episode_0114

-Dalgdak dalgdak

The sound of a spoon hitting the rice bowl. But there seems to be a sense of urgency.

“You must have been really hungry.”

“Yeah. I felt hungry when I woke up, but once I started eating, I felt even hungrier.”

“Oh, I see, I see.”

I looked at Kim Taehyun, who was nodding vigorously in agreement.

When it suddenly became quiet, he asked if he had done something wrong.

I remained silent, tilting my head slightly.

“Just relax. From what I see, Taehyun, that’s just your habit.”

“What?”

“All that excessive empathy. Trying to understand others’ feelings. Of course, officially, I’m your superior and personally, I’m over 10 years older than you. But I’ve noticed that you do the same to your colleagues, right? Well… everyone has their own lifestyle, but isn’t it tiring in the end?”

By constantly accommodating others, you inadvertently create unnecessary expectations. If that person does this for me, or that for me, then… it’s not a bad thing. We’ve agreed to call it expectations.

When someone has expectations of you, it means they value you, and over time, it leads to trust.

But too much of anything is not good. Expectations can turn into arrogance, and if not fulfilled, disappointment follows.

So, it’s best to accommodate others in moderation.

“Oh… is that so?”

“Yes, if you keep accommodating everyone and then suddenly stop, do you know how that sounds?”

“What do you mean?”

Kim Taehyun asked, then took a sip of water. Watching him, I spoke firmly.

“Oppa, you’ve changed lately.”

-Pfft! Cough, cough!

“Are you okay? Geez, be careful.”

I handed him a tissue, saying, “Cough!”

“Team Leader, are you doing this on purpose?”

“Huh? What?”

I thought he would spit it out, but I didn’t expect him to cough so violently.

Among Korean men… no, among men who have dated in Korea, is there anyone who doesn’t have trauma from this? But his reaction seems a bit intense. Did something big happen to him? Maybe that was the last thing he said to his ex-girlfriend back then? If so, I feel a bit sorry.

“Phew, phew.”

Kim Taehyun, with a red face, finally calmed down and took a deep breath. Then he composed himself.

“I thought I was going to die. Anyway, Team Leader, I understand what you’re saying, but this is more comfortable for me.”

“Once, I saw something like that on the internet. An ENT doctor told a patient with severe rhinitis, ‘Oh, your rhinitis seems severe. You must have had a hard time.’ And the patient replied, ‘No, not at all. I’m just alive.’ Do you know what the doctor said then?”

“What did he say?”

“He said, ‘That’s because you haven’t lived a life without rhinitis.’”

“Oh…”

I think he understood enough by now.

“Haha, that’s right. Well… honestly, I don’t know if I can do well, but I’ll try little by little.”

“Okay.”

-Dalgdak, dalgdak.

He resumed eating with his chopsticks.

Then suddenly.

“But, Team Leader, is there something you like?”

Kim Taehyun asked.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“About what we were talking about earlier.”

“Well… not really?”

And come to think of it, do I have something I like?

“When I was a man, on weekends or holidays, what did I do?”

“Well… I slept. Like any middle-aged man, you know. Sometimes I buy something delicious and eat it with my family?”

My peers with children were at an age where they had to subtract 1 from their children’s age, even if they were not in the same age group as our Da-yeong and Da-bin. How could I be in the same age group as the children of the manager, who was 5 years older than me?

Anyway, things got a bit easier after the kids entered middle school, or rather, after they entered adolescence. So, during these few years, I found myself sleeping or watching cooking videos on YouTube in my spare time. Developing new products required me to have various references on hand.

“Wow… you really lived a boring life. Oh, trying to give me goosebumps, huh? Searching YouTube for work even on weekends… Isn’t that the true definition of workaholic?”

“Workaholic… what’s that?”

“Oh, Chief, your age is really hard to gauge. You usually seem like a middle-aged man in his 40s, but you use slang like young people. Hmm… it’s not like your appearance doesn’t match it. I just can’t get used to it.”

Maybe it’s because I’ve been influenced a lot by Da-yeong? Over the past few months, spending time with Da-yeong has made me familiar with all sorts of terms.

Being an internet broadcaster, you tend to come across trending memes or slang terms (I first learned the term “meme” through Da-yeong) quickly.

“Taehyun, you should try having teenage children. Maybe that’ll help.”

“Oh no, I think having teenage children might be good for you, Chief. Without them, you tend to sound like a true old man.”

“What, what did you say?”

“Haha. Well… I mean, you don’t seem to have anything you really want to do, right? Or maybe you need some time to think about it?”

Hmm… is that so? Oh, I feel like I’m forgetting something important.

-Clap!

Suddenly, the important thing pops into my head, and I find myself clapping involuntarily.

“I remembered. I was studying to start a YouTube channel. Video editing! Like Premiere, or After Effects.”

And now, it’s been about 4 months since I thought about doing it. Lately, I’ve been so busy that I’ve put it off, but if I keep thinking about starting without actually doing it, I might never start.

“Oh, YouTube! Many middle-aged people are doing it these days. Not a bad idea. What will your channel be about?”

“Cooking! There are many cooking recipe channels out there. I want to do something like that with my original recipes.”

“Sounds good. Why not give it a try now that you’ve remembered?”

“Well, I have to do things like voiceovers and dubbing.”

“Many channels use only subtitles. You’ve watched a lot of cooking channels, right?”

“Yeah, but…”

Whether he sensed my embarrassment or not, Kim Taehyun seemed to back off a bit as he spoke.

“Well, you need to decide on a broadcasting format, have a script, etc., so it might be too much to start right away.”

I looked a bit disappointed at his words.

“Isn’t that right? We should prepare slowly.”

“Almost 6 months have passed.”

“Before that, what will you do?”

“Haha, don’t you know about vlogs?”

“Do you think I’m that clueless? I’m not that old.”

“Anyway, just think of it as writing a diary and try filming various things. Even if you don’t upload them to YouTube, make a few for editing practice, and when you feel confident, you can upload them.”

“Hmm… should I do that?”

“Haha, go ahead and do that. I’ll help you too.”

This guy really has a broad mind. It’s not easy to live comfortably.

But I was grateful for his attitude, so I just smiled and thanked him.

After finishing the remaining food and persuading him to sit down while I did the dishes, I served him coffee.

And as I was doing the dishes…

“Chief, is there anything else I can help with? Do you have work to do?”

“Sigh, just sit down. It’s more comfortable for me too. By the way, there was something I needed to do… Oh! I needed to go grocery shopping. I completely forgot.”

“I’ll go then. Besides, Chief, you’re not in great shape right now.”

“It’s not that painful to the point of being unable to move, right? Just a simple menstrual cramp, nothing more. Why make a fuss about it?”

Although I said that, standing was a bit difficult.

“Oh, stop it. Just write down the shopping list. It’s not like buying groceries is such a big deal.”

Well, dinner needs to be prepared tonight too. And the ingredients are running out…

“Can you do me a favor?”

“Sure. I’ll be back soon. Haha.”

In the end, I couldn’t resist his insistence and nodded my head.

“Oh, by the way, when you went to the store last time, did you run into Manager Kwon or any of the company people?”

And then I realized that was our first meeting.

Maybe he remembered that too, as he smiled at me and replied.

“Haha, I’ll be careful not to get caught. Well… even if I do get caught, it’s not a big deal.”

“Hahaha!”

After laughing heartily and finishing the dishes, I lay down on the bed again, feeling the returning body ache.

“Ugh… I feel like I’m dying.”

Coincidentally, the painkillers were all gone, so I asked him to buy some.

It seemed like I had a fever, as my body felt hot. I didn’t feel the pain when moving, but it definitely hurt when I stopped.

The body is really strange. That’s what I thought.

Right after eating, I suddenly craved dessert. Something sweet. Cool and sweet.

Yeah, that’s it.

“Chief, I’m about to leave. Is there anything else you need?”

Oh!

“Taehyun, bring me a Melona on your way back.”

Kim Taehyun’s cold gaze.

“Oh… haha. Sure, it’s funny. Haha…”

Then I turned around and headed out. It seems like he thought I was just making an old joke.

“It’s not a joke, it’s true….”