Chapter 38. Mobile Food Stall Restaurant Shelley Branch No. 2 (3)
The nursing home was completely quiet at night.
The old woman looked around carefully, then quietly opened the back door.
She gestured into the darkness.
“Come in.”
The moment she finished speaking, Victoria and Yukgap hurried inside on tiptoe, keeping their footsteps as quiet as possible.
Everyone in the nursing home seemed to be asleep.
The entire place was silent.
Victoria thanked the old woman.
“Thank you for helping us.”
“What’s there to thank me for? You said you were here to see your father.”
The old woman spoke as though it were nothing.
Yukgap gave an awkward laugh.
“R-Right. We’re here to see our father. Hahaha.”
Earlier, while selling bungeoppang, Yukgap had made up a plausible lie for the elderly women.
He had claimed that his father lived in the nursing home, but because he had been busy selling bungeoppang, he had accidentally missed visiting hours.
He said he only wanted to make sure his father was safe and see his face for a moment.
Moved by his desperate request, the old woman had unexpectedly offered to secretly open the back door for them.
Thanks to her, they had managed to sneak into the nursing home through an entrance known only to the staff.
“Go see him quickly. Your father must be waiting for you too.”
The old woman gently pushed them forward.
Victoria grinned at her.
“I’m sure Father will be happy too.”
The old woman looked back and forth between Victoria and Yukgap before asking suspiciously,
“By the way, are you really that man’s daughter too? You two don’t look much alike for siblings.”
Yukgap and Victoria quickly exchanged glances.
Victoria immediately lied with a perfectly straight face.
“We have different mothers. Our father has three wives and four girlfriends.”
“Oh? I heard he lived overseas for a while. I suppose you were the daughter he had back then.”
Fortunately, the old woman stopped doubting them.
Yukgap and Victoria hurried away.
“Then we’ll just see Father and leave!”
“Thank you so much!”
If they stayed any longer, their story might fall apart.
The old woman watched them leave with a warm expression.
“What filial young people. You don’t see that much these days.”
Since lingering any longer might expose them, Yukgap and Victoria hurried toward their destination on the second floor.
Yukgap muttered as they crossed the hallway,
“I can’t believe that lie actually worked.”
He had never expected the old woman to open the door without questioning his story about wanting to see his father.
Victoria answered as though it made perfect sense.
“In Korea, if you use your parents as an excuse in the right situation, people tend to let things slide. It’s one of the weaknesses of a Confucian society.”
“I feel a little guilty for taking advantage of that, but at least we didn’t have to fight anyone.”
For Yukgap, who had originally planned to climb the wall and infiltrate the building, the current situation was much better.
There was no need to confront anyone.
And if something happened, they could simply use the same excuse about visiting their father.
Eventually, the two reached a room at the far end of the second-floor hallway.
Fortunately, every room had a nameplate listing the resident, so there was no chance of getting lost.
“This is it.”
Yukgap compared the nameplate on the door with the documents Doctor Mozg had given him.
There was no mistake.
“His Korean name is Choi Sunhyeong. He worked as a mercenary overseas for many years under the alias ‘David Choi.’ And now he lives in this room.”
Yukgap quickly scanned the information again.
Victoria placed a hand on the doorknob.
“Ready?”
“I’ve been ready the whole time.”
There might be clues about his past just beyond this door.
The thought sent a strange trembling through Yukgap’s body.
Victoria carefully opened the door.
“Then we’re going in.”
Fortunately, it was unlocked.
The two quickly entered.
The moment Victoria stepped inside, she grimaced.
“Ugh, old-person smell.”
“Keep your voice down.”
Yukgap quietly scolded her.
Perhaps sensing their presence, an unfamiliar voice came from the other side of the room.
“Who is it?”
An elderly man wearing an old vest sat inside.
He looked stern and upright.
One hand gripped a cane, suggesting that his legs were weak.
He appeared to be around eighty years old.
His unusually sharp eyes gave him an atmosphere that was anything but ordinary.
“Are you David Choi?”
Yukgap asked in a trembling voice.
The old man raised his eyes.
“Who are you? Everyone who knew me by that name is dead.”
So they had come to the right place.
Yukgap continued calmly.
“I came because I want to ask you something. I’ll keep your identity secret.”
“Who sent you?”
The old man asked immediately.
Apparently, he assumed someone else was behind this visit.
Yukgap quickly answered.
“No one sent me. I came because I wanted to.”
The old man let out a short groan.
