Police launched an investigation after a delivery worker reported that a cafe owner threatened him with a weapon when he said he would remain inside the cafe because of the heat wave.

According to reporting by the Kyunghyang Shinmun on the 5th, the Mapo Police Station in Seoul received and is investigating a case on suspicion of special intimidation that occurred at about 1:20 p.m. the previous day at a cafe in Nogosan-dong, Mapo District.

The incident began with a dispute between cafe owner A and delivery worker B over waiting inside the store amid the heat wave. After arriving at the cafe for a delivery order, B faced a wait of about 1 to 2 minutes to receive the food and asked A, “The weather is hot and I have been delivering for a long time and am exhausted, could I wait inside the store?”

A responded, “The store is small and it is a peak time for customers, so please wait outside,” and B went outside to wait. Later, when B said, “Do you dislike it that much if I wait inside the store?”, it led to an argument with A.

The conflict escalated as A handed the packaged food to B. B alleges that when he tried to take the food, A said the delivery would not be sent and threatened him by raising a weapon, saying, “Why are you glaring at me?” A contends that B snatched at the packaged food, raising concern it could be damaged, and that when A asked for it back, B hurled insults. A also asserted that there was no weapon threat, saying the bread knife being washed at the time was held pointed downward for about five seconds and then placed immediately in the sink.

After B reported the incident, police are said to have reviewed statements from both sides and an audio recording. A claimed that B damaged the store door and posted on an online community, leading to continued business harm such as ‘rating-bombing’.