[What's life, just live as it goes]
[What's life, just live as it goes]
Lee Gyeong-jin only came to his senses after ten minutes had passed. He clearly remembered seeing a gray haze rushing at him before he lost consciousness, so it was nothing short of a miracle that he was still alive and well.
"You awake? Hey, watching my wife sleep never gets old, even if I watch her all day, but why does watching a guy sleep get boring in five minutes?"
"......Are you married?"
"Got married this year."
"Newlywed. Best time of your life."
"Old man. We get along just fine even without being newlyweds. We've known each other forever. Are you married?"
"I was. My wife has already passed away."
"Oh, um......."
Choi Ak almost asked, 'Do you talk to your wife like that at home too?' but he clamped his mouth shut. Asking that after hearing she had passed away would be crossing the line.
"I'll give you one piece of advice....... Treat them well while they're here. The regret is huge once they're gone."
"I know that well, such things."
Loss and regret are monsters that eat away at a person. Even if only a tiny speck remains, it soon grows in size and devours you.
Whether you shake it off or overcome it, you have to deal with it.
"After my wife died, I spent my time only killing Enemy Species. I have one daughter, but I sent her abroad for her studies....... Now, I'm all alone."
"Are you living apart from your family? You should've picked up a hobby or something."
"Hobbies don't stick with me."
A man with no family and no hobbies. If you only kill Enemy Species, you're bound to get obsessed with it eventually. And that inevitably leads to becoming stronger.
That, along with his talent, was the catalyst that allowed him to reach the level of a Master User.
"I went easy on you, and you still got beaten. Are you planning to come at me again?"
"It's impossible right now, but I'll have to do it later."
"Again? You know it's hopeless."
"It's a job that must be done, hopeless or not."
Lee Gyeong-jin's gaze changed.
"Because it's only natural to be punished if you break the law."
"Who, and how?"
Choi Ak brought up the most fundamental topic. In a society ruled by law, it's natural to be punished if you commit a crime. But if it's a criminal like Choi Ak, whom no one can catch, the question is who will judge him and how.
Does humanity have the power and the right to judge a Superman?
If you follow that line of reasoning, the discussion grows endlessly. If you want to apply the law fairly without discriminating against anyone, you need the power to back it up.
"Me, you."
"That sounds like a cool line, but is it worth it? What if I kill you next time?"
"That's a problem for then."
"Is there even a reason for that?"
"It's not a big reason. It's just that if someone breaks the law and runs wild in a society ruled by law, and it's ignored, it causes chaos in society. That's reason enough."
The nation's trust and public safety decline, and copycat criminals emerge. Existence outside of regulations, whether good or bad, has its consequences.
Of course, it's not all negative. Choi Ak was the reason they were able to prevent the loss of life that was expected today.
"Then let's make a promise. I always keep my promises unless the other person breaks them first, so you can trust me."
"A promise?"
"I was going to do it anyway. I don't think I'll be doing this for long, either."
Wearing a mask and playing hero doesn't suit Choi Ak's personality. He's doing it for now, but he has no intention of pushing forward as a hero despite unfair treatment.
If things go south, it's all or nothing.
"If I ever get pissed off and take off this mask to reveal my identity, I'll surrender without resisting."
".......You?"
"I keep my promises. I was going to do that anyway."
Choi Ak respects most civilizations. That's why, no matter where he reincarnates, he accepts it and blends into that civilization's society.
As long as you don't touch him, there's no problem. He's a massive bomb, but one rigged with a trap that explodes if you try to open the lid to dismantle it.
"Just don't touch me, and I'll go easy on you. Look at now. I didn't kill you, old man, and I knocked you down without you getting seriously hurt. Who does that, looking at the heinous Force User crimes these days?"
"You call this going easy?"
Lee Gyeong-jin said, looking at the cracked and shattered concrete floor. Furthermore, the park was devastated, all the exercise equipment was overturned, and the nearby road had large cracks that would hinder traffic.
"Half of that is your fault, you know?"
"Let's make it 50/50 responsibility."
"Uh, um. Do I have to pay for this?"
When the topic of money came up, Choi Ak's spirit shrank just a tiny bit. It goes without saying that it would cost hundreds of millions to re-pave the park and the road.
Honestly speaking, most of the money Choi Ak has is what Sion earned or provided as capital. The only money Choi Ak purely has is a little bit of savings from his military salary.
He doesn't mind spending money on his business and hobbies, but if he spends a huge amount of money on something like this, he feels unnecessarily sorry to Sion.
"I'll handle this. It's my fault too, so it's only right that I take responsibility."
"Wow, thanks, old man."
"Instead, I'll put this down as a debt."
"I'll pay you back later."
"There's nothing harder to trust than the words of someone who says they'll pay back money later."
"The only debt I don't pay is a guarantor debt."
".......Have you ever been one?"
"Once, a long time ago."
The guarantor debt he took on back then was paid off by grabbing the loan shark by the collar and shaking him until he coughed it up.
Since then, as he reincarnated, Choi Ak never stood as a guarantor again. No matter how close a friend it is—no, if they were that close of a friend, they wouldn't come asking him to be a guarantor.
"I'm going. Let's meet again when we have time."
"Is there a way to contact you?"
"Give me your phone number, old man."
"Only call at night. I might be able to do it secretly then."
"Don't worry. You can't track it anyway."
If Sion is there, even if Earth's civilization reaches an era where they can develop space and terraform, they wouldn't be able to hack a single phone of Choi Ak's.
At those words, Lee Gyeong-jin had a look of realization.
"So the person called Raccoon Girl actually existed? If she's a scientist of that level, hacking or manipulating electronic devices would be easy......."
"Wait, hold on. Raccoon what?"
"You didn't know?"
"I didn't know they called her Raccoon Girl."
It was called Raccoon Girl to match Choi Ak, but the higher-ups were actually putting more weight on Raccoon Girl than Raccoon Man.
Raccoon Man had only appeared four times—in Yeongdeungpo, in Japan, in Busan, and now in Sindorim—but Raccoon Girl, even without showing herself, had her name value skyrocket instantly for drafting the blueprints for the latest Dimensional Rift Detector.
A competent Force User is nice to have, but there's only one, and with the current social system, there's no major difficulty in covering the appearing Enemy Species. If you look at it long-term, the story changes, but it's not urgent.
But a competent scientist is different. Like the example of Dr. Alion in the US, if you have an outstanding scientist, it becomes possible to exert that effect worldwide.
Even that latest Dimensional Rift Detector, which even Dr. Alion couldn't make, solved the problem that had been causing headaches even with previous Dimensional Rift Detectors.
"Hey, Raccoon Girl. Respond. Raccoon Girl."
[Ah, are you finished?]
"Did you say Raccoon Girl last time?"
[I didn't really know what to write, so I just did that.]
"Why Raccoon Girl of all things?!"
[If you're Raccoon Man, I have to be Raccoon Girl, don't I? That's how female sidekicks work. Like Batman-Batgirl, or Kimchi Warrior-Chili Pepper Girl.]
"Forget about the shitty Kimchi Warrior."
[Dinner tonight is Kimchi stew.]
"I could make it taste better if I cooked it!"
If there's one thing Choi Ak doesn't compromise on when it comes to cooking, it's Kimchi stew. It's because he's cooked it the most and is the most confident in it.
So, if he has the capacity, he makes Kimchi from scratch by making Kimjang in the winter. Once winter comes this year, the smell of Kimchi will be vibrating throughout Choi Ak's house.
"My wife is waiting at home with dinner ready, so I'll go first. You were unlikable at first, but you're surprisingly okay, old man."
"I'll tell the higher-ups that I lost to you."
"I'll call if anything happens. But it'd be best if we didn't see each other again, right?"
"It's better if we don't have to face each other. Seeing as we'd only meet because we have to fight."
After receiving Lee Gyeong-jin's personal phone number, Choi Ak left the scene. Soon after, Lee Gyeong-jin also looked around and left the scene to return.
Now the park was empty, but there was someone watching from beyond the park fence in the distance.
"Holy shit, that's insane."
In the man's hand, his phone was running in video recording mode.
"I'm home."
"Do you have a talent for creating issues every time you go out?"
"Uh, why?"
"There was the work in Sindorim, but it's been buried because of what just popped up."
"Did something go up?"
Choi Ak, who returned home, took out his phone at Sion's grumbling and accessed the video site.
After digging around a bit, the video of the fight that had just happened was uploaded as is.
It wasn't edited at all, but the fight hadn't lasted that long, so it was a video of about 20 minutes at most. Everything from the start of the light fight to the clash between Choi Ak's Dragon Slayer and Lee Gyeong-jin's Gray Resonance Sword was uploaded.
"Ah, there was someone nearby......."
"Did you not expect it to be recorded on video?"
"If I had thought of it, I wouldn't have just let it slide."
Because of the distance, the image quality wasn't that great, but you could roughly distinguish their appearances. Especially Choi Ak's raccoon-shaped mechanical mask was clearly visible.
"When I checked, it had already been up for a while, so I missed the timing to delete it. If I take it down now, it'll only make things bigger."
"I don't think deleting one video would make things bigger, would it?"
"This case was a big deal. Even the US scraped the video."
"Ah."
"Among the things you've done, the only evidence that objectively proves your martial power was when you were filmed in Busan. Even then, catching one Enemy Species isn't something to make a huge fuss about."
"But this time, we're fucked."
"You did the same thing in Japan, but the environment then didn't allow for video to be taken. In Busan, there was a video, but the opponent was an Enemy Species."
"This time, the opponent was a fellow human. And a Master User, and I knocked him down easily."
"They were already sniffing around from the start, but they'll become active because of this incident."
People have trust only when there is solid evidence. If it's proper evidence that leaves no room for doubt, humans can't think beyond that.
There is no merit for Korea when a video of a Korean Master User being defeated is uploaded. At most, it only proves that a freak called Raccoon Man is strong. It's not a performance worth doing for someone whose identity is unknown.
A Force User above the average Master User whose identity is unknown, presumed to live only in Korea.
Finders keepers.
As the country that spends the most on national defense in the world, the US couldn't help but have a great interest. The US has one Master User, but having two is a different story.
The national benefits that can be gained by sending one to their own country and one abroad, the budget that can be saved. If you add up other factors, it becomes an amount that cannot be ignored.
"This incident is a big deal."
"Fuck, shit. My inner voice says if I let things be, something will work out."
"Shall I shape your head into a hexagon?"
"Sorry."
A husband who gives in to his wife is by no means a fool. He's just kind-hearted.
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know. It'll work out somehow later. Shit, will I die?"
"What will you do if all of humanity attacks?"
"That's why I'm asking, will I die? I won't die anyway, so it's fine."
It's not a joke; Choi Ak specializes in one-on-one duels, but he exerts the greatest power in battles against many.
In fact, numbers are meaningless to Choi Ak. Only a few, who are practically the elite, are effective.
"........I'll start the engine on our personal spaceship."
"Ah, wait. You brought that to this dimension? Where did you put it?"
"I parked it on Mars."
"Don't talk about a spaceship like it's a car."
The spaceship he pulled out new about 500 years ago is currently parked in a mountain range on Mars. The Pathfinder Mars rover is nearby, too.
To be more precise, it's not a spaceship, but a Dimensional Navigation Ship. As a Transcendent, he possesses at least one means to cross dimensions or traverse them, as he is a trans-dimensional being.
Choi Ak can also cross dimensions, but he often rides the spaceship Sion mentioned. There's no need to walk when you can just take a car.
"Big-gun-lover wife. You didn't install weird weapons again, right? Please tell me you didn't."
"I just.......upgraded it with the latest equipment."
"What did you do?"
".........I just equipped a few micro-spacetime disintegration bombs."
"I'm stronger even without things like that!"
"What will you do if a fleet equipped with black hole degeneracy reactors attacks!"
"I'll win."
"Just think of it as replacing the airbag with a sturdy one in case of an accident."
"What kind of person makes an airbag at the level of a space control buffer device?"
"Me!"
"I'm glad you like big and strong things!"
"I like things that aren't big, too."
"Like what?"
Sion hugged Choi Ak, po-ok.
"Personally, I think technique is more important than size."
".........Right?"
The two people's affectionate behavior, which would make the hands and feet of people around them curl up because they still exude a newlywed atmosphere even after thousands of years, only came to an end in bed until dawn.
Sesame and honey are overflowing........