Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Kunis
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“Because of money… no.”
The woman spoke in a raspy voice for the first time.
“Then?”
“Te…”
As the woman seemed about to pass out, Zain grabbed her head and tilted it back again.
“It’s not over yet. Water.”
At Zain’s words, one of the Ituha quickly scooped up water and handed it over. Zain mercilessly splashed it on the woman’s face.
“Te-what?”
The woman brought her rolled-back eyes back into place. Then, fixing her gaze on the ceiling, she whispered with strange, feverish eyes that seemed not to see Zain or even reality.
“Terenti, Ace Sui Eustachys…”
Zain looked at Tora.
“You knew she was crazy, right?”
“She looked fine.”
Tora muttered.
“It sounds like some language I’ve never heard, but search it anyway just in case.”
He spoke to the Ituha and approached the woman.
“Hey. Who took Rato?”
The woman’s gaze stayed fixed on one spot on the ceiling, unmoving. Tora furrowed his brow.
“She reminds me of Marty. It’s unsettling.”
“That’s why they used her. They knew you’d react like this.”
Zain said it without hiding her pitiful look. At that moment, the Ituha who had searched spoke up.
“Nothing comes up. It’s not in the language database either. Sounds like nonsense.”
Zain grabbed the woman’s hair again and shook her head as she asked.
“Speak properly. Who are the men that Rato supposedly met?”
The woman suddenly snapped her eyes down to look at Zain. Zain almost furrowed her brow too, feeling like she needed an exorcist.
“Legion.”
Her eyes were completely different from before. They seethed with venom.
“Rato came to Legion first.”
“That’s impossible for Rato.”
Tora shot back immediately. The woman sneered.
“Listen to the file in locker WZ-2153. Password is 0813.”
Tora found the file in the locker and played it.
[The condition for helping is our island.]
And what flowed out was Rato’s voice.
[The Pacific Alliance claims our island as their territory and asserts ownership. They say our Satadi tribe are their citizens. The Ituha are their army.]
Zain looked at him, and Tora nodded. Recently, that issue had been giving Tora and Rato headaches.
The Ituha were indeed a force any government would covet, and the Pacific Alliance, which tenuously controlled the seas up to near Satadi Island, was one of them.
[They said they’d use force if we don’t surrender. MCTC tried to mediate, but considering what the Alliance pays to MCTC, they can’t step in lightly. My brothers died in MCTC’s wars. And look at what MCTC is doing.]
Rato spat out in a low voice.
[From the start, I never trusted those civilized world humans anyway.]
“Don’t make me laugh!”
Tora’s fist slammed down, shattering the desk with a crash.
“How can I believe that’s Rato’s voice? Proof it’s not fabricated?”
The woman grinned in a disturbingly smug way.
“If you’re that suspicious, confirm it with your own eyes.”
Suddenly, the Ituha whipped around.
“Captain.”
Then came the sound of footsteps. Deliberate ones, meant to be noticed.
And then, men appeared as if black water was surging in.
“Captain Tora.”
The man in the lead, dressed in a black suit, spoke while looking directly at Tora—proof he knew who the Ituha captain was.
With an elegant gesture that almost seemed refined, the man pointed to the back.
“We’ll escort you.”
Zain was dumbfounded. Who would accept such a blatant invitation…?
As she thought that, Tora, who had been staring at the man, stepped forward as if to follow. Zain grabbed Tora’s arm in surprise.
“It could be a trap.”
No, it definitely was a trap.
But Tora spoke in a tone that dismissed any concern for Rato.
“We need to find Rato.”
“Let’s request an official rescue op from MCTC. Even just the value of the info Rato got from contacting Legion should convince the higher-ups…”
“You want me to go through that ridiculous process when even running there right now wouldn’t be fast enough?”
If Tora hadn’t experienced it himself, he might have been persuaded, but since he knew that grueling process well, Zain making such a suggestion—as someone who knew it too—was baffling to him.
“Do you know why I don’t like the civilized world much? Because they don’t know what’s most important.”
It was an uncharacteristically rough tone from Tora. Zain’s eyes twitched. In truth, her idea of “like Tora” was probably just her own bias, but either way, she couldn’t let him go like this.
“It’s about calculating the odds.”
But Tora’s face was colder and more arrogant than she’d ever seen.
“That’s exactly why humans are unnecessary. Especially women.”
Tora was a vampire too, after all. Zain realized. Vampires tended to overconfident in their own bodies.
Considering their record of victories in battles where MCTC nearly lost thanks to the Ituha, it wasn’t entirely overconfidence on Tora’s part, but vampires fundamentally had excessive faith in their immense strength.
Seeing Zain had no more to say, Tora turned away. Then he spoke to the Ituha.
“You all stay here.”
“Captain.”
The Ituha protested. But Tora was firm.
“This isn’t a place for you trainees. Better I go alone.”
Especially considering Rato’s precedent.
“But…”
The Ituha tried to argue again, but Tora walked off as if he wouldn’t hear more. The men followed behind him.
Zain could only watch, clenching her eyes tight.
***
The prison cafeteria buzzed with inmates eating their meals.
Even in a place gathered with only the worst offenders—where the lightest crime was Level 2 murder—lunchtime was peaceful.
At some point, one inmate furrowed his brow and tilted his head. Then, as he tried to eat again, he let out a small cough. Something splattered onto his tray.
“Ugh…”
The inmate next to him, eating his meal, cursed and turned just as—
Bang.
The coughing inmate face-planted into his tray and collapsed. Everyone panicked.
“What the hell? What’s wrong with him?”
“No one move!”
The guards at the cafeteria door shouted. They hurriedly radioed for emergency response.
“That guy sick or some—”
Another inmate who was speaking suddenly clutched his mouth. Something surged up, he gagged, and blood burst from his eyes, nose, and mouth. He flipped his tray and fell to the floor.
Crash. Clatter.
It didn’t stop there. Inmates here and there bled from every orifice and died.
Blood mixed with spilled trays and food, pooling and spreading across the floor. The murmurs grew louder.
“Hey, why’s he—! Gasp! H-he… he’s dead!”
“Wait, my body feels weird…”
“Something’s wrong here! Let us out!”
The inmates surged toward the cafeteria door.
“Stop!”
The guards aimed their guns. When the inmates didn’t stop, they opened fire. The cafeteria filled with gunfire and screams. Even so, as the frenzied inmates kept pressing, the guards rushed out and locked the door.
Bang! Bang-bang-bang!
The inmates pounded on the steel door, shouting.
“Help! Save me—!”
The guards exchanged panicked looks. One tilted his head curiously. Then blood sprayed from his entire body.
No time to be shocked. The other guards clutched their throats, turned blue, vomited blood, and collapsed.
Far away, in solitary, Kunis quietly opened his eyes. He heard the rapid movement of the riot squad passing his door.
And…
Boom!
An explosion rang out.
Hot air and thick dust rushed through the door seam.
Then a smaller explosion, and the door opened. Through the pitch-black smoke emerged… figures like an army from hell.
Black-clad operatives, faces invisible behind night-vision goggles and gas masks.
“You’re late.”
Kunis stood. He walked past the men in his inmate slippers and out.
Kunis glanced once at the chaotic hallway, then walked naturally toward the opposite side—his prosthetic leg undetectable. No one stopped him.
The armed men followed.
“From tomorrow, there’ll be plenty of empty cells.”
True to his nickname “humanity’s nightmare,” the Archduke didn’t hesitate to kill all the inmates to escape. No, he seemed pleased about it.
Kunis walked straight ahead with a sinister smile.
“It’ll be some small comfort to the victims who suffered at their hands.”
A place full of heinous criminals who didn’t even deserve to live, after all.
One might wonder what crimes the guards had, but naturally, no one thought that way here.
***
Doyoung hugged Sarang, then let go. Next, Sarang hugged Gamal.
“Come again.”
“I will. Elio, Sarang nice.”
Gamal spoke in a tone that said he’d come even if stopped, making Sarang chuckle. Elio said to Doyoung.
“Be safe.”
Doyoung nodded.
“I’ll be back.”
Back in his own youth like Doyoung now, Elio had often been away from home, and young Doyoung had always held his mother Sarang’s hand to see his father off.
Doyoung hadn’t known then, but while his family enjoyed peaceful days at home, his father was always crossing into the jaws of death.
Now their roles were reversed. And as someone who’d been through it, Elio knew well. His son was heading into danger again.
Even so, Elio saw him off with a smile. More sincerely this time. Gamal being with Doyoung strangely put him at ease.
Doyoung and Gamal turned and passed through the gate. Finally, Gamal looked back with a big smile.
***
Doyoung unbuckled his seatbelt and slung his sports bag over his shoulder. Gamal, holding the handle of a large jelly box as preciously as an EOD tech with a bomb disposal kit, descended from the transport plane into the base.
“You’re back?”
Captain Tao, waiting outside, greeted them. He immediately turned to Gamal.
“Let’s go.”
Because there was a debrief right away.
Doyoung looked at Gamal.
“Go on.”
Gamal nodded. Normally, Doyoung might have whined to go together, but perhaps because their hearts were aligned, he didn’t throw a fit about being separated.
Doyoung took the jelly box handle from her.
“Give me that.”
“Oh, yeah. Be back soon.”
“See you at dinner.”
Gamal nodded shyly.
Doyoung gazed at her fondly. For a moment, an indescribable but distinctly sweet air flowed between them, making Captain Tao glance back and forth in confusion. But before he could grasp it, Gamal turned and walked away.
Captain Tao had no choice but to follow her.
Then, a sergeant behind Doyoung asked.
“Is it just my imagination, or do the two of you seem a bit different somehow?”