Chapter 20. There Is No Restaurant for Weapons (2)
[Doctor, I brought the cardboard.]
Robert entered carrying a large pile of cardboard.
Victoria answered casually.
“Good. Leave it by the entrance.”
Apparently, she planned to give it to the same elderly woman when she came again.
Yukgap immediately stepped forward.
“I’ll give it to her myself today.”
“Why?”
Victoria sounded surprised.
Yukgap awkwardly smiled and shrugged.
“I just feel like it.”
“Sure. It’s nothing difficult.”
Victoria did not ask further.
In a way, that was a relief.
“Whew... what am I even doing?”
Yukgap stood outside the restaurant holding the cardboard.
Then he seemed to think of something.
He pulled out a banknote.
Then he secretly slipped it inside the pile.
Afterward, he sighed.
What was he doing?
He knew better than anyone that this would not change anything.
He also knew how contradictory it was for someone like him to act out of pity toward another person.
Even so, right now, he wanted to do something.
“Hm? You’re not the shiny fellow I usually meet.”
The old woman tilted her head when she saw Yukgap.
She looked to be around seventy.
Because of her bent back, she looked much smaller than other people her age.
Maybe my real mother looks like this too.
The thought suddenly entered Yukgap’s mind.
He could not remember her face.
But somewhere deep inside, he knew his mother had once been precious to him.
Perhaps because of that, the hands holding the cardboard trembled faintly.
“Hahaha. I just came out to give it to you today.”
He handed over the pile.
Please find the money and use it however you want.
Yukgap could not say it aloud.
He only watched awkwardly while repeating the thought in his mind.
“Well, either way, thank you as always.”
Fortunately, the old woman did not seem suspicious.
She loaded the cardboard onto her cart and began pulling it away.
Yukgap unconsciously felt relieved.
“Hey, young man!”
Suddenly, the old woman called out to him.
Yukgap felt as though he had been caught doing something wrong.
“Y-Yes?”
“You should check the inside before giving away cardboard. You almost lost valuable money.”
She pulled out the banknote from inside.
It was the one Yukgap had hidden.
“Just take it!”
Yukgap awkwardly smiled.
But the old woman shook her head.
“No.”
“Why?”
Even if she collected cardboard all day, she would probably not earn even a quarter of that amount.
Wouldn’t it be better to take the money and rest for a day?
But despite Yukgap’s thoughts, the old woman remained firm.
“Even if I starve to death tomorrow, I won’t beg or steal. My late father always told me that money must be earned honestly.”
She placed the banknote back into Yukgap’s hand.
Then she left the alley carrying only the cardboard Restaurant Shelley had prepared.
Yukgap watched until she disappeared.
Then he muttered words meant for no one in particular.
“That wasn’t what I meant...”
“Victoria, why do elderly people’s backs become bent?”
Yukgap suddenly asked while preparing ingredients.
“There are several reasons, but the biggest is probably losing the muscles that support the body.”
Victoria pointed toward the muscles around her spine.
“Muscles weaken with age. When that happens, there’s less support for the spine and bones, so the back slowly begins bending.”
“Then would food that’s good for muscles help?”
Victoria looked at him strangely.
This was the first time Yukgap had ever shown this much concern for another person.
“Why are you asking?”
“There’s someone I’m worried about.”
Yukgap answered casually.
Victoria thought for a moment.
“It would help. Consistently getting enough protein can slow down some effects of aging.”
So protein really was useful for maintaining muscle.
Yukgap thought carefully before asking again.
“What foods have a lot of protein?”
“Chicken, probably. Chicken breast especially is famous for being high in protein.”
“But chicken breast is dry. Someone with weak teeth might have trouble eating it.”
Victoria offered a simple suggestion.
“Then boil it for a long time and make it like soup. That’ll soften the chicken breast. Even an elderly person with weak teeth should be able to eat it.”
“I see.”
If he boiled chicken breast until it was soft enough for soup, even an elderly person could probably eat it without difficulty.
Maybe I should make chicken breast soup.
While Yukgap continued thinking, Victoria quietly asked,
“Yukgap, be honest. You’re thinking about that old woman who came here, aren’t you?”
She had seen right through him.
Yukgap hesitated.
Then he answered honestly.
“I just thought... if my mother is still alive, she’d probably be around that age by now. Maybe my parents are struggling somewhere too. Maybe they’re collecting cardboard to survive. Once I thought about it that way, I couldn’t stop worrying.”
Victoria listened quietly.
Then she said,
“That’s empathy.”
“This is?”
“When someone is hurt or struggling, you can imagine their feelings by placing yourself in their situation, even if you haven’t experienced the same thing. Humans can naturally do that.”
Yukgap gave a faint smile.
“I thought I’d never be able to feel something like that.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m a weapon. If a weapon feels empathy for someone, that means it’s broken.”
A bullet did not worry about the target it would strike.
A blade did not feel sorrow for the pain of the person it cut.
A weapon only needed to fulfill its purpose by tearing and killing.
Yukgap had been the same.
No.
He had been created specifically for that.
“But humans can feel empathy.”
Victoria looked directly at him.
“If you’re beginning to empathize with someone’s pain, doesn’t that mean you’re recovering as a person?”
Yukgap tilted his head.
“Recovering?”
“Yes. It’s something good. You should be proud.”
Victoria smiled as though it were her own achievement.
Not broken as a weapon.
Recovering as a person.
For some reason, those words left Yukgap with a heavy feeling in his chest.
It felt as though he had finally found part of the answer to a question he had been searching for without realizing it.
And he decided to act on that feeling.
“If you don’t mind, can I use some restaurant ingredients to make chicken soup? You can deduct the cost from my salary.”
Yukgap asked seriously.
Victoria immediately nodded.
“Don’t worry about something like that. You’re the chef of Restaurant Shelley. The chef decides what gets cooked.”
It was a refreshingly simple answer.
“Thanks.”
Yukgap smiled faintly.
Victoria responded playfully, as always.
“It’s nothing. If our restaurant’s food can be used for something good, I’m always happy.”
Yukgap removed the fully boiled chicken breast from the pot.
He had chosen the largest and healthiest pieces.
Steam rose from the tender meat.
“Whew.”
He gripped daggers in both hands and took a short breath.
Then he began slicing along the grain into bite-sized pieces.
The person eating this would be elderly and have weak teeth.
If the pieces were too large, chewing would be difficult.
Ideally, they needed to be small enough to swallow easily.
“Hup!”
With movements as fast as the wind, Yukgap finely chopped the chicken breast in an instant.
Nearby, broth made from vegetables and chicken stock bubbled gently.
Yukgap slowly added the chopped chicken and herbs.
“So now I just let it simmer?”
According to the recipe he found online, if he let it cook slowly for several hours, the meat and vegetables would soften enough to make a delicious chicken soup even an elderly person could easily eat.
The old woman would probably enjoy it.
“If my parents are around that age now, their health probably isn’t very good either.”
Yukgap stared into the simmering soup and became lost in thought.
He could not remember what his parents looked like.
Even so, imagining them made a strange tenderness rise inside him.
Resting his thoughts on the warmth rising from the pot, he quietly murmured,
“If I ever meet you again someday... I’ll make you something delicious too.”
“Huh?”
Yukgap regained consciousness several hours later.
When he opened his eyes, he saw the kitchen ceiling.
Apparently, he had fallen asleep.
“Maybe it’s because I haven’t been sleeping properly lately.”
He yawned.
The nightmares had kept him from getting deep sleep recently.
Perhaps that exhaustion had finally caught up with him.
“The soup should be done by now.”
Still half-asleep, Yukgap rubbed his eyes and looked for the chicken soup that should have been simmering.
But the pot was gone.
“Huh? My soup!”
He immediately looked around in alarm.
He was not imagining it.
The chicken soup he had carefully prepared had completely disappeared.
Hmm-hmm-hmmm~
Then Victoria’s humming came from the direction of the laboratory.
The moment Yukgap heard it, a terrible feeling came over him.
He hurried toward the sound and ran into the laboratory.
“Victoria! Did you see the chicken soup that was here?”
“This?”
Victoria smiled brightly and pointed toward a pot covered in wires.
It was unmistakably the chicken soup Yukgap had spent so much effort making.
“Aaaaaah! What are you doing to it?!”
Yukgap screamed on instinct.
Victoria answered in a surprisingly serious tone.
“Yukgap! Your chicken soup was perfect. But it doesn’t contain enough protein to meet the nutritional needs of old age! And that means this is where alchemy comes in!”
“What are you planning?”
She was definitely about to do something.
Whenever Victoria spoke like this, it usually meant a major disaster was about to happen.
But Victoria had already made up her mind.
“Trust me. I won’t let your good intentions go to waste.”
“Don’t! I don’t know what you’re planning, but don’t do it!”
Yukgap desperately shouted.
Victoria ignored him.
She activated the electrical device and burst into wild laughter.
“Awaken, my creation! Become the strongest protein in the world! Muahahahahaha!”
Ominous electrical energy crashed directly into the pot of chicken soup.
The soup began bubbling violently in a strange, disturbing way.
And soon, the entire laboratory was filled with an eerie boiling sound.
