novelraw Chapter 71
Chapter 71
Chapter 71
“Is that so. Then of course I won’t kill you.”
Jin Crow was moved by that plea, which had neither reason nor explanation, and withdrew the sword that had been pressed to her neck, wearing a benevolent smile.
“…Is that what you thought I’d say?”
Of course, nothing like that happened.
Naturally so.
He was not stupid enough to ignore the opinion of Baek Hwi-young, a regressor and the protagonist of this world, but neither was he foolish enough to agree without any reason.
Thud-.
However, he was unable to hear an answer from Baek Hwi-young.
Baek Hwi-young, who had been about to respond while sweating coldly and twisting his face at Jin Crow’s words, collapsed just like that, as if he were a doll whose power had gone out—perhaps because his body had not yet recovered.
“Hwi, Hwi-young!”
“You really managed to rush out. Your condition can’t be normal.”
Miel hurriedly ran toward Baek Hwi-young, who had fallen face-down on the floor, while Tita Zenorua took a sip of the whiskey she had set on the table and muttered softly.
As she said, Baek Hwi-young’s physical condition was absolutely not normal.
Naturally, the other cadets were watching him with concern, and the same went for Satra and the former rebels of Rermal Planet who had been defended, one way or another.
‘They were enemies too strong for a mere cadet to handle.’
They were probably thinking that.
However, Jin Crow was different.
Even if he had lost all the Gear he had built up before regression, would someone who had lived through ten lives collapse from just this much?
That made no sense.
Of course, it was not an act.
Still, the reason he collapsed was likely not because of the battle, but because of something else.
‘As expected, a mental issue.’
It was a commonly raised problem.
Where did the identity of a human being reside?
In the past, the focus had been placed on the physical body, but in modern times, that focus had largely shifted to the mind.
After all, wasn’t there a topic that sparked a great deal of debate whenever cloned humans or full cyberization were discussed?
—Is the cloned me truly me?
Ethically and philosophically, it required extensive discussion, and even at this present point, where science and mysticism had developed to extremes, it remained an actively debated topic.
He was not particularly curious about the answer.
Rather, the problem was that Baek Hwi-young had already accumulated in his brain multiple instances of ‘a future he experienced yet did not experience.’
‘The brain also feels fatigue.’
Humans were creatures of forgetfulness.
Philosophers endlessly debated whether forgetfulness was a blessing or a curse, but the important point was that forgetfulness played a very important role in reducing mental fatigue.
Think about it.
Imagine a human remembering everything they had seen, learned, felt, and thought since birth, constantly recalling it all.
He could guarantee that nine times out of ten, they would go insane.
There was a reason terms like hyperthymesia syndrome or savant syndrome existed as medical diagnoses to refer to similar cases.
Quite literally, it was an illness.
‘Even if it was ten years experienced ten times, that’s already a hundred years.’
Ten years of a new opportunity per regression.
It might be short as a countdown to destruction, but it was a long time for a single individual to experience repeatedly.
His more paranoid demeanor than remembered, and even the obsessive behavior of trying to cross-verify all the information he possessed, were probably side effects stemming from that.
Whether he was aware of it himself or not.
“Move him inside.”
“Yes, Instructor.”
Jin Crow watched Beatus carry Baek Hwi-young inside, then sat down and put a cigarette to his lips.
Click-.
Tita Zenorua, as if she had been waiting for it, lit it for him with a lighter, and he rubbed his eyelids.
“Hoo.”
“Interesting. Is this what you’re like as an instructor?”
“…I’d appreciate it if you’d please be quiet.”
“If you wish.”
It might have been his imagination, but from the moment he revealed that he was an instructor, Tita Zenorua kept wearing a delighted expression.
Enough to make him want to wipe out the mafia without thinking.
Whether she knew his feelings or not, Satra, who brushed over the back of her neck where a blade had passed just moments ago, opened her mouth quietly.
“I don’t know if this will be a reason to spare me, but I had intended to turn myself in after cleaning up the mistakes I made.”
“Most criminals say that.”
At Jin Crow’s curt reply, Satra could only give a bitter smile this time.
She knew as well.
She knew that the hostility Jin Crow showed toward her was entirely justified.
Even so, regardless of the reasons, she had no intention of letting go of the chance for defense that the cadet named Baek Hwi-young had created for her.
“The Red Hand betrayed us. Moreover, we hate Creatures just as much. If we had set our minds differently from the start, we would have handed over the cadets first.”
She presented the most definitive evidence she could offer.
Of course, she had even less intention of pathetically trying to evade her罪 using that as a bargaining chip.
“If you execute me on the spot, I will humbly accept it. No matter the reason, I made the worst possible choice, and I regret that responsibility and its consequences to the point my teeth grind. But I ask that…….”
She slowly rose from her seat, then knelt down while gazing at him with the endlessly calm and dark eyes she had felt even when they met in the past at Atla Colony.
“Captain!”
“…….”
Those who still followed her let out cries of lamentation, but the very people at the center of it—Jin Crow and Satra—wore expressions so calm they were almost motionless.
“Please allow us to rescue the displaced people of Rermal Planet who fell into the hands of the Red Hand, that terrorist group, and the cadets as well, Instructor.”
“…Haah.”
Whether it was cigarette smoke or simply a sigh filled with frustration, Jin Crow let out an indistinct exhalation, then stubbed out the cigarette, which had nearly burned to the end, in the ashtray.
No matter how unpleasant it was, those were Baek Hwi-young’s words.
He could kill them if he wanted to, but he could not help feeling that something stuck in his craw.
‘The material has already been identified. We can just keep them under surveillance.’
Tita Zenorua had already boarded the same ship.
Therefore, if he left it to her, at the very least, no accidents would occur.
Having thought that far, he took a sip of the whiskey Tita Zenorua had poured for him and spoke.
“I’m not Instructor Crow, but just Jin, a mercenary blinded by money.”
“Huh?”
“Pardon?”
At his declaration-like words, the cadets, who had been wearing tense expressions, blinked as if wondering what kind of nonsense that was, but Tita Zenorua, who grasped the true intent behind his words, looked at him with quite a surprised gaze.
“I don’t know the details, but you’re a Rank-2 wanted criminal, right? Are you sure you’re okay with that?”
“The bounty is a shame to lose, but it can’t be helped. I’ve already taken a job.”
“……You adapt quickly. As expected, you’re our kind.”
He looked like someone who would never compromise, yet he was strangely flexible.
Of course…….
“It’s my first time seeing academy cadets up close. It’s refreshing.”
“In, Instructor?”
“……Mercenary Jin is, how should I put it, always something new.”
If there was a problem, it was that such flexibility and adaptability did not suit his endlessly cold face at all.
In any case, a line had been drawn, and from the moment Satra slowly bent her knees and offered a brief bow, Instructor Jin Crow disappeared from this place.
Just as the atmosphere seemed ready to settle.
Knock knock-.
Someone knocked on the door of the Safety house, and at the moment everyone’s gaze turned toward it, Tita Zenorua spoke.
“They’re early.”
As if responding to her attitude, which suggested she already knew someone would come, the mafia man standing at the door opened it.
Then, a man in a white suit entered the Safety house, carrying a black briefcase.
“You’re here, Geum Gang-hyeok’s loyal dog.”
“Please call me Min-su, Consigliere.”
The man who entered with a blank expression, as if the sly smile he had shown before had vanished, was someone Jin Crow knew well by sight.
Indeed, he was the stand-in for the real Geum Gang-hyeok, the one who had introduced himself as Geum Gang-hyeok when Jin Crow first set foot in the Free Planetary Alliance.
“So you were Min-su.”
“I was told to convey my apologies for my rudeness last time.”
He had expected it, but all of that sly demeanor had merely been an act to play the real Geum Gang-hyeok.
On the other hand, while playing Min-su, Geum Gang-hyeok had not discarded his own personality, so perhaps it could be said he lacked sincerity.
‘As expected, the only good Elf is a dead Elf.’
Without bothering to suppress the casually rising racial prejudice, he jerked his chin as if telling him to continue.
Soon, as Tita Zenorua also gave a look that seemed to agree with his action, Min-su silently opened the briefcase he had brought.
Clack-.
What sprang out from inside, opening with a metallic sound unlike its leather exterior, was none other than the sly-as-ever figure of Geum Gang-hyeok, realized as a hologram, whom they had seen before.
〔Ahem.〕
However, the realized 모습 was a little strange.
At a glance, he was sitting in a single-person leather sofa that looked fit for a mastermind, wearing a classic suit and even a fedora, a cigar in his mouth as he recited in a low voice.
〔I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.〕
It was a line mimicking a familiar masterpiece quote that had long since surpassed being a classic and now appeared in textbooks.
“…….”
“…….”
Naturally, not only the cadets and Satra, who did not understand it, but even Tita Zenorua stared at him with sullen expressions.
Jin Crow did understand it, but instead of replying, he answered by putting a cigarette in his mouth and wearing an even more expressionless face.
As a result, the one who inevitably felt awkward was him.
〔……Oh dear, that was my own proud black joke.〕
He clicked his tongue as if genuinely regretful and roughly tossed the fedora he had been wearing off to one side.
Because the hologram projection was quite small, it looked comical at a glance, but since they roughly knew who he was, no one laughed.
〔Now then, first, Instruc—〕
“I’m Mercenary Jin. I started looking after Tita Zenorua’s affairs some time ago.”
〔Pardon?〕
“I’ll say it again, I am—.”
〔Ah, kh—! I see, that’s the setup. I’ll take that into account. Then, Instr— no, Mercenary Jin, it’s entirely regrettable that you’ve gotten involved in this matter. Personally, I don’t particularly welcome outsiders, especially a Federation instr— no, mercenary, getting involved.〕
He recited that as if truly regretful and put a pre-cut cigar to his mouth.
〔Naturally, I’ve blocked the information at my level. Even if those guys sense something and grow suspicious, unless you reveal it yourself, they won’t be able to lodge a formal protest.〕
Geum Young Security was a bodyguard company, but at the same time, it was also a security firm.
At the very least, if he had blocked it, it was safe to take it as meaning they had bought some time for now, Tita Zenorua whispered quietly from behind.
〔Mercenary Jin, I don’t know what your objective is, but since we’re working together anyway, I hope you achieve it.〕
Of course, regardless of his competence, that smiling face made it impossible to feel any goodwill no matter how one looked at it.
Perhaps sensing Jin Crow’s mood, Tita Zenorua downed the whiskey in front of her in one go and spoke.
“Let’s get straight to the point, Geum Gang-hyeok.”
〔Well, sure. In business, manners mean valuing the other party’s time.〕
Geum Gang-hyeok smiled with his eyes, making them seem to narrow, and slowly exhaled the cigar smoke he had been holding into the air.
〔Two days from now, on Thursday, there will be large-scale power outages in District 5, District 7, and District 11, along with massive protests by illegally entered workers.〕
District 5 was Carpe Diem’s headquarters.
District 7 was the Interstellar Transport Union’s union building.
District 11 was Lucky Anubis’s territory.
After listing them with truly clear intent, he added.
〔The darker the night, the more fun the fireworks, isn’t that so?〕
It was indeed a meaningful remark.
Jin Crow slowly nodded as he mulled over the words he had uttered.
“As expected of an Elf, you’re as insidious as they come.”
That was, by any measure, meant as affirmation.