Chapter 63 – [Raccoon Man Beginning]

After talking about this and that while running for about 10 minutes, I also brought up the incident when I was catching a taxi earlier.

“Come to think of it, when I was catching a taxi earlier, the taxis just passed by…”

“Ah, it must be because of what you did recently. Someone picked up Asians before and got into a fight over tips. Because of that, recently, they’ve been refusing to pick up Asians.”

“Well, there is less tipping culture in Asia.”

Even if you go to Korea, Japan, or China, there is almost no tipping culture. If a Korean comes to the United States and asks what culture is the most unfamiliar to them, once they enter the house, there is the culture of wearing shoes and tipping.

A tip is money given voluntarily when paying for something. Roughly, thank you for your service, giving the same meaning, but this is taken for granted and remains quite ingrained in the United States.

“But how long does it take from here to Columbia University?”

“Well, the road conditions are good, but it’s a long way, so it will take about an hour and a half to two hours.”

It’s farther than you think. No, I’ve said enough to think of the land mass of the United States and Central Park in the middle.

I took too much time to board the ferry earlier. I want to go as soon as possible…

“Driver. If you stop within an hour and a half, the taxi fare doubles.”

“…….”

“If you quit within an hour, double it again”

“……!”

I’ve been wanting to try this

His eyes changed. Then he buckled his seatbelt and grabbed his steering wheel again.

“First of all, you’d better fasten your seat belt, sir.”

That day I saw a runaway taxi in America.

*        *    *

Exactly 59 minutes. When I proposed earlier, only 59 minutes had passed. Being a native of this place, the taxi taking the fastest route and sometimes ignoring the signal and running at speed was like the taxi I had seen in a movie somewhere before.

“Okay, we’ve arrived at Columbia University. Guest”

“That’s great”

I obediently took out my wallet and paid the taxi fare four times as much. Change is not accepted because it is a tip. Anyway, most of the money Shion exchanged was 100 dollars, so it was too much trouble to get change.

“Thank you. I hope you have a good tour.”

“Do you believe in religion?”

“I’ve been a devout Christian since my grandfather.”

Personally, I don’t think the existence of God is very good.

What human beings need to develop is a desire to improve, not a place to lean on. Even if you pray for a hundred days and a thousand days, God will not answer you.

I have no intention of denying the existence of God, but I want to deny the necessity of God. Why do we need a God who won’t do anything even if we pray anyway?

Afterlife? If you know that there is a reincarnation, most religions in modern times will be overthrown. At least Buddhism will survive.

“Have a good day”

I said hello without a long conversation and got out of the taxi. In front of my eyes, a large building with pillars like a Greek temple at the entrance greeted me.

After all, the rich and famous universities are different no matter what. When I was in Korea, I didn’t know that Yonsei University was the only famous university, but it’s no joke compared to the facilities here.

College… If you think about it, your life at college wasn’t as much as you thought. Because I only received compulsory education and went out into society. After going to college a few times, I stopped going to college because college was just learning a little more deeply, and there was nothing much different from high school.

“Let’s see, what’s your home address… 113 West? Is it some distance from here?”

What kind of building, what floor, what number, everything is written, but I think I have to go to that street first.

Hmm…..The home of English is the United States, so I remember taking English classes in elementary school. Like the green alien Jito.

Anyway, it wasn’t too far from here. Once I walked to that street, I found the building with the address written on it.

Room 502 on the 5th floor of this building… Hmm.

“I don’t think you’re home?”

First of all, I knocked in case I didn’t know, opened the kigam and looked inside, but there was no one inside.

If you’re not at home… Are you going to be at school? It looks mixed.

I went to college again. If I had known it would be like this, I would have stopped by the university first and then went home. You even foresaw that you would go to a higher level, but did you go to school? Wow, it looks like the grades are lacking.

The campus was full of young men and women around. There were also a few people who looked like couples, and the youthful energy of the heyday was spreading everywhere.

It would be fun to just sit here on the grass and look around.

Even though I was an outsider, no one stopped me. I don’t know if Americans don’t care about that, or if there’s another reason.

All I know is that Mr. Lee Gyeong-jin’s daughter-in-law’s address and name are Lee Yun. I don’t even know where the department is taking classes.

She decided to find the university’s reception desk and find out where she was.

“Excuse me, I want to find one student.”

“Oh, is that so? Excuse me, but how is your relationship with the student?”

The typical blonde white woman asked with a smile. Honestly, it’s a necessary procedure, and I have a bad impression, so I have to answer if it’s to give me trust.

“I’m an acquaintance of that student’s father. A situation is a situation. So I came to see if you’re okay.”

“Ah, I see. Then what is the student’s name?”

“This is Yoon. I am from Korea.”

“North? South?”

“……South.”

Some Americans think that Korea is still at war.

…..Well, to be honest, I can’t remember the countries of the African continent. Globally, Korea is a small country.

“Lee Yoon… Ah, here he is. He’s a medical graduate student.”

“Are you a graduate student?”

No, wait. Why bother with graduate students… Ah, other graduate students?

In Korea, when we say graduate students, we usually refer to those who go through a master’s course and go to a doctoral course, but if you’re a medical school, you’re saying that for convenience.

For a moment, I was surprised to know that I was going the way of Sura. Uncle Cooper would. S.T.A.Y!!!

As the desk informed me, I went to that graduate school. Hey, is it because it’s a prestigious university? They all seem like people who came in first place in school.

Finding the building was easy. After all, most universities like this have easy-to-recognize signs. It’s easy to find if you know where it is.

The moment I was about to enter the building. He met eyes with a woman nearby.

It’s not that it’s weird or anything like that. It was a force user, a force user with a considerable level at that. If I find a comparable person around me… Well, more than 100 li and less than Ruri? Ruri is taller than her original age, so considering that, it seems to be one of the best skills.

He was wearing a suit, as if he were a student here, and he was standing in an inconspicuous place, deliberately trying to avoid eye contact, but his appearance was ruined.

With her brown hair and slightly petite body, she had a pretty appearance, whether it was because she was a Force user or because she liked the original version. Come to think of it, Baekri was also quite a handsome type.

That way, I can’t rub against my wife. It is one of the best looks among transcendentalists.

I ignored her stare at me and entered the building. I can feel her presence sneaking up behind me.

“They said they hired a force user as a bodyguard…Is that guy?”

If you become a force user, the difference between men and women will be reduced, but it is not nonexistent. It’s a basic hardware issue. Men tend to build muscle more easily than women, so even if you strengthen your body with the same amount of force, there will be a difference.

Since I’m the daughter of a hagisa, it would be better to have a female bodyguard than a male one. There are skills as well.

She seemed to be still in class, so I decided to wait. Watching the university scene outside the window while drinking a drink from the vending machine was quite tasteful.

As I was in a daze, I heard the sound of class hitting. The appearance of students coming out of the classroom was no different from our country. It’s not much different from the way he pops out in the 4th period before lunchtime and goes to the cafeteria. They are also human.

I didn’t know which classroom they were in, so I checked the faces of everyone who came out. At most, the number of students is a little over 100. Among them, there are few Asians, and they are limited to women, so it is easy to find them.

The range was narrowed down to three, but among them, there was only one girl who looked like Mr. Lee Kyung-jin.

He doesn’t look like his mother and looks like his father, but in this case, it’s rather better. Most, if not all, Force users were handsome and beautiful, so it was only natural that if they looked like them, their daughters would be beautiful as well.

She was a beautiful woman who could capture the hearts of people who have a taste for glasses, if you say ‘molecule’ by wearing glasses in her own intellectual atmosphere. She looks a bit childish, I thought, but most of the people around her are Westerners who have gone through a change, so she seems relatively young.

“Is this Yoon-yang right?”

“…That’s right. Who are you?”

Suddenly, I could feel the presence of the bodyguard I saw at the entrance earlier. He looks like he’s preparing to use his hand when the time comes, but… He’s not here to fight.

“I’m from Korea. My father was worried, so I came to see him for a while.”

“Are you Daddy?”

She looked a little startled and her eyes widened and she was quite cute. She knows why the old man made his daughter a fool. If she was like this, if she was a pretty daughter, she would be worried about this and that, and worried that some bastard would touch her.

We decided to sit down for a while and talk. I thought it would be better to sit on a bench outside the security group, so I bought a coffee at a cafe on the first floor and went out.

The bitter Americano makes me feel a little relieved of fatigue. I revealed my original purpose to her.

“Have you seen the news? My father was worried about that, so I asked him to look instead, so I came by plane yesterday.”

“Ah, is that so? That’s surprising.”

“What?”

“Daddy takes care of me.”

Ah, it gives off the feeling of a father-daughter relationship that is terribly misunderstood.

Hagisa, that uncle. I didn’t feel like a sociable personality. Besides, if she loses her wife because of an enemy species and raises the child alone…

“When I was young, I rarely saw my father’s face. Sometimes, even when we had sports events, my father’s friends came over… I know he’s very busy, but we rarely eat together.”

“I can’t help it because I’m a busy person.”

“More than family?”

If you ask me like that, I have nothing to say.

But as someone who has been both a father and a mother, I know the love of parents better than anyone else.

“He may think he has never been loved, but in reality he must be loved thousands of times more than he is. Besides, he is a father, right?

Men do not express themselves. Even if that’s love.

“Still, how many times have you and your father been together?”

“Ah…Sometimes.”

She put on a nostalgic expression, perhaps thinking of her old days. There really is no way there is no memory in family relationships.

“Really sometimes. When my dad had a day off, we would definitely go out together. Whether we were eating out or going to an amusement park, we played as much as we could at that time.”

“Look at it. It’s true that I love you. Because I’m a master user, how many people take my kids out to play on purpose when they take a rest at home on a holiday that the person who waits every day barely gets?”

It is the best not to express the hardships. No matter how hard it is, it is their nature to want to do something more while saying that it is okay for their family.

No matter how immature a man is, he will change that way once he has a family and children.

Domestic violence? Hey, those bastards aren’t human.

“Anyway, Dad sent it?

“It looks like this is a big deal. I’ll probably be here until it happens.”

“You don’t have to worry too much about it. We’re already preparing for it, so it’s actually the safest here.”

“Is it safe?”

New York already has a massive earthquake forecast. If so, it is natural to gather manpower to prepare for it.

“Moreover, Manhattan has a large population, so we built a large bunker in the basement of our school. In case of emergency, you can escape there and hold out until the situation is over, so it’s actually safer.”

“But wouldn’t it be better to at least evacuate somewhere else?”

“How big is New York, how likely is it that something will happen here?”

If you think about it, even if it’s just the roads I’ve been to, it’s Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. New York seems like just one city, but it’s wider than you think. From here, take the subway, take a boat, and take a taxi for a few more hours.

Even if something happens, the probability of a dimensional quake occurring around here is… The probability is low, but I don’t think it’s my guess?

I felt anxious.

“First of all, like I said earlier, I’ll be around here until something happens. I’ll come to help if there’s any problem, so I’m hiding in the school bunker. I’m hungry, so I’m going to eat. I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday, so I’m hungry.”

“You must be having a hard time. Oh, there’s a good Mexican restaurant around here, can I tell you?”

“Then thank you.”

Mexico! There are people who don’t know, but Mexican food is quite delicious. Especially with hot chili peppers!

How delicious are nachos dipped in guacamole… Of course, the country itself is not very safe, but the food is delicious. England, a country of gentlemen, on the other hand, can’t cook.

Since we met once, we decided to eat and think about it first. Is there any accommodation like a hotel nearby… If not, try sleeping in Central Park.

“I would have said Mt. Geumgang was after dinner. Shall we eat?”

After parting ways with Lee Yoon-yang, she was about to visit her Mexican restaurant, when she felt an ominous feeling as if something unpleasant was burning up her spine.

Uh? Now? Are you so crazy?

I saw the source of the ominous feeling. Take the street here and cross the street a few blocks away. That was the epicenter.

Aaaaa!!

And then the dimensional alarm began to sound. People were confused and began to evacuate in a hurry, screaming each other.

[Don’t worry, everyone! There is still time until the earthquake happens! Neighboring residents, please take refuge in the underground bunker within the school! We inform you again! Residents of the neighborhood […

A broadcast came from the school. 20 years since the Great Depression. It was plenty of time to make preparations. As Yunyang Lee just said, there is an underground bunker inside the school, so it was large and wide enough for even the residents nearby to evacuate to the bunker in case of an emergency.

People were confused at first, but then calmly began to gather at the school following the instructions of the nearby police. The sight of them gathering in the central building and starting to descend below it seemed familiar, as if they had been trained like that from before.

It was no joke to say that the population density here was high, but the number of people gathering at the school was no joke despite the fact that there must be other bunkers nearby. The number of students inside the school alone is well over 10,000, but even the residents nearby seemed to have enough.

Du-du-du-du, a sound came from afar. Several helicopters converge nearby, followed by tanks. I thought that the appearance of gathering in an orderly manner and forming a formation was like a country that spends the most money on military power in the world.

I widened my senses and looked elsewhere. Hmmm…… First of all, two in Manhattan. One in Queens, one in Brooklyn, and one in the Bronx. Simultaneous dimensional formations in one place like this are uncommon events.

“There are 3 minutes until the quake occurs! Stay alert and keep an eye on the front!”

First of all, I put on the Raccoon Man mask. After loosening my hands and shoulders roughly, I decided to deal with the dimensional formation in front of my eyes first, and then go to the dimensional formation near Central Park.

“Containment until the force convergence phenomenon is completely achieved! First, figure out the type of enemy species that will appear before starting a full-fledged response! And…”

“Lieutenant Colonel! A dimensional earthquake occurs!”

“What? Damn it! You still have about a minute left!”

It seems to me that most of the preparations have been completed, but it seems that it is not yet complete. As the dimension distorts, colorless and transparent hexagonal fragments scatter.

And silence follows. Quiet, like the eve of a storm.

In that situation, I jumped out without a chance to watch. I landed right in front of the dimensional formation and stood with my back to the US forces.

“What is it? Were there more support all-force users?”

“Were there any Force users who wore masks…?”

The reason I left was simple. I tried to watch the fighting and prevent the damage going to the university, but if I don’t act now, the army here will be annihilated in less than a minute.

“Hey! You guys, get behind people! The big one is coming!”

“What?”

Someone asked, but there was no time to answer.

In front of the dimensional formation, a huge dragon rushed at me raising its mouth with frightening momentum.