Chapter 369
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 369
Chapter Title: The Black Star Constellation (5)
“Hmm? Hahahaha! Don't be alarmed, everyone! Koshiro and Yoko aren't blood siblings!”
“What?”
What was that supposed to mean?
As I watched him with a questioning gaze, Sakaki grinned.
“There's a bit of a story behind it. They're not related by blood, but they were raised as siblings from a young age.”
“Is that so.”
I didn't bother prying into this "story."
It would be useless to know, and this wasn't the time to worry about such things.
Right now, there was only one thing Oh-jin had to do.
“…What? Seducing him?”
“Hmph.”
Ha-eun's shoulders twitched.
She cleared her throat with an awkward expression.
“I-I didn't know it would be like this~”
“Haaah. Honestly…”
“Well, how was I not supposed to misunderstand when she said all she had was her body!”
Well.
To be fair, it was an expression ripe for misunderstanding.
“Let's go.”
“Ugh. Alright.”
Oh-jin's group boarded a vehicle prepared by the Kurōshi and headed for the coast where the Seahorse Constellation had first appeared.
The countryside, a long drive even after leaving the paved roads.
Following a road filled with nothing but sprawling rice paddies and the sound of insects, they arrived at a quiet fishing village.
“Ugh.”
Before getting out of the car, Ha-eun let out a low groan and squeezed her eyes shut.
A horde of monsters had appeared in a village of less than two hundred households.
Worse, they were led by a Black Star Constellation that had inherited the power of the Cheonma.
It wasn't hard to imagine the gruesome fate that would befall ordinary people, not even Awakeners, against a foe that would be difficult to fight even with a nation's military might.
“…Still, we have to go.”
Ha-eun took a deep breath and opened the car door.
Staying here wouldn't change anything anyway.
Just as the world doesn't disappear when you close your eyes, looking away because you don't want to see it won't change what has already happened.
“…….”
“…….”
Perhaps because everyone had anticipated the tragedy that must have befallen the village.
A heavy silence hung over Oh-jin's group as they got out of the car and walked toward the small fishing village.
Even Sakaki and Koshiro, who usually loved to chat boisterously, kept their mouths firmly shut at this moment.
And in the village they arrived at.
“Well now, where are you folks from? It's been a while since we've seen outsiders.”
An old man with tanned skin was looking at Oh-jin's group with a bewildered expression.
A basket in his hand, filled with flopping fish.
His deeply tanned skin and a sturdy body that was hard to believe belonged to an old man.
No matter how you looked at him, he was an ordinary fisherman living in the countryside.
“…Huh? What's this?”
Ha-eun looked around, bewildered.
A small fishing village reeking of the countryside.
Villagers could be seen peeking out from between old, shabby houses, as if curious about the outsiders visiting their village for the first time in a while.
Sakaki, who also hadn't expected this situation, approached the fisherman who was staring blankly in their direction.
“Ahem! We're from the Kurōshi…”
“Kurōshi? Heh heh, that's a funny name.”
“…You don't know of the Kurōshi?”
Sakaki's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the fisherman.
The Kurōshi?
Even if they started as a mere yakuza organization, with Sakaki and Koshiro rising as high-ranking Awakeners, weren't they now an organization with enough power and military might to practically rule Japan?
“Hmm? Are you famous folks? Heh heh. We're country people, so we don't know much about that…”
The old man shook his head, letting out a carefree laugh.
Oh-jin's group looked at each other and let out wry smiles.
“This is… a little different from what I expected.”
“It seems those Seahorse bastards didn't attack this village after all.”
Then what about the transport vehicle that had suddenly lost contact?
“I'd like to ask you something.”
“Well now. I don't know if an ignorant fella like me can answer.”
“Isn't there a vehicle that comes here every week?”
“Hmm? Ahh! So you're from that company, are you?”
The old man let out a short exclamation, then frowned and glared at Sakaki with a somewhat fierce look.
“What are we supposed to do when you don't show up for two days without a word? Huh? Do you know how many fish we caught went bad because of you?”
“…….”
“Anyway, it's your company's fault for being late without notice, so I better get the money we were promised!”
From the old man's words, it seemed the villagers also knew nothing about the vehicle that had lost contact.
Sakaki calmed the agitated old man and spoke with him calmly.
The information gathered from their short conversation was as follows.
1. The vehicle that regularly came every week to deliver necessary food and supplies and pick up fish had suddenly not shown up this week.
2. The person in charge wasn't answering their phone, and when they contacted the company, they were told they would look into it but had yet to receive a response.
3. For the past two days, they hadn't heard so much as the cry of a beast, let alone a monster.
“Hmm… then where the hell are those horse-headed bastards hiding?”
Ha-eun frowned as if her head was starting to hurt.
“We'll have to find that out now.”
“For now, I'll tell the villagers to evacuate.”
Sakaki took the lead, warning the villagers that they needed to leave this place immediately.
The villagers, who at first argued about leaving their homes, shut their mouths firmly when they saw the Kurōshi members pouring out of the cars.
Most of the villagers were simple folk who had lived their entire lives as fishermen; when a horde of yakuza in sharp black suits descended upon their village, they had no choice but to quietly obey.
“Oyabun! We've made contact with the transport company contracted with this village!”
“Good, have they located the vehicle that lost contact?”
“No. The company has also been searching for two days, but they couldn't get in touch, so they filed a missing person report.”
So, the missing person report from the company had made its way to the Kurōshi.
“Ugh. I have no idea where they're hiding.”
Sakaki scratched his buzz cut and frowned.
Oh-jin turned his head to Vega, who was sitting on his shoulder, and asked.
“Vega, do you feel any energy from the Black Star?”
[Hmm. I have been trying to search for it… but I don't feel any particularly unpleasant energy.]
“What about you, Lord Regulus…?”
[Ugh. I don't know either.]
Regulus, who had been standing stiffly on Lee Woo-hyeok's shoulder and sharply surveying the surroundings, sighed briefly and shook his head.
[Grrr! You insolent Seahorse bastard! Stop hiding like a rat and come out! Come out and face me, Aldebaran!]
Aldebaran kicked off Sakaki's shoulder, flew up, and shouted in a booming voice.
Naturally.
There was no reply.
‘Even if they're in artificial bodies, the fact that three Constellations can't sense the presence of a Black Star Constellation means one of two things.’
Either those bastards are far away from this area.
Or.
‘They've used a black screen.’
If they used the power of Heukcheon to hide their energy, they could conceal themselves from the eyes of the Constellations.
“Tsk.”
Oh-jin clicked his tongue lightly and turned his head toward Sakaki.
“Let's head to the coast where the video was first filmed.”
“Understood.”
Now that they knew the bastards hadn't attacked the village, there was nothing to be gained by lingering here.
Oh-jin's group got back in the car and headed for the coast where the first video had been taken.
The distance was about a 15-minute drive.
Considering it was an unpaved road difficult for vehicles to traverse, it wasn't a place far from the village.
“This is the place.”
“Right.”
Click.
After getting out of the car, Oh-jin activated Canes Venatici and surveyed the area.
On the muddy tidal flat, reminiscent of Korea's west coast, he could see wide footprints, as if someone wearing flippers had stepped there.
Squelch.
“Ugh, damn it. The mud comes up to my knees.”
Ha-eun, who had followed Oh-jin and stepped onto the tidal flat, scowled as she looked down at her leg, now submerged in mud.
If she had known the mud would be this deep, she would have brought boots, but she hadn't thought they'd end up walking on a tidal flat, so she hadn't had a chance to prepare.
“This is strange.”
Lee Woo-hyeok, who was examining the footprints beside Oh-jin, said with a frown.
“Strange how?”
“These footprints here. There's no sign of any attempt to hide or conceal them.”
Lee Woo-hyeok pointed to the clearly imprinted tracks.
Just as he said, they were bold footprints that showed no intention of being hidden.
Ha-eun, who had been listening quietly to Lee Woo-hyeok, crossed her arms and tilted her head.
“Well, is it that strange? Maybe there were just so damn many of them that they gave up on hiding their tracks?”
“No, if that were the case, they wouldn't be hiding themselves like they are now.”
If they never intended to hide their footprints in the first place.
Then hiding as quietly as a dead mouse right now wouldn't make any sense.
They hadn't even attacked the village just a few kilometers from here.
“…….”
A sticky, unpleasant feeling crawled up his spine.
Oh-jin narrowed his eyes, looking down at the mud that came up to his knees.
Just then.
‘Wait.’
He felt a strange sense of unease.
“…Mr. Sakaki. Can I see that video you filmed before one more time?”
Oh-jin, who had been silently observing the chaotically stamped monster tracks, turned his head toward Sakaki.
“Ah, of course.”
“Thank you.”
Taking the tablet from Sakaki, Oh-jin slowly re-examined the video.
A desolate coastline, empty of people.
A black fissure opening, horse-headed monsters pouring out.
And the Seahorse Constellation, Enceladus.
It was a video filmed from the exact same angle as where Oh-jin was now standing, just without the monsters and the Constellation.
But there was one thing.
One thing that was different from the video.
“Damn it.”
A harsh curse slipped through Oh-jin's lips.
“What is it?”
“It's gone.”
“Gone? What's…?”
“The tidal flat.”
The sticky tidal flat that sank your feet up to your knees.
But what the video showed was not a tidal flat, but a white, sandy beach.
To call it a difference in tides was impossible; the current time was barely thirty minutes different from when the video was filmed.
And then.
Ruuuumble!
The sticky mud began to churn like a wave.