Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: The Superstar's Dilemma (2)
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Shin-ju looked at Enri and answered.
“Yes. Apparently, all the sound files for the new title track of her upcoming full-length album have vanished.”
Enri thought for a moment before adding.
“Hmm… Could she have deleted them by mistake…?”
“Ah, from what I hear, the sound files were being managed directly by the idol management company. And since they can’t be recovered, it seems more likely that someone hacked in and stole them rather than them being deleted.”
Enri nodded in understanding.
“Then the Special Theft Division and the Cyber Crime Division will have to form a temporary investigation team, won’t they?”
“They would, but…”
Shin-ju glanced around the U.C.I.D. interior.
The building felt desolate, as if everyone was out in the field.
“It seems both departments are extremely busy because of the spaceship theft incident, the one that crash-landed on the moon.”
Enri followed Shin-ju’s gaze, taking in the atmosphere of the building.
“What? The Cyber Crime Division, too?”
“Yes. The case reported to those two departments yesterday was an incident where someone hacked a spaceship and remotely piloted it to their location.”
“Ah…”
Enri’s face hardened slightly as understanding dawned, and she lifted her head.
In short, it was a spaceship theft carried out via hacking.
“So that’s why everyone’s on a business trip to the moon.”
Enri looked at Tibee-ra, who was sitting quietly and listening to the officers, and gently extended a hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Tibee-ra. I’m Enri Tankobichi of the U.C.I.D. Special Investigations Division. I’m also from Hisnia on Bluerobic.”
At the mention of Bluerobic, Tibee-ra’s eyes widened slightly.
Only then did her blue eyes begin to study Enri’s face carefully.
Tibee-ra’s expression momentarily brightened before settling back into a gentle smile.
“Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you, too. I never expected to meet someone from my homeworld here. You… also made it to Earth safely.”
Enri was momentarily at a loss for words at the qualifier ‘safely.’
Though neither showed it, they were both undeniably refugees living in a foreign land, the pain of war buried deep within them.
Noticing their shared history, Shin-ju quickly changed the subject.
“Did you come here by yourself? Did your manager or any other staff not come with you?”
Tibee-ra answered, her voice dejected.
“Ah… I don’t have a manager. I get around on my own.”
“Ah, I see. Understood.”
Shin-ju nodded as if he understood.
He didn’t show it, but he couldn’t completely believe her words.
A globally recognized superstar without a manager? Unlikely.
“Right. So, when is the release date for the track?”
“Exactly one month from now.”
“Not much time left.”
Shin-ju signaled to Enri with his eyes, ready to begin the investigation in earnest.
He figured it might be more comfortable for both of them if the investigation was conducted by someone from the same homeworld.
He also wanted to give Enri an opportunity to speak with a fellow native.
“Please explain the circumstances of how you discovered the sound files were missing in detail to Private First Class Enri here.”
Steam rose from a white mug.
Enri blew on her coffee as she approached Tibee-ra, who was sitting in the waiting room.
Tibee-ra accepted the coffee cup with a word of thanks.
Tibee-ra and Enri sat facing each other in the interrogation room.
Enri took a sip of her coffee and began to speak.
A recorder was placed on the desk.
Tibee-ra spoke first, as if to lighten the mood, expressing her delight.
“Ms. Enri, I heard you’re from the famous Tankobichi family? It makes sense that you’re a police officer. I’m from Sinsnature.”
“Haha, yes, I know of it. A region with beautiful seas. I hear it’s about a two-night, three-day trip from Hisnia.”
“I wanted to visit Hisnia, too… but I ended up coming to Earth first.”
Enri responded with a compliment, smoothly continuing the conversation.
“Haha, I know. It couldn't have been easy for you to adapt after coming to Earth so suddenly… To think you’d become an idol loved not just in Korea, but all over the world. On our homeworld, any result is the highest honor and a source of pride, as long as it brings fame.”
Tibee-ra blushed at her words, and Enri continued.
“On Earth, there’s a saying: ‘He who wishes to wear the crown must bear its weight.’ It can’t be easy living as a famous celebrity…”
Tibee-ra lowered her gaze, let out a short breath, and replied.
“No. After my sound files disappeared, I found myself thinking about a lot of things.”
Enri nodded silently.
It occurred to her that this could be the work of people who disapproved of Tibee-ra’s popularity.
Of course, the possibility that another entertainment agency had orchestrated this to check Tibee-ra’s rise couldn’t be ruled out.
“You originally intended to report this to our Cyber Crime Division, correct?”
“Yes, of course.”
Enri quietly sipped her coffee.
Cybercrimes involving hacking like this usually took a significant amount of time to investigate, as they required combing through extensive servers.
But the U.C.I.D. Cyber Crime Division had an ace named ‘Bid908.’
He was a top-tier specialist who could swiftly piece together information using the vast database he had personally compiled over the years and uncover the truth of a case in a short amount of time.
As she drank her coffee, Enri found herself wishing her colleague on the moon would return from his assignment soon.
Enri straightened her posture and began to listen to Tibee-ra’s story in earnest.
From what she heard, despite her immense popularity, Tibee-ra was not an idol managed by an agency.
For this album, too, she had only signed a temporary music contract with an agency called ‘Blind’; she wasn’t exclusively tied to them.
Enri thought the agency was quite heartless.
It was their company’s name on the release, after all. Weren’t they being too indifferent, leaving Tibee-ra to fend for herself?
But a part of her also understood.
The reason the agency was being so cautious was undoubtedly because of the misstatement Tibee-ra had made on a YouTube channel three months ago.
The culprit had likely seized upon Tibee-ra’s mistake, thinking it was the perfect opportunity to trip her up.
“The person who stole the sound files is likely someone who knows you well, Ms. Tibee-ra. Please tell me about any acquaintances you’ve met recently, or… anyone you’ve crossed paths with at all.”
Tibee-ra pursed her lips, deep in thought for a long moment, then smiled sadly.
“On this planet… I don’t have any connections that would harbor such a grudge…”
Tibee-ra looked down, her fingers tracing the rim of her mug.
Enri watched her quietly for a moment before speaking again, cautiously.
“It doesn’t have to be a close acquaintance. Perhaps a fellow celebrity you met during your career…”
“Um… Hmmm…”
Tibee-ra kept tilting her head, trying to think of anyone who might want to harm her, but it seemed no one came to mind.
Then, suddenly, her expression changed subtly. She looked up at Enri and hesitated.
“Could… something like this be relevant?”
Enri, who had been lifting her coffee cup, noticed the loaded tone in Tibee-ra’s voice and set the cup back down.
“Yes! Have you remembered something?”
Inside the office of the U.C.I.D. Seoul Central Division’s Special Investigations team.
Shin-ju was at his desk, watching videos from YouTubers known as ‘cyber wreckers.’
He scrolled through the internet, listening to the voices of the YouTubers as they spewed their takes on ‘Tibee-ra’s’ statement.
The comment section was a veritable colosseum of thousands of malicious comments and supportive statements all mixed together, a battle devoid of any substance.
On the other hand, the content of the YouTube videos and the comments weren’t entirely false.
They were just riddled with sensationalized exaggerations and distorted facts, all for the sake of sucking up views and subscribers.
“‘On the planet she lived on, while the women fought on the battlefield, the men sat at the dinner table only thinking about filling their own bowls.’ What kind of outrageous remark is this!”
The cyber wrecker’s voice echoed in Shin-ju’s ears.
In truth, the nuance of his words was very different from what Tibee-ra had actually said.
Shin-ju continued to scroll.
“The female and male Elves of the Sinsnature region on planet Bluerobic cooperate and venture into the forest to hunt, but the male Elves tend to finish their hunts sooner and return home first. Because of this, they also have to take on the housework, which is a headache for them.”
It was a statement meant to convey sympathy, that the men must have it tough, having to both hunt and do housework.
But the media didn't report it as it was.
Looking at the provocative thumbnails featuring Tibee-ra’s face, Shin-ju recalled the first alien he had met from Bluerobic.
The woman he met before the term ‘Elf’ was attached to her was not the fresh-faced beauty with a firm, slender body honed by exercise that she was now, but closer to a powerful warrior who had walked a path of carnage.
Her dark eyebrows and sharp, gleaming eyes gave off an intense impression, as if she were ready to march into battle at any moment.
The day he first met the female warrior from the city of Hisnia on planet Bluerobic was the day Shin-ju first met and spoke with Enri Tankobichi.
Faced with a beauty with hair that was nearly blue and pointed ears, Shin-ju taught her the Earth greeting of a ‘handshake.’
To convey a warm welcome, he offered his left hand, the one closest to the heart.
Fortunately, she seemed to like the greeting.
Shin-ju introduced himself, stumbling through his clumsy Bluerobic, and she smiled gently upon seeing an alien who knew her native language.
The warrior introduced herself as ‘Enri Tankobichi’ and told Shin-ju the name of her race.
But Shin-ju couldn’t mimic the pronunciation of the racial name.
In the end, he asked for Enri’s understanding and inquired if it was alright to refer to the Bluerobicians as ‘Elves’ by Earth standards.
Enri tilted her head.
[Elves…? What does Elf mean?]
[Ah, it’s not that it has a specific meaning, but rather it’s a word that refers to a fictional race that appears in Earth’s literary works.]
Shin-ju searched for an image of an Elf on his smartphone and showed it to Enri.
Enri took the smartphone, marveling at it as she turned it over and over before peering at the screen.
Then, her expression suddenly grew quite serious, and she seemed lost in thought for a moment.
[Hmm… They certainly do resemble us a lot.]
Shin-ju tilted his head.
For some reason, her pensive look bothered him.
[Ms. Enri, are you alright?]
At Shin-ju’s concern, Enri quickly broke into a bright smile and replied.
[Yes, I’m fine. If you’re uncomfortable, you can call us Elves. Please, do as you wish.]
Enri returned the smartphone to Shin-ju, thinking.
Perhaps their ancestors had visited Earth before them.
[Yes, thank you. Ah, and…]
Suddenly, Shin-ju took a glasses case out of his inner pocket.
He opened the case and showed Enri the object inside.
Enri looked down at the round object with curious eyes.
[Oh, what is this?]
[Ah, this is a thing called ‘glasses’… I heard your eyesight worsened because of the flash of light when you crash-landed on Earth.]
Shin-ju unfolded the temples of the glasses and moved closer to Enri.
Enri flinched slightly but, realizing Shin-ju meant no harm, stood still.
[If you hang this object on your ears like this and rest it on the bridge of your nose like so…]
Presently, the face of a cute woman wearing round glasses appeared before Shin-ju’s eyes.
As her vision suddenly cleared, Enri’s eyes went wide with amazement.
[Ooh! I can see clearly now!]
Shin-ju felt a sense of satisfaction at Enri’s reaction and replied with a smile.
[Haha, yes. That’s what they do.]
Receiving such an unexpected and meaningful gift from a kind-hearted alien in this distant foreign land, Enri beamed and expressed her gratitude in her native tongue.
[Thank you!!]
Shin-ju was abruptly pulled back to the present.
He had been reminiscing about his first meeting with Enri, but now he refocused and stared at the monitor.
Spread across the monitor were articles about the people of Bluerobic and Tibee-ra.
While it was true that female Elves on Bluerobic played a central role in hunting, it wasn’t as if the male Elves didn’t hunt at all.
It was simply a division of labor: male Elves handled the large, strong, giant beasts, while female Elves took care of the fast and agile ones.
Since the agile beasts were relatively harder to catch, the female Elves spent more time out in the hunting grounds.
That was why the male Elves, finishing their hunts sooner, returned home and also took on the housework.
Whether this was simply a case of misreporting.
Or if there had been some kind of political pressure.
There was no way to know the exact background, but that article about Tibee-ra’s remarks had a tremendous impact on her career as a celebrity.
Shin-ju finally nodded.
“Now I know why she doesn’t have a manager.”
Just as he was concentrating, Shin-ju’s phone rang.
He glanced at it out of the corner of his eye.
The words ‘Restricted Number’ were displayed on the screen.
His eyes narrowing, Shin-ju picked up the phone with a sense of unease.
He remained silent for a moment before speaking.
- Hey!
- Hey! Park Shin-ju?
A crass woman’s voice came through.
- Yo, yo, Hyde! You sure this translator is workin’ right?
The voice grew distant for a moment, then came closer again.
- Hey, Park Shin-ju! You still kickin’?!
Shin-ju kept his mouth firmly shut.
His tightly closed lips betrayed his mood.
The owner of the voice was ‘Sara,’ the captain of the Shark Tooth Pirates.
Her pirate crew was a criminal organization that primarily made a living through human trafficking.
They had once tried to kidnap people and sell them at a space auction, only to be soundly defeated by Shin-ju and kicked off Earth.
Shin-ju threw out a single, concise phrase.
“I’m hanging up, Sara.”
- Whoa, hey, hey, hold on! We’ve got the Bluerobic refugees who crash-landed on the moon with us right now, you know?
“……?”
Shin-ju’s eyebrow twitched.
A heavy silence fell for a moment.
Shin-ju couldn’t believe his ears.
He was sure he must have misheard.
As Shin-ju remained silent, Sara screamed into his ear.
- The Bluerobic refugees!!! We have them with us right now!!
Shin-ju’s eyes widened.
“…What did you say?”