Chapter 282: 282: Let me tell you a story

“Are you running from your past, or from someone?”

Ivan gave Yoshimura a meaningful look, picked up his coffee, and lightly tapped the tabletop with the tip of his other index finger.

“The One-Eyed Owl and the Non-Killing Owl aren’t the same person, are they?”

Ivan took a sip of coffee, his tone casual.

Yoshimura fell silent.

He looked at the man in front of him, clearly thinking about something.

“What exactly do you want?” Touka cut in coldly. “Mr. Yoshimura has no obligation to answer your questions.”

She had no intention of letting anyone destroy the peaceful life she had now.

“Anteiku only welcomes ghouls who want peace. If you came here looking for trouble, then I’m sorry, but we won’t serve you.”

Ivan looked amused.

“Come now. Do I really look that much like some villain from a movie?”

He smiled.

“I’m only trying to make a deal with Mr. Yoshimura. And I can promise you, the information I’m offering is worth far more than what I’m asking for.”

Outside the café, a petite girl with a sweet-looking face was leaning against the glass wall, secretly listening to the conversation between Ivan and Yoshimura.

After a long silence, Yoshimura finally spoke.

“What else do you know?”

“Twenty-four years ago, there was a ghoul named Kuzen. Like most ghouls, he ate humans in order to survive. But as his strength kept growing, he gradually became blinded by it.”

Ivan calmly continued.

“To become stronger, he began slaughtering and devouring his own kind. Eventually, his reputation grew so much that it reached the ears of a certain ghoul organization.”

Ivan’s finger stopped tapping.

“That organization was called…”

“Don’t tell Touka and the others the name of that organization,” Yoshimura interrupted. “They don’t need to know about it.”

The organization was V.

It had been created by the Washuu family, the true power behind the CCG, and its purpose was supposedly to maintain balance between humans and ghouls.

On the surface, that almost made them sound like the good guys.

In reality, they were the ones holding the leash.

To the Washuu family, the relationship between humans and ghouls was no different from wolves and sheep.

Wolves ate sheep because it was their nature.

But too many sheep or too many wolves would both create problems.

If there were too many sheep, the wolves would eventually be in danger.

After all, sheep could fight back.

Once their numbers vastly exceeded the wolves, the wolves themselves risked being wiped out.

But if there were too many wolves, there would not be enough sheep to eat.

And once food became scarce, the wolves would turn on one another and start fighting among themselves.

That was just as bad for the Washuu family’s control.

So the Washuu maintained influence over the strongest forces on both the human and ghoul sides, constantly adjusting the balance between them.

It was like one enormous birdcage.

And the humans and ghouls trapped inside were nothing more than toys in the Washuu family’s hands.

The role the Washuu played was that of wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing.

They led the sheep into endless battles against the wolves, making sure the war never truly ended.

Their only concern was that neither side could ever win.

The sheep could not be allowed to defeat the wolves.

The wolves could not be allowed to crush the sheep.

Only then could the balance remain intact.

But the birdcage they created was not perfect.

It had one thing the Washuu family truly feared.

One existence they had to eliminate.

The One-Eyed King.

Because a one-eyed ghoul was born from the union of human and ghoul, they carried both identities at once.

That contradiction was also the source of Kaneki’s suffering.

I’m neither human nor ghoul!

I’m a ghoul, not a human!

I’m human, not a ghoul!

I am both human and ghoul!

Only after understanding that final truth could someone truly possess the qualifications to become the One-Eyed King.

The One-Eyed King was an existence capable of standing at the peak of both human and ghoul society.

Someone who could see the conflict from both sides.

Someone who could resolve the hatred between them.

A king shared by humans and ghouls alike.

That was why, in the original story, Kishou Arima and the One-Eyed Owl, Eto, placed their hopes on Ken Kaneki.

They wanted him to break the birdcage and become the true One-Eyed King.

“Ahem.”

Ivan cleared his throat and pulled his wandering thoughts back into place.

“All right. Let’s continue the story.”

“When that organization offered Kuzen a place among them, he accepted without much hesitation and eventually became one of their most infamous cleaners.”

“After joining them, he no longer had to worry about food or gaining strength, but he was still deeply lonely.”

“One day, while sitting in a café, he happened to meet a human woman.”

“Bright eyes. A sweet smile. And that uniquely curious personality of hers.”

Ivan paused for half a second.

“You fell for her almost immediately. No… Kuzen fell for her.”

By now, the employees inside the café had already figured it out.

The customer sitting in front of them was telling their manager’s story.

Even Touka was listening with unusual concentration.

“The two of them gradually grew closer.”

“Ukina discovered that Kuzen wasn’t good with written language, so she patiently taught him how to read and write.”

“Looking at Ukina sitting in front of him, Kuzen, who had been alone for so long, felt something inside him begin to change.”

“Eventually, the two started living together.”

“But Kuzen still had assignments from the organization, so he often went out late at night.”

“One night, curiosity got the better of Ukina. She secretly followed him and discovered that he was a ghoul.”

“Realizing his identity had been exposed, Kuzen’s first instinct was to kill her.”

“But what happened next was something he never expected.”

“Ukina wasn’t afraid.”

“She hugged him instead.”

Ivan’s voice softened slightly as he quoted her.

“Being alone all the time must be hard, isn’t it?”

At those words, nostalgia appeared in Yoshimura’s eyes. A genuinely happy smile formed on his face.

Outside the glass wall, the girl peering in through the gap caught sight of that smile.

“Hypocrite… disgusting… fucking bastard…”

For some reason, her voice trembled slightly as she cursed him.

Her pupils widened without her realizing it.

“Later, Ukina became pregnant.”

“But Kuzen knew that a child born between a human and a ghoul had a high chance of dying from malnutrition before it could ever be born.”

“Then Ukina surprised him again.”

“For the sake of the child inside her, she started eating human flesh.”

“Watching her force it down and vomit again and again changed something inside Kuzen.”

“From that point on, he began thinking more deeply about the relationship between humans and ghouls.”

“Not long afterward, Ukina gave birth to a baby girl.”

“But their happy life didn’t last.”

“One day, Kuzen accidentally found Ukina’s diary.”

“That was when he discovered the truth.”

“Ukina was a journalist.”

“And she had been investigating the ghoul organization the entire time.”

Ivan stopped there.

The café went strangely quiet.

Continue!

Touka and the other employees stared at him with obvious impatience.

But at the same time, all of them had begun to feel a bad premonition about where the story was going.

Ivan calmly took another sip of coffee. Mm, nine coffee~

Then he continued.

“The organization found out soon afterward.”

“They tracked Kuzen and Ukina down.”

“The organization was far too powerful. Kuzen had almost no ability to resist them.”

“In the end, under their orders, Kuzen killed Ukina himself.”

“After that, unable to completely sever his ties with the organization, Kuzen entrusted his daughter to Noro, an Aogiri Tree executive, and asked him to raise her.”

“But eventually, the organization discovered the child’s existence as well.”

“Noro died protecting Kuzen’s daughter from the organization’s members.”