“Ah… well.”

Tae-su’s brain went into overdrive.

“It’s still pretty hot these days. And on hot days, cold soybean noodle soup with floating ice is perfect. And for that, you’ve got to grind the soybean broth with a millstone, right? Hahahahahahaha.”

“Not wrong.”

Tae-su let out a sigh of relief.

Watching him, Seo-jun smirked. The voices from outside had echoed loudly.

“You grind the soybean broth with a millstone, and now it’s time for the kneeling part, huh?”

“...”

Gulp!

Cold sweat trickled down.

This monster bastard… he heard that?

Even for a monster… what the hell, does he have a hearing aid skill or something?

Glance.

Like a mouse in front of a cat, Tae-su was frozen as he glanced at Seo-jun with only his eyeballs.

‘No idea what he’s thinking.’

He couldn’t read a single thought from his expression.

Could it be he’s planning to throw me in the subspace?

That can’t happen. Anything but that!

‘If it’s come to this, it’s either death or kneeling!’

Thud!

In school, when told to kneel and raise his hands for misbehavior, Tae-su would always argue and refuse to kneel.

Even when he secretly took his father’s car, got caught in a crackdown, and ended up behind bars, he never once kneeled before his father to apologize.

Yet now, Hwang Tae-su’s knees dropped to the floor so easily.

On his knees, at the age of 39.