Chapter 144
Chapter 144
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 144
Chapter Title: The Land Forsaken by the Stars (6)
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Kurosaki Sosuke.
Yuji's eyes, as he spoke the name, burned with a deep, seething hatred.
“You want me to kill Kurosaki Sosuke?”
“Yes! I’ll give you any help you need to make it happen!”
Yuji cried out, his voice desperate as he remained on his knees.
“I-I was sent to this branch after they said I was no longer useful... but I spent over a year developing the device that creates ‘nutrients’ right under him! There's a lot I can tell you!”
Ha-eun narrowed her eyes at his pitiful plea and asked.
“How can we trust you’re not just saying this to save your own skin?”
“I’m not trying to save my skin. You can take the information you need and kill me right here.”
There was no fear on his face as he calmly asked them to kill him.
Ha-eun sighed, a troubled expression on her face.
“Why are you so determined to kill Kurosaki Sosuke? Is it because he kidnapped and forced you to work for him?”
“No.”
Yuji bit his lip, looking as if he might burst into tears at any moment, and continued.
“I have... a younger sister.”
His remaining hand trembled.
“To keep me from trying anything funny, Sosuke kidnapped my sister and fed her the ‘Seahorse’s Poison’.”
“The Seahorse’s Poison?”
“It’s a poison that will kill you if you don’t drink a special water made by Sosuke himself once a week. He uses it on all his subordinates to ensure they can never betray him.”
“…Then you too?”
Yuji nodded, his expression hardening.
“Yes. I drank it three days ago... so I’ll be dead in four days.”
His tone was as dry as a barren wasteland as he spoke calmly of his own death.
“It doesn’t matter to me. Even if it wasn’t four days from now, I was fated to die here at your hands today anyway. But….”
*Squeeze.* He clenched his fist and continued in a trembling voice.
“Please... please save my sister! I’m sure Kurosaki has the antidote!”
*CRASH!*
He slammed his hand on the floor, his voice a desperate scream.
“My sister... Yoko has done nothing wrong! It’s, it’s all my fault! If I... if I hadn’t submitted that thesis to the academy…!”
“What thesis are you talking about?”
Sakaki, who had been listening with a grim face, asked.
“It was a thesis on how to artificially open a gate to a Sanctuary... in Japan.”
To artificially open a Sanctuary.
To rebuild the land forsaken by the stars.
For the people of Japan, who had been scorned, despised, and ignored by neighboring countries, could there have been any words more tempting?
“Th-there’s a way to do that?”
“Yes.”
Yuji nodded, his face shadowed with gloom.
“It's possible if you acquire a massive amount of elixirs and artificially create a dragon vein. Of course, it's a large-scale ritual requiring an absurd amount of materials and manpower, so the academy's reaction was poor, calling the thesis unrealistic...”
“But someone appeared who actually wants to do that unrealistic thing.”
“…Yes.”
“Then these ‘nutrients’...”
“They're a substitute for elixirs. It would be impossible even for the Seven Stars to acquire several tons of elixirs.”
Just as Yuji said.
Elixirs made from Sacred Stones, no matter how low their quality, were all traded at high prices.
Acquiring several tons of them was practically impossible.
Especially in Japan, a country whose national power had hit rock bottom, along with the derogatory title of 'the land forsaken by the stars', there was no way to procure them.
*‘So that’s why they created this device.’*
Oh-jin narrowed his eyes as he looked at the cylindrical tanks lining the basement.
He felt as if the metallic scent of blood was wafting from the tanks filled with clear water.
“…Crazy bastards.”
Ha-eun ground her teeth and kicked one of the tanks fiercely.
“Even so, does it make any sense to put a whole person in here and dissolve them?!”
Watching her explode with anger, Oh-jin gave a bitter smile.
Did she know that what they were doing wasn't all that different from what he did?
*‘I told her, so she must know.’*
But she was probably under the delusion that he was some kind of hero, choosing only to kill bad guys and taking their Stigmas like spoils of war.
*‘That’s not it at all.’*
If it was profitable, it didn't matter if they were bad or not.
The concepts of good and evil were subjective anyway.
The only reason he was targeting the Black Star Organization was that the power of the black stars they possessed was helpful in nurturing his Black Heaven.
*‘Well, if my dear sister wants to think of me that way.’*
Playing the hero.
It didn't seem so bad.
“So, what's this information you can give us?”
Oh-jin asked, stopping Ha-eun, who was kicking the tank with enough force to destroy it.
Yuji, who was still kneeling on the floor, hesitantly got to his feet.
“This way, please.”
He said, leading them into the control room.
The room, filled with large, complex machinery reminiscent of a boiler room, had a dozen monitors glowing.
“This man is the King of the Seahorse, Kurosaki Sosuke.”
A picture of a man appeared on one of the screens.
A middle-aged man with long, narrow snake-like eyes and prominent cheekbones.
A goatee on his philtrum was the finishing touch on his vile appearance.
“Kurosaki Sosuke….”
It was the first time the face of Kurosaki Sosuke, who had remained hidden behind a veil until now, was revealed.
Sakaki, staring intently at the photo, clenched his fist as if barely suppressing a surge of anger.
Thick veins bulged on the back of his massive hand.
“Oyabun. Isn't that him? The... the man who used to be a member of the Diet.”
“Hm? Now that you mention it….”
Sakaki, who had been swallowing his anger, widened his eyes as if he recognized the face.
Yuji nodded.
“Yes. That's right. Kurosaki Sosuke has a history of being a far-right politician.”
“So that's why he's so obsessed with creating a Sanctuary in Japan.”
Sakaki looked at Sosuke's picture with disdain.
Fools drunk on faded glory.
For them, the derogatory title of 'the land forsaken by the stars' must have been an unbearable shame.
“Hah. What a pathetic sight we've shown you.”
Sakaki let out a deep sigh and shook his head.
“So, where is he hiding now?”
“I don't know that much. He's always moving from one place to another.”
“Then is a single photo all the information you have on him?”
A mere photo wasn't enough to catch Kurosaki Sosuke.
Yuji calmly shook his head and continued.
“I don't know where he is, but I know a way to lure him out.”
“A way to lure him out?”
“As I said, Sosuke has built these facilities, called ‘Digestion Rooms,’ all over the city to kidnap Awakeners and open a Sanctuary in Japan.”
Yuji's explanation continued.
“I don't know the exact progress... but I'm sure he hasn't obtained enough ‘nutrients’ to open the Sanctuary yet. If the Digestion Rooms he's set up were to be destroyed in that state….”
“He'd have no choice but to show himself, is that it?”
“Yes.”
“But how do you plan on finding the locations of these Digestion Rooms?”
It had taken several months just to find a single branch.
With other organizations and guilds too afraid of the Black Star Organization to even offer support, destroying enough Digestion Rooms to thwart Sosuke's plan was next to impossible.
“I know the locations of the Digestion Rooms.”
“You do?”
“Yes. I was the one who developed this machine in the first place. I secretly embedded a code in each machine so I could confirm their locations.”
“…It's as if you've been preparing for this day all along.”
“That's right.”
Yuji nodded, his eyes gleaming fiercely.
He gripped the stump of his severed left arm, quietly unleashing his condensed rage.
“Ever since I was captured by that devil... I've been waiting for this day.”
“Hmm.”
Sakaki swallowed a groan, feeling the man's rage so vividly it was almost painful.
“Here are the locations of the Digestion Rooms. They won't be able to move this massive machinery in a short time, so if you move now, you should be able to find and destroy them before they can hide.”
The map Yuji presented showed the detailed locations of the Digestion Rooms.
There were five locations marked on the map.
Two of them matched the locations of the Seahorse faction's branches that Cheon Do-yoon had told him about.
“…Then.”
After handing the map to Sakaki, Yuji gave a faint smile, as if his mission was complete, and his shoulders slumped.
“Now, as promised, please kill me.”
“……”
“……”
A suffocating silence descended.
Yuji offered his neck to Sakaki with a self-deprecating smile.
“There's no need to hesitate. Even if I was threatened... I'm the one who created these horrible machines.”
Yuji sobbed, his clenched fist trembling.
“Every time I watched the captured Awakeners die here... I thought to myself. I thought that they must have had families they wanted to protect, just like me.”
Tears dripped down as he lowered his head.
“I'm... trash that doesn't deserve to live. Please. Kill... me.”
“…Do you have any regrets about this choice?”
“No. Ah, there's one last thing I'd like to ask….”
He looked up at Sakaki with that same self-deprecating smile.
“Could you... please make it painless, in one go? Haha, I know a guy like me doesn't deserve to die peacefully... but now that I'm actually facing death, it's a little scary.”
His shoulders could be seen trembling.
Yuji closed his eyes tightly, as if bracing for death.
“……”
Sakaki looked down at the man, his lips pressed into a firm line.
An intangible ripple of energy formed around the hand gripping his sword.
No matter how tragic his story, the man was still part of the group that had kidnapped and killed his family.
He knew better than anyone that he should never forgive him, but.
“Hoo. Koshiro, bring me the Yumehanashi.”
“Yes, Oyabun!”
Koshiro hurried out and returned with a white cord about the thickness of a finger.
The white cord was covered in intricate ritual markings.
“Tie it.”
Koshiro tightly tied the white cord around Yuji's forehead.
“This is….”
“Don't resist the magic flowing into you. Just accept it.”
Yuji swallowed dryly and nodded.
Soon, a blue light emanated from the cord around his head, and Yuji's eyes gradually glazed over.
The Yumehanashi's effect had activated, forcing him into a hypnotic state.
Confirming Yuji was completely hypnotized, Sakaki spoke quickly.
The Yumehanashi's effect only lasted for ten seconds.
A target who had been subjected to it once would develop a resistance, making it unusable again, so he had to confirm the truth in this one chance.
“There are no lies in what you've told me, correct?”
“Yes. It... is... all... true.”
Just like when Oh-jin used Domination on the Owls, Yuji stuttered his reply to Sakaki's question.
“Hah.”
Sakaki let out a deep sigh and scratched his short-cropped hair.
If it had all been a lie.
This heavy feeling wouldn't be crushing his chest.
“…Nothing in this world is ever easy.”
Sakaki gestured for Koshiro to untie the Yumehanashi from Yuji's forehead.
“…Yoko.”
Just before the Yumehanashi was removed.
A woman's name slipped from Yuji's lips.
It was the name of his sister, who had been captured by the Black Star Organization.
“I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Yoko….”
“……”
As the Yumehanashi was untied, Yuji collapsed as if fainting.
Sakaki silently lifted the collapsed Yuji into his arms.
“We're heading back.”
“Oyabun, that man….”
“We're taking him with us for now.”
“…Yes.”
Koshiro bowed his head and took Yuji from Sakaki.
“I'll tie him up in the annex.”
Koshiro went outside.
“You're not going to kill him?”
“…I'm thinking about it.”
Oh-jin watched Sakaki, who was lost in deep thought, and gave a small nod.
“I'll leave the choice to you, Mr. Sakaki.”
“Thank you. Ah, since they might run, I'm thinking of attacking the branches starting this evening. Is that all right with you?”
“Of course. I haven't done much this time anyway.”
“Haha. Thanks, Oh-jin.”
Sakaki laughed weakly and patted Oh-jin's shoulder.
His hand, which usually patted hard enough to hurt, was devoid of its usual strength.
After Sakaki also left.
“…Oh-jin, thinking back to that time with that Jang Seok-ho guy... you don't think his sister is... already.”
Ha-eun's voice trailed off, her eyes filled with sorrow.
“We don't know yet.”
“…You're right.”
*Grit.*
She ground her teeth, glaring at Kurosaki Sosuke's picture on the monitor.
“I thought those Owl bastards were sons of bitches, but these guys are on another level.”
“There are crazy people everywhere.”
“Let's just wipe them all out this time.”
Ha-eun, burning with fighting spirit, took out a cigarette and placed it in her mouth.
“Oh, by the way, Oh-jin, aren't you going to do that thing? You know, make him say what he said backward.”
“There's no need for that this time.”
“Right. They used that Yumehanashi thing anyway.”
Ha-eun took a deep drag from her lit cigarette.
“Then let's go smash these fucking Digestion Rooms.”
She flicked the finished cigarette butt into one of the water-filled tanks.
*FWOOSH!!*
Flames erupted, engulfing the Digestion Room that had claimed the lives of countless Awakeners.
“……”
Oh-jin watched the Digestion Room burn in silence before slowly turning away.
On his face as he turned was an unmistakably bitter expression.