novelraw Chapter 52
Chapter 52
Chapter 52
“Ha ha, I understand why you’d be surprised. Of course, since this is Mercato, which is practically the heart of the Free Planet Alliance, there are plenty of black markets. However, the black market operated by our Geum Young Group is different in quality.”
He let Minsu’s excited explanations go in one ear and out the other.
No matter how he thought about it, the name didn’t suit him.
Even if his outward appearance was lean, he was still a half-elf, so he was fairly decent-looking, but his name was Minsu, so it felt rather…….
Having gone that far in his thoughts, Jin Crow soon lost interest. Leaving behind the blaring music and the people absorbed in hawking their wares while wearing LED masks plastered with all kinds of bizarre expressions, he quietly mulled over the Free Planet Alliance.
‘The only city-class planet commonly spoken of in the Free Planet Alliance is Mercato.’
Of course, as it was called the Free Planet Alliance, it did have subordinate planets.
It was just that those planets themselves were steeped in factories or slums, so unless one was part of the underclass, one wouldn’t even dare to enter.
Concentrating all wealth in the capital star Mercato and cramming every undesirable facility needed to sustain the wealth of each planet into the others.
As expected of bastards soaked in capitalism, a culture that valued efficiency had created this deformed structure.
It was a country founded by people who had fled their respective planets in search of freedom, and on top of that, criminals and fugitives were mixed in.
The word “normal” could only sound ridiculous.
‘The council and the Public Security Bureau exist in name only.’
The ones who truly held power were five forces.
No, three corporations, one family, and one union.
And they ran this gold-adorned planet through an organization called the committee, or the owners’ meeting.
Mer Corporation.
Geum Young Group.
Interstellar Transport Union (ITU).
Genorua Family.
Carpe Diem Entertainment (CD Entertainment).
‘No matter how much it’s a novel, this is a bit too much.’
Mer, which had military supply contracts and all kinds of heavy industry in its grasp.
Geum Young, which held services and light industry.
The transport union that put forward the rights of rank-and-file laborers.
The mafia that oversaw shadow industries that couldn’t be brought into the open.
A major entertainment agency that blocked the eyes and ears of the citizens.
Each of them firmly grasped their specialized fields, acting like crocodiles and plovers cleaning each other’s teeth, sharing the profits and completing a massive, planet-scale cartel.
Some might feel a sense of doubt.
No matter what, the population holding citizenship alone reached as many as one hundred billion—wasn’t it strange that other people would just stand by and watch only five forces divvy up the vested interests?
The answer was simple.
‘The capability and justification to crush any opposing forces.’
The Free Planet Alliance had neither a defense force nor a national army.
More precisely, it had them until the Second Galactic War, but the council’s puppets, unable to withstand the committee’s pressure and bribes, neatly gave them up.
Were there any other places for soldiers who lost their jobs overnight to go?
Personnel from the military flowed en masse into the armed groups of each faction that had already been acting as de facto defense forces, and as a result, all the forces that had been sprouting sporadically within the Free Planet Alliance in pursuit of vested interests were crushed and uprooted.
‘……That’s everything I know.’
To be honest, in the original work, Galaxy Chronicle, there weren’t that many instances where the Free Planet Alliance and Baek Hwi-young were intertwined.
Rather, it was more often the Empire.
“So, what kind of awakening drugs are you looking for? I may look like this, but I have a lot of soldier friends around me, and I also know many types…….”
When he lifted his head from the swamp of his thoughts, Minsu’s voice, which had been talking nonstop even while being half-heard and half-ignored, reached his ears again.
“Hm, could you recommend a few?”
“Of course. Let’s see……. Ah! In my opinion…….”
The awakening drugs he had to buy were already decided.
Because of that, Jin Crow continued his train of thought, leaving behind Minsu, who had started chattering excitedly once more.
‘Awakening drugs. And soldiers.’
At first, when they mentioned awakening drugs, he had thought, ‘Is there something wrong with my physical condition?’ but surprisingly, after cooling his head and thinking it over, it wasn’t that strange.
Wasn’t it an unexpectedly well-founded combination?
In the Maya era, the military supplied coca leaves to chew, and in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Gan Ning led a hundred Spartans drunk on alcohol to plant an attack marker on Wei.
The Adolf who killed Hitler, Mr. Gallipoli, and even America’s unprecedented emperor FDR all made liberal use of such things, so what more needed to be said?
This wasn’t a matter of good or evil.
Unless putting on a uniform suddenly turned one into Captain America, soldiers were still human, and as such, they always felt the fear of death.
‘All the more so now, when fighting in space?’
The population was so large that it might not be felt, but in a single war, deaths numbered in the hundreds of millions.
If a ship ran aground or its functions stopped, it exploded on the spot, and if one launched an assault on the ground, trench warfare from a bygone era awaited.
And that wasn’t all.
The superhumans called special service officers of the Human Composite State and knights of the Empire slaughtered hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands single-handedly.
Wouldn’t it be strange to endure that with a clear mind?
That was why awakening drugs were a friend to soldiers.
And as the saying went, wasn’t a friend who tempted you to do bad things more endearing than one who spoke only upright words and tried to lead you?
“Um, are you listening?”
“It was an impressive recommendation. Especially the ending—it was moving.”
“Ah, yes. Haha…….”
The secretary’s words snapped him back to his senses.
Leaving behind the awkward smile for some reason, he briefly swept his gaze once more over the black market’s panorama, which he had only half-heartedly taken in while lost in other thoughts.
“Now then, an android with its personality erased for only 500,000 dollars! Cheap, cheap!”
“High-quality Shanglü wine smuggled from the Empire! Buy a box and get a 10% discount!”
“Hehe. Sir, if we sell it like this, there’s barely any profit…….”
Just like his first impression, even though it looked like a lawless zone, there was an order of its own.
The beggars he had seen on the platform were nowhere to be found, and the merchants wearing their respective symbolic masks also engaged in hawking, but only just barely holding people back without crossing the line.
Of course, that didn’t mean the goods they sold were legal.
“…….”
Jin Crow stared for a moment at the secretary standing beside him, then spoke while looking at a signboard glittering with what was obviously Chinese characters and a noodle illustration.
“What’s that?”
“Ah, that’s the restaurant district. Are you hungry?”
“A little.”
“Then I’ll hurry and go place an order! Please follow me!”
The sight of him running off while flailing his long limbs was rather amusing.
Jin Crow watched that back for a moment, and once it had moved a fair distance away, he immediately turned his body and began to scan through the awakening drug shops he had seen so far, one by one.
‘There’s no need to drag surveillance along.’
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason.
He talked too much.
Already exhausted by cadets who did nothing but cause trouble, the lively chatter of a young man wasn’t particularly welcome to him.
After walking for several minutes with such thoughts,
he approached a woman wearing an LED mask modeled after a stuffed doll, with a figure that looked like it had made no small number of men cry at a glance, and spoke.
“I want to look at awakening drugs.”
“Hm? You’re a first-time oppa I’ve never seen before. Then I should give you a good price. Here, this one’s called Corpin. Special price, one bundle for 1,000,000 dollars……. Huh? Where are you going? Hey!”
Jin Crow turned his body without hesitation.
It wasn’t that he knew the price.
Rather, should he say he had no intention of buying in the first place?
‘One million dollars……. I should call it around 300,000.’
By definition, getting ripped off starts at at least double.
Then the regular price would probably be 500,000 dollars.
On top of that, wearing such a blatant outfit and clinging familiarly to men was basically a declaration of intent to openly fleece a sucker, wasn’t it?
There was no need to go far.
As he walked along the street, he had seen the same act carried out several times, just with the genders reversed.
“You’re looking for awakening drugs? Let’s see. Our goods are smuggled from the Human Composite State, so they’re a bit pricey. No matter what, at least 1,500,000 dollars…….”
“300,000.”
“Hey, that’s a bit much. Then I’ll take a loss just this once and do 1,200,000…….”
“300,000.”
“……Hey, brother. Do you think it’s easy to get stuff like this anywhere? Fine, I won’t treat you like a sucker, so let’s agree on 900,000.”
“300,000.”
“You vicious bastard. 750,000.”
“300,000.”
“600,000. If you’re not buying, get lost.”
This wasn’t bad.
Trying to cut it any further would only provoke resentment.
Watching the miracle of 900,000 being shaved off in an instant, Jin Crow was able to purchase several awakening drugs that superhumans often used in the original work, feeling quite satisfied.
However, since it was obvious their effects wouldn’t measure up to Pentacle, he also asked about Pentacle.
“Pentacle? Hah, you’re a crazy bastard. Why would I sell that?”
The hulking merchant, who looked thoroughly displeased after losing 900,000 dollars in a flash, shoved an electronic cigarette into the mouth part of his mask and replied curtly.
He seemed quite bitter about it.
Because of that, Jin Crow silently added another 50,000 dollars, and after confirming it, the guy rubbed his hands together as if he’d never been surly at all and spoke.
“Well, you see. Pentacle is, you know, extremely dangerous. I hear that if an ordinary person who hasn’t undergone any procedures injects it, their nerves and brain melt the instant it goes in. On top of that, it’s hard to get and doesn’t sell well……. Hehe.”
It was an explanation that made enough sense.
After all, even the awakening drugs he had bought as a stopgap only activated drug-induced frenzy for about ten minutes, yet they were considered quite potent.
So how powerful would a stim pack meant for superhumans be?
While continuing to rub his palms, the man clearly giving off a look of ‘pay up if you want to hear more,’ Jin Crow once again held out 50,000 dollars. Sure enough, like a merchant who truly belonged in the black market, he began to spill out exactly the information desired, smoothly and without hesitation.
“There’s a senior in our line of work who’s basically a legend. If you go to that person’s pharmacy, they might have it. I can share the location to your watch…….”
As expected of a planet where people who had sold their souls to money gathered, the guy provided service commensurate with what he was paid.
He liked that.
As a result, following the map the guy shared, Jin Crow passed through the winding alleys of the black market and arrived at a shabby pharmacy.
「Hansarang Pharmacy」
“……Did their sense of naming get taken away as the price for selling their soul to money?”
Minsu aside, there didn’t seem to be anything normal around here.
Maybe that was only natural.
Since the author of Galaxy Chronicle was Korean, perhaps they had hidden this kind of thing as a form of humor.
With those thoughts, he opened the door to the pharmacy.
“Hmm?”
What came into view was quite peculiar.
“Who might you be?”
Snow-white hair.
A plague doctor mask worn on the face.
And a long smoking pipe stuck diagonally into its beak, along with a white lab coat that didn’t match at all.
As Jin Crow looked at the old man, unsure where to even begin picking at the absurdity, the man lightly clicked his tongue and muttered something incomprehensible.
“Tsk. A customer is a customer, but it seems you’re a night customer.”
The old man immediately slipped a hand into his doctor’s coat, then pulled out with one hand a rough-looking gun reminiscent of a Thompson submachine gun and aimed it at Jin Crow.
“Don’t worry. I’m good at solving puzzles, so at least half of your corpse should be able to return to your bereaved family.”
After blinking for a moment, Jin Crow immediately raised both hands and said,
“I’m a customer, old man.”
Naturally, there was no way the words would come out politely, though.