The Military Chef of a Ruined World

“Son, is that you? The face looks similar, but the atmosphere is too different, I almost didn’t recognize you.”

It was Bum-seok’s father.

“Ugh, it’s as if I’ve had a nightmare.”

“It’s a miracle…”

“By the way, where are we exactly? And why have you lost so much weight?”

“I’ll explain everything step by step, Father.”

“What, what is it suddenly? You’re a grown man, don’t be so bashful!”

Bum-seok hugged his father, tears streaming down his face.

But it wasn’t just the two of them.

“Honey? You’ve regained your senses?”

“Why is it so dark, we need to turn on the lights…”

“Mom, Mom!”

The people who had lost their minds due to emotional wounds,

They were all beginning to regain their senses.

Those who had just regained their consciousness were confused, not knowing what was happening.

And the family members who had been caring for them…

“Thank God.”

“Thank you… thank you…”

They embraced them, tears streaming down their faces.

“What? What’s going on?”

“Those people, have they regained their minds?”

“Suddenly…?”

Startled by the commotion, people began to gather around.

I quietly stepped back and left the room.

“What’s Sergeant Shin up to this time?”

“What kind of stunt is he pulling now?”

Among them were even some of the soldiers.

I ignored them and stepped back.

‘I may be worried about my own parents, but there’s no point in worrying about it right now. The important thing is to survive and build up the strength to go and see them.’

“First of all,

‘Ugh. I’m starving to death.’

Bum-seok couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.

His father, who always seemed as solid as a giant, after seeing him lose everything and go mad because of the monsters, Bum-seok had vowed,

‘I will avenge my father against those bastards, even if it costs me my whole life!’

As he saw his father wasting away day by day, that vow only grew stronger.

Bum-seok’s life became devoted to vengeance.

When he killed the monsters, Bum-seok felt a thrill of avenging his father.

A huge thrill, so much that he didn’t even feel the fatigue from the arduous battles.

But occasionally, other thoughts would come to him.

After slaying the monster bastards and returning to the base with his wet body,

as he tended to his father staring blankly into the void, a thought would sometimes cross his mind,

‘…What’s the point of all this?’

No matter how many monsters he killed, it wouldn’t bring his father back to his senses.

‘All this rampaging for vengeance… Isn’t it actually meaningless?’

But, giving up on vengeance wouldn’t bring his father back either.

Trapped in this hopeless situation,

Bum-seok chose to throw himself into the relentless pursuit of vengeance,

rather than entertaining the frightening notion that his actions were meaningless.

Yes, at least until his father opened his eyes.

“Oh… So those things happened while I was lying here.”

“Ugh, yes.”

Bum-seok explained the events to his father.

Yet, he struggled to hold back the tears welling up.

After hearing the whole story, Bum-seok’s father paused in thought,

then nodded and said, “You must’ve had a hard time. Thank you, my son.”

“Father…”

“Hmm. I was so confident in my health despite my age, I never imagined I’d lose my mind and become a burden to my son like this.”

“Haha… I really thought I was going to die from the exhaustion.”

“But now that your old man has regained his senses, let’s struggle through this together as a family.”

“Struggle through this? What do you mean?”

“What do you mean, ‘what’?”

The old man replied with an expression as if stating the obvious.

“We still have to live on, don’t we?”

“Ah…”

Bum-seok couldn’t help but be taken aback by those words.

He had always only thought about vengeance,

never having considered a life beyond that.

“First, we need to resolve this abnormal situation in the city.

For that, we’ll have to cooperate with those military fellows.”

“Y-yes, of course.”

“Hmm. I wonder if this old man can be of any help.

Let’s start with that ‘awakening’ first, it seems like the way to go.”

Bum-seok’s father had been in a dazed, detached state for a long time,

but it wasn’t something that happened suddenly.

The sudden flood and the appearance of the monsters,

caused him to lose everything he had built up over a lifetime.

‘All the things I’ve achieved over my lifetime have vanished.

Now I… have no will to live.’

The shock of that led him to lose his sanity.

But now, how is he?

“I was so stupid. I only thought about what I lost,

and failed to consider what I still have.”

“….”

“You being alive is such a precious thing, you know.

From now on, let’s figure out how we can move forward together.”

Compared to his former self, consumed by a thirst for revenge, his father filled him with positivity and vitality for life.

“…Father, there’s something I need to confess.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

Bum-seok spoke meekly, like a child who had committed a wrongdoing.

“While you were lost in your mind, I’ve been living solely to take revenge against those who did this to you.”

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TL Note: Good day, readers.

Now that was quite a long vacation that I had taken due to health problems.

This chapter upload first at NovelBin.Com