#103

The letter ended there. I let out a bitter laugh.

……So, after pouring out his tragic past to make people feel sorry for him, now he’s threatening me? I glared at the letter in my hand, my brow furrowed with the rising discomfort. If the game’s Goo Won were standing in front of me right now, I might have slapped him a few times. But that would be impossible.

“Writing something so unsettling……”

I fiddled with the letter I had just finished reading with an irritable hand and sat down on the bed. Then I threw myself back onto the soft mattress, which gently supported my body. As I felt the pleasant texture of the blanket, I quietly rubbed my face with my palm.

Dying in the winter of my 30s and the game ending……

It was frustrating, but the game’s Goo Won was right. He had been reset because he was a game character, but since I was a player in the real world, no one knew what would happen to me if I didn’t clear the game. As he said, if I were unlucky, I could really die.

Thinking that I might die made a deep sigh escape me. Why had my once ordinary life turned into this? The only concerns I had before were the developments and deadlines of the novel I was writing. How did I end up in this world, worrying about my life?

Muttering about my changed fate, I quietly complained. Even knowing that I might die, I didn’t feel particularly shaken. Maybe it was because it felt so far off? Or maybe it was just a possibility and not a certainty? Either way, I was more relieved not to be trembling in fear, so it didn’t matter.

Lying on the bed, staring at the clean ceiling while trying to clear my complicated thoughts, I stretched my arm upward and stared at the letter in my hand. The light from the lamp made the paper opaque, and the letters inside faintly showed through. As I kept staring at it, a sudden thought came to me.

Why did he send this now? If it were me, I would have sent the letter before I had built a relationship with Tartarus. That way, there would be a greater chance that I would agree to his request.

Making an unfamiliar person miserable and making a friend miserable, or making someone you care about miserable, were completely different matters.

And in the past two months, Tartarus had undoubtedly become someone I cared about. It couldn’t be helped. Despite all the hardships, those kids still had kind and gentle hearts. With my personality, I couldn’t help but find them endearing.

The reason the game’s Goo Won hadn’t been able to make Tartarus miserable was probably because they were the type of people I liked. He must have known that, so why send the letter now?

I looked carefully at the letter in my hand, thinking. If I were in his shoes, what would be the reason for this action? The answer came quickly. There was no need to think deeply about it.

……He gave me time to grow attached to Tartarus and hoped that I wouldn’t be able to do anything because of that attachment.

If I were the game’s Goo Won and acted this way, that would be the only thought I could have. If not, there would have been no reason to send the letter so late.

Of course, since I was in the game, there might have been some external force preventing this from being delivered earlier……

I narrowed my eyes with a disgruntled expression and glared at the letter in my hand. The content of the letter and the thoughts in my head were completely at odds, and it wasn’t easy to decide which was correct. But I had a strange certainty that the thought I had just had was indeed Goo Won’s true intention.

“What on earth is he up to?”

There was definitely something going on, but I had no idea what it was. Then again, maybe that was to be expected. The amount of information between him, who had turned back countless times, and me, who hadn’t, couldn’t possibly be the same.

I let out a deep sigh as I sat up from the bed. I felt like I had become the one-sided weaker party, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I really didn’t like this. I briefly glanced at the letter still in my hand and the notebook I had placed on the floor, then slowly got up.

I carefully organized the letter and the notebook and put them back into the metal box. I didn’t think I would gain any more information from them, so I decided to clear them from my sight. Honestly, I felt like I just wanted to burn them after reading their contents, but I didn’t want to treat something that had been in my treasure chest so recklessly.

Aside from the option of burning or discarding them, it seemed the only natural conclusion was to hide them somewhere out of sight. So, I carefully placed the metal box into the secret compartment of the drawer and closed the lid tightly.

Just as I was closing the panel of the compartment, I suddenly heard a knock at the door. I was startled and quickly looked toward the door. It was still daytime, so I hadn’t expected anyone to have returned home.

“President, are you inside?”

The person knocking was Jung Hosu. I checked the watch on my wrist after making sure the secret compartment was securely closed. It was still shortly after lunch, so it seemed quite early for him to be back home.

“Yes, come in.”

After making sure everything in the drawer was perfectly organized, I called out toward the door, and it opened as Jung Hosu entered.

“You’re back early?”

“The recording finished early.”

Jung Hosu replied calmly to my curious question. He glanced at me for a moment, almost as if to gauge my reaction, then quietly added.

“I heard from the secretary that you’re alone at home. I was worried since you’re not feeling well……”

As he spoke in a soft voice, he subtly handed me a paper bag. The logo of a famous franchise known for its delicious porridge was visible on the bag.

“Is this for me?”

“Yes.”

As I took the bag from him and asked, Jung Hosu nodded in confirmation and added quietly.

“Since it’s Madam’s day off today, I thought you might not have had a meal, so I brought this for you.”

Ah, that’s right. I thought back to what he said. Today was indeed the day off for the housekeeper.

“I completely forgot.”

“The secretary also seemed to have forgotten.”

Hearing that the always-diligent Secretary Sung Yoojun had forgotten something made me let out a small laugh.

“I guess I made him a bit too busy because of me. He must have had his hands full, especially with my cold and fainting…… I feel a little bad for making him so busy on top of everything else.”

A sense of guilt washed over me as I thought about it. As my face darkened with that feeling, Jung Hosu quickly spoke up with a hurried tone.

“The secretary probably doesn’t mind.”

I knew that. He would naturally consider taking care of me as part of his duty. He wouldn’t think of it as something that owed me a debt, nor would he expect any return. Because of that, I became more careful when receiving the care and attention from Secretary Sung Yoojun. I didn’t want to become so accustomed to receiving it that I would take it for granted.

“……Sir, would you like to eat? I heard you didn’t have breakfast.”

I could sense that Jung Hosu was trying to steer the conversation in a lighter direction, given the way my face remained downcast. I appreciated his efforts and smiled slightly.

“Did Secretary Sung tell you that, too?”

“Yes, he came to the recording studio today. We talked for a bit, and I heard it there.”

Hmm? I tilted my head slightly, looking at Jung Hosu’s calm expression as he mentioned talking with Secretary Sung Yoojun.

“Are you two close?”

“It’s not like we’re super close, but we get along well when we talk. We tend to hit it off on the topics we discuss.”

“That’s good to hear.”

I said it with sincerity, my eyes curving into a gentle smile. Sharing a good relationship with someone was a wonderful thing. Especially when the other person was a good person. I hoped Jung Hosu and Secretary Sung Yoojun would get along better, but that was just my wish, and it wasn’t something I could mention to Jung Hosu directly, so I casually shifted the conversation elsewhere.

“Oh, speaking of which, have you eaten, Hosu-ssi? If you haven’t, how about we share this?”

Though I hadn’t peeked into the paper bag, the weight suggested there was more than just one bowl of porridge. Since it had been brought, it seemed nice to share it, so I asked, and Jung Hosu readily nodded.

With his consent, we immediately headed to the dining area. Inside the paper bag were two containers of porridge and a few side dishes.

“What would you like to eat?”

“What about you, sir?”

There seemed to be two different types of porridge, and when I asked Jung Hosu what he wanted, the question returned to me instead. I looked up from opening one of the containers, glanced at Jung Hosu, who was setting the side dishes on the table, and he spoke in a serious tone.

“This is for you, so you should choose first. One is abalone porridge, and the other is beef and vegetable porridge. They’re the most popular ones.”

Listening to his explanation, I looked down at the porridge bowls on the table. After a moment’s hesitation, I chose the beef and vegetable porridge. As I brought it to my side, Jung Hosu naturally took the remaining abalone porridge for himself.

“Thank you, I’ll enjoy it.”

“Enjoy your meal.”