Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: The Smile in the Book
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Inside the dimly lit conference room.
A single light illuminated the very center of the room.
Kim Cha-yoon, the CEO of Cha-yoon Enterprise, sat at the conference table, wearing round glasses and tapping a pen on a piece of paper, lost in thought.
Dantallion and Java-Tamao stood on either side of her like secretaries.
The meeting with the Bio Vanguard executives had just ended.
"America..."
She wore a displeased expression. The feeling of having lost the lead was strong.
Furen Tankobichi, the SSS-class hero of Bluerobic, was supposed to have arrived in South Korea.
All this time, Kim Cha-yoon had been struggling to scout the heroes of the Tankobichi family for her enterprise.
After failing to recruit Enri and Sharin due to U.C.I.D.'s intervention, she had been trying desperately to bring in Furen.
Then, an order came down from an unidentified high-ranking executive of Bio Vanguard.
Kim Cha-yoon rolled the pen between her fingers, recalling the Bio Vanguard executive meeting she had attended a few hours earlier.
Somewhere in a dark conference room.
Five dark figures were seated around a table.
Attending the summoned meeting of Bio Vanguard executives, Cha-yoon sat quietly next to M.I.X.
Meanwhile, Viper, who was sitting across from her, flicked his tongue at Cha-yoon as if to mock her.
Cha-yoon glared at him with a look of displeasure.
*Just what in the world is that thing?*
A face resembling a cobra.
*Is it one of those Reptilians people talk about on the internet?*
Viper's true identity was not known in detail.
Soon, she turned her head and ignored him.
A moment later, a large monitor at the head of the table flickered to life.
The attendees seated there all raised their heads at once.
A pale light shimmered in the darkness.
After a moment, text appeared on the monitor.
[Lure Furen.]
[Location: Taumiel b1]
Taumiel b1 was under the jurisdiction of Viper, who managed Bio Vanguard's headquarters located in the United States.
Cha-yoon glanced at Viper out of the corner of her eye.
He gave a barely perceptible smile before straightening his clothes with a neutral expression.
Lost in thought, Cha-yoon took off her glasses for a moment and rubbed her eyes.
"Hmph. Am I being kept in check..."
She turned around and looked up at Dantallion.
"Dantallion, how is that 'equipment' coming along?"
"Yes. Based on the combat data of Sharin Tankobichi that Java-Tamao acquired, a prototype has already been completed."
"Is that so...? I suppose it would be alright for me to see it now?"
Dantallion bowed his head and replied confidently.
"Yes! Anytime is fine!"
"Hmm... Is that right?"
Cha-yoon gave a satisfied smile at his demeanor.
She turned forward again, resting her chin on her hand and gazing into the distance.
"If we really can't have her..."
Cha-yoon's eyes narrowed.
"We'll just have to make our own."
Grrrraaaawwwl—
An unidentifiable cry echoed from the end of the long corridor.
Looking closely, countless eyes were glinting in the darkness.
With Katrin raising her dagger at the front, Sharin, Shin-ju, and Jekovic took up combat stances one by one.
Grrraawwl—
Like stars shining in the night sky, innumerable eyes stared at Shin-ju's group all at once.
Just as everyone tensed up, the eyes suddenly vanished into the darkness.
It was impossible to tell if they had no intention of fighting, or if they had decided on a strategic retreat after seeing their numbers.
The fortunate thing was that an unnecessary battle had been avoided in a situation where it was difficult to grasp the nature of this place.
"...They're gone."
Katrin muttered.
"Were the things in those capsules not dead?"
Sharin and Shin-ju looked up at the capsules lined up on the right.
"It seems some are dead, and some are not."
Shin-ju closed the Old Book for the time being.
His expression was grave.
"We need to find Lady Furen and the refugees quickly and get out of here. Let's move faster."
Shin-ju's group began to walk quickly down the corridor.
Here and there on the corridor walls were splatters of blood of all colors, their origins unknown.
The traces were enough to heighten the group's anxiety.
"I think we're here."
A massive steel door appeared before them.
"I remember this door."
Katrin stroked the door once, then placed both palms against it.
"Be careful."
Shin-ju warned, opening the Old Book.
"Hup!"
Katrin pushed with all her might.
"Damn..."
Clank—Clank—
Katrin pushed the door three or four times with all her strength.
But the door didn't budge.
"Could you step aside for a moment?"
Shin-ju asked, chanting an incantation with the Old Book open.
A faint white smoke billowed out from the Old Book.
A moment later, the smoke shimmered before Shin-ju like a living spirit.
Shin-ju spoke to the smoke in an unknown language.
The smoke listened quietly to Shin-ju's words, then flew in a straight line toward the door. It then split like tree roots and seeped into the cracks.
After the pleasant sound of a lock turning, the door began to slide open with a *swoosh*.
Shwoooosh—
The white smoke, as if its business was done, was immediately absorbed back into the Old Book.
Meanwhile, Katrin watched in awe, her eyes fixed on the Old Book in Shin-ju's hands.
"...How fascinating. What was that smoke just now?"
"Ah, that's a cryptographer I know. He's also capable of opening locked doors and locks."
Katrin looked at Shin-ju with wonder.
The fact that he used such respectful language meant that the smoke was an intelligent life form.
When the door finally opened completely, a space that was very bright and warm, unlike the corridor, was revealed.
Several paintings hung on one wall, and in another corner, numerous books were piled on the floor.
It was a space that resembled someone's personal study.
Shin-ju took the lead and walked into the space.
He then stood before a large painting hanging on the wall.
Before him was a scene of a falling angel, as if from Greek mythology.
Meanwhile, Jekovic, next to Shin-ju, picked up one of the books scattered on the floor and opened it.
"Uh...!"
Jekovic's eyes gradually widened.
The book contained an illustration. It was a gruesome picture of a dissected alien body.
*Flip—*
Jekovic calmly turned to the next page.
Other illustrations also depicted scenes of various alien dissections.
The fur on his wolf-like mane began to stand on end.
"This... This is definitely..."
Shin-ju casually turned his head to the side.
It was a portrait of a beautiful Dark Elf with dark skin.
"...Wait a minute, this!"
Shin-ju, startled, moved closer to get a better look at the painting.
"Kai...?"
"Park Shin-ju! Come over here, quick!"
Suddenly, he heard Jekovic's urgent voice calling his name from a distance.
Shin-ju, who had been observing the painting, turned and ran toward Jekovic's call.
"What, what is it? What's wrong?"
"This... Look."
Jekovic handed the book he was looking at to Shin-ju.
Noticing that his hand was trembling slightly, Shin-ju's expression turned grave.
Shin-ju swallowed hard.
From behind Shin-ju, Sharin and Katrin approached and peered at the contents of the book he was holding.
The eyes of the two women gradually widened.
The book's contents were about live experiments conducted on numerous aliens.
*Flip, flip, flip.*
Shin-ju continued to flip through the book.
With each turn of the page, cruel illustrations related to the live experiments continued to appear.
He snapped his head up.
Over Shin-ju's shoulder, a graveyard of countless books stretched out before him.
"D-Don't tell me all those books...?"
"Wait!"
Sharin, as if she had found something, snatched the book from Shin-ju's hands.
With a grave expression, she frantically flipped back through the pages.
The face of an Elf woman appeared, her head severed and placed on an experiment table.
"Ugh!"
The Bluerobic Planetarian had her eyes closed, a faint smile on her face.
Sharin and Katrin turned pale and trembled.
It was because the face in the book resembled Furen's.
Sharin threw the book.
The book hit a painting on the wall and fell to the floor along with the frame.
The illustration of the severed head of the faintly smiling Bluerobic Planetarian lay open.
"Kraaaaah!"
Sharin let out a beast-like roar.
She drew the Actrazer slung across her back.
"Fureeeen!!!"
She screamed and swung the Actrazer wildly.
Katrin quickly moved away from Sharin.
As the rampaging, hysterical woman tore through the room, ripped pages fluttered through the air.
Shin-ju and Jekovic, startled, turned to look at Sharin.
"La-Lady Sharin!!"
Katrin shouted at her, her face flushed.
"Lady Sharin! Calm down! That picture is not Lady Furen!"
Sharin gasped for breath, still screaming.
"Aaargh!!"
A section of the wall struck by the Actrazer began to crack.
"Lady Furen is not someone who would be defeated so easily! And as far as I remember, Lady Furen is definitely still alive!"
Shin-ju took out the Old Book in case of an emergency and turned to Katrin.
"What's going on!?"
Katrin pointed to the book lying on the floor.
"That book contained a picture of our colleague's severed head."
"What?!"
Shin-ju bit his lower lip and looked at Jekovic.
"Jekovic."
Shin-ju's expression turned grave.
He had been prepared for the worst, but the situation was far more brutal than he had imagined.
They were standing in the middle of a gruesome live experimentation site where aliens were the subjects.
*Whoooosh—*
Suddenly, a wind blew from somewhere.
Feeling something out of place, Shin-ju turned his head.
He saw a crack in the wall near Sharin.
And through that crack, an unpleasant wind carrying a musty smell was leaking out.
"Gah!"
Jekovic clutched his nose.
Shin-ju carefully approached the crack.
"Park Shin-ju, be careful."
Jekovic muttered anxiously from behind him.
Sharin and Katrin were also watching Shin-ju quietly.
Shin-ju closed one eye and peered into the crack.
"Goddammit!!"
Shin-ju, who had looked through the crack, shouted with a horrified face.
He immediately opened the Old Book and began to pry the crack open using shadows.
The wall crumbled.
As a large hole opened into a dark space, Shin-ju hurriedly entered it.
Shin-ju's silhouette appeared in the hole, backlit.
Jekovic, Sharin, and Katrin exchanged glances before following him into the hole.
"Huu... huu..."
Shin-ju, with a thoroughly flushed face, was looking up at something, trying his best to calm himself and catch his breath.
He placed his hands on his hips.
A huge mountain towered before his eyes.
"These crazy sons of bitches!!!"
Shin-ju's voice cracked as he spat out the curse.
Before his eyes, a pile of corpses was stacked up like a great mountain.