That strange feeling kept going even through dinner.
The original made such a fuss whenever family was mentioned that I wondered if there was some problem.
‘Isn’t this actually a family overflowing with love?’
Of course, on the surface the dinner scene looked terribly austere.
Because every single face at the table was blunt, or cold, or cool.
But if you looked at what they were saying, it was nothing like how it looked.
“Why isn’t Siwoon coming? Of all days, it’s the day his baby brother is coming.”
“He said an emergency meeting got scheduled right before clocking out. He asked if he could resign.”
“He’s the vice president. What’s he going to do if he does that… honestly.”
From a very ordinary “I want to quit” office-worker vibe to ordinary griping about the lunch menu.
“I’d like to suggest a change to the lunch menu. No matter what, isn’t cheonggukjang (fermented soybeans) a bit much?”
“Do you know how good cheonggukjang is for you? The nutritionists surely planned it properly. Eat what you’re given.”
“It makes the smell soak into our clothes.”
“Develop a deodorizer.”
“Come to think of it, the flowers bloomed early today. Would you like to take a walk after the meal?”
“Oh my. Yes, let’s. It’ll help our stomachs settle.”
There was also very everyday small talk.
“You’re the one who needs to hold the center. If you can’t even handle one person properly, what business do you have trying to run a company?”
“Won’t you take your son’s side, Father?”
“They say lions raise their cubs by dropping them off a cliff, my son.”
Of course, since it was a family that didn’t look ordinary, topics came up that were hard for Rowoon to understand.
Even so, the glances that brushed Rowoon from time to time were warm.
Even now.
As if he’d been watching for it, his brother silently slid a dish over in front of Rowoon.
It was a side dish he’d found tasty and had been unconsciously reaching for again and again.
“…”
Rowoon pressed down hard on the fluttering in his chest that had been rising for a while.
It had been an unconscious gesture, but the eyes watching Rowoon reacted immediately.
“Rowoon, are you feeling unwell?”
His mother’s worried gaze turned to him.
“If your stomach’s off, stop eating. Don’t be stubborn and end up with indigestion.”
It sounded curt in a cold voice, but in fact it was his brother’s words laced with concern.
“Wait a moment. We should call Dr. Cheon.”
His brusque father, quicker to act than anyone, stood up with his phone in hand.
“No, really, I’m fine. I just itched for a second and scratched.”
When he hastily babbled whatever came to mind, they all looked dubious but accepted it.
“See Dr. Cheon once before you go.”
…Or maybe not.
“Right. You look busy as it is, but you still need to take care of yourself. The problem is you’re too thin.”
That wasn’t true.
Granted, the original’s constitution made it hard to put on weight even when eating, but lately, with steady workouts, his build had gotten sturdier than before.
“You’re not still a picky eater, are you? That’s why you haven’t grown tall. How can you still be acting like a baby, hmm?”
He wasn’t picky and he wasn’t scrawny.
It just seemed different in their eyes.
Over that scene, past memories overlapped.
—So while we live like beggars because of someone, you’ve been eating well all by yourself. Just look at the oil shining on that face of yours.
It was a time when tightening the food budget left him barely managing one meal a day.
Even if it wasn’t much money, if he had even that, his mother would look out for Rowoon one more time.
So both going hungry, and being told such things while going hungry had felt like nothing.
‘That’s what I thought then.’
It hadn’t been “nothing.”
Again, Rowoon felt a churn in one corner of his chest.
“Try some of this. I made this batch myself this time. It’s pretty good.”
Another side dish slid his way.
Before he knew it, all the side dishes had shifted toward Rowoon’s side of the table, but no one in the family seemed to mind.
It was a perfectly normal, familiar sight.
“Have some more of this, too.”
“Eat up, eat up. No wonder you’re all dried up.”
“Haewoon, is that any way to talk to your little brother?”
“He is thin.”
“That’s true.”
Rowoon quietly accepted the side dishes his family pushed toward him.
And he thought:
‘No one has ever taken care of me this much…’
But they were different.
They checked on him, took care of him, and looked after him as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
The fact that this wasn’t strange was, to Rowoon, even stranger.
Because for Rowoon, “family” had always been the exact opposite.
Whenever he went home after a long time away, those sharp looks that flew at him as if to say, “Why are you here?”
If he so much as might sleep over, the way they’d get on his case about what he came for before he could even sit down, as if worried their own sleeping spot would be taken.
And the way they’d hover and fish for words, wondering if there was anything more they could wring out of him.
None of that had been normal.
‘Even if I don’t want to know… If it’s this different, I can’t help but see it.’
Only now that he’d stepped a pace back and become an outsider could he finally see everything objectively.
Only then could Rowoon admit it.
What he’d been clinging to wasn’t “family,” but a one-sided crush.
Being tied by blood didn’t make something family.
In that case…
‘Conversely, couldn’t you be family even without blood?’
Eating an ordinary meal in an ordinary home, chatting about ordinary things.
Maybe that’s why it made him feel like he might be mistaken.
A mistake like he’d really become a member of this family.
At the same time, desire surged up.
‘Why not?’
So much had already changed.
The original’s life, career, even karma.
The one living all of that in his place was Rowoon.
He was even producing results far superior to the original.
It wasn’t as if Rowoon had seized it on purpose.
But since things had turned out this way, he was dutifully cleaning up after the original and shouldering every responsibility there was.
‘Then… give me rights, too, if you’re going to saddle me with responsibility.’
He would no longer accept an unfair deal.
Above all else……
‘The original rejected them so completely. In that case, isn’t it alright if I take it?’
Rowoon thanked the historic fool who didn’t recognize a precious gem and threw it away.
And he was even more grateful that he was the one who got to pick up that gem.
‘In truth, it’s best to eliminate as many variables as possible.’
There was still so much about the original shrouded in a veil.
He had a long, long way to go before clearing the guy’s karma.
So it might be better to keep the “family” factor at a distance.
To maintain the stance the original had kept all this time.
But…
‘Is there really any need to do that?’
Now that so much has already changed?
[…At last, you’re returning to your rightful place. It was always yours…… Ugh! Hey, how is this some heavenly secret being leaked!]
Cheonghwa’s words he’d brushed past long ago.
Perhaps they resurfaced now precisely for this decision.
If you want it, take it.
He would accept no more regrets.
‘I’ll gratefully accept this warmth you threw away.’
To do that, there was something he had to do first.
Rowoon didn’t want to be with them as a substitute for the original.
So Rowoon made up his mind.
“Um… there’s something I want to say.”
To reveal the truth.
When Rowoon opened his mouth, every eye turned to him.
All the warm affection and concern and the faintest trace of worry contained within them receiving it all at a glance, Rowoon said:
“I… actually lost my memory.”
A bomb dropped onto the cozy dinner table.
After the bomb dropped.
What happened after that was……
“Ah, for heaven’s sake. What a thing to say. I thought it was something serious. Why say something like that with such gravity?”
Surprisingly, there wasn’t much of a startled reaction.
No, everyone acted as if they already knew; they were so matter-of-fact.
The one who was instead bewildered was Rowoon.
“Baby, the truth is, we already knew.”
“You knew…?”
“We’d heard from Dr. Cheon.”
From context, Dr. Cheon seemed to be the physician who had first examined Rowoon’s condition.
‘I wondered where that doctor had come from.’
They’d been connected to the family from the very beginning.
Rowoon had harbored doubts about the original’s family because there’d been no contact.
But in truth, they had already been watching over Rowoon from afar.
“He said you seemed very confused, and recommended we avoid shocking you for the time being. The original you… was a rather sensitive child, so we thought we’d leave you be for a while.”
Given the behavior the original had shown, it made sense.
‘I thought I had no luck with family.’
In fact, it was the exact opposite.
Which was precisely why Rowoon had come to long for them.
“So we planned to take our time and watch your condition slowly. We didn’t know what might happen if, already unstable as you were, you were shocked.”
That is, until Rowoon suddenly went and shot a project.
“Your brother worried a lot.”
“Ah, please don’t say things like that. It’s embarrassing.”
That, again, was news to him.
Someone he’d met for the first time had been worried about him?
“We couldn’t just tell a busy kid to come and go. And your brother said you must have your own thoughts about it, and it wouldn’t be good for us to stand out needlessly.”
Avoiding his mother’s side-eye, his brother replied.
“If a rookie who’s just taking off gets saddled with gossip, it’ll only generate negative talk, you know?”
Ignoring his attempt at a defense, his mother looked at Rowoon with pity.
“They say kids these days like to take it easy, but our youngest somehow manages so bravely all on his own. I find that so admirable. And it makes me feel a little sad.”
“Is it… okay with you that I have amnesia?”
“Of course. Naturally.”
She blinked.
As if she’d heard something very strange.
“Just because you lost your memory doesn’t mean you aren’t my son. You’re our beloved youngest.”
Warmth patted the back of his hand, whitened from the tension making him clench it.
“If the you who’s here isn’t my son, then who is? Isn’t that right?”
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t that he’d lost his memory. His soul had changed.
Even if memory is lost, even if the person changes, the word “family,” taken for granted, gave Rowoon courage.
“Did you really think Mother wouldn’t recognize you? Mother has always been waiting for you to come back, my baby.”
He felt a strange sensation.
Those words were surely meant for the original.
‘Hearing them as if they’re for me… that must be my imagination, right?’
It was surely nothing but his delusion.
Even at this very moment, the original’s family must still think the original is the one who’s here.
Who would ever think that just because a person is a bit different, their soul has changed?
‘Well. It doesn’t matter.’
Because the one by their side from here on out, for life, would be him.
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