Chapter 35. Luke Cage

'Luke?'

'Luke Cage!'

In the barbershop, Ryan looked at the tall figure in the mirror. His heart was relieved.

'Finally, at least I didn't get my haircut for nothing.'

"Sleeping is no excuse. I also turned in late every day but am always the first to come to the shop." Placing the scissors down, the old man took the electric clipper and turned to the tall man behind him.

Luke: "That's because you don't get much sleep, Pop."

Henry: "Maybe you could choose a job that lets you go to bed early and get up early, like waiting tables in the restaurant next door."

Luke replied with a wry smile, "Pop, you know, I really need the job in the nightclub. The restaurant doesn't tip as much as the nightclub does. Connie has been urging me for several days. If I don't pay the rent I owe, she'll kick me out."

With a shrug, Henry then agreed, "Trust me, knowing Connie, she'll really do it."

Luke: "I know that."

Henry: "Well, what are you still doing here? That pile of towels in the washing machine won't clean themselves."

Luke: "On it, Pop."

Sitting next to the window, Bobby caught the two men's conversation. He couldn't help but smile and shake his head.

"You actually had no intentions of lecturing him at all, right?" Sitting in the barber's seat, Ryan looked at his partially cut short hair and couldn't help but ask.

"Was it that obvious?" With a surprised expression on his face, Henry turned his head to look in the direction where Luke went and then said, "I thought my acting was good."

"It's so obvious, Henry." Picking up a black pawn and taking off a white pawn from the board, Bobby stroked his beard and added, without raising his head, "If you wanted to help Luke, you could have just said it."

"I know, Luke," Henry said as he stopped the electric clipper and took up the scissors to trim Ryan's hair, "He's not someone who easily asks for help. That's why he would rather take on two, three jobs than accept a pay raise from me."

Bobby: "At least he's a good man, isn't he? "

Henry: "Yeah, he's a good man."

'He's more than just a good man.'

Ryan sat back in his chair and listened to the conversation between Henry and Bobby and couldn't help but silently say so in his mind.

　　...

"All right, son." Taking off the cloth tied around Ryan's neck, Henry said, "That looks a lot better, doesn't it?"

Ryan: "..."

Silently looking at his nearly inch-short hair in front of the mirror, Ryan somehow remembered the scene in the Kung Fu Soccer movie where Ah Xing and his Eldest Brother were performing in the bar and felt the urge to sing 'Shaolin Kung Fu is wonderful~~ ho ho yee~~!'

He went bald but unfortunately didn't get stronger.

"Pop, it's obvious that that look you're going for doesn't work on Asian heads."

Sitting on the sidelines, Shameek noticed Ryan's sleek, comical look and couldn't help but laugh out loud in ridicule.

"Well, I admit, I did slip up a bit, and the outcome was a little different from what I thought it would be. Son, you might need a hat."

"How much is?"

Suppressing the speechlessness in his heart, Ryan stroked his nearly bald head and asked.

"Son, as I said before, it's free."

"Pop, that's not fair!" Hearing Henry's comment, Shameek, who was on the sidelines getting Chico to cut his hair, started to grumble, "Why should a first timer get a free cut? He's not Michael Jordan."

Putting down the scissors in his hand Chico added from the sidelines, "Or Ali..."

"He's not even a brother."

"Pop has his reasons."

In the face of Shameek's objections, Luke Cage, who had been sweeping the floor in silence, couldn't resist speaking up.

"Pop always has his own reasons."

Luke Cage's comment clearly yanked Shameek's hatred back, repeating the words in a gloomy tone.

Shameek turned his head to look at Luke, "Seriously man, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm sweeping hair, Shameek." Faced with Shameek's obviously aggressive remark, Luke Cage calmly replied, "I also mopped the floor, washed the towels, and wiped that window spotlessly. That's my job, you'll never understand."

Shameek: "You call this work?"

Luke: "At least I'm trying to make a living. Unlike you, who can't even afford a haircut."

"Hey, guys, don't start."

Noticing that the atmosphere was getting fiery, Henry, who was standing on the sidelines, spoke up.

However, Ryan noticed that the expression on his face didn't seem nervous, clearly not thinking the situation at hand was that serious. Or perhaps, he had a lot of confidence in one of the two.

With a meaningful glance at Henry, he returned his gaze to the situation at hand. Similarly, Ryan didn't think the situation at hand was going to get much worse. Even if, in all seriousness, his presence was actually one of the triggers that ignited the fireworks between the two men.

"I'm fed up with ..."

Luke's last words clearly became the key to igniting Shameek's anger as he stood up with a furious look on his face and approached Luke Cage with anger.

"What, Shameek, what have you had enough of?"

Silently gazing at the current Shameek, Luke asked rhetorically, word for word.

Looking at the tall figure in front of him, Shameek's anger receded, and he averted his eyes, decisively choosing to reply from his heart, "I've had enough of this life, and I want a change."

"There's still some hair over there."

Shameek's conceding look made the crowd in the barbershop chuckle.

"All right, son." Smiling and shaking his head, Henry looked back at Ryan beside him, "I'm sorry, kid, for letting you see that. I won't accept the money for a haircut. If you have any difficulties in Harlem and need help, you can come to find me."

Shameek: "Pop, I really need help too."

"Then my advice to you, Shameek, is to get a job that will support you instead of loafing around."

"I'm looking for someone. I wonder if you've heard of a place called Villard?" Ryan asked.

Henry: "Villard?"

Frowning for a moment, Henry turned to Bobby at the window and asked, "Bobby, have you ever heard of that place?"

Bobby: "No..."

Bobby replied dryly from beside the window.