Chapter 63. The Taste of the Universe, Eternal Curry (2)
“It doesn’t look like anything serious is happening.”
Yukgap muttered while watching Victoria.
Contrary to Robert’s warning, she was simply sitting quietly in a lotus position, deep in meditation.
“Son of man, listen.”
Then Victoria suddenly opened her eyes and called to him in a low voice.
Son of man.
Apparently, that had become her permanent name for him now.
“Can’t you just call me Yukgap?”
Victoria ignored him and raised her voice in a state of ecstasy.
“I have discovered a revolutionary way to solve all hunger in the world. With this, the current market economy can be reformed!”
“Sorry, but we don’t have anywhere near enough money to implement something like that.”
Victoria continued in a sorrowful tone.
“Hmm, unfortunate. Then what about this? I have a method that can solve racial discrimination and environmental problems at once...”
“Victoria, that all sounds great, but please remember that we barely run one ordinary restaurant.”
They were struggling to keep a single restaurant running in a back alley.
How were they supposed to reform the global economy and solve environmental problems?
Every idea she mentioned felt impossibly distant to Yukgap.
“How regrettable. Truly regrettable. I possess the wisdom, and yet why can this world not accept it?”
Victoria shook her head in lament.
Watching her, Yukgap felt an inexplicable sense of dread.
“Fine. Just don’t do anything weird.”
“Son of man.”
Some time later, Victoria suddenly called him again.
Yukgap answered with growing unease.
“What now?”
“I shall grant you the honor of sharing in a glorious moment. Rejoice.”
Victoria smiled brightly.
The instant Yukgap saw that expression, he knew something was going wrong.
“What weird thing are you planning now?”
Victoria gave him a mysterious smile and beckoned.
“If you are curious, follow me.”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
Still, Yukgap wanted to know what she was plotting, so he followed her.
She led him into her laboratory.
“Behold.”
Victoria spoke proudly.
The difference from usual was the enormous unidentified machine sitting in the center of the room.
It was connected to countless wires and pipes, beeping busily as it operated.
“What is this?”
Victoria explained casually.
“It is a machine that concentrates all of the laboratory and restaurant’s power and energy resources into one place. An enormous amount of energy is compressed inside.”
“What are you planning to do with it?”
Yukgap asked suspiciously.
Victoria suddenly looked into empty space and shouted,
“I can see the flaws of the world! I can hear the contradictions of the world! Now the old age shall rightfully be torn down, and the gates of a new era shall open!”
With those words, Victoria slammed a red button in the corner of the laboratory.
Red warning lights immediately began flashing.
A sharp automated announcement rang out.
[Warning. Warning. Warning. Self-Destruct Extermination Mode activated.]
“Aaaaaah! What the hell are you doing?!”
Yukgap screamed at Victoria’s sudden action.
But she only smiled benevolently.
“Fear not. I have merely converted every resource and all available power in the restaurant and laboratory into explosive energy.”
Victoria spread her arms.
“Destruction must precede creation. I shall tear everything down and rebuild it anew.”
“What kind of insane nonsense is that?!”
As Yukgap screamed, Robert entered the laboratory with a series of beeps.
He spoke in a grave tone.
[The Doctor has reached this stage again. It is now too late to turn back.]
Yukgap stared at him in horror.
“What? What do you mean, too late?”
[The end of the Doctor’s enlightenment always results in destruction like this. I do not know why, but she always attempts to destroy everything in the surrounding area through explosions.]
“That’s not enlightenment! That’s madness!”
Victoria, apparently overwhelmed by the moment, simply continued shouting incomprehensible proclamations.
“Let those who can hear, hear! Let those who can see, see! Behold, the trumpet announcing a new era now sounds!”
Robert spoke with grim resolve.
[Then there is no other choice this time either.]
An electric shock device extended from his arm.
His eyes flashed.
Robert charged forward and slammed it straight into the back of Victoria’s neck.
[Emergency Sedation Protocol activated.]
Victoria clearly had not expected Robert to attack her.
“Huh?”
[Beginning electrical stimulation.]
A massive electrical current surged through Victoria’s body.
She screamed as the shock violently shook her from head to toe.
“Aaaaaaaaaah!”
[Doctor, sleep well.]
Robert mercilessly continued sending electricity through her body.
Before long, Victoria was charred black and collapsed to the floor.
Yukgap stared in horror.
“She’s... okay, right?”
Robert answered coldly.
[The Doctor will not die from this. You know that as well as I do. I merely applied some electrical stimulation to her brain to calm her down.]
Then he pressed the red button in the corner again.
[Self-Destruct Extermination Mode terminate. Code T-32312323. Self-Destruct Extermination Mode terminate.]
The moment Robert finished, the warning lights filling the laboratory went dark.
A clear automated voice followed.
[Self-Destruct Extermination Mode has been terminated.]
Fortunately, the laboratory’s self-destruction had somehow been stopped as well.
Yukgap looked around at the restored calm and muttered,
“I don’t know what enlightenment is, but it sure causes a lot of trouble.”
[Do not remind me. Last time, she almost created a planet-destroying weapon.]
Robert agreed.
Then he lightly poked the unconscious Victoria.
[In any case, leave the Doctor like this. She will recover on her own.]
Fortunately or unfortunately, Victoria remained completely motionless.
In one sense, it was an extremely fortunate thing for the world.
“The moment I took one bite of that curry, I understood everything in the universe! And then I realized a revolutionary way to recreate all the contradictions of the world!”
After several electric shocks, Victoria had thankfully returned to normal.
The problem was that even after causing all that chaos, she still had not given up on the curry that tasted like the universe.
“Fine, I get it. But you are absolutely forbidden from going near that curry.”
Yukgap placed the flask containing the universe-flavored curry far away from her and warned her firmly.
Victoria looked at him like she could not understand.
“Why? If I take just one more bite, I could obtain the knowledge needed to create a perfect world!”
Yukgap stared at her in disbelief.
“Are you seriously asking why? You almost blew up the whole area after eating it!”
Victoria remained completely confident.
“Creation always requires destruction!”
“Say something that actually makes sense!”
Yukgap tightly held onto the flask containing the curry and warned her again.
“Anyway, I’m managing this curry from now on. Don’t even think about touching it!”
High Priest Tekliukas slowly climbed to the top of the golden temple.
Below the temple gathered residents from the distant planet Ratuli, the intelligent beings of Tankumkum, the notoriously ferocious Eldulains, the electrical life-forms known as Uslan, the armored life-forms of Akshut, and countless other intelligent species.
Their forms and home planets were all different.
But they had gathered for one purpose.
“Listen, children of the great cosmos.”
High Priest Tekliukas spoke solemnly from the top of the temple.
Through the amplifiers, his voice became a thunderous proclamation that echoed across the entire area.
The vast crowd below answered as one.
“Speak, and we shall listen!”
Tekliukas continued.
“We have gathered here to praise the great Creators. Today, with one voice, we shall offer worship to the Creators who dwell beyond the universe!”
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
A tremendous cheer filled the area.
Then Tekliukas slowly raised one arm.
A figure appeared beyond the universe.
With two enormous hands, he held up the cosmos in which they lived.
Tekliukas gazed upon him in awe.
“Praise Yukgap, Father of Creation! He formed all things in the universe!”
The crowd beneath the temple answered together.
“We praise the Holy Father, the Great Creator, the source of all things in existence!”
Tekliukas raised his arm once more.
This time, the form of a gigantic blonde woman appeared beyond the universe.
Tekliukas raised his voice toward her.
“Worship Victoria, Mother of Time! She shaped all things in the universe!”
“We worship the Merciful Mother, the irresistible law, the one who governs the flow of cause and effect!”
Once again, the crowd answered in a single voice.
Surrounded by the cries of countless beings, Tekliukas slowly lowered himself.
Then he bowed his head toward the gods who had created their universe.
“Great Creators, Yukgap and Victoria! Please accept the praise of your lowly creations!”
They, humble beings, could not possibly understand why the great Creators Yukgap and Victoria had made them.
All they knew was that Yukgap, Father of Creation, had created the substance that became the origin of the universe.
And Victoria, Mother of Time, had used that substance to shape the universe as it now existed.
That alone made them worthy of worship.
Soon, every intelligent being gathered beneath the temple shouted toward their Creators with one voice.
“Please accept our worship and praise!”
“Yukgap, don’t you hear something?”
While they were still arguing over the curry, Victoria suddenly stared into the flask with interest.
“I don’t hear anything.”
Yukgap answered indifferently.
Unlike him, Victoria kept staring into the black universe contained inside the flask.
She tilted her head.
“Hmm. I’m sure I heard something coming from inside this flask.”
“Fine. Just stay away from the curry.”
Yukgap looked at the flask and sighed.
“Good grief. I only wanted to make normal curry. How did things end up like this?”
