Chapter 133. The Hometown Where I Once Lived (3)
“We’re here.”
Victoria said as she brought the truck to a stop.
After the long drive, Jeongseon was quieter than expected.
A small town center, low buildings scattered here and there, and tall mountains wrapping around the town created a calm, secluded landscape.
It was the kind of ordinary small city you could find anywhere in Korea.
“What do you think?”
“Does anything come back to you?”
Victoria asked carefully.
Yukgap stared at Jeongseon for a long time before shaking his head sadly.
“Not yet.”
Apparently, nothing immediately came to mind.
Victoria tried to sound cheerful.
“Let’s go to the high school you supposedly attended first.”
“Maybe someone there will know you.”
“Okay.”
The two headed toward the high school Yukgap had graduated from.
Perhaps because it was school vacation, the gates were closed.
Beyond the wall, only a lonely winter wind moved across the empty athletic field.
“The gate’s locked.”
“Probably because of vacation.”
Yukgap muttered in disappointment.
Victoria immediately spoke with determination.
“Wait here.”
“I can blow apart a metal gate like this in no time.”
“What are you doing at a school children attend?!”
Yukgap hurriedly stopped her.
He got out of the passenger seat and said,
“I’ll just go in alone.”
“How?”
“Getting over something like this is nothing.”
Yukgap loosened up for a moment, then lightly jumped over the metal gate.
For someone who had carried out countless infiltration missions for Abraxas, getting over an ordinary school gate was effortless.
Once inside, Yukgap looked back at Victoria beyond the gate.
“I’ll just take a quick look around.”
“Don’t cause any trouble while I’m gone.”
“Fine. Come back soon.”
Leaving Victoria behind, Yukgap slowly walked through the school grounds.
His eyes carefully scanned everything around him.
“So I graduated from here?”
The school looked ordinary.
A building covered in cracks.
Uneven paving stones.
Bare trees lining the paths.
Nothing but scenery that could be found at any school.
“What...?”
Yukgap suddenly stopped.
An emotion he could not explain shook him.
Déjà vu.
“This feels familiar.”
There were no memories.
But somehow, he knew.
He had passed through this place many times before.
Trusting only that sensation, Yukgap slowly walked forward.
Then he reached a low section of wall that dipped down more than the rest.
He stared at it as though entranced.
“...Here.”
“This part of the wall was low, so I could climb over it by myself.”
He gently ran his hand across the wall.
It had been worn smooth by countless students climbing across it over the years.
Yukgap had probably been one of them.
“Why did I climb over here?”
He stared at the wall.
Then slowly raised his head.
An old snack shop came into view.
Something struck his mind with absolute certainty.
“That’s right.”
“If you climbed over this wall, the snack shop was right there.”
“That’s why I used to sneak over here.”
Something faint began to surface.
He had really liked that place.
Tteokbokki.
Sundae.
Steamed buns.
Fish cakes.
Bungeoppang.
No matter the season, whenever he wanted a snack, he had climbed over this wall again and again to visit that little shop.
Fragments of memory surfaced so naturally that they quickly filled his consciousness.
“Did you find anything?”
When Yukgap came back outside the school, Victoria asked him.
He answered in a trembling voice.
“I remembered something from the past.”
“Really?”
“If I walk around this area a little more, I think I’ll know.”
With growing certainty, Yukgap began walking wherever his feet took him.
No.
It felt more like the faint traces of his past were pulling him forward.
He staggered into a nearby alley.
“That’s right.”
Yukgap slowly lifted his head.
Everything around him was telling him the same thing.
His mind might have forgotten.
But his body remembered.
“I walked through here every day for years.”
He continued forward unsteadily.
Soon, he saw crude graffiti painted in bright blue across a wall on the opposite side.
Yukgap stared at it.
“This graffiti is still here.”
He passed the wall and turned down another road.
There should have been an old abandoned house here.
But now there was only an empty lot.
Apparently, it had been demolished sometime over the years.
“So the abandoned house that used to be here is gone.”
Yukgap murmured without even realizing it.
Like fragments slowly joining together to reveal a larger shape, memories were returning one by one and reconstructing his past.
Just walking this road made those forgotten moments feel as though they were returning to him.
“And then I turn here.”
As if possessed, Yukgap stumbled forward.
His destination was not far.
After only a few more steps, he saw a small detached house in the distance with an orange roof.
A side-dish shop was attached to the front, filling the air with the rich aroma of food.
And mixed within it was the smell he had missed more desperately than anything else.
Yes.
That was it.
He was certain.
“Yukgap, wait for me!”
Victoria came hurrying after him.
Then she saw him standing completely still, staring blankly ahead.
His face was frozen in shock.
“...”
