271. Chapter 271: What is the One-Eyed King? The Washuu Clan, Wolves in Sheep's Clothing!
"Are you escaping the past? Or are you escaping a certain person?"
Xia Shang looked meaningfully at Kuzen Yoshimura, picking up his coffee. With the tip of his index finger on his other hand, he lightly tapped the table.
"The One-Eyed Owl and the Non-Killing Owl shouldn't be the same person, right?" Xia Shang took a sip of coffee and said indifferently.
After hearing this, Store Manager Kuzen Yoshimura fell silent. He looked at the man before him, lost in thought.
"What exactly do you want? Mr. Yoshimura has no obligation to answer your questions."
Touka didn't want her peaceful life to be disrupted, so she said coldly, "We at Anteiku only welcome ghouls who love peace. If you're here to cause trouble, please forgive us, but we cannot serve you."
"Look at what you're saying. Do I look like a villain from a film or TV show? I just want to make a transaction with Mr. Yoshimura right now, and I can guarantee that this transaction will be worth far more than the price."
At this moment, outside the Cafe, a petite girl with a sweet appearance leaned against the glass wall, eavesdropping on the conversation between Xia Shang and Kuzen Yoshimura.
"What else do you know?" After a long while, Kuzen Yoshimura finally asked.
"Twenty-four years ago, there was a ghoul named Yoshimura. Like most ghouls, he ate humans for survival, but in the process, he gradually became blinded by his surging strength. To become stronger, he chose to constantly slaughter his own kind. Later, his reputation grew, even reaching the ears of a certain ghoul Organization. The name of this Organization is..."
"Don't tell Touka and the others the Organization's name. They don't need to know about this."
Kuzen Yoshimura warned.
In fact, this ghoul Organization is called the V organization, created by the Washuu Clan behind the scenes of the CCG. Their purpose is to maintain the balance between ghouls and humans. Although it sounds like a righteous force, in reality, they play the role of controllers. In the eyes of the Washuu Clan, the relationship between ghouls and humans is like that of wolves and sheep.
Wolves eating sheep is their nature, and having too many sheep or too many wolves is not a good thing.
If there are too many sheep, the wolves will be in danger. After all, sheep will resist, and once the number of sheep far exceeds the wolves, the wolves will face the risk of being wiped out.
And if there are too many wolves, there won't be enough sheep to eat, and to snatch more food, the wolf pack will have internal conflict.
This is also unfavorable to the Washuu Clan's control. Therefore, the Washuu Clan constantly balances the relationship between humans and ghouls by controlling the top forces of both sides.
This is like a huge birdcage, and the humans and ghouls inside the birdcage are just playthings in the hands of the Washuu Clan.
So the role the Washuu Clan plays is that of wolves in sheep's clothing. By leading the flock of sheep to constantly challenge the wolves, they let the war continue endlessly. What they need to pay attention to is neither letting the flock of sheep win, nor letting the wolves win the war, because only this way will the balance not be broken.
But the birdcage they constructed is not perfect, without flaws.
The One-Eyed King is the only one the Washuu Clan fears and must eliminate! Because a One-Eyed Ghoul is the product of a union between a human and a ghoul, they possess two identities. This is also the root of Ken Kaneki's pain.
"I am neither human, nor ghoul! I am a ghoul, not a human! I am human, not a ghoul! I am both human and ghoul!"
Only by understanding the last point do they possess the qualification to become the One-Eyed King. And the One-Eyed King is an existence capable of standing at the peak of human and ghoul strength, simultaneously viewing from both sides' perspectives and resolving their conflicts. They are the shared king of humans and ghouls! So in the source material, Kishou Arima and the One-Eyed Owl Eto Yoshimura would place their hope in Ken Kaneki, hoping he could break the birdcage and become the One-Eyed King in the true sense.
"Mhmm." Xia Shang coughed a few times, pulling back his scattered thoughts.
"Okay, then the story continues."
"Facing the olive branch extended by that Organization, Yoshimura accepted with little hesitation and became one of the renowned 'The Cleaner'. Although after joining the Organization, he no longer had to worry about food and strength, he still felt very lonely.
One day, he encountered a human in a Cafe. Her bright eyes and sweet smile, coupled with her unique personality and strong curiosity, instantly immersed you in it—no, it was Yoshimura who was immersed in it."
In fact, by this time, the cafe's staff already understood that the customer before them was telling the story of their Store Manager.
Even Touka beside them listened with exceptional seriousness.
"Just like this, the two grew closer. Ukina, who discovered Yoshimura wasn't good with words, patiently taught him to write. Looking at Ukina before him, Yoshimura, who had been lonely for a long time, felt an inexplicable touch in his heart. Afterwards, the two lived together, but because Yoshimura had to handle the missions assigned by the Organization, he often went out late at night. One time, out of curiosity, Ukina secretly followed Yoshimura and learned that he was a ghoul. Seeing that he was exposed, Yoshimura, who reacted, wanted to kill the other party.
But what he didn't expect was that not only was Ukina not afraid, but she instead hugged him and comforted him, saying, "It must be hard, always being alone, right?""
Hearing this sentence, a trace of memory flowed from Kuzen Yoshimura's eyes, and a happy smile appeared on his face.
The girl leaning against the glass wall, through the gap, saw the smile on the old man's face. "Hypocritical! Disgusting! Damn guy!"
For some reason, her cursing voice trembled slightly, and her pupils also involuntarily widened.
"Later, Ukina became pregnant, but Yoshimura knew deeply that a child between a ghoul and a human was very likely to die from malnutrition. But what he didn't expect again was that Ukina would actually, for the child in her abdomen, eat human flesh. Watching Ukina repeatedly vomit, Yoshimura's heart quietly changed.
From then on, his understanding of the connection between humans and ghouls had a deeper level of thought. Not long after, Ukina gave birth to a baby girl. However, the happy life didn't last long.
Yoshimura accidentally glimpsed Ukina's diary, from which he learned that Ukina was originally a Reporter and had been investigating that ghoul Organization."
Speaking of this, Xia Shang stopped.
"Keep going!" Touka and the other staff cast urgent gazes towards Xia Shang.
However, regarding the story that followed, they quietly had a bad premonition in their hearts.
Taking a sip of coffee, Xia Shang said unhurriedly:
"The Organization quickly learned of this matter. They found Yoshimura and Ukina. The Organization's strength was extremely powerful, and Yoshimura had almost no ability to resist.
Finally, at the Organization's request, Yoshimura killed Ukina. After that, Yoshimura, unable to sever his relationship with the Organization, entrusted the child to Aogiri Tree executive Noroi to raise. But this information was eventually discovered by the Organization, and Noroi was killed by Organization members to protect Yoshimura's child."
(End of Chapter)