Chief Secretary Wonrang
"Please leave this place. I would be most grateful."
The middle-aged man with graying hair slicked back in a neat pompadour spoke in a polite yet firm tone. I popped a chocolate cookie smeared with what seemed like molten chocolate into my mouth and shot him a sidelong glance.
"Nay, I shan't. It seems something grave is afoot, so I've come to lend aid."
Wonrang leaned on his cane and straightened his posture at my words.
"This is but a quiet little colony with nary an incident. Would it not be a waste of your precious time to linger here?"
I glared at him. This was the man who had tried to slaughter tens of thousands just to eliminate me, and now he feigned courtesy—it was utterly contemptible.
"That is for me to decide, not for thee to meddle in."
"Chaoryeong will soon face investigation and punishment. Embezzlement at headquarters, human experimentation, murders, fraud—all of it."
The man continued in a calm, faintly bitter tone.
"She'll likely receive life imprisonment or hard labor. If she's fortunate, she might become the concubine of some other conglomerate head."
"......"
I wiped the corner of my mouth with a tissue and fixed him with a stare.
"Dost thou know this only makes thee seem more suspicious?"
I shot up from my chair, and once again, my pitifully short stature—barely scraping over a meter—struck me. To look up at Wonrang, a towering two meters of solid build, I had to crane my neck nearly ninety degrees.
"What art thou hiding?"
"......"
As Wonrang stood silent, a bullet hurtled toward me—but it halted right before my face. Thanks to Shasha's [Electric Field].
I pointed at the warhead suspended in midair, bound by crackling blue electricity.
"Wast thou prattling on just to buy time for this?"
Wonrang's eyes flicked toward the sniper round's origin, a flicker of surprise crossing his face.
"It seems they've discovered I've left headquarters... Though it's no real threat, I apologize."
"Thy internal cleanup seems to be going poorly. Surrender now, and thou might yet be spared?"
My words hit him like a bone-deep strike; his expression hardened. He pondered deeply, then spoke with resolute finality.
"As for the colony's food shortage, we shall resolve it ourselves. Grant us time, and we will surely succeed."
I couldn't help but smirk at his suave, courteous tone. People like him knew all too well.
'The sort who couldn't rein in the villain and got dragged down with her.'
With that unyielding personality, he'd no doubt served and raised Chaoryeong for years. A pity he'd backed such a wicked woman.
I spoke with genuine sincerity.
"'Tis already too late now that I am here. Self-purification will prove impossible."
"......"
"My duty is to avert this colony's fated end. Further talk holds no meaning."
Wonrang nodded and walked past the table, vanishing to the opposite side.
"Mus, Shasha."
"Yes."
"What's the matter?"
I smiled faintly at their responses.
"Dig into every scrap of intel on Chaoryeong and Sentinental from now on. There's something bigger."
"Ugh..."
Shasha scratched his silver hair irritably.
"This is such a hassle... We've already got mass murder, assassinations, bounties galore. Even tried to kill the inspector. Isn't that enough?"
I flicked his forehead sharply.
Snap—
"Ow!"
"Dost thou speak of such trifles so casually? That very nonchalance screams there's more to uncover."
'Did he come to dissuade me from Chaoryeong? Or was it a genuine attempt at parley?'
Either way, Chaoryeong and Sentinental's future looked grim.
*
Chaoryeong emerged from the nano-treatment pod, her bloodshot eyes glaring at the researchers. She wiped off the sticky fluid coating her body and checked her condition. At best, 90% recovery. Parts of her intestines remained abnormal, and the frame inserted into her spine and ribs was cracked.
"Is this it?"
"This is the output limit, Ma'am. Any faster, and the brain damage from overheating would be irreversible."
Bam—
She slammed the desk at the researcher's words, breathing heavily as she donned her gown.
"Call the chief secretary. Tell him to come to sublevel 41."
With that, she boarded the elevator. Swiping her card revealed a hidden button for sublevel 41. Inputting her biometric code and pressing it, the elevator hummed lowly as it descended.
"Fuck..."
A dull ache throbbed from her bio-implants.
"Dare... dare to inflict this humiliation on me?"
Ding— [Sublevel 41: Secure Zone.]
As the doors opened, Chaoryeong scanned the dark sublevel 41 and flicked on the lights. An underground zone forty-one levels down from the activity decks—practically sealed off, jutting out from the ship's lowest hull like a narrow protrusion.
"It has to be somewhere around here."
The bio-contamination sample they'd hastily quarantined when abandoning their homeworld due to infestation. The horrific sample that had doomed their entire planet—it had to be here.
As Chaoryeong rummaged for the sample, a familiar voice echoed.
"Ma'am Chaoryeong."
"Ah, Chief—you're here?"
Chaoryeong abandoned her search and pulled a cigarette from her pocket. Lighting up familiarly, she jerked her head.
"Find the bio-contamination sample right now."
"...Is it truly the sample that destroyed our homeworld?"
"......"
Chaoryeong's eyes narrowed.
"For thee to ask twice? 'Tis indeed that one."
"......"
Wonrang squeezed his eyes shut.
"Merely possessing that sample could lead to the entire colony's purification. And if usage logs exist..."
He spread his arms emphatically, utterly sincere.
"Not just our colony—every soul from Planet 113 could face purification!"
"I know that!"
Chaoryeong ground out her cigarette on the floor and bellowed.
"The other colonies be damned! You think the Empire would slaughter billions over this?"
"Ma'am! It's not a weapon! It's an uncontrollable disaster!"
"Fuck, then we're all dead anyway!"
Chaoryeong snarled through gritted teeth.
"MegaCorp! Those bastards are just waiting to devour Sentinental! I won't hand them a single crumb!"
She swept back her bangs and shook her head.
"Heh heh, no way in hell. What's in my hands stays mine. All mine."
"......"
Wonrang shut his eyes tight and produced a small container from his pocket. A cylindrical canister of blue metal—undoubtedly the quarantined bio-contamination.
"Inject it into a mercenary."
Wonrang clenched his fist, staring at the cylinder. The moment it was used, everything would be irreversible.
"Reconsider once more. Use it, and ruin follows."
Chaoryeong shook her head.
"That was sealed the day we started using humans to produce ether."
"......"
"Our future is either rotting in that contamination or burning in the Empire's flames."
Wonrang closed his eyes and pressed the elevator button. The young inspector's face flashed in his mind. He clung desperately to one faint hope.
'Please, just leave this colony.'
*
Shasha rifled through the stack of documents Chaoryeong had brought, scratching his philtrum.
"Nothing here."
A few murders, kidnappings, disposing of rival MegaCorps—nothing new. Just an unusually high number of test subjects.
'More test subjects than expected. Why would a food production company run so many human experiments...?'
Probably offed the unwanted under the guise of experiments or used them for amusement. As Shasha pondered, he rechecked the reports and tilted his head.
The aggregated data showed food production spiked precisely during periods of frequent human experiments. It correlated so neatly, it almost seemed like they were using human bodies as food ingredients.
Then it hit him—his mind cleared, mouth agape.
"Uh..."
"What is it? Find something?"
Yu Eunha approached from the side, munching on what looked like a sausage. Nausea roiled in Shasha's gut, and he dry-heaved.
"Urk."
"Ack."
Yu Eunha hurriedly backed away as Shasha clamped his mouth shut.
"What is the matter?"
[Yeah, what'd that dumb Arc find?]
Shasha shot Janggil a glare before pointing at the report.
"Food production rises during human experiments."
"And?"
"It's weird. Developing tech from experiments takes time to implement. But production jumps immediately, right on cue—and only temporarily."
"......"
Mus dropped the sausage he was holding.
"No way. Uh..."
As Shasha nodded gravely, Yu Eunha casually bit into another sausage without a word.
"Gah!"
"I-In-Inspector?"
Seeing Mus tremble pale-faced, Yu Eunha shrugged nonchalantly.
"'Tis not human flesh. No matter the spices, that distinctive meaty aroma can't be masked."
"......"
"......"
At her words, the two men shed a single tear in unison.
"As expected of you, Inspector."
"A true monster— she's even tasted human."
"......"
Yu Eunha shot Shasha a glare and snatched the report.
"Hmph. But it seems Janggil has spotted something."
She lifted the vibrating cane.
[Hmm, looks like they're using humans as ether ingredients.]
"What, some cycle of human life?"
The two men shook their heads at Yu Eunha's words.
"Y-You're accustomed to this, Inspector?"
"Doesn't it horrify you?"
Yu Eunha lifted Janggil without reply.
"What if word of this reaches the Empire's capital?"
Mus Polrosa, who'd been shuddering since earlier, stammered with trembling hands.
"U-Using h-human bodies for e-ether p-production... By Empire law... it's a p-purification target."
"Purification?"
Mus swallowed hard and explained.
"C-Colony or planet-scale... e-erased clean, not a soul spared."
"Oh."
"Hm."
A wave of fatigue crashed over me.
"Then she'll fight to the last, no matter the cost."
Chaoryeong would surely resist, even at the price of her life. And as if to prove it—
Ruuuumble—
A tremor shook the entire colony.