[What's life, anyway? Just live as it comes]
[What's life, anyway? Just live as it comes]
Team Leader Jo In-hyung of KFU Seoul Branch 67 narrowed his eyes as he kept replaying the news broadcast from yesterday.
The Master-class Force User he had been looking for. And the strange Raccoon-masked Force User who had suddenly appeared—no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't consider them separate individuals. The timing of their appearances was similar, and the martial power they possessed was exceptional. On top of that.......
"The physical description is similar"
The blurry figure of the man captured at the Chuncheon highway rest area, and the Raccoon Mask man appearing in the news. Briefly, the appearance of the Raccoon Man was similar. Starting from the general build down to the back view. And his Force Trait, 'Detection', was telling him as time went on that they were the same person.
"Team Leader-nim. I've narrowed it down to about 50 people, but will we even be able to find them? This"
"If there are two pieces of evidence instead of just one, we can compare them to find commonalities. Then it's over. If you look at the news footage taken from multiple angles instead of the blurry CCTV footage, you can pick out the features in detail. Anyway, good work"
Narrowing down 50 people from the entire list of those discharged that day in Gangwon-do was only possible because of the time and effort put in. When Team Leader Jo's Force ability was added to this, it could be analyzed quickly.
Force ability is not just a power that makes humans into superhumans who are merely strong. Sometimes, it made it possible to accomplish tasks that were as tricky and complex as things that would normally require a computer, using only a human body.
".........Found him"
Before long, Team Leader Jo was able to find one man on the roster.
After a long time, he had finally found him. He was over 80 percent certain that he was the Master-class Force User who had been at the Chuncheon highway rest area and the Raccoon Man mentioned in the news.
"Who is it? Uh.......Choi Ak?"
"Do you know him?"
"No. I remembered it because the name was unique while looking. Honestly, who names a person Choi Ak (Worst)?"
"There are many strange names in the world. I once knew someone named 'Golden Eagle Surprises the Whole World'"
"Hey, that's a bit of a stretch"
"It's true? It was on TV a long time ago. If you search for it, it should come up?"
Seo Chang-in, a Force User from the same 67th Branch who was helping Team Leader Jo with his work, made a suspicious expression before taking out his phone to search.
It was real.
"No way, for real?! Who gives their child a name like this?!"
"Anyway, don't talk about the name. Pull up his personal details"
"Yes, yes, I understand"
Accessing personal information is an invasion of privacy, but Force Users affiliated with the state are civil servants. Furthermore, since the ID Chang-in was using belonged to Team Leader Jo, most information could be accessed. This was one of the few privileges granted because they were Force Users, even if their affiliations were different.
Most of the information regarding Choi Ak began to appear on the computer screen.
"Let's see.......Born in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi-do. Both parents deceased. Ah, a case lost to the Great Depression 20 years ago. After that, he grew up in a state facility. Is he a reservist who was discharged this January?"
"His impression is dirty"
"It is"
Looking at the photo of Choi Ak registered when he was issued his resident registration card, the two agreed.
Even as a polite remark, it wasn't an appearance one could think of as handsome. It was an appearance that was just about decent, and while it might get better if he dressed up, there was an eye shape that ruined all of that.
Just by looking at them, a timid person would turn their head, and a rough person would shout, asking if he was trying to pick a fight. If he even tried to talk to a female student nearby while walking down the street, the police would come running immediately.
"Huh? Married?"
"Looks like he's married? I guess his girlfriend didn't 'wear her rubber shoes backwards' while he was in the army"
"But isn't it too early? Even so, he's in his early 20s, and already married"
"It's good to be young. I don't know if a marriage born of passion will last, though"
It was an era where, in modern society, the minimum marriage age was considered to be the late 20s, as it is natural to marry when one is economically and socially stable. Even that was considered early by a significant number of people.
It was rare for couples who married at an early age to last long. Either there was parental support, or there was something else. Otherwise, in most cases, they broke up.
"This person, says he runs a chicken restaurant?"
"Chicken restaurant?"
"Yes, it's a place that's quite popular on the internet these days. It's called [Dak-cheo-jul-kka?]. It's a place that's recognized in Myeong-dong these days"
"Hmm"
"I wanted to try eating there once, but I couldn't go because I didn't have time"
"Here, do they deliver?"
"They say they only do takeout. Is the chicken restaurant doing business with guts?"
If that's the case, there's no choice but to go there directly.
"Call Mi-yeon. Tell her I'll buy her chicken"
"Why Mi-yeon?!"
"You punk, when talking, it's better to have a woman around. If two men go to meet him gloomily, even I would feel my mood dampen"
Team Leader Jo's gaze turned back to the TV screen where the news was playing.
Jumping over tens of meters in an instant and stepping on the air. Since he doesn't know what kind of trait he might have, he needs to be a little careful.
"And there's the safety issue"
Team Leader Jo In-hyung and team member Seo Chang-in. And fellow team member Lee Mi-yeon, the three of them left the 67th Branch. It's not known when a Dimensional Rift will occur and an Enemy Species will appear, but they aren't the only ones at the branch. Unless Dimensional Rifts burst out simultaneously, there wouldn't be any danger.
"Is this the place?"
"Yes, but there are a hell of a lot of people"
"Excuse me, Team Leader-nim. What did we come here for?"
"Came to meet a Force User. First, want to tear into some chicken?"
"I won't refuse"
"Someone said. Chicken-nim is always right"
At Chang-in's words, Mi-yeon nodded. As she is active as a Force User, she loses weight rapidly, so she actually needs to eat well, so there is no worry about gaining weight. Rather, whenever she is dispatched, she doesn't need to diet, so Lee Mi-yeon was living while eating everything she wanted more than before.
Having become quite famous, [Dak-cheo-jul-kka?], which now ranks among the Myeong-dong gourmet restaurants, appearing in one or two out of five searches for chicken restaurants on the internet, was in the middle of business. There was a considerably long line of customers waiting for takeout, not to mention customers eating inside the shop.
"Eating inside seems a bit difficult.......Beer would be a bit of a waste, but let's do takeout. Sit somewhere and crack open a canned beer"
"Let's do that, Team Leader-nim"
The line was long, but the speed at which it moved was quite fast, so it was their turn in 30 minutes. Most Force Users have stomachs capable of eating 2 chickens per person, not 1 chicken per person, as they eat more than ordinary people.
"3 fried, 3 seasoned"
"Yes, order received"
The person who took the order was not the part-timer in charge of the shop, but Choi Ak in the kitchen area. The dirty eyes that could not be mistaken for anyone else were the same as the ones seen in the photo.
Team Leader Jo examined various parts of his body. There was no Gaia Force flowing out of him, which is characteristic of a novice Force User. That was actually coming from the part-timer.
Interested in that, he tried to recall where he had seen the part-timer's face, and realized he was one of the people saved by the Raccoon Man who appeared on the news.
"Does it connect like this?"
The 80 percent certainty rose to 99 percent.
"Here is the chicken you ordered. 3 fried, 3 seasoned, takeout, right?"
"Ah, yes"
After finishing the payment and receiving the chicken, they left the shop. It was a brief encounter where he didn't even recognize this side, but it was a useful meeting that gained him certainty.
They found a separate spot nearby to eat and talk, sharing their opinions while tearing into the chicken.
"Even if his impression is bad, the chicken is delicious. I'll become a regular"
"It's the most delicious chicken I've eaten so far. I should stop eating Hosiki. The price is cheap, too"
"Indeed, the chicken is delicious"
Exquisite seasoning and aging were making the chicken even more delicious. Even the regular fried chicken had something that stimulated the appetite, unlike ordinary fried chicken.
"Is the owner there that person, Team Leader-nim?"
"That's right, that person is the most likely Force User from the Chuncheon highway rest area incident and this Raccoon Man incident"
"Raccoon Man?! Really?"
Lee Mi-yeon, while chewing on a chicken leg, opened her eyes wide with a surprised expression.
She wasn't living with her ears closed, so she had seen the news. And of course, she had seen about the Raccoon Man there as well.
Although she might look like this, Lee Mi-yeon, who is a high-level skilled person among Force Users, belongs to the strong side among the remaining Force Users, excluding the small number of Master-class and Expert-level skilled people. Even looking at the whole, she is positioned in the middle.
Even she has a limit of a few meters when jumping from a standstill. That alone had long since exceeded the limits of an ordinary human, but she couldn't jump tens of meters lightly like the Raccoon Man on the news. That is at least the realm of an Expert, and if he wasn't going all out, it could be Master-class.
Thanks to that, there was a commotion in the same branch as well. In Korea, there was only one person. Only Lee Gyeong-jin, called [Thousand Swords], was a Force User who had his name on the Master list. But thanks to the Raccoon Man, one more had been added.
Thanks to that, the government was also looking for the Raccoon Man. Although there are many problems in finding him because he is an unregistered Force User.
In Team Leader Jo's case, he was lucky. Because he had caught his tail at the Chuncheon highway rest area incident, he was able to chase him this far. If not for that, he would have only been able to find him by headbutting the bare ground.
"If he is the Raccoon Man, what kind of Force Trait does he have?"
"Well, the ability to jump tens of meters looks like just physical ability, but the ability to make invisible footholds in the air is........Hmm, there are quite a few things I can guess. He might have a freezing-type trait like you, Mi-yeon"
"That's true. If you freeze the air, you can make it into a foothold"
The trait used with Gaia Force can ignore the laws of physics. Because the act of 'freezing the air' can be used not just to mean simply freezing, but to mean 'fixing that air in mid-air'. In that case, the difference is whether an ice foothold is created in mid-air or an invisible foothold is created.
"He showed so little that it's hard to guess. Anyway, it would be good to meet him"
"Wouldn't it be dangerous? He's a Master-class Force User"
"I don't think the character of a person who jumped into a fire scene to save a part-timer would be bad?"
Among the guesses Team Leader Jo made, that was the only miscalculation.
He spent time and tore into chicken with the two people. It was to meet him when he was closing the shop, not when he was busy running it.
Time passed, and it became time for the shop to close.
Despite being a chicken restaurant, [Dak-cheo-jul-kka?] did not operate for long. Usually, it would be natural to stay open late, but they operate only until 8 o'clock and close. It seems he doesn't have much greed for business, as sales would increase if he stayed open longer.
"Hyung, then I'll be going now"
"Are you really okay? I told you you could rest because you got hurt from that incident. The burn marks are still there, too"
"What about it. Thanks to becoming a Force User, I'm actually fine? They say the burn marks will disappear quickly if I apply ointment"
"Got it. Go in and rest"
"Ah.....and Hyung. My father wants to see you........"
"Your father? Did you tell him about my work?"
"........Yes"
"Well, I got it. I have to do business, and your father must be resting because he got hurt this time, so tell him to see me next Saturday"
"Got it. Then see you tomorrow"
After the part-timer left, the remaining Choi Ak finished tidying up the shop and closed the door. Before long, the three, including Team Leader Jo, approached him as he was leaving work.
"Who are you?"
"You're Choi Ak, right? I'm Team Leader Jo In-hyung of KFU Seoul Branch 67. Could we talk for a moment?"
His eyes narrowed. And he revealed his unpleasant mood without hiding it. Combined with his dirty eyes, it naturally created a threatening atmosphere.
"I don't know why you came, but I don't think I have much to do with the KFU that only Force Users enter"
"Did you eat dinner? Ah, I just had a quick meal at a nearby convenience store. With 'Neoguri' ramen"
".............."
It was an abrupt remark, but Choi Ak also noticed what Team Leader Jo meant. Although they are different species, raccoons and raccoon dogs (Neoguri), which are often confused because they look similar, are not easy to distinguish for people seeing them for the first time.
The reporter on the news who called him a raccoon dog, and the person who shouted raccoon, was none other than Choi Ak.
"I like Yukgaejang. I still can't forget the taste of the Yukgaejang I ate during the march"
"Well, it hasn't even been a year since you were discharged, so that's understandable. Was your way home after discharge comfortable?"
".......Aha?"
Choi Ak realized it roughly then. Since he wasn't a fool, he noticed what Team Leader Jo had followed to reach even him.
The incident that happened at the Chuncheon highway rest area had been the trigger, and they had chased him all the way here.
"Then, could we talk?"
Team Leader Jo smiled and asked again.