/One of the servers brings Auntie over to the table where Ryuuki now sits alone. He is busy surgically dissembling a piece of sundae with his toothpick; he may have eaten the other pieces, or frankly he might have buried them like a cat...it's impossible to say./

Server 1: His friend, Ryuuki...

Auntie: Ah,

/Auntie stares at Ryuuki, taking him in. Her eyebrows are arched skywards./

Auntie: So, 

You're Japanese, are you?

Then, tell me what this means:

"Itsuka o~sara ni narimasho!"

/She enunciates, her red lips compressing and contorting dramatically./

/Ryuuki's face falls, like an ice cream bar losing its composure in the presence of a heat source. And then, with the valiant restraint for which he is known, he turns around and presses his entire body into the seat back behind him./

Ry: ...Nothing,

It means nothing...

/Auntie, who is boisterous but not entirely lacking in self-awareness, also turns away in embarrassment./

Auntie: Oh? 

I thought I did pretty good?

Well, moving on...

What do you folks want for your trouble, then? 

A beer on the house? 

/With one finger, Auntie gestures for Binna to come over, and she does, bearing a single can of “Loud” beer on a plate./

Ry: That won’t be necessary…

/Ryuuki, who was wearing his sunglasses atop his head, now looks at Binna with the full intensity of his black eyes. He seems to have formulated some definite idea of her character, and is merely waiting to have his suspicions confirmed./

Ry: …What is your name?

/Binna straightens up, and makes a tight-lipped frown at Ryuuki. Her quarrel is not with him, not really, but one is often unfairly judged by (1) the cover of one’s book and (2) the calibre of one’s friends./

/Auntie, sensing trouble brewing, interjects sharply with,/

Auntie: …Can the attitude, Binna!

Hurry up and answer the nice man!

/Now Binna’s eyes flare up. Her eyebrows arch upwards - who does that remind us of? - and in a clipped tone, she says to Ryuuki,/

Bn: Before you leave, 

Turn out your pockets.

/Having laid down the gauntlet, Binna immediately dashes off in the direction of the salad bar, the beer and plate piled on top of her head as she makes her getaway. In her wake, Auntie is yelling,/

Auntie: Binna!

Watch that mouth of yours!

Ooh…

Like a kid!!

/An image of three anthropomorphic cats - the eponymous sisters of Three Sisters Sundae Gukbap - lovingly embracing a younger version of Binna, who is depicted as a happy mouse./

Auntie: My Binna

is turning 25 years old this year.

She’s the family’s

golden thread.

To tell the truth, she’s my niece, but

We never minded the niceties.

We all raised her…

I told myself I’d make her employable. 

She’s spent the longest with me…now what does that tell you!

/Ryuuki looks down as he assimilates this new information./

Ry: She’s determined. 

Auntie: Determined, sure…

She’s been on that salad bar for a decade. She’ll be there a decade more. 

/Left unaddressed is the assumption that the restaurant would still be standing in 10 years - it seems as if it may through Auntie’s sheer strength of will. Maybe it really would./

Ry: All the more credit.

Few would wake up each day to the same routine

with such zeal. 

The world is full of inconstant people…

and so much dust.

/Auntie’s eyes seem to waver. She is a strong woman, a woman who does not believe that every hare-brained declaration deserves a response, and...yet. She’s heard a lot of well-meaning hogswallop over two decades, and the worst is the kind that has nothing to do with Binna at all./

Auntie: Hmph…and what do you know!

Ry: I know the feeling of envy.

Auntie: That's a good start. How about a little humility?

/Ryuuki stares at Auntie, who is glowering back at him, and reconsiders his position. His target is in a foul mood now, and absent his garrulous companion, he knows he lacks the personal charisma to turn things around. Maybe beating a retreat would be wise here./

Ry: ...I cannot help but feel we are further from a resolution than before.

Auntie: Does that mean you're coming back? 

Ry: A passion for work.

I once had that as well...

/Ryuuki says, to no one in particular, as he stares upwards at the drab grey-tinted winter sky. Shortly after his failed attempt at reconciliation with Auntie, he made his way over to where Reggie was hiding: huddled over the freshly fallen snow at a nearby park two blocks away, and flinging it at his own face and neck like it's the best mud pack in the world./

Rg: Bleugh

/Reg's face is flushed an angry red, so much that the gochujang stain would probably pale in comparison. That's normally a pretty effective biological signal, but it's Reg, so he continues to pile on the cold stuff./

Ry: Reg, there is a functioning sink at Three Sisters -

Rg: Ptui - fuck off!

Ice is w-w-water!

And what about you! Did you even find that bottle we wanted, you t-t-turncoat?

Ry: If you asked our young Lady of Salad with a modicum of grace, she'll likely produce it.

Rg: Hah - some "Lady"!

/At that moment, Ryuuki says something that takes Reg completely by surprise./

Ry: You shouldn't have talked to her that way.

/Reg freezes, the snot still dribbling from his nose./

Ry: It's no concern of mine, but you betray yourself.

Rg: ???

/He stares up at Ryuuki from his kneeling position, his face still frosted over with gutter snow, mouth agape with shock./

/Reg has heard Ryuuki say a lot of outlandish things. He's been told off, too. Oh yeah - sometimes with the walking stick of truth swinging directly overhead! But to hear that Ryuuki's disappointed in him? How often does that happen?/

Ry: What is it that you're so fond of saying?

That you don't "punch down"?

Rg: ...Right! But - what -

/Calmly, Ryuuki takes off his scarf, wraps it tight around one of his arms, and walks deliberately towards Reg. For a second he seems like he might punch Reg square in the jaw. Instead, he bends down and puts the cloth against Reg's face, allowing him to blow his nose into it. Like a kid./

/Ryuuki is never so scary as when he is gentle. And so, Reg timidly does as he is bidden./

Rg: ...SNIFF

[Ry: Take a closer look.]

/Now they are back at the restaurant. The waitresses have stopped working, and are fully consumed by the spectacle of the two menacing guards? Gangsters? Standing remorsefully in front of Binna. One looking solemn, the other sheepish. Untouched by the hubbub of the restaurant around them, the three appear to be suspended in their own world./

/Reg is clearly staring, but at the moment, he is unconscious of that fact. When he really looks into Binna's eyes, really really looks, he can see that there is something going on inside of them. Little flecks of white, swimming around in a tiny galaxy. All folded tightly together by delicate eyelids that remind him of pleated mandu skin./

/He wasn't sure why he didn't notice the first time. And if he was capable of missing that, then how many other important things and tiny spectacles might he have glossed over, in the course of everyday life?/

/This scientific degree of scrutiny does not go unnoticed on the receiving end./

Bn: What are you staring at?

Weirdo.

/Bewildered by her hostility, Reg can only look upwards toward the corner of the room, suddenly finding it interesting. He stammers out,/

Rg: Nah, it's just...

I'm sorry. 

/This was apparently no better. Binna looks like she is about to cleave the Earth into two with her ire./

Bn: What are you sorry for?

Rg: Whoa! I didn't mean it like that!

Just...sorry I didn't see.

/Seeing an opening, Ryuuki smoothly dives into the fray./

Ry: Reggie has been very distracted.

Recently, he came into this restaurant and dropped a bottle of gochujang. 

It looks like a ketchup bottle,

The kind you'd squeeze with both hands.

Have you seen this lost item?

Bn: ...

/Binna looks up at Ryuuki with a quizzical expression, then turns to face the floor, as if interrogating it with her eyes. There is a subtle change in her expression, as if she remembers something./

Bn: ...

/A little later, the atmosphere is completely changed. Auntie, Binna, the two waitresses and Reg - are exchanging pleasantries around the cash register as they ring up Reg's new purchase of salad bar tickets. The conversation freely flows./

?: Ha!

?: No, that's...

/Ryuuki alone stands off to the side. In his right hand, he is holding the gochujang bottle, the sacred chalice that they had come for. Shifting his sunglasses back to the top of his forehead, he gets to work disassembling the homemade stealth camera - first popping open the lid - then reaching in to forcefully tear out a battery pack - then gently removing what appears to be a memory card./

/As Ryuuki carries out these final steps of the mission, he can hear Reg and Binna's voices faintly carrying over the din:/

Rg: Yeah, so then 2 rolls of tickets would be 60,000 won!

...Look, I'm not cheating you!

And you? You're not cheating me, right?

Bn: No.

I can see, which tickets are real.

Rg: Wh - no fucking way!

/What Reggie is apparently reacting to, are the illustrations on the back of each ticket, which Binna is now holding up shyly. Though these appear to be rough scrawls, one can make out the figure of a princess giving a thumbs up. A self-portrait, perhaps?/

/Not only that, but this princess has some very unique features: a 4-pointed crown, a counter-clockwise swirl in her thumb, 3 fingers, 3 toes, 2 pigtails...it's incredibly detailed./

Rg: Shiiiit!

You drew all that, Miss Watermark??

Auntie: Sure did! Binna came up with the idea.

/Sliding the memory card discreetly inside his coat, Ryuuki casually reinserts himself into the flow of conversation, startling Reg./

Ry: It would be a task to forge that.

Reg: ! Right??

Auntie: Well, if we've satisfied your curiosity, we'll send you on your way.

/Auntie smiles tightly. Her hair, normally perfectly coiffed, is looking a bit discheveled. She is not trying to be unfriendly, but this day has taken a lot out of her. With a stern expression, she now turns to her ward, putting a hand on Binna's shoulder./

Auntie: Binna,

say thank you and come again.

Bn: ...

Auntie: What's with you today??

/Binna's face is puffy and red, like a ripe peach. Now that the rage has washed over her, she is in full-on jitterbug mode./

Rg: D'aww,

look at her all shy.

No worries, Auntie!

She won't be seeing me again,

I'll be gifting these!

/Reg says proudly, referring to his two hefty rolls of tickets. He too looks like a weight has been lifted off him, and is back to his charmingly irritating self./

Rg: Maybe, the guy who finished up all his sundae will take them off... 

my...

Oh, there he goes.

/Ryuuki is already at the door, and bowing his farewell./

/Standing in the cold, Ryuuki looks back and witnesses a moment frozen in time:/

/As Reggie gently closes the front door to the restaurant, he cheerfully waves goodbye to the young woman standing on the other side. And, something fantastical occurs - for a moment, that young woman appears to our eyes to be a real fairytale princess, with roses and pearls woven into her long curling tresses./

/However, when we cut to the exterior view, we see that it is only Binna in her plain server frock. She puts her hand onto the glass door and, as Reg turns his back, continues to watch him through the window./

/Reg, oblivious to this attention, runs to catch up to Ryuuki./

Rg: So then wait, 

What does my sister have? 

'Cause all this time I'm looking at her, 

and I'm thinking, 

"she's gotta have something".

Ry: I'll try to explain.

Your sister's genetic disorder is that 

she's related to you...

/The two get back into their luxury sedan and take off through the white slurry-covered roads, nearly sending other cars in both lanes careening into guardrails like unruly pinballs./

/Life goes on, and there is no shortage of errands to run for a global superstar like Malik, but if the meal tickets are any indication, this will not be the last sighting of Myungie's left and right-hand men in Auntie's shop.../