Chapter 26 – [What Is Life, Just Living the Way You Live]

A national emergency was struck out of nowhere. The e-mail sent to each country department with the strange title [From. Raccoon Girl] Contained only a few tens of megabytes at most, but the weight of the content was worth more than a thousand pieces of gold.

The most problematic thing at the moment was the dimensional earthquake.

Enemy species can still be repelled. Although the level has risen, it is still not a level that can not be defeated. Unlike the Great Depression 20 years ago, many of today’s Force users are veterans who have been through that time.

However, the dimensional earthquake was a problem.

Much of the research on the antagonistic species in modern society is the work of Dr. Allion. Among them, the dimensional detector is an object that has contributed greatly to the maintenance of modern society.

Due to the system that warns in advance by detecting a dimensional earthquake that is intruding from another dimension, not the dimension of this planet or the earth, people were able to evacuate in advance and force users were able to buy time to mobilize.

However, recently, the dimensional formations have begun to open more secretly. The dimensional quake, which cannot be detected by the current dimensional quake detector, caused great damage.

The press said it was just an accident due to a malfunction of the dimensional seismic sensor, but it was only a matter of time before it was revealed. The producer, Dr. Allian, also asserted that more than half a year of research is needed to upgrade beyond this level.

When people become engulfed in insecurity, societies become unstable and eventually lead to catastrophe. If there were no dimensional seismic detectors, it would be impossible to have today’s society.

Now, here and nowhere else, only in Korea, the blueprint of the latest dimensional seismic detector has been obtained.

“How is it?”

“Fortunately, it was easy to silence the mail sent to all the countries, so those who tried to leak it overseas were urgently arrested…”

“It’s not that, I’m asking if the blueprint is reliable.”

“Yes. It’s a blueprint with no problems at all. As a result of consulting, there is more than a 90% chance of producing the indicated performance if produced according to the blueprint.”

“Whoa…”

This technology is more than one generation old.

In the first place, there are still many things that the world has yet to figure out about the enemy species that pass through the dimension. The existence of another dimension is absurd, and developing a technology for it is much faster than writing a science fiction novel.

Even the dimensional seismic sensor was created by Dr. Alien, so I barely grasped the principle, but I couldn’t dig deeper.

“Is mail backtrackable?”

“……Sorry. That seems difficult to figure out.”

At the words of the secretary, the man sighed again.

He wanted to wrap his head around the conflict with Japan, but this time he was experiencing a windfall.

The merit of being unique and exclusive is bound to benefit everywhere. If only Korea, not other countries, has technology that is one generation ahead, it is difficult to determine the benefits that will result from this.

“What should I do?”

“………”

The man thought carefully.

And he paid attention to one sentence written in the mail.

[For non-profit purposes, the blueprint is only distributed in Korea, so please mass-produce it as soon as possible so that there are no victims due to hostile species]

The sender did not want money or fame. The most important thing was that there were no victims.

And if you eat a big one alone, you’ll get sick.

“First of all, Japan is noisy right now, so let’s appease it through joint research. And mass production of sensors. After all, it will be easy to figure out the structure once the finished product is sprayed. For now, let’s think about people first. Think about profits second.”

If you play with a facility that can save people, you will hear people say that they shake people’s lives.

In that respect, it is also a choice that pursues honor rather than money.

And if you have treasure in a small country like Korea, there is no guarantee that it won’t be stolen by other countries. It is better to spray it and reap a moderate profit than to have it and lose it without being able to use it.

“I understand. Mr. President”

The secretary bowed her head and left the room.

Lee Nam-seok, the 19th president of the Republic of Korea, sighed.

*        *    *

Looking at the sales volume of the new menu, soybean paste chicken and soy sauce chicken are selling well, but coco vin chicken is not so popular. Still, it seems to be selling at a level that cannot be ignored.

It’s a menu that requires less hands anyway, so there’s a feeling that it’s a bonus.

“You worked hard today too”

“Okay, see you tomorrow”

After finishing the cleaning and tidying up, I closed the shutters of the store. I worked hard today, so I should go home and hang out with Xion.

I don’t know if what I committed as Raccoon Man was going to be quietly passed over from above, or if it was buried because of the latest dimensional seismic sensor sent by Shion, but the media also became quiet, so I was also relieved.

Team leader Cho In-hyung, who told me to call him if there was any difficulty, still hasn’t contacted me.

Around the time I closed the shop and went home. My cell phone rang

“Huh? Who is it?”

Come to think of it, it seemed like my human relationships were too sparse. I had at least a few friends, but since all of them went to college or went to the military, I felt like I lost touch.

Due to the EMP attack of the enemy species last time in Japan, all the addresses on the cell phone were lost, so the addresses on the new cell phone were my house, Shion cell phone, our store, and the phone numbers of Baekri and Jin Seo-ae. Was

Even the number of someone you know is not registered, so it is difficult to distinguish who is calling. The phone number is a number I saw somewhere, but I think I need to get it.

“Hello?”

[Hey, bastard. If you are discharged, you should contact me, you crazy bastard!]

“This bastard is all about you. You must be playing around in the army in the middle of the day. The guy who went to the army later than me”

[He’s bragging about how he went a few months early]

“Hey, there’s a difference of 7 months between you and me in service numbers, dude. When you were fighting each other in the training center, I was wearing a private in my unit. Woojjujju”

[Let’s enlist together, so if the youngster applies for the recruitment alone]

“You went to college. I couldn’t afford to go.”

When I hear the voice, I think I know who it is. Hey, nice to meet you!

During the Great Depression, when the red species first appeared 20 years ago, both of my parents died and I had no relatives to entrust to me, so I went to school in a facility.

First of all, it was a big deal at the time, and there were so many people who died, so there were a lot of children like me who became single orphans, so the welfare system was in place to some extent, so I went to compulsory education without much inconvenience.

However, there was an implicit discrimination at school. Growing up in an institution means not having parents, and that’s not something to be treated very well by kids your age.

There were also some Iljin bastards who bullied me sometimes. If you don’t cross the road, you’ve gone over it. But in the meantime, I made a few friends.

Among them, there is a friend I have known for almost 10 years from elementary school to high school, and that is Hyungsik Kang who is calling me now.

By the way, he joined the army later than I did, and he is probably preparing for the military service now.

“What’s going on? There’s still a little bit left before you reach the end of your life? Did you give up on your last year’s vacation and came out?”

[I just came out for a while. Can I see some?]

“Would you like a drink?”

[Isn’t there a pork belly restaurant we often went to? See you there]

“Okay”

Come to think of it, these days, I’ve been messing around with Xion for a few months and doing business at the store, so I’ve never done anything outside of that frame. I’m not a workaholic, my route is always home, shop, home, shop, sometimes I go out to eat with Zion. It was monotonous because it was roughly like that.

Sometimes I should have been outside drinking with friends and eating grilled meat. At least I had a drink somewhere else with Baekri… I was short on thoughts.

“I’m going to meet a friend for a while and eat. Have dinner first.”

[All right. Have a good trip]

“If the rice is prepared in advance, leave it as is. You can go in and heat it up, so why don’t you just eat one more meal?”

I called Shion in advance saying that he would be arriving late and went out to the meeting place.

The samgyeopsal restaurant I often went to for drinks with my kids after becoming an adult was close to the facility I lived in, so it felt quite pleasant to pass by the familiar road.

Growing up in a facility without parents may be a bad memory for others, but I am a little different. It wasn’t once or twice that I didn’t have parents when I was born, and I wasn’t very impressed with the moderate birth.

A charcoal-grilled house that looks a little old. It is a good place to have a drink because it sells various side meats as well as pork belly. The time is right, so people are crowded.

“Hey, here it is, here it is”

“Is it okay for a soldier to grow his hair like that?”

“You’re in your later years. Just shave the side of your head and wear a combat helmet.”

“What about your order?”

“First of all, I ordered two pork belly and a pork skin. Oh, aunt! Just two glasses for a bottle of soju, please!”

It was hot because there was a charcoal fire in the brazier, as if they had been waiting for it to come first.

The pork belly and pork skins I ordered came out and I immediately put them on the grill and started grilling them.

“What are you doing these days?”

“I’m just running a business”

“Ol, since you’re good at cooking, I thought you’d go out with that, but are you that way?”

“It’s a catering business, right?”

Since we also eat chicken, it is a chicken house and catering business.

Uncap the bottle of soju! And pour each other’s cups. Lightly toast and one-shot. Soju’s unique alcohol smell comes up.

“Keuuu, it’s been a while since I’ve had alcohol, but soju is sweet”

“Sir, no bravado. The military ruins people like this.”

“What dude. You were a soldier until a few months ago, so what are you saying?”

“I fell for it all in the middle of the day. Is the first year of the reserve army the same as the current soldier?”

“Bitch!”

“Uh huh, write, can’t write”

Sizzling, well-grilled pork belly is wrapped in lettuce, and ssamjang is roughly applied on top. Similarly, grilled garlic is placed on top, and a side dish is wrapped around it.

The meat and garlic are basic, but the outside is optional. However, this house’s outer dish is delicious, so I eat it like this.

“The other kids? Did Sang-cheol or Jong-su contact you?”

“Both of you bastards are now on the phone, so I hung up on the phone.”

“It seems like you’re just doing well on campus life. You’re not studying to go to college.”

“Did you go too?”

“I have money, so I didn’t go.”

In fact, Zion exists, so if you tell me to go now, you can go. If your grades aren’t good enough and you’re Zion, you might be able to build a new library and enter it. But personally, I don’t want to go to college.

Anyway, there are not many things I can learn and use. In the first place, I was a mungwa da mungwa. If I go to science, I will drop out after attending the first semester because I can’t keep up.

I can feel it roughly, but I can’t do the theory because my head is not good. In the first place, I made up for my lack of talent with time and experience, so likewise, I need that much time to learn something. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what I’ve learned in college.

“It would have been nice if Sangcheol and Jongsu came. Aren’t they the same members when they were in school?

“We gathered together and ran rolls on the school library computer, but got caught and were banned from entering. Do you remember?”

“Ah Shiba, I said not to do it at the time, but Jong-su didn’t encourage it.”

“What was I doing quietly reading a book next to you then?”

“Bad horn, what kind of guy read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms comic book?”

“A comic book is a book”

The alcohol goes in and the drunkenness starts to rise little by little. As the meat cooked and there were snacks, the drinking speed gradually began to increase.

Bringing up old stories, recalling those days and reminiscing about memories. At most, I am about the age of a college student in my early 20s, but I always have the same desire to go back to my childhood.

“Hey, do you remember the Iljin kids who were in the same class when we were in our second year of high school?”

“Fuck the carrots. I’ll soon forget if I offended you in the slightest, but I remember all the bastards who fell in love with me.”

Iljin, who said there were one or two people in the class. It was in our high school too.

If it’s my personality, I’m going to go to the middle of the day, but then I’m an orphan from a facility without parents. If I say ‘directly’, the only thing that ruins my life is my life.

At that time, I didn’t know if I would meet Zion, so I stayed relatively quiet because I wanted to at least make a way for my life.

Now? Zion is there, but my life is a part-time job!!

“There were a few other kids who lived in the facility besides you. You pulverized those bastards’ personalities and went about paddling them too.”

I knew that the children without parents who went to the facility had no money, so even if I couldn’t rip them off, they were bullied in other ways. Like spitting on it, making bread shuttles, things like that.

In addition, these days, Iljin are not just violent, but they are also the kind of people who are good at studying and are gaining the trust of teachers. At that time, there were 4 Iljin kids, and one of them must have been the president of a company.

They have no concept, they have backs, so it’s hard to punish them, teachers are on their side. It was just like a lawless zone. Their Republic days were exactly when they were in their second year of high school.

At that time, Hyeong-sik and I were in different classes. The kid in the same class was Sang-cheol. So, every break, Hyeong-sik would come over and chat and play, but there was a day when a kid from another class came and Hyeong-sik became the target.

“Even thinking about it now makes me angry. It’s fucking comforting to see those bastards end up like that. How did they end up like that without dying? Right?”

“……..I know”

I smiled lightly. It’s not easy to act like you don’t know.

It’s enough to ignore what I’m going through, but what happens to the people around me is an exception. If I defeated myself, I ended up taking damage, so I had no choice but to choose another method.

It’s not a big deal, I don’t know where they came from after drinking at night, but when I was riding a motorcycle, I used my ability on the wheels to make it stop suddenly.

Drunk driving underage, unlicensed. Even after winning the triple crown, he didn’t even wear a helmet because he didn’t wear safety equipment.

Two of them were riding on one motorcycle, but it is good to see the guys who were ejected from the motorcycle that stopped suddenly and rolled on the ground.

What happened after that?

Not dead. Not die Two of them became vegetative and lay in the hospital, while Hanom was paralyzed, confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, and Hanom had one of his legs and one of his arms amputated.

I don’t know if it’s a brain death, but it’s safe because the vegetative person is still alive. Not a single one died.

“Originally, in the world, if you live well, you will be blessed, and if you live badly, you will be punished.”

“What, did you believe that?”

“How do you explain that to those bastards?”

“That’s right. Cheers.”

Knock, and the glass lightly collided.

Except for this incident, it is safe to say that he never used his abilities during his school days. No one died, so it wasn’t murder, and there was no need for the police to investigate those who got into an accident while driving drunk without a license, and since they would suffer for the rest of their lives, everything was resolved amicably except for the person involved.

Anyway, I have one question, why Hyunsik called me.

“You said you would have no troops in your later years, and you still have more than a month left. Are you coming out already? How many days and how many days this time?”

“I came out for 4 nights and 5 days”

“Did you write a love story? Did you come out short? Didn’t you ever go out except for recruit leave after you enlisted?”

The leave given to ordinary soldiers is about 30 days, and if you add individual rewards, even if there are individual differences, you can get a few days unless you are an advisor. I went on vacation for a total of two months because there is a shop system.

He should have been there for more than 40 days after receiving the Taekwondo award, the Boiler bottle award, and so on.

“What do you have to say to me?”

“………”

It’s a straight song.

But seeing that it wasn’t easy to say, it seemed like an important story.

“No, that’s okay. It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“It’s not a big deal, but a late-aged soldier who should be careful of falling leaves goes on an unplanned vacation out of nowhere?

“Because it’s not real. It’s hard to do to you…”

“Say something first. Think about it later. They said that if you share your worries, they will give you half. If I can help you, I will help you.”

“…….”

Hyung Sik sighed and drank a few glasses of soju without even eating snacks.

Perhaps he was borrowing some alcohol, I eagerly waited. Soon after, when you get drunk. Said the form.

“My father passed away.”

“Are you uncle?”

One of the reasons I became friends with Hyeong-sik was because of Hyeong-sik’s family.

Hyung-sik’s house is a house for four people, including my parents and Hyung-sik’s grandmother.

During vacation, around the time when you have to spend time at a facility with nothing to do. He took me out and went on a trip to the sea together. Hyeong-sik’s house wasn’t very well-off, but it was a good family nonetheless.

“They say it’s liver cancer. Fortunately, there’s a high chance of surviving with just a transplant, so I just need surgery.”

“Whose liver do you use?”

“You can use mine. That’s why I’m on vacation this time because of the inspection.”

Liver transplantation usually occurs in families. As it is not for nothing that people say blood is mixed, in the case of transplant surgery, family members have the least rejection.

Since the liver is an organ with high regenerative power, recovery is quick if it is transplanted, and rejection will be reduced to a minimum if it is the liver of an immediate family member.

But that’s not the problem. There is a most common problem.

“You need money”

“……Yes”

After all, it’s money. The cost of hospitalization in a hospital shared room varies from hospital to hospital, but it can range from tens of thousands of won to hundreds of thousands of won a day. If you go to a single room, it might be several million won a day.

Plus the cost of surgery. Even if Hyeong-sik uses the liver, the surgery alone will cost tens of thousands of won.

It is comfortable to have money as much as it is in capitalism society, but there are cases where you cannot live and die without it. In the end, it is just a variable value set by humans.

“How long has it been since you collapsed?”

“It’s been about a week”

“Fuck, why didn’t you tell me that sooner?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were discharged?”

I felt a bit betrayed. But I wasn’t qualified to say that either.

Hyeong-sik, who treated me like family but didn’t inform me of my family’s troubles, and me, who thought of me as family but neglected to be with my more precious family, are both idiots and idiots.

“Are you in the hospital right now? Where is the hospital?”

“Yonsei University Severance Hospital. That’s it.”

“Let’s go visit the hospital later”

Let’s try to solve the money problem first.

My account contains the money I earned while running a chicken restaurant, but it’s not in billions because it’s money I’ve earned over several months at most.

Besides, Hyeong-sik’s house isn’t generous. In order to pay for the operation, you have to sell your house and sell something. Since the father of the family has collapsed, there will be no income.

“Wait a minute”

First, I called home.

Shion answered the phone even before the first ringing tone was cut off.

[What is it?]

“Excuse me, can you send some money to my account?”

[What’s wrong? If you need to ask a question, our attorney Kim will send it to you first]

“I’ve heard of him, but I’ve never met him. Oh, that’s not it, I need money.”

[How much do you need?]

“First of all, it seems that the fire should be put out in an emergency… I think it should be around 100 million.”

Surgery and hospitalization costs. And if you think about the cost of living, 100 million plus the balance of my bank account is about 150 million. That would put out the urgent fire.

[I will send you 1 billion. What does a man mean by that? I don’t see my man spending money sparingly anywhere. Swipe the black card and head-butt the cash. You didn’t ask for money because all you had to do was to be a fan, so use this opportunity to spend some money]

Immediately, a message popped up on my cell phone saying that 1 billion was deposited into my account. My wife, who is super fast in regards to the computer system, is the best!

“Thank you. I’ll come in and talk later.”

[I will use each room until I spend all the money]

“You’re kidding, right?”

[I’m serious]

I have to give all this money in a formal way, but I have a serious concern.

When I hung up the phone, Hyung-sik was looking at me with bewildered eyes.

“Uh, who is it?”

“My wife”

“What the fuck?!”

Oh right. I didn’t say I was married. Come to think of it, I never told my friends or people around me that I was married.

Because of Shion’s outward appearance, she can’t even hold a wedding ceremony, so it’s difficult to invite her, and since she only submitted documents and got married, she doesn’t know if she doesn’t tell her.

“You got married?! When?”

“Ah, almost immediately after being discharged”

“Fuck, you never had a girlfriend! How did you get married when you didn’t even date anyone?”

“There was someone I knew in the past. I got married because it was meant to be.”

“Any wedding?”

“I didn’t upload it. There’s a reason”

“Oh, this dog. I’m married, but I don’t even talk to my friend.

“Anyway, my wife is rich, so I borrowed some money. They say they’ll stay in each other’s rooms until they spend all the money they sent me, so you have to spend all of this with me today, don’t you?”

“How long have you been in?”

I recommend watching rather than talking. I showed a text message on my cell phone saying that 1 billion had come into my account.

As he looked at the number of zeros, Hyung Sik’s complexion turned white. Seeing that his complexion, which had been red from alcohol, turned white, showed the possibility of human evolution becoming a chameleon. Alas, Darwin, you moral book.

“One billion? Seriously, one billion?! What are you guys doing, Jesu?”

“He’s just a landlord with land for stock investment. I’m also renting a building and selling chicken. But where is this bastard, Mr. Jesu? Call me sister-in-law.”

“Mr. Jesu”

“Pak!”

Even though we are the same age, my birthday comes earlier. My birthday is in October, but Hyeong-sik’s is in November. Even though it’s a month difference, I was born earlier.

In the first place, in terms of the age of the reincarnated, there would be no one older than me unless they were at the same transcendental level at most.

“Don’t worry about the operation fee, dude. Now, I’ll just give you my card. Take this.”

“Hey…….”

“It would only cost a few thousand for the surgery, but he must have borrowed 1,200 from me at most. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything.

Even if I hadn’t had enough money, I would have given money no matter what. Even if I belonged to the country as a Force user and ran.

“I still remember how your uncle secretly bought me chicken at night, knowing that the food at the facility wasn’t good. At night, outsiders were restricted from entering, so I got chicken over the fence.”

Even sympathy is good. There are many people who cannot embrace that sympathy, and society is changing into a society that cannot embrace it.

In a tough society, if you can give to others, you can live in abundance. I don’t ignore material values, but more important is the spiritual one.

“Do you remember when your grandmother said she needed to feed me a bowl of rice cake soup on New Year’s Day and she brought her?

Unlike Sang-cheol and Jong-soo, Hyeong-sik is a friend of 10 years.

And during those 10 years, only good memories remain of him and his family.

“When I went on a picnic at school, your mother even packed my gimbap. The facility just gave me 3,000 won.”

Is 1 billion a big number? Even if it wasn’t for Zion, he would have made money by selling his organs.

“Go and scrape in a lump sum for your surgery and hospitalization expenses. Oh, change your hospital room to a single room. You’ll need living expenses, so if you need it, use it. You’ll need a lot of money, too, because you’ll need to recuperate for a while after a transplant. If you don’t have enough money, call me again. “

“Hey……Fuck……Thank you…”

“If people live kindly, they should be blessed. Your house deserves blessings.”

The development of civilization and human kindness are in inverse proportion. The more materialistic society becomes, the stronger the egoistic tendency. When material is abundant, the mind is poor; when material is poor, the mind is rich.

Even in the midst of that, there are good people like beans in the drought. If a sprout grows green in the wasteland, it should be regarded as precious.

“I’ll pay for this even if I work hard”

“Hey, he said he didn’t want to intervene in money issues between friends. In case something gets hurt, let’s just leave it as it is.”

“Hey!”

“Even if I throw away money, I won’t throw away my friend. How long have we known each other, but I can’t give you that money. Even if I wasn’t in a good financial situation, I sold my organs to get the money. I have to give back as much as the person received. Don’t I?”

“Fucking bastard……Thank you so much. Fuck……Ah, all I can say is cursing. Really…”

Hyung-sik cried while accepting the card I gave him.

What would I do if I had no money? It won’t be common to be able to borrow tens of thousands of won instantly.

………Uh? Come to think of it, don’t you pay a few hundred million for one tuna?

Suddenly, thinking of Dongwon’s belly fat still in the refrigerator, he fell into serious trouble.

Wouldn’t it be quicker to make money just by catching tuna on a fishing boat?