Chapter 141: Star-Forsaken Land (3)

In a damp basement, droplets of water trickled down the walls and dripped onto the floor as if there was a leak. Only the wet squelch of moisture seeping through the cracks echoed in the eerie darkness.

The dim overhead light flickered on, illuminating a man and a woman.

“

Ugh

, the smell.”

“This place stinks no matter how many times I come in here.”

The woman, with piercings on her nose and lips, pinched her nose shut as she scanned the basement. The place looked straight out of a mad scientist’s lab, where some lunatic obsessed with creating the ultimate lifeform would perform countless inhumane experiments.

Rows of massive cylindrical tanks filled with clear water lined the damp walls, connected by vein-like tubes. If there was any relief to be found, it was that the tanks were empty of any creatures like grotesque chimeras born from twisted experiments or kidnapped aliens in the tanks.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

“Looks like the digestion chamber could use a cleaning.”

“

Ugh...

What a pain. Can’t we just make the feed we captured do it?”

Digestion chamber and feed. Ominous words slipped casually into their conversation. The woman’s suggestion made the man shake his head in disgust.

“Yeah, no. If the feed goes berserk and breaks a tank, then what?” He dragged a thumb across his throat in a slicing motion. “Mr. Sosuke will kill us.”

The woman pouted her pierced lips. “He barely even shows up. What’s the big deal?”

“That’s because we’re just low-level grunts whose job is to dump the feed into the digestive chamber.”

“Hey, don’t call us grunts. It’s insulting to the actual grunts.”

She let out a mischievous, teasing giggle.

They joked about being low-level grunts, but in reality, their ranks within the Seahorse faction were far from low. After all, only mid-ranking executives and above could access the digestion chamber.

“

Oh

, right. I almost forgot, but apparently, I’m getting promoted to a high-ranking executive next week.”

“

Oh

, for real? That calls for a celebration party.”

“And I’m guessing my present will be... this?”

With a sultry grin, the woman ran her hand down the man's lower body. The skull-shaped piercing on her extended tongue gleamed under the dim light.

The man chuckled before pulling her into a deep, heated kiss.

“Well, let’s save the party for later. Let’s finish the job first.”

“

Ugh

, let’s just get it over with quickly.” The woman boredly jerked her chin at the man.

“Wait here for a bit. I’ll go get the feed.” The man smiled at her and then went up the stairs.

A short while later, a tightly bound and completely naked young man was dragged into the room.

“Mmph! Mmmph!! Mmmph!”

Unlike the man with refined features, the captured feed looked utterly unimpressive. His thick prescription glasses made his already small eyes look even smaller, and his acne-ridden skin was reminiscent of a toad.

The woman looked at him with disgust. “Just looking at him makes me sick. Let’s throw him in already.”

“Wait, let me take off his glasses first.”

The handsome man removed the captive’s glasses and dragged him toward one of the water-filled cylindrical tanks.

“Hup.”

The young man plunged into the tank.

Splash!

“Glub! Glooorgh!”

Each time he thrashed, water sloshed over the edge and spilled onto the floor.

Once the captive was fully submerged, the woman stepped into the control room tucked in the corner of the basement.

“Start.”

Inside stood a thin young man. Towering machines that resembled something from a boiler room surrounded him.

Dressed in a white lab coat, he stared down at the machinery with trembling eyes.

The woman frowned as she approached him. “What are you waiting for? I said start.”

“J-Just a moment...”

“A moment, my ass! Hurry up, you piece of shit!”

She kicked him.

“

Kugh!

”

Sent flying, he crashed against the wall.

Thud!

As his lab coat slipped slightly from the impact, the severed stump of his left arm was exposed.

“Do I need to beat you again to knock some sense into you, Yuji?”

“I-I apologize!”

The young man—Yuji—paled as he trembled.

“There’s no special treatment for newbies here, got it? Do your damn job properly.”

“Yes,” Yuji responded, his voice quivering. He then stepped back in front of the machine.

With his remaining right hand, he hesitantly reached for the controls. However, his hand soon froze.

Tears streamed down Yuji’s cheeks.

“

Hic... Hic...

”

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I-I can’t do this.”

“What?”

“I said I can't do this anymore! This... this monstrous act—!”

“

Ha.

”

Smack!

Once again, Yuji was sent flying.

“

K-Kugh!

”

“The little shit just doesn’t know when to quit.”

The woman with the piercings twisted her lips into a vicious grin as she approached him. She pressed her heel down on the raw stump of his severed left arm, grinding it into the ground.

“I heard you lost this arm because you dared to defy Mr. Sosuke.”

“

H-Hic...!

”

Yuji’s shoulders trembled, and his face contorted with sheer terror.

The woman flicked out her pierced tongue. “If you don’t wanna lose the other one too, shut up and do what you’re told. Got it?”

“... Y-Yes, ma’am.”

“

Tsk

. What a pain. If Mr. Sosuke didn’t personally send you, I’d have killed you already.”

She spat onto the floor before turning away.

Yuji quietly staggered to his feet, trembling as he stepped back in front of the machine once more. Beyond the screen, he could see the young man floating in the water-filled tank. Yuji clenched his eyes shut.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry...” Muttering apologies that would never be heard, he reached out with his right arm and pressed a series of buttons.

Bubbles started to form within the tank, and the captive’s thrashing intensified as the Stigma on his left chest radiantly glowed. Not long after, as though dissolving into the water itself, he slowly melted away.

The woman with the piercings smiled brightly as she watched. “

Hehe

, look at that. Melts real nice.”

The handsome man approached her and pulled her in by the waist. “Wanna grab some food after this?”

“Sounds good.”

Despite the horror before them, their faces remained relaxed. Neither paid any mind to it.

Five minutes passed, and the young man’s body had completely liquefied. Instead of being stained red with blood, the fluid in the tank shimmered with a faint blue light.

The woman gazed at the blue liquid and let out a deep, satisfied chuckle.

“For the restoration of the Forsaken Land.”

“For the restoration of the Forsaken Land.”

Their eerie laughter echoed through the basement.

***

“I don’t recognize that ceiling.”

Staring up at the elegant wooden ceiling, Kwon Oh-Jin slowly pushed himself upright.

Though it had been a while since he had last slept on the floor, he woke up without any back pain thanks to how soft the blanket was.

“

Ugh...

My head,” he groaned. Scowling, he rubbed his throbbing forehead.

Memories of the drinking party last night to welcome him flashed through his mind.

Even if I drank water, I don’t think I could’ve downed that much.

Sakaki’s alcohol tolerance was just as monstrous as his massive frame. The drinking session, which had started in broad daylight, stretched past midnight and into the early hours of the morning. Even for Kwon Oh-Jin, with his superhuman physique, there was no escaping the inevitable hangover.

“Well, at least it helped us get pretty close.”

As was often the case with men, a single night of heavy drinking was enough to form bonds that made them feel like friends for twenty years.

Kwon Oh-Jin faintly smiled as he recalled Sakaki drunkenly throwing an arm over his shoulder.

“Khaha! Starting today, we’re family! You can call me Oyabun from now on!”

Looks like I won’t have too much trouble settling in here.

From what he had heard, Kuroushi was an organization with an iron grip over the Kansai region. Even the government supposedly bowed to them. At the very least, he thought he wouldn’t run into any issues while in Japan.

The organization’s members weren’t bad either. Compared to the average Awakeners in Japan, whose skill levels were on the lower end, the Kuroushi members were fairly competent. That was probably thanks to the teachings of the Avaricious Wolf, as Sakaki had mentioned.

“They’ll be useful.”

Kwon Oh-Jin deeply smiled as he tossed the blanket aside.

“Mmm.”

“Huh?”

Only then did he notice that Song Ha-Eun was lying next to him. She was practically half-naked and clinging tightly to him in her sleep.

“Ha-Eun, wake up. Ha-Eun.”

“

Mmm

. No...” she whined, and a thick stench of alcohol from her mouth hit him straight in the face.

She was really wild last night.

At first, she had been glued to his side, acting shy and reserved. However, the moment the atmosphere turned lively, she began leading the charge, downing drinks like there was no tomorrow.

The image of Song Ha-Eun waving around a whole bottle of sake and screaming at the top of her lungs resurfaced.

“Kyahaha! Drink up! Chug, chug, chug!”

“You really love drinking, don’t you?”

With a slight smile, he looked down at her. Just like that, his eyes landed on a small black birthmark near her cleavage on her left breast.

What is this? This unstoppable urge.

As he watched the tiny black mark rise and fall in sync with her steady breaths, an inexplicable impulse stirred within him to press it with his finger. He knew he had to resist, but his hand was already moving on its own for some reason.

Wait a second. Why do I even need to hold back?

They had already confirmed their feelings for each other. If anything, it would be weirder not to have at least this level of physical affection between them.

Clearing his throat, Kwon Oh-Jin cautiously reached out for it.

“... Ahem.”

“Mmm.”

Song Ha-Eun shifted slightly, conveniently adjusting her posture to make it easier for him to touch her.

He narrowed his eyes.

“Ha-Eun.”

“Mmh.”

“You’re not actually asleep, are you?”

“Mmmmm.”

He could see her eyebrow twitch ever so slightly.

“... Haa.”

Well, of course. Unlike him, she could no longer suffer from a hangover since she had reconstructed her body.

“Get up, you sly woman.”

He flicked her lightly on the tip of her nose.

“

Eek!

Dang it. I almost had you.”

“You know you can’t fool me.”

“

Hmph

. For someone who wasn’t fooled, you sure looked like you were falling for it.”

She grinned mischievously and poked his side.

“Enough playing around. Let’s get up already,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“Alright, alright. Oh, but before that.” She closed her eyes and puckered her lips.

He chuckled and leaned in. Just when he was about to kiss her—

Bang!

“Are you up?! Let’s go get some hangover soup!”

“

Kyaaaa!

What the fuck!”

Caught off guard, Song Ha-Eun instinctively lashed out with her foot.

Whack!

“

Kugh!

”

Kwon Oh-Jin took the full brunt of the kick, flipping through the air before crashing face-first into the wall.

Standing in the doorway, Sakaki grinned as he took in the scene. “

Hahaha!

Looks like I interrupted something real intimate!”

Kwon Oh-Jin scratched his head as he got up. “

Ugh...

Did you sleep well last night, Mr. Sakaki?”

“Mr. Sakaki? Didn’t I tell you to call me Oyabun?”

“That’s a little...”

Kwon Oh-Jin wasn’t officially part of the organization. Calling Sakaki Oyabun could lead to unnecessary misunderstandings.

“

Hmm.

That so?”

Sakaki didn’t seem particularly bothered. He smoothly changed the subject. “Anyway! Let’s start the morning right with some hangover soup! Then we’ll figure out how to deal with those Seahorse bastards!”

He shut the door behind him and left.

“

Ugh

, that bastard. I swear, I’m gonna get him back for this someday,” Song Ha-Eun muttered as she sharply glared at the door.

***

After finishing an extravagant breakfast, Song Ha-Eun, Kwon Oh-Jin, and Sakaki gathered around.

“We’ve been investigating the areas where people have gone missing, but just when we think we’re onto something, the bastards disappear like ghosts. We can’t make any real progress.” Sakaki spread out a map of Osaka on the table.

After marking the locations where the disappearances had occurred, he added, “All the missing people are Awakeners. Other than that, there’s no real connection between them.”

In other words, they were indiscriminately kidnapping Awakeners.

Song Ha-Eun frowned. “But why? What the hell are they doing with Awakeners?"

Sakaki shook his head. “That, we still don’t know. “For now, our priority is finding their branches. Koshiro actually recently found a place that seems to be one of their hideouts.”

“Where is it?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked. Cheon Do-Yoon had already told him the locations of the Seahorse faction’s branches, but he pretended not to know anyway.

Sakaki circled a building on the outskirts of the city. “It’s here. An abandoned hospital that got wrecked during a monster attack a while back.”

“That’s a perfect place for shady bastards to hole up.”

The building was one of the three branches that Cheon Do-Yoon had mentioned. That meant the intel that Koshiro had dug up was accurate.

“Well, we’ve raided a few places like this before, but it always ended up being a dead end.” Sakaki clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Let’s hope this time is different.”

“Do you have a personal reason for chasing after the Black Star Society?”

Sakaki’s expression darkened, and his eyes flashed with cold fury. “They kidnapped some of my people. I don’t care who they kidnap, but they signed their death warrants the moment they laid hands on my people.”

That made sense. Sakaki would never sit still if his people were attacked.

“But it’s not just your organization, right? Other guilds and groups must’ve had their Awakeners kidnapped too. Are they just sitting around doing nothing?” Song Ha-Eun asked, confused.

“The Black Star Society has kicked their asses a few times already. Those guild bastards are now too scared to fight back.”

“Even though their members are being kidnapped?”

“That’s right.”

Song Ha-Eun clicked her tongue in disgust. “Wow. What a bunch of fucking idiots.”

No matter how dangerous the enemy was, how could they just do nothing while their people were being abducted? What kind of pathetic excuse for a guild were they?

“Exactly! That’s what I’ve been saying!” Sakaki nodded furiously. He was clearly holding in a lot of frustration. “Anyway, we’re heading out to investigate this area today. Will you two be coming along?”

“Of course,” Kwon Oh-Jin replied.

Pleased with the immediate response, Sakaki patted Kwon Oh-Jin on the back and laughed heartily. “

Haha!

If only those cowardly guild rats had half your guts!”

Anyway.

Kwon Oh-Jin looked down at the map on the table. He carefully examined the locations and timestamps of the incidents that Sakaki had marked. Just around the abandoned hospital, there had already been fourteen disappearances all within the past week.

Kwon Oh-Jin’s eyes narrowed.

Something’s off.