[What is life, anyway? Just live as it comes]
[What is life, anyway? Just live as it comes]
Choi Ak, who came to work the next day, was once again met with a glare from Baek-ri.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Do you have to ask because you don't know?"
"Yeah, I don't know."
"You knocked out our country's Master user, and your reaction is the same as usual. I can't tell if you're just indifferent or if you have no thoughts at all."
"The answer is the latter."
"Having no thoughts isn't something to be proud of, you know?"
"They say if you let things be, they'll become something."
"And what if it goes wrong?"
"If it goes wrong, it's my responsibility, so I'll have to deal with it somehow. If I end up in prison later, come visit me and bring some food."
"......Seriously?"
"Yeah, seriously."
A wise prison life! It's not that Choi Ak hasn't experienced prison life, but in most cases, he either didn't go or couldn't go because he solved things with force.
Between the two, not going is better. That's just Choi Ak throwing a tantrum saying he doesn't want to go.
The case where he "couldn't" go is when the prison couldn't do its job. In short, the country collapsed or society fell apart, so going there would be meaningless.
"I saw the video, you used some kind of ultimate move, that was awesome."
"It's an ultimate move because it kills. If it didn't kill, it wouldn't be an ultimate move."
"What kind of standard is that?"
"Left-front standard!"
"One! Ah...... don't use military jokes!"
"This kid still hasn't shed his rookie skin."
Speaking of which, Choi Ak was also discharged earlier this year.
Sometimes, he has dreams where a computer error causes him to re-enlist in the military.
"If it's a technique that beat a Master user, it must be insane. Can I learn that?"
"Want to test it? Put your hands together for a second."
At Choi Ak's words, Baek-ri put his hands together and spread them out. It looked like he was politely begging for something, but the action was similar.
"Wrap some Gaia Force around your hands. Preferably in a spherical shape above your hands."
"Ah, yes."
The intangible energy that only those who have awakened Gaia Force can see floated above Baek-ri's palms in a spherical shape.
Choi Ak poked his finger into the sphere. A tiny trace of gray haze spewed out from his finger. Then, as if a match had been dropped into oil, the haze spread and burned the Gaia Force Baek-ri had gathered.
"Huh?! Uh-uh?!"
"Hey, don't move. Concentrate."
Baek-ri was surprised by the unexpected situation, but the gray haze greedily devoured his Gaia Force. No, "eroded" was a more accurate expression. First, it erodes, kills, and then scatters it.
Both are supernatural abilities, so there was no real damage, but if it had touched a human body, it was the kind of power that could save the trouble of disposing of a corpse. It was only a tiny amount leaked from just a finger, yet it was at this level.
Despite Baek-ri's efforts, the gray haze soon went out. He kept injecting Gaia Force to keep it from going out, but the burning speed was faster than the injection speed, so it only extended the maintenance time a little.
"Wow, that's unexpected. You can't learn this."
"Can you tell with something like this? I thought you'd tell me to put water in a glass and concentrate."
"That's how you determine other things. You can't even meet the minimum requirements, so you can't learn it."
"What's lacking?"
"Hatred, loathing, anger, something like that."
"Ugh, that's gross, what is that."
"What can you do? The guy who made it made it that way, so you have to do what you're told."
The foundation of Dragon Slayer is based on hatred and anger. It is a supernatural ability created by imbuing power based on endless negative emotions toward dragons.
Therefore, unless it's a special case, people with faint hatred or anger cannot learn it.
"Even with the same Gaia Force, the components change slightly when it's inside a person's body. Your Force had your will in it, so if there had been deep hatred or anger, it would have burned even more fiercely using that as fuel. But you're kind, so you don't have that, what can I do?"
"Hmm, but it's a good thing, so I'm glad. It's better not to be able to use it."
"Stop thinking about learning only strong or weird things, and put in consistent effort. The best thing is to try real combat."
"That's why I can't do real combat..."
"I'm not telling you to go fight an Enemy Species and brawl until someone dies right away. You have someone you can fight, don't you?"
"........Ruri?"
"She's stronger than you. Go beat your younger sister first."
"I think it's a foul for an older brother to hit his younger sister, or to get hit by her."
"Siblings are originally born to kill each other."
"Don't say crazy things."
"If you live in a crazy world, normal people are the crazy ones."
"This is a normal world, okay?!"
"Does it look normal to you, a world where monsters pop out and people fight with swords?"
Baek-ri had nothing to say. At least as far as he remembered, it had always been this kind of world, but it wasn't normal.
"If you live in this world, there are too many idiots. So there are too many times when you have to cut their throats."
".......How much have you done it? Things like that."
"I don't remember."
Choi Ak gave a faint smile. It wasn't a smile because it was funny, but a self-deprecating one.
"Don't become a guy like me. Be happy for about 100 years, laugh when you're happy, cry when you're sad. Then, when you get old, whether it's from illness or old age, dying quietly surrounded by family is the happiest thing."
"It doesn't resonate with me. Still....... I understand."
People only realize the value of something after it's out of their hands. They regret it only after it's gone, and look for it only after they've forgotten it, but it's too late.
Choi Ak cannot live an ordinary life. Even if he wants to live quietly, his power and personality don't fit with enduring the absurdities of the world.
"With great power comes great responsibility, or great irresponsibility. So if you don't have any power, you don't have to worry about responsibility in the first place, so stop trying to get stronger and practice how to fry chicken."
"You're not going to live frying chicken for the rest of your life, are you?!"
"I'll give you the whole shop in about 10 years."
"I'll bury my bones here. I should start by making the batter, right?"
Baek-ri has his own vision, but the amount Choi Ak proposed was too big.
Even if land prices dropped a bit after the appearance of Enemy Species, it's ultimately a well-performing chicken shop in a prime building in the busiest area in Korea. If you think about the future, there's a possibility it will go up even more.
"Ah, Seo-ae is coming. Is everything ready to open the shop today?"
"Yes, I've done it all."
Today, the Myeong-dong chicken shop [Dak-cheo-jul-kka?] opened its doors as usual.
They are doing business as usual, but today a different kind of guest visited.
"Hello? I am Jin Chang-sik, a PD for the VJ Special Forces program at YBS broadcasting station."
The person who came with a business card was the PD of the program Choi Ak also watches every Friday. [Dak-cheo-jul-kka?] is closed every Saturday, so Friday evening is a weekly 'Fire Friday', and it's the last TV program he watches before the holiday.
"Ah, I watch that show often. But what brings you here?"
"Are you the owner of this shop? It's nothing else, but our gourmet concept this time is chicken restaurants. I came to ask if you have any intention of appearing."
"Oh my, you could have just called."
"This shop doesn't have a separate phone number."
Choi Ak's shop doesn't take delivery orders or reservations. You have to come in person to order and pick it up or eat inside the shop.
So there was no need for a shop phone, and he didn't really promote it. It became famous mostly thanks to word of mouth.
"We can guarantee a small appearance fee and the advertising effect for the shop. It's rude to say, but our budget is a bit tight......."
"The economy is bad here and there, so it's the same. You're working hard."
It's a long-running program that has been going on for 20 years, but now there are many similar programs or programs that are more popular. Since the trend is Mukbang, the number of broadcasts in that area has increased, and it was barely holding on in that niche.
In TV programs, how long it has been on doesn't matter. It's just more important how popular it is.
"When is the filming?"
"Ah, are you giving permission?"
"I've watched the program often since I was young, so I've grown attached to it. If they ask me to appear, I should do it."
"When do you usually start preparing ingredients? We have to film from then."
"Let's do it in the evening when the shop closes that day. Our shop closes early."
"Today is impossible, I'll see you the day after tomorrow in the evening. If we film from the ingredient preparation in the evening, then the cooking scenes and the customers' reactions....... we'll get enough footage."
Even if you film all day and broadcast it, you only get about 10 minutes of footage, but that alone is enough to contain the content fully.
Choi Ak received the PD's business card and gave him his phone number. And it felt wrong to just send him back, so he fried the remaining chicken and gave it to him.
"Ah, I'll enjoy this. Then see you tomorrow."
"Go home safely without any accidents."
After PD Jin left, only Choi Ak and Baek-ri remained in the shop. Since Jin Seo-ae is always sent home early because of her child, the two of them always prepare the ingredients.
"Wow, we're finally on TV."
"If it goes on air, I think we'll have to prepare more ingredients than usual. At least for a month or two, it'll be tougher."
"What about after that?"
"When the popularity fades, it decreases, but if regulars are made, the customers increase by that much."
It's a case of visiting out of curiosity and becoming a regular.
"Our shop didn't even do proper promotion, but the rumors are fast."
"These days, it spreads well through Insta or Facebook. I do it sometimes, and it's quite famous."
"If the location is good and the taste is good, it's strange if it doesn't become famous."
If a restaurant is delicious, cheap, and in a good location, it's bound to become famous. It just took time because the shop didn't do deliveries, but it was getting famous little by little even normally.
"I don't have any thoughts at other times, but I pay attention when it comes to food business. I use big chickens. I season them thoroughly. Since the building is my wife's, there's no deposit, so I can lower the unit price and sell it cheaply."
"If it comes out on TV, I'll be able to show my face, right?"
"It would be sad if the shop's founding contributor didn't appear. Brag to your friends later that you're on TV."
Finishing the shop for the day, he returns home. Like usual, Sion came out to the entrance to meet him.
"Welcome back."
"Was there anything special while I was gone?"
"Nothing special. Was there anything with you?"
"A broadcast offer came in. That VJ Special Forces one. The one we watch every Friday evening."
"Ah, that program."
The two talked about the broadcast offer while eating dinner.
"A broadcast appearance. I don't know how many years it's been since you appeared on TV normally."
"I want to appear normally if I can."
"The most recent one was when you destroyed a building and walked around in just your underwear saying 'It's Payoen, you bastards!'."
"........When was that? My memory is hazy too."
"Don't pretend you don't know."
How does a Reincarnator remember? The brain, which is responsible for the memory of an ordinary person, returns to a handful of soil when it becomes a soul, so how can one be self-aware?
The answer is in the soul. Because the form is not fixed, all of Choi Ak's memories were engraved on his soul. If one has a firm awareness of self and an understanding of the soul, the concept of oblivion disappears from that moment on.
Whether that is a blessing or a curse, I don't know.
"Are you going to reveal any secret recipes or something?"
"What is there to reveal? It's just that preparing ingredients is a bit hard. The places that reveal secret recipes are all like that because it's hard and people can't follow it."
When Choi Ak was holding Sion on his lap and hugging her while watching TV, his cell phone rang.
The name on the caller ID was Team Leader Jo In-hyung.
[Hello, this is Team Leader Jo. I'm sorry for calling late in the evening, but........]
"I've committed sins myself, so I can't say much. What is it?"
[How could you do such a thing?!]
Team Leader Jo basically speaks to Choi Ak with some degree of courtesy. But because this incident was a big issue, his words couldn't help but be harsh.
Saving people at a fire scene, beating up Enemy Species and saving people is good.
But in some respects, knocking out a Master user, who can be said to be the face of the country more than the president, was a different story.
"It's an excuse, but you're the one who sent me there. I only have the sin of beating up the guy who picked a fight after I went and beat up the Enemy Species. It takes two hands to clap."
[Couldn't Choi Ak-ssi have avoided it?]
"Then I should have knocked him out with one punch and ran away? That seems like it would hurt his dignity even more, doesn't it?"
A battle between Master users. It became a bigger issue because it was a fight that shouldn't have happened.
Only seven in the whole world. No, with this incident, including Choi Ak, there are eight.
As much as the nation's dignity is at stake, even if they go out for overseas dispatch issues, they don't fight each other. Even if they do fight, they don't leave it as data. If it leaks, the country's image will be tarnished.
Master users are always curious.
Where they stand, how strong they are, and what their limits are.
Already, the world's Master users must be thinking different things after watching that video.
[Because of that incident, the higher-ups are also noisy. We are taking down the videos one by one, but due to the nature of the internet, it's hard to erase them. And it's hard to erase videos that have gone to overseas sites. If there's one fortunate thing, it's that Choi Ak-ssi is presumed to be Korean, so there's no bad impression nationally.]
If Lee Kyung-jin had fought and lost to another Master user overseas, it would be one thing, but Raccoon Man's first appearance was also in Korea. Because he was presumed to be Korean, it became a fight between Master users of the same country, so it could be passed off as a domestic issue.
[Rather, it became an opportunity for the general public to know the skills of a Master user. It's not that there are no broadcasts featuring Force users, but there are no videos of them fighting in earnest like this.]
"If I only hear things like that, it's good, so what's the problem?"
[The Raccoon Man Countermeasure Team has been created due to this incident.]
"What kind of place is that?"
[In short, it means to catch you.]
The things that happened so far were passed off as just happenings. But now it seems they can't overlook it.
Choi Ak spat out profanity with a rotten expression.
"Fuck."