Chapter 8
Chapter 8
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: The Shark Tooth Pirates (3)
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Whoooosh-
His face, with exhaust pipes running along it, resembled a gas mask.
Silverfire checked Shin-ju’s message.
He was flying the Graudis, the massive white spaceship he had first arrived on Earth in, circling various spots above the West Sea of Incheon.
Soon after, the Beherit, a colossal pirate spaceship shaped like a shark, came into view.
“Found it.”
A single crimson pirate ship floated above the dark blue sea.
Its color, mixed with the deep blue of the ocean, created an incredibly eerie atmosphere.
Clank-
Silverfire pulled a lever, his eyes fixed on the Beherit.
The Graudis swiftly flew toward the front of the shark-toothed Beherit.
Inside a container at the Incheon North Port multi-purpose pier.
Hyde, the genius hacker and 5th officer of the Shark Tooth Pirates, was meticulously scrutinizing the negotiation documents.
Shin-ju watched Hyde in silence.
For a pirate, he seemed surprisingly meticulous and serious, creating an unexplainable tension in the air.
However, the documents Hyde was reading were official negotiation papers used in formal settings, and there were no procedural issues, so there was no reason to be intimidated.
Shin-ju appreciated his cautiousness.
He wasn't the kind of talent one would expect to find in a pirate crew.
Shin-ju quietly rubbed his palms together, thinking.
*Alright, Silver should be arriving any minute now, and Hyde is away from his post…*
The Shark Tooth Pirates wouldn't be able to hack the Graudis and control it remotely.
Shin-ju pulled up a chair and spoke to Hyde, intending to keep him tied down for as long as possible.
“The United Cosmic Government is currently preparing the funds, so if you could just wait a little longer.”
Hyde ignored Shin-ju, his eyes glued to the negotiation documents.
Shin-ju watched him for a moment before speaking again.
“By the way, Mr. Hyde. You call yourself a genius hacker. How did someone like you end up working under Sara?”
Hyde paused slightly, still looking at the papers, before answering.
“Do I really need to tell you that?”
Shin-ju grinned.
“If you’re not planning on staying with the pirates for long, that is. How about we offer you a job with better terms?”
Only then did Hyde lift his head to look at Shin-ju.
Shin-ju remembered how Hyde had muttered complaints to himself when he first walked in.
[Damn it… Why does a genius hacker like me have to be here?]
This hacker was clearly unhappy with the pirate crew.
Then again, what engineer—human or alien—wouldn't complain about being sent to a negotiation?
Shin-ju looked at Hyde with confident eyes and made his proposal.
“Mr. Hyde, leave the pirate crew and come work with us.”
“Ha?”
Hyde let out a disbelieving smile at Shin-ju’s words.
Meanwhile, Silverfire shifted his posture as if he had spotted something.
Through the front window of the Graudis, he could see the gaping maw of the shark.
Inside its mouth, massive teeth jutted out menacingly.
Whirr- Clank.
Silverfire switched the Graudis to its autopilot system and transformed his mouth into a high-frequency loudspeaker.
A built-in sound system was now mounted on his face.
Silverfire went outside and walked up onto the hull of the Graudis.
Then, he began to yell at the top of his lungs.
“Listen up, Shark Tooth Pirates!!”
Silverfire’s voice boomed, echoing through every corner of the pirate ship.
The tremendous shout caused Sara, who was watching a Tibee-ra concert video in the captain's quarters, to fall off her bed.
Crash-
“Aaargh!!”
Silverfire looked up at the Beherit, placed his hands on his hips, and yelled even louder.
“Are you aware that you are illegally occupying the territorial waters of the Republic of Korea!”
Silverfire’s thick, mechanical voice thundered across the Incheon sea.
Having fallen from her bed, Sara staggered to her feet.
Her face contorted with rage.
“Ugh, what the hell! That crazy tin can!”
Sara knew Silverfire well.
The machine cop who, along with Shin-ju, had chased her off Earth in the past.
A tank among tanks, who had blocked countless of her attacks with his own body.
A troublesome hunk of metal that had caused her a great deal of difficulty.
With a displeased expression, Sara ordered a crew member to connect the loudspeaker and brought a small microphone to her lips.
“Hey! Tin head! Unlike last time, I have legitimate business on Earth! If you’re so suspicious, why don’t you try contacting that Park Shin-ju!!”
As if he hadn’t heard a word, Silverfire shouted again.
“Negotiations or not! This is not where you’re supposed to be!
You can communicate from space anyway, so leave Earth at once! Or wait on the moon!
If you ignore my warning, I will proceed with your arrest!”
Gnash-
Sara ground her teeth and yelled back, not to be outdone.
“One of our officers is meeting with Park Shin-ju right now!!”
Her sharp teeth were prominent every time she bellowed.
“We’ll get the hell out of here as soon as the negotiations are over, so just leave us alone!!”
Sensing he was getting a bite, Silverfire turned a dial on his mouth, adjusting the volume to its maximum.
His voice grew even louder.
“Shark Tooth Pirates! You are a systematically organized armed force and currently pose a significant threat to the national security of the Republic of Korea!
I will say it again! Leave Earth immediately! If you ignore three warnings, we will open fire!”
Sara writhed in frustration, as if she were about to lose her mind.
*That tin robot has gone completely insane.*
*Did he blow a fuse?*
*Don't those cops share information with each other?*
She couldn't comprehend Silverfire's actions at all.
“Wait… hold on…”
Silverfire wasn't the type to scream and shout like this.
The version of him she remembered from the past was a more formidable, heavier presence.
The epitome of a stoic cop who let his actions speak for him, never raising his decibels.
She suddenly realized Silverfire was up to something.
Come to think of it, he would have chased them away or arrested them long ago under normal circumstances…
“Those U.C.I.D. bastards… What are they plotting this time?”
The representative from the United Cosmic Government sat quietly between Shin-ju and Hyde, looking extremely nervous.
Hyde smiled at Shin-ju’s scouting offer, staring at him intently.
“Ha, seriously. Is this why you called me here?”
Shin-ju played innocent.
“Me? No! Didn’t Sara send you?”
Hyde had a sudden realization.
A feeling of being manipulated.
*Ah, this is a trap.*
Tap, tap, tap, tap-
Hyde suddenly began tapping his fingers on the table, a nervous habit that always appeared when he was tense.
“No way… our pirate crew…”
Shin-ju nodded slowly.
“Yes. It must be a truly difficult situation for them by now.”
Hyde’s eyes started darting around.
At the same time, Sara’s eyes were also darting around.
*Have we fallen into a trap?*
*Or are we about to?*
First, she couldn't fall for that tin head's provocation.
Sara switched the microphone channel so Silverfire couldn't hear and yelled to her officers and crew members inside the ship.
“U.C.I.D. is planning something again! Whatever you do, don’t react! Just stay put!”
Sara grew anxious.
*When the hell are these negotiations going to end?*
*We need to get the money and get out of here!*
Silverfire had already returned inside the Graudis and was calmly preparing to attack.
As a police officer, he had given them ample warning.
In any case, he now had sufficient justification to attack the pirate ship.
Silverfire opened a hatch and pressed a button firmly.
Suddenly, the interior space of the Graudis began to transform into a bizarre shape.
Silverfire, who was sitting in the cockpit, seemed to be absorbed into the spaceship's interior, vanishing from sight as he merged with the Graudis.
It was a sight akin to cell division, a repeated process of merging and separating.
The mechanical race from Silverfire’s home planet, Frontline, was made of a metal called ‘Shape-shifting Alloy,’ which allowed their bodies to transform fluidly.
Thus, every single component of their bodies could transform and combine freely, as if they were living organisms.
Finally.
Whirr- Clank!
A giant robot, a fusion of the spaceship and its pilot, revealed its form above the West Sea of Incheon.
Fwoooosh-
Flames erupted from the jet engines on its back wings.
Silverfire’s two eyes glowed red from within the robot’s face.
“Silvergrand, launch preparation complete!”
Silvergrand, the giant robot formed by the fusion of Silverfire and the Graudis, raised its arm.
Whirr- clank, clank.
Soon, Silvergrand’s right hand transformed into a menacing hook.
“Now, shall we do a little fishing?”
Silverfire began to twirl the hooked hand.
Gnash- Gnash-
The sound of Sara grinding her teeth echoed in the captain's quarters.
Her nerves were completely frayed.
The past trauma of getting her ass handed to her by Silverfire and Park Shin-ju after kidnapping the earthlings kicked in.
“Damn it! I’m such an idiot. I never should have sent Hyde out!! I should have just used force, win or lose!!”
Screeeech-!!
“Whoa!”
Suddenly, the ship lurched violently and began to tilt.
Sara barely managed to grab a table to steady herself.
“What now!”
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
A pirate officer burst into the captain's quarters.
A massive body made of rock.
Bed-O, the 1st officer of the Shark Tooth Pirates, shouted.
“Captain Sara! Silverfire has begun his attack!”
“Daaamn it!!!!”
Sara’s face crumpled in fury.
She looked up at the monitor to check the situation outside.
A giant hook was caught on the teeth of the pirate ship Beherit.
Following the line from the hook, she could see Silvergrand in the distance.
He was pulling on the hook's line, reeling it in as if he were fishing.
“Well now, let’s see how long you can hold out.”
Screeeeeech-
The Beherit began to be dragged toward Silvergrand.
Inside the captain's quarters, the ship shook violently as if in an earthquake.
The monitor showed Silvergrand slowly pulling the Beherit closer with its hook.
Sara put her mouth to the microphone and screamed.
“Hey! Hold your ground, no matter what!”
Dozens of crew members in the control room clung to the control levers, screaming.
Rocket thrusters emerged from both sides of the Beherit.
They began to blast fire in the opposite direction of Silvergrand.
Fwoooosh-
“Whoa!”
Even Silvergrand flinched at the unexpected resistance.
“Looks like they’ve upgraded to more powerful engines!”
To keep from being pulled toward the Beherit himself, he tightened his grip and moved the rocket thrusters on his shoulders forward.
Kwoooaaaaar-
Flames exploded from Silverfire’s rocket thrusters.
A desperate struggle to avoid being dragged by the other had begun.
The eyes of both Silvergrand and Sara glinted with a murderous light.
Screeeeeeeeech-
In the middle of the West Sea of Incheon, a tense tug-of-war between a ship and a mechanical giant unfolded.
Crash- Crash-
Rough waves collided and churned, creating whitecaps.
Far beyond the Incheon sea, a small spray of water rose.
A small lifeboat, marked with "U.C.I.D.," could be seen approaching the Beherit.
Aboard the lifeboat, Enri, wearing a police cap and fully armed, gripped the handle of the driver's seat.
Behind her glasses, the resolute eyes of a police officer flashed.