[What's life anyway, just live as it goes]
[What's life anyway, just live as it goes]
It was late in the evening when Shion returned home.
I wanted to go pick her up, but since she was a victim, the police insisted on escorting her, so I agreed.
"I'm home."
"It's rare to see you get home later than me. I made dinner. You haven't eaten yet, right?"
"I ate at the police station, but that wasn't nearly enough."
Both Shion and I are big eaters. Especially Shion; despite her young appearance, she eats enough for one or two adult men. Needless to say, I'm the same.
"How are the kids?"
"They're healthy. They said there are no issues since they're eating well and doing fine. It seems the kidnapper's mutated form doesn't have any contagious properties."
"Is that so? Did you hear who the kidnapper was?"
"The police don't know that yet. But I found a keyword."
"A keyword?"
I was inwardly surprised that she had found a trace. Since Shion was investigating, I had half-given up when she said she couldn't find anything at first, thinking there was nothing to find in this scientific civilization. To think she found it on the second try.
"Honestly, it was my mistake. Because the opponent was a Force User, I only honestly searched through the list of registered Force Users."
"Then is the opponent an unregistered Force User criminal, or a missing person?"
"Yes, that must be it."
If you think about why a Force User would be a missing person, there could be various reasons. Maybe they registered but were doing illegal work. Maybe they fled overseas. Maybe they died somewhere without anyone knowing.
"I considered all cases that fit both."
Shion quickly compared both sides and extracted the data.
Then, she held up both hands, spreading all ten fingers, and said.
"Excluding analog cases, there might be one or two more, but based on my analysis, there are about 10 people who are unregistered Force User criminals and also missing persons."
"That's quite a lot. But......"
Shion already knew what I wanted to say.
"I filtered for cases where they had a younger sister or daughter around the age of Su-jeong and Aram. And......the culprit was closer than I thought."
"Huh?"
"Do you remember the first victim who was said to have been killed by the kidnapper?"
There were three children kidnapped by the kidnapper. It was said that the first child was found as a corpse. And with the upper and lower body separated, at that.
Don't tell me......
"That child had an older brother with a significant age gap."
It was a nauseating story.
As the puzzle pieces fit together, the story came to mind even without anyone telling me.
The kidnapper, who had been turned into a monster by someone, returned home to meet his family, but there was no way his family could recognize him.
Thinking of the first case I encountered during the Yeongdeungpo fire, it was unlikely that guy was in his right mind either. He instinctively returned to meet his younger sister, but she must have been startled by his appearance, which looked more like an Enemy Species than a human, and struggled.
On top of that, his monster body wouldn't have been able to control its strength, and the moment he applied a bit too much force to not let go of the struggling child......
A tragic situation was created.
"His name is Kim Jeong-su, 25 years old, single. Both parents died in an accident, and he's known as a somewhat reputable unregistered user in the underworld. Even the police hadn't identified his name, but he had enough activity that they were aware of his approximate crimes. However, they said there had been no news of him for a year."
".......How old was the younger sister?"
"There was a 13-year age gap, so she was 12."
Siblings with a large age gap are rare, but not unheard of. Sometimes even people with a 20-year gap get married, so that's mild. Siblings with a small age gap like Baek-ri and Ruri just fight and bicker, but when the gap is large, many grow up looking at them almost like a son or daughter.
He must have raised his younger sister like a daughter, cherishing her without parents. But the result was a tragedy.
"Do you have any information? Like what kind of bastards they are."
There are people who aren't even human, turning decent Force Users into dead people and kidnapping them for human experiments. If they didn't bother me, I wouldn't care if they tore each other apart, but if Shion has already been harmed by them, I'd feel better if I wiped them all out without leaving a single scrap behind.
"Unfortunately, there isn't much information. It seems they've covered their tracks, and the higher-ups seem to be hushing it up as well."
"Which bastards are doing that? Turning a blind eye to such unethical acts?"
I wasn't exactly ethical myself, so I have no room to talk, but even if someone in public office isn't honest, there's a line they should keep. Even if you overlook someone covering for others and taking money, you shouldn't make others shed tears of blood.
Hearing the names from Shion, they were guys I had heard of on TV a few times. Let's deal with those guys last. Since I only beat up Enemy Species, the task force is slowly moving, but if I take out one or two congressmen, that's practically declaring war.
"But I have found a clue."
"How?"
"I looked for commonalities between the two incidents."
The two incidents Shion is talking about are the Yeongdeungpo department store fire and this pediatric kidnapping and murder case.
"The kidnapper Kim Jeong-su's body was transferred to a specialized facility to determine the detailed circumstances after an autopsy by the police. Where do you think it is?"
"Is it a place I know?"
"You've probably heard of it once."
I recalled memories related to the first incident. And a story flashed through my mind.
"Leverage Corp. That specialized facility where Kim Jeong-su's body was transferred is their lab or hospital, right?"
"That's correct."
I heard it from Ms. Jin Seo-ae before. Her husband's body would be attributed to Leverage Corp as research material through the insurance he had in his lifetime. It's one of the few insurances that Force Users, who are hard to get into other insurances due to high risk of death, can join, and since it's after death anyway, she probably didn't think much of it. Furthermore, she probably didn't think the body would return in one piece while fighting Enemy Species.
If a man thinks about his family, he really can do anything. Even if it means putting an empty coffin into the crematorium when holding the funeral.
"If a dead person is alive, you just have to look for the movement of the body. And I found the tail."
"Did you try hacking them?"
"I tried, but it didn't work. Bingo."
In a simple scientific civilization, if Shion can't hack someone, it means they surely have that level of technology. Especially technology that has developed by grafting supernatural abilities onto science, not just science.
In a civilization where Gaia Force has only appeared for 20 years, that level is impossible even if there's a super genius. It's the same story as throwing Bill Gates into the Stone Age and telling him to make a computer. Ah, Bill Gates is a programmer. Anyway.
"Hacking Leverage Corp itself is impossible, but hacking the surroundings is possible, so I investigated this and that, but most of them are research facilities that are exposed on the surface."
"Can't you investigate deeper? Like, there could be secret underground labs."
"It's impossible with the satellites of this era."
"Ah, damn."
The way Shion gathers information includes hacking CCTV, electronic devices, computer networks, defense networks, satellites, etc. That means if she can't gather information with those, she can't.
For example, Shion could hack and launch all the nuclear bombs in the world right now, but she can't blow up the moon right now. Because even if she detonated all the nuclear bombs on Earth, she wouldn't be able to blow up the moon. She can do everything possible with Earth's scientific power, but she can't do what she can't.
"Unless I call the car I have parked on Mars, a detailed investigation is impossible."
"I told you not to treat that Dimensional Navigation Ship like a car."
"Should I call it?"
"Did you forget that you destroyed a few satellites in orbit when you called it like that last time?"
It was about 300 years ago, so I remembered it roughly. Because of that, Shion had to appear to the outside world to clean up the mess......so she unintentionally filmed an encounter with the unknown. She could have ignored it, but Shion's conscience was too fragile to ignore the fact that she destroyed several satellites worth at least tens of billions.
It was funny to see her flying and waving like E.T. when it didn't even suit her.....She is a friendly alien, but given her usual personality, it's normal for her to greet people with jokes.
I remembered it because it was one of the few incidents where Shion caused trouble, not me. It's funny to think about now, but the situation was a mess back then.
"Just leave it for now. Those guys are bound to make a scene again no matter what they do."
I don't know why they are even doing human experiments, but in the end, it will be nothing more than the result of a psychopath who talks about grand causes and the development of science. Hoping for silence from such guys is the same as telling my wife to stop being a fan.
"Something else will pop up soon. We've got a toehold with just two, so if we catch one more, we can get them."
Right now, I've only caught the hem of their clothes. In this situation, if they shake it off, I could lose them.
To catch them for sure, I needed a clear clue. And I didn't think that clue was very far away.
How do I know?
It's just intuition.
Because of that, Shion visited the police station frequently for a week. If it had been me, there would have been a high possibility of trouble, but perhaps because it was Shion doing it, it was finished quickly.
"I gave my phone number to the kids."
"Su-jeong and Aram? Aren't their parents worried?"
"I met them and talked it over well. Since I said I was a fellow victim who was kidnapped, it was easily resolved."
"That went well. Are you being ignored or anything because of your appearance?"
"Su-jeong's father was working as a manager at a company I know. Thanks to that, the conversation was easy."
"You must know dozens of companies, which one?"
"Just a decent company."
I don't know if it's really a decent company as Shion says, or if it's a large corporation and it's just a decent company in Shion's eyes, but to me, it seems like the latter.
"They'll probably call me if anything happens."
"You could have given them my phone number. You know, the number that can't be tracked."
"They already know we're acquaintances, and any favors the kids might ask can be handled at my level."
"Won't it be annoying?"
"I also have experience taking care of kids."
The kidnapping case was wrapped up at Shion's level. Kim Jeong-su's body went missing during the tracking. It seems it was smuggled somewhere, but the exact location couldn't be identified.
It seems the guy who looks like the mastermind pulled some strings. Even the police seemed to have only heard the approximate information they had identified and didn't get the body back.
"Oh, and you can go visit the game developer I acquired the day after tomorrow."
"Right. That was a thing too. I can just wear the suit I bought. But I have zero talent for corporate management."
Everyone is born with nature and talent. As a Reincarnator, I hammered the vessel of my capabilities to make it large, but the parts I have no talent for are still not outstanding even if I train and develop them.
One of them is the talent for corporate management or leadership. If you leave a company to me, it'll just be enough not to go bankrupt, but dreaming of a booming business is out of the question.
At least technology development is something I can develop like using a cheat code with my abilities, but even that has its limits. To begin with, there isn't much knowledge among the knowledge I've accumulated that can be called engineering.
Let alone a game developer, it would mainly be programming, game story, etc., so there's even less I can do.
"I've already found the office and the people. You just have to give orders."
"What's the company name?"
"Sion."
"Just changing one letter?"
Shion's name is Zion. In terms of pronunciation, this side is closer to Zion, but both are pronounced as Sion.
If you ask why she's an alien but her name seems based on Earth, Shion was born on Earth to begin with.
Game developer Sion.
Thinking about it, the purpose isn't corporate management, but purely because I want to make the game I want. I should just relax and manage it.
My heart feels at ease when I let go of my attachment to money. This is why people should be moderate with material desires to live with peace of mind.
I should go to work at Sion instead of the chicken shop the day after tomorrow.......Ah, this makes it sound like I'm not going to work and will just be lovey-dovey with Shion.
When writing game developer Sion, I should write it as Sion Co., Ltd.
"Please make a fun game. I won't tolerate any gacha elements."
"I don't like gacha either."
In this day and age, games with gacha elements are rampant to make money. 100,000 won for a few items to draw characters. And it's not even guaranteed that you'll get what you want that way.
At least the ones with a conscience have a 'pity' system where you get the character you want if you spend a certain amount, but there are many games that don't.
I don't want to go back to the past, but it's okay to miss the past. Games in the old days weren't without pay-to-win elements, but even so, the gameplay and story were excellent compared to things that cost money.
At the very least, even a decently made game back then was more fun than a gacha game made roughly to earn money these days.
At least for mobile games, the old days were better.
The games I played back then were from the 2G flip phone era, so there are compatibility issues with smartphones, etc., making them hard to play again now. Even if I did, it wouldn't be as fun as it was back then.
So, if I reboot them or improve them to fit the present, it will be fun.
Money is secondary.
Of course, if the company doesn't make enough money to go bankrupt, that's a problem.
"Would it be okay if it goes bankrupt......."
"Don't worry, there's enough money left to pay all the employees' severance pay even if the company goes bankrupt. When I gathered the people, I brought them in by paying at least 1.5 times their salary at the time."
"You're cool with salary negotiations."
"To begin with, the salary in this industry is too stingy in this country."
Shion handed me the approximate company documents. From the employees' personal details to their resumes, and they are divided according to their respective tasks such as programmers, scenario writers, illustrators, network administrators, etc. The total number of employees is about 60. It looks quite large, but it's definitely a small to medium-sized enterprise.
"There are a lot of people with quite a bit of experience......I don't look much at academic background, so I'm only looking at experience, but even so."
"Experienced people are good to begin with."
It's not that there are no new graduates who just finished school, but there are quite a lot of experienced people.
"Oh, and I bought the rights to the Hero's Record series. You can tinker with it as you like."
My wife is amazing at handling things.
I've got the general direction. I'm a person who thinks that if you need a result, you should invest enough time and budget for it.
Of course, if they can't do it even after investing enough time and budget, that's a part where I should get angry.
I'll tell Baek-ri tomorrow that I have work, and I'll take the day after tomorrow off.
When I said I was going to the company, Baek-ri asked back in surprise.
"What company?"
"A game developer. I said I wanted to play a game, so she made me a game company."
"Wow, that's awesome. The behavioral patterns of rich people are different from us. What was it, Bill Gates spent hundreds of millions to rent a cruise ship to go on summer vacation, it's like that."
"It's not to that extent. Honestly, if you get on a cruise ship, it's fun, but there's less to do than you think. If you want to swim, you'd rather go to the sea or a valley."
"Still, it sounds fun. And there are usually a lot of people there, so it's hard to play."
"Then do you want to go on summer vacation together this time? My wife bought an island and a mountain. It's private property, so it'll be spacious."
"What, you have an island and a mountain? A mountain can be considered real estate, but an island is amazing. Ah, I heard that rich people buy them for investment."
"It's for vacation. My wife and I are hedonists after all. The most important thing is the mental part, but we also love playing and eating, so it's natural that we bought places good for playing."
"Where would be good to go......It would be nice to go with family if possible, but if it's an island, it will take a long time, right?"
"I didn't hear exactly where it is, but it should be on the west coast for now. They say Seoul and the west coast are close, but it's not a distance you can go back and forth in a day or two."
South Korea is a peninsula and at the same time has many islands mainly on the west and south coasts. Conversely, the east coast is gentle, so there are few islands. If you didn't doze off in class, it's a field taught in school.
But once it's an island, it wasn't a distance to go back and forth quickly in either direction. It probably wouldn't be a place close to the metropolitan area, and it would be some island in the southern region, and it takes several hours just to drive there.
If you add up the time to go, play, and come back, even a 1-night 2-day trip seems tight.
"Then the mountain side would be better. If there's a valley, playing in the water is the same."
"If you grill barbecue there, it's just killer. I'll make a plan and tell you later. I'll cover the expenses."
"I like that you're cool with money."
What money would the kids have? It's not like going on a trip costs a penny or two.
Anyway, let's start the business. If you work diligently today as well, the food tastes good and you earn money.
"Ugh, maybe because we were on the broadcast, there are so many people. I need to prepare more chicken tomorrow, Baek-ri!"
"I fried over 100 today too?!"
"Two seasoned chickens for takeout here."
"Ah, sorry, just a moment! Please wait a second!"
"Please calculate this."
"I'll do this side, student Baek-ri."
Thanks to the last broadcast, the promotional effect was good. If you go on a broadcast, the taste is really good, and it's cheap, business will always go well. If the shop was bigger, it would be hard to cover with three people, but since the shop is small and there are many takeout orders, we could manage somehow.
It's just that frying takes a long time, but the rest is done quickly. To begin with, Baek-ri is a Force User, so his movements are fast, and I'm a Transcendent, so even if I move moderately, I'm much more agile than Baek-ri.
When the business was finished, I could finally take a breather. Thanks to the broadcast, sales jumped, but unlike the usual times when there was some leeway, it was tough because we moved without a moment to breathe.
"It's busy, how about hiring one more part-timer?"
"Even if it's the broadcast effect, it won't last long since it won't keep coming out. At most, it will be like that for a month or two. Wouldn't it be better for us to work harder than to find a part-timer for that?"
"Are you doing this to save money?"
"There's a bonus this month."
"Boss, I'm always loyal!"
The change in attitude is similar to your younger sister.
As always, I sent Ms. Seo-ae home first before finishing the shop. Baek-ri and I talked about it, and it's been like that for a while. She has a kid at home, so she should go back quickly.
"You worked hard today too, Ms. Seo-ae. Is Seong-hye healthy?"
"Of course. These days it's vacation, so she only wakes up by lunchtime. Sometimes on days when I go home early, she plays and comes home later than me."
"It's best for a kid to be healthy no matter what they do. Ah, since it's vacation, would you like to go on summer vacation together sometime? It would be much more fun to go all together."
"Vacation? Where to?"
"I'm planning on a mountain for now. My wife bought a mountain to play in."
Vacation......now that I think about it, it's slowly becoming vacation season. So I understood why there were twice as many customers as usual, even though they say there's a broadcast effect. What else would college kids do besides drinking and eating while playing all night?
"Oh my, a mountain?"
"Yes, it's impossible for a long time, but I'm thinking of going to a place with a valley for 1 night 2 days or 2 nights 3 days and having a barbecue. How is it?"
"Seong-hye would like it too. It's been quite a while since we went on a trip......"
"I'll let you know when I make the schedule. Please let me know in advance if there are days you can't."
If you say vacation, it's ultimately a day off. And if you say a day off, it's synonymous with a day to play.
It's no different for us. As self-employed people, we can rest if we just bear the sales of that day, so it's actually better than a company. Weekend.....no, since chicken is eaten on weekends, it's better to rest including weekdays than weekends. Our shop is closed on Saturday, so should I make a schedule for 3 days, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday?
"Then see you tomorrow, Boss Choi. Ah! You said you wouldn't come out tomorrow, right?"
"Yes, even if I come out, it seems like it will be in the afternoon. Anyway, go home safely."
After Ms. Seo-ae left, Baek-ri and I remained to clean up the shop. We cleaned up the food waste and shop tables and prepared the ingredients to be used tomorrow.
Since there are more customers, we need to prepare more, but it doesn't take as long as I thought.
"Did my hands get faster? I'm moving the same as usual, did my skills improve by a speck?"
"I get beaten up by Ruri all the time, but these days I'm even counterattacking."
"Oh, really? I guess you've built up the basics?"
Baek-ri, who wants to become stronger, hasn't built up enough basics for me to even look at, but it seems he has built up the basics in his own way while fighting and bickering with Ruri. Seeing that he has gained some muscles in that short time and has learned the knack for moving, his talent doesn't seem bad.
Since he has built up the basics, I want to teach him something......what would be good.
"I'm going to teach you one thing, is there anything you want to learn?"
"Uh.....then that. The Greedless Infinite Qi Technique you told me about before, or that Dragon Slayer thing."
"I told you both are things not just anyone can learn."
"But the effect is killer! One is infinite internal energy, and the other is the power that knocked down the Thousand Swords Lee Gyeong-jin!"
The Greedless Infinite Qi Technique requires a good heart, and Dragon Slayer requires hatred.
If you learn it by force, you will only become a runaway or a half-wit. It's better to learn something else than that.
Because a person's heart is not even an inch ahead, the Greedless Infinite Qi Technique is impossible unless it's guaranteed to be absolute from the beginning. I was able to learn it because I basically have a mindset of caring for others because I'm from my family's side, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to learn it.
And Baek-ri, I don't know about his heart, but he has no hatred. Even if he can be angry at others, he cannot hate them deep in his heart. So even if he learns Dragon Slayer, he won't be able to exert its power.
"I'll teach you something similarly killer. Then that's fine, right?"
"What do you have?"
"One is Taegeuk-naseon-gyeong. The other is Nang-a-yusu, um......I don't think you'll use swordsmanship, so I'll exclude Yusu-gang-geom. I'll also exclude Cheonsal-jingi. Sura-gwangryong-tu is a bit ambiguous......and the Manryong-mu I know, I think your aptitude would be different for you to learn."
"There are quite a lot. And the ones towards the end are the ones I can't learn."
"The things I learned are a bit picky about people. I'm just bluffing with my reincarnation experience."
They say all paths lead to the same destination. Since I've been matching and learning the enlightenment I've gained while living, I've learned it somehow, but there are a lot of martial arts that were far from enough for a lifetime.
Sura-gwangryong-tu is something I made by synthesizing all the techniques I learned, but it's a bit much to teach something for killing from the beginning.
"The ones I can teach you are Taegeuk-naseon-gyeong, Nang-a-yusu, and Yusu-gang-geom. These three are for sure. Do you want to learn swordsmanship by any chance?"
"Um......bare hands are more comfortable. I can't carry a sword around."
Even if you are a Force User, you cannot carry weapons unless you belong to the state. Then bare hands would be more comfortable.
Then Yusu-gang-geom is excluded. It's Taegeuk-naseon-gyeong and Nang-a-yusu.
"Taegeuk-naseon-gyeong and Nang-a-yusu. Both are good martial arts. If you reach the extreme of either one, you can become the strongest on Earth. Except for me, of course."
"You're not a martial artist, but that sounds like the lines written full of bluffing at the beginning of a martial arts book."
"One can decompose anything to the atomic level, and the other can use time stop."
"Wow, fuck, cancel what I just said."
As you can tell from the name, both Taegeuk-naseon-gyeong and Nang-a-yusu are martial arts that focus on 'flow'. However, their goals are different.
If Taegeuk-naseon-gyeong is based on the principle of 'decomposition', Nang-a-yusu is a martial art to reach the limit of speed. There is almost no martial art where you can reach the extreme in a person's lifetime for either one.
Probably, if there's nothing special, there's almost no possibility that Baek-ri will reach the extreme. I'm teaching it to him to use for self-defense.
"What do you want to learn?"
Baek-ri thought about it because it was about his future. After thinking for about 10 minutes, he finally said the name of the martial art he wanted to learn.
"I......"