#41

I found a large pot in the kitchen drawer, filled it with an appropriate amount of water, and placed it on the gas stove. While waiting for the water to boil, I opened the refrigerator and began inspecting its contents. Inside, the fridge was packed with side dishes and fresh ingredients prepared by the housekeeper. I carefully examined everything with my eyes and then spoke.

“Everyone, do you like seafood? Is there anyone who can’t eat it?”

“No~. I like it.”

“I like it too.”

“I like it as well.”

Hearing the positive responses, I peeked my head over the open refrigerator door. I carefully checked to see if anyone was just going along with the atmosphere despite not actually liking seafood. Fortunately, no one seemed uncomfortable. Feeling relieved, I took out the squid, shrimp, and mussels from the fridge and moved them to the countertop.

“Then I’ll make it with squid, shrimp, and mussels.”

I listed the ingredients that would go into the ramen for the others and took off the jacket I was still wearing. As I moved to hang it over my empty seat, Sung Yoojun, who had suddenly appeared behind me, took the jacket from my hand.

“I’ll help you.”

“It’s okay. Secretary Sung, just sit down and relax. Today, I’m cooking for you all.”

I gently pushed Sung Yoojun’s back as I said that. I always felt guilty about only ever receiving food from them, so I wanted to express my gratitude in this way. Though he initially resisted, standing firm, he eventually walked back to his seat at a slow pace when I firmly insisted.

After sending Sung Yoojun away, I rolled up my shirt sleeves and started preparing the seafood. I carefully cooked the ramen using a recipe I often followed at home. Honestly, I couldn’t say I was particularly good at cooking, but through steady effort, I had managed to make a few dishes, including ramen, taste decent.

Soon, the bubbling aroma of boiling ramen began to fill the house. Once the noodles and seafood were properly cooked, I turned off the stove and carried the pot to the dining table.

“Here you go. It should taste alright.”

Feeling pleased that it seemed to have turned out well, I spoke with confidence, but the people at the table just stared at the pot without making any move to eat. Were they already full? Or did it not look appetizing? A creeping sense of unease made me cautiously ask.

“Do you not want to eat it?”

“No! Of course not! We want to eat it!”

Thankfully, I received a firm denial. Seeing Nam Yisol hurriedly shake his head, I secretly let out a sigh of relief. If they really didn’t want to eat, I would have just thrown it all away, but I was glad that wasn’t the case. It would’ve been a bit sad to waste something I had worked so hard to cook.

“That’s a relief. I was worried that I made it for nothing.”

“I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t want to eat it, it’s just…… it was surprising.”

Surprising? What about it?

Hearing Nam Yisol’s words, I looked at them with a puzzled expression. Then, with an embarrassed look, they scratched their head and continued speaking.

“It’s just…… seeing you cook ramen felt kind of unexpected.”

“Why is that?”

Doesn’t almost everyone in Korea eat ramen, regardless of gender or age? It didn’t seem like anything particularly unusual or strange.

“You just seemed like the type of person who would never eat something like this. Like, you probably grew up eating only fancy, expensive food since childhood…… I’m sorry. I guess that was a bit of a stereotype.”

I stared at Nam Yisol, who was awkwardly smiling, then slowly tilted my head to the side and asked.

“Did you assume that just because my face looks like I only eat high-end food?”

As I recalled what was said earlier and posed the question, Lee Daon, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, flinched. His eyes were filled with confusion and slight panic, and his body trembled a little.

Meeting his eyes, I burst into laughter. I knew I shouldn’t think this way, but the way Lee Daon anxiously watched my reaction, as if afraid of getting scolded, was just too cute. It reminded me of watching a mischievous younger sibling.

The house, filled with the aroma of ramen, was now filled with the sound of my laughter. After laughing for quite some time, I finally managed to stop when I saw everyone staring at me in bewilderment.

“Sorry to disappoint those who thought that way, but I have pretty normal tastes. I didn’t grow up eating only luxurious food.”

Still chuckling from laughing too much, I wiped the tears that had reflexively formed with my fingers. Everyone still had disbelieving expressions on their faces. It was amusing how their identical reactions looked as if they had been copied and pasted. Holding back another round of laughter, I picked up the tongs and began serving the ramen.

“Actually, no one in my family was particularly talented at cooking. So when I was young, I was just grateful to have something edible on the table.”

“Really? You didn’t have a housekeeper or anything like that?”

As I handed out bowls of ramen to each person seated at the table, I answered Nam Yisol’s question.

“No, we didn’t. We weren’t this wealthy when I was a kid.”

That applied to both me and the Goo Won in the game.

After Sung Yoojun found out that I wasn’t the real Goo Won, I had asked him to investigate the in-game Goo Won’s past. Of course, the information I was able to obtain was only surface-level—when he was born, which school he attended, when he joined the company…… things like that.

Maybe it was because he was a chaebol and had strict privacy protection, or maybe the game’s settings didn’t go that deep. Either way, since no further information could be found, I had no choice but to be satisfied with what I got.

From what I gathered, my conclusion was that the in-game Goo Won’s life was somewhat similar to mine. He was born on the same day as me, went to the same school, and his father’s business succeeded around the same time. Of course, everything that happened after that was the same as well.

The point where our lives began to diverge was when I turned twenty and sent my father to prison. The Goo Won in this world had not done the same to his father. To me, that was an incomprehensible choice.

From what I had discovered, the father in this world was just as much of a garbage human being as my father in reality. So it wasn’t that Goo Won did nothing because his father was different from mine.

I spent a long time wondering why the in-game Goo Won had acted that way. I worried, again and again, that maybe he had a reason—something unavoidable that forced his hand.

But after all that thinking, I came to only one conclusion.

The in-game Goo Won had no such unavoidable reason.

He had simply chosen to submit and obey his father without resistance. And he did it for none other than himself.

I was certain of it. This was the certainty of someone who had gone through the same situation, as the same person.

How could he have submitted to his father in that situation? How could he do that to someone like him? A wave of revulsion surged through me, making me feel like I was about to be sick. If the in-game Goo Won and I had even slightly different mindsets, I wouldn’t have felt this kind of disgust.

Back then, there were times when I had wanted to submit to my father as well. To just bow my head, pretend not to see the people suffering because of him, obey him, and walk the easy path. I had been tempted. So I knew better than anyone just how ugly that desire was. I also knew, with suffocating certainty, what would have happened if I had chosen to obey my father.

That was why I simply couldn’t understand the in-game Goo Won. He was nothing but a coward and a runaway. Narrowing my eyes, I inwardly cursed him, but before I could get too lost in it, I slowly shook my head and refocused. There was no point in wasting my energy resenting someone who wasn’t even here.

“Oh, the ramen is going to get soggy. Everyone, eat up.”

Putting on a soft smile, I encouraged the people at the table to eat. Those who had been focused on my story finally picked up their chopsticks and started on their ramen.

“Wow……! This is really good!”

“President, you’re actually really good at making ramen!”

Fortunately, it seemed the ramen had turned out well. I had been a little worried since it had been a while since I last made it, but seeing them eat so happily made me feel satisfied.

“But, sir…… Was the food at home really that bad?”

As I debated whether I should get some rice to go with the ramen since they were eating more enthusiastically than expected, Nam Yisol suddenly asked, as if something had just occurred to him. I easily nodded at his question.

“Yes. There was a lot of bad food. Really.”

“Then did you have to force yourself to eat every time?”

“When I was little, yeah. My parents put effort into cooking, so I felt bad about complaining. And when I got a bit older, I tried to cook for myself, but……”

Trailing off, I gazed into the distance with a wistful expression. A flood of memories of all the dishes I had attempted over the years passed through my mind.

“……In the end, I just came to the conclusion that giving up and buying food was a much better financial decision.”