novelraw Chapter 54
Chapter 54
Chapter 54
“Uh, I’ll escort you myself……!”
“If you make me say it one more time, I’ll cut you down.”
“Have a safe trip! It was an honor to serve you!”
Leaving the secretary, who insisted on escorting him all the way to the hotel, behind, Jin Crow entered the hotel he had reserved in advance and briefly unpacked his things.
Of course, there wasn’t really much that could be called luggage.
A few changes of clothes, spare awakening drugs, and weapons—that was all.
“Phew.”
True to his belief that one should never skimp on where they sleep, smoke, or drink, the hotel Jin Crow had chosen had a fairly pleasant atmosphere.
Thanks to that, after sinking into the armchair placed in one corner of the room, he put a cigarette between his lips with practiced ease.
Sssup, hoo-.
Under the hotel’s characteristically soft lighting, the smoke he exhaled crumbled away as it vanished, and as he rolled the cigarette in his fingers, mulling things over, he undid the buttons of the black shirt he was wearing, feeling stifled.
“…….”
At that, the countless scars he had grown accustomed to now revealed themselves beneath the gentle light.
It felt like the suffocating feeling had eased considerably.
Of course, that didn’t mean he had forgotten the purpose that had brought him all the way to this distant planet.
‘Nectar.’
At first, he had lightly thought that if he simply wandered around the Black Market, he might catch at least a clue, but after checking the system with his own eyes, he became convinced that it wouldn’t be so easy.
‘It’s more orderly and regulated than I thought.’
Faces were hidden, and things illegal on other planets were rampant inside, but the system itself wasn’t much different from an ordinary shopping district elsewhere.
What did that mean?
It meant it wasn’t the perfectly lawless underworld he had imagined.
And if Nectar had been openly present in a place like this, wouldn’t it be strange that not a single related breadcrumb had appeared until the original work ended?
‘I didn’t think it would be easy to find, but this difficulty is on another level.’
Still, it hadn’t been a complete wasted trip.
It hadn’t been his aim, but he had at least somewhat resolved the ever-present problem of securing incomplete awakening drugs.
He also planned to dig up information about Nectar.
The Darknet. A place where all kinds of underworld information ran rampant.
“Shall I try connecting?”
He stubbed out the cigarette that had burned all the way down by grinding it into the ashtray, then put a fresh one in his mouth.
With his identity already exposed, there was no reason not to use the Darknet.
That might be different inside the academy, but.
At least at this point in time, it was quite an attractive option.
The moment he connected while thinking that, he couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.
“What kind of life did I even live?”
The Darknet logged him in automatically. The account with the nickname calmly listed as the initials J.C had a rank that was none other than—
……VIP.
The Free Planet Alliance was open to everyone, whether Imperial citizens or Composite State citizens, and even to criminals or fugitives with bounties on their heads.
“Yeah, honestly, what do nobles even do besides wage wars and collect taxes? Bastards. If it weren’t for the taxes we pay, they’d be the same damned wretches……. Isn’t that right?”
“Damn right. Money’s king.”
Imperial citizens were fascinated by a system where, as long as you had money, whether you were born a commoner or a noble, you could be equally wealthy—or equally impoverished.
“No military? Then how does a country defend itself?”
“What, companies take care of it themselves. Hey, check this out. It’s a new hologram drama that just came out…….”
Composite State citizens marveled at the free market and culture that had replaced militarism and mob rule.
“Hey, John, you’re wanted, right? What rank are you?”
“Rank 5. You?”
“Damn it. Small fry. This big brother here’s Rank 4.”
Criminals and fugitives who had drifted through the galaxy with anxious eyes found, at least for a time, comfortable beds and jobs in the Free Planet Alliance, and felt at ease.
No matter how much outsiders derided it as a corrupt cradle of money worshipers or a hell riddled with polarization, there was a reason the number of immigrants increased day by day.
“And our Committee are the ones who coordinate all of that.”
Even though the night sky had already grown thick with darkness, a white-haired boy spoke while looking down at the glittering cityscape beyond the glass window.
On the surface, he was nothing more than a rather handsome young boy, but his actions and gaze were anything but boyish.
“So we need respect and consideration for one another. However, it seems that one person who hasn’t arrived here yet holds a slightly different view.”
His gaze slowly swept over the men and women seated around the round table.
At that, without a word, they either avoided the boy’s eyes or simply took a sip of the whiskey placed on the table.
Of course, that alone was nowhere near enough to ease the boy’s displeasure, and just as he was about to say something more—
“Chairman.”
A female secretary who had been standing in one corner approached him quickly, bowed, and whispered something, and after hearing her words, the boy soon nodded in response.
“Understood. I’ll wait.”
The boy, who had been standing by the window, turned back and sat down once more at the seat of honor at the round table.
Of course, it was common knowledge that a round table, by nature, had no seat of honor, but that was nothing more than a formality granted by those above to those below.
Behind where the boy sat, the words ‘Mer Corporation’ engraved in gold made it easy to guess whose seat it was.
Just how long had that suffocating silence continued?
Creeeak-.
The massive doors on the very top floor of Mer Tower—specifically, the highest floor where the ‘Committee’ convened—opened, and two men entered.
Their impressions were starkly different.
The man in front was a pure-blood human with bold features and a large build, while the man standing one step behind him was, at a glance, slender—a half-human, half-elf.
“We’re a bit late. My apologies.”
The man in front bowed his head and pulled out the last remaining chair.
Then, instead of sitting down himself, he naturally stepped aside so that the man standing a step behind him could take the seat.
“Thank you, Kang-hyeok. No, Min-su. Hahaha.”
“You flatter me, sir.”
The boy spoke while looking at the man who had taken his seat with his characteristically deep, cold eyes.
“You’re late, Geum Kang-hyeok.”
“Ah, sorry about that. I found something interesting on the way. By the way, where’s Uncle Jimmy?”
“He had business and was scheduled to be absent from this meeting. Unlike you, who arrived late without a word.”
“Haha, I said I’m sorry.”
Seeing that smiling face, which seemed to be enjoying itself so much, the boy, who had been about to say more, soon clicked his tongue and swept his gaze over those seated at the round table.
If it were up to him, he wanted to grind that innocent-looking face into dust right then and there, but the Geum Young Group was not a company that even the chairman of Mer Corporation could easily strike down.
‘Do not lose your dignity, Stero.’
A king’s role, by nature, was simply to arbitrate.
Surrounded by countless third-in-commands, it was enough to savor the spectacle of them struggling amongst themselves to become second-in-command.
“I will begin the Committee. Everyone, speak your opinions frankly.”
Indeed, no sooner had his words been spoken than the lowest-ranked third-in-command began tearing into Geum Kang-hyeok.
“Geum Kang-hyeok, how long do you plan to be swayed by interests that have neither dignity nor value?”
“My, Lucky Anubis. Must you speak so coldly? I might get hurt, hahaha.”
At his words, spoken as if familiarly calling his name, the man with pomaded hair and a square jaw twisted his expression and glared at him.
Then, just as he removed the cigar from his mouth and was about to say something, Geum Kang-hyeok calmly put a piece of gold-colored gum from a small container into his mouth, chewed, and spoke.
“Is taking one Black Market not enough to satisfy you? Ah, I just came back from there, actually…….”
“You…….”
“If you want, just say the word anytime. Still, since I’m the former owner, I won’t kick you out, hahaha.”
As he playfully blew a gold-colored bubble, Lucky Anubis’s face steadily hardened. At that moment, the one who mediated between them was a beautiful woman who alone was drinking a red cocktail among the whiskies.
“Both of you, stop it. You’re noisy.”
“Fatal, this is not a conversation you should butt into.”
“What nonsense. You couldn’t even look me in the eye until recently.”
She let Lucky’s warning, spoken with a stiff expression, go in one ear and out the other.
Then she turned her gaze toward the boy seated at the seat of honor, who took a sip of cold water instead of alcohol, winked playfully, and said,
“Well? I did good, right?”
“Focus on the meeting, Fatal.”
“Hing, the chairman only hates me.”
Of course, Stero Mer did not even blink an eye.
After that brief exchange of dominance, brief as it was, the agenda passed surprisingly quickly.
“The negotiations with the Empire?”
“They’re proceeding under the table, but with the recent unsettling movements of the royalist faction, smuggling routes will be limited for the time being.”
Lucky Anubis. Boss of the Genorua Family.
“With the recent end of the war and factories shutting down, a large number of useless poor bastards have applied en masse to immigrate to Mercato.”
“I’ll move the Public Security Bureau and reject them all. Well, if it comes to it, we can always drop a few orbital bombardments.”
Geum Kang-hyeok. Second son of the Geum Young Group, and the current power holder.
“How is the research coming along?”
“Don’t worry. The Red Hand is actively sending samples as well, and we’re promoting it aggressively as a leisure sport to collect data.”
Fatal, CEO of Carpe Diem Entertainment.
“Not bad.”
With her words, most of the agenda concluded, and Stero briefly moistened his lips with cold water.
Then he murmured in a chilly voice that seemed to carry even a hint of frost.
“Do not forget. Peace between the Empire and the Composite State does not make money.”
Though it sounded like an offhand remark, Lucky, Geum Kang-hyeok, and Fatal could not help but feel the weight of the boy seated before them, sensing the gravity contained within.
Every word of their conversation was enough to shake society if it were to spread through the media, yet they did not care in the slightest.
Naturally so.
This society belonged to them, and also to Stero.
“They denounce us as vulgar capitalists, but precisely because of that, we are the most human.”
The chairman of Mer Corporation, and a cyborg pioneer who had been the first to set foot on this planet when it was a wasteland.
The first chairman of Mer Corporation.
Stero Mer murmured quietly, savoring the words.
“The virtue of a sapient being is desire. The Empire castrated that desire through feudalism, and the Composite State through militarism, but we are different. A utopia of desire and greed where everyone’s desires are free, where the victor monopolizes everything and the defeated cling to their mercy, filling themselves with venom to become the next victor. That is precisely why we are here.”
His conviction was twisted in some way, but there was no fool present who would deny it.
No—until recently, there had been one sitting here.
Until he lost his life at the hands of a trusted subordinate and even his corpse could no longer be found.
“As always, we will hold our place between the Empire and the Composite State. Our capital. So that Mercato may prosper eternally.”
At his words, they nodded.
And with that, Stero Mer rose from his seat and once again walked to the glass window, looking down upon the kingdom of skyscrapers he had built.
“Yes, eternally.”
What was contained within that fractured voice was an obsession so intense it was chilling beyond measure.