Chapter 174
Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: A Foolish Act
"Take them all."
A human woman with a scar over her eye spoke up. She had the humans' weapons trained not on us, but on the backs of the males' heads.
"Hey, whoa... Hey, sis. Seems like they just want us to take 'em..."
"Hmm. But isn't that a good thing?"
Big Sister shrugged as she checked on the males' conditions. Bound head to toe in ropes, they had no chance of resisting, yet they still shouted toward the rear.
"Nicole, so this was your plan all along?"
It sounded sorrowful. Full of resentment, too.
I couldn't understand the words, but it was clear the males were furious with the human woman.
"This isn't right. This is..."
But the human woman offered no reply. Instead, her eyes seemed to urge them: what are you waiting for? Hurry up and take them.
"You shouldn't do this. Haha."
"Th-that's everything... Really..."
"Use honorifics when addressing Dr."
"Eek! O-okay... Really... It's the truth..."
From what Third Sister described, it sounded like Nicole had sold out the other crew members.
Isaac's expression hardened in real time. He squeezed his eyes shut and bowed his head low, as if trying to block out the scene playing in his mind from that day.
"Unbelievable."
The emotions churning inside me weren't much different from Isaac's.
At first, I thought Third Sister was twisting her memories and info out of fear, but even surrounded by enemies, there was no reason to fabricate lies when terrified.
Besides, she didn't strike me as the thoughtful type. She was just spilling everything she knew out of sheer terror.
So now, my mind raced with speculations about Nicole's logic and the situation she'd been in.
Why did she do it?
Why on earth?
"I-I don't know anything else... R-really... Hic..."
Misreading our sunken mood, Third Sister grew even more anxious.
She must have thought we were unhappy with her info. In truth, it was the tangled feelings about Nicole and the survivors.
"When did they raid them?"
"N-not long ago... A week? N-no... Two weeks, maybe..."
With my words failing me, Amy took over the interrogation.
"Reason?"
"Father... Hic... F-Father commanded it... One of us sisters can communicate with Father... He said to capture the humans by the shore right away..."
I paced amid the barrage of scattered info.
My feet wouldn't stay still. In the center of it all, I circled in place.
With every step, my body and mind grew heavier.
A bad feeling settled in.
No inkling that this would resolve easily.
"If you know the hostages' names, list them all. Leave none out."
"Uh... I-I'm not great with names..."
"Very well. Then draw them on the floor starting now. If they don't match my intel, we'll deem it a lie and cut off your fingers one by one. Jenny, prepare for a snack."
"Hiiiik! I-I can draw! Really!"
Third Sister burst into tears and began sketching the humans from her memories.
Her drawing skills were solid. Several familiar faces popped up.
I watched, trying to organize my thoughts on Nicole and the survivors, but...
"Hold on."
The third man's sketch made every thought grind to a halt.
"You drew this right?"
A face I knew well.
Third Sister, fearing a mistake, sobbed hysterically again, but I wasn't blaming or interrogating her.
"Is it accurate?!"
"Y-yes... Hic, sniff... Not my fingers! No! Pleeease...!"
Amy and Isaac came to my side.
They seemed to grasp my line of thinking just from seeing the sketch.
"Dr., calm down."
Amy tried to restrain me, but
Third Sister's rambling intel only fueled me more.
"Th-that one from back then... Talking to the scarred human woman..."
Mr. Ries.
He was still alive.
But taken hostage by the moon's minions.
Nicole had sold him,
and every other man,
all of them out.
"Joo-ho, calm down first...!"
"I'm not angry. Stay here and wait. Don't worry."
I prepared to leave at once.
I'd known I'd have to face the survivors eventually, but not like this, not with these emotions.
"Take me too!"
Isaac spread his arms wide on the floor, blocking my path.
But I had no obligation to heed him. Ignoring Isaac, I headed for the exit on the opposite side and told Amy,
"Get ready."
"Yes."
Only Amy and I would go meet the survivors. Jenny had to stay to watch Third Sister, and Aria, Arachne, and Nephyr would remain home with Isaac.
"Joo-ho, wait!"
"Old man, don't be stubborn."
Arachne held Isaac back.
She'd slept soundly back in her safe web through all the commotion, but upon hearing the situation, she immediately checked my mood and reined in the others.
I couldn't be more grateful.
Without her, I might've snapped at Isaac.
"Let Joo-ho do what he wants. You don't get a say."
Isaac had no comeback to Arachne. He could barely walk anyway, making him dead weight right now.
"I'll make the talking easier!"
Still, Isaac desperately tried to convince me, confused about his wife.
"Y-you two together are too intimidating. Put me up front. It'll be smoother. Right? A legless old codger asking to talk—they'll at least listen."
Not wrong.
But I didn't want to bring him now.
My reason kept slipping despite knowing better. Irritation boiled up. Hard to hold back.
"Dr., Isaac has a point. Think rationally."
Only after Amy chimed in did I look back at Isaac. Sweat beaded on him as he fought to join our short trip.
"...Amy, carry him."
"Understood."
Better to follow her lead.
Especially when emotions ran high—her cool head and logic were essential.
"Thanks. Joo-ho... Amy, thank you..."
"Get on."
It was dawn, day breaking.
The moon's raiders' time had ended,
and morning sun returned.
We crossed the dawn light along the shoreline.
The wreckage of the crashed Paradise Ship loomed larger by the sea. Parts of the upper sections still burned— the ship was a total wreck.
Even after rain, flames persisted. Fuel storage fire, probably.
Water wouldn't douse it.
Only time, until all fuel burned out.
"Dr."
Amy spoke to me, lost in thought staring at the Paradise Ship.
We'd walked here in silence, so she must worry about my lost composure.
"You may feel anger toward Nicole and the survivors. But you must control it."
True.
Can't lose my temper. Emotional calls always backfire.
"Don't worry. We're heading to the survivors precisely because I'm afraid my emotions might lead me to misjudge Nicole and her group."
I trusted humans.
Our crew, our comrades.
But the rustling bushes by the shore, following us, brimmed only with tension and silence.
The survivors.
They tracked us, hidden in the brush, weapons aimed.
"Isaac, want to call out?"
"Yeah."
Isaac cleared his throat atop Amy's back.
I sensed his trembling.
Scared I'd do something rash in anger?
Or dreading the reunion with Nicole?
"Nicole!"
Isaac called his wife.
The bushes shook,
and their leader emerged from within, rifle in hand.
"Amy, set me down. I'm good."
Isaac slid off Amy's back and crawled across the sandy beach, grunting with his arms. The sled and wheels replacing his lower half didn't mesh well with sand.
Yet Isaac felt no shame,
no concern for stares,
no self-pity.
"Nicole, we've caught the sea monsters from our side. In a week, we'll rescue the other survivors they took."
He focused solely on me and Nicole's reactions.
Nicole and I glared without blinking, but Isaac desperately mediated amid it all.
"Once we rescue and bring them... we'll send them back here. That work?"
Isaac looked up at Nicole.
From behind, it looked like he knelt begging her.
Hiding his true question,
he probed her by mentioning the taken survivors.
Isaac was giving his all.
Trying to draw out the natural answer.
"Just know we're trying to help you. I don't know what happened, but we'll rescue the hostages somehow—"
The survivors stepped forward one by one, led by their leader.
All wore fatigued faces and weary eyes, yet none lowered their rifles—ready for battle anytime.
Nicole spoke for them all.
"...Isaac, don't do something that stupid."
Not the answer we wanted.
"Why? Gonna piss off those monsters and start a war? Kill off what's left of us too?"
Not just Isaac—
her words gutted me too.