Episode 216
“Come on, enjoy your meal!”
President Choi Jeong-man pushed the cooked meat to the edge of the grill and turned over the meat that had just been placed.
Chiiik – A sizzling sound is heard as the uncooked side touches the grill, and at the same time, the golden, well-cooked side of the meat is clearly visible at a glance. The skill of grilling the meat was excellent, as evidenced by the fact that the thick Korean beef, like a steak, had a beautiful brown color. Lee Jae-heon, who was quietly watching, smiled lightly.
“I heard you run a soup and rice restaurant, but now I see you’re good at grilling meat.”
“This is this… Even though I can’t be a chef or anything, there are basic things that people who cook have to be good at. We roast the bones before making the bone broth. “It’s similar.”
“I think it’s something completely different, but whatever. Thanks to you, I will enjoy it. thank you.”
The place they were at was none other than a Korean beef restaurant.
Normally, an employee would come and cook the food for them, but Mr. Choi and his wife spoke a few friendly words, as if they had been to the restaurant many times, and succeeded in getting the tongs from the part-timer at the restaurant. At first, I thought they were doing it because they had something to share, but now it seems like President Choi Jeong-man is just greedy for cooking.
“It’s delicious. “It’s a restaurant I’ve never been to… Is the owner really good at grilling?”
“Ha ha ha ha ha! My face is getting hot as you put this up like this again! Hey, let’s eat. Don’t I feed my family with just this skill? “Minhong, please eat it too.”
Choi Jeong-man said that and placed a piece of crispy cooked meat on his son’s plate. The child, who had been staring blankly at the cooked meat on the grill, finally started eating. As Lee Jae-heon stared at him, CEO Choi Jeong-man smiled awkwardly and said.
“He won’t eat meat unless it’s thoroughly cooked…”
“It’s nice to see you taking care of him. “I can see that you care about your son.”
“This is embarrassing. Traditionally, Korean beef is eaten slightly undercooked…”
Minhong Choi, who swallowed the meat, lifted his head.
“No, meat is cooked and eaten. “You can’t eat red things?”
“Yes, yes, that is also true. “You guys will eat the unripe ones, Minhong will eat the fully cooked ones.”
“Why do you eat undercooked food?”
“The unripe ones are soft and delicious, but… indeed.”
President Choi Jeong-man’s face looked bitter as he muttered softly, probably because he was disappointed that his dish was not accepted as is. However, we could see his passionate love for his son as he steadily cooked several pieces of meat with his hands.
Lee Jae-heon, who was looking at the father and son like that, glanced around the restaurant without being noticed.
‘The interior is nice.’
Although it was a restaurant that sold meat, the overall image was flashy. I would say it looks closer to Western-style fine dining than a typical meat restaurant.
President Choi Jeong-man, seeing Lee Jae-heon like that, laughed and said.
“It’s unusual, right? This is my friend Nom’s restaurant. We sign a contract directly with a farm and manage the cows from the time they are alive… and the taste is very good. “Because we bring the whole cow, there are a variety of parts that can be eaten.”
“I can see the love being put into the restaurant. “You are a good person.”
“I’m very greedy. I’m greedy. I also use all the meat that goes into the bones and soup from that farm. “It’s not as big a stake as my friend’s, but…”
Lee Jae-heon quietly chewed his meat as President Choi Jeong-man’s face seemed strangely calm, even though it seemed excited. In terms of how the steak is cooked, it’s about medium rare. It was just that thick, so it really felt like I was eating a steak.
“I ordered this one on purpose, and there are a lot of thin ones too! I came today with the intention of emptying my bank account, so eat as much as you want! “You didn’t even receive my envelope.”
“That… lasts a long time.”
It’s not like I entrusted him with any money, I just didn’t receive what was given to him.
“That’s what’s disappointing. It’s not like we’re seeing each other for the first time. “Haven’t we overcome hardships and hardships together?”
“…I wouldn’t say no at all, but…”
“Besides, I have a favor I must repay to you, teacher. “You saved our Minhong’s life, and you saved me too.”
After hesitating for a moment, President Choi Jeong-man continued speaking with a sad smile.
“Teacher, you don’t like people very much, do you?”
Suddenly it hit my bone.
“…I think it shows a lot.”
“It may seem rude, but what can I say? “I have a strong feeling that I don’t trust people themselves.”
“this.”
I had a rough guess that everyone would have noticed that side of him, but this was the first time I had heard such an open comment about him in person.
In the past life, everyone had this level of caution, and in the current life, Lee Jae-heon had basically poor sociability. In both my past life and my current life, my personality was damaged from birth, so I wasn’t particularly capable of trusting others.
‘I didn’t think it wouldn’t be noticeable, though.’
However, there were some things I did not hide because I thought this level of distrust in humans would not go against probability. If there is no problem with showing off, there is no need to go through the trouble of acting.
“I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It seems like you’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs, but it’s rather natural. “I can’t help it if you feel bad, but I think so.”
“…thank you.”
“Still, it’s sad to be sad.”
President Choi Jeong-man smiled slightly.
“I guess I usually get a lot of nagging from people around me, don’t you think?”
“Listen… listen.”
“I’m sure you’ll hate me for being overprotective.”
“….”
“I think you have a knack for making people worry.”
“No….”
As Lee Jae-heon, who had been hit in the bone out of nowhere, furrowed his brows, CEO Choi Jeong-man once again burst into laughter. Lee Jae-heon’s reaction seemed to be intended to lighten the mood rather than laughing because it was funny.
“Look around you, teacher. “I won’t go so far as to tell you to like people or trust them, but you need to think of favors as favors and learn how to accept them.”
Honestly, this was a surprising statement.
Even though he sometimes got into trouble, ‘Lee Jae-heon’ was a person who knew how to think of favor as favor. At the very least, it meant knowing what the other person was saying and doing. Did President Choi Jeong-man see ‘Lee Jae-heon’ a little differently?
“…I’m not a person so crooked that I misunderstand good intentions…” “It’s
a bit different from that, but… when a teacher treats someone well, he thinks, ‘Is he doing this because he wants something from me?’ Instead, it seemed closer to thinking, ‘I know why this is happening, but there’s no need to do this.’”
“….”
What is it? Is that noticeable?
‘It seems like I was doing fine in real life…?’
As Lee Jae-heon froze, unable to pick up the next piece of meat, President Choi Jeong-man smiled awkwardly. He said as he placed several pieces of moderately well-cooked meat on Lee Jae-heon’s plate.
“We need to talk to our children while they eat. “You came here to eat, right?”
“…Yeah, well….”
Lee Jae-heon continued, picking up the meat hesitantly.
“Thank you for the advice.”
Aside from the strange feeling, President Choi Jeong-man’s words were helpful.
‘Anyway, isn’t this the impression of a local or ordinary person in this world?’
I realized once again that I was buried in the memories of my past life and the past of my current life. That doesn’t mean he knew for sure what went wrong, but at least he understood that among the parts where he thought ‘this is normal!’, there was some behavior that felt awkward.
He muttered inwardly as he chewed the meat.
‘Should I study about general families?’
At least I knew in my head that the Lee family was not a ‘normal family’, but it made me wonder why they had not reflected this in their actions. If President Choi Jeong-man, whom I just met recently, said this, it means that Oh-seong guys do it even more.
“…hmm.”
You could say it was because I was out of my mind when I was in the other world, but what about this…
“…Am I very strange?”
“Oh my, if I had thought you would care so much, I wouldn’t have told you.”
“No, I’m just asking.”
Since the water was already open, I decided to get help from locals and ordinary people around the world. Of course, President Choi Jeong-man’s family doesn’t seem that typical, but at least it is closer to average than the Lee family, which is full of old people in the royal family.
Jaeheon Lee said, making an awkward expression.
“I… everyone in my family has a strange personality.”
“yes? Uh….”
“It’s not that I suddenly want to gossip about my family, but there are people who often look at my family strangely. “The boss said something today… I’m asking because I’m wondering if there’s a problem.”
“….”
Chiik-.
President Choi Jeong-man, who put fresh meat on the grill, blinked and answered.
“I guess this is the part?”
“This part?”
“So, um.”
The other person said, putting down the tongs.
“The point of trying to solve problems only rationally, excluding the emotions that people should feel…?”
After saying that, President Choi Jeong-man leaned back in his chair with a subtle expression, probably thinking he was being ambiguous. He stroked his son, who was happily eating meat, with one hand and opened his mouth again.
“I think if I were a teacher, I would be a little offended to hear this. I’m embarrassed. “In any case, isn’t it a case of having your very personal details pinched by someone you haven’t met for a while?”
“That… I don’t think it’s really a problem.”
“No, that’s the problem. “It’s not that teachers can’t feel emotions at all, it’s that they exclude them.”
I?
“….”
When?
‘I… I’m living the way I want, but why…?’
I was living so well that I came to work early every day and left the company because the employees were craving it. It’s one thing to buy luxury brand products that Royal doesn’t care about because they’re cheap and display them in the display case, and one goes around deceiving people around him to achieve wealth and fame… What kind of emotion does
Lee Jae-heon live without?
“No, that’s just how I feel.”
President Choi Jeong-man continued speaking with a slightly regretful expression.
“I also don’t know how other people will view this.”
“Oh yeah…”
“Oh my gosh, you brought it up for no reason… I came here to eat and you just started telling strange stories. Come on, let’s eat, there’s a lot left to eat!”
“thank you.”
Jaeheon Lee once again put meat in his mouth. As expected, the outside had the unique crispiness of grilled meat, and the inside was juicy and soft. It was an excellent piece of workmanship.
And I thought at the same time.
‘After all, how can we not make a difference in common sense?’
I was a little nervous too.
Lee Jae-heon has never lived without emotions. Even if that were the case, distinguishing between public and private matters would not have seemed strange to others. Nevertheless, if I looked at Lee Jae-heon strangely, I thought it might be because I was recalling memories from my past life.
And that was not something Jaeheon Lee could do. Even though I was annoyed in the other world, I thought I was behaving well in real life, but if you react like this…
“As expected… you are really good at grilling. “I’m sure you’ll be very popular if you go to a class reunion or something.”
“yes? Ha ha ha ha ha! That’s right, I’m pretty good at baking! The kids are all whining about me asking them to bake, and sometimes it gets annoying, but it also makes me feel good…” “
That’s right, there are times like that.”
Lee Jae-heon lightened the mood by making a light laugh.
‘What can I do?’
To be honest, this should just be seen as a racial difference, but since I can’t reveal my past life, I’ll just have to live with being misunderstood. In any case, unless Lee Jae-heon personally realized what was wrong, it would have been difficult to make it up now. I think that if you adapt to the softness of this world, you will naturally change on your own.
And there was nothing I gained from this conversation.
“Now that I think about it, when I was young, I only ate undercooked meat when I went to restaurants.”
“Oh yeah? Actually, I don’t know how I ate it when I was young… kids have different tastes.”
“It’s a big thing that your taste buds change as you get older.”
I have to say that I feel like the wall has been torn down a bit.
‘Especially just now.’
President Choi Jeong-man said, ‘No, it’s a problem. ‘It’s not that teachers can’t feel emotions at all, it’s that they exclude them,’ he said. And what we can know from this point is that President Choi Jeong-man had once seen a type of person who ‘couldn’t feel emotions at all.’ Moreover, it means that you understand something beyond simply seeing it to the point where you can compare it to others.
And in Lee Jae-heon’s opinion, that person was none other than his son Choi Min-hong.
“When I was young, I wasn’t good at eating raw fish… and the same goes for drinking.”
“Oh, that’s right, that’s right. “I was wondering what on earth this would taste like.”
Although it is still hidden, if people unconsciously say something about him, it also means that President Choi Jeong-man’s guard against Lee Jae-heon has become dull.
‘As expected, the conversation we just had had a big impact.’
Lee Jae-heon took the position of B, asking for information, and President Choi Jeong-man took the position of A, asking to be taught. And it was more natural and natural for A to feel comfortable with Eul than for B to feel comfortable with A. From the conversation just now, President Choi Jeong-man must have felt a sense of intimacy or comfort with Lee Jae-heon.
He quietly watched the conversation between Choi and his wife.
“Minhong, would you like to order cider?”
“Dad’s aunt told me not to drink.”
“Oh, I know, I know. “How would you like a glass of soju?”
“Haha… no. “I don’t like alcohol very much.”
Lee Jae-heon, who appropriately declined, made eye contact with Choi Min-hong, who was looking up at him with chopsticks in his mouth.
“why?”
“….”
At that question, the child lowered his head and looked at the crude ring hanging loosely on his finger. He was sticking out his characteristic duck mouth, but rather than feeling uncomfortable, it seemed like he had something to think about.
Child Minhong Choi opened his mouth.
“You gave me this because I gave you a ticket?”
“…yes?”
“all right.”
What do you want to know?
Choi Min-hong nodded, fiddled with the area to see if there was something in his pocket, and then started eating meat again. I don’t know what it was, but Lee Jae-heon smiled inwardly because his face looked like he had decided on something.
‘It’s cute.’
Anyway, it was a pretty satisfying time.
