Mercenary Enrollment - Chapter 219

Ijin gently closes his second father’s eyes, his final words reverberating in his head. As he turns, his ears catch the sound of something sizzling and the smell of something burning wafts through the air. His hand tightens on his pistol and his body tightens as he attempts to pinpoint the origin of the sound.

Moving as fast as he can, with muscles tired from the night’s combat, he throws himself through the door, his nose tracking the smell to the left of the door. His eyes focus on someone crouched on the floor.

004’s head whips around in surprise, tears streaming down his face as he looks at Ijin.

Ijin, looks at 004’s puffy eyes in confusion, “what are doing”?

004 surreptitiously wipes the tear tracks from his cheeks, “I’m not crying”

“I didn’t say you were, I was wondering what you were burning”

004 moves his body revealing a small camp stove with a tiny frying pan atop it. “I was sautéing onions for later”. “They are really pungent onions.”

Ijin’s mind stalls as he tries to wrap his head around what has just happened. When did 004 take up cooking, more importantly why was he cooking now? It’s too much for his mind to comprehend, suddenly he hears odd laughter. It’s not an odd laugh, a manic sound tinged with only a hint of mirth. It takes him a second to realize the sound is his laughter.

004 slowly walks up, hugs him and whispers, “I have some more onions if you need to cut some”