Chapter 175
Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Monster
“Be careful when you run around. Even when you're running, keep looking ahead. Got it?”
A nameless woman applies a band-aid to the knee of a sniffling child with scraped skin.
She treats the wound without taking a single penny and strokes the child's head, fretting that it might leave a scar on the skin.
“Don't scratch it even if it itches. Promise.”
I sit on a nearby bench with a dazed look on my face, watching her every move.
I'm worried she might feel burdened by the blatant stare from a stranger like me, but I can't tear myself away from the bench, as if I've been enchanted by something.
She watches intently as the child, looking a bit downcast, heads back to her mother—as if worried the kid might trip again.
“Tom, I've been looking for you! Where'd you go?”
“Uh... dunno.”
The child takes her mother's hand,
then turns around and waves in gratitude.
Only then does she let out a small chuckle, sending the child off before walking toward the bench.
My heartbeat grows louder and louder.
Even though we just met today, all sorts of delusions and expectations swell up inside me.
“...”
This is strange.
Something like this miracle couldn't possibly happen.
She sits on the bench—a woman who doesn't match with me at all—and keeps glancing my way. I pat my face, wondering if something's stuck on it, but nothing's there.
“Um...”
Still, she speaks to me.
With that same gentle, kind smile she'd shown the child just moments ago.
“Are you okay? Your face is so red. Looks like you have a fever.”
Isaac turns to me with a face drained of all color. Only Isaac, who knows both me and Nicole well, grasps the gravity of the situation.
“Nicole, why... Please talk to me. You're not like this normally. What the hell—”
“Stop it and just shoot them already!”
One of the survivors snaps irritably. Her rifle is already aimed at me and Isaac.
“Didn't you hear what they said? We don't know what they'll do if we let them go.”
I pray she's not serious. No matter how emotionally charged things are, the moment she pulls that trigger, our relationship is over for good.
“We have to kill them. It won't make much difference if we kill a couple more...”
Fortunately, the woman aiming her rifle at us isn't mentally prepared to shoot properly. Even at this distance, I can see her arm and fingers trembling.
She's not the only one.
The other survivors lined up beside her are pointing rifles at us too, but none seem truly ready to kill.
“Say something, everyone! We made it this far—we can't just die like dogs!”
“But Joo-ho and Mr. Isaac aren't slimes... they're real people...”
The crew members waver. But even among them, a few like Cindy aren't fully convinced about killing me and Isaac.
“Nicole, what are we gonna do?”
A crew member who'd been shouting agitatedly now urges Nicole on. Only now do I truly realize why this group has survived this long.
“...”
It's Nicole.
Nicole, now the leader of the survivors, holds her rifle aimed at me with unwavering resolve and determination. She could shoot me right now, and it wouldn't be strange.
“We'll lose. They're too dangerous.”
Her judgment is swift.
She's keeping both me and Amy in check,
fully aware that even if her group went all out, they'd be slaughtered to the last.
But the survivors—who see us merely as variables or obstacles—now cast distrustful glances even at Nicole.
They doubt her simply for not shooting us.
It makes sense enough.
Because the man by my side is Nicole's ex-husband.
They're suspicious that their leader might be swayed by old affections. Any social creature constantly questions whether their leader truly has superior abilities.
I, who'd once clashed with Jenny over such things, can feel the weight on Nicole's shoulders.
The grueling journey of constantly proving her worth,
always under scrutiny.
“Joo-ho, was it?”
Nicole lowers her rifle and walks toward us. She seems to have realized that talking to Isaac won't change a thing.
“You're the one planning this, right? Rescuing the hostages dragged off to sea, using Isaac to persuade me— all of it.”
“That's right.”
So she opts to negotiate directly with the leader of the hostile faction. Neither she nor I have any room to retreat.
We're backed into a corner. I can't just let Ries and the others die pointlessly, and Nicole can't bear to watch her group perish.
“You've survived easy so far, riding on Amy's coattails. I can guess without looking. That's why you can spout that nonsense.”
But Nicole only heaps on words I can't accept. Her wrinkled face and the scar crossing her eye brim with hostility, resentment, and envy toward me.
“...Easy?”
My composure starts to crumble bit by bit. I'm trying so hard not to get angry, really doing my best to understand Nicole and the survivors' position.
And yet, Nicole keeps spewing harsh words. It even feels like she's deliberately trying to provoke me.
“You call that easy survival?”
It feels like my heart is being torn out.
A hollow laugh escapes me.
“Nicole, retract what you just said immediately. If you insult Dr., I will take immediate action.”
Amy steps forward to defend me. But to Nicole, even that just draws a bitter smile and ridicule.
“What's there to retract? It's all true. Amy, do you even know what happened to the survivors left behind without you?”
Nicole brushes past Isaac and approaches me.
Now we face off at point-blank range.
“Joo-ho, can you take responsibility? If you pick a fight with those sea monsters, how many more will die? Of course, your side will take minimal losses. It's always us weak ones who suffer.”
“So you took all the responsibility alone and sold out your comrades? You knew what they'd face if taken, and still tied them up and handed them over?”
Our voices grow louder.
Me, Nicole—
veins bulging in our necks.
“Impressive negotiator. Sell all the men, and no more attacks? The natives target males, so you sacrificed them all to save your own skins!”
“You know it exactly. A guy whose head works that well spewing utter bullshit? Better a few survive than everyone dying or dragged off!”
Neither side has any intention of yielding.
In fact, as Nicole and I tear into each other like we want to kill, the people around us just gulp nervously and watch.
“Fuck! You really did sacrifice them all... You, all of you sold out your comrades! Sold every last Paradise Ship crew member!”
Alraune's vines creep out from my body in response to my surging emotions. Unknowingly, my canines lengthen, venom beading at their tips.
“Couldn't hold out just a few more days! If you'd just... held on until we got here! I, Amy—we could've done something...! And you call yourselves human? Selling off comrades you'd lived with to survive—!”
Click!
Nicole's rifle presses against my forehead.
“That's our line to you.”
The other survivors now aim their rifles at me more firmly. They hesitate to shoot [fellow crew member Joo-ho], but have no qualms about [the increasingly native-like Joo-ho].
“Look at yourself. You're not even human—don't lecture us humans.”
My reflection stares back from Nicole's dark eyes. My hard-to-control physical traits are manifesting more precisely.
“Amy, reset your program. The Joo-ho you're following isn't human anymore. You're an AI meant to serve the Paradise Ship crew—humans.”
“Request denied. My command priority is Dr. Joo-ho.”
Amy doesn't waver at Nicole's words,
but ironically, those very words shake my brain mercilessly, inducing nausea.
“None of you are right in the head. All three.”
Nicole lowers her rifle and turns away. Her final glance lands on the back of Isaac's head as he hangs it low, trembling.
“...What? We should've held out until you came? Just a little longer?”
Nicole's bitter, hollow laugh lingers around us before being swept away by the sea breeze.
“What a joke.”
“...Enough. It's got nothing to do with you.”
I grit my teeth and shout at Nicole's retreating back.
“I'll save them all. Somehow, I'll get everyone home safe.”
“How? You and your native pals gonna scorch the whole sea?”
But I can't stop my eyes from reddening or my face from burning hot. One of Alraune's vines gently wipes my cheek in concern.
“Yeah, that's exactly what I'll do.”
“...”
“At least I won't abandon precious people like you did. I'll neutralize that sea, that moon smashing spaceships from the sky—send everyone home.”
Nicole stops.
“You said we were too late? Yeah, we were late. Busted my ass trying to save you all. Almost there now. I'll kill that monster moon.”
She could've just walked up the ramp,
but she turns back angrily and glares at me.
“No. Please, don't do anything stupid. Just stay put.”
She approaches.
Tears now glisten in those old eyes.
“Take Isaac and go live quietly, you monster bastard.”
Slap—!
My cheek stings.
I should be used to this kind of pain by now,
but that old woman's slap hurts deep and sharp.
“It really was you. That's why the moon and natives have been freaking out every night lately.”
“You went and provoked those natives trying to play hero. You're the cause. This wouldn't have happened without you. You monster...”