[What's life for, just live as it comes]
[What's life for, just live as it comes]
The first appearance of the masked hero, who was closer to an internet meme called Raccoon Man, began with the rescue of civilians and firefighters during the Yeongdeungpo Department Store fire.
Reactions to him when he first appeared were divided.
-What is that? What's with that raccoon mask?
-Looks like merchandise from the Galaxy Guardian 3 movie after the director got fired.
ㄴ That director was a pedo, right?
ㄴ Death to the pedo!
-Why wear a mask? Seems like a Force User, but isn't he an unregistered user?
-Still, he did a good thing.
-Yeah, he did a good thing, but I laughed my ass off watching this for the first time in a while lol
-The reporter-nuna who said "Jackpot!" at the end is so cute.
Opinions showing interest, suspicion, praise for doing a good deed, and amusement all mixed together, causing quite a stir.
The Raccoon Man material, which was originally used as a meme, became popular again, and memes cleverly applying screenshots from the video were created.
And the reappearance of Raccoon Man gathered many people's opinions together.
-Tuna lololol
-Tuna lol
-What is that, a Tuna Warrior lololol
-Do you know Tuna Warrior? Much better than Kimchi Warrior.
-Since ancient times, frozen tuna, along with the Taegeuk fan and the red whip, have been symbols of a Maple veteran.
ㄴ That's a Bronze Age item, man.
ㄴ Besides, that thing is a living creature.
ㄴ Even I, a liberal arts major, know that tuna is a living creature, you idiot?
ㄴ You moron, I meant it's alive. You're the type who wouldn't be able to tell if we were carbon-based or silicon-based life forms.
-Ugh lol, he fights with that and then makes sashimi out of it lol
-The tuna marbling is insane. Makes my mouth water.
-Ah, suddenly craving sashimi. And cold beer.
-That tuna must be heavy as hell, how is he swinging it with one hand? That's insane.
-Looks like Raccoon Man changed his mask. What is he, Iron Raccoon? Looks similar to Quill's mask?
ㄴ Who's Quill?
ㄴ Star-Lord.
-Agh! It's a Flying Raccoon!
-I'm a professional tuna chef. Personally, that tuna is a top-quality one with good fat content. It's a quality you rarely see even at the market; I'd love to see the color of that belly meat.
-But isn't that the same reporter-nuna from before? The "Jackpot" reporter?
People's evaluation of Raccoon Man could be expressed in one word: 'eccentric.'
Even if he was acting like a masked hero, the fact that it was a raccoon mask, and that he fought using a tuna instead of a weapon, were both odd.
Plus, he prevented a catastrophe that could have happened at Haeundae, so favorable views increased. Hiding his identity was just perceived as a type of performance.
The short interview scene afterward wasn't broadcast, likely cut by the higher-ups. They had taken measures in advance because that interview involved sensitive issues with Japan.
With this incident, the perception of Raccoon Man became that of a funny, mysterious hero.
However, if you looked deeper, people started to get headaches over what he had done.
"Huuuh....."
Team Leader Jo In-hyung, one of the few people who knew that Raccoon Man's identity was Choi Ak, was one of them.
Team Leader Jo In-hyung let out a groan while watching the news. He prayed that there wouldn't be any major trouble, but the world didn't turn the way people wanted, and when accidents happened, they were massive ones.
He visited Choi Ak's house again to hear his opinion on this incident. This time, he visited alone. Unlike last time, they were familiar with each other, and he knew that as long as he was careful, he wouldn't be harmed.
"What brings you here? You don't look busy, do you?"
"I have plenty of work, even without the Enemy Species, but I felt I had to visit this time."
"Because of the news yesterday?"
".......Yes."
The interview part was cut, so the story about him fighting Hibiki from Japan didn't come out.
However, the fact that it happened didn't disappear, and the higher-ups were currently negotiating with Japan over that issue.
They were getting heated over compensation issues, including the financial damage caused by the fight between Hibiki and Choi Ak, and the fact that a foreign Force User had entered the country without permission.
It was even more frustrating that they couldn't hold the person responsible, as no one knew the identity of the party involved, Choi Ak.
"You said something to me before you left for your honeymoon, didn't you, Choi Ak-ssi?"
"..........If you ask me that, I have nothing to say. Honestly, I'm sorry. I don't have any honeymoon souvenirs as an apology, but do you want some tuna? Ah, did you eat lunch?"
"I haven't eaten lunch yet, but..... is that tuna, by any chance, that tuna?"
"I have some of Dong-won's belly meat left, how about it?"
"I don't know why the tuna's name is Dong-won, but if you're offering, I'll gratefully eat it."
No matter how much they ate, two people couldn't finish a tuna weighing over 1 ton. A significant amount of the remaining tuna was safely stored in the refrigerator to be eaten over time.
He took out a piece that had been put in the refrigerator, not the freezer, to eat as sashimi and sliced it up. It had only been caught a day ago, so it was still very fresh.
"What are you going to do in the future? I can keep my mouth shut, but the higher-ups are in an uproar right now. Orders have already been issued to select a few Detection-type users and capture Raccoon Man."
"I don't plan on being caught quietly, you know?"
"That's why it's more of a problem. No matter how strong you are, Choi Ak-ssi, you can't win against the state."
Choi Ak poured soju into his glass with an unreadable smile. Drinking in the middle of the day felt a bit early, but if the menu was sashimi, alcohol was essential.
"Ah, I have to go back to headquarters, so please just a little....... Anyway, how about you reveal your identity now and join the state? If it's now, we might be able to wrap this up somehow. It's better to join before you cause an even bigger incident later........"
"Is it recruitment after capture? This isn't a Three Kingdoms game. Is it roughly 1. Recruit, 2. Release, 3. Execute?"
"Then I'll choose number 1. Do you have any intention of being recruited?"
"Not at all."
Choi Ak shook his head. It was a firm refusal.
"There are some good sides to being part of the state. You can act legally, and you can receive national support and assistance, so you can operate more comfortably than you do now."
"I know that much. But I don't do it because there's no trust. If the state were at a level worthy of trust, I wouldn't be hiding my identity like this."
Trust can form between people.
But it's a difficult thing for trust to form between a person and an organization.
"Choi Ak-ssi....... are you a pessimist?"
Someone who hates the world and believes that progress and reform are impossible. Such a person is called a pessimist.
"No, it's similar, but no. Honestly, even just a few years ago, I might have been called a pessimist, but my opinion is different now. The people of this country have the self-awareness to win their rights themselves, don't they? I couldn't possibly hate a society like that."
".........."
Team Leader Jo In-hyung recalled the impeachment protests from a few years ago. It was the result of a victory for democracy, where the majority of citizens gathered on their own, held protests in a non-violent way, and finally achieved the result.
"I don't hate society, and I don't hate people either. I just can't trust organizations. I can trust between individuals, but I don't easily trust between an individual and an organization."
"So you're saying you don't trust the South Korean government, Choi Ak-ssi."
"If I could trust them, I could have played hero as much as they wanted. Because with or without me, they would have been able to develop just fine."
Team Leader Jo In-hyung poured soju into Choi Ak's glass. Choi Ak downed it in one go, emptied the glass, and popped a piece of tuna sashimi into his mouth.
"I like people. It's rare to find someone who likes people as much as I do. Because someone like me, who has seen the bottom of humanity, also knows the goodness of humanity."
"Isn't it usually the opposite?"
"Who do you think is the one to deal with someone who has seen the bottom of humanity?"
The one who deals with a hero is clearly a villain.
But conversely, the one who deals with a villain is a hero.
That's why Choi Ak had seen many people who shone even in the darkness and tried to fight until the end. That's why he could send his trust to humanity.
"Society and organizations are power just by their existence, but they also change individuals. The sense of belonging to an organization makes people arrogant and makes them mistake it for their own power. I hate those kinds of bastards. I despise them."
"You mean people who abuse their power?"
"Yeah, if there are bastards like that, I'll just beat them up."
"Oh my, you'll be in big trouble if you do that."
"The thing that would really get me in big trouble is killing them."
The slight tipsiness that had been lingering vanished in an instant. Team Leader Jo In-hyung carefully drank cold water instead of alcohol to regain his senses.
"Don't think that just because you investigated me, that's everything. Why do you think I'm speaking informally to you, even though you're older than me? Do you think I just obtained this level of strength? Do you think I've never killed a person?"
There are too many questions.
The martial prowess that knocked out a Master-class user from Japan, which he didn't know about before.
The conviction that seems impulsive but is firmly built within himself.
None of these are parts that could be achieved without time to back them up.
"In that sense, you're trustworthy. You can think of it positively. I treat my people pretty well."
"That.... is fortunate."
Team Leader Jo In-hyung put a piece of tuna sashimi into his mouth. Perhaps because of the wasabi, the sashimi seemed to have a bitter taste.
"By the way, let me ask you one thing too. Why are the Dimensional Rift alarms like that lately? In Japan, and here in Korea too? The alarms either don't go off at all, or they go off almost right before the rift occurs?"
"Ah, that's a global problem these days."
They are keeping it quiet, but that is a problem for every country right now.
The Dimensional Rift Detectors were doing their job, but the rifts occurring recently were opening quietly, avoiding the detectors.
The damage caused by that is significant. The damage that occurred in the last month is greater than the damage that occurred in the last year, so you can see how important this issue is.
"We need to improve the Dimensional Rift Detectors and equip them with more precise equipment. Otherwise, the damage will only get bigger in the future."
"I've been screwed over by that more than once or twice. A Dimensional Rift is such a big problem that I can't always be detecting it."
A Dimensional Rift is literally the opening of a passage between dimensions. Choi Ak can detect it, but he has to expand his detection range significantly.
He can do it, but it's too inefficient to keep it active to detect rifts when he doesn't know when or where they will happen.
"Anyway, that's why it's a big problem, right?"
"Ah, yes........ that's correct."
"If, and I mean if. What if there was a Dimensional Rift Detector that could detect even the current rifts at least 15 minutes in advance?"
"Yes?!"
Dimensional Rift Detectors are not ordinary things. It is a technology created by Dr. Alion, who is considered the best in the field of Enemy Species research. The system that detects the distortion that occurs when dimensions connect is a technology that cannot be created unless one understands the very source of it.
"Did you create such a technology?! The latest Dimensional Rift detection technology?!"
"No, not me. I'm a liberal arts major, so I don't know anything about that field."
"Then........"
"My wife made it."
Team Leader Jo's gaze turned to Sion, who was drinking coffee in the living room. A person who looked like a young child on the outside created a technology that even the scholars in this field were racking their brains over?
It would be more persuasive to say that a technology created by a college student as an assignment was actually Nobel Prize-winning level technology.
Perhaps having heard the conversation, Sion walked over quietly and handed Team Leader Jo a USB.
"This contains the manufacturing method and blueprints for the new Dimensional Rift Detector. I haven't sent it to the South Korean government yet, so you can read it first."
"Is that..... true?"
"I will only send it to the South Korean government, not anywhere else. At the very least, it will be compensation for what happened in Japan."
It's more than just compensation. It's the only trump card for a problem that the whole world is racking their brains over. That is, it's a Joker. It means it's a technology that can be used not just against Japan, but against the whole world.
Giving it away for free means telling them to keep their mouths shut about what Choi Ak did as Raccoon Man.
"Madam. If you are the one who created this technology, please, that talent should be for the country..........."
Kwajik!!!
The glass Choi Ak was holding shattered and crumbled. Not only did the glass break, but it turned into powder and flowed down with the alcohol.
"Let's not involve my wife, shall we? If you want to die peacefully, you should do that? I told you before, I don't care what you do to me, but if you do anything to my wife, you better be prepared to risk your life?"
The killing intent that felt like it would stop his heart at any moment choked his throat. To Choi Ak, Sion is his reverse scale. If you touch her, you die.
He wouldn't care if you cursed at him to his face, but conversely, if even the slightest thing happened to Sion, a catastrophe would occur.
From Team Leader Jo's perspective, Choi Ak is a walking bomb. A time bomb that doesn't know when it will explode.
"Anyway, I'm going to call it even with this one thing for what I did. If they have brains, they'll understand, right?"
"What if they take it and then keep their mouths shut?"
"They still received it. They won't not use it anyway. In that case, I'll just think of it as unburdening my heart."
"If they try to trace it back to find the creator......."
"My wife is talented, so they won't be able to trace it. That's for sure."
"But isn't there a 'what if'?"
"If that happens. If they come looking and bother my wife. I'll say screw it all, turn this country into a scorched wasteland, and then immigrate to the United States."
"No matter how strong you are, Choi Ak-ssi, you cannot win against the state."
"I guess Vietnam won against the United States with their national power, huh?"
The worst imagination of Choi Ak's...... no, not his name, but the worst imagination passed through Team Leader Jo's mind.
A scene where a Master-class Force User goes around hiding and smashing everything. Smashing the National Assembly building, the Blue House, and everything else, then disappearing leisurely, moving unpredictably, and eating away at the country.
A Force User has power that transcends humans, but they only exert great power when dealing with Enemy Species; if you tell them to fight against an army, they cannot deal with it as an individual. Because they don't have resistance to physical attacks like Enemy Species do.
However, a Master-class user is completely different. A Master-class user has transcended a general Force User. That is why the state treats Master-class Force Users with respect while also monitoring them.
"If I reveal my identity, there will definitely be people who try to use me. Right?"
"......Yes, because you would become a public figure."
"I have some flexibility, too. If I did something wrong, I tend to pay the price for that sin. Honestly, I've never caused an accident in my life. Want to see my school record?"
"No, that's fine."
Team Leader Jo refused, partly out of courtesy, but also because he didn't need to see it again since he had already seen his personal information while investigating him before.
He didn't remember everything, but he remembered it as an evaluation without any rough edges. Unlike the personality he occasionally showed, it seemed he had spent his school days uneventfully.
"Even if they use me. If it's a problem that I can understand, I'll understand it too. International relations, dispatch problems, things like that, I can endure."
"........."
"But fuck, there are always bastards among them whose common sense has gone to die. Maybe because of the law of conservation of jerks, there are always one or two jerks in an organization."
The words 'one of the people classified as that jerk is you' came up to Team Leader Jo's throat, but he swallowed them down. There was no need to provoke his anger for no reason.
"They try to use me for their own shitty reasons, and if I refuse, there are guys who try to make me do it by touching the people around me. What do you think I'll do then?"
He explodes.
If it were Choi Ak before meeting Sion, the only precious people he had were friends. His blood-related parents died 20 years ago due to the Great Depression, so none of his bloodline remained anywhere.
He would help his friends to some extent, but it's not the same as his family, Sion. She is not a friend whose connection would be severed if he reincarnated, but a partner he would be with for life.
"So, treat my wife well. Sometimes when I'm not around, buy a gift set of Hanwoo beef and say hello, who knows?"
"Ah, I will bring gifts from next time."
"Anyway, let's consider this conversation mostly finished. If there's an Enemy Species that seems a bit strong in the future, give me a call. I'll go and just crush it."
"Are you planning to start operating in earnest?"
The story Choi Ak told when he first met him meant that he would fight only if it was an Enemy Species that was too much to handle.
But now, it means he will fight if it's an Enemy Species that seems a bit strong, that is, a level that gives them a bit of trouble.
"I decided to play hero, so I have to operate. It's better to save the budget if I step up, right?"
"Yes, of course."
Team Leader Jo recalled the grades of the large Enemy Species that he defeated in Japan and the large Enemy Species that he defeated in Busan.
The Japanese side was a large Heptagon (heptagonal).
The Korean side was a large Hexagon (hexagonal).
Neither was an easy opponent.
Large species are more burdensome than small ones because of the physical force that comes from their size, but he easily crushed such large species. Thanks to that, the damage was miraculously small. In the case of the Japanese side, the damage from Choi Ak and Hibiki fighting was actually greater.
If he has the martial prowess to easily defeat large Enemy Species, it's a job to count the digits of the budget that can be saved by stepping up once.
"But how did you obtain such power, Choi Ak-ssi? Modern Master-class users obtained that power by training from the Great Depression until now, so it's understandable, but you're not, are you?"
"Let's talk about that next time. It's a bit much to talk about after drinking together just once."
There is no reason to hide the fact that he is a Reincarnator, but it's not an easy thing to talk about after seeing each other a few times.
Besides, to tell that story, he would inevitably have to talk about Sion, so he decided to do it later when they became a bit closer.
Team Leader Jo, who thought he would only drink a little, stood up from his seat only after drinking four bottles of soju along with a few kilograms of tuna.
"Oh my, I drank well. The tuna was delicious, too. I had a delicious lunch."
"From next time, don't eat before coming to my house. Isn't it great to talk while eating like this?"
"I didn't know Choi Ak-ssi was such an easy person to talk to either."
As they drank a bit and talked as men, there were many stories that resonated with each other. The two, who had become closer through the drinking session, finished their meeting cleanly.
As expected, men only become close when they drink.