Chapter 49. The Taste of Sadism and Pleasure (1)
“By the way, what are you going to do once you find your family?”
Nova seemed unable to understand his wish.
Yukgap answered without much thought.
“What do you mean? They’re my family. Of course I want to meet them. Do I need a reason?”
Nova lowered her eyes.
Then she spoke in a slightly lonely voice.
“Not every family is a good one. I don’t even know who my father is. My mother sold me as a test subject for money. And after she realized I was smarter than she was, she started treating me like some kind of monster.”
After saying that, Nova let out a single sentence filled with complicated emotions.
“Sometimes, you’re better off without a family like that.”
Yukgap forced a smile.
“But you have a little sister waiting for you, don’t you?”
“Yeah. I do.”
Nova nodded.
Yukgap emphasized that point.
“Maybe there’s someone out there waiting for me to come back too. That’s why I’m digging into my past.”
“That sounds nice.”
Nova popped a piece of gimbap into her mouth and chewed.
It had cooled slightly, but it was still warm enough to taste the care that had gone into making it.
The airport was busier than expected.
Nova absentmindedly counted the time.
It was almost time to leave.
“Nova!”
A voice called out to her from far away.
It was Victoria and Yukgap.
The two came rushing over as though afraid they might miss her.
Nova looked at them awkwardly.
“You didn’t have to come see me off.”
“You’re leaving Korea. How could we just let you go alone?”
Victoria answered cheerfully.
Yukgap held out a lunchbox.
“Here. Eat this on the way.”
“What is it?”
“Gimbap. You looked like you enjoyed it last time, so I made some.”
“Your delivery service really is impressive.”
Nova smiled shyly as she accepted the lunchbox.
Victoria looked disappointed.
“You could stay in Korea a little longer.”
Nova quietly shook her head.
“I can’t. No one knows when Abraxas’s trackers might find me again. Innocent people already died because of me. It’s better for everyone if I disappear.”
The new drug had fortunately been completed.
But the other nuns who had defended the laboratory had died at No. 5’s hands.
If Nova had never chosen to come to Korea, those people might still be alive.
That guilt still weighed heavily on her.
“Can I ask where you’re going?”
Victoria asked hesitantly.
Nova answered calmly.
“I don’t know either. All I know is that the order prepared a safe house for me. I plan to hide there until Abraxas stops searching for me.”
She did not know where she would arrive.
She did not even know what kind of place awaited her.
Nova stood at the beginning of another wandering journey.
Knowing she could not stop her, Victoria spoke gently.
“If you ever want to invent another medicine, come find me anytime! I’ll help you for free.”
Nova gave her a playful smile.
“You really are strange, Victoria. You risked your life without asking for anything in return.”
“Well, we’re friends. Friends are supposed to help each other. That’s what my mother taught me.”
Victoria answered without hesitation.
Friends.
Nova hesitated at the unfamiliar word.
“I don’t really know what that means. I’ve never had one before.”
“Then you can make one now! I’ll be your friend!”
Victoria suddenly held out her hand.
Nova paused for a moment.
Then she took it.
They shook hands lightly.
“Then... take care, my friend.”
A smile passed between them.
Victoria returned the farewell.
“Stay safe wherever you go, my friend.”
“You’re going to trace your hometown through kimchi?”
Seryun tilted his head after hearing the unexpected idea while delivering kimchi as usual.
Yukgap immediately pressed him.
“Yeah. You should be able to do that, right?”
“Hmm. It isn’t impossible.”
Seryun thought for a moment.
“Kimchi tastes different depending on the region and household. The ingredients each family uses vary slightly. You could say the taste of a family’s kimchi is like a fingerprint.”
Yukgap lit up.
“Then if I follow the taste of the kimchi in my memory, I might be able to find my hometown!”
Seryun pointed toward a corner of the restaurant with an indifferent expression.
“By the way, what is the boss doing this time?”
Victoria stood by the window, staring at the sky.
Tears streamed down her face as she quietly sang to herself.
“My dear old friend I knew for so long... why must we say farewell? Must you really go? Wherever you may wander, I’ll never forget...”
Apparently, saying goodbye to Nova had affected her deeply.
Yukgap shrugged.
“Something happened. She does this all the time. Ignore her.”
“In any case, there’s no point delaying. Try this.”
Seryun suddenly held out a side-dish container.
Inside was a whole head of kimchi.
“What’s this?”
“Kimchi made by Grandma Kim Chundeok of Haenam. I bought several heads because I planned to steal the recipe and sell it at my shop... I mean, because she’s a famous local cook and I wanted to use it as a reference.”
“I feel like I just heard something pretty serious.”
Yukgap muttered awkwardly.
Seryun snapped,
“Enough! Stop talking and eat it.”
“Fine. I’ll eat it.”
Still feeling suspicious, Yukgap put some kimchi into his mouth.
Seryun explained,
“Jeolla Province kimchi uses a lot of seasoning and plenty of seafood, which gives it a rich, refreshing flavor. Is this similar to the kimchi you remember?”
Yukgap closed his eyes and chewed.
He focused every sense on the taste in his mouth.
Then he slowly shook his head.
“No. The kimchi I remember wasn’t this rich. It was cleaner and had less seasoning.”
“Then perhaps the taste you remember is closer to Gyeongsang Province kimchi. This is from Grandma Lee Seongja in Gyeongju. Try it.”
Seryun offered another kind.
Yukgap stared at him suspiciously.
“You really were planning to steal recipes from kimchi masters all over the country.”
“To survive in the kimchi industry, one must be prepared to do far worse. Eat or be eaten. That is the law of this world.”
Yukgap had no idea when the kimchi business became such a brutal battlefield.
But right now, finding the taste of his hometown mattered more.
He tore off a long strip of Gyeongsang Province kimchi and ate it.
Then he shook his head.
“Not this either. It’s missing something crisp.”
Seryun offered another one.
“Then try this.”
“What’s this?”
“Kimchi made by Master Choi Deoksun of Gangneung.”
This kimchi clearly had less seasoning.
It also contained plenty of radish.
With trembling hands, Yukgap tore off a long strip and placed it in his mouth.
Crunch. Crunch.
The crisp sound of kimchi filled his mouth.
A moment later, Yukgap’s eyes widened.
“This is it.”
His voice rose with certainty.
“This is it! This is the taste of the kimchi I remember!”
The flavor engraved somewhere beyond his lost memories.
This was unmistakably it.
“Gangwon Province kimchi tends to have a lighter flavor and uses a lot of radish. It seems you may have originally been from Gangwon Province.”
“So that’s it! I’m from Gangwon Province!”
Yukgap shouted with joy, desperately trying to hold on to the flavor lingering in his mouth.
Perhaps because he felt he had moved one more step closer to his past, tears unexpectedly welled in his eyes.
“Are you really that happy?”
Seryun asked dryly.
Yukgap suddenly felt embarrassed.
“I don’t know. It’s such a small thing, but realizing that I’m learning little pieces about myself... I started crying without even noticing.”
He knew Gangwon Province only as a name.
He had never knowingly been there.
Still, learning his hometown through the taste of kimchi brought one vague thought to mind.
“My family is probably there too.”
He had come all the way to Korea to find them.
And now he had narrowed his search down to Gangwon Province.
If he continued shrinking the possibilities little by little, perhaps he really would find his family one day.
Seryun spoke in his usual indifferent tone.
“Fine, but please refrain from staring into the air and singing. One person doing that in this restaurant is already enough.”
“I’m not going to do that. Don’t worry.”
Yukgap looked down at the kimchi.
“Still, it’s strange when you think about it. I forgot everything else, but I remember this taste perfectly.”
“That simply means kimchi is powerful enough to leave that strong an impression.”
While the two talked, an unfamiliar man entered the restaurant.
“Are you... open?”
Apparently, he was a new customer.
With Robert still under repair, Yukgap greeted him personally.
“Welcome! What would you like? Our waiter is unavailable, so just tell me directly.”
“I heard that this restaurant allows customers to request special dishes.”
“If you order something, I can make most things.”
The man hesitated.
“Then... could you take my request too?”
“As long as it isn’t too unreasonable, of course.”
The man took a breath.
“I’m Korean. Both of my parents are Korean too. I’ve never lived overseas.”
He paused.
“But I have a very serious problem.”
“What is it?”
The man sighed weakly.
“I can’t eat kimchi.”
“Whaaaaaaaaaat?!”
A horrified scream escaped Yukgap.
He immediately pressed the man.
“W-Why?! Did something horrible happen to you involving kimchi when you were a child? Some tragic, miserable trauma? Right? That has to be it! There’s no other way a Korean could possibly be unable to eat kimchi!”
A Korean who could not eat kimchi?
That was as absurd as a fish that could not swim.
The man answered as though he was used to this reaction.
“It’s just too spicy for me. That’s why I came here. I was hoping you could somehow fix my pathetic intolerance for spicy food.”
