Lovers

40

The Holy Grail Named Yudorov

I looked at Nakaban, wondering what he meant, but he didn’t respond to my gaze. Instead, he was writing something with a pen on the tablet he always carries. It must be something important. Nakaban was clearly a working professional, so it felt odd for me to say anything about him working. Besides, Sebastian would be better at answering all these questions than Nakaban.

When I looked at Sebastian, he shrugged.

“My father was poor when he was young, and he had a close friend then. His name was Matthias Yudorov.”

“What?”

The Matthias Yudorov I know?

Matthias Yudorov is the leader of Canaris and a symbolic figure. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Canaris is like Matthias’s Gestapo, but Michael Riegel was friends with that Yudorov?

I don’t know what to say. Matthias Yudorov. In fact, for me, Yudorov was more like a Holy Grail than a person’s name, which made it even more surprising. Yudorov was like an item that would guarantee promotion if caught.

“There are a few things you’re misunderstanding. Uncle Yudorov was just a person who urged for labor law reform. That ‘organization’ he was said to have was just a gathering. In fact, something most people don’t know is that the name of that gathering was ‘Milal’. It means that each worker’s rights are precious, like a grain of wheat.”

Is he really that virtuous?

The Yudorov I know is a bastard who blows up places with bombs at the drop of a hat. As I was opening and closing my mouth, trying to figure out how to refute this, Sebastian continued.

“My kidnapping had nothing to do with Uncle Yudorov either. At that time, the reversionists and labor groups were close. It was soon after democratization, and people couldn’t even distinguish between the terms ‘worker’ and ‘people’. I was kidnapped by the reversionists, and my father rescued me using Uncle Yudorov’s connections.”

It was strange hearing Riegel, who seemed like he’d be the world’s loneliest chaebol heir, saying “Uncle Yudorov”. It felt like watching a poorly dubbed foreign film.

But I felt a bit relieved. Riegel isn’t unhappy. The sadness that shrouded Riegel was only due to an impossible love, but his life is generally full of goodwill and affection.

I’m glad. Even if everyone else in the world is unhappy, I hope you’re not unhappy.

…I can’t say that out loud. It’s too embarrassing. We’re not that close… or are we?

Regardless of how deep my anguish grew, Riegel continued speaking.

“The reversionists swallowed up Milal and changed the name to Canaris. They put Uncle Yudorov at the forefront. Uncle knew he didn’t fit well with the reversionists, but by then it was already…”

Too late to back out.

Even though I’m someone who only knows about shooting and fighting, I could picture the situation. The time when Yudorov was dragged out as the leader of Canaris was probably around the time I settled in this country, wasn’t it? It must have been around that time, and I vaguely remember the atmosphere of this country then.

The place where I was, the cathedral, was a bit safer. People might rob markets or liquor stores, but they thought two or three times before robbing a cathedral. There was psychological resistance, and no matter how harsh the world was or how much the government system had collapsed, the neighborhood people still existed. No neighborhood people liked thieves. Among them, ‘stealing from a cathedral’ was particularly frowned upon.

Nevertheless, blind and brazen thieves or robbers occasionally entered the cathedral. Of course, it was never dangerous. Because I was living there. If Father briefly hid to avoid the danger of becoming a hostage, neighborhood robbers, thieves, or gangsters were just a snack, not even a slice of cake, for me.

Although I was only twelve years old at the time, I was already a professional killer. Of course, after being adopted as Father’s son, I didn’t kill anyone, just beat them to within an inch of their lives.

After beating up intruders like that for about a year, the local thugs dried up, and Father’s cathedral was always crowded with gifts and believers. We should have become rich, but Father did just as much neighborhood service. He took in orphans who had nowhere to go and shared meals with those who were starving. I was always mobilized for such services. While serving meals, if there were any troublemakers, I would immediately subdue them.

The neighborhood really liked me. I was called a few times to homes threatened by the absence of a man in the household. Among them, there was even a mother and daughter who eventually sold their house and came to live with us in the cathedral. Even when going to school, I moved with the neighborhood girls and young children. Having many children to protect was a weakness, but it was okay because no one dared to touch me.

That’s what the world was like. A world where the government had collapsed. They say a democratic government is coming in, but people wondered what that meant. Did our fathers die to make the world better? If it’s making the world better, why don’t we have bread to eat tomorrow? In such a time when these harsh words had been lurking for years, Canaris revealed its presence by putting forward Matthias Yudorov, the figure who had received the most love from the people.

Meeting with guys who might set off a bomb at any moment in such a dangerous time, Yudorov’s future was no different from a candle in a typhoon. He wasn’t a figurehead, but a hostage.

“Our family spent 10 years trying to get Uncle Yudorov and his family to emigrate. It was okay with the family, but getting Uncle Yudorov out wasn’t easy. We finally succeeded, but… Canaris found out we were behind Uncle. Uncle cut off contact with us and went into hiding. We can only believe he’s safe, and we… we’re in a state where Canaris is demanding compensation for losing their figurehead.”

So, to put it simply,

“You’re being extorted?”

When I summarized his long story in one word, Sebastian closed his mouth. Why is he acting like this? Hey. I moved closer to Sebastian and asked,

“How much?”

“It’s not exactly extortion…”

“How much are they asking for? So, they’re threatening to report the crime of helping Matthias Yudorov escape, which is treason? Those bastards?”

As I asked if they were being threatened like that, I stared intently into Riegel’s black eyes. Riegel’s eyes were trembling in both directions, which was very rare. He denied that he could talk about it that way.

“The word extortion doesn’t fit. There’s no one in this world who can extort Riegel. We just received an offer we couldn’t refuse, and I’m the negotiator for the deal decided by the family.”

“What are you talking about? You gave them money, didn’t you?”

Sebastian shut his mouth tightly at my direct question. Seeing that, I didn’t need to hear it to know the answer.

“You did give them money! How much did you give? Are they asking for more after receiving it? Or are there other demands besides money? You’re going to solve it that way? You’ll never solve it, you know.”

Michael Riegel’s treason. If Canaris has evidence of that, they can use Riegel’s power forever. Pay the price for Matthias Yudorov’s disappearance? It’s been a long time since Yudorov appeared in public. That’s why someone like me can’t catch Yudorov. Otherwise, Yudorov should have already been killed or captured by my hands.

Yudorov has already become the Holy Grail. What is the Holy Grail? Something without substance, full of rumors. Therefore, more powerful and more meaningful. That’s why people compare Yudorov to the Holy Grail. What power does the actual Holy Grail have? No one can be sure if Jesus really drank wine from it. Even if it were genuine, it would ultimately be just a meaningful object, nothing more than a filthy old antique. The object itself has an ambiguous purpose. Will you pour wine into a cup made about 2,000 years ago and drink it, or will you smash someone’s head with the stone cup?

Yudorov was exactly like that. In other words, it didn’t matter if he disappeared. The Canaris bastards would use Yudorov’s name continuously, until the day Canaris disappears. Even I had heard Layer telling me to catch Yudorov until recently. They’re milking it efficiently, and now they want compensation? Have you ever seen such unprincipled bastards?

“Then how should I solve it? My father’s honor and life are at stake, Armin.”

Sebastian asked, furrowing his eyebrows that looked as if they had been elegantly drawn with a calligraphy brush. Concern was visible on his face.

Feeling unnecessarily sorry for him, I raised my hand and stroked his cheek. He lowered his eyes and leaned his cheek into my hand. His long eyelashes cast shadows. His half-hidden black eyes within the shadows were as deep as a well.

“I’ll help you.”

Actually, the fire that fell on my instep is burning through my thigh and groin, but still, how can I not help you? Sebastian chuckled at my words.

“Take care of yourself first.”

“You helped me too. I’ll help you.”

“…How?”

“I’m the best at dealing with Canaris bastards in the world. And I’m also what they’re most uncomfortable with. So, take me with you. I’ll teach them a lesson.”

“What if they go crazy and report my father?”

Sebastian’s eyes wavered. His concern was valid. The Security Bureau knew well the power of the Riegel Financial Group and feared them. But on the other hand, the government, led by the Security Bureau, always wanted to break Riegel. Not just Riegel, but the current president’s policy was to want to get their hands on any chaebol and break any force they couldn’t control.

Well, it wasn’t just the current president’s policy, but the long-standing policy of Rotman presidents. I knew this well because I had been their hunting dog.

Riegel and the government were like two people shaking hands with smiles while each holding a knife behind their back. And now, Riegel had lost his knife and was pretending to hide an empty hand behind his back, while the government must not know this – it was such a tense situation. Sebastian was saying he couldn’t take risks.

“You know, there’s one thing you’re forgetting.”

I whispered in Sebastian’s ear.

“I’m from Department 1 of the Security Bureau. Trust me, I’ll shove those Canaris bastards into the Security Bureau’s mouth instead of Riegel.”

And they’ll like that much better.