[What's life, anyway? You just live as you live.]
[What's life, anyway? You just live as you live.]
Yejin was at a motel a bit away from the busy street. First, I called her to come down.
"Did you sleep well last night?"
"Uh... uh? Mr. Raccoon Man?"
"Yeah."
She seemed surprised to see my bare face, her eyes wide. Well, I'm not Iron Man, I don't go around showing my face like that. How many heroes go around revealing their identities openly? Besides, what would happen if I did?
"Get in for now. Let's go to my place. Stay there for a while... and I want to hear your opinion on the big stuff."
"Ah, yes."
She seemed to believe I was Raccoon Man easily. Honestly, it made sense. If you meet me, my mannerisms are similar enough that you'd think I'm the same person. You know how Superman and Clark Kent look different, and Bruce Wayne and Batman look different? That's a method to hide one's identity, making people think the two are separate individuals.
Who would think a bespectacled newspaper reporter is Superman, or that a filthy rich playboy is Batman?
Compared to that, if someone who met Raccoon Man sees me in person, they're highly likely to think I'm the same person. The reverse is true, too.
"I was curious because I hadn't seen your face, but it's, how should I put it..."
"My impression is nasty, right?"
"Ah, that's not it. You have a unique look!"
"I know what I look like better than anyone, so don't bother."
I brought Yejin out of the motel. She got into the car parked in front and froze when she saw Sion inside.
"Hello?"
".......? Uh? Who are you?"
"I am his wife."
"His?"
I'm the only man here. So, the person she calls "his" must be me.
Yejin seemed to have a buffering issue in her brain, unable to understand for a while, but just as the car was about to start, she shouted.
"Mister, you're married?!"
"Of course, did you think I was a bachelor?"
"You look young, so I thought you weren't married yet! Aren't you in your 20s, Mister?"
"I'm in my early 20s, full of life."
"Uh... then who is this person? Surely not what she looks like, right?"
"My wife is two years older than me."
"Uh? Uh-uh?"
Honestly, it's a difficult situation for a first-timer to understand.
I don't have a good impression; I look menacing, and on top of that, my wife is a doll-like, beautiful silver-haired girl (legal) who is actually older than me.
Even Beauty and the Beast wouldn't be this mismatched.
"......Mister, by any chance, is your taste...?"
"I was wondering when that would come up. Most people who see my wife say that."
The world isn't pure, so most people think that. That my taste is weird.
I'm attracted to normal adult women; I'm not a perverted bastard who gets aroused by looking at kids. I'm with my wife because I love her.
Even if you brought a girl the same age as Sion in front of me, I wouldn't react.
"Let's talk while we go to my place. About your treatment."
It's confirmed that we'll be her guardians. But there's something Yejin needs to choose for herself.
Whether to live with us, or live alone in a place we find for her.
"What do you want to do? We'll respect your choice. We have a spare room at our place anyway, and if you want to live alone, we'll provide enough support for a decent place."
"Hmm......"
Either way, we're welcoming. She's not a complete child, and as a high school girl, she must have her privacy, so living with a stranger might be uncomfortable.
Furthermore, with an adult man who's only a few years older... even if I don't have such intentions, I don't know how the other person might feel.
"Then I want to live with you."
"Really? I'm not forcing you, so do as you're comfortable. Aren't you scared to live with an old guy like me?"
"Even if I have a house and money, it's useless if it's not safe. I think it's better to live with you, Mister, because at least you'll keep me safe."
Certainly, if you think about safety, living at our place is better.
Because I'm there, and thanks to the various defensive facilities Sion built herself, we can prepare for emergencies.
But I wonder if being next to me makes her more dangerous.
"Then let's go to our place. You'll be busy unpacking and stuff."
A high school girl living with someone she met yesterday, and a man who has to live with a high school girl he also met yesterday... hmm, I feel like I've seen this repertoire somewhere.
Turn on Hitomi... Kugh! My head!
Yejin felt awkward, but her eyes lit up when she discovered the fox cub Sion was holding. As they say, tastes differ on what's pretty and sexy, but cute things are universally loved by everyone regardless of gender or age.
"Wow! Is it a puppy? It looks cute! Are you raising it?"
"To be precise, it's a fox cub. Isn't it cute?"
"It's so cute and dainty. Aww, want to play with your big sister?"
The fox cub must be at the age where curiosity explodes; as Yejin and Sion played with it, it made cute whining sounds and moved energetically.
Come to think of it, I need to buy feed or something for this kid. Since it's a canine, even if it eats dog food, I should think about meat too.
And most importantly, I need to give it a name.
We arrived home and parked the car in front. We left the luggage in the living room to move and organize it roughly, and we cleared out the items in the room on the first floor that was used as a storage room to give it to Yejin.
"The house is big. Do you two live here alone?"
"Our family is just me and Sion."
"The house is this big? Didn't you have a second floor?"
"The second floor is almost like an exhibition hall."
There are a couple of rooms on the second floor, but most of it is a place to display figures, Nendoroids, and sculptures that Sion or I bought.
"You said you were Raccoon Man, aren't you super rich? Like Iron Man or Batman!"
"I'm not that rich."
Honestly, even I don't know how much money Sion has earned, so I'm skeptical. She has several buildings, bought mountains and islands, and bought up all the stocks of famous large corporations, so it's hard to estimate.
"You're not richer than that, are you?"
"No matter what, you can't beat fiction. It's impossible to become richer than a place that starts with the setting of being the world's best company in just 2 years."
"So you're saying it's possible if you have time."
Honestly, among the technologies Sion knows, there are quite a few that, even if downgraded, would bring not just development but chaos to society. She even makes things the size of a palm that have the performance of a general computer, so if she starts a monopoly, it'll be a big deal.
"There's a lot to take care of. First, we need a bed for your room, Yejin, and we need procedures for school... come to think of it, what grade are you in?"
"Second year."
"One year younger than Ruri. It's fortunate you don't have to take the CSAT."
If she had to take the CSAT this year after going through that, it would be hard with any amount of effort.
Well, she's a Force User, so pulling an all-nighter would be easy.
"Aol-ol-ol!"
"Yeah, I'll buy you food too. Meat is good for snacks, right?"
Foxes are omnivores. You shouldn't give them heavily seasoned human food, but meat and such are fine. Since you came to our house, I'll feed you expensive beef, you little rascal.
"Come to think of it, it's my first time raising a fox. Is it different from a dog?"
"Fennec foxes or Arctic foxes are common, but just red foxes aren't seen as often as you'd think."
"But wasn't the fox in our country extinct?"
"Even if they are being restored, they aren't extinct. And this kid doesn't look like a Korean fox."
Just as Baek-ri shouted to me when he first met the mother Original Species, it might be a fox that ran away from somewhere and was living in the wild. You know, aren't fox furs expensive? There must have been fox farms to get fur, so it wouldn't be strange to see them as descendants of those that escaped.
The hardware is a dog, but the software is a cat. For us, who were thinking about whether to raise a dog or a cat, it's the best pet.
"I wonder if I can raise it well...... It's fortunate it's not an Arctic fox or a Fennec fox. I heard you have to create an environment for them to live."
"In times like this, it's better to ask someone who knows well than to search for information."
"Hm? Do I have an acquaintance who raises foxes?"
"Don't you have a sister-in-law?"
"No, my sister-in-law doesn't raise a fox, she is a fox."
".........?"
Only Yejin, who was listening from the side, stroked the fox cub's head and expressed doubt.
No, it's nothing, it's just that the woman who married my cousin is a Nine-tailed Fox. But it's a bit awkward to ask a Nine-tailed Fox how to raise a fox, isn't it?
"What should we name it?"
"I have one decided."
Sion said confidently, looking at the fox cub.
"This kid's name is now Doggie."
"That's just 'dog'!"
It was a naming with half the sincerity missing.
Yejin decided to go through the transfer procedure to a nearby high school. And we bought various daily necessities and filled the room.
"IKEA is good for furniture, but even if we don't get cancer or anything, we should buy good stuff for the kid."
"Surprisingly, assembling furniture is like making Lego, so it's fun."
We bought and assembled basic furniture like a desk, bookshelf, bed, and chair, and a decent high school girl's room was completed in no time.
Yejin looked around the house, touring it. She seemed to be trying to learn the location of the rooms, but there was a sign that she was looking for something.
"Uh, if you're Raccoon Man, don't you have a secret passage to a secret basement in the house? Like, if you go down the passage, there's a secret hideout in a cave!"
"That's Batman. We don't have anything like that in our house."
"But you're a superhero?"
"Batman is a hero, not a superhero, right? Go get some popcorn, Yejin."
As they say, guys who are super strong like Superman and handle everything don't need secret labs or hideouts. The one in the Arctic? That's Superman's house.
"We do."
"......."
"We have a secret lab."
"......."
No, there was something in my house I didn't know about?!
Even if I walk around the house without a care, I've checked everything in this house with my spiritual sense! Except for strange facilities for repelling intruders, I've never seen such a hideout!
As I made a dumbfounded expression at the shocking confession, Sion laughed softly.
"I did it on purpose to see that expression. Do you think I don't know you? Even if you use your spiritual sense, you probably only sensed the house and didn't sense the yard."
".....Aha."
At Sion's words, I expanded my area not just to the house but to the yard and searched. Then, I found a passage leading to the basement in a small storage room used for stuffing junk in one corner of the yard.
"Wow, it really exists. Since I was young, I thought those things were cool when watching superhero movies."
"I'll show you around later."
I haven't even seen it yet!
Sion has a track record, so I'm very curious about what she's built. I could spread my spiritual sense to find out, but... it wouldn't be fun if I knew in advance. Let's save it for later.
"First, the computer processing is all done. You're still a minor, so you won't get a resident registration card yet, but it's good to remember your name and resident registration number."
"Uh? Already?"
"The computer processing process is easy."
The biggest problem for Sion is analog things. If it's work that needs to be recorded and modified by hand, she's no different from an ordinary girl.
But just as it's rarer to find work that doesn't use computers in today's society, if it's administrative work, making a person's identity in a day is nothing.
"I changed your last name to my husband's, so it's Choi Yejin. Is that okay?"
"Ah, anyway, whether it's Cheon Yejin or Choi Yejin, it's just a difference of two vowels, so what. I'm grateful you've done this much for me."
Anyway, our couple would have adopted a child and raised them because it would be a bit lonely to live just the two of us after about 10 years. We did that often in the past, too.
You can think of this time as being a bit earlier.
"Keng!"
"Oh, our Doggie, are you hungry? Want a snack? You're still young, so dog gum is better than something that makes you fat, right?"
"Since foxes are canines, it's convenient that they can eat dog food."
"Plus, it's cute. Right?"
Doggie whined, showing its belly and wagging its tail. Even though it's still young, it has all the appearances of a fox, so its fluffy-looking tail wags seductively from side to side... Honestly, it's cuter than a cat.
After the cleanup was roughly finished, we held a small party for Yejin's housewarming in the evening. Beef is the best for a celebratory day.
"You've been through some not-so-good things, but I'll pray that only good things happen from now on. Ah, I'm irreligious, though."
"Then who are you praying to?"
"I don't know, whoever it is will probably receive it."
It's not like there's only one or two gods I know; if I pray appropriately, someone will listen and take care of it. Just try running away after taking my faith.
We talked about this and that while grilling meat. It was mainly about personal things, like what she likes and when she awakened as a Force User.
It's natural to know the basics since we have to get to know each other from now on.
"I like reading books. I don't choose genres, but until I was kidnapped, I mainly read pure literature."
"No, you were a liberal arts student?!"
"Then there are two liberal arts students in our house. But there's only one science student!"
"Ah, is Sion-ajumma a science student? That's unexpected, I thought Mister was the science student and Ajumma was the liberal arts student."
"Where do I look like a science student? I'm the type of person who goes 'yally-yally-yallasyeong' when I see math formulas. I'm not a complete idiot, but I'm hopeless at advanced stuff."
"I mean, you look like a literary girl on the outside."
"Yeah, right."
She is literary, but it's probably literature (light novels).
What books does she usually read... anyway, it's probably isekai stuff. These days, life is so hard that there are so many novels about going to live in an isekai that looks easy to live in.
But you know what? If you aren't a reincarnator, you'll die from water changes when you go to an isekai.
I've seen a few who liked isekai reincarnation, but half of them died from water changes, a quarter of that half died while acting like they had cheats, and the other half died while picking a fight with me.
You have to know that there's a Reincarnator above an isekai reincarnator. You little brats.
"Do you have anything you want to do later?"
"Hmm...... I haven't thought about that yet."
"True, if you're still a high school student, that's understandable. Think slowly and decide what you want to do. It's best for people to live while doing what they like."
"Someone I know said that if you make a living doing what you like, it becomes torture."
"Working is torture anyway. If so, isn't it better to be tortured in a way you like?"
That is true.
When God kicked Adam and Eve out of paradise, there was a punishment he gave, and one of them was working. Originally, in paradise, you could live without working, but after being kicked out, you had to work to survive.
No, I heard that in passing, so I don't know if it's true. In the first place, the only thing I know from the Bible is 'Let there be light'.
"It's someone else's house and a stranger's place, but think of it as a boarding house and be comfortable. Honestly, I was a little worried because Sion was alone at home when I wasn't there, so this will be a bit better."
"Ah, if I go to school, I'll be home late, right?"
"What time does school end these days? Around 4 or 5, right?"
"It depends on the school, but it's probably around then. But considering night self-study......"
"I'll fight the school to get you out of night self-study. Studying is something you do autonomously, not something you do by force."
It's not like you do what you're told just because you're forced to, and studying doesn't enter your head more if you do it by force.
"I have one question."
"What is it?"
"Why are you being so nice to me? Honestly, even if you left me there, you saved me, so I think you've done your responsibility, but you're helping me this much."
If you think about it deeply, superheroes don't think about what happens after saving someone. Which hero cares about welfare? It's not like they have money to spare.
I saved Yejin from that facility. Honestly, it would have been fine to end it there and go back, but I went out of my way to make a family register for her and volunteered to be her guardian.
"It's uncomfortable if I know you'll die after I saved you. That's why I helped."
"Just for that reason?"
"Then is there any other special reason?"
Of course, if she were an adult, I would have told her to figure it out herself and dumped her somewhere. But she's a minor. At the very least, I intend to take care of her until she can judge and take responsibility for something on her own.
If I had left her there, she would have been dragged away by the guys called 'ATLAS' or whatever and ended up as a test subject. Eventually, she would die.
If she dies like that, there's no reason for me to have saved her. It's like picking up a kitten on the street and raising it because it's not right to leave it.
"I don't know if you're a good person or a bad person, Mister."
"Think whatever is comfortable for you."
Anyway, I don't care about other people's evaluations.