Chapter 144: Star-Forsaken Land (6)
The moment Yuji mentioned Kurosaki Sosuke, his eyes burned with an all-consuming hatred.
“You want us to kill Kurosaki Sosuke?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.
“Yes! If you need my help to do it, I’ll do anything!” Yuji pleaded with desperation, still kneeling on the ground. “They said I was useless now and sent me to a branch, but... I spent over a year working directly under him, developing the system that turns Awakeners into nutrients! There’s so much I can tell you!”
Song Ha-Eun frowned. “How do we know you’re not just saying all this so we don’t kill you here and now?”
“I’m not trying to save myself. You can have whatever information you need and then kill me.”
He sounded eerily calm and unafraid.
Not knowing what to do, Song Ha-Eun exhaled heavily. “Then tell me. Why do you want Kurosaki Sosuke dead so badly? Is it because he kidnapped and used you?”
“No.”
Yuji bit his lip as if he would burst into tears at any moment. His hand trembled violently.
“I... I have a little sister. Sosuke kidnapped her and forced her to take the Seahorse Venom to make sure I never tried anything.”
“Seahorse Venom?”
“It’s a venom that leads to death if she doesn’t drink a special solution that only he can make once a week. He does it to all his subordinates, making sure none of them can ever betray him.”
“So that means you too?”
Yuji nodded with a hardened expression. “Yes. I took my last dose three days ago... which means I have four days left before I die.”
Despite speaking about his own impending death, he still sounded as dry and emotionless as ever.
“It doesn’t matter. Whether I die four days from now or right here in this room, the outcome is the same. Still..." He clenched his fist. With a quivering voice, he said, “P-Please... please save my sister! I’m sure Kurosaki has the antidote!”
He slammed his fist onto the ground.
Bam!
"My sister... Yoko has done nothing wrong! T-This is all my fault! If I hadn’t submitted that damn thesis to the academy...!”
After quietly listening with a grim expression, Sasaki finally asked, “What thesis?”
“A paper... about how to artificially open a gate to the Sanctum in Japan."
Opening a gate to the Sanctum artificially and rebuilding the Star-Forsaken Land... To the people of Japan, who were mocked and dismissed by the surrounding nations, what could be more enticing than that?
“T-There’s a way to do that?” Sakaki asked.
Yuji nodded, his face shadowed with deep gloom.
“Yes. It’s possible if we can obtain an enormous amount of elixirs and artificially create a dragon vein. Of course, the sheer scale of the materials and manpower required makes it an unrealistic theory... which is why the academy dismissed my thesis as nonsense.”
“But someone decided to make that nonsense a reality.”
He paused briefly before answering, “Yes.”
“Then, this nutrient you mentioned...?”
“It’s a substitute for the elixir. Even the Seven Stars wouldn’t be able to procure the tons of elixirs required for this.”
Yuji was right. Even the lowest-quality elixirs made from Starstones were sold at incredibly high prices. Securing several tons was realistically impossible, especially for Japan, whose power had dwindled so much that it was called the Star-Forsaken Land. They could never afford such a supply.
So that’s why they built this device.
Kwon Oh-Jin narrowed his eyes, glancing at the cylindrical tanks lining the basement. Although clear water filled them, they reeked of blood.
Gritting her teeth, Song Ha-Eun kicked one of the tanks. “Sick bastards. No matter how desperate they are, how the hell do you justify throwing people into these things and melting them?!”
Kwon Oh-Jin smiled bitterly as he watched her shout in anger. Did she realize that what he was doing wasn’t all that different?
I told her, so I’m sure she knows.
She probably saw him as some kind of hero, only targeting the bad guys and claiming their Stigmas like trophies of justice.
But that’s not it.
Good and evil didn’t matter if it benefited him. Morality was subjective, anyway.
He was after the Black Star Society because the mana of the black star was helpful in growing the Black Heaven.
Still... if Ha-Eun wants to believe I’m a hero, maybe playing along isn’t such a bad idea.
Kwon Oh-Jin stopped Song Ha-Eun before she could outright destroy one of the tanks in frustration. He then asked Yuji, “So, what exactly is this information you’re willing to share?”
Yuji slowly got up to his feet. “Follow me.”
He led them into the control room. A massive array of machinery filled the space, reminiscent of a boiler room. Twelve monitors lit the place up.
“This is the King of Seahorses, Kurosaki Sosuke.”
An image of a man appeared on one of the screens. The middle-aged man had slanted, snake-like eyes and sharply protruding cheekbones. The thin goatee was the final touch to his wicked appearance.
“Kurosaki Sosuke...”
Kurosaki Sosuke, who had been hiding his appearance all this time, was finally revealed.
Sakaki clenched his fist as he stared at the photo, barely restraining his rising fury. Thick veins bulged across the back of his massive hand.
“Oyabun. Isn’t that... that guy? The one who used to be a National Assembly member?”
Sakaki's eyes widened. “Hm? Now that you mention it...”
Yuji nodded. “Yes. That’s correct. Kurosaki Sosuke used to be an extreme right-wing politician.”
Sakaki looked at Sosuke’s photo with sheer disdain. “So that’s why he’s so obsessed with building a gate to the Sanctum.”
To fools clinging to the faded glory of the past, being branded as the Star-Forsaken Land must have felt like an unbearable humiliation.
Sakaki deeply sighed and shook his head. “Tsk. What a pathetic sight. So, where is he hiding now?”
“That, I don’t know. He’s constantly on the move.”
“So all you have is this one photo?”
A single picture wasn’t enough to track down Kurosaki Sosuke.
Yuji calmly shook his head. “I may not know where he is, but I do know how to lure him out.”
“Lure him out?”
“As I mentioned earlier, Sosuke has been abducting Awakeners and setting up these digestion chambers across the city to fuel the gate. I don’t know how much progress he’s made, but I doubt he’s gathered enough nutrients yet. If his digestion chambers were destroyed...”
“He’d have no choice but to show himself.”
“Exactly.”
“But how do we even locate these digestion chambers?”
It had taken months just to find a single branch. With other organizations and guilds too terrified of the Black Star Society to lend their support, dismantling enough chambers to disrupt Sosuke’s plan seemed nearly impossible.
“I know where they are.”
“You do?”
“Yes. After all, I was the one who designed these machines in the first place. I secretly embedded a code in each of them so I could track their locations.”
Sakaki was taken aback. “It’s as if you’ve been waiting for this exact moment.”
Yuji’s eyes gleamed fiercely as he nodded. “I have.”
Clutching the severed end of his left arm, he let out his condensed rage in eerie silence.
“Ever since that demonic bastard captured me... I’ve been waiting for this day.”
“Hmm.”
Sakaki felt the sheer intensity of Yuji’s rage so clearly that it stung his skin.
“These are the locations of the digestion chambers. Moving such massive machinery in a short time is impossible. If you act quickly, you’ll reach them before they have a chance to hide them.”
Yuji handed over a meticulously marked map with the exact locations of the chambers. There were five in total. Two matched the locations of the Seahorse faction branches that Cheon Do-Yoon had mentioned.
“Now...”
Having passed the map to Sakaki, Yuji faintly smiled. His shoulders sank as if he had fulfilled his duty.
“As promised, please kill me.”
A suffocating silence fell over them.
Yuji stretched out his neck toward Sakaki, his lips curled in a bitter smile.
“There’s no need to hesitate. No matter how much I was threatened to do it... I’m the one who built these horrifying machines.”
His clenched fists trembled as he sobbed.
“Every time I watched an Awakener die in these chambers... I wondered. They must have had families they wanted to protect, just like me.”
He dropped his head. His tears dripped to the floor.
“I’m just a piece of trash unworthy of living. Please... kill me.”
“Are you sure you won’t regret this?” Sakaki asked.
“Yes. Ah, just one more thing...”
Still wearing that self-mocking smile, Yuji looked up at Sakaki.
“If possible... I’d like to die quickly and painlessly. Haha, I know someone like me doesn’t deserve an easy death, but... now that it’s happening, I guess I’m a little scared.”
His shoulders quivered. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes, seemingly accepting his death.
Sakaki stared at him in silence, his lips pressed tight. An invisible force pulsed in the hand gripping his blade. No matter the sob story, this man had been involved in the kidnappings and deaths of his people. He knew better than anyone that such crimes could never be forgiven.
“Haa... Koshiro, bring the Yume Hanashi.”
“Yes, Oyabun!”
Koshiro rushed out and returned moments later with a thin white cord about the width of a finger. It was covered in intricate, magical inscriptions.
“Tie him up,” Sakaki ordered.
Koshiro wrapped the white cord tightly around Yuji’s forehead.
“This is...?”
“Don’t resist the mana. Just let it flow through you.”
Yuji swallowed dryly and nodded.
Soon, a blue light emanated from the white cord, and his eyes gradually unfocused. The Yume Hanashi had activated, forcing him into a hypnotic state.
Sakaki watched closely as he waited for the effect to fully activate. The Yume Hanashi’s effect lasted only ten seconds. Once used, the target would develop immunity, making it impossible to use again. This was their one and only chance to verify the truth.
“Is everything you said so far all true?”
“Yes. Everything... is... true.”
Yuji sounded slow and stilted, just like when Kwon Oh-Jin used Domination on the Owls.
Sakaki deeply sighed and scratched his head. Had it all been a lie, he wouldn’t be feeling a crushing weight in his chest.
“Nothing in this damn world is ever easy.”
With a silent gesture, Sakaki ordered Koshiro to remove the Yume Hanashi from Yuji’s forehead. Just before it was fully undone, a woman’s name slipped from Yuji’s lips.
“Yoko.”
He called out to his younger sister, the one that the Black Star Society had captured.
“I’m sorry... I’m so sorry, Yoko...”
Sakaki just watched in silence. Yuji fell unconscious the moment the Yume Hanashi was removed. Sakaki wordlessly picked him up in his arms.
“We’re heading back.”
“Oyabun, what about him...?”
“We’re taking him with us for now.”
“Understood.” Koshiro bowed slightly before carefully taking Yuji from Sakaki’s arms. “I’ll have him restrained in the annex.”
Koshiro left the hospital and went outside.
“You’re not going to kill him?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked Sakaki.
“I’m still deciding.”
Kwon Oh-Jin nodded slightly, seeing the weight of the dilemma on his shoulders. “The choice is yours, Mr. Sakaki.”
“Thanks. Anyway, the rest might escape, so I plan to raid their branches tonight. Will that be okay?”
“Of course. Not like I did much today anyway.”
“Haha. Thank you, Oh-Jin.”
Smiling weakly, Sakaki patted his shoulder. His hand that used to pat Kwon Oh-Jin until it felt painful now felt weak. Soon, he stepped outside.
“Oh-Jin, remember that guy back then? Jang Seok-Ho or whatever? Do you think Yuji’s sister might already be...” Song Ha-Eun trailed off, her eyes filled with sorrow.
“We don’t know yet.”
“Right?” Gritting her teeth, she glared at Kurosaki Sosuke’s photo on the monitor. “I already thought those damn Owls were bastards, but these guys take it to a whole new level.
“There are lunatics everywhere you go.”
“Let’s just wipe them all out this time.”
Burning with determination, Song Ha-Eun pulled out a cigarette and placed it between her lips.
“Oh, but Oh-Jin, aren’t you gonna do that thing? You know, making them repeat what they said backwards?”
“There’s no need for that this time.”
“Yeah, I guess. That Yume Hanashi or whatever did the trick.”
She took a deep drag off her lit cigarette and then flicked the cigeratte butt into a water-filled tank. “Alright then, let’s go smash these goddamn digestion chambers to pieces.”
Fwoosh!
Flames erupted, consuming the digestion chamber that had stolen the lives of countless Awakeners.
Kwon Oh-Jin watched silently as the fire engulfed the chamber. With a bitter expression, he then slowly turned away.