Ch.158Chapter 158. The Full Story (4)

“Celebrating Jinsoo Kim’s acquittal!”

“Congratulations!”

“What’s this again……”

I couldn’t help but laugh as soon as I stepped into the office.

All the employees had gathered together and prepared a large cake.

If there had been some pretty female employees, it might have brightened the atmosphere, but with only nerdy guys in glasses, it was utterly dreary.

I slowly walked toward them while receiving a round of applause.

“Congratulations, man.”

“I always knew you weren’t the type to commit crimes!”

“Yeah! I might have believed you capable of rape, but rape and murder? Something seemed off about that accusation!”

Are these guys really congratulating me?

While I was wondering about that, I noticed the cake covered with candles.

Something that looked like syrup or chocolate spelled out large letters:

-For innocent Jinsu

“Hey, it’s not ‘Jinsu’ with a ‘u’ but ‘Jinsoo’ with two ‘o’s……”

“Blow out the candles, Jinsoo! The candles! They’re melting!”

“Blow them out before we can’t eat it!”

“Fine…… Whoooosh!”

I blew with all my might and extinguished the candles.

After that, they all excitedly grabbed knives and started cutting pieces of cake, as if I didn’t matter at all.

These bastards. They just used congratulating me as an excuse because they wanted to eat cake.

I couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous it was.

Still, some of them patted my back or shoulder while offering congratulations.

It didn’t feel too bad.

“Jinsoo.”

“Ah, Manager.”

“Good job.”

“Thank you.”

The manager put a slice of cake on a plate and sat next to me.

I clinked my cola can with his and took a swig while surveying the office.

Everyone seemed thrilled to be taking a legitimate break during work hours.

To think I could provide a holiday for someone.

It made me feel almost like Jesus.

“Did I ever apologize to you?”

“For what?”

“When you first joined, didn’t I verbally abuse you, saying you worked like shit, just like an ex-con would?”

“You said that?”

The manager nodded with an embarrassed expression.

I had absolutely no memory of hearing such a thing.

I’m generally petty by nature and tend to remember insults for a long time, but the fact that I couldn’t remember this suggested I might have done something stupid enough to deserve such abuse.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s nothing. I would have said the same thing if I didn’t know better. What’s there to apologize for?”

This cake tastes like absolute garbage.

They clearly just ordered from whatever place makes the biggest cakes.

Mass-produced cakes like this are never going to taste good.

These idiots wouldn’t know where to order a decent cake anyway.

I forced the tasteless lump of flour into my mouth.

“I didn’t know about your ex-wife and daughter…… I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.”

“Are you following the news?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I see……”

The news was continuously updating with additional reports on the “Jinsoo Gate.”

The Pacific Fleet Commander had spoken up, and who could hold out after that?

If they didn’t want to take all the blame and get life imprisonment, they had to confess.

True to the Navy’s reputation for loyalty, none of the eight detained generals refused to talk.

They admitted to systematically framing me as a rapist and murderer to cover things up.

Once the generals started talking, other officers also began testifying, and the full details of the case were revealed.

“Are you okay?”

“Pardon?”

“I asked if you’re okay.”

“Yes. I’m fine. I had anticipated most of this……”

“……”

The incident began with Colonel Taylor’s hysteria.

Whether blinded by revenge after the death of his wife and daughter, he suddenly pointed to me, someone he’d always disliked, as the culprit.

In a normal unit, the military prosecutors would have investigated and released me due to insufficient evidence.

However, the unit I belonged to had an unusually powerful captain, so the military prosecutors soon began fabricating evidence to make me the criminal.

By the time the generals noticed, it was already too late.

If I walked out of there, it was obvious I would accuse the Navy of torture and cause a huge scandal.

At this point, the generals decided to bury me.

They were desperate to get my confession.

With evidence severely lacking, they needed a detailed confession.

They used various methods: beatings, electric torture, waterboarding, and more.

Perhaps I was the first Korean with enough willpower to endure all that without talking, because they came up with an even more vicious method.

First, they hired contractors to kidnap my one-year-old daughter.

They even recruited a truck driver to disguise it as an accident, showing meticulous attention to detail.

After that, Allison Hospital would take care of everything, so there was no need to worry.

But even after losing my daughter, I didn’t talk.

My wife was the next target.

They asked Ellie several times to persuade me to confess, but she refused each time.

With the death of our daughter on top of everything, Ellie began showing signs of mental instability and was in no condition to persuade anyone.

Eventually, the Navy decided to sacrifice Ellie too.

They forcibly fed her sleeping pills and then hanged her.

Since she died in Navy housing, it was easy to alter her suicide note.

After losing both my daughter and wife, I was no longer in any condition to hold out.

I gave up everything, and the Navy got the confession they so desperately wanted.

The colonel’s influence was significant in the strategy of using my daughter and wife.

Firmly believing I was the culprit, he thought I should lose my wife and daughter just as he had.

So to summarize the whole incident, it’s really an absurd story.

The US Navy buried me and my family to cover up the blunder of one mentally ill colonel—that’s the ridiculous truth of it all.

“It’s a relief.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I thought I’d live my whole life not knowing why my daughter and wife died…… Now that I know they destroyed my family just to protect one colonel, I feel somewhat relieved.”

“……”

It’s always better to know why you’re being beaten than to be beaten without knowing the reason.

The saying “ignorance is bliss” is complete nonsense.

There’s nothing in this world that’s better not to know.

No matter how shitty the truth is, it’s always better to know.

“Alright! Let’s get back to work now! Put the cake away and eat it later!”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just throw it away?”

“Someone will eat it.”

More than half the cake was still left.

It seemed like no one would eat it, and it would just attract flies.

I squeezed in among the engineers who were returning to their seats with disappointed sounds.

After all the celebration, it was time to work.

It was time to return to normal life.

***

“I’m ho—”

“Jinsoo!”

“Oof?!”

I almost fell backward from the heavy impact.

Cuss had come running and jumped into my arms.

With her wrapping around my waist tightly, I realized that Cuss, whom I’d always thought of as childlike, actually felt quite substantial.

“You’re home? I prepared dinner.”

“Oh, it smells amazing!”

“Juliane and I made it together!”

I went to the kitchen with Cuss still clinging to me.

To my surprise, it was kimchi stew.

Juliane made Korean food…?

I glanced at Juliane with some doubt.

“Don’t worry! I learned the recipe directly from Koreatown!”

“Oh. Can I look forward to it?”

“Of course!”

This wasn’t the Juliane I knew before.

The Juliane who would ignore recipes and cook however she wanted was gone.

It seemed like I could enjoy dinner peacefully tonight.

“Juliane.”

“Hmm? What is it? I’m busy right now.”

“This will only take a moment. Turn your head toward me.”

“Hmm…?”

“Thank you. I love you.”

“Hehe. Me too.”

I kissed her and expressed my honest feelings.

I could never thank Juliane enough.

Someday, when I say “I love you,” she might get serious and ask why I’m suddenly being like this.

Someday, we’ll feel more comfort and stability than excitement for each other.

But even then, I’ll always live with gratitude toward Juliane.

Until the moment I die, I’ll thank Juliane for marrying me and for loving me.

I’ll live saying these embarrassing words every day—words that my former self would have been too shy to utter.

“Mmm. Me too, Jinsoo. Give me a kiss too.”

“Let me change my clothes first. Get off.”

“I’ll get off if you kiss me.”

Even as we moved to the bedroom, Cuss showed no intention of letting go.

I’m covered in sweat—does she really want to press herself against me?

Annoyed, I was about to lean in and give her a quick kiss when—

“Ugh?!”

Cuss suddenly pushed against me, causing my waist to bend.

I ended up dropping Cuss onto the bed with a thud.

Fortunately, the bed was right in front of us, or it could have been serious.

“What are you trying to do?”

“Don’t you always kiss Juliane in this position?”

“……”

Come to think of it, the position was somewhat suggestive.

Me pinning Cuss down on the bed, with her legs wrapped around my waist…

I could roughly guess what she was talking about.

I thought we had locked the door well when doing it at home, but how did she peek?

“Are you and Juliane the same?”

“I’m just imitating. Just imitating.”

“There are imitations you can do and ones you can’t, you know.”

“If I’m satisfied with just this much, why are you making such a fuss, Jinsoo? Don’t tell me you want to see your family fall apart?”

“Ugh……”

Crazy girl.

Cuss wrapped her arms around my neck and tightened her legs while whispering.

I’ve raised a tiger cub.

I lamented inwardly as I accepted Cuss’s lips that were slowly approaching mine.

They were moist and warm.

Though Cuss’s body was cold, her lips were surprisingly warm.

Unexpectedly, she didn’t use her tongue this time.

It was just a kiss where our lips met and shared warmth.

Despite the suggestive position, it was completely innocent.

“Dinner’s almost ready!”

With Juliane’s voice, Cuss’s legs loosened.

When I pulled away from the kiss, Cuss finally showed a satisfied smile.

I patted her head, and she slipped out from between my legs, stood up, and ran to the kitchen.

I could never understand what was going on in her mind.

At times like this, she seemed like she had some kind of attachment issues, but she seemed to do well outside…

Actually, I wondered if the concept of attachment issues even applied to a man-eating alien monster.

I quickly changed my clothes and headed to the kitchen.

The smell and appearance of the kimchi stew passed the test.

The key was the taste…

“Huh? This is delicious!”

“Excuse me? Why do you sound so surprised?”

“It’s good, isn’t it, Cuss?”

“It tastes like a richly boiled tomato soup.”

“What does that even mean……”

“I meant it’s delicious.”

It was truly surprising.

It tasted like the kimchi stew that a market food stall ajumma would hastily cook with leftover ingredients near closing time and serve as a service.

For a novice with only a few months of cooking experience to create such a flavor.

I thought Juliane might actually be a cooking genius.

“What’s your secret? It seems like you must have worked hard on the broth.”

“Huh? Broth? I didn’t make any.”

“What?”

“I just dumped a ton of chicken stock in, and it tasted good. It’s a secret tip I heard from the ajummas in Koreatown.”

“……”

The secret to the savory taste was, of course, MSG…

I shouldn’t have asked.

Maybe there are some things better left unknown.

“Oh! By the way, the test kit arrived.”

“Test kit?”

“Yes. Remember what I mentioned before? About testing for any potential viruses in Cuss’s body. Ta-da!”

Juliane lifted a box and showed a small device.

“You put in a drop of blood, a strand of hair, and some epithelial cells scraped from inside the mouth, and it automatically extracts the data and sends it to the hospital. They say the test results come out quickly.”

“Ugh. So we need to draw blood?”

“Yes. Just to be safe, we should take blood from the tentacle part…”

“No! Not allowed! You can’t hurt my tentacles!”

As expected, Cuss immediately threw a tantrum, kicked the chair, and ran away.

“Don’t worry. I’ll subdue her and draw the blood.”

“That’s reassuring. Oh, and this was a buy-one-get-one-free deal, so we got an extra. It’s been a while since your last health check-up, right?”

“That’s true…?”

“Then you can use this one. I heard that nowadays, even with this simple data, they can predict most future illnesses. Oh! And if two people enter their data simultaneously, they’ll throw in a paternity test for free!”

“Why would we need that?”

“Just for fun. Hehe. You two look so alike, I bet the match rate will be surprisingly high.”

“We don’t look alike at all.”

Cuss and I don’t look alike at all, so I don’t know what she’s talking about.

I laughed it off and continued savoring the kimchi stew.

I felt a sense of comfort, like being at home.

It felt like I had finally returned home after wandering for a long time.

I didn’t want to lose this home ever again.

Never again.