Chapter 150
Chapter 150
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 150
Chapter Title: Small Progress (3)
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I quickly followed the senior's instructions.
Ricardo was making pasta. Oil pasta with squid. The nutty aroma filled the kitchen, and the noodles shook this way and that in the frying pan.
Wow, I'm really hungry.
The smell made my hands move faster as I set the table.
Just as I finished setting it neatly, the food came out.
I heard the senior's words, waving his hand to tell me to sit.
His words telling me to eat rang out hilariously clear.
"Wow."
What is this?
I took a bite of the oil pasta and my eyes widened.
Then I stared dumbly down at the pasta.
It was incredibly delicious.
The emotion surging through me rivaled the thrill I'd felt eating the basic noodles from my favorite chain restaurant. Those basic noodles had a unique seasoning that suited me perfectly, but this was oil pasta that anyone would rave about.
I stared blankly at the pasta.
"It's so good."
Ricardo raised one eyebrow.
The senior saw my expression and let out a snicker.
"Delicious~?"
"Yes. Really delicious."
My vocabulary was lacking; I couldn't express this emotion properly.
I opened and closed my mouth repeatedly, trying to convey what I felt.
Even so, my fork kept busy. Since I'd emptied my stomach once, the food went down even better.
Eating the noodles with the squid brought an even greater wave of delight.
I'd vowed to apologize profusely for troubling him at noon, but that resolve had already been pushed aside.
Happily swallowing the pasta, I said,
"It's so good. As good as Lexic's basic noodles."
"Lexic...?"
"Yes. It's a restaurant name, and I really love their basic noodles there."
Ricardo arched his eyebrows and reached for the phone on the table.
While he fiddled with it one-handed, I blissfully ate the oil pasta.
Then his words made me choke.
"You're saying this tastes similar to that shitty chain's noodles right now~?"
I coughed for a good while.
I nearly spat out the noodles in my mouth. Barely avoiding that embarrassing spectacle, I held out my palms to clear up the misunderstanding.
No.
This is unfair.
"I really said that because I love their noodles!"
"And it's not even their best menu, but the basic noodles...."
"That's the most delicious one. Really."
I meant it sincerely.
For some reason, my sincerity never got through to this guy.
It was hard to be as carefree and cheeky as I was around Yoon. While twirling noodles on my fork, I glanced nervously at the person sitting across from me.
Ricardo stared at his phone for a while before smirking.
"Just eat it~."
"...But it really is delicious."
"I know~."
"If you don't believe me, I can buy dinner there later...."
...But is it okay for me to say something like that?
I'd been about to casually offer to buy dinner there but stopped myself.
The kitchen suddenly fell quiet.
The senior, eating his pasta, keenly noticed my change.
His green eyes narrowed.
I couldn't meet those eyes, so I twirled my fork and mumbled,
"I'm sorry."
The senior let out something like a snort.
My head drooped further. To hide my fear, guilt, and awkwardness, I shoved the forkful of tightly wound noodles into my mouth.
Even in this moment, the pasta was delicious....
"Hildebert."
The pasta nearly got stuck in my throat.
I barely swallowed and responded.
"Yes."
"Don't you regret betraying your own kind~?"
My fork stopped.
I looked at the person sitting across from me without moving. He stared at me unwaveringly, waiting for my answer. Just like when I'd first fallen out of the portal, never taking his eyes off me.
In any case, I planned to tell him only the truth.
I set my fork down on the table.
"I don't know."
Not right now, when I couldn't recall the exact circumstances of that decision.
"Only after I remember everything completely will I know the answer."
"Confident you can remember~?"
"I still have four more of those games."
I said quietly, and Ricardo blinked.
I smiled faintly.
"One of them is even in my cabin. If I dig through all of them, won't I remember more of what I'd forgotten?"
"So you have to have four more breakdowns.... Sounds like a real hassle...."
"I'm sorry for the trouble."
I bowed my head in apology.
If only he'd just tossed a game to me. Told me to hole up in my cabin and hunt for Easter eggs. Then I wouldn't have had to dirty his house and hands.
He was someone who had no reason to understand my situation.
Ricardo was silent for a long while.
Then he broke the silence with another gut-wrenching question.
"How close were you to the creature Ye-hyeon killed?"
I let out a small breath.
Fortunately, I'd braced for a tough question, so my answer didn't come too late.
"A friend, a fellow recruit, a comrade-in-arms...."
In truth, it was the one who'd been by my side since I began properly facing the vast world.
"Someone whose absence I'd hardly ever imagined."
"Why did you give the sword to Ye-hyeon?"
"Because I thought he might hesitate."
I let a self-mocking smile play on my lips.
"I thought that if he hesitated upon seeing my sword, there might be a chance for victory."
Silence stretched on.
The long black kitchen light illuminated the reddish-brown table. Salt, pepper, bay leaves, basil, pasta noodles, and various other ingredients were neatly organized. The kitchen was tidy but lived-in.
A senior's space, now cloaked in stillness.
I thought it was time to prepare to leave.
"If it were me, I probably couldn't have done what you did...."
At that moment, Ricardo muttered like he was talking to himself.
I lifted my eyelids.
The senior came into view, eyes half-lidded, staring at some point on the table.
"That's normal. Not betraying is normal. Who would trust someone who committed such a sin?"
"Did I ever tell you I hated my family~?"
He didn't lift his downcast eyes.
Words from the elevator in the ruined stadium came back to me. How he'd hated his mafia father and roamed outside. How he'd run around looking for ways to leave for another region.
Even at the moment of the disaster, he'd been searching for ways to leave for another region.
"I couldn't stop a single one of the countless crimes that bastard committed."
His whisper was low and hoarse.
"I agonized over it dozens of times, but I never mustered the resolve to actually act."
"You were too young."
I pointed out what needed to be said, obviously.
While staring straight into Ricardo's eyes as he slowly raised his eyelids.
"And you loved your family."
What could he have done?
No one would blame Ricardo for that. He was young, and he loved his mother and siblings. He was the only one in the family who'd gone astray, or so he'd said. He must have known better than anyone that toppling his father would topple the family too.
That was never his sin.
As I tried to convey that, Ricardo smiled bitterly.
"You think you didn't love them~?"
Ah.
I was at a loss for words.
The senior saw my reaction and smiled bitterly again.
"Are you going out there to kill them yourself?"
"Yes."
After buying a phone, I'd contact Ye-hyeon right away.
I needed to report what I'd remembered. Then I'd ask when I could go outside. He'd handle the arrangements well, but recalling the past made me more impatient than ever.
Especially after seeing Eve's letter.
The muggy early evening.
Ricardo lowered his elbow from the back of the chair beside him.
"I'll go with you~."
The bombshell declaration slipped out.
My eyes went wide.
Amused by my reaction, a small laugh mixed into the green-eyed man's voice as he continued.
"Better to bend willingly than stubbornly hold out and regret it more...."
I didn't understand.
What stubbornness? What more regret? But I didn't ask. I just sat there speechless, barely coming to my senses and nodding. It was the impatience talking.
Only after hastily agreeing did gratitude wash over me.
Along with heavy guilt.
"Thank you."
I added softly.
"I'm really sorry."
"Don't apologize~. Makes me feel like I have to too~."
Ricardo replied nonchalantly.
And with that, the conversation ended. Silence enveloped the kitchen. A jumble of dozens of emotions left me unsure if I wanted to cry, rejoice, or rage as I ate my pasta.
The senior too focused silently on his dinner afterward.
After the meal, we cleaned up in the quiet.
Once done, Ricardo brewed me coffee as I prepared to leave.
Espresso, though.
I got an earful when I tried to add water.
"Please don't do that barbaric shit~."
But this time, I stood my ground.
"How can you drink that sludge?"
Ricardo shot me a look that said dealing with someone who didn't appreciate the taste was exhausting.
Those people from his country were hypersensitive about certain foods, that much I had to acknowledge. Even with something as mainstream as Americano, they made a fuss. Apparently that hadn't changed.
He'd probably give me that look over Hawaiian pizza too.
So stubborn.
So I steadfastly made my Americano next to Ricardo.
Ignoring the disdainful glare, I finished it and headed quickly to the entryway.
"I've troubled you. I'll head out now. Have a good night, Senior."
"Stay over~?"
"A truly tempting offer, but I miss my cabin too much. I haven't been able to look after it for days."
I replied shamelessly.
Then, smiling bitterly at the man leaning against the entryway wall,
"I plan to burrow under the covers alone and cry myself to sleep."
He eyed me with a puzzled expression.
Those difficult green eyes remained. But the rage I'd seen before was gone now. I couldn't tell what emotion had replaced the burning anger.
The man who'd stood silently nodded in farewell.
I nodded back wordlessly and returned home.
***
"Hildebert."
The next morning, I was facing someone I hadn't expected at all.
"Your phone."
Jonathan Kudo.
The guy who appeared before me that morning with the latest model phone was my old patrol partner from the past.