Ch.82Chapter 82. Pork Cutlet

“Ah. The air is so good.”

The weather was nice.

Well, actually it was a bit cloudy, but still fine.

On my way home from work three hours earlier than usual, even this weather felt refreshing enough.

Of course, I wasn’t sneaking out.

I’d be able to work more leisurely for a while.

Under the contract condition that I’d be assigned to the maintenance team and work day and night without rest when the spaceship—Ares or something like that—arrived.

Until then, I could be a legitimate goldbricker.

No more sneaking out while watching my colleagues and supervisor.

What a comfortable workplace.

I wasn’t particularly worried about future work since my future self would deal with it anyway.

“I wonder if it’s over by now.”

I was heading to Saint Catalina, timing it with when school would let out.

I couldn’t help but smile thinking about Cuss, who would come running with surprised rabbit eyes after spotting my car.

“What’s this?”

Strange.

Before, just thinking about that little brat’s face would stress me out.

Now I actually felt empty without her.

Even when sitting on the sofa watching TV in the evening, it felt weird if she wasn’t sitting on my lap using me as a backrest.

I concluded this must be anxiety stemming from fear of what trouble she might cause if she wasn’t by my side.

There was no doubt about it.

“What the hell?!”

The car screeched to a sudden stop.

Come to think of it, if I marry Juliane, I could officially adopt Cuss and make her my daughter on paper.

But raping your daughter is a crime in America.

My ambitious plan to raise her and then eat her was about to go up in smoke.

“Ah… shit. Am I an idiot?”

Where was it legal to rape your daughter again?

I couldn’t exactly ask Juliane about this.

This is driving me crazy.

Why hadn’t I thought about this until now?

It seemed I’d have to postpone marriage with Juliane.

At least until I’d had my way with Cuss.

But if I was going to do it, wouldn’t now be the perfect time while Juliane was away from LA?

Her hair was cut neatly now, so it wouldn’t get in the way much.

“Today? Tomorrow?”

How should I approach this?

Juliane could barely walk properly the next day, so would Cuss not even be able to stand up?

Friday seemed appropriate.

But would Juliane be back by then?

“Hmm…?”

I was almost at Saint Catalina.

There was a red classic car parked by the roadside, attracting way too much attention.

What the hell is that?

Why did they stick car company logos of every kind all over it?

Like kill marks or something?

White smoke was billowing out the car window.

I thought someone was puffing on cigars, but the guy was holding a pipe.

Not a tobacco pipe, but a transparent one.

I didn’t need to look to know what he was smoking.

Probably enjoying some cheap 70% pure meth.

“Tsk…”

I was going to just pass by.

But the “Saint Catalina” sign visible just 100 meters ahead held me back.

Soon the bell would ring and kids would pour out like a broken dam.

Cuss would be among them.

I didn’t care what happened to other rich kids, but thinking Cuss might see this bothered me.

I might not care about other things, but drugs are absolutely forbidden.

Absolutely.

Screech!

I finally stopped the car.

As I got out and slammed the door shut, I kept thinking this wasn’t right.

I felt like some old fart lecturing kids for smoking.

Whatever. I’ll be that old fart then.

“Hey.”

“…?”

I leaned toward the car window.

The smoke was so acrid it was hard to breathe properly.

Damn bastard.

High on drugs, his eyes were unfocused and couldn’t concentrate properly.

“Can’t you see there’s a school right in front of you? If you want to do drugs, go to a drug den.”

“Fuck off.”

“…”

He blew smoke in my face.

Right. I fully expected he wouldn’t listen to just one word.

“What? Too scared to crawl into a drug den?”

“…”

Looking at his face, I could size him up.

He didn’t seem to be severely addicted to drugs yet.

Judging by how messily he decorated his car, he was just a common thug from the slums who cared only about appearances.

They all had common characteristics.

They wanted to look like gangsters, but the only bad thing they’d ever done was break their mothers’ hearts—insignificant punks.

They lived for show but were actually cowards.

“Get out of here, kid. Before I call the police.”

“You get out, old man.”

“…”

He pulled out a tiny revolver and pointed it at me.

Smith & Wesson engraving.

38 caliber maybe.

But the hammer wasn’t cocked.

That would make the trigger pull quite heavy.

No matter how I looked at it, his trembling fingers didn’t seem capable of pulling the trigger quickly.

“Stop interfering and get lost…”

“You fucking idiot.”

“…?!”

I quickly reached out and snatched the gun.

As expected, his weak fingers only managed to pull the trigger halfway before I took the gun from him.

Right after, I punched him in the jaw, then reached inside to unlock and open the car door.

Clunk!

“Get out, you bastard. I said get out.”

“No, fuck. No! Ack!”

Look at that long hair.

Thanks to that, it was much easier to grab and pull him out.

After grabbing his head and gently hitting the back of his skull with the gun handle a few times, he soon started sobbing.

“Ahh! Ack! I’m sorry! Aack! It hurts!”

“Kid. Who told you to point this toy at me, huh?”

If he hadn’t pulled out the gun, I would have just beaten him up a bit and chased him away.

But thanks to him pointing a gun at me, I could beat him up thoroughly.

“Do drugs with other junkies, you bastard. Don’t smoke in front of a school. I hear happiness supplements are good these days. Why don’t you smoke those?”

“That’s… fucking… a downer. It’s not thrilling at all.”

“Oh really? You smoke this cheap stuff?”

I took out a piece of meth from the envelope and examined it.

Damn, look how dirty it is.

There’s even dust mixed in?

If reported to the FDA, they’d shut down the operation with 100% certainty due to hygiene issues.

You want to smoke this?

Disgusting bastard.

Ding… Ding…

“Oh. The bell’s ringing.”

“Ack! Ack! Ack!”

“School bell goes ding-dong, you bastard. The bell saved you. Got it?”

After hitting him hard three more times, I let him go.

I removed all five bullets from the magazine and threw the gun back to him.

Now this bastard will avoid me even out of disgust.

“Get out of here, kid. If I see you again, I’ll shove this up your ass.”

“Aaack!”

After kicking his butt once, I returned to my car.

He got into his car grumbling, started the engine with a vroom, and drove away.

A gasoline car.

A real classic.

I was a bit tempted by it.

I seriously considered chasing after him to stop him and just take his car keys, but decided against it.

This was in front of a school.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I saw Cuss coming out of the main gate.

“Cuss! He—”

My voice trailed off as I was about to call out.

Cuss wasn’t alone.

She had a girl on one side and a boy on the other.

Seducing both genders at once…?

Impressive kid.

“Cuss!”

Honk.

I honked once, and Cuss brightened up when she saw me.

She mumbled something to her “lovers” on either side, then came running over.

“Jinsoo! What brings you here! Why isn’t Juliane coming!”

“Juliane went far away. She won’t be back for a while.”

“Is that so?!”

She looked strangely happy.

I thought they got along well despite their bickering.

“But who are those two? Did you seduce them?”

“Jinsoo. Don’t you remember? That’s Alice and Tom.”

“Who and who?”

“Never mind…”

How am I supposed to remember when all these kids look the same?

The only kid at school I remember is Tim, the senator’s son.

“Just put on your seatbelt quickly.”

“Hmph. Fine.”

It felt like it had been a long time since we went for a drive, just the two of us.

Or maybe it hadn’t been that long.

With so much happening lately, time seemed to be passing too quickly.

“How’s school these days? Anyone still giving you trouble?”

“Hmm… no.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Today kids kept asking me all sorts of questions, which was annoying.”

Seems like her genius reputation had spread.

It would be good if that helped her make more friends.

The wider your social network, the better.

I learned that painfully in prison.

If our family could have had help from someone smart like Juliane when that incident happened…

Tsk. No.

I didn’t want to think about depressing things.

“Oh right. I’m skipping to 7th grade.”

“What?”

For a moment I thought I’d misheard.

7th grade?

Not 3rd or 4th grade?

Suddenly jumping six grades ahead?

“What… are you kidding?”

“I don’t lie! Unlike you!”

“What are you saying? You’re the one who breaks dishes every day and hides them in corners pretending not to know.”

“T-that’s just forgetting… The supreme advanced life form of the universe wouldn’t lie.”

If you’re supreme, then what am I? Super ultra supreme?

I was about to say something like that but held back.

What’s the point of having such childish arguments with her?

“Where are we going now?”

“Just for a quick drive. Want to eat tonkatsu?”

“Tonkatsu? What’s that?”

“It’s a thing. Fried meat.”

“Fried meat…! That must be delicious!”

She took the bait.

Today I was planning to go to the dentist.