Unexpected Events (1)
The timing was perfect.
The ingredients I'd prepped for lunch had just run out.
Might as well follow him while I'm at it.
Before the break, I headed after that familiar back.
He must have sensed me. Before long, the owner of that back turned around.
"Huh?"
"So it really was you."
"How did you—!"
He looked visibly flustered. Then again, I was pretty surprised myself.
"You're Hyun-sung from Hyunsung TV, right?"
"I am, but... well, I can hardly deny it at this point."
"Right."
"But why...?"
"You came as a customer. The least I can do is say hello."
"..."
Lee Hyun-sung flinched at the word customer.
Is this not about that either?
There was no way it wasn't. I'd seen him with my own eyes—eating quietly and leaving. If he'd had some other agenda, he would have been found out already.
"I did come as a customer, but..."
"But?"
"Ahem. I'm not exactly in a position to greet you warmly, is all."
"Why? Because of what happened before?"
"...Huh?"
Lee Hyun-sung's face went blank with shock. Clearly, it had never crossed his mind that I'd figured out the purpose of that broadcast. After a moment he collected himself and asked, resigned:
"You... knew about that?"
"How could I not?"
"How did you figure it out?"
"Three people I'd never seen before show up and stare me down like they're waiting for me to slip up? Of course I knew."
"Ah...!"
"It was written all over your faces. I figured if I made one wrong move, I was done for. Haha."
Lee Hyun-sung's mouth fell open. He looked utterly stunned. Even so, I didn't push any further.
No reason to hide what I already know, so I said it. But that's as far as it goes.
I'd only spoken because the topic had come up. I wasn't the type to pretend ignorance. I had no ulterior motive either.
Maybe Lee Hyun-sung sensed that. After a long hesitation, what he said next was rather unexpected.
"...I'm sorry."
It was a quick apology. To own up so immediately and then apologize on top of that...
I figured he might try to play dumb and wriggle out of it. This is unexpected.
My head went a little blank. I hadn't seen this coming either.
Maybe admitting it put him at ease. Lee Hyun-sung continued as if making a confession.
"Honestly, at first I didn't think much of the job. I didn't even have the awareness that it was something I shouldn't do."
"That kind of job?"
"Yeah. They told me it was simple—just something to do over a meal."
"How was it simple?"
"Just go and say the food isn't good. You've eaten so much good food that most places aren't actually that tasty anyway. Be honest about it. Don't sugarcoat anything."
"And that seemed fine to you?"
"To be honest... yeah. It did, back then."
That was an interesting thing to say. Why had it seemed fine? I was curious.
"Why?"
"Because there really are a lot of places like that. You go expecting a famous restaurant... wait hours in line to get in, and then the food is... nothing special."
What did that have to do with taking the job so lightly?
"Going to places like that, I built up this... resentment, I guess? This sense of injustice."
"Aigoo."
"I got twisted. The idea that I'd been burned so many times, so why shouldn't someone else take a hit too. That piled up. And then a job like that lands in my lap, and I think, sure, why not? That's how I felt."
"Interesting logic."
"It's not logic. It's just fancy bullshit."
He summed up his own actions in a single phrase.
"It was a garbage rationalization."
Rationalization. It was a raw way of putting it, but nothing else would have hit quite as hard.
"Yikes..."
"So in the end... yeah. I'm sorry. Truly. That's all there is to it."
"So you came here to apologize?"
"Honestly... half no."
He was being excessively honest.
"I looked for a chance a few times, but I just couldn't do it. I'd pretty much given up, and then I ran into you now and thought, well, here goes... so I just blurted it out."
It could have been embarrassing, but he didn't hide anything. He just scratched his cheek and looked at me, clearly mortified.
"Pretty dumb, right?"
What was I supposed to say to that?
I'd gone after that familiar back and stopped him, sure. But it wasn't like I'd been planning anything grand. I'd just been curious—what had he been thinking?
And what I'd heard was too sincere to call an excuse, and far too modest to call anything dramatic.
Man. When he puts it like this, what else can I even say?
He and I weren't that different. I wasn't especially good, and Lee Hyun-sung wasn't especially bad. Someone might say I was being too generous—after all, his mistake could have shaken my livelihood. But...
Isn't this a lot better than those bastards who refuse to apologize even on their deathbeds?
He looked far better than the shameless ones. The fact that he could admit his wrongs meant this man wasn't garbage.
Maybe it was because his sincerity came through. I decided to speak comfortably too.
"I figured you'd play the fool all the way through. Color me surprised."
"Huh?"
Yeah. Let it go. There was nothing more to gain here. No need to torment someone who was already tormenting himself.
"You've reflected on it, so that's enough. I got my apology—from the person who was actually involved—and now I forgive you. All right?"
"Huh? That easily?"
"What more is there to do? I didn't actually take any damage."
"...Wow."
"Well, I did get something out of it. Brought in quite a few customers, didn't it?"
"Haha... well, that's true, but... still."
"It's fine. Really, it's fine now. Next time, come by without the nerves. As a real customer, right up at the bar where I can see you. I'll make you something especially good."
He stared at me blankly. Then he bowed his head deep and fast.
"Thank you! Truly, thank you!"
He tossed out that unexpected gratitude without waiting for a reply, spun around on the spot, and disappeared into the distance. The glimpse I caught of his face was red enough to burst.
To the figure growing smaller ahead of me, with the thought that he should definitely come back sometime, I called out a goodbye.
"See you again!"
I didn't think I'd see him this soon, though?
And yet he really did come right away.
The very next day, the moment I opened the shop, the customer who came bursting in was none other than Lee Hyun-sung. He sat down right at the bar seat I'd mentioned—the spot set up close to the kitchen so you could talk with me, the one regulars usually claimed. For the record, it was the seat closest to me.
"Um... one order, please. Ramen."
He scratched his cheek as if embarrassed, but the order itself came out just fine. It was like looking at a new species of person. Fresh.
"Is that not okay?"
"You came as a customer. Of course it's okay. Just wait a bit."
Admitting your own mistakes is harder than people think. And yet this was someone who'd found the courage. A dish worth serving a person like that...
Something just came to mind.
Maybe because inspiration had been blooming lately. A dish that fit this exact situation sprang to mind.
Whoosh—!
I lit the fire. Maybe the sound reminded him of last time; I could feel Lee Hyun-sung flinching hard.
Pinning that down would be pretty awkward too.
Without a word, I started dumping in the ingredients.
Thin-sliced beef brisket, shaved pork belly, pork jowl, and pork neck. Four kinds of meat hit the blazing pan in one go. The moment they were nearly done, I tossed in the green onions. The fragrance of well-cooked scallions spread far and wide.
When everything looked about right—
This is where the soup powder has to go.
I scattered the pre-portioned ramen seasoning in a rush. A few more seasonings and a splash of spicy chili oil followed. The second everything was tossed together, I dropped in the noodles I'd boiled ahead of time.
A little later, just when it seemed finished, I added one more thing.
In goes the crab stick.
Finely shredded imitation crab—the same stuff that goes into shrimp-less shrimp tempura. The moment it hit, a bibim-myeon whipped up as fast as any Chinese stir-fry was complete.
"Whoa...!"
Lee Hyun-sung, watching from behind, stared with wide eyes. I set the bowl of mixed noodles down in front of him with a casual thump.
"What's this dish called?"
I answered by turning the question around.
"Looking at the ingredients, it's a total mess, right?"
"Honestly... yeah. It is. Beef and pork, and on top of that you threw in crab stick. And earlier you mixed in chicken stock too, didn't you?"
"Good eye. Looks like a free-for-all with zero consistency."
"Haha. If you're serving it knowing that, is this a punishment?"
A punishment? Hardly. I never joke around with food. Not when I'd known the misery of starving with nothing to eat.
"A punishment? Not at all. Want to try it first?"
"Sure."
I invited him to eat before explaining further. He lifted his chopsticks like he'd been waiting and took a big mouthful.
"!!!!"
His face went wide with disbelief. Fair enough.
The sharp fragrance of green onion and chili oil would have woken up his palate. Then the shaved pork belly and thin-sliced brisket would have come in with their rich flavor. Just when his mouth started to feel weighed down by the fat, the well-fried scallions would cut the greasiness clean. And that wasn't the end. With that balance built and his mouth watering hard—the fierce, soupless heat of the concentrated seasoning powder sealed the deal.
"...Once you mix it all together, it's surprisingly good?"
"Right?"
"Yeah. I was wondering what this was... but it's delicious."
"Living is kind of like that too, don't you think?"
"Huh?"
Maybe it felt like a complete non sequitur. To Lee Hyun-sung's startled face, I explained why I'd served him this dish.
"Look at each piece on its own and they don't seem to go together, but somehow when they're side by side, it works. You mess up, make a mistake, think the world's ending—and then you carry it with you and keep going, and somehow you make it. Isn't that how it is?"
"You wanted to say that with this ramen? Haha."
"Yeah. I wanted to tell you it's okay. Eat well and let it go. So the name of this dish is Life Ramen."
"!!!!!"
Maybe it sounded too grandiose. To someone else it might be nothing more than a single bowl of ramen. But to me, food could be as grand as it needed to be. If I could use a dish as a chance to express what I felt—like right now—I was more than willing to make a big deal of it.
So through the food, I reaffirmed yesterday's forgiveness.
"Interesting, right?"
"...Yeah. It really is."
Maybe a little of that sincerity got through. Lee Hyun-sung's face as he answered looked deeply moved, on the verge of tears.
This is why cooking is fun.
Because you can pass along your heart through flavor.