Seungho woke up, blinds open and the sun staring at him from high up. It must have been around noon.

  Whatever, it's Saturday.

  After a moment

  I wonder if the others made it safe home.

  He took his phone from the nightstand, but the battery was dead. He plugged it. He turned it on and looked at the screen.

  Ping. Ping. Ping.

  He gulped and sat straight up on his bed. A stream of messages flashing.

  Jiyoon: How are you?

  Jiyoon: Are you safe? We are all ok.

  Minjae: Please, tell Jiyoon you are ok, she is worried…

  Jiyoon: Minjae-ssi said I shouldn't worry, you are just sleeping it off, but how can I not worry?!

  Minjae: By the way about the other day, let's not talk about it...you know….

  Minjae: Recover well, see you at work.

  Jiyoon: Please tell me you are ok!

  Jiyoon: I told Park-isanim you are sick. I covered for you, but make sure you call and apologize!

  An unexpected message from Taeil.

  Taeil: Seungho-ssi, There are rumors that a few people from the office went to an ex-hunter fight...you know, it wasn't us, so make sure you don't say anything that might make people think we did, because we didn't...[exploding-head emoji]

  Taeil: By the way, placed bets are non-refundable.

  Seungho laughed.

  Jiyoon: hey, where do you live? Did you move? I went to your old address, and there is an old couple living there now.

  Jiyoon: Why didn't you tell me?

  Minjae: By the way, we'll talk when you get back to work, don't overdo it, after you took the medicine...hehe

  He also had received a series of emails from Kang Yoo, progressively more angry, because Seungho had missed the order of the banchan assigned to him.

  "How could you have forgotten!!?" Seungho read. They sounded like words coming out of his mother's mouth.

  He clicked to the next email, no point in continuing reading.

  He stuck his tongue out at the report, an unconscious reaction. He retracted the tongue quickly, that was the kind of things his colleagues held onto.

  Also an email from HR: "you have been placed on probation for unauthorized prolonged time off work."

  It didn't matter what explanation Seungho could come up with, even if he could tell the truth. Now it looked he did it out of spite for not getting the project.

  More drama.

  Seungho rolled his eyes.

  It never ends...

  It was already Thursday.

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  How is that even possible…?

  Then he remembered the vial.

  His mouth didn't hurt, he checked in the mirror. Nothing, no trace whatsoever.

  Ha, I am healed. I feel fine, incredibly fine.

  He ran his fingers all over his body, observing his skin where it felt different.

  All of his body had healed. No fractures, no scars, no pain. No deformation. He sighed in relief.

  He suddenly felt bad for having gone to see the other hunters fighting, their bodies falling apart as spectacles.

  Other hunters...that's right, am I a hunter now too?

  He rubbed his head and realized he felt good about himself.

  He then noticed...clarity.

  He didn't feel the fog, the hum perennially interrupting his thoughts gone, and his perception of the world was crystal clear.

  His stomach grumbled. Seungho hadn't eaten since Friday evening.

  The fridge was empty, he used to buy groceries on Saturdays and the past weekend he was knocked off.

  He thought of the project he had lost, at the updates and the images of the "Harmony Gyeran"... Kang Yoo and Seungho came up with the recipe together the previous year.

  Kang Yoo made some changes and picked a good design and a new name. Kang Yoo was actually really good at box design. But Seungho felt a pang, there was something still not quite working with the recipe. Kang Yoo should have gone for the original recipe, the one they came up together with the vendor on the Hangang banks, near the Ttukseom Hangang Park.

  Leaving that vendor out was such a mistake!

  Oh, but that clarity... Seungho knew he could succeed now. It was too late for that project, but he could still prove to himself he could make it work. And not be the failing guy with the fogged brain he had been so far.

  He took the bus and got to the park and looked for the vendor. It was a mobile stall, but the man always parked it around the same spot. Hopefully he still did that.

  Walking down a path to the river, he felt a dark thought began to form in his head. He didn't know what it was, just that it gave him a headache. Someone was calling him, not his name just a presence, he turned around to see, but no one was there. It came from somewhere...and then was gone.

  Moving closer to the stall he felt so energized. The sunlight, the breeze from the river, the leaves, the flowers, everything immersed him. He felt alive and connected to nature.

  Seungho found the cart, which was unfolded to receive customers of his broiled pork and marinated eggs.

  He inhaled deeply before approaching the man, who called him.

  "Yang Seungho-ssi?"

  Seungho smiled, bowed and thanked the man, Jung Hoseok, for remembering his name. That was a surprise.

  "I don't get many customers who can name all of the ingredients in my cooking from tasting without previously knowing the recipe."

  His smile was warm, that of a father greeting his son. Seungho didn't know why he thought of that, but accepted the thought as a treasure.

  They spoke of the dish, of Seungho's original idea for the harmony gyeran.

  "Oh yes! Kang Yoo-ssi liked that combination of ingredients as well. He suggested putting it together with the other banchan" and showed Seungho the list.

  "But how would this work?" asked Seungho surprised "these cannot possibly fit in the box."

  The vendor showed Seungho the prototype of the lunch box.

  The box was very elegant. A rigid box, with a split in the middle, the paper rising up from the edges to form a ridge like a canyon in the middle, where a traditional knot made of a bright orange cord securely fitted inside it.

  Seungho liked it, genuinely.

  There was a leaflet inside it with the picture of the foods. A nest of glass noodles wrapped an egg half-dipped in a vibrant, modern Gochujang aioli (red) (Korean fermented chili paste-based condiment) and half in a traditional, elegant sesame salt garnish (beige/gold), creating a striking visual split down the middle. It read: "A perfect whole, born from two traditions."

  Same ingredients balanced differently, different quantities. Only the marinated sauce, Seungho's recipe, stayed exactly the same.

  So Kang Yoo had kept the original recipe for the marinated sauce but lied in the email. Seungho then realized Kang Yoo's emails weren't addressed to the whole list, but only to his email address.

  Did he think I wouldn't notice?!

  And then he realized, yes, they all thought he was that he was that bad with everything.

  He sighed.

  "Yang Seungho-ssi, is everything all right?"

  "ye-yes." Seungho put a smile on, it was sad but it was true, he hadn't played his best game for a long time, but now he could change that. After all, that was his idea and, so far, everyone liked it.

  So he suggested to the vendor a slight change in the recipe because like that, the version planned for selling, there was balance in the flavors, true. But not the balance promised.

  "I agree with your analysis, I told Kang Yoo-ssi the same, but he said there was no other way, which is understandable, the box must fit the image sold," said the vendor casually but smiling looking at the river as if thinking of the past.

  "Would you like to try some?" asked the vendor curious to see what Seungho thought of it.

  As soon as Seungho took some of the food in, he couldn't believe it...the food tasted awful. It wasn't supposed to taste like that.

  What is happening??

  "How is it?" asked the vendor.

  "It is fine, but as we thought, the proportions are wrong." Seungho replied with a polite smile, knowing full well he was lying to the vendor.

  "You look different…" sentenced the vendor.

  "How?"

  "your aura... it's different, you are more confident than a year ago. I thought you were going to feel crushed the project went ahead without you."

  "How do you know?!"

  "I became a vendor to escape the corporate world…"

  "I see…" now it all made sense to Seungho.

  After Seungho promised to return, he left. Now there was no reason to insist on the project. His taste was messed up.

  I should probably leave my job too.

  The thought had been casual. But with every step that decision resounded in his mind as very much true.

  If he wanted to do that, he needed first to win over a worse enemy... uncertainty.