Chapter 132. The Hometown Where I Once Lived (2)
After saying that, Yukgap fell silent for a long time.
But one thing was clear.
He was being unbearably harsh on himself.
After a while, Victoria quietly spoke.
“You know... the only people I can really call family are Mother and Robert.”
Her voice was tender, but firm.
“If my mother suddenly disappeared and then came back, I’d just be incredibly happy to see her.”
“I wouldn’t even care what she’d been doing all that time.”
“If the family I searched so desperately for finally came back, why would any of that matter?”
Yukgap could only weakly murmur her name in a trembling voice.
“Victoria...”
“Let’s go to Jeongseon in Gangwon Province.”
Victoria practically declared it for him.
“You risked your life to escape because you wanted to find your family!”
“After everything you went through, what would any of it mean if you gave up now and never met them?”
“If your family throws you out, then we’ll deal with that when it happens!”
She grabbed Yukgap and shouted with almost desperate force.
It felt as though she were speaking on behalf of all the suffering he had endured until now.
“No matter what anyone says, you’re the chef at my restaurant.”
“You are not some murderous weapon belonging to Abraxas.”
“Even if God himself asked me, that’s what I’d tell him!”
Had she somehow seen through all the tangled emotions inside him?
Victoria’s words struck directly into Yukgap’s chest.
He could not say anything.
He simply stared at her.
“So let’s go see your family.”
“Okay?”
Victoria asked again, this time almost pleading.
At last, one trembling word escaped Yukgap’s lips.
“Thank you.”
There were so many things he wanted to say.
But right now, those were the only words he could think of.
For accepting him.
For giving him a place to work at Restaurant Shelley.
For helping him search for his past.
For fighting Abraxas alongside him.
And...
For never calling him a killing machine.
“Thank you.”
“Really... thank you...”
Tears streamed down Yukgap’s face.
And for a long time after that, the only thing he could keep saying was thank you.
“For now, I organized everything Jung Jinyoung told us.”
Victoria unfolded a sheet of paper containing all the information Jinyoung had provided.
Then she began going through it point by point.
“Yukgap’s real name is Kim Changi.”
“Your parents run a side-dish shop in Jeongseon Market, and you have a younger sister who works at a bank.”
“You were born and raised in Jeongseon, Gangwon Province, and graduated from elementary, middle, and high school there.”
“You were deeply attached to your hometown, which is why you used the nickname ‘Jeongseon Kim.’”
Jinyoung had apparently been quite close to Yukgap when they served in the same unit.
Because they had spent nearly a year together, he knew a surprising amount about Yukgap’s personal life.
“You majored in foreign languages and served in the Special Forces.”
“You used those strengths to become an overseas mercenary and later served in the French Foreign Legion.”
“Then you disappeared during an operation.”
Yukgap quietly added,
“And that was probably when Abraxas kidnapped and modified me.”
It felt like pieces of a puzzle were finally falling into place.
At least there was one fortunate thing.
Victoria unfolded a map of Jeongseon County she had found online.
“Jeongseon is a very small place.”
“If we search around for a bit, we should eventually find someone who knows Yukgap.”
“Maybe even one of his old classmates.”
“Then finding my family there probably won’t be difficult.”
Yukgap nodded.
Jeongseon County only had a population of around forty thousand.
If Yukgap had truly been born and raised there, there had to be traces of him somewhere.
They might find someone who recognized him simply by walking around downtown for a day.
[Doctor, preparations complete.]
While they were organizing the information, Robert, now transformed into truck form, honked to get their attention.
Yukgap looked startled.
“You guys are coming too?”
Victoria answered as though the question were ridiculous.
“You thought we’d let you go alone?”
“I’m curious about what kind of people your family are, so I’m coming even if that’s the only reason.”
“Besides, how are we supposed to run the restaurant without our chef?”
“Right?”
“Fine.”
Yukgap gave up immediately.
He already knew from experience that there was no persuading Victoria once she became like this.
Even if he tried to leave her behind, she would probably find some way to chase after him.
“Still, I never imagined filming A Restaurant Like This Exists?! would lead to something like this.”
Victoria murmured as she thought back on everything.
Yukgap casually nodded.
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know what company recommended Restaurant Shelley to them, but I’m seriously grateful.”
“To think an Archon of Abraxas allowed herself to be captured in a place like this.”
“You should be ashamed, No. 7.”
No. 7 glanced toward the figure sitting atop a pile of corpses.
His skin was black like carved obsidian, and he had a dark-brown mane.
He stared at her with open contempt.
Below him, the mercenaries who had been guarding her lay scattered in pieces.
“Shut up.”
“If No. 5 hadn’t betrayed us, I never would’ve ended up here.”
Freed from her chains at last, No. 7 answered irritably.
A low voice like the growl of a beast echoed through the area.
“Do not make excuses.”
No. 7 flinched for an instant.
People sometimes called the lion the king of beasts.
Perhaps that was why the man, a chimera fused with a lion, possessed an inexplicable charisma that overwhelmed even the other Archons.
