Chapter 134. The Hometown Where I Once Lived (4)
“Is this me?”
Yukgap quietly looked over the framed photographs hanging on the wall.
They showed the same boy growing up over the years.
“That’s right. Your father always loved taking pictures.”
“Ever since you were born, he kept taking them and hanging them up like this.”
A baby wrapped in a blanket.
A toddler who had just learned to walk.
Kindergarten entrance day.
An elementary school sports festival.
Middle school graduation.
High school entrance ceremony.
University graduation.
Military enlistment.
And finally, a young man smiling brightly by the sea.
Every photograph showed the same person.
“This is... me?”
Yukgap murmured in a trembling voice.
The person in those photographs was him.
A version of himself from a past he could no longer remember.
He slowly looked through each picture.
Just seeing them made it feel as though pieces of his lost past were gradually returning.
“Yes.”
His mother answered with a trembling voice.
“That’s you.”
Only then did Yukgap manage a strained smile.
“So this is me.”
Not No. 6, the chimera weapon created by Abraxas.
Not Yukgap, the chef of Restaurant Shelley.
There had been a past that belonged to him.
A past that should always have been his.
“That’s me.”
His parents spoke excitedly beside him.
“When they told me you died, I knew something had to be wrong.”
“Our son isn’t the kind of person who would just die like that.”
“There had to be some mistake.”
“Exactly! I always knew you’d come back someday!”
Apparently, they had spent all these years believing he was dead.
The thought that he had unknowingly caused them so much suffering filled Yukgap with belated guilt.
Then he scratched his head awkwardly.
“Um...”
“What is it?”
Yukgap gave a shy smile.
“I want some kimchi.”
His parents immediately became overwhelmed with emotion.
“You really are our son!”
“No matter where you went, you always asked for your mother’s kimchi!”
“Then hurry and bring some!”
His mother rushed off and quickly returned with a large bowl of kimchi.
She handed him a pair of chopsticks and urged him on.
“Here. Try it.”
Yukgap carefully picked up a piece of kimchi.
Crunch.
This was it.
This was exactly it.
His memories and senses screamed the same thing.
The miraculous food that had awakened a sense of self and longing inside him when he had been nothing more than an Abraxas killing weapon.
With trembling hands, he put the kimchi into his mouth.
He slowly chewed.
Spicy.
Sour.
Sweet.
Salty.
The rich savoriness and fermented seafood flavors blended together, filling his mouth and rising deep into his nose.
Every cell in his tongue seemed to awaken and cry out desperately.
This is the taste.
The taste he had been searching for.
The taste that had existed beyond those faint, unreachable memories.
Gulp.
Yukgap swallowed.
Tears naturally began to fall.
His mother immediately panicked.
“What’s wrong?”
“Does it taste bad?”
“No.”
Yukgap smiled sadly through his tears.
“I missed this taste so much.”
“I wanted to eat it more than anything.”
“And now that I finally have... it’s so good.”
“My son...”
Seeing her son moved to tears by her kimchi, his mother looked ready to cry again herself.
“I’m home!”
Just then, the shop door opened and a woman’s voice rang out.
A long-haired woman in her mid-twenties entered.
The moment his mother saw her, she raised her voice.
“Chana!”
“What is it, Mom?”
“Look who’s here!”
His mother suddenly pushed Yukgap forward.
Yukgap found himself standing awkwardly in front of the young woman.
“Who’s... Aaaaaah!”
The woman named Chana screamed the moment she saw him.
It was a familiar reaction.
So this is my younger sister.
Yukgap awkwardly greeted her.
“H-Hey.”
His mother grabbed Chana’s hands, unable to contain her joy.
“Chana! Your brother came back!”
“Your brother is alive!”
“M-My brother?”
Chana trembled as she stared at Yukgap.
Pure fear was visible on her face.
After a moment, she asked shakily,
“Are you really my brother?”
Apparently, his younger sister had believed he was dead too.
Yukgap awkwardly tried to explain.
“Well... something complicated happened.”
“I was in an accident and lost my memories.”
“I wandered overseas for a while... then met someone I knew who helped me get back here...”
“Uh... so it took some time.”
The full truth was far longer and more complicated.
And even if he told them everything, it was hardly something anyone would believe.
Chana looked between Yukgap and their parents with a horrified expression.
“What the hell is going on?”
His parents immediately raised their voices.
“What do you mean? There was obviously some mistake!”
“Exactly! Those Foreign Legion people must have mixed someone up.”
“I told you over and over that your brother had to still be alive!”
Unlike their parents, Chana did not calm down.
She glared at Yukgap with an expression that might have been fear or disgust.
Then she violently shook her head.
“No.”
