[What's life anyway, you just live as you live]
[What's life anyway, you just live as you live]
I crack my neck from side to side to loosen up. I don't know why Choi Ak is here, but I was more shocked by the ability he just displayed.
"Were you a Force User too, hyung?"
"To be precise, I should say no. What I use is something else. Ah, that's not important, anyway, here. Take this."
Choi Ak says that and throws something to Baek-ri. It's a strange item to give in this situation.
"Since you're going to use it, that'll be better. I'll use it later, so keep it safe."
"Isn't this a movie souvenir or something?!"
"I brought one on my way to the movie theater. Ah, I was going to watch the 3rd one, but I'll have to go with my wife tomorrow."
"Is now really the time for that?!"
Baek-ri shouted. The Explosion Terrorist, who is still not in his right mind, is right in front of us. Choi Ak's ability was amazing, but this wasn't a situation to be so relaxed.
"There's no way to catch that guy and drag him away nicely anyway. I'll have to kill him here."
"What?"
Before long, Choi Ak kicks off the ground, rushes out, twists his body lightly, and delivers a roundhouse kick. It's a simple attack with nothing special, but the kick lands on the man's neck and buries his body into the building debris next to him.
Kwa-ang!
Considering he's a Force User, the power that shattered the building debris means it's at least an instant kill. His cervical spine was damaged in one go, so even if he had heavenly luck, he would end up a vegetable.
"Well, that's it."
"Yo, you killed him.......?"
"Then what? In a situation where he caused such a commotion and who knows how many people died, how do you think it would go if we caught this crazy bastard who isn't even in his right mind and dragged him away? Do you think we could lock him up in a mental hospital for life? A crazy bastard like that?"
Choi Ak was right. Baek-ri felt a sense of fear from him. To kill a person without any hesitation.
"Let's get out of here quickly. If it collapses more, we'll have to break through the wall to escape. Ah, can you stand?"
"Ah, yes, I'm fine."
Choi Ak urged Baek-ri. The fire is gradually getting worse, and we need to escape quickly.
Uduk.
Amidst the sound of burning, something heterogeneous was heard.
Udeudeuk.
It was a strange and creepy sound of bones breaking, or perhaps bones being set.
".........You bastard, you're persistent."
Choi Ak looked back into the building debris where he had buried the man's body.
The sound of bones cracking continued to be heard, and the man's neck, which had been dangling from being broken, found its place. Not only that, but a change occurred in the man's body. His eyes were dyed a murky red, even the whites, and the influence extended to his hair, dyeing it red.
Suddenly, his hand grew one more finger, becoming a six-fingered hand, and threatening, sharp protrusions sprouted from his elbows. His legs became reverse-jointed, bending backward instead of forward like a feline animal.
Looking at him from anywhere, it was not the appearance of a human. Watching his transformation, Baek-ri also muttered.
"That's not a Force User. That is.........."
It was the same as an Enemy Species he had seen once before.
Swallowing the rest of his words, Baek-ri stepped back.
"Ah, uaaaauuuuaaaaaaa!!!!"
Letting out a shriek, the man, no, the monster rushed at him. He had now lost the reason to even speak.
Lumps of condensed Force formed around his body. The Force lumps, visible to the naked eye, contained his Trait and caused explosions.
But if that were all, it would be no different from the explosions he had used before. The advantage of that thing is that it automatically tracks the target.
The Force lumps began to fly toward Choi Ak. They are small in size, but there are five of them. The simultaneous attack could neither be avoided nor blocked.
"So what?"
Choi Ak nonchalantly caught the flying Force lumps with his bare hands. And then, an explosion. But as if he had blocked off the space, there wasn't even a trace of an explosion on his hands, nor could even the sound be heard.
"Kuaaaaaa!!!"
Seeing that, the man fired Force lumps in succession. Each one wasn't very powerful, but the number couldn't be ignored. In the blink of an eye, over ten Force lumps covered Choi Ak.
However, Choi Ak didn't block them. As if it were too much trouble to even catch them, he just walked toward the man nonchalantly. Despite the explosions occurring right in front of his nose, Choi Ak didn't even show a sign of his body shaking.
It was as if a transparent barrier was covering his entire body. A very sturdy barrier that could never be broken.
Before long, Choi Ak, who had approached the man, grabbed his face. Iron Claw, and slammed him into the ground just like that.
Kung!
"How dare this bastard try to make my part-timer unusable."
Kung kung kung!!
"I paid your salary today, didn't I? If a part-timer works, even if it's not a short-term gig, you should work for a few months, are you trying to make me look for another part-timer in less than a month?"
Kung kung kung kung!!!
"But your head is fucking hard!"
Kuuuung!!!
He slammed him so hard the floor broke, revealing the floor below. Yet, the man was relatively fine. He has an ignorantly sturdy body.
"Geuaaaaa!!!"
The man's hand reached out. The Force condensed in that hand caused an explosion incomparably stronger than the one he had used before. It happened right in front of Choi Ak's eyes, at zero distance.
"I'm the Superman of this neighborhood."
Choi Ak clenched his fist at the condensed Force lump. Soon, an explosion occurred.
Quietly, without any impact.
"If your body is bad, your head suffers. You moron."
Choi Ak blocked that huge explosion just by clenching his fist. To be more precise, he had used his ability, but it was an incredibly absurd sight.
"Then goodbye."
His fist now lands on the man's face.
Kujik! The sound of a skull being crushed was heard.
Watching Choi Ak, who had defeated the opponent he couldn't even touch as if he were toying with him, Baek-ri had a bewildered expression.
"Uh, um........hyung, you're a super strong Force User."
"I'm not a Force User. Well, it's similar, so let's just say that."
"But why do you run a chicken shop? If it were you, you'd get paid a lot even if you belonged to the country."
"To live happily with my wife. Honestly, if it were too hopeless, I would have thought about going that route, but my wife has plenty of money, and I don't want to pay taxes, so I'm not even registering as a Force User and just running a chicken shop. If you have money, there's no place as good to live as Korea."
"Ta, tax evasion......."
"This is a secret from others, okay? If you go around saying this, I'll fire you from your part-time job. Good hourly wage. Good environment, good boss. If you don't want a part-time job like this, say so."
"What did you just say, hyung?"
Baek-ri surrendered to capitalism. What a pig of capitalism!
"Anyway, let's escape quickly. Because of the explosions earlier, the building is slowly reaching its limit. The entrance we came in through has long since collapsed, so we can't get out, so we'll have to try and pull a Die Hard."
Choi Ak received the item he had given Baek-ri when they first met. It's the item to use when getting out of here.
"You, the kid, and your father all need to get treated quickly, right? But I don't want my personal information leaked. I don't want to be known as a Force User and belong to the country or pay more taxes. Fuck, I want to immigrate to the US, but the internet is slow."
"But why this, of all things?"
"There were others, but this seemed better."
What Choi Ak brought was a mask he had taken from the movie theater section next door. It was an item from a place that was selling souvenirs or related goods in a corner of the theater, matching the movie that was newly released this time, and he had taken something that could cover his face.
"Do you like Marvel movies?"
"I like them, and my wife likes them too."
Choi Ak carried Baek-ri on his back in place of the injured man, and held Ha Jeong-uk and the young girl in each arm as if they were luggage. It was the weight of three people, but for Choi Ak, it wasn't even a burden; he didn't even feel the weight.
Just as they were about to escape. A voice was heard from one side. A man's groan. Choi Ak frowned, expressing annoyance at the persistent life.
"What is it, are you trying to do a three-stage transformation like Frieza?"
His head was half-crushed, and death was confirmed. Even if regeneration is excellent, as long as it relies on the body, destroying the brain is the end. Because all the memories stored in the brain fly away.
"Seong, hye, ya."
The man started to speak intermittently. It seemed he had regained his reason only after his head was half-crushed. Or perhaps it was his last flash of lucidity.
"Even if you struggle like that, you're going to die."
The man's body began to collapse. Once-strong power brings backlash. The rapid physical changes and strong Force abilities were all becoming poison, driving the man's body toward death.
The man, who knew that fact well, also shed tears.
"Our Seong-hye......heuk, Seong-hye-ya. Honey......"
"Do you have any last words?"
Choi Ak asked.
It was the last consideration he was giving the man. It was a question asked to a human who had gone from a crazy madman to a monster, and then back to a head of a household who loved his family.
"Our.......family.......Hyundai Apartment 102-dong, 703-ho......promise, picnic......."
"Yeah, I got it."
The will of the dead is the share of the living. Both conveying it and fulfilling it.
Choi Ak didn't need to use his hands. Just by leaving him alone, the man would die.
In his faintly continuing breath, the man shed tears.
"I.......am.......alive."
I didn't know who he was talking to, but it wasn't his family. What was he looking at, and who was he saying that to?
"I.....am.....alive."
Before long, the continuing breath cut off and disappeared.
Quietly, Choi Ak faced the man's end.
Kurureung!!
The department store building began to collapse. A heavy vibration shook the ground, and the aftermath was large enough to be felt not only by people far away but also by citizens in the nearby underground passage.
Following the fire, a collapse accident. Whether it was terrorism or an accident, nothing had been revealed in detail yet, but the department store collapse accident was something Korea had experienced enough times that they didn't even want to think about it.
People watching scream. Most of the younger generation cheers, and some middle-aged and older people sigh. It's a generation gap according to time.
"The fire scene has just begun to collapse. It is estimated that one firefighter and one Force User who rushed in blindly are still not out, and one young child is also presumed to be unrescued."
Jin Seo-hee, a rookie reporter for MBS broadcasting station, was focused as an on-site reporter. She had discovered the scene by chance while moving to cover another scene and immediately started reporting.
It was a coincidence that occurred because the broadcasting station's headquarters and the fire scene were close. Since it was a big scoop, even a rookie reporter started broadcasting live as soon as the news came in.
"The cause of the incident has not yet been revealed. Now that it is not certain whether the cause of the fire was an accident or terrorism........."
Kwa-ang!!!
An explosion occurred. The camera filming reporter Jin Seo-hee turned not to her, but to the collapsing scene.
"........Huh?"
"Isn't something falling?"
Something fell, smashing through the collapsing department store buildings. Even after falling from a height of dozens of meters, it was fine.
The man who seemed to have rescued a firefighter in one hand, a young girl in the other, and a young man on his back.........
"There is someone who seems to have just escaped from the fire scene! Seeing him jump out of the collapsing building and escape, he is presumed to be a Force User. But his face, that is, so........"
Reporter Jin Seo-hee was at a loss for words. What should she call that?
"He is wearing a raccoon mask!"
"I'm a Raccoon, you idiot!"
At the words shot at her as if targeting her, she was at a loss for words again. If it's a broadcasting accident, it's a broadcasting accident.
He put down the three people he had rescued.
Baek-ri looked at Choi Ak with a bewildered expression. What he is wearing is a Raccoon mask. It was a mask taken from a character in a space-opera-esque series among Marvel hero movies, a talking raccoon. Since it hadn't been long since it was released this year, they were selling souvenirs and character goods in one corner of the movie theater, and the one Choi Ak brought was a Raccoon mask.
Choi Ak said, giving a thumbs up.
"The firefighter and the young girl were saved by this Raccoon Man, so don't worry!"
Choi Ak shouted, making a joke that could be used as an internet meme. After a moment of silence, laughter, applause, and cheers were heard.
In any case, it is true that he saved people inside a collapsing building. People were enthusiastic about the appearance of a superhero who seemed to come out of a movie, wearing a mask to hide his identity.
In reality, Force Users also exert power like superheroes, but they do it to deal with Enemy Species, not to rescue people in disasters. Although they are in the spotlight, the number of Force Users is insufficient just to deal with Enemy Species.
But a mysterious Force User appeared, saving people right in front of them. Wearing a ridiculous Raccoon mask felt closer than revealing his face.
He handed the three people over to the firefighters who had run up. Fortunately, none of the three had injuries that would be life-threatening. Only Team Leader Ha Jeong-uk's slight concussion and Baek-ri's burns could be called major injuries.
Before long, Raccoon Man, Choi Ak, moved his steps. The police also arrived a step late, but he was faster in moving.
Even if they met again later, Baek-ri wanted to say thank you now, so he shouted to Choi Ak, who was trying to run away.
"Thank you, Raccoon Man!"
Slightly, he turned his back and gave a thumbs up to Baek-ri. That appearance was being filmed by the camera live and broadcast nationwide.
Before long, as if there were a foothold in the air, Raccoon Man stepped on the air and jumped. Just by that height or distance, it was a level that could jump over a building.
Force User grades are divided into Master, located at the top, Expert at the upper level, Beginner as a novice, and Worker who can only do the basics. In this way, there is a difference in level according to the amount of Force.
The appearance Raccoon Man showed in front of them was not a level that a Beginner or Worker could do. At the very least, it was a level that someone belonging to the top of the Experts could do....... If that wasn't all, there was a possibility he was Master-class.
A mysterious hero presumed to be a Master-class Force User, of which there is currently only one in Korea.
"Yes! Hit the jackpot!"
Reporter Jin Seo-hee clenched her fist and cheered at the fact that she had found a scoop.
For reference, that appearance was also being broadcast live nationwide.
Raccoon Man, Choi Ak, who had the foolish mobility of jumping dozens of meters at a time, no one could catch up. If you wanted to catch up, it was a matter you could talk about only after launching a helicopter first.
In a quiet alley, he takes off the Raccoon mask, tears it roughly, and throws it in a nearby trash can.
And as if nothing had happened, Choi Ak returned home just like that. Using public transportation.
[Yes! Hit the jackpot!]
"That reporter will probably become famous for her ad-lib now."
Choi Ak smirked at the sight of reporter Jin Seo-hee broadcast on the TV installed on the bus. Like reporters who once gained popularity on the internet, such as 'This car is now mine' or '11-meter model tower training', she would become famous in that way.
Maybe they'll make a meme out of it.
"That's none of my business."
Anyway, tomorrow is Saturday. The shop is also closed. He acted in the ridiculous appearance of Raccoon Man, but in fact, he thought of it on the spot, and he has no intention of acting like that anymore. It will pass as a brief happening.
Choi Ak is not a hero. Unless he is standing on the opposite side.
In fact, the reason he stepped up was half because he couldn't lose a good part-timer like Baek-ri.
"I'm home."
"Raccoon Man!"
"No, you're Chimpan-villain!"
As if to say like attracts like, Sion welcomed Choi Ak, who returned home, wearing a monkey mask.
"What on earth did you do? Are you trying to play hero beyond your means?"
"No, it just happened that way while I was trying to hide my identity. If it were the opposite, I don't know, but I'm not a hero."
"Come to think of it, you could be an anti-hero or a dark hero."
"I don't like that. It looks cool, but it's not my taste."
"Anyway, wouldn't it be better to just reveal your face and be active instead of doing this? You wouldn't have to play weird hero games, and you'd just have to pay more taxes."
"I don't want to pay more taxes, okay? Serving in the military for 2 years is enough patriotism for this damn country. Fuck, if I even counted the money for the hard work I did in the military, I couldn't open a shop, but I could have opened a street stall."
The reason Choi Ak hid his identity is simple.
He doesn't want to work for the country, and he doesn't want to pay more taxes either. So it's better to be active as a mysterious Force User.
Besides, Korea is a good country to live in if you have money. It's in the ranks of developed countries, public safety is good, and the internet is good.
Everything is good, but compared to the US, where gunfights occur occasionally, Japan, which is full of radiation, or China, a country of dictatorship, it's relatively plain.
"Anyway, just in case, I'll prepare separately."
"Prepare what?"
"Since it's come to this, shouldn't you at least be Iron Raccoon?"
"Don't take a joke and blow it out of proportion?!"
At least for now, Choi Ak has no intention of being active as Raccoon Man again.
It was just that such a situation would arise.