[What's life, anyway? Just live as you live]
[What's life, anyway? Just live as you live]
If there is one person suffering on a trip, it is the driver.
I had the air conditioning cranked up high, but the sunlight was shining directly in from the front, and it was exhausting because I had to keep my focus sharp at all times.
"Ugh, out of all these people, I'm the only one who can drive!"
"Most of them are kids or stay-at-home moms. Just accept it, Hyung."
"Hey! You're a perfectly capable adult male!"
"I don't have a license? I'm protected by the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, so go ahead and try to make me drive."
"You dirty bastard... No wonder you don't buy a car and use public transport even though I pay you a good salary."
Among this group, I'm the only driver. To begin with, the only adults here are me, Sion, Baek-ri, and Seo-ae-ssi, but Seo-ae-ssi is a stay-at-home mom, so she's out. Baek-ri doesn't have a license, and Sion never even thought about getting one. Even if she did, I wouldn't let her drive.
I have no choice but to drive without a break. Of course, it's not physically exhausting, but it's the principle of the thing.
"Elementary schoolers these days know everything. The generation gap is real."
"Elementary schooler? These days, we call them Gupsikchung."
"Wait?! I'm still a minor, but am I already falling behind on slang?!"
Honestly, I'm more used to the word 'elementary schooler' than 'Gupsikchung'. It's natural for the language used to change as the times change, but that's exactly why a generation gap forms.
Even if we exclude the elementary school kids, Ruri, the youngest, is basically our generation, only a few years apart from Baek-ri. It's natural that I'm not used to it.
"Anyone here on Facebook or Insta? Want to add me?"
"Ah, I use Facebook."
"I only use KakaoTalk, but can you give me your number, Unnie?"
"Keee, you're such a pure child. You know, Facebook is a waste of life, so you shouldn't do it."
"Wait a minute, Unnie. You said Facebook is a waste of life, but you're using it."
"I'm living my life faithfully through my studies, so I'm allowed to waste it like this. Besides, what I post on Facebook is related to my daily life."
"That's oddly convincing..."
Maybe Ruri's mental age matches the kids, because she played well with Seong-hye, Su-jeong, and Aram. To think a high schooler would be similar to elementary schoolers. Honestly, I was skeptical, but it's kind of funny to see.
Even though it's summer, it's a weekday, not a weekend, so the highway wasn't very crowded. Usually, when people go on vacation, they include the weekend, so it's rare to leave on a weekday.
"Anyone want a lunchbox? Ah, most of you didn't eat breakfast, right? Want some egg sushi and fried tofu sushi?"
"It's our family's traditional menu. It's the repertoire Mom always packed for picnics. But it's delicious."
"Ah, I'll have some."
"Give me some too!"
Baek-ri took out the lunchbox his mother had packed. The menu was egg sushi and fried tofu sushi. Well, the fried tofu sushi was ordinary since it used store-bought tofu, but the egg sushi didn't have the egg placed on top like the Japanese style; it looked like the sushi was wrapped in a thin egg crepe.
Sushi + Egg + Oil = Delicious. It was my first time seeing egg sushi done that way, but honestly, it looked tasty.
Sion took some, put one in my mouth, and as we shared, it was gone in an instant. It wasn't a small amount, but I guess that's what happens when there are so many people.
After driving for about two hours, a sign for a rest stop appeared at a reasonable distance. We'd arrive in about an hour. Thinking about the time to play there and eat dinner, I thought it would be good to have lunch soon.
"Let's stop at the next rest stop and eat. It's a waste of time for everyone to wait in one place, so let's split into teams and buy what you want. Anyone need a card?"
"Me! Me!"
"I'll give you the card, so go with Baek-ri, Ruri."
"Awesome!"
There were more people at the rest stop than I thought. Maybe it's just because cars are moving on the highway and stopped at the rest stop, but seeing the line in front of the Walnut Cake shop over there, it didn't seem like just my impression.
"I'll go to the convenience store for a second to buy something to drink."
"Highway convenience stores are ridiculously expensive."
"They seem to be at least 1.2 times the price of a local convenience store. But the thirsty person has to dig the well, what can you do."
"Walnut Cake!"
"Ah, I'll have an Americano."
"It's not good for a kid to drink coffee because of the caffeine. Drink coffee milk instead."
"Hey, you said we could buy whatever we wanted, why are you changing your mind now?"
"Buy me Delimanjoo!"
"Ah, then you come with me, let's eat some Delimanjoo properly! Oppa, I'll go separately with Seong-hye!"
"Come to think of it, does anyone need to go to the bathroom?"
"Ah, come to think of it, the bathroom..."
"Then should you go with the lady?"
Four of the group are kids. Ruri is a high school senior who will be an adult next year, but the other three are elementary schoolers. Su-jeong is mature, but in the end, she's just a kid pretending to be an adult. It's natural that she needs a guardian.
Those who needed to use the bathroom went with Seo-ae-ssi, and those who wanted to buy food scattered according to what they wanted to eat, each buying snacks.
"Ah, come to think of it, rest stops mean udon."
"It's summer, so hot broth isn't great."
"Is that so? Hmm... Then want to eat buckwheat noodles? How about you, Su-jeong?"
"I just want to drink a cold beverage. There's a cafe over there."
"It's not good for a kid to drink coffee because of the caffeine."
"Do other people know that you're the Raccoon Man?"
".......No, are you blackmailing me with that?"
Everyone knows about it from the last kidnapping incident. Even Aram knows I'm the Raccoon Man, so why would it be any different for Su-jeong?
Among the current group, everyone knows except for Seo-ae-ssi and Seong-hye. But I'd prefer not to let them know if possible. It's better than creating unnecessary trouble.
"They don't let me drink it at home, so I have to drink it here."
"But no Americano. You're at the age where you should love sweet things, I don't know why you're trying to drink bitter stuff."
"Kids these days know everything, you know?"
"You come back after you're at least a high schooler."
Even if they learn how to live in the world, middle schoolers are still kids. I think they're only grown up once they're at least high schoolers. In the worlds I've reincarnated into, the standards for adulthood varied, but on average, it was around 16. Were there one or two that were younger? If anything, there were more, rarely fewer.
No matter how underdeveloped a world was, it was rare to see the standard for adulthood as low as middle school. If you want to pretend to be an adult in front of me, come back after you're at least a high schooler.
"Even if you pretend to be a good person, you're a pervert, Mister."
"Pfft!!!"
I sprayed the drink I bought at the convenience store. No, a critical hit from there!?
"......This kid is saying things she shouldn't."
"Looking at Sion-unnie, it seems like you are a pervert. They say people who get excited looking at kids are pedophiles, aren't you one, Mister?"
"I like her because she's my wife, not because I like kids. To begin with, my ideal type, even if she has a small chest, is clearly an adult woman."
"Are you saying that with me right next to you!"
"You know that's a fact, though."
I have an ideal type, too. Of course, this is a preference I insist on as a man, but there are three conditions I require for my ideal type: blonde, eyepatch, and flat chest.
The moment you think there's no difference between a flat chest and a child, you're disqualified. A child just hasn't grown breasts yet. A flat-chested woman is fully grown, but her breasts are just small. Even with a flat chest, the pelvis is developed, so there's a big difference.
I just love Sion and get sexually excited because of her, I'm not a pervert who gets excited looking at kids.
"Even if you make excuses like that, I don't think others will see it that way."
"Gack!!!"
"Sudden death!!!"
Su-jeong is the type who is good at sharp-tongued remarks before even being mature. She looks like she'll become a queen who controls a faction when she grows up, so she has a promising future.
Anyway, since Su-jeong wanted to drink coffee, I just bought her a Caramel Macchiato. It's better to have something sweet than something with too much caffeine, which isn't good for the body.
"Your home must be very strict, huh?"
"I can feel that both of them love me, but the problem is they love me too much and make me do too many things. The number of academies I'm attending right now is... honestly, if I hadn't skipped a few classes, I would have run away from home already."
"It's a bit much to go to academies at an age where you should be running around and playing."
"At least since that kidnapping, they adjusted my academy schedule, so it's a bit better these days. I actually think it was a good thing I got kidnapped."
I can understand the parents' hearts, wanting to send their child to an academy hoping they'll do well, but the child's heart is impossible to understand. The opposite is also true; there is no child who can understand their parents' hearts. If you don't say it, you don't know.
I barely had parents. Like this reincarnation, my parents died when I was young, so I grew up as an orphan, or in many cases, the parents were negligent in their duties. So, I rarely received love that was passed down like a parent's love.
"You're still young, so when you grow up a bit, you'll understand your parents' hearts. It's just a matter of time, so you just need to live diligently."
"You smell like an old soul, Mister."
"I'm like that sometimes."
"Are you both roasting me? Ah, they're selling buttered baby potatoes over there, want some?"
I thought about eating something at the rest stop restaurant, but decided to fill up on snacks instead. Usually, rest stops mean udon, but the weather was hot, so it wasn't great for eating hot broth. I thought about eating buckwheat noodles, but I wasn't craving it as much as I thought. So I gave up.
Instead, I bought one of everything I saw as snacks. Starting with buttered baby potatoes, butter-grilled squid, hot bars, dumplings, sausage rice cakes, and tornado potatoes.
"It's all fat or carbohydrates. That's why it's delicious."
"If Mom knew I was eating like this, fire would be shooting out of her eyes."
"But considering your academies, it must be hard to play, yet you managed to get sent here?"
"Dad told them to let me go... It's thanks to Sion-unnie."
Sion, who was chewing on two kimchi dumplings at once, made a V-sign with her hand from the side. She swallowed after chewing a few times and started telling the detailed story.
"Didn't I tell you Su-jeong's father works at a company I know? I used my connections a bit."
"Ah, right. That happened?"
"Thanks to that, it seems like he's riding the right line at Dad's company and doing well? I don't know the details, but I've heard him talk about the Director, the President, and so on when he answers the phone at home."
"Oh my, look at him succeeding."
I've been a regular office worker before, so I've experienced office politics. Riding the right line is important. Otherwise, you can be out in an instant, becoming a worn-out shoe that even new employees don't care about.
After buying and eating various things, we returned to the car after about 30 minutes, and the rest of the group who had returned first were chatting and eating snacks.
"Kids, it's all good, but don't spill anything on the seats. This is a rented car."
"It doesn't matter."
"......Wait, did you buy this?"
"We can just buy it."
"Ah, is that so."
Materialism! There's nothing money can't do in modern society. For those who believe there's something money can't do, I suggest you consider if you just don't have enough money.
I'm not one to talk, as I'm enjoying the benefits of such a society, but I don't particularly like this kind of society. If you ask me what kind of world I like the best... Post-apocalypse.
I'm not joking, I like the world of the post-apocalypse. The end of a civilization that destroyed itself has its own kind of fun.
Sometimes, traveling through a ruined world with Sion is quite fun. Imagining the development of the civilization before it fell, meeting good people and bad people while traveling. I secretly like that kind of thing.
"Who bought the Delimanjoo? Conscientiously, if you brought Delimanjoo on board, shouldn't you give one to the person next to you?"
"Hey, someone shove one into Hyung's mouth."
"Mister! Eat this!"
"Oh my, how kind. Seong-hye is much cuter than Baek-ri!"
A young girl who still has innocence is cuter than a dreary guy who has even been to the military.
"It's useless for me to be considered cute by Hyung anyway."
"Don't you want to get paid?"
"Hawawa! I didn't say anything."
"A guy using 'Hawawa'! I'll kill any man who uses 'Hawawa' in the name of a real high school girl!"
"Don't attack my jokes so fiercely!"
"Uwaaaa! The car is shaking! It's no joke because you guys who are Force users are messing around! Stay still!"
"The source of all evil shouldn't be saying that!"
While driving, eating the snacks we bought at the rest stop while being noisy, we slowly exited the highway and entered the local road. As we drove along the mountain road, I turned off the air conditioning and opened the windows.
"Pleasant mountain air... or so I thought, but the smell of fertilizer?!"
"Ah, it does smell a bit pungent. It won't last long, so just bear with it."
It smells like fertilizer, probably used in some nearby rice paddies. It's called fertilizer, but it's natural for it to have a foul smell.
But after driving a little further and passing that area, the smell of fertilizer faded significantly. And the heavy, humid air characteristic of the mountains could be felt.
"Ah, the air is good. The mountains should taste like this. When you live in the city, there are times when your throat gets clogged because the air is bad."
"Then why didn't you just move to the countryside?"
"I could do that, but my wife hates it."
I affirm human development, but I don't like it. However, Sion loves human technology and development immensely, to the point where she can't live without it.
I could live alone farming, but if Sion is here, I can't help but enjoy the civilization humans have created.
Anyway, we finally arrived at our destination. As we went up the mountain, a valley came into view, and as we went up along the road next to it, the road seemed to end.
It wasn't completely gone, but it was a mountain road without asphalt.
"It should be just a little further up from here."
"It doesn't even show up on the navigation, how do you know? Are you looking at it via satellite?"
...Actually, that's probably it.
I drove up the mountain road as Sion said. Then, a fairly large open space appeared. Right next to the water, and since the terrain was high, it seemed like you could see the kids playing at a glance.
"Ah, the spot is nice. Was it originally a camping site?"
"I bought it when they were trying to make it a camping site."
"No wonder the ground was packed down."
In the mountains, there are many stones and rocks in the ground. But in this open space, only sand and dirt were visible, and no large stones were seen. It's the perfect spot to pitch a tent.
"Come to think of it, did you bring mosquito repellent? Mosquitoes are rampant these days, so getting bitten is no joke."
"It's fine even without that."
The mountains are mountains, so there are many bugs. Among them, the worst, mountain mosquitoes, are even scarier.
But in front of me, there's no way. There is no bug that can pierce through my senses. I just have to kill every bug that enters a certain radius around me.
This is more certain than mosquito repellent, which you don't know if it works or not. I'll kill every single tiny mosquito without missing one, so not a single person will get bitten by a bug while on vacation today.
"Tell the kids to go play first. Ah, Ruri, you take the kids and have them do warm-up exercises before they go into the water. We'll be setting up the tents."
"Men gathering to set up tents... Ah?! Get out of my head, you dirty-minded demon!"
"Ruri, despite being a virgin, talks about lewd things strangely well."
"Leave her be. It's an unavoidable nature."
"......? Hyung, how do you speak as if you know Ruri better than I do? Have you met Ruri before meeting me?"
"Who knows."
After cutting it off vaguely, we gathered and started setting up the tents. We bought one-touch tents, but we had to drive pegs into the ground to secure them just in case, so while setting up the tent took 3 seconds, it took a while to drive the pegs in.
"Don't you have a hammer?"
"You're strong enough, just use a rock. Go over there past the open space, pick up a suitable rock, and use it."
"Hey, forget it."
Baek-ri imbued his hand with Force, used his trait 'Reinforcement', and then punched down. After hitting the peg a couple of times, it was driven deep into the ground.
"This works, right?"
"Well done. You just need to tie the ropes well."
"How many tents did you bring?"
"3"
"3? Considering the number of people, wouldn't two be enough?"
"Even if it's a 4-person tent, it's better to sleep spaciously. That's why I brought 3."
The way I thought about it, the three kids would be in one tent, Seo-ae-ssi would sleep there as a guardian, Baek-ri and Ruri in another, and Sion and I in the last one. Well, it's the arrangement I thought of, so you can change it however you want.
Suddenly, Baek-ri said while driving a peg.
"Hyung... you know, no 'room' (sex), right?"
"Does this bastard see me as some guy with his lower half in heat? The kids are here, and you guys are here, so I won't."
"That means you would if there wasn't!"
"Obviously!"
It's good to do it at home, but it's also good to do it outside. Of course, I don't mean exposure or anything like that, but in the sense of changing the location.
We set up all 3 tents and also unfolded and set up the grill, folding table, and chairs. The kids were still going to play, so we shouldn't grill meat yet, but...
Around the time we were planning the schedule, the sound of a car engine was heard from the path coming up.
"Huh? What car is that? Wasn't this private property?"
"It is private property. Who is it? Is there anyone who would come up here?"
With a bit of doubt, we looked at the people coming up.