Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Between Calm and Passion (1)
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“This…!!”
Shin-ju couldn’t bring himself to say more as he approached the pile of corpses.
*Flip! Flip! Flip!*
He flipped through the Old Book impatiently, nearly tearing the pages.
As he chanted the spell, a pure white orb rose from the book.
The orb glowed, ascending higher and higher.
The higher it went, the more the shriveled faces of the alien corpses were refracted in the light.
Shin-ju was desperately trying to remain calm.
Among the pile of bodies were quite a few species he recognized.
He felt his stomach churn as the smiling faces of species that had been friendly with Earth overlapped with their now-dead visages.
Shin-ju lifted his phone and checked the screen.
He’d held out a sliver of hope, but of course, there was no signal.
Sharin and Katrin were also staring up at the pile of bodies with dazed expressions.
The faces of countless different alien corpses were layered on top of one another, creating a horrifying spectacle.
“Ugh…!!”
Katrin suddenly felt a headache and winced, squeezing one eye shut.
“What’s wrong?”
Sharin turned to Katrin with a grave expression.
“Lady Furen…”
“Did you remember something?”
Katrin’s face contorted in pain.
“She was definitely luring someone…”
Meanwhile, in a corner, Jekovic leaned against a wall, one hand gripping his nose in agony.
Blood seeped from between his fingers.
“Hoo… hoo…”
Shin-ju took a few sharp breaths, calming his heart.
‘A mass slaughter site.’
They were clearly failed subjects from a bio-experiment.
Shin-ju unconsciously looked forward.
Before his eyes, the bruised face of a young alien was buried among the countless bodies.
The child’s eyes were closed as if in a deep sleep.
For a moment, Shin-ju’s own childhood flashed through his mind.
The days when he, his face bruised, had fled barefoot from violence on a cold winter’s day.
*Mutter, mutter, mutter.*
Shin-ju began to mumble to himself.
“Hey, Park Shin-ju…”
Sharin called to him from behind.
“Hey!! Park Shin-ju!!”
*Grraaaaaaa-*
Along with Sharin’s shout, a strange monster’s cry echoed from the ceiling.
An alien beast with hundreds of eyes was crawling down the wall from above.
“Ugh…!!”
“That’s one of those alien beast bastards!!”
Katrin raised the dagger she’d received from Sharin and took a combat stance, while Sharin lifted her Actrazer.
The two were certain that this was the same beast they had encountered in the hallway earlier.
The alien beast, its hundreds of eyes glinting, crawled down near the pile of corpses.
Then it opened its massive maw and began to devour the bodies.
*Crunch, crunch, crunch.*
The damn alien beast seemed to have no interest in living creatures, focusing solely on the pile of corpses.
“…So this is how it was?”
Shin-ju muttered with a cold expression, looking up at the beast.
“What? What did you say?”
Sharin, who had heard Shin-ju’s mumble, slung her Actrazer over her shoulder and asked again.
Shin-ju didn’t answer, instead flipping through the Old Book.
His expression was deliberate.
A moment later, he uttered a single-word spell.
An incomprehensible language swirled from his lips.
*Crrrack—*
It was instantaneous.
An unseen, unknown power split the alien beast in half.
*Spsssshhh—*
Dark red blood spewed from the bisected creature.
Droplets of blood rained down like a sudden shower, drenching Shin-ju’s party and the pile of corpses.
Shin-ju began to walk, muttering to himself.
“They conduct bio-experiments on aliens somewhere else here, and then…”
He walked past Sharin and Katrin, continuing on.
“The failed subjects are fed to the alien beast bastards.”
Shin-ju passed Jekovic.
“The alien beasts grow fat eating the corpses, becoming the Planet Destroyer’s weapons to invade other planets.”
“And the survivors of the invasion are kidnapped to be used in new bio-experiments.”
Muttering, Shin-ju came to a sudden halt.
“And it repeats, over and over.”
The group watched the muttering Shin-ju in silence.
“I don’t know the purpose of the bio-experiments, but…”
Shin-ju turned and started walking back the way he came.
“When the test subjects kidnapped from various planets couldn’t last long and kept dying off endlessly…”
Over Shin-ju’s shoulder, Sharin and Katrin could be seen staring at him intently.
“They needed a hardier species, so they…”
*Thud.*
Shin-ju stopped in front of Sharin and Katrin.
“Changed their target and attacked Bluerobic.”
He raised his head to look at them.
His expression was dead serious.
“The Bluerobic planetarians, overflowing with superior and strong genes.”
Shin-ju continued to speak as he looked at them.
“They must have thought Bluerobic would somehow endure the horrific experiments…”
Jekovic, whose nosebleed had finally stopped, turned his head with an uneasy expression.
“Why…?”
“This case is to be investigated covertly.”
“Nothing good will come from this getting out. It has to be handled with absolute secrecy.”
“No, why…!! Ah…!!”
Jekovic started to object, but then his mouth fell open as if in realization.
Shin-ju looked at him, nodded, and said,
“Right. The moment this incident becomes known throughout the universe…”
Shin-ju paused for a moment before muttering.
“Then, and I’m not kidding, a universal war will break out against the Planet Destroyer. The planets connected to this incident will never stand by idly. And the species that dare to defy the Planet Destroyer…”
Shin-ju blinked a few times before continuing.
“…will face extinction.”
Jekovic finished his sentence for him, swallowing hard.
“Yes. Just like Bluerobic now…”
“Lady Katrin.”
Shin-ju called out to Katrin.
“Y-Yes!”
“Your memory ended here, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“You died once, Lady Katrin. During an experiment with a parasitic plant, no less.”
Katrin remained perfectly silent.
“You died and were thrown here… but ironically, the parasitic plant reacted much later and saved you, Lady Katrin. Because it needed you alive to survive.”
Shin-ju immediately changed the subject.
“You said you remember seeing Lady Furen here?”
“Yes… that’s correct.”
Katrin’s voice had grown quiet.
Shin-ju looked around at the pile of corpses.
“Is Lady Furen buried in there somewhere?”
Sharin, unable to hold back, stepped forward.
She expressed her fury at how he’d so casually accepted Furen’s death as a fact.
“What are you trying to say?!”
Shin-ju stared at Sharin with a cold expression for a moment without saying a word.
“We are police officers, Lady Sharin.”
“So what about it?!”
“We have a duty to investigate this case. From now on, we will be digging through that pile of corpses to conduct a proper investigation.”
From a distance, Jekovic clutched his nose with a look of disgust.
“Ugh…”
“Lady Sharin.”
Shin-ju stared intently at Sharin.
Then he continued.
“Do you truly have the courage to face the bodies of your Bluerobic comrades?”
A vein throbbed on her face.
“If I have to… I’ll endure it…”
Sharin barely managed to speak.
Her expression grew darker and darker.
The horrors of war flashed through her mind like a panorama.
Bluerobic, devastated by war.
The rivers and sky, stained crimson with blood.
The images of her comrades being torn apart by alien beasts.
The clearly visible sinews in a tattered, dangling forearm.
A person with a mangled face, another dead with their stomach burst open.
Countless arms reaching toward the sky.
Sharin remembered the red flowers blooming in the fields she had seen while evacuating the wounded.
They were the blood-soaked bodies of children.
Hundreds of corpses lay before her eyes.
There were too many to bury, and no tears would come.
The face of a young Elf, speaking of her dead children as if they were still alive, flickered in her memory.
Meanwhile, Shin-ju watched her face intently before shaking his head.
The shadow of pain and anger from losing her precious ones was slowly creeping over her face.
Hidden deep in her heart was an unbearable terror and fear of death.
Shin-ju’s expression turned cold.
He continued the conversation calmly.
“No. I saw you lose your composure earlier, screaming Lady Furen’s name.”
Shin-ju lowered his head.
“I was quite worried.”
He then slowly raised his head to look at Sharin.
“Worried that a fiery temper like yours, Lady Sharin, might be the very thing that tightens the noose around our necks.”
Sharin’s eyes widened.
Shin-ju paid it no mind and nodded, continuing to speak.
His tone began to shift slightly.
“A temper like yours was something Ms. Enri was also very concerned about.”
Shin-ju took a step closer to Sharin.
Sharin was glaring at him.
“I’ll ask you one more time.”
Shin-ju spoke nonchalantly, as if her glare meant nothing to him.
“Can you truly maintain your composure when faced with the gruesome sight of your comrades, who suffered through horrific bio-experiments?”
“…Why do you keep repeating the same thing?”
Sharin growled, glaring at Shin-ju with displeasure.
Shin-ju, however, was looking at her with a slightly pained expression.
He was genuinely worried about her.
“Because I want to properly confirm your resolve.”
A strange tension filled the air between Shin-ju and Sharin.
“If you scream again, or cause a commotion, or if any of your words or actions from this point on interfere with my and Jekovic’s work…”
Shin-ju paused for a moment before continuing.
“Forget finding Lady Furen, I will arrest you first for obstruction of official duties.”
“You’ll… arrest me…?”
“Yep. If you prove to be of no help, I’m also prepared to tie you up, subdue you, and leave you behind.”
Shin-ju nodded as he replied.
“To be blunt, Lady Sharin, your personality is of no help to our work. It’s like a belligerent drunk making a scene, you could say.”
Jekovic covered his mouth.
Katrin, who had been watching nervously, decided she had to step in.
“Mr. Park Shin-ju! That’s incredibly rude, no matter the situation!”
“She’s right. It is rude.”
Sharin stopped Katrin and stepped forward herself.
“Hoo… haah…”
Sharin’s face was turning red and blue, on the verge of exploding.
Her hand was gripping the Actrazer tightly.
Meanwhile, Shin-ju simply crossed his arms and watched her with a placid expression.
“Hey, Park Shin-ju. You seem to have a lot you want to say to me, don’t you…?”
Sharin managed to calm herself enough to speak.
“Yes. Well, there’s plenty I could say.”
Shin-ju uncrossed his arms.
As he opened them, the Old Book flew into his grasp.
“If words don’t work, I’ll have no choice but to use force.”
Sharin let out a dry laugh and lowered her head.
Katrin and Jekovic, on the other hand, were looking at Shin-ju with expressions of utter confusion.
When Sharin finally lifted her head, a blue phosphorescent light flashed in her eyes.
Then, her mouth opened wide.
“This is interesting!”